been with David It was not some light touch to rase only the surface and skin of the heart but like a sword it pierced deep into him To teach us one lesson that actions spotted though but with the least suspicion of sin ought nor carelesly to be past by or slightly glanced at but we ought to be deeply apprehensive of them and bestow greatest care and consideration upon them The third part of our Text containeth the cause of Davids remorse in the last words Because he cut off Sauls skirt in the two former parts we had to do with greatness there was 1. a great Person and 2. great Remorse can we in this third part find out any great cause or reason of this so to make all parts proportionable Certainly he that shall attentively read and weigh these first words of my Text and know the story might think that David had committed some notable error as some great oppression or some cruell slaughter or some such royall sin which none but Kings and great men can commit But beloved this my Text seems to be like the Windows in Solomons Temple broad within but narrow without or like a Pyramide large and spatious at the Basis and ground of it but small and sharp at the top The Person and Remorse which are the Ground and subject of my Text both are great and large but the cause which is the very crown and top of all that is very small yea peradventure none at all For whether it be that my self accustomed to greater sins and now grown old in them have lost all sense of small and petty errours or whether indeed there be no errour at all in this action of David but only some fancy some jealousy arising out of that Godly and carefull watch he kept over all his wayes or whatsoever else it was that caused this scruple or remorse in David it is a very hard matter to discover and yet notwithstanding that we may make more open pass unto such Doctrines as I shall raise out of these words let us a little scan and consider what it was in this action that made David thus strangely scrupulous And first of all was it for that he had toucht and taken that which was none of his own and therefore might seem to fall within compass of the Law against injury and purloyning This seems not probable for when afterwards in the like case he came upon Saul as he was sleeping in the Camp and took from him the Spere and the pot of Water which stood at his head we do not read that his heart smote him and yet he took what was none of his Or 2ly was it that he did wrong and dishonour Saul in mangling his garment Indeed the Jews have a tradition that this was the sin of which David was here so sensible And therefore say they whereas we read in the first of Kings that when David grew old they covered him with clothes but he gat no heat this was the punishment of his sin committed against Saul God so providing that garments should not be serviceable to him who had offended in wronging Sauls garments But this I must let go as a fable Or 3ly was it that he had unadvisedly given way to some disloyal thought and at first resolved to revenge himself on Saul having him at the advantage though afterward he repented Indeed St. Chrysostome thinks so and therefore on those words at the latter end of the verse next before my Text And David arose he notes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See you â—â—ot saith he what a tempest of rage and anger begins to rise in him for he supposeth him to arise in heat and fury with a resolution for blood but it pleased God in the way to make him relent and change the purpose of revenge into the Action of cutting off his skirt and that this smiting of Davids heart was nothing else but his repenting himself for giving over hasty entertainment to such a rebellious thought But beloved who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect Davids thoughts were known only to God and himself Since therefore God gives not this as a reason of Davids remorse but another thing far be it from me that I should wrong David so far as to burden him with that with which none but God can charge him I rather chuse to follow St. Basils rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let the Scriptures be understood as they lye The Scripture tells us Davids heart smote him because he cut of the skirt of Sauls garment and not because he had conceiv'd against Saul any thought of blood But what cause then shall we give of Davids remorse none other Beloved but that Religious and carefull jealousie which still he had over his own thoughts which made him pietatis affectu etiam quae tuta sunt formidare Hieron To suspect all things be they never so safe and never to think himself secure from the contagion of sin It was with David as it is wont to be with men that are often troubled with sicknesses and diseases suspicionibus inquietantur medicisque jam sani manum porrigunt omnem calorem corporis sui calumniantur Senec. Disquiet themselves with every little alteration in their Bodies repair to the Physician when they are well and think every heat to be an Ague fit Horum corpus non est parum sanum sed sanitati parum assuevit these men are not sick but they do not know what it is to be in health In the same state is David he had been often infected with Spirituall weakness and disease and therefore he suspects every motion of his heart and takes every thought to be a temptation Hujus animus non erat parum sanus sed sanitati parum assuevit his Soul was not sick of any sin but he did not know what it was to be in Spirituall health For us and for our use hath the Holy Ghost registred this example of scruple and tenderness of conscience Let us returne to our selves and see what lessons we may learn hence for our behoof Men usually are either grown old in sin therefore their eyesight is decayed they cannot eaâ—â—ly see and discerne smaller sins or else as Hagar in the Book of Genesis laid Ismael afar off from her that she might not be griev'd with the sight of him so we labour to lay our sins far out of kenn that the memory and sight of them might not exasperate and trouble us For the cure of both these infirmityes I have borrowed out of the Lords treasury a Spectacle or Optick Glass which if we use it will restore our decayed eyesight and quicken and make us read our sins in the smallest print and let themâ—â—ly never so farr from us yet will it present them unto us in their true quantity and greatness Towards the better use of which Spirituall Glasse one lesson would I especially commend unto you to be perpetually Jealous
themselves which yet had not broken out into separation of mindes and breach of Charity That it was impossible for all wits to jump in one point It was the Judgement of Paraeus a great Divine that the greatest cause of Contentions in the Church was this that the Schoolmens Conclusions and Cathedral Decisions had been receiv'd as Oracles and Articles of Faith That they were therefore unjustly charged with the bringing in of a Sceptick Theologie They sought for nothing else but for that liberty which is the mean betwixt servitude and License That now they appear'd before the Synod whether as cited or otherwise they were not careful They had been present howsoever had it been lawful They requir'd the Forreigners not to judge of them as they had heard abroad but as they now should finde them That they profess they oppose themselves first against those Conclusions concerning Predestination which the Authors themselves have call'd Horrida Decreta Secondly against those who for the Five Articles so call'd have made a Separation never expecting any Synodical Sentence Thirdly against those who cast from them all those who in some things dissent from them And yet to raise the controversy greater is the question of the right of Magistrates added above all the rest which they maintain'd against those who taught the Magistrate should with a hoodwiâ—â—kt obedience accept of what the Divines taught without farther enquiry These are the points for which we have contended Give unto us that respect which your selves would look for at our hands if you were in our case we have not ambitiously sued to any the Favour of God alone it is which we have sought Look not upon this small number which you see Unus Patronus bonae causae satis est 'T is not the smaller number that makes the Schism If a major part carry the right what think you then of the Province of Utrecht where the greater parts are Remonstrants From you doth the Schisme proceed First here in this Synod by making so an unequal a choice of Deputies with so small a number of Remonstrants Secondly by proceeding against us abroad not expecting a Synodal Decree by cashiering and subjecting unto Censures the chief Patrons of our Cause eos apud quos sunt aquilae nostrae and peradventure even at this very hour you proceed against some of ours by suspending discommuning by expelling them from their Churches c. But yet we cast not away our Swords The Scriptures and sollid Reason shall be to us instead of multitudes The Conscience rests not it self upon the number of Suffrages but upon the strength of Reason Tam parati sumus vinci quam vincere He gets a great Victory that being conquer'd gains the Truth Amicus Socrates amiâ—â—us Plato amica Synodus sedâ—â— magis amica Veritas These are the Fragments of Episcopius his speech as far as my Memory and broken notes could supply me I suppose what Errors I have committed by leaving out misplacing misrelating Mr. Ames when he comes to your Honour will rectify this and much more for an hours space he delivered with great grace of speech and Oratorial gesture The Praeses signified unto him that because there were in his speech many things considerable he was therefore to deliver the Copy of it Episcopius replyed that he had none handsomely written if the Synod would have patience he would cause a fair Transcript to be drawen for them But this excuse would not serve Fair or foul deliver it up he must and so he did The Deputies for the Politicks signified that since there were many things in it which did as well concern the Seculars as Eclesiasticks they were to give it up subscribed with all their hands which forthwith was done Then did the Praeses tell them how much they were beholding to the Synod that had so patiently heard them notwithstanding that they had no leave granted them to speak and that they ought to have expected the Mandate of the Synod To this Episcopius replyes that he had required leave before he began to speak True said the Praeses but you stayed not till leave was granted you besides saith he you are to know that no man may no not of those that are the members of the Synod offer to declaim without leave first had and without manifesting the Argument and drift of his speech After this followed a Form of Oath prescribed by the States which all the Members of the Synod were to take the Articles of it were these two That only the Word of God should be taken for their rule to end their questions and that they had no other purpose but the peace of the Church First the Praeses took his oath in this order standing up in his place he said Ego promitto coram Deo thus and thus ita propitius mihi sit Servator Christus Then the Provincials took every one in his order standing in his place and pronouncing these words Idem promitto coram Deo sancto Servatore only the Remonstrants Deputies of Utrecht took not the Oath because as yet they had not determined whether they would make themselves parties or Judges After the Provincials did the Forreigners in order do the like and so the Session ended And with it I think is time for me to end and commend your Lordship to Gods good Protection Dort this 7. of Decemb. 1618. stylo novo Your Honours Chaplain and bounden in all Duty Jo. Hales Right Honourable my very good Lord UPon Saterday 5 1â—â— of this present the Synod being sate in the Morning Scultetus made unto them a pious and pathetical Sermon In the beginning he signified first how it joyed him to speak unto them Post eruditissimum virum Josephum Hallum Decanum Wigorniae meritissimum Secondly that he saw that day that which his Majesty of Great Brittain and the Prince Elector his Master had so long desired to see namely a Synod gathered for the setling of the Churches peace in these Countries He took for his Theme the 122. Psalm I rejoyced when they said unto me Let us go up unto the house of the Lord and so forth unto the end of the Psalm Where first having shewed the occasion of this Psalm that it was the Removal and bringing of the Ark unto Jerusalem he considered in the whole Psalm three things First that it was Summum hominis gaudium to see the Peace and flourishing of the Church which he shewed by many Reasons and confirmed by the examples of the Duke of Wittemberg who at the Council held at Worms a hundred and twenty years since when others discoursed of many Priviledges and conveniences of their Lordships and Territories openly protested it to be his greatest felicity that he could in aperto campo in sinu Subditorum suorum dormire and of Theodosius the Emperour who at his death did more comfort himself that he had been a Son of the Church then the Emperour of the World Secondly that
the Remonstrants I would have had him stay to morrow likewise that he might have seen the manner of proceeding with them but he would not Here is speech that Scultetus is to make the next Latin Sermon but when we know not There is a rumour that Vorâ—â—tius is gone from Tergoue but of this I suppose your Honour may have better information then I can give therefore ceasing to trouble your Honour any longer I humbly take my leave Dort this 6. of Novemb. 1618. stylo novo Your Honours Chaplain and bounden in all Duty Jo. Hales Right Honourable my very good Lord IN my last Letters to your Honour I related a doubt concerning the Deputies for the Remonstrants of Utrecht whether they were to be a part of the Synod or in the number of the Remonstrants who were cited to appear before the Synod The reasons of that doubt which then I understood not were these First because in their Credential Letters they were charged to defend the cause of the Remonstrants Now it could not be that they should be both Defendants and Judges in the same cause Secondly it was objected that their case was the same per omnia with Episcopius who was to have been of the Synod if he would have brought his Credential Letters as the rest of the Professors were But he refused it because in the Remonstrants cause he was to be a party except he would have laid by the Defence of that cause Thirdly when the question was of citing the Remonstrants out of each Province it was then concluded in the Synod that out of the Province of Utrecht none should be cited to appear because of that Province there were some already and therefore it was superfluous to cite any more In the judgment of the Synod therefore they were in numero citatorum as far as concern'd that cause and not in the number of the Members of the Synod Unto these Reasons were they chaâ—â—ged to give their answer upon Saterday and then to resolve whether they would forsake the words of their Credential Letters and so remain Judges or else stand unto them and become in the number of the citati Wherefore upon Saterday the 8. of December stylo novo The Synod being met in the morning the Deputies for the Remonstrants gave up their Answer in scripto to these Reasons And to the first concerning the Clause in their Credential Letters they answered that they were not so limited but that in their private instructions they had leave to do otherwise if they thought good To the second concerning the Parity of their case with Episcopius they answered that their case was quite another for they were sent from their Provinces as Members of the Synod which plea Episcopius could not make To the third concerning the intent of the Synod at the Citation they answerd that they never so understood the words of the Synod neither did they know but that they might shew themselves for the cause of the Remonstrants and yet sit as Judges since they were there to defend their opinion no otherwise then the Contra-Remonstrants were to defend theirs and therefore they were purposed to take the oath and to keep their places The Praeses then requir'd them to shew that clause in their private instructions wherein that reservation was which they pretended They stuck a little at first to bring forth their instructions but at length seeing there was no other remedy they consented to do it provided that no more should be read then what they would suffer which was granted them In the mean time whilst they were providing to produce their instructions there were read in the Synod the letters of the Provinciall Synod of South Holland directed to the Nationall to this purpose that whereas Theophilus Ryckwaerdius one of those who was cited among the Remonstrants had lately been by them convented for certain misdemeanors the Synod would be pleased to give him leave to returne and make his answer to such objections as they had to charge him with The thing was put to the determination of the Synod The Deputies of the States thought fit it should be left to his own discretion to do as he thought good Others thought it not fit he should be sent from the greater Synod to a lesser Others thought it was necessary he should immediately be sent away to make his answer since it was question of behaviour and manners only and not of doctrine In the end it was concluded it should be left to his own discretion to do as he thought good By this time were the Remonstrants of Utrecht ready to shew their instructions which they there openly produced but to no purpose at all For all they could shew was this that they had commission to defend their cause or to labour at least for an accommodation or tolleration of it but that they had power to pronounce decisively de veritate aut falsitate sententiae that did not as yet appear The thing was acted with much altercation on both sides At length it was agreed with some reluctancy on the Remonstrants party that it should be put to the determination of the Synod whether they were to be accounted as Judges or only as citati Some favourably thought that their private instructions were not too narrowly to be sifted but if they would suo periculo take the oath it should be sufficient Others thought that an oath was a greater matter then should so easily be permitted although men did offer to take it there being so good cause of doubt as now there was Others examining there Credentiall letters and the words of their private Commission and finding no authority given them to define de falsitate sententiae if it should appear to be false and that the lowest point they could descend unto was a Tolleration concluded they could be no other then citati As for their plea that they came to defend their opinion no otherwise then the Contra-Remonstrants did for theirs it was replyed first that they did the Synod wrong to make this distinction of Contra-Remonstrants and Remonstrants for in the Synod there was no Contra-Remonstrant and no man was call'd thither under that name whereas they in their letters came under the name of Remonstrants Again No man came with charge to defend any opinion but were free to pronounce according to truth wheresoever it should be which was not their case In the end the judgement of the Synod was given up that they could not be of the members of the Synod in this cause for in any other they might but only as citati Yet notwithstanding that they might see the equity of the Synod toward them it was permitted them to keep their places upon these conditions first if they would quit their defence of the cause Secondly if they would give no advise or counsel directly or indirectly to the citati and by no means meddle with them in their cause thirdly that they did not divulge
