might have the juster pretence to secure their persons for spies of the land And this made David so often and so fervently pray for the clearing up of his integrity not that he suspected the integrity of his own heart for he was a man after Gods heart and so could not deal treacherously but Saul had suggested false insinuations of him He had laid to his charge things that he knew not they devised deceitfull matters against him that was quiet in the Land I am loath to preach Matchiavil in the pulpit It is truly said of the old Satyrists that they whipp'd the vices of the times so naked that they made sport to lascivious eyes to behold them I should be loth in the unmasking the designs of Tyrants to set a copy to any although of an inferior rank to write by Yet it is too well known that nothing so much advances the purposes of usurpers as plots ingeniously contrived by themselves and as fortunately discovered when their counsels are ripened for them For by this means they raise the reputation of their own sagacity and waking diligence and evermore weaken the power of the adverse party some of which must fall victims to their wit and industry But how prosperous soever such counsels are for a time Christianity warrants us not for such dark-lanthorn Stratagems But the third and last fallacy of these treacherous dealers is their non causa pro causâ the assigning the cause of their mischiefs to them who are most unconcern'd and innocent If a Lamb be drinking at a stream though much below the Wolf it is occasion enough to worry him and to pretend that he hath roil'd the waters When Ahab's cruelty and Iezabels sorcery had begot a famine in the fruitfull Land of Canaan and that Countrey felt an ebb which before had flowed with milk and honey the blood of the Lords prophets which were slain is quite forgotten and the abominations of the Zidonians Baals Idolatry not reflected on but the blame of all must rest upon Elijah that it s he that troubles Israel Herodotus tells us of a foolish people of Mauritania which yearly go out to curse the Sun with a great solemnity because he tanns their naked bodies Thus when jealousies and fears have laid us naked to all the mischiefs of base suspicion when ingratitude and rebellion have stain'd our souls as black as the sins the furies that harbour in them we have gone out to curse the Sun and make the blessed influence of his heat and light the cause of all our grievances But there is no Nation except our own hath given more pregnant instances of this then the Israelites whose ingratitude this way made the very quails their meat stink between their teeth and named the waters they drank of bitterness from their murmuring Sometimes Corah and his seditious Elders shall quarrel at Aarons the High Priest's preheminence upon a pretence of holiness they are as good as he why lifts he up himself above the people of the Lord And if Moses the civil Magistrate steps in to his rescue there is Tyranny straight clapt in his teeth He goes about to make himself a Lord over them Straight after this two hundred and fifty assembly-men shall dare challenge a share in holy administrations and offer incense on their unhallowed censers And when God shall make a miraculous discrimination between hâ—s anointed and those that rebel against them by not suffering them to dy who did not deserve to live but opening the mouth of the earth he shall let some of them down quick to hell whilst he rains down Hell from Heaven consuming fire upon the rest the very next day Moses and Aaron shall be challenged for it that they have murthered the people of the Lord even that very people that perished in their rebellion This begets a new plague when these whom they accuse for their murtherers must be their deliverers again for there is wrath gone out against them from the Lord whilst a cloud covers Moses and Aaron at the Tabernacle of the Congregation Yet in the very next story they are no sooner pinch'd with a little drought but they fall a chiding their governours again as the cause of all 't is they have brought them up to perish in the wilderness But what says Moses Hearken O ye Rebels why murmure ye against the Lord ye are gathered together against the Lord and what are we that you murmure against us And have not our eyes beloved seen all this acted Hath not the preheminency of our Aarons been questioned by a pretended godly party Hath not our Moses been accused of Tyranny because he stood up to vindicate them Nay hath not our Moses been arraigned for murthering of them that perished in their rebellion Hath not every unsuccessfull adventure every dear year every deluge or drought been imputed to him and his party Hath there been any thunder or rain in wheat-harvest which hath not been charged upon that great wickedness of asking a King But hearken Oh ye rebels 't is Gods Ordinances you despise in trampling upon Aaron Hearken Oh ye rebels 't is Gods Soveraignity you refuse in resisting Moses Hearken Oh ye rebels 't is God himself whom you arraign in challenging his Magistrate with the blood of them that perished in their rebellion Thus have they committed falshood the thief cometh in and the troop of robbers spoileth without Hos. 7. 