CapernauÌ„ was lifted vp to heaueÌ„ but they should be a cast downe to hell Secondly seeing that the life of the wicked in regard of their wickednes is so base and miserable and their end so wretched and fearefull let vs not desire to liue their life in regard of their pleasure but let vs chose rather to suffer affliction with the godly for righteousnesse sake as Moses did assuring our selues that as God doth lift the wicked vp to cast them down and to make them haue the sorer fall so doth the Lord cast his children downe to lift them vp againe This point is confirmed by our Sauior Christ in Mat. 5.4 Blessed are they that mourne now for they shal be comforted and this vfe are we taught to make of the wicked mans end Psal. 37.21.22 where Dauid confesseth that before he knew the end of the wicked which he learned in the house of God his heart was vexed at their prosperitie but when he saw whereunto they were going and what was their end then he saith that he in desiring their estate shewed himselfe both foolish ignorant and beastly before the Lord. Thirdly seeing as these outward things are common both to good and bad this should teach vs to suspend our rash iudgement of the godly that are vnder the hand of God because we know not for a certaintie whether he be so afflicted for his wickednesse or for some other cause as the blind man in the Gospell by the testimonie of Christ was blind neither for his own sin nor for the sinne of his parents but for the glorie of God And this vse are we taught in Mat. 7.1 Iudge not lest ye be iudged that is iudge not rashly And blessed is he saith the Psalmist that considereth wisely of the poore needie the Lord shall deliuer him in time of his distresse Fourthly seeing as God doth plague the wicked for our warning and as it were hang them vp in chaines before the world let vs feare at Gods iudgements vpon wicked men and not ioyne our felues vnto them least we be partakers of their iudgements like those that were ioyned in the conspiracie of Corah c. Num. 16.26 nor stand and gaze or wonder at them as the maner is but learne by their examples to auoide their wayes least we not repenting do also perish Fiftly and lastly seeing as this fearefull vengeance commeth vpon the wicked in this life for sin whensoeuer we feel the hand of God vpon vs let vs examine our selues for our sins which are the cause thereof and not do as the wicked who neuer looke into that cause but into secondarie and outward causes like the dog who biteth the stone but looketh not vnto the hand that cast it And as we dayly fall so let vs pray dayly and hourely for the renuing grace of Gods Spirit that we may rise againe and recouer our selues by true repentance and liuely faith in Iesus Christ to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all glorie and praise for euer Amen FINIS Faults escaped in the printing PAge 5. line 35. for commeth reade commendeth p. 10. l. 37. monet r. mouet p. 11. l. 17 two r. too p. 14. l. 5. lothsome r. toothsome p. 36. l 33. gaue r. giue p. 49. l. 1. censurers r. censures p. 55. l. 10. ias r. iah l. 18. r. Pashur l. 19 r. Naomi p. 68. l. 19. r. this is not well p. 89. l. 36. r. buried p. 92. l. 30 r sinners p. 94. l. 1. r. attaine p 96. l. 11. blot out Mo maruell though p. 98. l. 19. r. God will be more mercifull p. 154 l. 16. swimming r. â—inning p. 156 l. 27. we r. were p. 163. l. 15. not r. but. p. 170. l. 24. r. do shew vs how to reforme c. p. 191 l. 32. cannot r. can p. 206. l. 36. is r. in p. 225. l. 1 r. we haue heard to what ends c. Ibid. l. 7. blot out at all p. 233. l. 3. Apostle r Prophet p. 243. l. 32. r. Nehustan p. 248. l. 32. out r. vp p. 250. l. 40. r. vpon p. 253. l. 13. r. into l. 33. r. so to be clothed Mat. 5.16 2. Cor. 8. 2. Cor. 8.1 2. Pro. 27.17 Ioh. 1.43 Psal. 116 10. Pro. 16.2 2. Cor 9.7 2. Cor. 12.7 Psal. 115. 1. Thes. 5.22 1. Sa. 15.21 Gen. 3.10 Ioh. 12.5.6 2. Sam. 15.7 1. Kin. 1.39 2. Ki. 11.14 1. Cor. 14.8 Mar. 6.3 Iud. 9.15 2. Point Mar. 13. Mat. 26. Eccles. 9. Luke 8. 1. Cor. 11. Heb. 2.12 Luke 12.1 Mar. 13. Mat. 24. Gen. 32.10 Luke 1.46 Psal. 41. Psal. 19.11 Deut. 6.5 Psal. 103. 1. King 3.6 Iob. 14. Ioh. 6.60 Iob. 4.10 Psal. 21.4 1. Kin. 3.13 Cant. 5.10 2. Sa. 13.18 19. Pro. 15.15 Psal. 51. 1. King 10. Gen. 5.24 Psal. 119.10 Heb. 13.18 2. Cor. 2.17 Chap. 4.2 2. Tim. 4.7.8 Esa. 38.3 2. Cor. 6.8 Gal. 4.6 Cal. Har. Iam. 1.27 Mat. 23.13 Verse 14. Verse 15. Verse 16. Verse 17. Verse 23. Act. 5. Ier. 43. Act. 5. Schismatiks 2. Chron. 36.15.16.17 Iosh. 14. Verse 25. 27. 28. Cal Hâ—â— Euang Mat. 23. Iudg. 18. Verse 33. Verse 34.37 2 Chron. 24.22 2. King 8.12.13 Math. 7. Math. 22. Obiect Answer Mat. 5. Ier. 20. Eze. 33. Act. 16. Mat. 22. Mat. 18.6 1. Cor. 3. Mat. 8.22 1. The. 5.12.13 Priuate hypocrites Pro. 7. Iob. 1.1 Obiection Answer Pro. 22.1 1. Tim. 6.9 2. Cor. 9.2 Pro. 23.5 Iob. 12.3 Mar. 143. Luk. 10.34 Pro. 15.30 Aug. de bono viduita Iob. 12.3 Mat. 9.26 Heb. 11.39 Luk 6. Mat. 5. 1 Pet. 4.4 Pro. 28.3 Hest. 4 16. The deceiptfulnes of worldly praise Of the breuity of praise The vnprofitablenesse of worldly praise Mat. 16.26 The danger or it Pro. 17.4 1. King 22. Act. 12. The miserie of the hypocrite Gen. 31.40 Gen. 31.5 Gen. 11. 2. Sam. 1.15 2. Sam. 10. 2. Sam. 10. 2. Sa. 17. â—3 2. Cor. 6. Simile A double feare when the wicked commend the godly Mat. 22.18 Act. 16.18 Psal. 69.22 1. Tim. 4.8 The godly shall haue praise and renowne in this life 1. Sam. 2.30 2. Cor. 8.18 1. Pet. 2.19 Phil. 4.8 Mat. 26.13 1. Sam. 2.30 1. Kin. 3.12.13 Psal. 115.1 Math. 25. Pro. 10.7 Pro. 13.9 Simile Simile Their iudgemeÌ„t Mat. 24.51 The vse of the former doctrine 1. It sheweth the sottish vanitie of men that seeke after praise of the world Building Apparell Dainty fare Great gifts Play The hypocrite is more to be pitied for his misery then the beast Mat. 25. Psal. 56. Psal. 95. Hab. 1.16 Luke 18.11.12 1. Cor. 7.30.31 2. Cor. 6.9.10 Gal. 5.17 Esa. 64.6 Ioh. â—6 29 Philip. 1.29 Philip. 1.9 Philip. 1.11 Ioel. 2. Psal. 51. 1. Cor. 4.7 Nâ—h 13.22 Luk. 17.10 Exod. 3.5 Eccl. 4.17 Exod. 35. Ioh. 12.3 Mar. 12.42 Neh. 13. 2. Sa. 23.16 1. Sam. 25. Act. 5. Ioh. 12.4 Pro. 26.13 Cant. 5. Abusers of these words Psal. 139. Psal. 94. Ier. 17.10 Num. 23. Eccles. 11.1 Luk. 14.13.14 Mat. 25.24
no scholler if he please their humor he is the onely man and no man may come neare him If he vse to repeat his doctrine then he is tedious and wanteth matter if his deliuerie be mild then he is afraid to displease if it be bold and seuere then he is peremptorie and proud If a man vrge the law then he driueth men to desperation if mortification he driueth men into melancholy dumpes and frayeth them out of their wits If we vrge iustification before God by faith in Christ onely then they imagine that we denie good workes If we preach good workes then we are Popish if we teach that men must not pray to Saints nor for the dead then they imagine we deny prayer if we say that the salutation of the Angell to Mary is no prayer then we deny part of the new Testament if we say the Creede is no prayer then we deny the Creede if we preach against common vaine and needlesse swearing then they imagine vs to be Anabaptistes and deny both the vse of an oath and magistracie if we speak against gaming dancing other prophanations of the Lords day then they imagine that we allow Christians no manner of recreation If we preach against any sin that they vse then we preach of malice and against them if we teach doctrine which they conceiue not then there is no edifying in our sermons if they like it not then they imagine that no body else doth regard it if they come to heare vs then we are beholding to them for their presence if they wil not heare vs yet they imagine that we must speake though it be to the wals If they let their children or seruants be catechized by the Minister then they imagine that they do their Minister a great part of friendship in gracing of him if they say ouer their stint of prayers then God is beholding to them and heauen they must haue of merit If they heare sermons then they imagine all is well as though God were pleased with eare-seruice onely and alwayes they imagine grossely of spirituall things like Nicodemus who when Christ spake of being borne againe imagined that he must go againe into his mothers belly And as these Belials are themselues such do they imagine all others to be for as to him that hath an ague all things seeme vnsauourie so to him that hath an euill heart of his owne all mens doings seeme to be euill to verifie the saying of the Apostle in Titus 2.5 To the pure all things are pure but to the vncleane and impure nothing is pure but euen their minds and consciences are defiled and that is the cause why all things seeme euill vnto them because their minds and consciences are defiled But who are pure wil some say are not all men sinners and doth not sinne defile euery mans minde It is true that all men naturally are defiled with euill imaginations Gen. 6.5 but by faith which is through the grace of God in Christ the hearts of the elect are regenerated and purified because it apprehendeth the bloud and spirit of Christ to cleanse vs from sinne past and to preserue vs afterward from the dominion at the least of sinne to come like physicke restoratiue and preseruatiue For where a iustifying faith is there is a fanctifying grace And where faith is Mistresse there is charity handmaid which is of that excellent nature and disposition through the education and instruction of Gods Spirit who begate her that she iudgeth the best of euery thing that may be well interpreted 1. Cor. 13. And so much for the qualitie of Belials imaginations which is euill for so saith my Text and experience confirmeth no lesse but that he imagineth euill Now let vs consider of the other adiunct of Belials imaginations and that is adiunctum quantitatis an adiunct or circumstance of quantitie the euill of his imaginations is of an exceeding great quantitie for he doth not onely imagine euill and make the worst or euery thing but he imagineth euill continually Continually saith the holy Ghost to shew that the man of Belial is alwayes at worke This word noteth in the wicked man two things First diligence Secondly perseuerance in euill Great is the diligence of wicked men in sinne for they lose no time They cannot sleepe saith Salomon except they haue done some euill No Sleepe departeth from their eyes vntill they haue caused some to fall Like gamesters who cannot find the way to bed vntill either they haue lost all their money or caused others to lose all They continue day and night they are as diligent in the seruice of the diuell as the diuell himselfe is is hunting after mens soules for he goeth about continually like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may deuoure and so do his men of Belial seeke whome to deface and deuoure This note of continuance cometh in like a barre in the armes of the wicked to put a difference betweene them and the godly For though the godly or regenerate do sometime fall into euill surmises and bad imaginations through naturall weakenesse and corruption of heart yet they continue not in it Shall we continue still in sinnes saith the Apostle that grace may abound God forbid No they dare not continue in a sinne they are euer checking and controlling their wayes and confessing their sinnes and condemning themselues and forsaking their euill imaginations And if they fall againe into the same sinne as oftentimes they do it is with a greater detestation and lothing of the same sinne and with a greater and more earnest striuing against it afterward And yet the godly are not so simple and foolishly credulous as to beleeue euery faire tale or to be in league with euery flattering face or to shake hands presently with euery new acquaintance nor to trust euery promise and protestation without any maner of trial nor to make the best of that which is of it selfe naught and apparantly euill nor to be free from all suspition where there is iust cause to suspect and in so doing they are not to be condemned but rather to be commended for as charitie is not suspitious without cause so is it not foolish and blockish when there is cause And seeing as our Sauior Christ himself hath ioyned the innocency of the Doue and the prudency of the Serpent together simplicitie and discretion as a most fit match and well beseeming a Christian soule let no man separate them asunder but be simple wise too And hereof we haue diuers examples in the Scriptures Abraham imagined that in Gerar his wife might be abused and he slaine for his wifes sake and not without iust cause for he saw that the feare of God was not in that place to shew that when good men haue to deale with those that feare not God they may very iustly imagine that they shall not be well dealt withall Iacob suspected that al