is that which here with our blessed Apostle I am to reprehend Learning in general is nothing else but the competent skill of any man in whatsoever he professes Usually we call by this name onely our polite and Academical studies but indeed it is common to every one that is well skild well practised in his own mystery The unlearned therefore whom here our Apostle rebukes is not he that hath not read a multiplicity of Authors or that is not as Moses was skilful in all the learning of the AEgyptians but he that taking upon him to divide the word of God is yet but raw and unexperienced or if he have had experience wants judgment to make use of it Scripture is never so unhappy as when it falls into these mens fingers That which old Caâ—â—o said of the Grecian Physicians quandocunque ista gens literas suas dabit omnia corrumpet is most true of these men whensoever they shall begin to tamper with Scripture and vent in writing their raw conceits they will corrupt and defile all they touch Quid enim molestiae tristitiaeque temerarii isti praesumptores c. as S. Austine complaineth for what trouble and anguish these rash presumers saith he bring unto the discreeter sort of the brethren cannot sufficiently be exprest when being convinced of their rotten and ungrounded opinions for the maintaining of that which with great levity and open falshood they have averd they pretend the authority of these sacred books and repeat much of them even by heart as bearing witness to what they hold whereas indeed they do but pronounce the words but understand not either what they speak or of what things they do affirm Belike as he that bought Orpheus Harp thought it would of it self make admirable melody how unskilfully soever he toucht it so these men suppose that Scripture will found wonderful musically if they do but strike it with how great infelicity or incongruity soever it be The reason of these mens offence against Scripture is the same with the cause of their miscarriage in civil actions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Thucydiâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rude men men of little experience are commonly most peremptory but men experienced and such as have Waded in business are slow of determination Quintilian making a question why unlearned men seem many times to be more copious then the learned for commonly such men never want matter of discourse answers that it is because whatsoever conceit comes into their heads without care or choice they broach it cum doctis sit electio modus whereas learned men are choice in their invention and lay by much of that which offers it self Wise hearted men in whom the Lord hath put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary like Bezaleel and Aholiab refuse much of the stuff which is presented them But this kinde of men whom here our Apostle notes are naturally men of bold and daring spirits quicquid dixerint hoc legem Dei putant as Saint Jerome speaks whatsoever conceit is begotten in their heads the spirit of God is presently the father of it Nee scire dignantur quid Prophetae quid Apostoli senserint sed ad suum sensum incongrua aptant testimonia But to leave these men and to speak a little more home unto mine own auditory Let us a little consider not the weakness of these men but the greatness of the business the manage of which they undertake So great a thing as the skill of exposition of the word and Gospel is so fraught with multiplicity of Authors so full of variety of opinion must needs be confest to be a matter of great learning and that it cannot especially in our days in short time with a mediocrity of industry be attained For if in the Apostles times when as yet much of Scripture was scarsly written when God wrought with men miraculously to inform their understanding and supplied by revelation what mans industry could not yield if I say in these times St. Paul required diligent reading and expresly forbad greenness of schollarship much more then are these conditions required in our times wherein God doth not supply by miracle our natural defects and yet the burden of our profession is infinitely increast All that was necessary in the Apostles times is now necessary and much more For if we adde unto the growth of Christian learning as it was in the Apostles times but this one circumstance to say nothing of all the rest which naturally befals our times and could not be required at the hands of those who guided the first ages of the Church that is the knowledge of the state and succession of doctrine in the Church from time to time a thing very necessary for the determining the controversies of these our days how great a portion of our labour and industry would this alone require Wherefore if Quintilian thought it necessary to admonish young men that they should not presume themselves satis instructos si quem ex iis qui breves circumferuntur artis libellum edidicerint velut decretis technicorum tutos putent if he thought fit thus to do in an art of so inferiour and narrow a sphere much more is it behooveful that young students in so high so spacious so large a profession be advised nor to think themselves sufficiently provided upon their acquaintance with some Notitia or Systeme of some technical divine Look upon those sons of Anak those Giant-like voluminous writers of Rome in regard of whom our little tractats and pocket volumes in this kinde what are they but as Grashoppers I speak not this like some seditious or factious spie to bring weakness of hands or melting of heart upon any of Gods people but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stir up and kindle in you the spirit of industry to inlarge your conceits and not to suffer your labours to be copst and mued up within the poverty of some pretended method I will speak as Joshua did to his people Let us not fear the people of that land they are as meat unto us their shadow is departed from them the Lord is with us fear them not Only let us not think sedendo votis debellari posse that the conquest will be gotten by sitting still and wishing all were well or that the walls of these strong Cities will fall down if we only walk about them and blow rams horns But as the voice of Gods people sometime was by the sword of God and of Gideon so that which here gives the victory must be the grace of God and our industry For by this circumcised narrow and penurious form of study we shall be no more able to keep pace with them then a childe can with Hercules but I forbear and pass away unto the second epithet by which these rackers of Scriptures are by St. Peter stiled Vastable IN the
learning which the world teaches it were almost a miracle to finde a man constant to his own tenents For not to doubt in things in which we are conversant is either by reason of excellency and serenity of understanding throughly apprehending the main principles on which all things are grounded together with the discrying of the several passages from them unto particular conclusions and the diverticles and blind by-paths which Sophistry and deceit are wont to tread and such a man can nature never yield or else it is through a senseless stupidity like unto that in the common sort of men who conversing among the creatures and beholding the course of heaven and the heavenly host yet never attend them neither ever sinks it into their heads to marvel or question these things so full of doubt and difficulty Even such a one is he that learns Theology in the School of nature if he seem to participate of any setledness or composedness of conscience Either it never comes into his head to doubt of any of those things with which the world hath inured him or if it doth it is to no great purpose he may smother and strangle he can never resolve his doubt The reason of which is this It lies not in the worlds power to give in this case a text of sufficient authority to compose and fix the thoughts of a soul that is dispos'd to doubt But this great inconvenience which held the world in uncertainty by the providence of God is prevented in the Church For unto it is left a certain undoubted and sufficient authority able to exalt every valley and lay low every hill to smooth all rubs and make our way so open and passable that little enquiry serves So that as it were a wonder in the school of nature to finde one setled and resolved so might it seem a marvel that in the Church any man is unstable unresolved Yet notwithstanding even here is the unstable man found too and to his charge the Apostle lays this sin of wresting of Scripture For since that it is confest at all hands that the sense and meaning of Scripture is the rule and ground of our Christian tenents whensoever we alter them we must needs give a new sense unto the word of God So that the man that is unstable in his religion can never be free from violating of Scripture The especial cause of this levity and flitting disposition in the common and ordinary sort of men is their disability to discern of the strength of such reasons as may be framed against them For which cause they usually start and many times falls away upon every objection that is made In which too sudden entertainment of objections they resemble the state of those who are lately recovered out of some long sickness qui et si reliquias effugerint suspicionibus tamen inquietantur omnem câ—â—lorem corporis sui calumniantur Who never more wrong themselves then by suspecting every alteration of their temper and being affrighted at every little passion of heat as if it were an ague-fit To bring these men therefore unto an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to purchase them a setledness of minde that temper that St. Austine doth require in him that reads his book tales meorum Scriptorem velim judices qui responsionem non semper desiderent quum his quae leguntur audierint aliquid contradici the same temper must be found in every reader of Scripture he must not be at a stand and require an answer to every objection that is made against them For as the Philosopher tells us that mad and fantastical men are very apprehensive of all outward accidents because their soul is inwardly empty and unfurnished of any thing of worth which might hold the inward attention of their mindes so when we are so easily dord and amated with every Sophisme it is a certain argument of great defect of inward furniture and worth which should as it were ballance the minde and keep it upright against all outward occurrents whatsoever And be it that many times the means to open such doubts be not at hand yet as S. Austine sometime spake unto his Scholler Licentius concerning such advice and counsel as he had given him Nolo te causas rationesque rimari quae etiamsi reddi possint sidei tamen qua mihi credis non eas debeo so much more must we thus resolve of those lessons which God teacheth us the reasons and grounds of them though they might be given yet it fits not that credit and trust which we owe him once to search into or call in question And so I come to the third general part the danger of wresting of Scripture in the last words unto their own damnation The reward of every sin is death As the worm eats out the heart of the plant that bred it so whatsoever is done amiss naturally works no other end but destruction of him that doth it As this is true in general so is it as true that when the Scripture doth precisely note out unto us some sin and threatens death unto it it is commonly an argument that there is more then ordinary that there is some especial sin which shall draw with it some especial punishment This sin of wresting of Scripture in the eye of some of the ancients seemed so ougly that they have ranged it in the same rank with the sin against the holy Ghost And therefore have they pronounced it a sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 greater then can be pardoned For the most part of other sins are sins of infirmity or simplicity but this is a sin of wit and strength The man that doth it doth it with a high hand he knows and sees and resolves upon it Again Scripture is the voice of God and it is confest by all that the sense is Scripture rather then the words It cannot therefore be avoided but he that wilfully strives to fasten some sense of his own upon it other then the very nature of the place will bear must needs take upon him the Person of God and become a new inditer of Scripture and all that applaud and give consent unto any such in effect cry the same that the people did to Herod the voice of God and not of man If he then that abases the Princes coin deserves to die what is his desert that instead of the tried silver of Gods word stamps the name and Character of God upon Nehushtan upon base brazen stuff of his own Thirdly No Scripture is of private interpretation saith the Apostle There can therefore be but two certain and infallible interpreters of Scripture either it self or the holy Ghost the Author of it It self doth then expound it self when the words and circumstances do sound unto us the prime and natural and principal sense But when the place is obscure involved and intricate or when there is contained some secret and hidden mystery beyond
the prime sense infallibly to shew us this there can be no Interpreter but the holy Ghost that gave it Besides these two all other Interpretation is private Wherefore as the Lords of the Philistines sometimes said of the kine that drew the Ark unto Bethshemesh If they go of themselves then is this from God but if they go another way then is it not from God it is some chance that hath happened unto us so may it be said of all pretended sense of Scripture If Scripture come unto it of it self then is it of God but if it go another way or if it be violently urged and goaded on then is it but a matter of chance of mans wit and invention As for those marvellous discourses of some framed upon presumption of the spirits help in private in judging or Interpreting of difficult places of Scripture I must needs confess I have often wondred at the boldness of them The spirit is a thing of dark and secret operation the manner of it none can descry As underminers are never seen till they have wrought their purpose so the spirit is never perceived but by its effects The effects of the spirit as far as they concern knowledge and instruction are not particular Information for resolution in any doubtful case for this were plainly revelation but as the Angel which was sent unto Cornelius informs him not but sends him to Peter to School so the spirit teaches not but stirs up in us a desire to learn Desire to learn makes us thirst after the means and pious sedulity and carefulness makes us watchful in the choice and diligent in the use of our means The promise to the Apostles of the Spirit which should lead them into all truth was made good unto them by private and secret informing their understandings with the knowledge of high and heavenly mysteries which as yet had never entred into the conceit of any man The same promise is made to us but fulfilled after another manner For what was written by revelation in their hearts for our instruction have they written in their books To us for information otherwise then out of these books the spirit speaks not When the spirit regenerates a man it infuses no knowledge of any point of faith but sends him to the Church and to the Scriptures When it stirs him up to newness of life it exhibits not unto him an inventory of his sins as hitherto unknown but either supposes them known in the law of nature of which no man can be ignorant or sends him to learn them from the mouth of his teachers More then this in the ordinary proceeding of the holy spirit in matter of instruction I yet could never descrie So that to speak of the help of the spirit in private either in dijudicating or in interpreting of Scripture is to speak they know not what Which I do the rather note first because by experience we have learnt how apt men are to call their private conceits the spirit and again because it is the especial errour with which S. Austine long agoe charged this kinde of men tanto sunt ad seditionem faciliores quanto sibi videntur spiritu excellere by so much the more prone are they to kindle schisme and contention in the Church by how much they seem to themselves to be endued with a more eminent measure of spirit then their brethren whilst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Basils speaks under preâ—â—ense of interpretation they violently broach their own conceits Great then is the danger in which they wade which take upon them this business of interpretation temeritas asserendae incertae dubiaeque opinionis saith St. Austine difficile sacrilegii crimen evitat the rashness of those that aver uncertain and doubtful interpretations for Catholick and absolute can hardly escape the sin of sacrilege But whereas our Apostle saith their own destruction is the destruction only their own This were well if it stretched no farther The ancients much complain of this offence as an hinderer of the salvation of others There were in the days of Istdorus Pelusiota some that gave out that all in the old Testament was spoken of Christ belike out of extream opposition to the Manichees who on the otherside taught that no text in the old Testament did foretel of Christ. That Father therefore dealing with some of that opinion tells them how great the danger of their tenent is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for if saith he we strive with violence to draw and apply those texts to Christ which apparantly pertain not to him we shall gain nothing but this to make all the places that are spoken of him suspected and so discredit the strength of other testimonies which the Church usually urges for the refutation of the Jews For in these cases a wrested proof is like unto a suborn'd witness It never doth help so much whilest it is presumed to be strong as it doth hurt when it is discovered to be weak S. Austine in his books de Genesi ad litteram sharply reproves some Christians who out of some places of Scripture misunderstood fram'd unto themselves a kinde of knowledge in Astronomy and Physiology quite contrary unto some part of heathen learning in this kinde which were true and evident unto sense A man would think that this were but a small errour and yet he doubts not to call it turpenimis perniciosum maximè cavendum His reason warrants the roundness of his reproof For he charges such to have been a scandal unto the word and hinderers of the conversion of some heathen men that were schollars For how saith he shall they believe our books of Scripture perswading the resurrection of the dead the kingdome of heaven and the rest of the mysteries of our profession if they finde them faulty in these things of which themselves have undeniable demonstration Yea though the cause we maintain be never so good yet the issue of diseas'd and crazie proofs brought to maintain it must needs be the same For unto all causes be they never so good weakness of proof when it is discovered brings great prejudice but unto the cause of religion most of all St. Austine observ'd that there were some qui cum de aliquibus qui sanctum nomen profitentur aliquid criminis vel falsi sonuerit vel veri patuerit instant satagunt ambiunt ut de omnibus hoc credatur It fares no otherwise with religion it self then it doth with the professors of it Diverse malignants there are who lie in wait to espie where our reasons on which we build are weak and having deprehended it in some will earnestly solicit the world to believe that all are so if means were made to bring it to light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzen speaks using for advantage against us no strength of their own but the vice and imbecillity of our defence The book of the Revelation is a book full of wonder