1. and they have dealt treacherously against the Lord And this is the second aggravation of their sin they deal treacherously The last and chiefest remains this sin was acted without any just provocation They spoiled when they were not spoiled they dealt treacherously when they were not dealt treacherously withall without any just provocation I say For against unreasonable fears and jealousies there can be no security Historians tell us of the time when the Romanes might not whisper together in the streets least their breath should be accused to be rebellious I am sure we have known when our very prayers have been suspected of sin When Hannahs prayers were muttered in the Temple Eli supposed she had been drunken But alas the Temple hath been shut up against us and our worship as it was in Ieroboam's days and if we met in private to whisper our devotions some Sanballats and Geshams would be ready to inform that we met together to rebell Thus have they devised deceitful matters against them that were quiet in the land And quiet they are upon a double account First they cannot Secondly they will not retaliate injuries First I say they cannot For what teeth and claws hath a Lamb to encounter with a Wolf What beak or talons hath a Dove to grapple with a Vulture God does many times disarm his people of all outward help and leave them onely the spiritual weapons of prayers and tears to encounter with their enemies and this is to make trial what these dare do and what those can suffer Sad was it
says the wise man blindeth the eyes But if justice be thus blinded it will have its reward in the land of darkness And yet although justice be blinde not to distinguish between party and party it must not be deaf too to neglect the cry of the poor Either cease to be a King or do me right says the bold Petitioner to the Persian Monarch Oh my Lords Let not the cries of the oppressed reach heaven before you least it bar your entrance there When Philip sate sleeping on the bench whilst a false judgement passed in the Court he was wakened with the bold appeal of Machaetas The King disdaining a higher Iudicatory to which an appeal could be made replies with indignation whither dost thou appeal thou Varlet To thy self To K. Philip says he Te in te appello to Philip waking from Philip sleeping Such sleepy Iudges love darkness and the deeds of darkness more then light But as their ears must be open yet they must open but one at once W th the Graecian Monarch they must stop up one while the Plaintiff is objecting and leave it free not prepossest when the Defendant makes his Plea For this cause too as a Magistrate hath two ears to hear both sides speak so he hath but one tongue to pronounce single judgement To w ch he must come impartiall and unpraejudicate Remember that Gods law was wrote in Tables of Stone not of Leather or Parchment which would stretch wider or contract narrower His Command Thou shalt not steal takes in as well Alexanders royall pillaging Navy as a poor fly-boat of a single pick-aroon Such corruption of the laws Severus complained of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says he he that steals much to inable him to give a little makes a bridge of gold for his own escape I press this the more because all the guilt of a malefactor is contracted by that Iudge who takes cognisance of it and lets it go unpunished Qui non vetat peccare cum potest jubet That Magistrate that consents to a thief is himself a robber and he that winks at an adulterer lets in that foul Devil at his closed eye Bitter was that reply of the malefactor who being asked of his judge who was accessary to his felony Thou thy self says he for hadst thou trusst me up for my former I had not lived to commit another which leads me my Lords to your second capacity as you are Gods you must execute wrath on evildoers you must spoil the spoilers And here you have need of Hercules his strength to cleanse another Augaean stable This age hath furnished us with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Comaedian calls them gulfs and whirlpools of rapine and oppression But since his royall Majesty hath thrown a mantle over them not such an one as Ahasuerus the Persian did over Haman a token of condemnation but of pardon and absolution I will not uncover their nakedness but leave our spoilers to Gods plentifull reward at the last account if they do not before that time make satisfaction for their extortion and violence Let it suffice your Lordships with a Calendar of such criminals as have in other places or may come before you here or rather the prophet Hosea shall do it for me Hos. 4. 