commit a trespass in the accursed thing and wrath fell on all the Congregation of Israel and that man perished not alone in his iniquity What was Achan's sin which brought wrath upon all the Congregation of Israel we find Achan himself confessing it to Joshuah Josh 7.20 21. Achan answered Joshuah and said Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and thus and thus have I done When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babilonish garment and two hundred shekles of Silver and a wedge of Gold of fifty shekles weight then I covered them and took them and behold they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent and the Silver under it The sin of these Informers seems to me equal if not greater and as likely to bring down wrath upon the Nation as Achan's sin and that for these Reasons 1. The men of Jericho were God's enemies and they and their substance were accursed of God Josh 6.17 The city shall be accursed even it and all that are therein But the righteous and all they have are blessed of the Lord Ps 3.8 Thy blessing is upon thy people not only their persons are blessed but their substance also Deut. 33.11 Bless Lord his substance See also Deut. 8.4 5. Now is it not as great a sin for these men to oppress God's friends who are the blessed of the Lord and to take away their substance which is under the blessing of God as it was for Achan to take away silver and gold and rayment from the men of Jericho which were God's enemies and both they and all that they had were under his curse 2. Achan committed his sin secretly he hid what he took in his tent Behold they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent He laboured to cover his sin but these men declare their sin as Sodom They are not afraid to sin openly in the sight of all men And the more openly and impudently a mans sin is committed the more provoking to God to send down his Judgments 3. Achan confessed his sin and thereby gave glory to the God of Israel Josh 7.20 These men glory in their shame and will not be brought to acknowledge their iniquity 4. Achan was punished for his trespass all Israel stoned him with stones and burnt his house with fire Josh 7.25 But these men are so far from being punished that they oft-times go away with a reward Another instance of a whole Nation suffering for the sin of one man we have in David's case David's numbring the people provoked God to send a Pestilence which in three days time slew seventy-thousand men 1 Chron. 21.2.7 And David said to Joab and to the Rulers of the People Go number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan and bring the number unto me that I may know it And God was displeased with this thing therefore he smote Israel v. 14. So the Lord sent Pestilence upon Israel and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men Let it be considered whether those Informers that go to the Assemblies of these men to take the names of those that worship God in order to the punishing them for their serving God do not sin in as high a degree as David did in the numbring the people For 1. The numbring of the people was not without a president for it was done by Moses at God's appointment in the second year after Israel came out of Egypt Num. 1 2. But to number mens names in order to punish them for being present then and where Prayer is made to God in the name of Jesus Christ and God's Word preached hath not been practised by any persons that have occurred to my observation in reading the holy Scriptures 2. David might have pretended better things to have excused his sin than these Informers have for their practice As by numbring the people he might see the accomplishment of God's promise who promised Abraham a great and numerous posterity and all the Generations from Abraham to David were but fourteen Generations Matt. 1.17 Now that there should be a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men that drew sword and four hundred threescore and ten thousand in Judah beside Levi and Benjamin that were not numbred 2 Chron. 21.5.6 When David heard this great number he might have made this use of it what a demonstration is here of God's faithfulness and power that from one and him as good as dead should spring so great a multitude of men besides women and children Besides he might have said what cause have I to be thankful to God that hath put such honour upon me to make me a King of such a numerous people For in the multitude of people is the Kings honour Prov. 14.28 He might also judge it a point of prudence conducing to his credit and his peoples safety to know his strength that having so many potent enemies on every side he might judge when and with whom to make War and Peace as it becomes a wise and wary Prince to do Luk. 14.31 But these things did not excuse David from sin God saw an irregularity in David whether it were pride or curiosity or neglecting the offering that was prescribed when the people was numbred Num. 12.13 14. I shall not determine 3. David was troubled in conscience for his sin and made an humble confession of it to God 2 Sam. 24.10 And Davids heart smote him after that he had numbred the people and David said unto the Lord I have sinned greatly in that I have done and now I beseech thee O Lord take away the iniquity of thy servant for I have done very foolishly But we hear of no remorse from these men 4. David offended but once in this kind but these men go on in their evil way and often renew their sin 5. David when convinced of his sin was willing to have suffered death so that God would not proceed to punish Israel for his sin 2 Sam. 24.17 And David spake unto the Lord when he saw the Angel that smote the people and said Lo I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these sheep what have they done Let thy hand I pray thee be against me and against my father's house Whereby it is evident that he had no evil design upon the people when he caused them to be numbred But these men that go to these Assemblies to take names and watch them as they come forth in order to the getting them to be punished make it manifest that they have a design upon them to do evil to them 2. The actings of these Informers are prejudicial to the whole Kingdom because righteous men are the strength of a Nation and are blessings to the places where they live Zech. 12.5 The governours of Judah shall say in their heart The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of Hosts their God Prov. 11.11 By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted When Elisha was