and mystery the ancients seem to have made a religion to meddle with it and thought it much better to admire it with silence then to adventure to expound it and therefore amongst their labours in exposition of Scripture scarsly is there any one found that hath toucht it But our age hath taken better heart and scarsly any one is there who hath entertained a good conceit of his own abilities but he hath taken that book as a fit argument to spend his pains on That the Church of Rome hath great cause to suspect her self to fear least she have a great part in the prophesies of that book I think the most partial will not deny Yet unto the expositors of it I will give this advice that they look that that befal not them which Thucidides observes to befal the common sort of men who though they have good means to acquit themselves like men yet when they think their best hopes fail them and begin to despair of their strength comfort themselves with interpretations of certain dark and obscure prophesies Many plain texts of Scripture are very pregnant and of sufficient strength to overthrow the points maintained by that Church against us If we leave these ground our selves upon our private expositions of this book we shall justly seem in the poverty of better proofs to rest our selves upon those prophesies which though in themselves they are most certain yet our expositions of them must except God give yet further light unto his Church necessarily be mixt with much uncertainty as being at the best but unprobable conjectures of our own Scarsly can there be found a thing more harmful to religion then to vent thus our own conceits and obtrude them upon the world for necessary and absolute The Physicians skill as I conceive of it stands as much on opinion as any that I know whatsoever Yet their greatest master Hippocrates tells them directly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Then the Physicians presumption upon opinion there is not one thing that brings either more blame to himself or danger to his patient If it be thus in an art which opinion taken away must needs fall how little room then must opinion have in that knowledge where nothing can have place but what is of eternal truth Where if once we admit of opinion all is overthrown But I conclude this point adding only this general admonition that we be not too peremptory in our positions where express text of Scripture fails us that we lay not our own collections and conclusions with too much precipitancy For experience hath shewed us that the error and weakness of them being afterwards discovered brings great disadvantage to Christianity and trouble to the Church The Eastern Church before S. Basils time had entertained generally a conceit that that those Greek Particles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the rest were so divided among the Trinity that each of the Persons had his Particle which was no way appliable to the rest S. Basil having discovered this to be but a niceness and needless curiosity beginning to teach so raised in the Church such a tumult that he brought upon himself a great labour of writing many tracts in Apology for himself with much ado ere matters could again be setled The fault of this was not in Basil who Religiously fearing what by way of consequence might ensue upon an error taught a truth but in the Church who formerly had with too much facility admitted a conclusion so justly subject to exception And let this suffice for our third part Now because it is apparant that the end of this our Apostles admonition is to give the Church a caveat how she behave her self in handling of Scripture give me leave a little instead of the use of such doctrines as I have formerly laid down to shew you as far as my conceit can stretch what course any man may take to save himself from offering violence unto Scripture and reasonably settle himself any pretended obscurity of the text whatsoever notwithstanding For which purpose the diligent observing of two rules shall be throughly available First The literal plain and uncontroversable meaning of Scripture without any addition or supply by way of interpretation is that alone which for ground of faith we are necessarily bound to accept except it be there where the holy Ghost himself treads us out another way I take not this to be any peculiar conceit of mine but that unto which our Church stands necessarily bound When we receded from the Church of Rome one motive was because she added unto Scripture her glosses as Canonical to supply what the plain text of Scripture could not yield If in place of hers we set up our own glosses thus to do were nothing else but to pull down Baal and set up an Ephod to run round and meet the Church of Rome again in the same point in which at first we left her But the plain evident and demonstrative ground of this rule is this That authority which doth warrant our faith unto us must every way be free from all possibility of errour For let us but once admit of this that there is any possibility that any one point of faith should not be true if it be once granted that I may be deceived in what I have believed how can I be assur'd that in the end I shall not be deceived If the author of faith may alter or if the evidence and assurance that he hath left us be not pregnant and impossible to be defeated there is necessarily opened an inlet to doubtfulness and wavering which the nature of faith excludes That faith therefore may stand unshaken two things are of necessity to concur First that the Author of it be such a one as can by no means be deceived and this can be none but God Secondly that the words and text of this Author upon whom we ground must admit of no ambiguity no uncertainty of interpretation If the trumpet give an uncertain sound who shall provide himself to battle If the words admit a double sense and I follow one who can assure me that that which I follow is the truth For infallibility either in judgement or interpretation or whatsoever is annext neither to the See of any Bishop nor to the Fathers nor to the Councels nor to the Church nor to any created power whatsoever This doctrine of the literal sense was never greivous or prejudicial to any but onely to those who were inwardly conscious that their positions were not sufficiently grounded When Cardinal Cajetan in the days of our grandfathers had forsaken that vein of postilling and allegorising on Scripture which for a long time had prevailed in the Church and betaken himself unto the literal sense it was a thing so distastful unto the Church of Rome that he was forc'd to find out many shifts and make many apologies for himself The truth is as it will appear to him that reads his
dentes vita dum superest bene est that we may apply more properly to our purpose let our weak person here be lame hand and foot hip and thigh sick in head and heart yet so long as there is life in him there is no cause we should despair How knowest thou how potent the word of God may be through thy ministrie out of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham I cannot therefore perswade my self that this prohibition of St. Paul of which we but now spake so far extended as that it quite interdicted good men the company of the sinners be they never so grosse For when he delivered men unto Satan the greatest thing that ever he did in this kinde it was ad interitum carnis to the mortifying of the flesh that so the spirit might be safe in the day of the Lord. But this is worse for by this peremptory excluding the grosse sinner from the good a greater gap is opened to the liberty of the flesh and a more immediate way could not be found to bring final destruction on him at that day The extent therefore of St. Pauls precept though given in shew to all I take to reach no farther then the weak and such as are in danger of infection for the weaker sort of men are always evermore the most and a charge given unto the most is commonly given under the stile of all Our Apostle therefore jealous of the tenderer sort whom every unwholsome blast doth easily taint seems what he intended for the most to make general to all The reason which the Apostle gives does warrant this restraint See ye not saith he that a little leaven sowers the whole lump If therefore there be any part of the lump 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of shot and danger of sowring and contagion on it this precept can have no extent and surely some wrong it were to the Church of Christ to suppose that all were necessarily subject to sowring and infection upon supposal of some admission of leaven Evil indeed is infectious but neither necessarily nor yet so that it need fright us from those who are diseased with it Contagious diseases which ceaze on our bodies infect by natural force and means which we cannot prevent but no man drinks down this poyson whose will is not the hand that takes the Cup so that to converse with men of diseas'd mindes infects us not except we will Again Aristotle in his problems makes a question why health doth not infect as well as sickness For we grow sick many times by incautelously conversing with the diseas'd but no man grows well by accompanying the healthy thus indeed it is with the healthiness of the body it hath no transient force on others but the strength and healthiness of the minde carries with it a gracious kinde of infection and common experience tells us that nothing profits evil men more then the company of the good So that strength of minde accompanied with the preservative of the grace of God may not only without fear of contagion safely converse with ungracious sinners but by so doing as it were infect them and make them such as himself is No cause therefore hitherto why the true professors though notorious sinners should not be partakers of our Christian Courtesies and therefore as of the former so of this my conclusion is we must receive him Only let me adde St. Pauls words in another place Ye that are strong receive such a one HAving thus far spoken of his admission let us now a little consider of his Restraint and see whether he may have any part in hearing and handling religious controversies where plainly to speak my minde as his admission before was so his exclusion here is much more necessary the way to these schools should be open to none but to men of upright life and conversation and that as well in regard of the prophane and wicked men themselves as of the cause which they presume to handle for as for themselves this is but the field wherein they sow and reap their own infamy and disgrace Our own experience tells us how hard a thing it is for men of behaviour known to be spotless to avoid the lash of those mens tongues who make it their chief fence to disgrace the persons when they cannot touch the cause For what else are the writings of many men but mutual Pasquils and Satyrs against each others lives wherein digladiating like Eschines and Demosthenes they reciprocally lay open each others filthiness to the view and scorn of the world The fear therefore of being stained and publickly disgraced might be reason enough to keep them back from entring these contentions And as for the cause it self into which this kind of men do put themselves needs must it go but ill with it for is it possible that those respects which sway and govern their ordinary actions should have no influence upon their pens It cannot be that they who speak and plot and act wickedness should ever write uprightly Nam ut in vita ita et in causis quoque spes improbas habent doubtless as in their lives so in the causes they undertake they nourish hopes full of improbity Besides all this the opinion of the common sort is not to be contemned whom no kind of reason so much abuses and carries away as when the discredit of the person is retorted on the cause which thing our adversaries here at home amongst us know very well a master-piece of whose pollicy it is to put into the hands of the people such pamphlets which hurt not our cause at all but onely discredit our persons Saint Chrysostome observes out of the ancient customes of the Olympian games that whensoever any man offered himself to contend in them he was not to be admitted till publick Proclamation had been made thorowout the multitude to this purpose Whither any man knew him to be either a servant or a thief or otherwise of infamous life And if any imputation in this kinde were proved against him it was sufficient to keep him back Had the Heathen this care that their vanities should not be discredited how great then must our care be that they which enter into these exercises be of pure and upright condition Let mens skill and judgement therefore be never so good yet if their lives be notoriously subject to exception Let them know that there is no place for them in these Olympicks Men indeed in civil business have found out a distinction betwen an honest man and a good Common wealths-man and therefore Fabricias in the Roman story is much commended for nominating to the Consulship Ruffinus a wicked man and his utter enemy because he knew him to be serviceable to the Common-wealth for those wars which were then depending But in the business of the Lord and Common-wealth of God we can admit of no such distinction For God himself in the book of Psalms staves them off with
it like the Prophets of God with quietness and moderation and not in the violence of passion as if we were possest rather then inspir'd Again what equity or indifferency can we look for in the carriage of that cause that falls into the handling of these men Quis conferre duces meminit qui pendere causas Quâ stetit inde favet what man overtaken with passion remembers impartially to compare cause with cause and right with right Quâ stetit inde favet on what cause he happens that is he resolute to maintain ut gladiator in arenam as a Fencer to the Stage so comes he to write not upon conscience of quarrel but because he proposes to contend yea so potently hath this humor prevail'd with men that have undertaken to maintain a faction that it hath broken out to the tempting of God and the dishonour of Martyrdom Two Fryers in Florence in the action of Savonoralla voluntarily in the open view of the City offer'd to enter the fire so to put an end to the controversie that he might be judged to have the right who like one of the three children in Babylon should pass untouch't through the fire But I hasten to visit one weak person more and so an end He whom we now are to visit is a man weak through heretical and erring Faith now whether or no we have any receit for him it may be doubtful For S. Paul advises us to avoid the man that is a maker of Sects knowing him to be damned yet if as we spake of not admitting to us the notorious sinner no not to eat so we teach of this that it is delivered respectively to the weaker sort as justly for the same reasons we may do we shall have a Recipe here for the man that erres in faith and rejoyceth in making of Sects which we shall the better do if we can but gently draw him on to a moderation to think of his conceits only as of opinions for it is not the variety of opinions but our own perverse wills who think it meet that all should be conceited as our selves are which hath so inconvenienced the Church were we not so ready to anathematize each other where we concur not in opinion we might in hearts be united though in our tongues we were divided and that with singular profit to all sides It is the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and not Identitie of conceit which the Holy Ghost requires at the hands of Christians I will give you one instance in which at this day our Churches are at variance The will of God and his manner of proceeding in predestination is undiscernable and shall so remain until that day wherein all knowledge shall be made perfect yet some there are who with probability of Scripture teach that the true cause of the final miscarriage of them that perish is that original corruption that befell them at the beginning increased through the neglect or refusal of grace offered Others with no less favourable countenance of Scripture make the cause of reprobation only the will of God determining freely of his own work as himself pleases without respect to any second cause whatsoever Were we not ambitiously minded familiam ducere every one to be Lord of a Sect each of these tenents might be profitably taught and heard and matter of singular exhortation drawn from either for on the one part doubtless it is a pious and religious intent to endeavour to free God from all imputation of unnecessary rigour his justice from seeming unjustice incongruity on the other side it is a noble resolution so to humble our selves under the hand of Almighty God as that we can with patience hear yea think it an honour that so base creatures as our selves should become the instruments of the glory of so great a majesty whether it be by eternal life or by eternal death though for no other reason but for Gods good will and pleasure sake The authors of these conceits might both freely if peaceably speak their mindes and both singularly profit the Church for since it is impossible where Scripture is ambiguous that all conceits should run alike it remains that we seek out a way not so much to establish an unity of opinion in the mindes of all which I take to be a thing likewise impossible as to provide that multiplicity of conceit trouble not the Churches peace A better way my conceit cannot reach unto then that we would be willing to think that these things which with some shew of probability we deduce from Scripture are at the best but our opinions for this peremptory manner of setting down our own conclusions under this high commanding form of necessary truths is generally one of the greatest causes which keeps the Churches this day so far asunder when as a gracious receiving of each other by mutual forbearance in this kinde might peradventure in time bring them nearer together This peradventure may some man say may content us in case of opinion indifferent out of which no great inconvenience by necessary and evident proof is concluded but what Recipe have we for him that is fallen into some known and desperate Heresie Even the same with the former And therefore anciently Heretical and Orthodox Christians many times even in publick holy exercise converst together without offence It 's noted in the Ecclesiastick stories that the Arrians and Right believers so communicated together in holy prayers that you could not distinguish them till they came to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the gloria patri which the Arrians used with some difference from other Christians But those were times quorum lectionem habemus virtutem non habemus we read of them in our books but we have lost the practise of their patience Some prejudice was done unto the Church by those who first began to intermingle with publick Ecclesiastical duties things respective unto private conceits For those Christian offices in the Church ought as much as possibly they may be common unto all and not to descend to the differences of particular opinions Severity against and separation from heretical companies took its beginning from the Hereticks themselves and if we search the stories we shall finde that the Church did not at their first arising thrust them from her themselves went out and as for severity that which the Donatists sometimes spake in their own defence Illam esse veram Ecclesiam quae prosecutionem patitur non quae facit she was the true Church not which raised but which suffered persecution was de facto true for a great space For when heresies and schismes first arose in the Church all kind of violence were used by the erring factions but the Church seem'd not for a long time to have known any use of a sword but only of a buckler and when she began to use the sword some of her best and chiefest Captains much misliked it The first law