that the truth may come foorth It is painefull no doubt to the members of the bodie for a time yet the birth of truth the daughter of time will make a ioyfull recompence for all our sufferings For a woman in trauell forgetteth all her former sorrowes saith Christ for ioy that a man child is borne into the world Ioh. 16.21 And shall not the spouse of Christ forget all her pain for ioy that a child of God is borne vnto the kingdome of heauen For this cause is the Church militant compared to a woman trauelling in birth and pained readie to be deliuered Reuel 12.2 To shew how euery true Christian should labour first to beget Christ in others Secōdly to conceiue him in himself Thirdly to bring him forth though with much paine and strife in the flesh And lastly to bring him vp and to maintaine the truth to the glory of God And great reason for shall we beget children and not vnto God Nay rather say as Leah said Ge. 29.32 Giue me children and my husband will loue me so giue me knowledge and iudgement and truth and zeale and faith and loue and repentance and patience and humilitie and sinceritie the fruits of the spirit and Christ will loue me and count it a shame to be barren in the graces of the Spirit as women in old time counted it a reproch vnto them to be barren in child bearing Amongst many other things which the Lord tooke grieuously against his people the Iewes this was one There was no courage for the truth but for lyes they haue bent their toungs like a bow Ier. 9.3 So we haue courage also for euery thing sauing for the truth Now to make our dull beast go more liuely the Lord hath left vs two spurres to pricke him forward In one place he telleth vs that because we are neither hote nor cold he will spue vs out of his mouth Reuel 3.15 there is one In another place he saith that the fearfull shall haue their part in the burning lake with the dinel and his Angels there is another Let vs thinke of these and mend our pace alwaies prouided that we haue with vs for a comfortable preseruatiue in al our conflicts and for a foueraign restoratiue in all our faintings that caueat which Christ hath left vs in his Gospell Whosoeuer will saue his life shall loose it there is the preseruatiue and whosoeuer shall loose his life for my sake shall find it there is our restoratiue I speake not any thing to animate such tempestuous spirits that cannot fish but in troubled waters and that for frogges too but to allay the bitternesse of offence if our waters be troubled by others while we fish for men And thus we see how the matter that is contended for putteth a great difference betweene the wicked and the godly and sheweth who are to be counted contentious persons and who not though they do contend As there is difference in regard of the matter or subiect of their contentions so also in regard of the manner of striuing there is great difference As Iehu was knowne to be Iehu by the manner of his marching so the children of God are knowne from the men of Belial by the manner of their contending The manner of doing a thing ought alwaies to be respected for oftentimes it either maketh or marreth the matter A good matter handled after an ill manner is made euill and a bad matter handled after a good manner seemeth to be good Wicked Achab in his counterfeit repentance seemeth a good conuert and Peter with his presumptuous aduenturing vpon his own strength had almost marred a good profession Tertullus with an eloquent Oration clad in colours of modestie humilitie and impudent audacitie seemeth to haue a good cause against Paul when Paul by calling the high Priest a whited wall in his owne reuenge made more matter against himselfe and was driuen to pleade ignorance in his owne defence The wicked are wise to do euill and in their contentious proceedings do vse great art and skill to the great aduantage and gracing of an euill cause And the godly are oftentimes ouertaken in their innocent simplicitie and through extremitie of vntempered zeale do giue themselues the foile The children of this world saith Christ are wiser in their kind then the children of light to shew that Christians are foiled more for want of godly wisedome then any thing else Therefore Christ doth bid vs to be wise as serpents and innocent as doues as if he would assigne vs the doue and the serpent to giue in a Christian mans Armes to teach vs wisedome innocencie surely they are the fittest armes for a Christian that can be And these two vertues of wisedome and innocencie are two of the fittest and most necessarie attendants that a man can haue to wait vpon the other graces of the Spirit and to grace his profession withall For so long as they serue him he shall be sure to do euery man right and himselfe no harme The serpēt will beare many blowes on his back to saue his head which may teach Christians not to venture their head as it were in reuenge of euerie blow as many do that for euery trifle will vow to spend their stocke and substance that will venture their credit wearie all their friends to satisfie their owne minds and peeuish affections In the doue we may obserue foure things First meekenesse and that appeareth in her going for though in flight she be swifter then other birdes yet in her going she sheweth great meekenesse Secondly harmelesnesse or innocencie for she is so farre from rauening and spoile that Christ maketh her a patterne of innocencie Thirdly iealousie for none is more iealous ouer her mate and young ones which may teach vs to be iealous ouer the glorie of our spouse and his graces in vs. Fourthly mourning therefore Hezechiah said that in his sickenesse he mourned like a doue so should we for we haue cause still to be mourning for the decay of Gods graces in vs and grieued at the wounds which sin doth giue vs. This mourning and sorrowing for our owne sinnes and also for the sinnes of others which lie not in our power to reforme is so necessarie that it is made a marke of Gods people in Ezech. 9.4 Set a marke vpon the foreheads of those that mourn for all the abhominations that are done in the midst of Ierusalē Thus then Christians being armed clothed prepared let thē go on in Gods name to the battell contend with the vncircūcised Giants of the world but let their wisdom be like the wisdome of the serpent let them still haue a speciall regard to their head Christ a special care to defend him in his church let their innocencie be like the innocencie of the doue which is couered ouer as it were with
euill custom may be broken off The folly of those that thinke custome will excuse them and grace theÌ„ Another difference betweene the wicked and the godly Zeale in the godly seemeth to be frowardnesse The smoth words of the wicked are dangerous The minister of Christ shall be counted froward and malicious if he reproue sin Reprehension wholesom thogh not toothsome 2. Tim. 4.3 True loue appeareth in plaine dealing The more the minister loueth truly the lesse he shall be loued Ier. 20. Eze. 33. Act. 17.18 Act. 26.25 Act. 2.13 Psal. 1.1 Ro. 6.1 Act. 9. Of blind gestures He coÌ„uterfeiteth in religion He counterfeiteth in ciuill affaires Pro. 7.14 Euery meÌ„ber of the body is bound to his good behauiour Gen. 4.6 Pro. 7.13 Esa. 3.16 Mat. 6.16 Psal. 44.13.14 Mat 27.39 Against the slander of Papists Tit. 2.11.12 Our behauiour must be in Sobriety Simplicity How charity is broken by signes Chastity is assaulted by signes Pro. 17.24 Luk. 19.40 This precisenesse doth much trouble Libertines Luk. 19.27 Psal. 2.3 Psal. 12.4 This precisenesse is called in Scripture circumspect walking Why we must walke circumspectly The second point Sins walke Ro. 6.12.13 The tyranny of sinne described Mat. 8.9 How sinne entreth Of the subtilty of sin We are to pray against the trecherous motions to sinne The third point How hypocrites are deceiued Sin is like poyson And like leauen Luk. 12. 1. Kin. 14.6 Iudg. 12. Slubboleth Halting iudgling in Gods matters will easily be espied if meÌ„ be awake Act. 24.27 Pro. 7.10 c. 2. Sam. 16. The hypocrisie of popery how it is discouered Num. 23. It is a fault in Christians not to marke how God doth note out the wicked Pro. 10.10 All these notes must be taken together The fourth point The wicked are cunning and painefull to their owne confusion Esa. 36.21 37.1 Ioh. 8.6 We may reproue sinne by our gestures How vainâ— men shew their dislike of the truth Especially at Sermons The force of outward signes and gestures The fift point The pronenesse of men to euill and vntowardnesse to learne the truth is a great cause of Anti-christs aduancement Those that are apt to learne lies shall be giuen ouer of God to beleeue lyes Mens inclination to popery maketh Papists and popery to grow The cause of Belials distemperature What is meant in the Scripture by the hart The first point If the hart be naught al is naught Psal. 41.1 A description of a naturall man The second point 1. Sam. 16.7 Ier. 17.10 The skill of Papists The villanies of Papists Their ceremonies Prayers InquisitioÌ„s 2. Sort. Politicke Protestants Psal. 10. Amnons disease Absaloms practise Machiauels name opened How carnall pollicy doth make much of religion Religions complaint Deuouring gulfes Politicke practises against the Ministers of Christ. Politicke and cruell practises against the common wealth Of the fox and the lion Vsurers kindnes in lending of money Pro. 23.6.7 Pro. 26.24.25 Mat. 2. Mat. 22. A necessary admonitioÌ„ The third point Iosh. 7. Of good cometh no thing but good Christ is called a rocke of offence but is no cause of offence Ioh. 1. How Christ is an occasion of falling Cal. de scandalis Some are like the Spider Psal. 55.12 Iam. 1.13.14 15. 2. points to be obscrued in the words of Iames. Into a leud heart the word cannot enter In an euill heart the word cannot abide Similiâ— A leud hart maketh a leud report of a Sermon Mat 15.18.19 A man of a leud hart doth most shame and annoy himselfe 4 4 The heart must be reformed before one can be a good man Pro. 4.23 Mat. 15.19 Gen. 27. Psal 41.6 Similitude Iudg. 16.15 The heart like a great coÌ„mander Ezec. 33.31 Exod 35.21 22.29 Psal. 45.1 Psal. 108.2 Pro. 23. Vers. 12. 17. 19. 26. Too many such now adaies The principall care of most meÌ„ when the sabbath day commeth The hart is still of the old fashion We blame others wheÌ„ our selues are in fault How a good heart is to be grounded and bounded What religion will do if it be lodged in the heart Luk. 19. Ioh. 5. Light excuses serue them that haue no list to serue God 5 5 Of the nature and power of the word of God God needeth no informatioÌ„s What maner of God we serue Psal. 119.9 Ier 20.9 1. Cor. 14. A double vse of the former doctrine 1. King 19.14.18 Psal. 19.12 1. Ioh. 3.20 How a man may be acquainted with his owne hart Pro. 5.23 Note that Ier. 43.3 2. King 6.8 Heb. 4.12 The sixt point Psal. 119.9 Psal. 103.3 Ier. 17.14 Act. 8.22 Act. 15.9 Our preseruatiue Mar 13.33 Luke 22. The soules armour Ephes. 6.12.13 c. A helmet A brest-plate A girdle A sword A shield Shooes Prayer continuall and feruent 1 1 For her selfe 2 2 For others 4. things to be prayed for 1 1 The heart renued and cleansed 3. things to be learned by the words of Dauid in Psal. 51.10 1. 2. 3. 2 2 Sanctification Psal. 119.34 A sauing knowledge 2. Sa. 11.15 3 3 Perseuerance or constancy Psa. 86.11 Gen. 34. 4 4 A quiâ—kning spirit or cheerfulnesse The first enemy neglect of the meanes Outward Psal. 119.9 Heb. 4.12 Inward Act. 16. Gen. 1.2 Ioh. 1.3 How daungerous a thing it is to giue ouer the hearing of the word A desperate kind of reasoning God hath fore ordained the meanes as well as the end Mal. 3.14 Iob. 21.15 Of recusaÌ„ts that refuse to heare the word there be two sorts 1. Schismatikes 2. Afflicted conscieÌ„ces Cant. 3.1.2.3.4 1. Enemie vnbeleefe Mat. 13.58 Mar. 9.23 1. Tim. 1.13 3. Enemie custome of sinne Io. 2.4 Heb. 3.12 The Apostles counsell A double reason of the former counsell A cursed guest a wretched hoast Brotherly loue how it worketh Obiection Ier. 17.9 Pro. 20.9 Psal. 119 5. verse 10. Psal. 51.10 Answere Act. 23.1 Gen. 6. Imaginations come of thoghts Of Belials meÌ„tal images why they are so called Esa. 46. Dan. 3. Of Belials maisters workhouse warehouse and ware The greatnesse of Sathan Reue. 12. 2. Sam. 15.7 1. Kim 21.9 Pro. 7.14 Ezec. 33.31 1. Sa. 25.10 2. Sam. 10.3 Mat. 11.18 Act. 28.4.6 Ioh. 12.5 Ioh. 3. Tit. 2.5 Obiection Answer Act. 15.9 2 2 Of the quaÌ„titie of Belials euill imaginatioÌ„s Pro. 4.16 Rom. 6.1 The wisedome of a Christian. Gen. 20.11 Gen 31.2 Gen. 38.15 2. Kin. 9.20 1. Sam. 5.16 What imaginatioÌ„s the godly haue of theÌ„selues Nehe. 13.22 1. Cor. 4.4 What the wicked do being blinded bewitched and benuÌ„med Pro. 5. Hobby horses Iudg. 5.30 Luke 12.19 Psal. 55. An exhortation vpoÌ„ the premises ContentioÌ„ like a dog and a lion Stirred vp by Belial The tree of wickednes The wicked loue to be soothed flattered Esa. 57.20 2. Tim. 3.13 Pro. 26.21 Pro. 13.10 Phil 2.3 Pro. 28.25 1. Sam. 23.27 Ioh. 7.43 Ioh. 8.1 Act. 23.6.7 The Pope raiseth contention betweene Princes and why Pope Hildebrand Why Papists set strife betweene the Ministers Church gouernors Sathans drift in raising contention betweene Teachers Pastor and people Neighbour and neighbour Man and wife The secoÌ„d point How Pro. 26.20 Of talebearers Pro. 25.23 Two theeues 1. The reporter 2. The receiuer Of beleeuing tales 2. Sam 16.3.4 Mat. 10. Mat. 5. 1. Sam. 31.20 Ruth 2.11 2 2 Taking all things in ill part Ioh. 8.22 Ioh. 9.34 3 3 Intermedling in other mens matters 1. Tim. 5.13 Pro. 21.9 19. 