terrible manner Job 27.20 21 22 Terrours take hold of him as waters a tempest stealeth him in the night the east-wind carrieth him away and he departeth and as a storm burleth him out of his place For God shall cast upon him and not spare he would fain flee out of his hand All this time that God beareth with you and waits for your repentance he is whetting his sword and bending his bow and preparing for you the instruments of death and the longer the sword is whetting the sharper it will be and give the more deadly wound when it strikes you Ps 7.10 11 12 God is angry with the wicked every day if he turn not he will whet his sword he hath bent his bow and made it ready he hath also prepared for him the instruments of death he ordaineth his arrows against his persecutors Plea 9. It brings us in great profit to go and inform against these men and their Meetings and therefore being in straits and having need of Money we take up this trade of Informing for thereby a third part of all fines will come into our Purses Ans 1. If the work you went about were so good yet it is sordid and sinful to go about such an employment from a covetous principle Teaching the Word of God is a good work and judging the causes between man and man is a good work yet when a man 's great end in these works is to get Money they become sinful Mic. 3.8.11 I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord to declare unto Jacob his transgression and Israel his sin The heads thereof judge for reward and the Priests thereof teach for hire and the Prophets thereof divine for Money 2. Judas gained thirty pieces of silver by betraying of Christ but what good did his Money do him when his Conscience was awakened and made sensible of his sin his Money was a trouble to him he was weary of it and threw it away and hanged himself Matt. 27.5 He cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and hanged himself When Balaam was sent for to Balack to curse Israel and had a great reward proffered him the love of the wages of unrighteousness prevailed with him to go but what befel him in the way An Angel met him with a drawn sword and would have slain him had not the Ass turned out of the way Numb 22.32 33. And God to shew to Balaam his folly and madness gave the Ass a voice to rebuke him 2 Pet. 2.15 16 which have forsaken the right way and gone astray following the way of Balaam the Son of Bozor who loved the wages of unrighteousness but was rebuked for his iniquity The dumb Ass speaking with mans voice sorbade the madness of the Prophet They that out of love to the wages of unrighteousness will curse the Israel of God are little better than mad-men The very beasts had they power to speak would cry out of and rebuke the iniquity of these men 3. If this practise of yours be so sinful as hath been proved then what you gain in this kind is got with the loss of your Souls and if you could gain the whole world and should lose your souls you would be miserable for ever Mark 8.36 What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own Soul 4. Consider what the Scripture saith of unrighteous men and the gain they make by their unrighteous practises And I leave it to your Conscience to judge whether to get riches by causing men to be punished for praying to God and hearing his Word be not to get them unrighteously 1. All that is gained unrighteously is got with the loss of the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 9.6 Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 2. All that is gotten unrighteously will last but a little while Jer. 17.11 He that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his days and in the end shall be a sool 3. The riches you get this way will eat your flesh as it were fire the remembrance of these things in the other world will torment your Conscience as much as fire does your flesh Jam. 5.3 4. Your gold and silver is cankered and the rust of them shall witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire ye have heaped up treasure against the last days Behold the bire of the labourers which have reaped down your fields which is of you kept back by fraud cryeth and the crys of them that reaped are entred into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth If the hire of a labouring man kept back by fraud cryeth and the cry entereth into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth how much more do the estates of those Ministers who have been Labourers in God's vineyard which have been by you taken away by force and violence cry unto the Lord and their crys enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts And if the rust of the estates of covetous men who heap up Money and do no good with it will be a witness against them and will eat their flesh like fire then what a witness will all those goods be against you at the day of Judgment which you have caused to be taken away from the servants of God and how will the remembrance thereof vex and torment your Consciences even as if your flesh were continually burning in the fire Plea 10. We abhor those men that turn Informers for filthy lucre sake and look upon them as vile persons It is zeal for the glory of God and the good of the Church that makes us prosecute these men I purpose to give my part of the fines to the poor and to charitable uses therefore I hope I am praise-worthy Ans 1. Suppose it be zeal that carries you out to prosecute these men yet you may be guilty of persecution When the Apostle Paul made havock of the Church of Christ and haled the members of it to Prison he did not act for gain or preferment but out of zeal yet he acknowledgeth himself a persecutor and injurious though what he did proceeded out of a blind zeal Phil. 3.6 Concerning zeal persecuting the Church Act. 26.9 I verily thought with my self I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth And though he did nothing against the members of Christ but what he thought to be his duty yet when he was better instructed he called himself the chief of sinners for persecuting of Jesus Christ 2. An indiscreet zeal may carry a man out not only to do that which is prejudicial to himself but may bring Judgments upon the Kingdom where he lives Saul slaying the Gibeonites out of zeal to the children of Israel and Judah brought a famine which is a sore Judgment that continued a long time in the Land even three years 2 Sam. 21.1 2 Then there was a