I proceeded to consider the ensuing words wherein having by an Alchimie which then I used changed the word Recordare Remember into Cave Beware and so read my text thus Beware thou receive not thy good things in this life I shewed you that we had never greater cause to consult our best wits what we are to do and how we are to carry our selves then when the world and outward blessings come upon us Upon this I moved this Question Whether or no if the things of this world should by some providence of God knock and offer themselves to us we are bound to exclude them and resuse them or we might open and admit of them I divided my answer according to the divers abilities and strengths of men first qui potest capere capiat he that hath strength and spiritual wisdom to manage them let him receive them But in the second place he that is weak let him let strong diet alone and feed on herbs let him not intangle himself with more then he can manage Let him try quid ferre resusent Quid valeant humeri to the first the sum of what I spake was this Receive them we may and that with out danger of a Recepisti first if we so received them as if we received them not secondly if we esteemed them not good thirdly if we did not esteem them ours And here the time cut me off and suffered me not to descend unto the second part upon which now I am about to fall Cave ne recipias Take heed thou receive not thy good things In this matter of Receiving enterteining these outward and foreign good things there have been two wayes commended to you the one the more glorious to receive them of this we have spoken the other the more safe not to receive them of this we are now to speak these ways are trodden by two kindes of persons the one is the strong man and more virtuous the other is weaker but more cautelous the one incounters temptation the other avoids it we may compare them to the two great Captains Hannibal and Fabius the one ever calling for the battel the other evermore declining it In one of these two rankes must every good man be found If we compare them together we shall finde that the one is far more excellent the other far more in number For to be able to meet and check our enemy to incounter occasions to act our parts in common life upon the common stage and yet to keep our uprightness this indeed is truly to live truly to serve God and men and therefore God the more because men On the contrary to avoid occasions to follow that other vincendi genus non pugnare to overcome the world by contemning and avoding it this argues a wise indeed but a weak and fainting spirit I have often wondred at Antiquity which doting extremely upon a sequestred a solitary retired and monkish life sticks not to give out that all perfection is in it whereas indeed there is no greater argument of imperfection in good men quam non posse pati solem non multitudinem not to be able without offence to walk the publick ways to entertain the common occasions but to live onely to God and to themselves utilis ipse sibi fortassis in utilis orbi men of no great publike use but excellent for themselves Saints indeed in private but being called forth into common life are like Bats in the Sun utterly ignorant of publike practice like Scheubelius a great Mathematician but by book onely and not by practice who being required sometime in an Army to make use of his Quadrant knew not the difference between umbra recta and umbra versa yet beloved because this kinde of good men is by far the greatest in number and secondly because it is both an usual and a dangerous error of many men to pretend to strength when they are but weak and so forgetting their place range themselves among the first whereas they ought to have kept station among the second sort I will take leave both to advise my self and all that near me to like better of the safer though the weaker side and to avoid the exprobration of a Recepisti here in my text simply non recipiendo by not receiving not admitting at all of the outward lower and temporal good things rather than by an improvident foolhardiness to thrust our selves upon occasions which we are unable to manage without offence This I am the more willing to do because there is not among men a greater error committed and more frequent than in this kinde for in most things in the world men that have no skill in them will be content to acknowledge their ignorance and to give place to better experience should we put the discussion of some point of Scholarship to the plough-hind or a Case in Law to the Physician or a point in Physick to the Lawyer none of these will offer to interpose but will advise to consult with every one in his proper mystery but let offer be made of moneys lands places of honour and preferment and who will excuse himself who will acknowledge his ignorance or weakness to manage them Whereas in all the Arts and Sciences there are not so many errors committed as in the unskilful use of these things cum tamen nusquam periculosius erretur and yet our errors are no where so dangerous It is therefore a thing most necessary that in this behalf we advise men either to know their weakness or to suspect their strength Malocautior esse quam fortior fortis saepe captus est cautus rarissime better to be cautelous and wary than strong and hardy the strong man hath been often captivated but the wary man very seldome We read in many places of Moses and Samuel of a race of men greater in bulk and stature than the ordinary men unto whom men of common inches seemed but as Grashoppers such were the Anakims the Enims the Horims the Zamzummims the Rephaims and the like but if you read the Scriptures you shall finde it observed unto your hand that the men of lesser bodies allways drove them out if you demand the reason experience will answer you that the one went upon the opinion of strength and hardness the other of wary wit and policy it fares no otherwise with these two orders of men of which I have spoken there is the Anakim the man that goes forth in the conceit of his strength and valour there is the man of mean stature whose strength is his wariness were there a survey taken of both those it would be found that more by far have perished by unadvised adventuring upon the things of this world than by discreet and sober retiring Wherefore dost thou finde that thou comest on and thrivest in the world that the good things of this world wooe thee and cast themselves into thy lap that wealth that honours that abundance waits upon
Gold which Solomon made were unto those of brass which Rehoboam made in their steed and might suppose that the writers of those books had brought votamagis quam praecepta had rather fancied to themselves some admirable pattern of a Christian such as they could wish then delivered rules and laws which seriously and indeed ought or could be practised in common life and conversation St. James observes that he which beholds his natural face in a glass goes his way and immediately forgets what manner of man he was Beloved how careful we are to look upon the glass the books of holy Scriptures I cannot easily pronounce But this I am sure of we go our ways and quickly forget what manner of shape we saw there As Jacob and Esau had both one father Isaac both one mother Rebecca yet the one was smooth and plain the other rough and hairy of harsh and hard countenance condition so these two kindes of Christians of which but now I spake though both lay claim to one father and mother both call themselves the sons of God and the sons of the Church yet are they almost as unlike as Jacob and Esau the one smooth gentle and peaceable the other rough and harsh The notes and characters of Christians as they are described in holy Scriptures are patience easily putting up and digesting of wrongs humility preferring all before our selves And St. James tells us that the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated St. James indeed hath given the first place unto purity and it were almost a sin to compare Christian vertues together and make them strive for precedency and place For what Solomon saith upon another occasion is here much more true say not why is this thing better then that for everything in its time is seasonable Yet he that shall mark how every where the Scriptures commend unto us gentleness and meekness and that peace is it quam nobis Apostoli totis viribus spiritus sancti commendant as Tertullian speaks which the Apostles endeavour with all the strength and force of the Holy Ghost to plant amongst us might a little invert the words of St. James and read them thus The wisdome that is from above is first peaceable then pure The son of God who is the wisdome of the Father and who for us men came down from Heaven first and before all other vertues commended this unto the world For when he was born the song of the Angels was peace upon earth and goodwill towards men All his doctrine was peace his whole life was peaceable and no man heard his voice in the streets His last legacie and bequest left unto his disciples was the same Peace saith he I leave unto you my peace I give unto you As Christ so Christians In the building of Solomons Temple there was no noise of any hammer of any instrument of Iron so in the spiritual building and frame of a Christian there is no sound of Iron no noise of any weapons nothing but peace and gentleness Ex praecepto fidei non minus rea ira est sine ratione suscepta quam in operibus legis homicidium saith St. Austin unadvised anger by the law of faith is as a great sin as murther was by the law of Moses As some Physicians have thought that in mans body the spleen hath very little use and might well be spared and therefore in dealing with sundry diseased persons they endeavour by physick to abate and take away that part in them as much as may be so if we look into a Christian man as he is proposed to us in the Gospel we may justly marvel to what purpose God hath planted in him this faculty and passion of anger since he hath so little use of it and the Gospel in a manner doth spiritually diet and physick him for it and endeavours much to abate if not quite to purge out that quality Beloved we have hitherto seen who Jacob is and what manner of man the Christian is that is described unto us in holy Scripture Let us a little consider his Brother Esau the Christian in passage and who commonly in the account of the world goes for one Is he so gentle and trâ—â—ctable a creature Is his countenance so smooth his body so free from gall and spleen To trie this as the Devil sometimes spake unto Job Touch him in his goods touch him in his body and see if he will not curse thee to thy face so touch this man a little in his goods touch him in his reputation and honour touch him in any thing that he loves for this is the only way to trie how far these commands of peace and forbearance and long suffering prevail with us and see if he will not forget and loose all his patience Which of us is there that understands the words and precepts of our Saviour in their literal sense and as they lie The precepts of suffering wrong rather then to go to law of yielding the coat to him that would take the cloak of readiness to receive more wrongs then to revenge one these and all the Evangelical commands of the like nature Interpretamento detorquemus We have found out favourable interpretations and glosses restrictions and evasions to winde our selves out of them to shift them all off and put them by and yet pass for sound and currant Christians we think we may be justly angry continue long suits in law call to the Magistrate for revenge yea sometimes take it into our own hands all this and much more we think we may lawfully and with good reason do any precept of Christ to the contrary notwithstanding And as it usually comes to pass the permitting and tolerating lesser sins opens way to greater so by giving passage and inlet to those lesser impatiences and discontents we lay open a gap to those fouler crimes even of murther and bloodshed For as men commonly suppose that all the former breaches of our patience which but now I mentioned may well enough stand with the duties of Christians so there are who stay not here but think that in some cases it may be lawful yea peradventure necessary at least very pardonable for Christians privately to seek each others blood and put their lives upon their swords without any wrong to their vocation out of this have sprung many great inconveniences both private and publick First Laws made too favourable in case of blood-shed Secondly a too much facility and easiness in Princes and Magistrates sometimes to give pardon and release for that crime Thirdly and chiefly for it is the special cause indeed that moved me to speak in this Argument an over promptness in many young-men who desire to be counted men of valour and resolution upon every sleight occasion to raise a quarrel and admit of no other meanes of composing and ending them but by sword and single combat Partly therefore to shew the
that he was no fit person to do it and he gives the reason of it Quia vir bellorum sanguinum es tu For thou art a man hast shed much blood and fought many battels Beloved the battels which David fought were called the Lords battels and therefore whatsoever he did in that kinde he had doubtless very good warrant to do and yet you see that it is an imputation to him that he shed blood though lawfully ut fundi sanguis ne juste quidem sine aliquâ injustitiâ possit so that it seems blood cannot be so justly shed but that it brings with it some stain and spot of injustice All this have I said to raise up in you as much as possibly I can a right conceit of the height and hainousness of this sin and further yet to effect this in you as in the beginning and entrance into my discourse I briefly toucht at two reasons shewing the greatness of this sin occasion'd therunto by the words of my text so will I as briefly touch at the two more tending to the same purpose one drawn from respect of the wrong which by this sin is done unto God another from the wrong done to our selves And first what wrong is done unto God God himself shews us in the 9. of Genesis where giving this for an everlasting law He that sheddeth mans blood by man let his blood be shed he presently addes the reason of it For in the image of God made he man we shall the better understand the force of this reason if we a little look into civil actions It is the usual manner of subjects when they rebel against the Prince to think they cannot more effectually express their hate then by disgracing breaking throwing down the statues and images erected to his honor The citizens of Antioch in a sedition against Theodosius the Emperor in one night disgracefully threw down all his statues which fact of theirs caus'd S. Chrysostom at that time preacher to that city to make those famous Sermons which from that action to this day are called his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his statues This by so much the more is counted a great offence because next unto wronging and disgracing the very person of the Prince a greater insolence cannot be offered For it expresseth with what welcome they would entertain him if they had him in their power Beloved man is the image of his maker erected by him as a Statue of his honour He then that shall despitefully handle batter and deface it how can he be counted otherwise then guilty of highest Treason against his Maker Rebellion saith Samuel to Saul is like the sin of superstition and Idolatry The sin of blood therefore equals the sin Idolatry since there cannot be a greater sin of Rebellion against God then to deface his image Idolatry through ignorance sets up a false image of God but this sin through malice defaces pulls down the true Amongst the heathen sometimes the statues of the Emperours were had in such respect that they were accounted sanctuaries and such as for offence fled unto them it was not lawful to touch Beloved such honour ought we to give unto a man that if he have offended us yet the image of God which shines in him ought to be as a sanctuary unto him to save him from our violence an admonitioner unto us that we ought not to touch him A second reason yet further shewing the hainousness of this sin is drawn from the wrong which is done to our selves All other wrongs whatsoever they be admit of some recompence Honors wealth preferments if they be taken from us they may return as they did unto Job in far greater measure and the party wronged may receive full and ample satisfaction but what recompence may be made to a man for his life When that is gone all the Kingdomes which our Saviour saw in the Mount and the glory of them are nothing worth neither is all the world all the power of men and Angels able to give the least breath to him that hath lost it Nothing under God is able to make satisfaction for such a wrong the revenge that is taken afterward upon the party that hath done the wrong cannot be counted a recompence That is done In terrorem viventium non in subsidium mortuorum It serves to deter the living from committing the like outrage but it can no way help him that is dead David at the same time committed two sins great sins Murther and Adultery the reward of either of which by Gods law is nothing else but death Yet for his Adultery he seems to make some satisfaction to the party wronged for the text notes that David took her to his wife made her his Queen and that he went in unto her comforted her all which may well be counted at least a part of recompence But for dead Vrias what means could David make to recompence to comfort him For this cause I verily suppose it is that in his penitential Psalm wherein he bewails his sin he makes no particular confession no mention of his Adultery but of the other of blood he is very sensible and expresly prayes against it Deliver me from blood guiltiness O God thou God of my salvation as if Adultery in comparison of murder were no crime at all I am sorry I should have any just occasion amongst Christian men so long to insist upon a thing so plain and shew that the sin of blood is a great and hainous sin But he that shall look into the necessities of these times shall quickly see that there is a great cause why this doctrine should be very effectually prest For many things are even publickly done which in part argue that men esteem of this sin much more sleightly then they ought Aristotle observed it of Phaleas one that took upon him to prescribe laws by which a common wealth might as he thought well be governed that he had taken order for the preventing of smaller faults but he left way enough open to greater crimes Beloved the error of our laws is not so great as that of Phaleas was yet we offend too though on the contrary and the less dangerous side for great and grievous sins are by them providently curbed but many inferiour crimes finde many times too free passage Murther though all be abominable yet there are degrees in it some is more hainous then other Gross malicious premeditated and wilful murther are by our laws so far as humane wisdome can provide sufficiently prevented but murders done in haste or besides the intent of him that did it or in point of honour and reputation these finde a little too much favour or laws in this respect are somewhat defective both in preventing that it be not done and punishing it when it is done men have thought themselves wiser then God presumed to moderate the unnecessary severity as they seem to think of his laws And hence it comes