2 Sam. 6.7 Pro. 21.27 Iob. 21.21 22. Luk. 12.14 2. Sam. 15.2.3.4 The practise of petty foggers and hungry Lawyers Mat. 5. We may meedle to make peace but not strife A necessary question Answer Luk. 19.40 Hest. 4.19 Act. 19.14 1. Sam. 25. The greatnesse of this sinne is shewed 1 1 By the testimony of God against it Pro. 6.16.17.18 The second consideration sheweth the greatnesse of this sin of raising contention The daughters of contention Pro. 20.12 A strange yet a common monster Contention destroyeth vnity Phil. 2.2 What true vnity is 2. Kin. 9.22 1. Ki. 18.18 Eph. 4.3 The excellency of Christiâ—n vnity Col. 3.14 Psal. 133. Psal. 1.1 Pro. 22.10 The make-bates annoy themselues Pro. 26.27 Ier. 7.19 Pro. 24.21 Gal. 5.22 4 4 The difference betweene the coÌ„tentions of the wicked and of the godly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Tim. 2.24 Ier. 15. Luk. 13.24 Gen. 6.3 Psal. 95.10 Apo. 12.7 1. Cor. 9.24 What it is to trouble Simile When men are in greatest danger Achab and Elijah contend Who troubled Israel How Elijah behaued himselfe before the king How to answer Papists and Atheists when they call the professors of the Gospell troublesome fellowes Iosh. 7. Gen. 34. Gal. 1.6 Peter Mart. loc com How the magistrate is to be obeyed Act. 4.19 Nehe 13.17 Who are now adaies accounted troublesome 2. Cor. 6.8 Tit. 1.9 1. Cor. 11.19 Gal. 5.20 Gen. 1.9 The truth cannot come forth without striuing Ioh. 16.21 Apo. 12.2 Gen. 29.32 Ier. 9.3 Two spurs Apo. 3.15 A preseruatiue A restoratiue The manner of contending is to be respected Act. 24. The armes of a Christian The wisedome of the serpeÌ„t 4. Things noted in the doue 1 1 Meeknes 2 2 Harmelesnesse 3 3 Ielousie 4 4 Mourning Esa. 38. 1. King 3. Speciall rules to contend by 1 1 In Gods matters Pro. 6.4 Iam. 1.19 Psal. 131.1 Act. 15.7.12 c. 1. Cor. 14.29 2 2 What to do in our owne causes c. 1. King 3. Pro. 23.6 Pro. 18.23 An Embleme of two pots Pro. 26.24.25 Pro. 22.24.25 Pro. 26.9 Sinne like a Bee Heb. 11.25 Luk. 16.25 Pro. 5.3 Psal. 73.5 c. Iob. 21.8.9 â— Esa. 57. Pro. 14.13 Rom. 6. Why the wicked shal be destroyed Psalm 1. Psal. 119. Mal. 4.1 No respect of persons with God 1. Cor. 11. Eccle. 7.31 Pro. 10.7 Pro. 19.9 1. Pet. 3. Psal. 55.23 Luke 12.19 Iob. 20. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Sodainly Mat. 24. Mar. 13. Obiection Answere Fallacia accidentis Phi. 3.18.19 Esa. 28.15 1. Ki. 1â— 24 1. Pet. 4.17 Eccles. 9.1.2 Iâ—h 1◠〈◊〉 2. Men caÌ„not repent wheÌ„ they list Psalm 7. Iob. 20.12 Eccles. 11.3 A Popish errour That is hell fire Esa. 30.33 Plessy de verita Christ. relig 1. Obiect Answere A notable speech of Alexander What be the goods of good men 2. Obiect Eccles. 7.17 Esa. 57.1 Answere The world like a stage play 3. Obiect Answere 4. Obiect Answere The vses of the former doctrine Psal. 37.1.2 Mat. 11.23 Ioh. 9.3 Psal. 41.1.4 Num. 16.26 Luke 13.3.5
the mother the second is the daughter The first is the poyson the other is the signe thereof or the breaking out The first is the fountaine the second is the streame The first is the coale the second is the flame The first is the cause the second is the effect of the same The first is the theefe the second is his accessary The first robbeth God of his honour the second doth publish it Therefore both the first and the second be damnable neither the first nor the second are sinnes veniall as the Papists say but both the first and the second the mother and the daughter without faith and repentance are sinnes eternally mortall And therefore our Sauiour Christ saith here Take heede of them as if they were some dangerous enemies to the soule The first thing therefore to be taken heed of is all inward desire of vaineglory or worldly praise and that is forbidden in the first verse where our Sauiour saith Giue not to be seene of men that is with an intent purpose or desire that men should see thee and commend thee for it Publicke giuing is not forbidden for Christ saith Let your lights shine before men that they may see c. But vaineglorious giuing in publicke is forbidden and therefore he doth not simply say Do not your almes before men but addeth to be seene of them condemning that end which is first in heart though last in act So in Math. 5.16 he saith not Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie you but that they seeing your good workes may glorifie God your heauenly father who worketh both the will and the deed So then we see that it is not simply euill to do good workes in the view of men nay rather it is good so to do to glorifie God and encourage others God is much glorified when his children walke like their father being mercifull as their heauenly father is mercifull though not in that degree of mercie yet in mercy of the like nature heauenly bountifull free and harmelesse By the death of Christ he was knowne to be the naturall sonne of God and by the good life of Christians aswell as by their death it may be knowne that they are the adopted sonnes of God For when Christ died there was a strange alteration of nature the earth did shake the powers of heauen lost their power the graues opened the dead arose there was darknesse vpon the face of the earth as if day had bene turne into night which when men saw they confessed yea the very enemies of Christ himselfe confessed to the glorie of the diuine power saying doubtlesse this was the sonne of God So when Christians dye to the world and liue vnto God when they by the power of Gods spirit do crucifie sinne and quicken righteousnesse there is also a great alteration in nature their nature is refined by grace their night is turned into day and their day into night their present shame is their glorie and their former glory is their shame their dead affections are raised vp the deuowring graues of their hard harts being opened and now they speake and do and studie otherwise then they did and not like other men In a word as Christs death was not like other mens death so Christians liues are not like other mens liues Christs funerals were solemnized by the Sunne and the Moone by the powers of heauen by the graues and the dead by the earth and the stones and all the insensible creatures whereof in their kind some blushed some trembled some fainted and all mourned for the death of their Lord and feared seeing such things happen to their Soueraigne an vtter dissolution of themselues and all nature These things were not looked for in the world nor regarded at worldly mens funerals yea such as beseeme not the Princes of the nations so Christians liues and deaths too are solemnized and graced with the ornaments of the spirit and the ioy of heauenly Angels with the fruites of righteousnesse the applause of the godly things not regarded of the wicked nor beseeming the helhounds of this world But doubtlesse when men see these lights they must needes glorifie God and say God hath done great things for them and when the wicked themselues see such an alteration in them as they may stand a farre off and wonder at but neuer attaine vnto they must be enforced spite of their hearts to giue God the glorie as Achan did saying this is the truth and so it was and as the Iewes did doubtlesse these were good men the sonnes and daughters of God A man may by their behauiour know of whose bringing vp they were by their habite and spirituall attire a man may discerne them to be the Citizens of the heauenly Ierusalem Blessed be God in so much as they must go a little farther with the wicked in the book of Wisedome and say we are fooles and they are wise howsoeuer we counted their life madnesse before we are they that played the madmen and haue wearied our selues in the wayes of vnrighteousnesse And with Balam Oh that we might dye the death of the righteous and that our last end might be like vnto theirs And thus we see how for the glorifying of God in this life it is necessary for Christians to exercise workes of mercy as giuing of almes and other good workes appointed of God in his word euen before men As it is necessary for the glory of God so also is it as necessary for the encouragement of the godly And first of the painefull Pastor and Minister of the word and then of other Christians To the godly Minister it is no small comfort and encouragement when he shall see the Lords people vnder his charge fruitfull in good workes aswell as in good words For then shall he see the fruite of his labours when after his labour he seeth them fruitfull in all maner of good workes and on the other side when they receiue the word in vaine he may feare that he hath laboured in vaine in vaine I say as touching their conuersion though not simply in vaine otherwise for the word of God is neuer preached in vaine whether men beleeue it or no heare it or no being euer either a sauour of life to life or of death vnto death and comming as the raine which neuer returneth in vaine but either watereth the earth or drowneth it and maketh the ground to bring forth either corne or cockle sweet flowers or stinking weedes whereof the one shall be preserued and the other rooted vp and cast out vpon the dunghill The husbandman is encouraged to follow his husbandry when his vines are fruitfull and his haruests plentiful growing timely ripening kindly yeelding abundantly and no lesse is Gods husbandman the minister of the word encouraged by the timely growing kindly ripening and plentifull yeelding of his charge the Lords husbandrie after he hath taken
another mans mouth hauing layed of purppse a heape of preiudicate conceipts and vnchristian surmises before them as so many stumbling blockes and erected a number of proud and disdainfull opinions and euill constructions of euery thing as rampiers or bulwarks against the truth because they meane not yet to forgo their sins nor to part with their painted visor I cannot tell what to say vnto them but euen leaue them to the Lord their hypocrisie I will not censure it is like the darkenesse of Aegypt that might be felt I am sorry to heare that any should haue the word of God in respect of persons contrarie to the rule of Saint Iames pretending to regard it if one man speake and professing a contempt of the same because another man hath spoken it whom they hate as Achab did hate Micaiah for no other cause but because he prophesied not good but euill vnto him that is he did not flatter him in his sinne as others did and therefore he hated him these men shew with what good deuotion they come to the preaching of the word of God If they might chaunge their Minister they thinke that they should chaunge affections but they are deceiued for as the Poet could say and that truly so say I Coelum non animum mutant qui transmare currunt they change the aire and not their nature which go beyond the sea as appeareth by those that haue separated themselues from our Church assemblies in England Schismatikes they were here and so they are there In like manner hypocrites which haue the word in respect of persons Non mentem sed ministrum mutant they may well change their Minister but their mind they change not their sinnes they leaue not it is no part of their meaning what shewes soeuer they make except God of his great mercy worke a wonderfull alteration It seemeth that such persons are of that opinion that Diues was of in hell who thought that his brethren which were aliue would repent if Lazarus might haue bene sent vnto them from heauen he was well acquainted with their humour for belike when they were all liuing together on earth neuer a one of them cared for their ordinary teachers but saith the holy Ghost they haue Moses and the Prophets amongst them if they wil not heare them let them pretēd what they list neither would they repent though one should come from the dead vnto them Many will tell vs that another man hath sayd as much and more then such and such whom the people mislike and it is well taken Such a one may say any thing say they and no offence will be taken against him we maruell that they should take it so ill from one more then another to these we answer 1 How well soeuer they take it from one or from another nothing is reformed they will giue all the hearing but see if any reformation follow from one more then another 2 The cause why they do not so breake out against one man for the same doctrine aswell as against another is because his time is not yet come as Christ sayd in Luke 22.53 When I was daily in the Temple with you you layed no hands on me but this is your houre and the very power of darkenesse Euery man hath a time appointed him of God a time to be promoted and a time to be persecuted a time to be regarded and a time to be reiected a time to be made much of and a time to be set at naught and when the date of the one is expired then the other taketh place Now to conclude if any man thinke that I haue dealt too seuerely against hypocrites or that I might haue caried a lighter hand toward them then I haue done seeing as there is no man but is stained with some hypocrisie much or little in the sight of God at the least or that in the applicatiō of any point of doctrine in the vncasing of the hypocrite I haue too particularly and directly aimed at some and namely at the partialities and wilfull winking at grosse abuses by Churchwardens and other Ecclesiasticall officers with them contrary to their oath and a good conscience whereby God is dishonoured and his worship is contemned his Sabbaths are polluted his Church vnreformed and whereby the wicked are strengthened and the godly despised whereby his blessings are restrained and his iudgements hastened vpon vs then this is my answer That in both as I take it I haue had my warrant from the word of God which is a sufficient stay vnto my conscience howsoeuer amongst the vnregenerate and wicked hypocrites it is a matter of least waight and therefore with them of all authorities least regarded And for the first haue I dealt more seuerely against hypocrites then the Scripture and namely our Sauiour Christ or haue I handled it