2. They brake forth into swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery and blood touching blood And well may I call those criminals which are guilty of these because for such sins as these the Land hath mourned and if they be not removed or cut off by the hand of justice the Land shall mourn again and the inhabitants thereof shall languish Yet all this while God hath but a controversie with these sinners he will implead them and proceed judicially against them But in the fourth verse there follows a sin that stops Gods plea that he will no more take pains to convince them but give them up to an obdurate sense Let no man strive nor reprove another says he for the people are as they that strive with the Priest So near relation betwixt God and his Vicars those which are labourers in his stead that they that rob them of their Tithes and Offerings rob God Mal. 3. 8. They that strive against Aaron are gathered together against the Lord Numb 16. 11. Tremble then thou Theomachus that darest fight against God in his holy Ministers darest fight against God in his holy Ordinances God will take no pains to reprove thee he will give thee up to a reprobate minde Thou art one that strivest with the Priest thou art one of those that castest him out of the Synagogues Nay to make up our Saviours prophesie thou thinkest thou dost God good service if thou killest him And truly my Lords this is onerosa prophetia this is the burden of the Land that by a pretended kind of Saintship men intitle God to the Devills cause they think they do the Lord service by killing his servants and as if his kingdome were divided against it self they fancy that they set up the Scepter of Christ by pulling down his anointed Thus was it in St. Peters days if any man suffered as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bloody cut-throat or a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thievish felon or a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spoiling plunderer or an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Bishop in another mans Diocess a Sequestrator in anothers living it was voyced abroad to be suffering for the name of Christ. And if your sword of justice should cut off any such ulcerated gangrain'd member the congregation of these Saints would be ready to murmure against you as they did against Moses and Aaron Numb 16. and say ye have killed the people of the Lord. But remember I beseech you Jehoshaphats instruction to his Judges 2 Chr. 19. 6. Take heed what ye do for ye judge not for man but for the Lord who will be with you in judgement Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you take heed and do it for there is no iniquity with the Lord nor respect of persons nor taking of gifts Arise therefore up and be doing and the Lord be with you Hypocrisie unmask'd THE SECOND SERMON Preached at the Assizes at St. Edmunds Bury March 4. 1660. At the request of Sr. Iohn Castleton Baronet High-Sheriff of the County of Suffolk HINC ◆ LVCEM ◆ ET ◆ POCVLA ◆ SACRA ALMA MATER CANTABRIGIA CAMBRIDGE Printed by Iohn Field Printer to the Universitie 1661. 2 TIM 3. 5. Having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof THe Context will tell you that these words are part of the description of those men who should cause perillous times in the last days Which days although a learned Paraphraser contends to be all one with St. Iohns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 John 2. 18. the last hour before Christ's coming in vengeance to destroy his enemies the Jews an hour which of all the Disciples St. John
those Beasts of prey which leave nothing unworried which they can master Not a fearfull Hare nor an innocent Lamb which can escape their ravenous appetites That fore-quoted place Luk. 3. 14. accuse no man falsely hath more in it in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 come not with your blandishments or flattering insinuations to prepossess the Iudges ears The Scholiast says the word came from the practise of presenting a basket of figs to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the gift-devouring Iudges as Hesiod calls them and a Magistrate thus prejudging a person to be criminal leaves him fit to be spoiled Hence St. Barnard says the false unjust accuser carries the Devil in his tongue the receiver in his car No such sure way to rob Naboth of his Vineyard as for false witnesses to accuse him that he hath blasphemed God and the King Blasphemed God! O impious wretch away with him such a man is not fit to live upon the earth Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently And the King that 's treason if thou let this man go thou art not Cesars friend Hereupon Luther makes the slanderer the greatest offender against the second Table for whereas the thief sends one soul to the Devil and the adulterer two he is ter homicida at one thrust he stabs three himself the party to whom the party of whom he tells the tale But this injury of the tongue is nothing comparable to that of the hand if it did not make way for it For thus have we found by too sad experience that once voyce a man to be a Malignant the Courts of justice have been obstructed against him