to pass that in military companies and in all great cities and places of Mart and concourse few moneths yea few weeks pass without some instance and example of blood-shed either by suddain quarrel or by challenge to Duel and single combate How many examples in a short space have we seen of young men men of hot and fiery disposition mutually provoking and disgracing each other and then taking themselves bound in high terms of valour and honour to end their quarrels by their swords That therefore we may the better discover the unlawfulness of challenge and private combate let us a little enquire and examine in what cases blood may lawfully and without offence be shed that so we may see where amongst these single combate may finde its place The Manichees were of opinion that it was not lawful to violate any thing in which there was life and therefore they would not pull a branch from a tree because foresooth there was life in it To think that mans life may be in no case taken from him is but a branch of Manichisme and the words of my text do directly cross it where it is laid down that for the cleansing of blood blood may and must be shed For the avoiding therefore of the extream we are to note that the lawful causes of bloodshed are either publick or private publick cases are two First in case of Justice when a malefactor dies for his sin by the hand of the Magistrate Secondly in case of publick war and defence of our Countrey for the Doctrine of Christ is not as some have supposed an enemy to Souldiership and Military Discipline When John the Baptist began to Preach Repentance and amendment of Life amongst those that came forth to understand and learn their duty the Text saith that the Souldiers came and ask't him Master what shall we do And John wills them not to lay down their weapons or to take another course of life which he ought and would have done if that course had been unlawful but he instructs them rather in their calling For he gives them these two Lessons Do no man wrong And be content with your pay your wages Then which there could not have been better or more pertinent counsel given to Souldiers they being the two principal vices of Souldiers to wrong places where they live by forrage and pillage and to mutiny in dislike of their pay When Saint Peter came to Preach to the Centurion in the Acts we finde not a syllable in all that Sermon prejudicial to a Souldiers profession And therefore accordingly in the times of the Primitive Church Christians served even under Heathen Emperours and that with the approbation of God himself For in the Ecclesiastick story we read of the Legio Fulminatrix of a band of Souldiers called the Thundring Band. Because that at what time Marcus the Emperour lying with his Army in Germanie was afflicted with a great drought and in great danger of the enemy when they were now about to joyn battel the Christian Souldiers that Band fell flat on their faces and by their instant prayers obtained of God a great Tempest which to the Emperour and his army brought store of cold refreshing water but upon the enemy nothing else but fire and whirl-wind The Emperors Epistle in which this story is related is this day extant recovered by Justin Martyr who lived about the time the thing was done wherefore we may not doubt of the lawfulness of that profession which it hath pleased God thus to grace and honour with such a miracle Besides these two there are no other publick causes of blood-shed As for the causes in private I know but one and that is when a man is set upon and forced to it in his own defence If a thief be robbing in the night and be slain the Law of God acquits him that did it and by the Roman Laws Nocturnum furem quomodo libet diurnum si se telo defenderit it was lawful to kill a thief by night at any hand and by day if he used his weapon of private blood-shed there is no cause but this this we must needs allow of For in all other private necessities into which we may be driven the Law and Magistrate have place to whom we must repair for remedy but in case of defence of life against sudden on set no law can be made except we would make a Law to yield our throats to him that would cut them or our Laws were like the Prophet that came to Jeroboam at Bethel and could dry up mens arms that offered violence wherefore all cause of death one onely excepted is publick and that for great reason For to die is not a private action to be undertaken at our own or at any other private mans pleasure and discretion For as we are not born unto our selves alone but for the service of God and the common-wealth in which we live so no man dies to himself alone but with the damage and loss of that Church or common-wealth of which he is a member Wherefore it is not left to any private mans power to dispose of any mans life no not to our own only God and the Magistrate may dispose of this As Souldiers in the camp must keep their standing neither may they move or alter but by direction from the captain so is it with us all Our life is a warfare and every man in the world hath his station and place from whence he may not move at his own or at another mans pleasure but only at the direction and appointment of God his General or of the Magistrates which are as Captains Lievtenants under him Then our lawful times of death are either when our day is come or to fall in battel or for misdemeanor to be cut off by the publick hand of Justice Ut qui vivi prodesse noluerunt eorum morte respub utatur He which otherwise dies comes by surreption and stealth and not warrantably unto his end And though we have spoken something in Apology and defence of War yet you may not think that in time of War your hands are loose and that you may at your pleasure shed the blood of your enemy Misericorditer etiam bella gerantur saith S. Austine even in war and battel there is room for thoughts of peace and mercy and therefore many of the ancient Heroes renowned Souldiers and Captains were very conscientious of shedding the blood of their enemies except it were in battel and when therewas no remedy to avoid it In that mortal battel Sam. 2. between the Servants of David and the servants of Isbosheth the Scripture reports that Abner fled And Azael Joabs brother following him hard at heels to kill him Abner advises him twise Turn aside saith he why should I smite thee to the ground But when Azahel would not hearken but followed him still for his blood then he stroke him with his spear that he died In the
upon sleight occasions to put their wives away Because he saw that otherwise their exorbitant lusts would not be bounded within these limits which he in Paradise in the beginning had ser. And it is observed of the wise men which had the managing and bringing up of Nero the Emperor that they suffered him to practice his lusts upon Acte one of his Mothers Chamber-maids Ne in stupra foeminarum illustrium perrumperet si ill â libidine prohiberetur Least if he were forbidden that he should turn his lust upon some of the Noble Women permission and toleration warrants not the goodness of any action But as Caiphas said better one man die then all the people perish so they that first permitted Duels seem to have thought better one or two mutinous persons and disorderly die in their folly then the whole Common-Wealth be put into tumult and combustion yet even by these men it was never so promiscuously tolerated that every hasty couple upon the venting of a little choler should presently draw their swords but it was a publick or solemn action done by order with inspection either of the Prince himself or of some other Magistrate appointed to order it Now certainly there can be no very great reason for that action which was thus begun by Cain and continued only by Goths and Vandals and meer Barbarisme Yet that we may a little better acquaint our selves with the quality of it Let us a little examine the causes and pretences which are brought by them who call for trial by single combat The causes are usually two First disdain to seem to do or suffer any thing for fear of death Secondly point of Honour and not to suffer any contumely and indignity especially if it bring with it disreputation and note of cowardise For the first disdain to fear death I must confess I have often wondered with my self how men durst die so ventrously except they were sure they died well In aliis rebus siquid erratum est potest post modum corrigi in other things which are learnt by practising if we mistak we may amend it for the errour of a former Action may be corrected in the next We learn then by erring and men come at length not to erre by having often erred But no man learns to die by practising it We die but once and a fault committed then can never afterward be amended quia poena statim sequitur errorem because the punishment immediately follows upon the errour To die is an action of that moment that we ought to be very well advised when we come to it ab hoc momento pendet aeternitas you may not look back upon the opinion of honour and reputation which remains behinde you but rather look forward upon that infinite space of Eternity either of bliss or bale which besalls us immediately after our last breath To be loath to die upon every slight occasion is not a necessary sign of fear and cowardise He that knew what life is and the true use of it had he many lives to spare yet would he be loth to part with one of them upon better terms then those our books tell us that Aristippus a Philosopher being at Sea in a dangerous Tempest and bewraying some fear when the weather was cleared up a desperate Ruffian came and upbraided him with it and tells him that it was ashame that he professing wisedome should be afraid of his life whereas himselfe having had no such education exprest no agony or dread at all To whom the Phylosopher replied there was some difference between them two I know saith he my life may be profitable many ways and therefore am I loth to loose it but because of your life you know little profit little good can be made you care not how easily you part with it Beloved it may be justly suspected that they who esteem thus lightly of their lives are but worthless and unprofitable men our own experience tells us that men who are prodigal of their money in Taverns and Ordinaries are close handed enough when either pious uses or necessary and publick expence requires their liberality I have not heard that prodigals ever built Churches So these men that are so prodigal of their lives in base quarrels peradventure would be cowardly enough if either publick service or religion did call for their help I scarcely believe any of them would die Martyrs if the times so required it Beloved I do not go about to perswade any man to fear death but not to contemn life life is the greatest blessing God gives in this world and did men know the worth of it they would never so rashly venture the loss of it but now lightly prizing both their own and others blood they are easily moved to shed it as fools are easily won to part with jewels because they know not how to value them We must deal with our lives as we do with our money we must not be covetous of it desire life for no other use but to live as covetous persons desire mony only to have it neither must we be prodigal of life and trifle it away upon every occasion but we must be liberal of our lives know upon what occasion to spare upon what occasion to spend them To know where and when and in what cases to offer our selves to die is a thing of greater skill then a great part of them suppose who pretend themselves most forward to do it Nam impetu quodam instinctu currere ad mortem cum multis commune est For brutishly to run upon and hasten unto death is a thing that many men can do and we see that bruit beasts many times will run upon the spears of such as pursue them Sed deliberare causas expendere utque suaserit ratio vitae mortisque consilium suscipere vel ponere ingentis animi est but wisely to look into and weigh every occasion and as judgement and true discretion shall direct so to entertain a resolution either of life or death this were true fortitude and magnanimity And indeed this prodigality and contempt of life is the greatest ground of this quarrellous and fighting humour Qui suam vitam contempsit dominus est alienae There is a kinde of men who because they contemn their own lives make themselves Lords and Commanders of other mens easily provoking others to venture their blood because they care not how they loose their own Few places of great resort are without these men and they are the greatest occasioners of bloodshed you may quickly know them There are few quarrels wherein they are not either principalls or seconds or some way or another will have a part in them Might there be publick order taken for the restraint of such men that make a practice of quarrelling and because they contemne their own lives carry themselves so insolently and imperiously towards others It will prevent much mischief and free the Land of much
danger of blood guiltiness The second cause which is much alledged in defence of Duels I told you was point of honour a conceit that it is dishonourable for men of place and fashion quietly to digest and put up contumelye and disgrace and this they take to be a reason of that authority and strength as that it must admit of no dispensation For answer First the true fountain and original of quarrel are of another kinde and honour is abused as a pretence The first occasioners of a great part of them are indeed very dishonourable let there an Inventory be taken of all the challenges that have been made for some time past and you shall finde that the greatest part by far were raised either in Taverns or Dicing houses or in the stews Pardon me if in a case of this nature I deal a little plainly Drinking Gaming and Whores these are those rotten bones that lie hid under this painted Sepulchre and title of honour Lastly To conclude It is a part of our profession as we are Christians to suffer wrong and disgrace Therefore to set up an other doctrine and teach that honour may plead prescription against Christs precepts and exempt you from patient enduring of contumely and disgrace you withstand Christ and denie your vocation and therefore are unavoidably Apostats But we loose our labour who give young men and unsetled persons good advice and counsel The civil magistrate must lay to his hand and pity them who want discretion to pity themselves For as Bees though they fight very fiercely yet if you cast a little dust amongst them are presently parted so the enacting and executing some few good laws would quickly allay this greatness of stomach and fighting humour how many have been censured for Schismaticks and Hereticks only because by probable consequence and a far off they seemed to overthrow some Christain principle but here are men who walk in our streets and come to our Churches who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 openly oppose that great point of Christianity which concerns our patience and yet for their restraint no Synod is called no magistrate stirs no Church censure is pronounced The Church of Rome hath long ago to the disgrace of the reformed Churches shut them out of the number of Christians and pronounced them all excommunicated persons who upon what pretence soever durst enter the field for Duel and single combate Theodosius the Emperour enacted it for a Law and it is extant at this day in the Code a Book of Laws that it any man spake disgracefully of the Emperour Si ex levitate contemnendum si ex infamia miseratione dignum si ex injuria remittendum Lactantius Summa virtus habenda patientia est quam ut caperet homo justus voluit illum Deus pro inerte contemni So great a vertue is patience that for the attaining of it it is Gods will we should suffer our selves to be contemned as Cowards Christ is an Example to us of suffering disgrace let us as the Israelites look up to this Serpent and all the stinging of fiery Serpents shall do us no harm We must forsake all and follow Christ therefore Honour and Reputation too If we be ashamed of this pattern of patience Christ will be ashamed of us Now that God may give a Blessing to what hath been delivered let us c. FINIS Matt. 26. verse 75. And he went forth and wept bitterly THus to commit to writing as here our Evangelist hath done and so to lay open to all posterity the many slips and errors which have much blemisht and disgrac'd the lives and actions of the best and most excellent men may seem in the judgement of a reasonable man to participate of much envie and uncharitableness so that their good life had remained upon record for our example we might very well have suffered their errors to have slept and been buried with their bodies in their graves St. Paul makes it the property of charity to hide the multitude of sins whose property then is it thus to blazon them at mid-day and to fill the ears of the world with the report of them Constantine the first-born among Christian Emperours so far mislik't this course that he professed openly if he found any of his Bishops and Clergy whom it especially concerned to have a reputation pure and spotless committing any grievous sin to hide it from the eye of the world he would cover it with his own garment he knew well that which experience had long ago observed Non tam juvare quae bene dicta sunt quam nocere quae pessime things well said well done do nothing so much profit and further us as the examples of ill speeches ill actions do mischeif and inconvenience us and men are universally more apt from the errors and scapes of good men to draw apologies for their own then to propose their good deeds for examples and patterns for themselves to follow Neither is this my own speculation St. Austine observed it long since who discoursing upon the fall of David complaines that from his example many framed unto themselves this apology Si David cur non et ago If David did thus then why not I Praeparas te adpeccandum saith he disponis peccare Librum Dei ut pecces inspicis Scripâ—â—uras Dei ad hoc audis ut facias quâ—â—d displicet Deo Thou doest prepare thy heart to sin thou providest thy self of purpose thou doest look into the book of God even therefore that thou mightest sin The Scriptures of God thou doest therefore hear that by the example of those that fell thou mayest learn to do that which is displeasing unto God Yea the greater is the person offending the more dangerous is the example For greatness is able of it self as it were to legitimate foul acts to adde authority and credit unto ill doings Facilius efficiet quisquis objecerit crimen honestum quam turpem Catonem saith Seneca of Cato Whosoever he be saith he that objects drunkenness to Catâ—â—o shall more easily prove drunkenness to be a vertue then that Catâ—â—o who used it was to blame When St. Peter Galath 2. had halted in his behaviour betwixt the Gentiles and those of the Circumcision St. Paul notes that many of the Jews yea Barnabas himself was carried away with their dissimulation And to speak truth whom would not the authority and credit of Peter have drawn into an error So easily the faults of great men adolescunt in exempla grow up and become exemplary and so full of hazzard is it to leave unto the world a memorial of the errors and scapes of worthy persons Yet Notwithstanding all this the Holy Spirit of God who bringeth light out of darkness and worketh above and against all means hath made the fall of his Saints an especial means to raise his Church and therefore hath is pleased him by the Pen-men of the lives of his Saints in
shed only for fashions sake such as Quintilian spake of nihil facilius lachrimis marescit Nothing sooner grows dry then tears but as the Text saith He wept bitterly to summon up that Siccoculum genus Christianorum a sort of Christians who never had tear dropt from their eye to witness their repentance to teach us to enlarge the measure of our sorrow for our sins and in case of grievous relapse not mince out our repentance but to let loose the rains unto grief And thus I come to handle the parts in order more particularly and first of the person He. Amongst all the Saints of God whose errours are set down in holy Scriptures there is none whose person was more eminent or fall more dangerous then Saint Peters That which wisemen have observed in great and eminent wits that they evermore exceed either they are exceeding good or else they are exceeding bad in Saint Peter was true both ways His gifts of Faith of understanding in the mystery of Godlines of resolution to die in our Saviours cause were wonderful but yet his errours were as many and as strange yea so much the more strange because in that thing he most offended in which he was most eminent It was a great argument of his Faith when in the Tempest meeting our Saviour on the waters he calls out unto him if it be thou command me to come unto thee on the waters but no sooner was he come out of the ship but through infidelity he began to sink Again of his great understanding in the mystery of Christ he gave a notable instance when being questioned by our Saviour whom men took him to be he gave the first evident plain and open testimony that ever was given him by man Thou art Christ the Son of the living God John indeed gave testimony and so did Simeon and so did many more but it was more involv'd done in more covert terms more dark Whence we may and that not without some probability argue that the understanding of these men was not so evidently so fully so perspicuously enlightned as was Peters Signum est intelligentis posse docere It is a great argument that a man doth passing well understand himself when he is able perspicuously and plainly to speak to the understanding of another This confession therefore of Peter that carries with it greater light and perspicuity then any yet that ever was given doth not obscurely intimate that he had a greater measure of illumination then any of his predecessors Yet to see the wonderful dispensation of the holy Ghost scarce was this confession out of his mouth but in the very next bout where our Saviour begins further to enform him in the particulars of his Passion and Death and despiteful handling by the Jews the edge of his conceit was quite turned quite blunted and dull Poor man as if he had been quite ignorant of the end of Christs coming out of a humane conceit and pity he takes upon him to counsel and advise our Saviour Sir favour your self these things shall not come unto you and for this pains he is rewarded with no less reproachful a name then that of Satan of a seducer of a Devil He that shall peruse the story of the Gospel and here stay himself might think that that which we read John the sixth v. 70. spoken of Judas Have I not chosen you twelve and one of you is a Divel were here fulfilled in Peter Last of all his love to Christ and resolution in his quarrel he gave an evident testimony when he protested himself ready to lay down his life for him Greater love then this in the Apostles judgement no man hath then to lay down his life for his friend This Saint Peter had if we may believe himself Yea he began to express some acts of it when in defence of his master he manfully drew his sword and wounded the servant of the high Priest But see how soon the scene is changed This good Champion of our Saviour as a Lyon that is reported to be daunted with the crowing of a Cock is stricken out of countenance and quite amazed with the voyce of a silly Damsel Yea so far is he possest with a spirit of fear that he not only denies but abjures his master and perjures himself committing a sin not far behind the sin of Judas yea treading it hard upon the heels But the mercy of God that leaves not the honour of his servant in the dust of death but is evermore careful to raise us up from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness suffers not this rock this great pillar of his Church to be overthrown He first admonishes him by the crowing of a Cock when that would not serve himself full of careful love and goodness though in the midsts of his enemies forgets his own danger and remembers the danger of his servant Himself was now as a sheep before the shearer dumb and not opening his mouth yet forgets he not that he is that great shepherd of the flock but David like rescues one of his fould from the mouth of the Lion and from the paw of the Bear He turns about and looks upon him saith the Text he cries louder unto him with his look then the cock could with his voice Of all the members in the body the eye is the most moveing part that oft-times is spoken in a look which by no force of speech could have been uttered this look of Christ did so warm Peter almost frozen dead with fear that it made him well-near melt into tears As if he had cried out with the spouse Cant. 6. O turn away thine eyes for they have overcome me he grows impatient of his looks and seeks for a place to weep what a look was this think you Saint Jerome discoursing with himself what might be the cause that many of the Disciples when they were called by our Saviour presently without further consultation arose and followed him thinks it not improbable that there did appear some Glory and Majesty in his Countenance which made them believe he was more than a Man that thus bespake them whatsoever then appear'd in his Looks doubtless in this Look of his was seen some Soveraign power of his Diety that could so speedily recover a man thus almost desperately gone a man that had one foot in hell whom one step more had irrecoverably cast away It was this Look of Christ that restored Peter Quos respicit Jesus plorant delictum saith Saint Ambrose those weep for their sins whom Jesus looks upon Negavit primo Petrus non flevit quia non respexerat Dominus Negavit secundo non flevit quia adhuc non respexerat Dominus Negavit tertio respexit Jesus ille amarissimè flevit Peter denies him once and repents not for Jesus look't not back upon him he denies him the second time and yet he weeps not for yet the Lord look't not back