worse then it deserueth Hath the hypocrite any wrong to haue no more but the truth sayd and proued against him Or what is his seruice so well pleasing to God or the Church of God so much beholding vnto him for his shewes and shadowes or rather his trecheries and cousinages that he of all other may not be vncased I speake not now of secret hypocrisie whereof euen the regenerate faithfull are guilty in their best actions before God and for which all of vs must desire mercy at Gods hand in the bloud of Christ but of that hypocrisie which raigneth in the wicked and of such hypocrites as are professed hypocrites professed I meane in their owne hearts whose desire is nothing else but to be seene of men and nothing lesse then to approue themselues and their doings in the sight of God Euery one is stained with some lust which is adulterie before God with some malice which is murther before God and with some enuie which is theft before God and with some couetousnesse which is idolatrie before God and yet euery one is not to be called an adulterer nor a murtherer nor a theefe nor an idolater because those grosse sinnes are not the studie nor the profession of the regenerate but they studying professing and indeuouring to serue the Lord in sinceritie truth and vprightnesse of heart and to deale with men in all good conscience are called sincere and iust men as Iob was and being in Christ Iesus through his righteousnesse imputed vnto them they are iust before God Hypocrisie properly is a sinne against the third Commaundement for none more then the hypocrite doth take the name of God in vaine who still for the most part maketh religion a cloke for all maner of iniquitie which cloke of theirs when it is once espied or taken from them they cry out and rage as men vtterly forlorne and vndone For take away their clokes their signes and their shewes and then are they naked and ashamed both before God and man and as sinceritie graceth the godly before God so hypocrisie graceth the wicked before men which is
SERMON Of the reward of Hypocrisie MAT. 6.2 Verily I say vnto you they haue their reward OF the nature of hypocrisie we haue heard sufficiently in the three former Sermons and as sinceritie graceth all our good actions before God so on the contrarie side we haue seene that hypocrisie disgraceth and shameth vs yea maketh euen our best deedes to stinke as most loathsome filth before his heauenly Maiestie yea and before men too when once it breaketh out And this might serue sufficiently to perswade vs to take heed of hypocrisie and counterfeiting in Gods religion or any religious duties commaunded by God but because the hypocrite dreameth of some great reward whereby he shall become some great man both in this world and in the world to come imagining that as he is liked of men so he cannot chuse but be loued of God therefore our Sauiour Christ affirmeth most constantly and in earnest manner that hypocrites haue all the reward that they shall haue For the praise of men haue they hunted for and that they haue more then that they shall not haue to reward them but to punish them a portion they shall haue with the Diuell and his Angels in hell The praise of men what is it surely euen as men are themselues as they are affected men are but men when they are at the best and at the highest Whether it be in wisedome or in authoritie or in goodwill or in abilitie or whatsoeuer else that is vaine and vanishing mutable and inconstant blind and partiall A simple reward then is the praise of men euen fit for such vaine fooles as seeke for nothing else The hypocrite taketh great paines for the obtaining notwithstanding of this vaine reward as fooles which hunt after a fether blowne vp and down in the wind they cannot get it vnlesse they will sweate and almost runne themselues out of breath and when they haue gotten it it is but a fether and nothing lighter The praise of men what is it surely but words proceeding from inconstant minds false hearts and from those whose hands cannot accomplish the deuises of their hearts And what are such wordes but wind and what is more inconstant then the wind He that obserueth the praises of men is like him that obserueth the wind and is fitly resembled to a Windmill that whirleth about apace so long as the wind bloweth a main but when the wind slacketh his gale then he slacketh his pace and as the Windmill is turned with the wind so the hypocrite also turneth with the time If he may be praised for well doing then he will do well still but if he be reproched or threatned or not highly esteemed then he altereth his course and is gone But here perhaps it will be obiected by some that the Scripture commendeth a good name in many places and thereby admonisheth men to get a good name and to keepe it being gotten And what is that but to be praised of men and to get the good opinion and estimation of men Indeede this is true a good report is to be sought for amongst men and carefully to be kept too when it is obtained But this must be propter aliud non propter se for some other end then simply for it selfe But the meaning and drift of our Sauiour Christ here is that we should not make that the end and scope of our well doing as if that were our summum bonum that is our felicitie and happinesse as hypocrites do that looke no further and desire no better thing then the praise of men To get and keepe a good name there be many reasons to perswade vs but to make the praise of men the end of our well doing we haue no one reason to perswade vs but diuerse to disswade vs as we shall see anone For the getting of a good report amongst men we haue reason for Salomon preferreth it before riches and before precious oyntment that is before all pleasures and profites whatsoeuer Before riches he preferreth a good name and saith that it is better then riches and that for three causes For first few riches are hardly obtained without much euill a good name is not obtained without some good deedes Secondly riches are meanes by reason of our corruption to call vs from God They that will be rich fall into temptations and snares and many foolish and noisome lusts which drowne men in perdition and destruction saith Saint Paule A good name prouoketh vnto golinesse Your zeale saith Paule to the Corinthians hath prouoked many Meaning that the good report which he made of them to others where he came did through the blessing of God prouoke many to the like zeale Thirdly riches are vncertaine here to day and gone to morrow Trauell not too much to be rich saith Salomon for riches take them to their wings like an Eagle but a good name is more permanent then life for it liueth after death As a good name is better then riches so is it also better then a precious ointment For first the best ointment that is may be purchased for money as appeareth by that which Mary a meane woman bought for our Sauiour Christ but a good name cannot be bought for thousands Secondly precious ointment onely suppleth the outward parts and is soueraigne for outward wounds but a good name doth comfort the heart The light of the eye reioyceth the heart and a good name maketh the bones fat saith Salomon Thirdly a good ointment onely profiteth the annointed but a good name is profitable to others Nobis necessaria vita nostra alijs fama nostra saith S. Augustine our life is necessarie for our selues and our good report for others to encourage them to godlinesse as we haue heard Lastly ointment is pleasant in smell onely to those that are nigh The house was filled saith the Euangelist with the smel of that ointment which Mary bestowed vpon Christ but a good name flieth farre and neare And this brute went of Christ saith the Euangelist Mathew through the land Againe a good name is in part a reward of righteousnesse All these saith the Apostle to the Hebrewes speaking of the faithfull whom he nameth and commendeth in that place through faith haue obtained a good report All which commendations of a good name do serue not onely to perswade vs to get it and keepe it for the glorifying of Gods name and encouraging of our brethren but also they do greatly condemne two sorts of men in the world First those that so they do well care not what men say of them but so farre as we can we must with doing well keepe a good name for the causes before alleadged Secondly those that make no conscience of detracting a mans good name being so excellent but make a continuall practise of slaundering and backbiting their brethren And these are worse then theeues for a theefe may make
restitution of goods ill gotten but he that hath robbed a man of his good name cannot make restitution of it againe But what is it to haue a good name or how may it be gotten Is it so to liue as all men may speake well of vs No Wo be vnto you saith our Sauiour Christ when all men speake well of you for he that handleth matters in such sort as shall please all men must needes be a notorious wicked man and a cunning deepe hypocrite What then that the wicked may commend vs verily if it be possible we must so liue as that those which are without saith the Apostle may afford vs a good report that is those that are not yet of the Church or not called But surely it is a hard matter for the wicked to commend the godly and if they should commend thee being a good man it will make good men to thinke that thou art leauing thy goodnesse and enclining to them whose humours thou now feedest No neuer looke for a good name but amongst good men for the wicked saith Christ shal speak al maner of euil saying against you falsly for my name sake that is if you loue me and my truth and because you will not runne with them vnto the same excesse of riot that they vse therefore they speake euill of you saith Saint Peter They that forsake the law saith Salomon praise the wicked and that is because they are like themselues And if at any time they condemne the euill or imperfections which through occasion Gods children sometimes fall into as commonly the wicked do which make themselues merrie with the slippes of good men it is not for any hatred that they beare against sinne but either to iustifie themselues in their riotous courses and outragious wickednesse or else to disgrace and deface the beautie of that holy religion which we professe or both In a word then it must follow that a good name is that commendation which good men through the blessing and motion of the good spirit of God do bestow vpon good men for doing of good things to good ends and all to comfort and encourage them in their well doing and that God the giuer and worker of all goodnesse may therein be praised and glorified And thus we haue heard both what a good name is and for what causes it is to be procured and retained But that we may not for all that make the praise of men whether they be good or bad the end of vertue and well doing setting vp our rest when once we come to that there be many reasons to perswade vs so to beleeue and to disswade vs from so doing and all may be drawne from the words of this Text Verily I say vnto you they haue their reward the summe whereof for the matter is that hypocrites haue all that they shall haue as touching any matter of reward for the paines that they take And for the manner of the speech that it is most certaine true and not to be doubted of but that they haue here in this world all the reward that they shal haue and that is the praise of men if they haue that Which words do shew most plainely that hypocrites who serue for the vaine praise of the world are of all men the most vaine and the most miserable and their reward of all rewards is the most vaine and miserable reward that is The vanitie or madde folly rather of those that make the praise and estimation of men yea say they be their honest neighbours or great states the end of their good deedes shall appeare if we consider their reward First by the vncertaintie of it Secondly by the deceitfulnesse of it Thirdly by the breuitie of it Fourthly by the vnprofitablenesse of it Lastly by the daunger of it The praise and hartie liking of men is an vncertaine reward and so vncertaine that nothing is more vncertaine then it both in the winning as also in the wearing Such is the frowardnes and vnto wardnesse of mans nature for the most part vnto goodnesse and his weaknesse and wearinesse in the loue and liking of vertue that it is no small matter to make him tast of vertues fruite much more hard is it to keep him in a continuall liking of it One thing the hypocrite is sure of that he taketh great paines and is at great cost and vseth all his art to please this man or that man or all men but whether he shall please them all or any of them or no that he is not sure of It fareth with them as it did with Hester in some sort though they want Hesters resolution she was sure that she had a good deede in hand when she should go into the Kings presence to speake a good word for the liues of her people but whether the King would like of her sure or reach foorth his golden scepter vnto her in token of fauour or no she was not certaine and therfore she willed them to pray for her But because it was not so much the liking of the King as the good of Gods people and the glorie of God that she sought yea to no other end did she desire the Kings fauour but for the good of her people and the discharge of a good conscience before God therefore she put her life in a venture saying if I perish I perish which hypocrites will not do because they haue not that hope of a better life which Hester had When a man hath wonne the commendation and liking of men whom they go about to please are they sure it shall continue Surely no mens minds are mutable Oftentimes of a sudden they will commend a man for that which vpon better consideration they will mislike or for nouelties sake they will praise a thing at the first which within a while will grow stale and out of request Or some tale-bearer cometh in the hypocrites way and crosseth him with some false information and so breedeth some sinister or wrong construction of a mans labour and another extenuateth the gift or good will the worke or the paines and when we thinke to find a friend as in times past behold we meete with a hotefoe or a cold friend As Dauid who found a great friend of Saul one day and the next day for no cause his mortall enemie Tell me now is there any thing more vncertaine then the good opinion of men As it is vncertaine so is it also deceitfull and many times false making men beleeue that they are that which they are not praising sower for sweet c. The hypocrite in seeking to please men onely meeteth many times with as much an hypocrite as himselfe One offereth much seruice and dutie presenteth him many and rare deuises dedicateth new and learned Treatises vnto him talketh very godly and religiously and saluteth most humbly and perswadeth most pithily c. The other requiteth him with the like highly commending him