and the benefit of the law denied him he is exposed to Kites and Vultures he is fleec'd to the very bones and thus the second brings in the third Injury makes way for Rapine And now I do heartily wish that the Harpy's were onely a Poetical brood which built their nests in the Poets fictions Tristius haud illis monstrum should I give you the description of them from the Poets you would believe you had seen their walking pictures They are fancied to be Virgins in that they are barren because goods so gotten descend seldome to posterity when they cease to spoil they shall be spoiled says the text they have wings to fly and that swift in extorting witness those prodigious sums raised in one Harpie's time more then in all the reigns of the Kings from the Conquest to his days they are covered with plumes for cloaking of their prey they have the talons of Vultures from griping and fast holding of their ill got riches And hath not our age seen some of these think you what think ye of Solomons sinners Prov. I. II. which say come let us lay wait for blood let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause Let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole root and branch as those that go down into the pit we shall finde all precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil Have you seen none of these What think you of Elijah's spoilers 1 Kin. 21. who have killed and also taken possession have you seen none of these What think you of Iacob's sons Gen. 34. which spoil the whole city of the Shechemites upon a pretence of introducing religion there have you seen none of these What think you of Ieremie's spoilers Jer. 12. 1◠which are come upon all the high places they have defiled the Sanctuary of God and broken down the carved work thereof with axes and hammers nay pardon great God the irreverence they have used the Temple as Iehu did the house of Baal and made a draught house of it unto this day Have ye seen none of these in a word what think ye of our Saviours spoilers Mat. 23. 14. Scribes and Pharisces hypocrites who under a pretence of long prayers devour whole widows houses who from Pharisees turn Publicans and instead of tithing Mint or Rue decimate or sequester whole estates which makes that of Zeno most true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Publicans are rapacious And if the Law Books say true that the word Fellon comes from fell or cruel we may conclude them the greatest Fellons of all for they have been the fiercest spoilers of all others And now you would think here were matter enough for an Endictment against them but this is but the first branch of it that they are spoilers there is another yet behind they are treacherous dealers We have seen them hitherto as raging Lions behold them now as subtle Dragons watching for their prey And this likewise in a threefold respect First in their pretending false fears and punishing others for them Secondly in their fomenting real dangers and imputing them to others Thirdly in their assigning others for causes of that which they know arises from another hand For the first of these I know it is a judgement upon Tyranny that it is never secure from jealousies and suspicions the wicked feareth where no fear is Psal 14. 5. Nero suspects his own shadow for harbouring his mothers Ghost yet oftentimes it happens that great dangers are pretended that the blame may fall on them who are mark'd out for sacrifice Thus Richard our third shall I say or our first usurper imputes his natural mishapen withered arm to the sorcery of such as he had devoted to execution Iehu knew himself to be established King over Israel he was proclaimed by the Souldiers acknowledged by the people he had slain Ioram his lawfull Soveraign he had by a cunning hypocrisie cheated the people into a great opinion of his zeal yet by a fine reach of policy a letter must be sent to Samaria to perswade the Elders of Israel to set up the best of their Masters Sons upon his Throne and fight for him 2 King 10. 3. he knew he had the City already at his devotion by the terror he had cast upon them But by this means he obtained a noble present the heads of Ahabs seventy sons were sent in baskets to him Thus the Lapwing flutters most and cries the lowdest to cheat the traveller when she is farthest from indangering her nest Potiphars wife had too great trial of Iosephs honesty yet he must be accused as an Hebrew brought in to mock her And thus Daniel faithfull religious loyal Daniel upon a pretence of disobeying the Kings decree must be thrown into the Lion den But secondly they sometimes contrive and foment real plots and dangers to punish others for them Thus that monster of mankinde Nero sets the City of Rome on fire whilst he sits in his Tower and makes musick to the dancing flames singing there his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whilst many thousand Christians are condemned to tortures for being the Incendiaries And this was a good mans even Iosephs policy too who secretly conveys the price of the corn and his own divining cup withall into his brethrens sacks mouths that he