even in his most chosen vessels evermore secret and hidden infirmities and sometimes gross and open scapes which may serve when they look into themselves to abate all overweening conceit of their own righteousness and when they shall look into the errours of others may be secret admonitioners unto them not rashly to condemn them considering their own weakness I will therefore shut up this place with the saying of Saint Ambrose etiam laepsus sanctorum utilis est Nihil mihi obsuit quod negavit Petrus etiam profuit quod emendavit The fall of the Saints is a very profitable thing It hurts not me that Peter denied Christ and the example of his amendment is very beneficial unto me And so I come unto the preparative unto Peters Repentance in these words and he went forth THe wisdom of God hath taught the Church sometime by express message delivered by words of mouth sometime by dumb signes and actions When Jeremy walk't up and down the city with a yoke of wood about his neck when Ezekiel lay upon his side besieged a Slate with the draught of Jerusalem upon it and like a banished man carried his stuff upon his shoulders from place to place they did no less prophesie the captivity desolation famine and wo which was to fall upon Jerusalem then when they denounced it by direct word and speech yea many of the ordinary actions of the Patriarks which seem to participate of chance and to be in the same rank with those of other men themselves as a learned divine of our Mercerus age observes not intending or understanding any such thing contained by the dispensation of the Holy Ghost especial lessons and instructions for us That speech of Sarah cast out the bondwoman and her son c. seemed to Abraham only a speech of curst heart and she her self perceives not her self to speak by direction from God but moved with impatience of Ismaels petulant behaviour toward her son Yet the Holy Ghost himself hath taught us that this act of hir prefigured a great mystery Many disputations there are concerning the cause of this action of Peters going forth whether it were out of the common infirmity that is in most men namely a greater shame to repent then to offend or whether it were out of modesty and good nature that he could not indure the sight of Christ whom he had so grievously offended Howsoever it were we shall do this Scripture no wrong if we think it to contain an act in outward shew casual and like unto the actions of other men but inwardly indeed an especial action of a person great in the sight of God and therefore comprehending some especial instruction And to speak plainly this abandoning the place wherein he fell the company for fear of whom he fell and those things that were occasioners of his sin doth not obscurely point out unto us an especial duty of speedy relinquishing and leaving of all either friends or place or means or whatsoever else though dearer unto us then our right hand then our right eye if once they become unto us inducements to Sin In former days before the Fulness of time came the Calling of the Elect of God was not by any one act more often prefigured then by this action of going forth When the purpose of God was to select unto himself a Church and to begin it in Abraham come forth faith he unto him out of thy countrey and from thy kindred and from thy fathers house When Israel being in AEgypt it pleased God to appoint them a set Form and manner of serving him before this could be done they and all theirs must come forth of AEgypt they must not leave a hoof behinde them When the time of the Gospel was come our Saviour holds the same course none must be of his company but such as come forth leave all and follow him And therefore the Apostle putting the Hebrews in minde of their duty expresses it in this very tearm Let us go forth therefore unto him saith he without the camp bearing his reproach And in the original language of the New Testament the Church hath her name from this thing from being called forth so that without a going forth there is no Church no Christianity no Service to God the reason of all which is this we are all by nature in the High Priests court as Peter was where we all deny and forswear our Master as Peter did neither is there any place for Repentance till with Peter we go forth and weep For our further light we are to distinguish the practise of this our going forth according to the diversity of the times of the Church In the first ages when Christianity was like unto Christ and had no place to hide its head no entertainment but what persecution and oppression and fire and sword could yield it there was then required at the hands of Christians an Actual going forth a real leaving of riches and friends and lands and life for the profession of the Gospel Afterward when the Tempests of persecutions were somewhat alay'd and the skie began to clear up the necessity of actual relinquishing of all things ceast Christians might then securely hold life and lands and whatsoever was their own yet that it might appear unto the world that the resolution of Christian men was the same as in times of distress and want so likewise in time of peace and security it pleased God to raise up many excellent men as well of the Laity as of the Clergy who without constraint voluntarily and of themselves made liberal distribution of all they had left their means and their friends and betook themselves to deserts and solitary places wholy giving themselves over to meditation to prayer to fasting to all severity and rigidness of life what opinion our times hath of these I cannot easily pronounce thus much I know safely may be said that when this custome was in its primitive purity there was no one thing more behoofful to the Church It was the Seminary and nursery of the Fathers and of all the famous Ornaments of the Church Those two things which afterwards in the decay and ruine of this discipline the Church sought to establish by Decrees and Constitutions namely to estrange her Priests from the world and bind them to single life were the necessary effects of this manner of living for when from their childhood they had utterly sequestred themselves from the world and long practised the contempt of it when by chastising their body and keeping it under with long fasting they had killed the heat of youth it was not ambition nor desire of wealth nor beauty of women that could withdraw them or sway their affections That which afterwards was crept into the Church and bare the name of Monkery had indeed nothing of it but the name under pretence of poverty they seized into their possession the wealth and riches of the world they removed themselves from
flight and contemn our enemy to erre on the contrary side and think him to be weaker then he is this hath caused many an overthrow It is a rule which Vigetius gives us Difficilimè vincitur qui verè potest de suis de adversarii copiis judicare It is an hard matter to overcome him that truly knoweth his own strength and the strength of his adversary And here beloved is the error of most Christians we do not know of what strength we are We look upon this body of ours and suppose that in so weak and faint a subject there cannot subsist so great strength as we speak of as if a man should prize the liquor by the baseness of the vessel in which it is As divers Landlords have treasures hidden in their fields which they know not of so many of us have this treasure of omnipotency in us but we care not to discover it to know it did we but perfectly know our own strength and would we but compare it with the strength of our enemies we should plainly discover that we have such infinite advantage above them that our conquest may seem not to be so great as is pretended For the greater the advantages are the glory of the victory is the less and that which makes a conquest great is not so much the greatness of him that Conquers as the strength and greatness of him that is overthrown Now what proportion is there betwixt the strength of God himself dwelling in us and all the strength of Heaven Earth and Hell besides how then can we count this spiritual war so fearful which is waged upon so unequal termes In quo si modo congressus cum hoste sis viceris in which if we but give the onset we are sure to gain the victory restitisse vicisse est To resist is to conquer for so saith the Apostle Resist the Devil and he shall flie from you There was never yet any Christian conquer'd that could not and in this war not to yield the victory is to get it As therefore one spake of Alexanders expedition into India Benè ausus est vana contemnere the matter was not much which he did the greatest thing in it was that he durst do it so considering our strength and the weakness of our adversaries we may without prejudice speak even of the worthiest Souldiers that ever fought these Spiritual Battels Benè aust sunt vana contemnere The greatest thing that we can admire in them is that they durst do it Would we but a little examine the forces of our adversaries we should quickly finde it to be as I have said When Alcibiades a young Gentleman of Athens was afraid to speak before the multitude Socrates to put him in heart asks him Fear you saith he such a one and names one of the multitude to him No saith Alcibiades he is but a Tradesman Fear you such a one saith he and names a second No for he is but a Pesant or such a one and names a third No for he is but an ordinary Gentleman Now saith he of such as these doth the whole multitude consist and by this device he encouraged Alcibiades to speak He that shall fear to encounter the multitude and army of Spiritual adversaries which are ready to set themselves against him Let him do by himself as Socrates did by Alcibiades Let him sitdown and consider with himself his enemies one by one and he shall quickly discover their weakness Primi in praeliis vincantur oculi It s a saying that the first thing that is overcome in a Souldier is his eye while he judges of his enemy by his multitude and provision rather then by his strength Beloved if we judge not of our adversary in gross and as it were by the eye we shall easily see that we shall not need to do as the King in the Gospel doth send to his enemy with conditions of peace For there is no treaty of Peace to be had with these Had Zimri peace that slew his Master saith the Scripture And there is no peace unto the wicked saith my God Not only Zimri and the wicked but no Christian hath or can have peace he must be always as fighting and alwayes conquering Let us single out some one of this army and let us examine his strength Is it sin doth so much affright us I make choice of it because it is the dreadfullest enemy that a Christian hath Let us a little consider its strength and we shall quickly see there is no such need to fear it Sins are of two sorts either great and capital or small and ordinary sins I know it were a paradox in nature to tell you that the greatest and the mightiest things are of least force Yet this is true in the case we speak of the greatest things are the weakest Your own experience tells you that rapes and murthers parricide poysoning treason and the rest of that rabble of arch sins are the sins of the fewest and that they have no strength at all but upon the weakest men For doubtless if they were the strongest they would reign with greatest latitude they would be the commonest they would be the sins of the most But wandring thoughts idle words petty lusts inconsiderate wrath immoderate love to the things of the world and the rest of that swarm of ordinary sins these are they that have largest extent and Dominion and some of these or all of these more or less prevail with every man As the Magicians in Exodus when they saw not the power of God in the Serpents in the blood in the frogs at the coming of the plague of the Lice presently cryed Digitus Dei his est this is the finger of God so I know not how it comes to pass though we see and confess that in those great and hainous crimes the Devil hath least power yet at the comming of Lice of the rout of smaller and ordinary sins we presently yield our selves captives and cry out Digitus Diaboli the strength of the Devil is in these as if we were like unto that fabulous rack in Plinie which if a man thrust at with his whole body he could not move it yet a man might shake it with one of his fingers Now what an error is it in us Christians when we see the principal and captain sins so easily vanquisht to think the common Souldier or lesser sort invincible For certainly if the greatest sins be the weakest the lesser cannot be very strong Secondly is it Original corruption that doth so much affright us Let us consider this a little and see what great cause we have to fear it And first beloved let us take heed that we seem not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fight with our own fansie and not so much to finde as to fain an enemy Mistake me not I beseech you I speak not this as doubting that we drew any natural infection from the loins of our
Parents but granting this I take it to be impossible to judge of what strength it is and deny that it is any such cause why we should take it to be so strong as that we should stand in fear to encounter it and overcome it For we can never come to discover how far our nature is necessarily weak For whilest we are in our infancy and as yet not altred a puris naturalibus from that which God and nature made us none of us understand our selves and ere we can come to be of years to be able to discover it or define any thing concerning the nature of it custom or education either good hath much abated or evil hath much improved the force of it so that for any thing we know the strength of it may be much less then we suppose and that it is but a fear that makes it seem so great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysostome It is the nature of timerous and fearful men evermore to be framing to themselves causless fears I confess it is a strange thing and it hath many times much amazed me to see how ripe to sin many children are in their young and tender years and ere they understand what the name of Sin and evil means they are unexpectedly and no man knows by what means wonderfully prompt and witty to villany and wickedness as if they had gone to school to it in their mothers womb I know not to what cause to impute this thing but I verily suppose I might quit original sin from the guilt of it For it is a ruled case and concluded by the general consent of the Schools that original sin is alike in all and S. Paul seems to me to speak to that purpose when he saith that God hath alike concluded all under sin and that all are alike deprived of the glory of God Were therefore Original sin the cause of this strange exorbitancy in some young children they should all be so a thing which our own experience teaches us to be false For we see many times even in young children many good and gracious things which being followed with good education must needs come to excellent effect In pueris elucet spes plurimorum saith Quintilian quae ubi emoritur aetate manifestum est non defecisse naturam sed curam In children many times an hope of excellent things appears which in riper age for want of cherishing fades and withers away A certain sign that nature is not so weak as Parents and Tutors are negligent whence then comes this difference Certainly not from our Nature which is one in all but from some other cause As for Original sin of what strength it is I will not discuss only thus much I will say there is none of us all but is much more wicked then the strength of any Primitive corruption can constrain Again let us take heed that we abuse not our selves that we use not the names of original weakness as a stale or stalking-horse as a pretence to choak and cover somewhat else For oftentimes when evil education wicked examples long custome and continuance in sin hath bred in us an habit and necessity of sinning presently Original sin and the weaknes of mans nature bear the blame Ubi per secordiam vires tempus ingenium defluxere nature infirmitas accusatur When through floath and idleness luxurie and distemper our time is lost our bodies decay'd our wits dull'd we cast all the fault on the weakness of our nature That Law of sin in our members of which S. Paul spake and which some take to be original corruption S. Austine once pronounced of it whether he meant to stand to it I know not but so he once pronounced of it Lex peccati est violentia consuetudinis That Law of sin that carries us against our wills to sin is nothing else but the force and violence of long custome and continuance in sin I know that by the error of our first Parents the Devil hath blinded and bound us more then ever the Philistines did Samson Yet this needs not to make us thus stand in fear of Original weakness For blinde and bound as we are let the Devil build never so strong yet if our hair be grown if Christ do strengthen us we shall be able Samson-like to bear his strongest pillars and pull down his house about his ears Thirdly is it the Devil that we think so strong an adversary Let us a little consider his strength he may be considered either as an inward enemy suggesting unto us sinful thoughts or as an outward enemy lying in wait to afflict us in body in goods or the like First against us inwardly he hath no force of his own From our selves it is that he borrows this strength to overthrow us In Paradice he borrowed the Serpent to abuse us but now every Man is that Serpent by which himself is abused For as Hannibal having overthrown the Romans took their armour and fought against them with their own weapons So the Devil arms himself against us with our own strength our senses our will our appetite with these weapons he fights against us and uses us against our selves Let us but recover our own again and the Devil will be disarm'd Think you that the Devil is an immediate stickler in every sin that is committed I know ye do But take heed least this be but an excuse to unload your faults upon the Devil and to build them upon his back For S. Chrysostome thought otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Devils hand says he is not in every fault many are done meerly by our own carelessness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A negligent carelesse person sins though the Devill never tempt him Let the truth of this lie where it will I think I may safely speak thus much that if we would but shut up our wills and use that grace of God which is offered I doubt not but a great part of this suggesting power of his would fall to nothing as for that other force of his by which he lies in wait to annoy us outwardly why should we so dread that Are there not more with us both in multitude and strengthâ—â— to preserve us The Angel of the Lord saith the Psalmist pitches his tents round about those that fear him to deliver them And the Apostle assures us that the Angels are ministring Spirits sent forth for those that shall be heirs of Salvation shall we think that the strength of those to preserve is less then that of the evil Angels to destroy One Garcaeus writing upon the Meteors told me long since that whereas many times before great tempests there is wont to be heard in the aire above us great noise and rushing the cause of this was the banding of good and evil Angels the one striving to annoy us with tempests the other striving to preserve us from the danger of it And I doubt not but