vnto God his right as well as vnto men and therefore he was a religious ciuill honest man Some seeme to be religious without ciuilitie as the harlot whom Salomon describeth in the 7. of the Prou. who prateth of her peace offerings and paying her vowes while notwithstanding in her hushands absence like a dishonest filth freely violateth her mariage vowe made vnto him by prostituting her bodie vnto others and as Iezabel religiously proclaimeth a fast while most vnciuilly and with barbarous crueltie she depriueth innocent Naboth both of his life and liuing and as those do that deuide the spoiles of the Church among them deuouring as Salomon saith the sanctified things then enquire after the vowes that is make shew of religion But they that haue neither ciuilitie nor religion in them are like Esau who hated his brother Iacob because God blessed him and like Hanun the Ammonite who misused Dauids messengers which were sent of good will to see him and like Doeg the Edomite who laid handes vpon the Priestes of the Lord and slue them when euery bodie else refused to touch them And such commonly are the men of Belial and the men of vanitie Good honest men they are counted among such as themselues are but he is a good man indeed and greatly to be lamented when he is gone that vpholdeth Gods true religion and with Cornelius feareth God with all his houshold and giueth much almes to the poore and with Iob sheweth himselfe a iust man and one that worshippeth God aright becomming also as Iob did an eye to the blind a foote to the lame and a father to the fatherlesse Such doth God choose for good men and such must we choose to conuerse withall not such as spend their time in ridiculous sports and vain pastimes which vanish away like the wind and smoke without any profit to those that haue delighted in them For Dauid saith in the 26. Psalme I haue walked ô Lord in thy truth and presently addeth I haue not haunted with vaine persons neither keepe I companie with the dissemblers I haue hated the assembly of the euill and not companied with the wicked to shew that whosoeuer consorteth himselfe with vaine and euill companie cannot walke in the waies of the Lord and therefore let them that desire to walke in the waies of Gods truth take heede that they haunt not with vaine persons but hate the assemblies of the wicked as Dauid did And further here is to be obserued a difference betweene Adam and Ish both do signifie man but the first noteth the matter of which man was made that is red earth or as Tremelius hath translated it the dust of the earth which is the worst of all the earth and good for nothing Earth is good for something and clay is good for something and sand is good for something and marle is good for something and dung is good for something but dust is good for nothing except it be to put out ones eyes and of that was man made which is good for nothing The confideration whereof may greatly humble vs when we beginne to thinke well of our selues to waxe proud of Gods gifts and to despise our brethren But the man of Belial is so called to shew that such a one is the vilest mā that liueth yea viler then the earth and according to his name so is his nature for of a word that signifies the vilest earth is his name deriued accordingly all his studies cares and communications are earthly and prophane All which the Apostle noteth in one word when he saith they mind earthly things Phil. 3.19 A God they haue but it is their belly a glorie they haue but it is their shame enemies they are but it is to the crosse of Christ and an end they haue but it is damnation saith the Apostle Ish also is a man but it noteth a man of strength and signifieth strength of the Latines it is translated vir à virtute that is a man of manhood or strong of strength or vertuous of vertue because if manhood strength and vertue be not found in man where should they be looked for And Adam is translated homo de humo that is taken out of the ground because of all that God made nothing was made of the earth but man And in our English toung we say of one that is valiant vertuous and actiue that is a man indeed And the Philosopher could say by the light of nature non vestis sed virtus facit hominem Not vestures but vertues make a man which is quite mistaken in these daies and that saying wholly inuerted for most men hold and by their practise do vphold that non virtus sed vestis not vertue but brauery makes a man But why is Belial called Ish which is a word of strength vertue and perfection What vertue excellencie or perfection is in earthly vaine Belial Surely no goodnesse is in him and yet is he Ish he is vir a man indeede but a man whose strength is wholly applyed to vanitie He doth excell but it is in contriuing of mischiefe he is quicke witted but it is in disgracing of truth and her friends They are wise saith Ieremie but it is to do euill They are expert saith Esay but it is to drinke wine and strong drinke They can take no rest saith Salomon but it is onely till they haue made some to fall Such were they that watched all night to take Christ they were Ishim men indeed They ranne to fetch him vineger with gall to drinke which wold not go nor creep for a drop of cold water to haue done him good Such are all those lawlesse and dissolute persons that can beate their braines and breake their sleepe and go late to bed and rise early in the morning and trauell hard all day yea day and night by sea and by land farre and neare refusing no paines neither sparing for any cost nor fearing any colours but most audaciously put forth themselues to speake to practise what mischiefe they can against godlinesse and vertue against honest men and good causes and standing as stoutly in defence of vanity and wickednesse These haue a kind of felicitie and dexteritie in gracing of the bad and in disgracing of the good and do very often strongly preuaile in wicked enterprises And this must teach vs first not to be dismaied when iniquitie doth preuaile for the very names that are giuen to wicked men do shew no lesse but they shall preuaile for a time which is to verifie the Prophesie of our Sauiour Christ who foretold that before the end of the world wickednesse should preuaile and iniquitie get the vpper hand Secondly it doth admonish the children of God who are haters of wickednesse to be Ishim that is strong and wise and valiant for God and good causes as Ish-auen the vaine man is for the Diuell and wicked enterprises And this
liue and moue and haue our being and a maruellous mercie of the most high that we are not consumed in our sinnes And let vs take heed that euen now while this matter doth sound in our eares we harbour not leud things in our hearts but pray God to giue repentance and grace to expulse them and faith in the bloud of Iesus Christ to cleanse our harts O let vs take heede I say for we are in his powerfull hands who can either smite vs as we sit before his holy presence or else harden our hearts in his iust vengeance vnto a greater iudgement As Dagon fell downe at the presence of Gods Arke so God giue grace that all leud thoughts imaginations al wicked purposes and determinations all leud vnderstanding and misconstruings if there be any may fall downe out of our harts at the presence and hearing of his word And so much for the second point which is this that howsoeuer a man may carrie himselfe in outward shew to the great admiration of the world yet God doth looke further and iudge him according to the leud things that are in his heart Now let vs come to the third point and therin consider that the cause of all that euill and disorder which appeareth in the outward parts of the bodie is in the heart For when the Lord hath ripped vp the outward parts of Belial as his mouth his eyes his fingers and his feete then he saith presently Leud things are in his heart as if he should say No maruell though his outward man be so ill occupied for there is one within that setteth him a worke and that is a leude heart which is the cause of his froward mouth c. A leude heart or a heart not regenerated is like Achan among the tribes of Israel who secretly played the theefe and brought all out of quiet for whose sake all were plagued And as Achans leude act was the cause of Israels trouble so his owne leud heart was the cause of his leud act and of his owne trouble When Israel was plagued in king Achabs daies Achab blamed Eliah for it little dreaming that himselfe was the cause thereof Achabs humour liueth still in most men though Achab be dead for euery one looketh one vpon another and saith that such and such are the causes of the troubles and stirres that are amongst them when it may be if they searched well they should find the cause most part of it if not all to be the leudnesse and coruption of their owne hearts Some set vpon the Preachers as Achab set vpon Eliah and crie out that they are troublesome and preaching hath marred all but are they not deceiued as Achab was For ask them Is it not the truth that we teach and that they are so much disquieted withall they cannot they will not deny it Oh but say some they liue not according to their doctrine Well admit that to be true as it is in many which yet is an accusation more generall then true and is more maliciously then truly or Christianly obiected yet are not they found lyers which say that preaching of the Gospell is the cause of euill For first they confesse that we preach well and that our doctrine is of God and is sound and good Then of that which is good properly can come nothing but good For qualis causa talis effectus such as the cause is such is the effect saith reason If there follow any euill effect of a good cause it is per accidens through some euill accident that came betweene or vpon as when wheat was sowed tares came vp the wheate was not the cause of the tares but an ill accident happened vpon the sowing of the wheate and that was this while the keepers slept the enuious man came and sowed tares Indeed Christ is called a rocke of offence as though he were the cause of offences which yet is not so for he is the doore of eternall life And the doctrine of the Gospell is continually matched with many offences yet it is the way to saluation For where Christ commeth and the Gospell is preached we meete with many lets which either lead vs awry out of the right way or else do stoppe vs lying in our way or giue occasion of falling and yet of all these nothing can be imputed to Christ or to the Gospell Not to Christ for first it is his office to leade vs by the hand the right way to heauen Secondly he is the light of the world by which we are guided thither Thirdly he is the path by which we come thither Fourthly he is the doore by which we enter in thither and therefore none of these lets or stumbling blockes can be imputed to Christ nor to the Gospell for it is the nature of the Gospell by taking away all lets to set vs open an easie accesse vnto the kingdome of heauen and therefore it is called glad tidings Nothing therefore is more disagreable to the nature of Christ and his Gospell then offence and disorder But this offence happeneth through the leudnes of mens hearts for as soone as Christ appeareth by and by men are wrapped in with offences or rather of themselues runne headlong into them Thus is he the stone to stumble at not because he giueth occasion of stumbling but because occasion is wilfully taken And so the Gospell which is the doctrine of vnitie and peace as Maister Caluin both learnedly and largely doth shew in his Treatise of offences is the occasion of great troubles and garboiles in the world because the wicked take occasion thereby to set all things in a broile Therefore if any euill follow the doctrine of the Gospell it ariseth from some other cause which is this Leud things are in his hart who receiueth euill by the truth And such men turne euen the best things to a bad end so soone as they touch his leud heart like the spider who being full of poison turneth euery thing into poison that she sucketh If therfore men wold leaue raking abroad in the doctrine of the Gospell and the liues of Preachers and other professours and search at home in themselues they shall find the cause of most of that hatred and contention and wilfull mistaking and rash iudging and bitter censuring and wicked liuing that is in our Christian Churches to be in some an ignorant and prophane heart in some an idolatrous and superstitious hart in some a proud and ambitious heart in some a couetous and worldly heart in some a drunken and a voluptuous heart in some a dissembling and Machiuilean heart in some a scoffing and scorning heart in some a cruell and Herodian heart in some a trecherous and Iudas-like heart Now when all these chaunce to ioyne together against the truth as Herod and Pontius Pilate did against Christ then know that the Deuill whose name is Legion is vp in armes against