ears which denoted justice says he which must not be held by the ears by any formal accusation And indeed if it were enough to accuse no man could be innocent Not an upright David can avoid false witnesses w ch lay to his charge things that he knew not But my Lords I am so far from wishing a mutilation of justice that I pray it may never want two ears of an equal size that the Defendants plea may finde as much room as the Plaintiffs accusation Let it be quick-sighted too to discern what it sees with the eyes not what it feels with the hands Let it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a touch-stone to distinguish between gold and dross not pardon ravening vultures which bring plundered meat in their mouthes and punish innocent doves which have onely sighs and groanes to relieve them My Lords you sit here now by a full Commission and can answer to captious questions of Scribes and Elders if they shall dare to ask you as they did our Saviour Mar. 11. ver 28. By what authority do you these things and who gave you this authority You come not here to publish any Manliana imperia any Tyrants decrees or Usurpers instruments any Draco's laws written in blood You are sent by a Prince whose mercifull condescentions have made him less a King less absolute that they may make us more subjects more obedient And as our confidence is that our good Iehoshaphat hath sent us judges which have the fear of the Lord before their eyes with whom there is no respect of persons nor taking of bribes so if you should fail of that trust you would prove the greatest traytors of all others you would pull down that throne which is established in righteousness My Lords the law of which you are the mouthes is the line and rule of our actions Oh I beseech you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remove not the line do not set it in nearer to some and remove it farther back from others 'T was a severe reproof that Anacharsis gave to Solon when he told him that his laws were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like to spiders webs which intangled little flies and sufferd great ones to break through them It is an old tradition that our English Forum Westminster Hall is roof'd with Irish wood which will harbour no spiders Oh let not the floor the Courts of Iustice there be full of Cobwebs to intangle poor innocent ignorant wretches with niceties and formalities which those with strong backs easily break through God does so often and so passionately recommend the poor mans case to your Patronages that methinks in one place he seems sollicitous least pity should make you partial thou shalt not countenance says he a poor man in his cause Exod. 23. verse 3. that is if he be querulous and vexatious and he that dares not steal because of the law shall under the cloak of poverty steal by the law and live by rapine and get what he can from others because he hath nothing to lose himself Suidas tells us of a King of Tenedus who ordain'd that an Officer should stand behinde the Iudges back holding up an hatchet pointed forward as well to terrifie vexatious informers and false witnesses as to let the Iudge know that he was mortal if he should under the pretence and form of Iustice wrong the innocent But here I humbly desire not to be misconceived I am far from closing with the Fanatical whimzes of some amongst us who cry out of all forms and legal proceedings because grounded perhaps upon Norman customs or couch'd in a language not understood by every high-shoon delver or whistling carter That sad and deplorable inter-regnum if I may so call it which we had when there was no King visibly reigning in our Israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes gave us a taste of those innumerable contentions which would arise by translating the body of the law into the English tongue when every man would be Plaintiff Attorney Counsellour and he hopes Iudge too in his own case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I reverence those of the long robe and do know that they are the best Protectours of our properties and estates their abilities smell of the lamp in those knotty and irksome studies of the laws But Gentlemen I wish there were not so many left-handed Caelius's among you whose excellency lies in palliating a foul cause or blackning a fair one 'T is a common saying and too much made use of that a bad cause had need of the best Oratour for a good one will defend it self And if any thing can stick a disgrace upon the law 't is this that after equity and right and reason have adjudged a cause it may be retrived by picking out some punctilio wherein there hath been a miscarriage in the prosecution and formality of it But remember that God standeth in the Congregation of the mighty he stands in it and over it too for so the word imports he does praesidere he is president he is Lord chief justice he is judge among the Gods judges them here by a secret sentence their consciences either accusing or excusing every one And will judge them hereafter when he hath arrested them by his Bayliff death when the Devils will be Plaintiffs and the Angels Defendants At that great Assize I mean when at the sound of the trumpet we shall all appear before the judgement seat of Christ and every one shall receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or evil God fit us all for that account c. Samuel's Circuit THE THIRD SERMON Preached at the Assizes at St. Edmunds Bury Iuly 29. 