entertain our selves a little in the porch and see what matter of meditation it will yield And he spake a parable unto them c. To instruct and teach the ignorant no method no way so speedy and effectual as by parables and Fables Strabo gives the reason of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For man is a creature natural desirous to know but it is according to the proverb as the Cat desires fish loath to touch the water loath to takes the pains to learn knowledge is indeed a thing very pleasant but to learn is a thing harsh and tedious above all the things in the world the book which Saint John eats in the tenth of the Apocalyps was in his mouth sweet as hony but bitter in his belly Beloved those Librorum helluones students that like S. John eat up whole volums these finde the contrary For in the mouth in the perusal their books are harsh and unpleasant but in the stomach when they are understood and digested then are they delightful and pleasurable yet one thing by the providence of God our nature hath which makes this rough way to learn more plain and easie it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 common experience shews we are all very desirous to hear narrations and reports either pleasant or strange Wise men therefore and God himself which is wiser then men being to train up mankinde Genus indocile a subject dull of hearing and hardly drawn to learn have from time to time wrought upon this humor upon this part of our disposition and mitigated sugred as it were the unpleasantness of a difficult and hard lesson with the sweetnes of some delightful parable or fable And S. Chrysostome tells us of a Physician who finding his patient to abhor Physick but infinitely long for wine heating an earthen cup in the fire and quenching it in wine put his potion therein that so the sick person being deceived with the smell of wine might unawares drink of the Physick or that I may better draw my comparison from Scripture as when Jacob meant to be welcome to his father Isaack he put on his brother Esau's apparel and so got access So beloved wisemen when they meant either to instruct the ignorant or to reprove offenders to procure their welcome and make their way more passable have been wont for the most part as it were to clothe their lesson or reproof in a parable or to serve it in a dish savouring of wine that so Jacob might be admiâ—â—ted under Esau's coat that the smell of the pleasantness of wine might draw down the wholsomness of Physick Great and singular have been those effects which this kinde of teaching by parables hath wrought in men by informing their ignorance reproving their error working patience of reproof opening the understanding moving the affections and other soveraign commodities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And for this cause not only our Poets and profane Authors but whole cities and men which gave Laws to Common-wealths have made especial choice of this course Yea our Saviour Christ himself hath filled the Gospels with parables made them like a Divine and Christian AEsop's Fables because he found it to be exceeding profitable For first of all it is the plainest and most familiar way and above all other stoops to the capacity of the learner as being drawn either from trees or beasts or from some ordinary common and known actions of men As from a shepheard attending his flock from an husbandman sowing corn in his field from a fisher casting his net into the Sea from a woman putting leaven into her dough or the like So that in this respect a parable is like Moses Tabernacle which outwardly was nothing but goats skins or some ordinary stuff but within it was silk and purple and gold And indeed since those we teach are either children or ignorant persons who are but children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for every man in what he is ignorant is no better then a childe that manner of information fits best which is most easie and familiar Again a parable is a kinde of pattern and example expressing unto us what we heare Now nothing doth more illustrate and explain then instance and example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a parable as it were upon a stage the thing that we are taught is in a manner acted and set forth before our eyes Secondly parables do not only by their plainess open the understanding but they work upon the affections and breed delight of hearing by reason of that faceteness and wittiness which is many times found in them by reason of which they insinuate themselves and creep into us and ere we are aware work that end for which they were delivered who is not much moved with that parable of Jotham in the book of Judges that the trees went forth to chuse a king or that of Menenius Agrippa in Livie that the parts of the body conspired against the belly by which the one shewed the wickedness of the men of Sechem against the sons of Gideon the other the folly of the common people in conspiring against the Senators and noble-men And no marvel beloved if this faceteness of parables doth thus work with men since it seems to have had wonderful force with God himself For when the Canaanitish woman in the Gospel had long importun'd our Saviour in the behalf of her daughter and our Saviour had answered her with that short cutting and reproachful parable It is not meet to take the childrens bread and cast it unto dogs she facetely and wittily retorts and turns upon our Saviour his own parable Truth Lord saith she yet dogs do eat the crums that fall from their masters Table be it that I am but a dog I require no more then is due to a dog even the crums that fall from your table with which speech our Saviour was so far taken as that he seems to have been stricken into a wonderment for he presently cries out O woman great is thy Faith Thirdly there is one thing that this way of instruction by parable hath above all other kindes of teaching It serves excellently for reproof for man is a proud creature impatient of plain and open check and reprehension 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many times no way of dealing with him when he hath offended but by deceiving him with wiliness and craft 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that comes rudely and plainly to reprehend doth many times more hurt then good I speak not this only in regard of ministerial reprehension used by the preacher of the word but of all other for to reprove offenders is a common duty and belongs to every private man as well as to the Minister St. Austine in his book de civitate Dei handling the question why in common calamities the good do bear a part as well as the evil amongst many other reasons gives this
and suspicious of your thoughts and to be quick-sented easily to trace the footing of sin to be easily sensible of it when we think our selves to have done amiss a lesson naturally arising as I take it out of Davids example commended unto us in this place Now how absolutely behoofefull it is for us to hold a perpetuall Watch over our hearts and be jealous of such thoughts as spring out of them it will appear by these Reasons First because that sin is of such a â—â—ly insinuating nature that it will privily creep in and closely cleave to our thoughts and intents though we perceive it not For as waters though of themselves most pure will relish and â—â—avour of the Earth and soyl through which they passe So thoughts in themselves good passing through the corrupt and evill ground of our hearts cannot but receive some tincture some dye some relish from them When David had an intent to build God an house he doubtless conceived no otherwise of this his intent then of a religious and honourable purpose and in outward appearance there was no cause why he should doubt of Gods acceptance yet we see this purpose of his misliked by God and rejected and the reason given quia vir sanguinum es tu because thou art a man of blood How shâ—â—ll we then secure our selves of any thought if such an intent as this so â—â—avouring of Zeal of Sanctification of love unto the glory of God have such a flaw in it as makes it unprofitable and how necessary is it that we bring all our immaginations and intents to the fire and to the refining pot so throughly to try them bring them to their highest point of purity perfection Be it peradventure that the action be in it self good if it be lyable to any suspicion of evill it is enough to blast it It is the Holy Ghosts rule given by the blessed Apostle that we abstain from all shew and appearance of evill that we refrain as much as possible from all such actions as are capable of misconstruction What is more lawfull then for the labourer to â—â—ave his hire then for those that labour in the Gospell to live by the Gospell Yet we see St. Paul refused this Liberty and chose rather to work with his own hands only for this reason because he would not give occasion to any that would misinterpret his Action to live at others cost feed on the sweat of others brows What befalls Princes many times and great Persons that have abused their Authority the people rise and suppress them deface their statues forbid their coyn put away all things that bear any memory of them So seems our blessed Apostle to deal hereâ—â—look what actions they be which bear any inscription any image title any shew or spot of sin these hath he thought good even to banish quiâ—â—e prohibit Our prophane stories tell us that when Julius Caesar had divorc'd his wife being asked why he did so since nothing was brought against her to prove her dishonest his answer was that she that will be Wife of Caesar must not only be free from dishonesty but from all suspicion of it Beloved St. Paul tells the Corinthians that he had espoused them unto one Husband that he might deliver them as a chast Virgin unto Christ. And God every where in Scripture compairs his Church unto an espoused wife himself unto an Husband a Husband far more jealous then ever Caesar was How carefull then must that Soul be that intends to Marry it self to such a jealous Husband to abstain not only from all pollution of sin but from all suspicion of it Last of all it is Tertullians speech Quanto facilius illicita timebit qui etiam licita verebitur It is wisdom sometimes to suspect and shun things that are lawfull For there are many actions in themselves good which yet to many men become occasions of sin and scandall For it is with our Actions as it is with our meats drinks As divers meats fiâ—â— not divers constitutions of Body so all Actions accord not well with all Tempers of mind As therfore what Dish it is we easily Surfeit of though it be otherwise good it is wisdome totally to abstain from so look what actions they be in which we â—â—ind our selves prone to sin it is good spirituall Physick to use abstinence quite to leave them For if our Savior command us to pluck out our eyes and pare off our hands if once they become unto us cause of sin how much more then must we prune away all inward thoughts all outward circumstances which become occasion of offence unto us A 2d reason why I would perswade you to entertain a jealousie of all your thoughts and actions is a naturall overcharitable affection which I see to be in most men unto their own wayes and which is stâ—â—ange the worse they are the more are we naturally enclined to favour them The Reason is because the worse they are the more they are our own When question was sometime made Why good hearbs grow so sparingly and with great labour and pains where as weeds grow apace without any culture and tilling it is was answered that the earth was a naturall Mother to the one to the other she was a Step-Mother the one she brought forth of her self to the other she was constrain'd Beloved it is with our hearts as it is with the Earth the naturall fruit of them is weeds and evill thoughts unto them our hearts are as mothers injusta virescunt they spring up in us of themselves without any care or manuring but as for good thoughts if they be found in our hearts they are not naturall they are set there by a high hand they are there by a kind of spirituall inoculation and grafting as men graffe Apples and kind fruits upon Thornes and Crabs No mervail then if like choice herbs and fruits they grow so tenderly and need so much care and cherishing As therefore Parents though their own children be very deformed yet love them more then others though more beautifull so corrupt and evill thoughts are naturally dearer unto us then good because we are as Mothers unto them to the rest we are but Stepdames Two notable Fruits there are of this overcharitableness to our own actions First a willingness that we have to flatter to deceive and abuse our own selves by pretences and excuses There is a plain a downright and as it were a Countrey reprobate one that sees his sin and cares not much to excuse it and is content to go on and as it were in simplicity to cast himself away There is a more witty more refined and as it were a Gentlemanlike reprobate one that strives to smooth and guild over his sin to deceive others and himself with excuses and apologies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Basil speaks to take great pains and with the expense of a great deal of wit
them to take in good part the good will of the man for want of more business the Synod brake up At length are we coming to the main battel The Armies have been in sight one of another and have had some parly The manner was this Upon Thursday the 6. of Decemb. stylo novo The Synod being set in the morning the Praeses signified that there had come unto him in the name of the Remonstrants these fower H. Leo Niellius Matthisius and Pinakerus to give notice that the Remonstrants were ready according to their Citation but because they had but lately come unto the Town that yet convenient Lodgings were not provided their papers books and stuff were confused therefore they requir'd respite either till Saterday or at least Friday morning The President of the Politicks replyed that they should come and personally make appearance before the Synod and there propose their mindes and if the Synod approved their causes they might be deferr'd Upon this were two of the Deputies of Utrecht sent forth to give them warning to provide for their present appearance In the mean while till they came the Praeses thought fit that such as in the former Session delivered not themselves concerning the Reformation of abuses in Printing should now do it Here was little delivered besides what was said the day before only some few particulars as that order should be taken to repress this longing humour in many men of coming to the Press that there should be no Impression of the Bible at any time without leave had Forreign Books brought out of other Countreys should not be distracted here without peculiar leave after their being perused by the Censurers to ease the Censurers that they might not be troubled with reading too great a multitude of improfitable books it was thought fit that the books should first be brought to the Classes and what they approved should be brought to the Censurers c. In the mean while the Remonstrants came all that were cited by Letters and were admitted into the Synod There is in the midst of the Synod-House a long Table set as it seems for them for it hath hitherto been void no man sitting at it here Chairs and Forms being set they were willed to sit down The Praeses told them that he had commended to the Synod their Suit of being a little respited but it was the will of the Deputies for the States that they should come before the Synod and propose their cause themselves Episcopius standing up spake to this effect First he prayed God to give a blessing to this Meeting and to poure into their mindes such conceits as best fitted men come together for such ends then he signified that according to their Citation they were now come ad collationem instituendam concerning that cause which hitherto with a good Conscience they had maintain'd As for the point of delay true it is they spake to the Praeses concerning a respite until Saterday or Friday by reason of that great distraction of their books and papers and want of convenient lodging but not as a petition to be moved in that behalf unto the Synod but only as a thing which out of common equity they might have presumed on without acquainting the Synod with it For they were ready even at that present to begin the business they came for without any further delay But this they left to the Deputies Secular and Ecclesiastical to determine of Then were they requested to withdraw a little into a chamber near the Synod House and immediately was it proposed unto the Synod what time was to be set for to begin The time prefixt was the morrow after Jo. Polyander took hold of those words ad collationem and told the Synod that it was fit the Remonstrants were told the end of their coming and the manner of proceeding which should be taken with them that they might know what they were to look for and so provide They were to be inform'd that they came not to conference neither did the Synod profess it self an adverse party against them Conferences had been heretofore held to no purpose They ought to have heeded the words of the Letters by which they were cited They were called not to conference but to propose their Opinions with their Reasons and leave it to the Synod to judge of them The Synod would be a Judge and not a party Then were they call'd in again and all this was told them Episcopius answered that for the word Collatio he stood not on it and how they would carry themselves it should appear the day following Mean while one thing they would request of the Synod that is that Grevinchovius and Goulartius should be sent for to the Synod as Patrons of this cause That they had this last week exhibited a Supplication to the States General to this purpose and receav'd this answer that they should put this matter to the Synod and if the Synod thought it fit to be granted they would not be against it Neither did they propose this to seek delayes For they were ready whilst these men should be sent for to proceed to the action Only they thought fit that to maintain their cause they should be sent for who could best do it Then were they again dismist and one was sent to them to call for their Supplication to the Lords and the Lords Answer To this they return'd that the Lords gave this answer not in writing but by word of mouth and for the copy of their Supplication they called not for it any more Then was the thing proposed unto the Synod and the Secular Deputies replyed that they would return their answer on the morrow and the same was the answer of the Synod Mr. Praeses thought that Grevinchovius might be admitted salvis censuris Ecclesiasticis yet notwithstanding he thought good to acquaint the Synod with the quality of this man and thereupon he produced the Act of the Provincial Synod of South Holland wherein it was witnessed that the Synod because he did refuse to appear when they cited him and because of many blasphemies in his Book and of many reproachful speeches against the Magistrates and against the Ministers had suspended him ab omni munere Ecclesiastico From this Grevinchovius had not appealed to the National Synod and therefore it was in the power of the Synod to do what they thought fit Then were the Remonstrants again call'd in and it was signifyed unto them that on the morrow they should understand the will of the Synod concerning their motion made and so were they again dismist and the Session ended the Praeses having first premised that all other things yet depending as the Decree concerning the Proponentes together with the Remedies concerning the abuses in Printing and what else soever must be deferr'd and the business in hand alone attended My Lord Bishop was desirous that Mr. Carleton should stay this day to see the coming of