faile in their workmanship he of malice and peeuishnesse rather then of ignorance doth alwayes faile in his imaginations for he imagineth euill continually Now then we are come to the ripping vp of Belials imaginations which are described vnto vs First by their qualitie which is bad for he imagineth euill Secondly by their quantitie which is great and vniuersall for he imagineth euill continually The euill qualitie and badde nature of Belials imaginations will the better appeare if we consider first the materiall cause of them which is leud things in his heart secondly the formall cause and that is artificiall forging and framing of them for of matter and forme doth euery thing consist and first of the material cause of his images Immediatly before he saith leud things are in his heart now he sheweth what he doth with them surely nothing but of that abundance of leudnesse which is in his heart forge and frame out euill imaginations wrong iudgements crooked conceits pestilent perswasions and false resemblances according to that which is said of man in the 6. of Genesis when he had vniuersally corrupted his wayes The Lord saw that the wickednesse of man was exceeding great vpon earth and that the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart were onely euill continually to shew that imaginations proceede of thoughts and if the thoughts of the heart be euill the imaginations which come of them cannot but be euill also And further as the stuffe is bad so is the forme and fashion also of his imaginations naught for as of leud thoughts in the heart he imagineth so he imagineth nothing but that which is euill and leud And therfore these crooked conceits of his are called imaginations as if he were an image maker and they his images or idols and indeed they are the images of his mind and so they may well be tearmed in two respects first because like images they haue shew or shape put vpon them both to credit a bad matter and also the more strongly to delude the beholder for if one should take a block of wood and set it vp and say that is to be worshipped for a god no bodie would beleeue that saying And therefore idolaters and idoll makers do not go so to worke but as the Prophet Esai sheweth they hew it and frame it and make it in shape like a man or some other creature and then couer it with gold a thing which draweth loue and delight vnto it and then it is of more credit and estimation then it was before for though it be but a blocke as it was before in regard of the substance yet do not foolish idolaters so call it but they call it either a god as the Israelites did their golden calfe which they erected in the wildernesse when Moses was absent and as the Babilonians did call that image which Nebuchadnezzar set vp or else a Saint as the Papists call their images S. Peter S. Paul their Ladie c. Euen as one in base apparell of beggerly education is called a clown one of no credit but afterward being in braue aparel wearing rings of gold hauing a litle wealth about him is called a gentleman a wise man a substantial man of the parish thogh indeed he be as base rude in conditions as he was before and hath no more wit theÌ„ before So the bad wretched coÌ„ceits of Belial must haue some color or shape put vpon theÌ„ or els they wil be of no credit SecoÌ„dly they are called images because as images be false and vaine and nothing like the things they are made for I speake now of idolatrous and popish images so are Belials imaginations for shall we thinke that the Saints weÌ„t as they are painted in Popety And therfore we truly say of the one it is as it pleased the painter as truly of the other as it pleaseth the forget Now that which hath so bad stuffe for the matter and so ill fauoured a fashion for the forme must needes be of a bad qualitie but such are the imaginations of Belial for they are made of the leud thoughts of his hart and forged after a false fond and strong deluding fashion therefore for the qualitie thereof they cannot be good howsoeuer many times the wicked are so shamelesse that when they haue vttered most vile conceits of others without cause too yet will not sticke to say that they iudge charitably of them and thinke the best and will not make the worst of things And now a little by the way of Belials master for whom he worketh of these mens ware-houses where they lay their stuffe of which they make these images and of their worke-houses where these false and vaine mentall images be forged Surely the Lord created the wicked at the first though not wicked he preserueth them and prouideth for them though not to be wicked therefore they should both in bodie and soule serue and glorifie him but they do not The diuell hath bewitched them and taught them to bewitch others with his faire promises he hath inueigled them and taught them to inueigle and deceiue others And therefore God withdrawing his grace and turning Sathan loose vpon them and so iustly hardning their hearts and giuing them ouer to themselues Sathan they beleeue and not God him they obey and not the Lord. Their heart is Sathans store-house their head is his worke-house they are his apprentises and bond-slaues and do worke for the Diuell all kind of workes sauing good workes And for euery one of his apprentises and iourneymen Sathan hath a ware-house and a shoppe after the manner of Merchaunts and great occupiers for the Diuell is as great a dealer as any in the world and therefore hath neede of many shops and of many ware-houses of many factours and many seruants and of a legion of diuels He hath the greatest but not the godliest Monarkes of the world to rule for him the learnedst but not the holiest doctours of the world to teach for him he hath the craftiest but not the conscionablest lawyers of the world to plead for him he hath the vainest not the valiantest captaines of the world to fight for him he hath the most rich not the most religious Merchants of the world to trafficke for him he hath the cunningest and the cruellest vsurers and extortioners to exact for him he hath a legion yea a million of brokers to hunt for him to buy and sell for him to play the baudes for him to cousin and deceiue for him of bloudy murâ—herers to kill slay for him in euery market and shop he hath some to lie and to sweare to deceiue for him some setting false colors vpon their clothes by false lights some learning the trick with the finger some pinching others and enriching themselues by false waightes and measures and some by extreme prises exacting vpon the buyers and some purloyning from their
was not wel towards him and not without iust cause for he saw that his vnkle Labans countenance was not towards him as in times past and againe he marked how Labans sons murmured against him Iudah imagined Thamar his daughter to be a whoore though he knew not then who she was and not without iust cause for she sate by the waies side with her face couered after the maner of whores in those daies in that country The watch-men of the tower in Israel imagined rightly that it was Iehu who came towardes that place because his marching was furious like the marching of Iehu who belike was knowne to be a hote man All which examples do teach vs that when there is iust cause of suspition and likely tokens of danger and euill we should not be secure simple but wise to see danger and prouident to auoide it for that is the part of a wise man saith the Wise man to see the plague a farre off and to flie from it as Eliah saw by a cloud that arose raine comming a farre off and caused the King to prouide for it before it came And someime the godly haue imagined in good pollicie of a thing otherwise then they haue known the thing to be as Ioseph did when he made his brethren beleeue that he tooke them for spies when he knew them to be no spies And somtime by the outward likelihoods as they coniecture of a thing and are deceiued as Isaac by feeling of Iacob in rough skins imagined it had bene Esau and Samuel by the countenance and stature of Eliah imagined that he was the man that should be the Lords annointed but he was deceiued So Elijah seeing none to stand for the glory of the God of Israel but himselfe imagined that he in that case was left alone but he was deceiued In the imaginations also which commonly men haue of themselues there is great difference betweene the wicked and the godly for the godly being in some measure through the grace of God priuy to their owne corruptions and infirmities do still imagine and that truly that they come short of doing their dutie to God suspecting and fearing their owne ignorance and negligence as that godly zealous and couragious reformer of religion Nehemiah did who when he had most exactly and stoutly reformed the Saboth day he desired God to be mercifull vnto him euen in that point And though S. Paul that worthy Apostle of Christ knew nothing but wel by himselfe in his ministerie yet did he imagine and that rightly that something might be amisse and therefore said Though I know nothing by my selfe yet am I not thereby iustified And sometime the godly do imagine that they are forsaken of God when they are not forsaken which fearefull coniectures and desperat imaginations do arise somtime by the slie suggestions of Sathan through want of faith to resist him sometime of melancholy impressions in the godly and those are to be helped by phisick and good company keeping and sometime from the affliction and wound of conscience groning vnder the hand of God especialy after some relapse into some old sinne againe Which kind of imaginations are to be altered into more comfortable and wholesomer perswasions by spirituall phisicke that is by the wise handling and discreete applying of the promised mercies of God in the Gospell tempering therewithall the threatnings of the law either more or lesse according as the spirituall phisition shal see the partie more or lesse humbled or not at all if he be too much humbled and cast downe alreadie But the wicked being blinded with selfe-loue and bewitched with the vanities of this world and benummed with the long custome of sin go on still drinking in sinne as the horse drinketh in water and imagineth that he is well when he is gotten into the fooles paradise and goeth after his filthy pleasures as a bird to the snare and like an oxe to the slaughter Pro. 5. Nebuchadnezzar the King of pride strouting himselfe in his pallace imagined that he was admired of all the world but was deluded as it were by his owne shadow and derided of God and man In like maner vaine men and women ietting vp and downe in the world like hobby horses in all brauerie with their traines after them and pedlers packes about them with a companie of circumstances in strange and wild fashions imagine that they are honored and admired of all men whereas indeede they are wondred at of the wise and almost of all men for their vanitie and excesse Againe where there is no feare they imagine feare to be and where there is both feare and shame and deadly danger too they promise vnto themselues al peace and security suspecting nothing like the mother of Sisera the Ladies of King Iabins Court who imagined and could imagine no otherwise that the cause of Sisera his long staying was for no other end but to deuide the spoile when indeede he was spoiled himselfe and that by a woman too So the rich man in the Gospell hauing gotten much wealth about him imagined that he should liue many yeares at ease but he was deceiued for euen that very night following was his soule fetched away Wherein is verified the prophecie of the Psalmist The wicked whatsoeuer they imagine vnto themselues shall not liue out halfe their dayes namely that themselues dreame of Therefore to shut vp this point as before we haue bene taught by the names of Belial which signifie lawlesnesse and prophanenesse to looke to our selues that we be not lawlesse and prophane by the mouth of Belial to looke to our speeches that we walke not with a froward mouth by the gestures of Belial to looke to our outward behauiour that it be in sobrietie and simplicitie and by the heart of Belial to watch ouer our owne hearts that leud things haue no residence in them so now by the imaginations or mentall images of Belial framed in the shop of his braine of the leud stuffe in the store-house of his heart let vs be admonished to looke carefully vnto our imaginations that they be not euill false vncharitable vaine wrong crooked Let vs take heed that we make not our hearts which should be the temples of God Sathans ware-houses or store-houses nor our heads his shops and worke-houses let vs learne to iudge the best and alwayes charitably of other mens persons and actions where it is possible to affoord a good construction And where there is iust cause of feare and suspition there let vs learne to be wise and not too simple and carelesse Let vs take heed that we be not deceiued with the enchantments and bewitching vanities of the world nor yet blinded with the false loue of our selues In a word seeing as the imaginations of Belial are for their qualitie euill and for their quantitie vncessantly euill and seeing that continuance or dwelling in