1661. At the request of Sr. Iohn Castleton Baronet High-Sheriff of the County of Suffolk HINC ◆ LVCEM ◆ ET ◆ POCVLA ◆ SACRA ALMA MATER CANTABRIGIA CAMBRIDGE Printed by Iohn Field Printer to the Universitie 1661. 1 Sam. 7. 15 16. And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh and he judged Israel in all those places THE Government of Gods own people was at this time committed under him to Iudges neither so loose that every man durst do what was right in his own eyes nor so strict that any man did what was right in Gods eyes A Monarchick Government it was where one ruled alone but whether it was all one with the Regal which succeeds in the next chapter and was differenced from it but in name or onely a Praecursor an Usher to it I will not here determine God had run through many changes from Captains he had given them Iudges then Priests then Judges again as if he did contrive by experimenting several forms how he might best protect them And now the best of Magistrates Samuel ruled the worst of Subjects Israel whether we consider their seditious mutability and desire of change
though Bethel was the house of God and so famous that afterward it was made the Kings Chappel Amos 7. 13. yet Samuel goes in circuit to Bethel But secondly from Bethel he goes to Gilgal the camp of war For of old the tents of Israel were no sanctuary for rapine or injustice When Achan had sacrilegiously stoln the Babylonish garment and the shekels of silver and the wedge of gold Ioshua in the midst of the camp commands execution upon the malefactour and all of his stock and lineage and for a perpetual memory of the fact he raises a pillar and named the place the valley of Achor to all succeeding ages Josh. 7. 26. That position was not then heard of that inter arma silent leges the laws must be hush'd where drums and trumpets speak They knew they fought to establish peace which could not be where right and justice was neglected And where should justice whet her sword with more severity then where violence and injury may expect most protection amongst those quos arma tegunt baltheus ambit belts and buff coats The witty Satyrist reckons up all those affronts which a Peasant should meet with in the Romane Camp in his time where one eye durst not weep for the loss of another if a Souldier beat it out And if any one that had two shins durst adventure to make a complaint inter tot caligatos millia clavorum among so many clubs and clouted shoes he should onely be heard by a Iudge Advocate in a Court Martial where good luck betided him if his remedy was not worse then the disease Which makes our Saviour so strict in his advice to Souldiers Luke 3. 14. That they should do no violence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shake no man The Metaphor includes much neither thresh them by beating of them nor grind them by oppressing of them nor sift them by extorting money from them For if once it come to a Quod libet id licet his God knows where an armed violence would stop Which begot that admirable edict in Cassiodor vivant cum provincialibus jure civili nec insolescat animus qui se sentit armatum quia clypeus ille exercitûs tui quietem debet praestare paganis An army ought to be a sword and buckler to the Countrey where they quarter Whether they have obeyed this counsel in after-ages some have too sadly found But blessed be God who hath removed from us Aquilonarem exercitum Ioel 2. 20. Even the locust and the canker-worm and the caterpillar and the palmer-worm the great army which we had sent amongst us which devoured all the fat things of the land Blessed be God who hath removed that terrour that did accompany the name of Souldier which is now a Protection not an affrightment Blessed be God who hath stilled the raging of the sea the noise of the waves and the tumults of the people Psal. 65. 