the painful accursed death of the Cross to save lost Souls 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners And great care should be used that we do not hinder the obtaining that for which Christ shed his precious blood The greatest good we can do for any man is to further and the greatest hurt is to hinder his Salvation 5. It is recorded to the honour of Hezekiah that he was an encourager of all that did faithfully dispence the word of God 2 Chr. 30.22 Hezekiah speak comfortably to all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the Lord. And as he did incourage the Ministers of Gods word so God did wonderfully bless him 2 Chr. 31.30 Hezekiah prospered in all his works And it is recorded of Herod as one of his chief sins that he imprisoned one of Gods Ministers Luk 3.19 20. But Herod the Tetrarch being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philips wife and for all the evils which Herod had done Added this above all that he shut up John in prison Herod was guilty of many evils but this is noted as the principal as that which was above all the rest that he shut up John in prison And as it is a great sin to afflict the Ministers and servants of Christ so it is usally followed with a sore judgment Herod who stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the Church soon after dyed in a miserable manner being eaten up of Worms Act. 12.1 2 3 23. Pharaoh who oppressed Israel and would not let them go to serve the Lord in the wilderness was followed with one plague after another till he was destroyed 6. Rulers ought not to be a terrour to such as do good works but to encourage and protect them Rulers are not a terrour to good works but to the evill Wilt thou then not be affraid of the power do that which is good and thou shall have praise of the same Preaching of the Gospel whereby men may be saved and praying to God in the name of Christ are good works and therefore rulers ought not to be a terrour to any man for these works 7. We are taught and Commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ to pray to the Lord to send forth labourers into his Vineyard because the harvest is great and the labourers are but few Then said he to his disciples The harvest truly is plentious but the labourers are but few Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest To pray for labourers and when God hath sent them forth to molest and trouble them for labouring is to contradict our prayers Let the Ignorance Atheism Profaneness the growth of Errour and the small number of Preachers that are found in the Faith and of an holy conversation be considered and laid to heart and it will evidently appear that there is great need of prayer for more Labourers and of encouraging those that are sent forth and of not suppressing any that are faithful peaceable and diligent in the Work of the Lord. Obj. 1. If it be replyed These informers accuse these Ministers that they keep seditious Conventicles and are ready to give oath of it and as such we are obliged by the Law to suppress them An. 1. Rulers ought to be wise as an Angel of God to discern good from evil 2. Sam. 14 17. As an Angel of God so is my Lord the King to descern good and bad And that is no hard matter in the Noon day of the Gospel to distinguish between Religion and sedition When Job was a Ruler among his People he was diligent to search out the truth of all causes that came before him and when he found any Wicked man oppressing the righteous he was so far from rewarding him that he plucked the Spoil out of his Teeth and if he held it fast and would not let it go he break his Jaws rather than suffer him to hold his Spoils Job 29.16 17. The Cause which I knew not I searched out I break the Jaws of the wicked and pulled the Spoil out of his Teeth 2. These Ministers as was hinted before do abhor seditious Conventicles and are falsly accused by these Informers and Magistrates should be slow to believe their false accusations and not proceed to Act against them till they have searched into the truth of these informations and that for several reasons as 1. The great enmity that is in the heart of the Wicked against Righteous men which makes them eager to do them all the Mischief they can The Scripture speaks so frequently and so fully of this that I shall need to say the less Prov. 4.16 They sleep not except they have done Mischief and their Sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall Ps 37.19 32. The Wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his Teeth The Wicked watcheth the Righteous and seeketh to slay him 2. They are under a temptation of gain and the Love of Mony is the Root of all evil and therefore it is no wonder if they prove false accusers of them against whom they have a great enmity and by accusing of whom they make a great advantage 3. The rule that is given to Magistrates in the word of God is not to proceed to Punishment upon reports till they have made diligent search and have certain proof of the truth of the fact Deut. 13.13 14 15. If thou shalt hear say Then shalt thou enquire and make search and ask diligently and behold if it be truth and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought among you 3. These Ministers and those that assemble with them are oftentimes judged and sentence passed upon them for to take away their Goods before they have been heard or had their accusers Face to Face yea sometimes before they know who it is that hath accused them and this seemeth to me to be against the Light and Law of Nature which teacheth that a man ought not to be condemned till he hath had his accusers face to face and hath had Licence to answer for himself The Romans had no other Light to regulate them in their judicial proceedings but the Light of Nature yet they observed this Rule not to pass sentence upon a man till he had his accusers face to face and had liberty to answer for himself Act. 15.16 It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to dy before he that is accused hath the accusers face to face and have Liberty to answer for himself concerning the Crime laid against him If the Romans which were Heathens how much more should Christian Magistrates forbear condemning any man till he hath seen his accusers heard his accusation and been Permitted to make his own defence The name of Pilat is odious in the Christian World and will be to all generations for Condemning our Lord