euill imaginations and vncharitable surmises is here put downe for an infallible marke of the man of Belial and of a vaine man who is to be destroyed if he repent not both speedily suddenly and without recouerie let vs all that tender the glorie of God the quiet of our brethren and the peace of our own soules look to our hearts and minds to our thoughts and imaginations and learne by the word of God striuing by continuall prayer to amend correct controll and examine all our surmises our opinions and our conceiued imaginations or sinister conceipts which commonly we frame of our selues and of others of our maker and of our neighbor happy is he not that is free from euill imaginations for then none could be happie but he that hauing found out his euill imaginations doth forsake them And wo be to him not that hath had a false imagining head or may perhaps be ouertaken with an vncharitable surmise by occasion for thē wo be to all but wo be to him that heareth what I say and knoweth himselfe to be guiltie and yet wil continue in his euil imaginations for such a one hath Gods markes vpon him as we say of him that hath the plague euen the markes of a man of Belial which is the plague of the soule to vtter destruction for he imagineth euill continually Now let vs pray THE VIII SERMON PROV 6.14 He raiseth vp contentions THe meaning of these words is this that where there was no contention the man of Belial soweth contention and where contention was either dead or dying out he by rubbing and chafing of it as it were fetcheth and reuiueth it againe Contention is like a brawling dogge or roring lion which being raised vp will shew his furious disposition and put men both in feare and danger Now Belial is one that raiseth vp this dogge and awaketh this lion to his owne danger and trouble of others The summe is this that Belial is a common makebate a sower of discord an enemie to Christian peace and one that cannot fish as the Prouerbe is but in troubled waters Whereby we may learne that an imagining head is good for nothing else but to breake vp the ground that the Diuell meaneth to sow with the seede of debate and strife And now the wicked mans tree beareth fruite such as it is euen bitter contention which is nourished by leud thoughts in the hart and watered by the cursed suggestions of Sathan it buddeth in the euill imaginations of his head it blossometh in the counterfeit and prophane gestures of his body it knitteth in the frowardnesse of his mouth it ripeneth in the practise of his life when he raiseth vp contentions it falleth and rotteth when destruction commeth speedily and suddenly vpon him without recouerie Lo then the fruites of a wicked heart and surmizing head And one thing followeth another in order or rather out of order for leud stuffe in the heart maketh euill imaginations in the braine and euill imaginations serue to raise vp contentions amongst men And the reason is this euill imaginations or mentall images are false resemblances or surmizes that Belial hath framed of himselfe or of others and when they come to light no bodie liketh of them all men hate them all men reproue them Belial maintaines them and then Contention the brawling curre is raised vp of himselfe he imagineth that he is wise when he is but a foole especially in respect of true heauenly wisedome that he is bountifull when he is most niggardly that he is able to do much when he can do nothing and then boasteth of himselfe what he is and what he can do as if he should say Lo this is my picture It is nothing like you saith another It is saith he and so dogged Contention is raised vp Of God and his truth he imagineth carnally superstitiously grossely and blasphemously and commendeth it saying so is the Almightie such is his nature as if he should say Lo this is Gods image this is his picture That see others that be Gods friends and religious friends indeed and they deny it and detest it and then contention is raised vp Of State-matters and common-wealth matters he imagineth crosly and after his owne pleasure Also of the Preachers methode and doctrine he imagineth this and that and frameth out a patterne of teaching himselfe thus he should haue said c. and this he defendeth to the raising vp of contention Of euery mans actions he imagineth euill descanting at his pleasure of this mans dealing and that manslife of this mans words and of that mans lookes and setteth out euery mans image as he listeth himselfe which when men behold and see how ilfauouredly and deformedly they are set forth they reproue the forger or counterfeiter For who can abide to haue a wrong picture made of himselfe If it be vnlike vs in eyes or nose or countenance or any part else we scorne it and deface it Much more are men moued when they are pictured like beastes or see a man set foorth with a beasts head that is a monster who can abide it Such a mate is Belial who imagineth euill and forgeth pictures as it were of euery mans doings and sayings as he listeth himself some after a beastly maner some after a monstrous manner and all after a counterfeit and vnchristian manner Againe on the other side as the wicked man delighteth to set foorth euery man after his owne deuice so can he by no meanes endure to see himselfe set foorth in his owne colours and as he is indeed but loueth to be flattered and soothed vp in all his vgly deformities For when the Minister of God hauing the spirit of God for his instructer and the word of God for his warrant shall paint out the man of Belial in his right colours though the picture and the person do agree yet the wicked are too curious or too incredulous or too peeuish to beleeue it but will find fault and say I am not so bad as he would make me Swearing and whoring and sabbath breaking and vsurie and briberie and vanitie and exaction and ingrossing and gaming c. are not so ill as we make them hence arise contention for the truth will not be outfaced Thus we see the reason of the order that is vsed here in placing these words and how one thing followeth another Now for the better vnderstanding of the truth of this matter wherewith the man of Belial is charged and for the clearing of such doubts as may arise about it there are foure things diligently to be considered of 1. The causes which moue him to raise contention 2. The meanes whereby he doth raise contention 3. How great and odious a sinne it is to raise contention 4. What difference there is betweene the contentions of the wicked and the contentions of the godly The causes of Belials contentious disposition are principally two First the anger and wrath of God
Catechise his family I haue a good calling I may do it Otherwise I see not that I am bound to thrust my selfe into those duties vnrequired if he shall require my iudgement in good sort and earnest wise to be resolued about any matter that is about his house or any offence committed by himselfe or by any of his family as a houshold fault I doubt not but that I may safely speake my mind Or if we be of old and familiar acquaintance and so continue in friendship then as a friend hauing some interest in my friend I thinke I may in friendly wise contend with him about that which I see amisse in him or in his family and admonish him Or if a Pastour of a congregation shall see any priuate disorder or abuse in any of his flocke he ought to go vnto him and soberly admonish him Or if a question be moued in company tending to any errour or for the clearing of any doubt I do not doubt but that vppon occasion thereof one thing drawing on another a man may more safely freely and with lesse offence speake as God shall enable him for the truth then otherwise as many that of a sudden peremptorily and rudely breake in vpon men in their priuate discourses Or if thou be the maister of a famliy hearest thy friends at thy table vse vngodly speeches against religion or backbiting and offensiue speeches of any whether present or absent thou oughtest to tell them of it least thou make thy house a receptacle of vngodlinesse and mischiefe And if thou hast so good calling or occasion as thou hast heard before then thou mayest and oughtest to speake especially when the case toucheth the glory of God though no man else wil speake remembring what our Sauiour Christ sayd when some carped at his Disciples which praysed him as he rode into Ierusalem If these should hold their peace the stones would cry Or if thou be a man of great place and authoritie and in sauour with the Prince and others of high calling and seest the Church of God in daunger as it was by Hamans wicked practise and no body else will step foorth to speake in behalfe of the innocent then oughtest thou to put foorth thy selfe yea though thou venter thy owne life in that case as Hester did for as Mordecai sayd vnto her Who knoweth whether God hath brought thee vnto such fauour and dignitie against such a day Oh how many are there that haue both good calling and iust occasion offered them many wayes and may haue free accesse vnto Princes and speake freely and be heard willingly whereby they might do much good vnto the poore Church of Christ if they would but alas vppon no occasion and without any warrant they can contend where they neede not nay where they ought not and where they should speake there are they tongue-tied nay would to God they did not take all occasions of hindering good causes and of betraying the truth But otherwise if thou hast neither calling as a Minister in his flocke or a maister of a family or a Magistrate in the common-wealth nor place nor occasion iustly and fitly offered vnto thee thē feare to venture as many do who haue as they thinke a great gift in a reprehensiue veine least it fall out with thee as it did with the sonnes of Sceua who tooke vpon them to do as Paule did that is to cast out diuels when they had no such commission nor power and it be sayd vnto thee as the diuels sayd vnto them Paule we know and Iesus we acknowledge but who are you and withall fall vppon thee as diuellish minded persons vse to do and driue thee out naked and wounded A worke both endlesse fruitlesse and dangerous it were for a straunger a plaine simple man or any man else whatsoeuer except he were armed with great power and authority to go to euery one in a faire or market that should be heard swearing or blaspheming or scoffing or vainely disposed Christ would not medle with deuiding of lands nor with giuing of sentence against the adultresse because they were matters which belonged not vnto him Neither would wise Abigail reproue her husband for his churlishnesse toward Dauid when he was in his cups because then he was not capable of counsell nor admonition According to which examples let vs walke in all abundance of godly wisedome and the Lord shall giue a blessing vnto his glory and our comfort Now let vs pray THE IX SERMON PRO. 6.14 He raiseth vp contentions IN the former Sermon to what ends and by what meanes chiefly the man of Belial doth raise vp contentions Now it remaineth that we consider the greatnesse of the sinne the more to driue vs out of loue therewith and next the difference betweene the contentions of the wicked and the contentions of the godly because it is not simply vnlawfull to contend at all Now for the first the greatnesse of this sinne namely of raising vp contentions and reuiuing of controuersies after Belials maner may appeare two wayes First by considering what testimony God hath giuen of it or against it rather in his word Secondly by vewing the scars and harmes as they say that this beast hath done that is by beholding the blessings that by the meanes of wicked mens contentions are quite rooted vp and destroyed For the first it is sayd in this present Chapter There are 6. things which the Lord hateth yea his soule abhorreth 7. the haughty eyes a lying tongue and the hands that shed innocent bloud an hart that imagineth wicked enterprises feete that be swift in running to mischiefe a false witnesse that speaketh lyes and him that raiseth vp contentions among neighbours Where a man may perceiue by his companions that he is matched withall what manner of beast the make-bate is for he goeth to be arraigned in the same line with the haughtie disdainfull persons with lyers and murtherers with men whose dexterity is in doing of mischiefe and false witnesses such as put Christ to death all birds of a feather beasts of one haire and whelpes of a litter All which the Lord sayth he hateth abhorreth so doth he the contentious person as if he should say I do more then hate him I do hate and abhorre him To shew that a full cup of Gods wrath is tempered for such to drinke of Oh that all contentious Belials had grace to consider well of this that he might repent for who can beare the displeasure of a Prince whose wrath is like vnto the roaring of a lyon Much lesse can he sustaine the fulnesse of the Princes wrath which is death at the least if not with all extremity If none can abide the wrath of a Prince whose breath is in his nostrils and hath power but ouer the bodies and goods of men then who can endure the wrath of the Lord when in all fulnesse and extremity it shall be