7. Who hath shackled venales manus such as would dispute no commands Ibi fas ubi plurima merces such as thought good pay and rich plunder would gild over a bad cause Those loyal souls which stil are honoured with the title of Souldiers will no doubt prove themselves indeed to be the Life guard of their King For as Iustice supports the Throne they dare not be so great Rebels as by any actions of injustice or oppression to pull it down They will rather wait upon our Samuels to Gilgal then obstruct their passage thither But thirdly from Gilgal he goes to Mizpeh where was the tryal and punishment of Idolaters I will not here dispute the case whether the judgement of religious controversies and punishment of offences belongs onely to the civil Magistrate I am no Erastian But this I am sure of That a man of God came in his predecessours days to old Ely and sadly reproves him for neglecting the uniformity and decency in the service of the sanctuary which he calls kicking against Gods sacrifices and his offerings And Camius proves it from the Hebrew Doctors that this man of God was Elkana the father of Samuel who no doubt would have been armed with sharper Rhetorick against his son should he have gratified a popular faction in their Schism or Idolatry For a Magistrate is custos utriusque tabulae he is a Judge both in Laws and Commandments Statutes and Ordinances things that concern God as well as man 2 Chr. 19. 10. And if any defect can be found in our English Laws 't is this that they are more strict to preserve to man his Meū and Tuum then to God his Suum That it shall be less hazardous to denyGod at least consequentially against the first Commandement then the authority of a petty constable against the fifth To worship a horse as the Persians do against the second then to steal a horse against the eighth To blaspheme God against the third then to slander the neighbour against the ninth To prophane Gods Sabbaths and Sanctuaries in abusing holy times and places against the fourth then to trespass against man even pedibus ambulando by trampling upon his grass or stepping over his threshold Mistake me not It is not my purpose to give a loose to licentiousness or to think a transgression of the second table is but a petty trespass I know that without righteousness to man there is no true holiness to God and a religious Rebel is but a gilded Athiest But forasmuch as the Poena praesens is that alone which for the most part strikes a terrour to debauched mindes And practical Atheists however they have a general notion of eternity yet seldome apply it pro hic nunc in their particular actions to think of the last Assize when they shall be arraigned before the judgement seat of Christ to give an account for what they have have done in the flesh whether it be good or evil And forasmuch as the the putting to death of one malefactour causes deeper horrour then the story of a thousand Dives's roaring in hell for in the one we see the ghastly visage of death before our eyes whilst the other serves to fill up an empty corner of a stained cloth where it is so customary that prophane men esteem it little more then fabulous Upon these and many other grounds sober-minded Christians do wish My Lords that your commissions were enlarged to inquire more for the Lord against Baalim and Ashtaroth here in Mizpeh Then should not Atheistical Libertines rant in the streets superstitious worshippers of their own inventions should not dare to separate from Gods publick ordinances prophane stabbers of his holy name should be indited of murther for crucifying again the Lord of Life the thriving sin of Sacrilege would find a snare indeed as the Vulgar Latine reads it Laqueus est homini devorare sacra to rob God of time or place of worship deserves a halter Rebellious miscreants which spend their lives in sacrificing to the Devil would finde such severity
simplicity of those holy Seers had never learn'd Lysanders policy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to piece out the Lyons skin with the Foxes tail where strength was wanting to oppress there wit should supply it with a cheat He did not set traps or lay snares to catch men Ier. 5. 27. First contrive plots and then accuse and condemn others for them In the next story indeed we finde Saul among the Prophets and he was fraudulent enough But the Chaldee Paraphrase reads it insanivit Saul Saul was mad And many such mad Prophets we have lived to see who under the cloak of a sanctimonious life and a pretence of gifts have defrauded their poor Proselytes of their estates wits liberties and lives But know it brethren Satan is never so purely a Devil as when he appears an Angel of light No Samuel was bred up in Shiloh and in the causes which he adjudged he could appeal to the Law and to the Testimonies He knew the Lord did abhor both the blood-thirsty and deceitfull man He defrauded none Thirdly as he was a Magistrate he would oppress none He knew their dignity set them over others to protect and defend them not to trample upon them and oppress them The fat kine of Basan which dwell in the mountains of Samaria says the Prophet Amos oppress the poor and crush the needy Amos 4. 