Books since they could not get them from themselves dismist the Company The same day after dinner was there a Session but very private neither was any stranger permitted to be there Wherefore a Relation of that Session I must give only upon hearsay Which I would now have done but that I hasten to the Session this morning And I understand that the Synod will dispatch some of their Company to the States General to signify how matters stand and to know their further pleasure I will here therefore shut up my Letters reserving the rest of the News till the next occasion and commending your Honour to Gods good Protection I humbly take my leave Dort this 17 27. of Decemb. 1618. Your Honours Chaplain and bounden in all Duty Jo. Hales Right Honourable my very good Lord THe State of our Synod now suffers a great crisis and one way or other there must be an alteration For either the Remonstrant must yeeld and submit himself to the Synod of which I see no great probability or else the Synod must vail to them which to do farther then it hath already done I see not how it can stand with their Honour How the case stood at the last Friday Session your Honor may perceive by my letters written upon Saterday Three things there were mainly urged by the Synod and as mainly withstood by the Remonstrants The first was the point of order to be held in discussing the articles whether the question of Reprobation were to be handled after the five articles as the Synod would have had it because it is none of the five points and by order from the States nothing ought to be determined of till the five be discust or whether it should be handled in the first place as the Remonstrants would have it because as they pretended their doubts lay especially there and that being cleared they thought they should shew good conformity in the rest The second thing was the putting of interrogatories which thing they much disdain'd as Predagogicall Third was the Liberty of disputation which was to be given the Remonstrant whether it were to be limited and circumscribed by the discretion of the Synod or large and unlimited accordingly as it pleas'd the Remonstrants So strongly in these points did the Remonstrants withstand the Synod that on Friday last it was verily thought they would have gone their way and left the Commissioners to determine without them But the Synod bearing an inclination to peace and wisely considering the nature of their People resolved yet further though they had yielded sufficiently unto them already yet to trie a little more the rather to stay the clamour of the Country and cut off all suspicion of Partiall dealing And for this purpose call'd a private Session on Friday in the Evening to mollify some things in thein Decrees and Proceedings From that Session all Strangers were excluded and what I write I do only upon Relation The summ of it was this The Praeses much complain'd him of the perplexity he was in by reason of the Pertinacy of the Remonstrants For saith he if we labor to keep them here they will be but a hindrance to us as hitherto they have been if we dismiss them we shall hazard our credit among the People as if we purposed only to do what we please Whatsoever it is that here we do is by some that come hither and write all they hear presently eliminated and carryed to them which hath caused many hard reports to pass of us both with them and otherwhere He therefore commended to the Synod to consider whether there might not be found some means of accommodation which might somewhat mollify the Remonstrant and yet stand well with the Honour of the Synod And first to make way they read the Letters which in the morning by publick Decree of the States were forbidden to be read a pretty matter in so grave a place to break those edicts in the Evening which but in the Morning had been so solemnly proclaimed and to speak truth their Decrees have hitherto been mere matter of formality to affright them a little for none of them have been kept as being found to be Pouder without Shot and give a clap but do no harme The Letters being read they began to deliver their minds Some thought the Synod had been too favourable to the Remonstrants already and that it were best now not to hold them if they would be going since hitherto they had been and for any thing appeared to the contrary meant hereafter to be a hindrance to all Peacable and orderly proceedings Others on the contrary thought fit that all should be granted them which they required to suâ—â—cease the Interrogatories to let them speak of Reprobation in what place in what manner and how much they pleased since this took from them all pretence of exception and Prejudiced not the Synods power of determining what they pleased A third sort thought it better to hold a middle course and under colour of Explanation to mollifie some of their Decrees This sort prevailed and accordingly it was concluded that the Decree of the Synod of this decree I gave your Honor the summ in my Satterday Letters made in the Morrning should be more largely and Significantly drawne and withall in it should be exprest how far it pleased the Synod to be indulgent unto the Remonstrants in the points in Question The Forraign Divines were requested that they would conceive some Reasons by way of Answer to these late Exceptions of the Remonstrants and give them up in writing the next Session to try whether by these means they might make them a little to relent This is all was done that Session which though it seem but little yet being handled with much and long Speaking among so many took up a long time On Munday the 21 31 of Decemb. in the Morning the Synod being set Johannes Polyander made a Latin Sermon His Theme was the seventh verse of the two and fiftieth of Isaiah O quam speciocâ—â— in montibus c. he spake much of the greatness of Eclesiasticall Function First in regard of their dignity in the word Speciosi Secondly of their industry in the word Montibus which argues them either to be Pastores or Speculatores Thirdly of the suavity of their Doctrine in the word Peace and Good things After this he fell Pathetically to bewail the torne State of the Belgick Churches and to commend the diligence of the Synod in endeavouring to establish their Churches Peace This was the sum of his Sermon it being only a passionate strain and conteining nothing much Remarkable either for Doctrine or News The Praeses in the Name of the Synod gave him great thanks and signified that he had many causes Sperare optima quaequâ—â—e de Synodo but that Gods good Spirit was indeed amongst them he gather'd especially by this Argument that so many Learned and Pious Sermoâ—â—s had in this place been lately
barren soils into the fattest places of the land from solitary desarts into the most frequented cities they turned their poor cottages into stately pallace their true fasting into formalizing and partial abstinence So that instead of going forth they took the next course to come into the world they left not the world for Christ but under pretence of Christ they gain'd the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzâ—â—ne speaks One of their own Saint Jerome by name long ago complain'd of it Nonnulli sunt ditiores Monachi quam fuerant seculares clerici qui possideant opes sub paupere Christo quas sub fallaci locuplete diabolo non habuerant ut suspiret eos ecclesia divites quos tenuit mundos ante mendicos But I forbear and come to commend unto you another kinde of going forth necessary for all persons and for all times There is a going forth in act and execution requisite only at sometimes and upon some occasions there is a going forth in will and affection this let the persons be of what calling soever and let the times be never so favourable God requires at the hands of every one of us We usually indeed distinguish the times of the Church into times of peace and times of persecution the truth is to a true Christian man the times are always the same Habetetiam pax suos martyres saith one there is a martyrdome even in time of peace for the practise of a Christian man in the calmest times in readiness and resolution must nothing differ from times of rage and fire Josephus writing of the Military exercises practised amongst the Romans reports that for seriousness they diffred from a true battel only in this the battel was a bloody exercise their exercise a bloodless battel Like unto this must be the Christian exercise in times of peace neither must there be any difference betwixt those days of persecution and these of ours but only this those yeelded Martyrs with blood ours without Let therefore every man throughly examine his own heart whether upon supposal of times of tryal and persecution he can say with David My heart is ready whether he can say of his dearest pledges all these have I counted dung for Christs sake whether he finde in himself that he can if need be even lay down his life for his profession He that cannot do thus what differs his faith from a temporary faith or from hypocrisie Mark I beseech you what I say I will not affirm I will only leave it to your Christian discretion A temporary faith that is a faith resembled to the seed in the Gospel which being sown on the stony ground withered as soon as the sun arose a faith that fails as soon as it feels the heat of persecution can save no man May we not with some reason think that the faith of many a one who in time of peace seems to us yea and to himself too peradventure to dy possest of it is yet notwithstanding no better then a temporary faith and therefore comes not so far as to save him that hath it Rufus a certain Philosopher whensoever any Scholars were brought unto him to receive education under him was wont to use all possible force of argument to diswade them from it if nothing could prevail with them but needs they will be his hearers this their pertinacy he took for a sure token of a mind throughly setled led as it were by instinct to their studies If God should use this method to try who are his and bring on us those Temptations which would make the man of temporary faith to shrink think we that all those who in these times of peace have born the name of Christ unto their graves would have born unto the rack unto the sword unto the fire Indeed to man who knows not the thoughts of his friend some trials sometimes are very necessary But he that knew and foretold David what the resolution of the men of Keilah would be if Saul came to them knows likewise what the resolution of every one of us would be if a fiery trial should appear Who knows therefore whether God hath numbred out the Crowns of life according to the number of their souls who he foreknew would in the midst of all Temptations and trialls continue unto the end for what difference is there betwixt the faith that fails upon occasion or that would fail if occasion were offred for the actual failing of faith is not that that makes it temporary it is only that which detects it which bewrays it unto us to be so The faith therefore of that man which would have sunk as fast as Peter did if tempests had arisen notwithstanding that through the peace of the Church he dies possest of is no better then a temporary and cometh short of a saving faith Durus sermo it as a hard speech some man may say but let him that thinks thus recount with himself that Dura via it is is a hard way that leads to life Beloved deceive not your selves heaven never was nor will be gotten without Martyrdom In a word my Brethren try therefore your selves whether you have in you true resolution summon up your thoughts surveigh every path in which your affections are wont to tread see whether you are prepared to leave all for Christ. If you find in your selves but one affection looking back to Sodom to the things of this life remember Lots wife her case is yours you are not yet sufficiently provided for the day of battel FINIS Christian Omnipotency Philip. 4. 13. I can do all things through Christ that enableth or that strengtheneth me FRom henceforth let all complaint concerning the frailty and weakness of mans Nature for ever cease For behold our weakness swallow'd up of strength and man is become Omnipotent I can do all things saith my Apostle The strongest reason which the subtilest above all the beasts of the field could invent to draw our first Parents from their allegeance was this Ye shall be like Gods Our Saviour who is infinitely wiser to recal us then our adversary was to seduce us takes the same way to restore as he did to destroy and uses that for Physick which the Devil gave for poyson Is this it saith he unto us that hath drawn ye from me that ye would be like unto Gods why then return again and ye shall be like Gods by a kinde of Communicatio idiomatûm by imparting unto you such excellencies as are proper unto myself As I my self do all things so shall you likewise be enabled to do all things through me Falso queritur de Naturâ suâ Genus humanum quod imbecillis sit It was the observation of the Heathen Historian that it is an error in men thus to complain of the infirmities and weakness of their Nature For man indeed is a creature of great strength and if at any time he finde himself weak it is through his
fault not through his nature But he that shall take into consideration these words of my Text shall farre better then any natural man be able to perceive that man hath no cause to complain of his weakness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristophanes It was a tale that passed among some of the Heathen that Vulcan offended with the men of Athens told them that they should be but fools but Pallas that favour'd them told them they should be fools indeed but folly should never hurt them Beloved our case is like to that of the men of Athens Vulcan the Devil hath made us fools and weak and so we are indeed of our selves but the Son of God the true Pallas the wisdome of the Father hath given us this gift that our weakness shall never hurt us For look what strength we lost in Adam that with infinite advantage is suppli'd in Christ. It was the Parable of Iphicrates that an Army of Harts with a Lyon to their Captain would be able to vanquish an armie of Lyons if their captain were but an Hart. Beloved were mankinde indeed but an army of Harts were we Hinnuleo similes like unto the fearful Hinde upon the Mountains that starts at every leaf that shakes yet through Christ that strengtheneth us having the Lyon of the tribe of Judah for our Captain and Leader we shall be able to vanquish all that force which the Lyon that goeth up and down seeking whom he may devoure is able to bring against us Indeed we do many times sadly bemoan our case and much rue the loss which through the rechlesness of our first parents hath befallen us Yet let us chear up our selves our fear is greater then our hurt as Elkanah speaks unto Hannah in the first of Samuel Why weepest thou Am not I better unto thee then ten Sons So will we comfort our selves in the like manner Let us sorrow no more for our loss in Adam For is not Christten fold better unto us then all the good of Paradise The Mulbery tree indeed is broken down but it is built up again with Cedar The loss of that portion of strength wherewith our Nature was originally endued is made up with fulness of power in Christ It is past that conclusion of Zeba and Zalmana unto Gideon in the Book of Judges As the man is so is his strength for now Beloved as is God so is our strength Wherefore as St. Ambrose spake of Peters fall Non mihi obsuit quod negavit Petrus immo prosuit quod emendavit So may we speak of the fall of our first Parents it hurts not us that Adam fell nay our strength and glory is much improved that by Christ we are redeemed Our natural weakness be it never so great with this supply from Christ is far a above all strength of which our Nature in its greast perfection was capable If we survey the particulars of that weakness which we drew from the loines of our first parents we shall finde the chiefest part of it to be in the loss of immortality For as for the loss of that pleasant place the blindness of understanding and perverseness of will being suppos'd to betide us immediately upon the fall these seem weaknesses far inferior to our mortality For God forbidding us the fruit of the tree of knowledg setting down the penalty that should ensue making choice as it is most likely of the fearfullest judgement and what he saw in his wisdome was most likely to awe us threatens neither blindness of understanding nor crookedness of Nature but tells us What day ye eat of it ye shall die Yet see beloved with how great strength this mortal weakness is repair'd For thus to be able to encounter with death the fearfullest of all Gods curses and through Christ to overcome it as all true Christians do to turn the greatest curse into the greatest blessing is more then immortality Si non errasset fecerat ille minus Had not man been thus weak he had never been thus strong Again on the contrary let us conceive unto the utmost what our strength might be in our first estate let us raise our conceit unto the highest note we can reach yet shall we never finde it to be greater then what here is exprest in my Text. For greater ability then power to do all things is not imaginable I can do all things Beloved these words are Anakims they beseem not the mouth of a man of ordinary strength He that hath right unto them must be one of the race of the Giants at least for he saith not simply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I can though peradventure with some difficulty hardly with much labour and pains but he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I can with ease I have valour and strength to do them I ask then first as the Eunuch doth in the Acts of whom speaks our Apostle this of himself or of some other man I answer both of himself and all other Christians For every Christian man by reading it as he ought makes it his own for in reading it as he ought he reads it with the same spirit with which St. Paul wrote it Wherefore as St. Paul some where records of himself that he was not found inferiour to the chief Apostles so is it true that the meanest Christian that hears me this day in all that is contained in my Text is parallel'd is nothing inferiour unto St. Paul unto the chief Apostles What a comfort then is this unto the brother of low degree when he considers with himself that how mean soever he may seem to be either in the Church or common weal yet notwithstanding in so great a priviledge as is this omnipotent power of doing all things he is equal unto Peter unto Paul the greatest Peers of the Church If then the weakness of Christians be so strong as to deserve the name of Almightiness what name what title doth the strength of a Christian deserve to bear Secondly I ask what meaning hath this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this can do in my Text I answer very large first though it be rendred by this word doing yet it comprehends sufferings too for possum valeo I can is as well to suffer as to do and that our blessed Apostle amongst other things so meant it is apparant by the words foregoing my text And here is the first part of a Christians omnipotency his patience is infinite it suffers all things Never any contumely never any loss never any smart so great as could weary out Christian patience Talia saith Tertullian tantaque documenta quorum magnitudo penes nationes detractatio fides est peaes nos vero ratio structio Such examples such precepts have we of Christian patience as that with infidels they seem incredible and call in question the truth of our profession but with us they are the ground and foundation of faith God