against the land but as for me I recall them vnto the God of my fathers stand for the lawes of God giuen in mount Sinai Therefore I am not he that troubleth the land the controuersie is raised by thy selfe for thou contendest with God and his word which I stand for In like sort may we also answer all Papists and Atheists when they call vs troublesome fellowes We stand for the true worship of Iesus Christ and the glory of God we receiue the holy Scriptures as containing all things necessary to saluation so do not they we vse the Sacraments not in part but in whole so do not they not with any Popish eleuations or superstitious adoration or kneeling to the Sacrament as they do we will not worship idols or the creature for the Creator as they do therefore not we but they are contentious disturbers of the Church of God Happy is that Church and common wealth which is gouerned by the word of God then vnhappy are those that follow the inuentions of men reiect the commaundements of God It was a strong argument that Elijah vsed wherewith he brake the kings hart and made him to yeeld And in other places of the Scripture also is this word troubling vsed in that same sence as in Iosh. 7.25 Achan troubled Israel because he did contrary to Gods commandement take vnto himselfe by stealth also things excommunicate and accursed Simeon and Leui also are sayd to trouble Iacob their father because trecherously they slue the Sechemires Gen. 34 29. I maruell saith S. Paul that you are so soone turned away vnto another Gospell which indeede is not another Gospell but some among you trouble you and intend to peruert the Gospell of Christ. All which places do shew that they are the troublers of Gods Church which violate Gods commandements which adulterate his worship which deale falsly with his couenant which hinder the course of the Gospell and labour to draw away men from the loue of the truth Thus then we see that all are not to be condemned which haue contended for that in euery contention there are two parts each contrary to other and if the cause of the one be good the other must needes be bad They that defend Gods right or the Churches right or their owne right are not to be called contentious persons but defendants And they that complaine of wrong offered to God or to his Church or to the common wealth or to themselues are not contentious persons but plaintiues as they are termed in law But because the Magistrate as Peter Martyr saith is Lex animata a liuing law and representeth the person of God therefore he is to be receiued obeyed without contending or resisting so long as he commaundeth and ruleth by the word of God or by honest and ciuill decrees not repugnant to the word of God and in things indifferent also he is to be obeyed although to some they may seeme grieuous euen as seruants must obey seeke to please not only their curteous and gentle maisters but also those that are froward and hard to please But if he shall command any thing against the word of God he is not to be obeyed for the Apostle sayth It is better to obey God then man And as we ought not in such cases to obey him so neither ought we to rebell against him but meekely to submit our felues vnto such penalties and punishments as he by his lawes shall inflict vppon vs. Or if he shall giue bad example in his owne person or suffer euill to go vnpunished we may hauing a lawfull calling thereunto and ought to reproue him for it or rather to admonish him as a father as Paule teacheth Neither can we be iustly condemned for contentious Belials if in such cases we do lawfully contend against him Nay more as impiety must not be obeyed so it must be reproued with all zeale and earnestnesse of afaffection so much as lyeth in vs by the examples of Christ Iohn Baptist the rest of the Prophets and Apostles who cannot without great impietie be counted raisers of contention but sowers of peace and vnitie by contending for the truth Moses and Aron troubled Pharaoh when they told him of his wicked detaining the Israelites Iosiah Hezekiah and Asa good Kings troubled the idolaters when they suppressed their groues their images and their hill Altars Daniel and his fellowes troubled Nebuchadnezzar when they told him that they would not fall downe before his image that he had caused to be set vp to be worshipped So Michaiah troubled Achab when he told him that he should not returne in peace if he went to warre against Ramoth Gilead So Iohn Baptist troubled Herod when he told him that it was not lawfull for him to keepe his brothers wife and all these were in their time counted troublesome seditious and contentious persons And so are they in our time also counted who reproue the abuses and disorders of Princes Courts the negligence of Bishops and the corruptions of their Ecclesiasticall Courts the couetousnesse of corrupt Patrones and Nonresidents the ignorance of idoll shepheards the lazinesse idlenesse of others that haue knowledge the cruelty of Lādlords the biting of vsurers the vanity of gentlemen the bribery of officers the profanation of the Sabbath and such like but what then He that hath not yet learned that all mē as they are affected will giue their verdict hath learned nothing and he that hath not learned with the forenamed constant souldiers of Iesus Christ to go through honour and dishonour through good report and bad report for the truths sake 2. Cor. 6.8 hath learned but a little The Minister of Christ must not onely teach sound doctrine saith S. Paul Tit. 1.9 but also maintaine the same against gainesayers to shew that one cause why the Lord will suffer his truth to be gainesaid is to trie how his seruants will defend it And there must be heresies saith the same Apostle that the approued may be knowne The heresie we know is of Sathan and a worke of the flesh Gal. 5.20 but the good that commeth thereof is of God who doth still bring good out of euill as he did light out of darknes Ge. 1.9 The flint the steele are violently stricken the one against the other yet without this violence there will no fire come they both weare one another yet the benefite of light doth recompence the losse of them both There was a striuing betweene Iacob and Esau in their mothers belly which could not choose but be painfull to their mother yet without this striuing they could not be born and the birth of the one being the Lords beloued was sufficient cause of ioy to his mother though the other had perished in the birth The Church militant also is our spirituall mother in whose body while we liue there is and will be a strife
Luk. 1.29 Gen. 25.33 Heb. 12.16 Of almes Musc. Mar. 12.42 Pro. 22.2 Mal. 2.15 Mar. 14.6.7 Gen. 29.20 To whom we must giue Luk. 6.30 Gal. 6.10 Gen. 45.22 23. Ios. 9. Why this text is called the Anatomy of Belial The parts of this Anatmomy Iudg. 19. vâ—lt 3. Points To what end this Anatomy tendeth Not for pollicy Rom. 15.4 Nor to gaze at But to know him auoide him Belial in like a runagate Act. 13. What entertainmeÌ„t and friendship Belial hath in all places Vertue and godlinesse can neuer get good seruice nor good mariage Gods warrant for the attaching of Belial What actions come against Belial and at whose sute 1 King 3. vlt. How Belial is descried by the godly wise A strong argument 2 Point A point of ingratitude and an abuse of Gods mercie to out-face the truth To take the notes that God hath giuen is not to iudge but to pronounce the iudgement of God Christs wordes Iudge not how they are abused by the wicked The impudency of the couetous man Of the proud maÌ„ Of the incontinent person The wicked are patrons one to another Howe Christs words in Mat. 7.1 are to be vnderstood 1. Cor. 10. 1 Cor. 11. Phil. 1.9 Deut. 1. Cor. 2.14 They that cry out you must not iudge are most rash themselues in iudging of others The iudgemeÌ„t which wicked meÌ„ giue of the godly and of others is peruerse peposterous Esa. 5.20 Pro. 17.15 Pro. 24.24 Mat. 7. Rom. 1. We may iudge who is for the present a wicked man but not who is a reprobate A similitude of a Iury. Cases rare and extraordinary Iohn 6. The third point of the coherence of this text with the rest of the Chapter Doct. Gods fanne doth find out all Luk. 11.45 Some look to be dispensed with for their sins Partiality is to be found in the world but not in the word No man can escape the power and censure of the word Luk. 12.3 The vse of this point I. King 18. The minister doth but hold forth the glasse that sheweth vs our spots Ier. 43.3 Ioh. 4. Great sins and small sinnes are knit together The lawes of the Popish church are like the Spiders web Many professours are zealous against smaller offences in others and dispeÌ„ce with foule abuses in themselues Our force is to be bent against the least sinnes aswell as the greatest Of the names of Belial The meaning of this phrase the man of Belial among the Hebrewes A dissolute and loose man Deut. 13.13 Iudg. 19.22 1. Sam 2.12 2. Sa. 16.7 2. Cor. 6.15 Exo. 32.9 Psal. 2.2.3 Luke 19.27 Psal. 12.4 His names set forth his nature 1. Sam. 25. Belial hath as many names as the diuell 1 1 Accusers Apoc. 12.10 2 2 Enemies Iob. 1.7 3 3 CoÌ„passers Mat. 23.15 Luke 22.31 4 4 Sifters Gen. 3.13 5 5 Deceiuers 2. Tim. 3.13 6 6 Serpents Psal. 58 4. 7 7 Foxes Cant. 2.15 Psal. 91.3 8 8 Hunters 1. Sa. 24.12 9 9 Dragons Psal. 44.19 1. Pet. 5.8 10 10 Lions Psal. 54.4 11 11 Louers of darknesse Iohn 3.19 Eph. 4.18 Ioh. 8.44 12 12 Lyers Psal. 52.3 Mar. 5.9 13 13 Legion A marke of the Popes Church Phil. 3.19 There is no concord betweene Christ and Belial The contrarietie betweene Belial and Christ. Gen. 27. A description of Belials loue Pro. 5. A double vse of the former doctrine 1. It bewraieth a Popish slaunder Papists are men of Belial Of the wicked liues of their Popes Popish doctrine fit to make men of Belial The 2. vse to teach Christians mortification and obedience Mat. 11.29 Mat. 20.20 Many think to haue heauen for the asking without any more adoe Mat. 19.22 1. King 3. Of such as keepe the sabbath to the halfes They are like 1. The harlot that wold haue the child deuided 1. King 18. 2. The idol Baal that could not heare What it is to put on the yoke of Christ. It is a great honour to pledge Christ in his sufferings Christs lawes Psal. 119.9 Mat. 5.29 Pro. 23.2 As hard to forgo our sinnes as our liues Mat. 11.26 How Christs yoke is made easie Pro. 8.9 Christs burden is a benefite and no burden It is not inough to defie Poperie Mat. 5. 1. Thes. 1.9 Many forsake Papists and ioyne with Atheists Why mortification is called a waining of the soule How to waine the soule Psal. 73.24 Pro. 1.27.28 29.30 The fearefull estate of Libertines Verse 31. Ro. 1.28 Luk. 19.27 Psal. 115. The practise of Gods children Psal. 40. The comfort of Gods children at the houre of death Of the 2. name of the man of Belial What is prophanenesse Profane vanitie and wickednes is called now adaies finenesse of wit One may be a bad man that doth hurt no bodie Honestie is double ciuill and religious Religious honest meÌ„ giue God his due Act. 28. Prou. 23. Who is a good man indeed What maner of persons we must chuse to coÌ„uerse withall Vain company will draw men from God The difference between Adam Ish. Vaine Belial is viler then theÌ„ earth The strength of the wicked is wholy emploied in euill 1. Cor. 16.13 Of Belials actions 1 1 Of his speeches 1. Sam. 25. A man is that which he is for the most part Psal. 45.1 The toung was giuen to set forth none but good matters Iob. And chiefly the glorie of God The toung compared to a penne for three causes And to the pen of a swift writer for three causes 1. 2. 3. Ephes. 4.29 c. The toung is giuen to build vp others in goodnesse The hurt that commeth by corrupt speeches 1. Cor. 15 The vaine perswasion of prophane persons The corruption of good manners is the generation of euil maÌ„ners in others Euill words are hurtfull alâ—o to our selues and signes of much euill in the hart A wrathfull heart is the diuels lodg Act. 20.28 Naturall corruption doth not domineere in the regenerate What it is for corrupt communication to proceede out of the mouth Iam. 3.3.4 Two similitudes 1 1 Of a bit in a horse mouth 2 2 Of a rudder in a shippe Pro. 17.27 The application of the former doctrine A description of Belials toung Psal. 73.8 Eze. 33.31 Rom. 1.29 A peruerse mouth a note of one that feareth not God Mat. 12. Psal. 37.30 He that cannot speake well cannot do well Two sorts reproued by the former doctrine Psal. 12.3.4 2. Sort. Peruerse disputers Pro. 26.18.19 Sober disputations tending to edification are coÌ„mendable Walketh CoÌ„tinuaÌ„ce in frowardnes is a difference betweene the godly and-the wicked Ia. 3.2 Psal. 51. Psal. 39. The wicked delight in speaking of the frailties of the godly to iustifie themselues The comfort of the godly after their fals Rom. 6. The custome of sinne is dangerous Similitudes Custome and vse maketh vncomely fashions seeme comely How hard a thing it is to leaue that which one hath bene accustomed vnto Ier. 13. In nature impossible Custome taketh away the feeling of sinne How an