1. These says Clarius are pingues proceres delicati principes qui ad ar andum nihil valent sed tantum ad devorandum the well-lined Magistrates which like stall'd oxen are fitter to feed then to work Grotius interprets the Kine of Basan in the feminine gender by the wives of Magistrates who too often give Law to their Husbands and abuse their authority to support their own pride and haughtiness If once Iezabel be Ahabs instructour what poor Naboth can keep his vineyard Samuel no doubt had a wife else whence sprung Joel and Abia his two sons But she is not once mentioned in the holy Page least she should seem to have a finger in the Government Thus Melchizedek is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because his Genealogy is not recorded So should a Magistrate be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he should know no relations no bosome favourite which may grinde the faces of the poor first that he may come after and eat them up like bread We may sadly remember the time when judgement sprung up as Hemlock as the Prophet complains Hos. 10. 4. Sicut absynthium vel cicuta herbs which are green and flourishing but taste them and the juice is bitter poyson What greater flourishes of equity and impartial proceedings then in those High Courts of Iustice. But those poor souls that tasted of them found judicium amarae mortis as the Original signifies the bitterness of death was in them And let the Prophet Hosea tell you when that time was It was when they spoke words swearing falsly in making a Covenant And what words do you think they spoke Even the same that Pharaoh did against the Israelites Exod. 1. 10. Opprimamus sapienter let us deal wisely with them and destroy them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us play the Sophisters with them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there 's fraud and oppression both united Of both which the people acquit our Magistrate Samuel here Thou hast not say they defrauded us nor oppressed us 1 Sam. 12. 4. Lastly as he was a Iudge he shook his hands from holding of bribes as Isaiah expresses it Chap. 33. verse 15. The word signifies Volam the palm the hollow of the hand which others who sell courtesies hold out to receive their gratuities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a speech too proverbial in taking of fees This he shook which of old was a Symbol of hatred or disdain And Iudges had need shake off such a viper from their hands which is of such a venemous nature that let it but sting the fingers ends it presently blinds the eyes Even the eyes of the wise says Moses and perverts the words of the righteous Deut. 16. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even wisdome it self stoops to advantage says Pindarus Oh brethren how much doth self interest prevail in the world What a perswasive faculty there is in gifts They do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Poet reconcile heaven and ingratiate us with all the powers upon earth What plausible pretences the most upright men finde to entertain them They are but the evidences of a gratefull minde the testimonies of respect and kindness the tokens of observance of our loving friends who either have been benefitted by us and then that obliges them to to these returns or hope to gain a good opinion of us by these arguments of their intire devotion to us And who can keep his eyes open when such Sirens charm Or if any do it is but one eye to look upon the person so well deserving that that should look upon the cause the right eye is quite blinded But Samuel remembred that the people that he judged lived under a Theocracy God was their King he but a viceroy He knew that one day he must come to be judged himself by that God with whom there is no iniquity nor respect of persons nor taking of gifts And however justice may be blinded here the all-seeing eye of Providence is quick-sighted and will at last bring to light the hidden works of darkness which made him wash his hands in innocency and without injury fraud oppression or bribery judge Israel all his days But longum est iter per praecepta per exempla breve All preaching cannot convince so much my Lords as your practise I may spend the time in teaching facienda what is to be done 'T is you must apply it faciendo in doing what is taught You see Samuel after his death still prophesies Eccl. 46. 20. And we hope he prophesies of our days that God would raise up Iudges like him men of integrity fearing God and hating coveteousness which shall go in Circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh from County to County from City to City and judge our Israel in all those places Wherefore now my Lords let the fear of the Lord be upon you for you judge not for man but for the Lord. SACRED HYMNS UPON THE GOSPELS OF THE Hyemal Quarter HINC ◆ LVCEM ◆ ET ◆ POCVLA ◆ SACRA ALMA MATER CANTABRIGIA CAMBRIDGE Printed by Iohn Field Printer to the Universitie 1661. PREFACE READER THou art here presented with the Essays of some broken hours the happiest means in those unhappy times when they were meditated to break our griefs and refresh us in our languishments For they were composed by the waters of Babylon where we sate down and wept to remember Sions captivity Our harps were hanged upon the willows in the midst thereof For when the Sanctuary was shut up against the establish'd service of God it is not to be imagined that we could sing one of the Lords songs