terrible manner Job 27.20 21 22 Terrours take hold of him as waters a tempest stealeth him in the night the east-wind carrieth him away and he departeth and as a storm burleth him out of his place For God shall cast upon him and not spare he would fain flee out of his hand All this time that God beareth with you and waits for your repentance he is whetting his sword and bending his bow and preparing for you the instruments of death and the longer the sword is whetting the sharper it will be and give the more deadly wound when it strikes you Ps 7.10 11 12 God is angry with the wicked every day if he turn not he will whet his sword he hath bent his bow and made it ready he hath also prepared for him the instruments of death he ordaineth his arrows against his persecutors Plea 9. It brings us in great profit to go and inform against these men and their Meetings and therefore being in straits and having need of Money we take up this trade of Informing for thereby a third part of all fines will come into our Purses Ans 1. If the work you went about were so good yet it is sordid and sinful to go about such an employment from a covetous principle Teaching the Word of God is a good work and judging the causes between man and man is a good work yet when a man 's great end in these works is to get Money they become sinful Mic. 3.8.11 I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord to declare unto Jacob his transgression and Israel his sin The heads thereof judge for reward and the Priests thereof teach for hire and the Prophets thereof divine for Money 2. Judas gained thirty pieces of silver by betraying of Christ but what good did his Money do him when his Conscience was awakened and made sensible of his sin his Money was a trouble to him he was weary of it and threw it away and hanged himself Matt. 27.5 He cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and hanged himself When Balaam was sent for to Balack to curse Israel and had a great reward proffered him the love of the wages of unrighteousness prevailed with him to go but what befel him in the way An Angel met him with a drawn sword and would have slain him had not the Ass turned out of the way Numb 22.32 33. And God to shew to Balaam his folly and madness gave the Ass a voice to rebuke him 2 Pet. 2.15 16 which have forsaken the right way and gone astray following the way of Balaam the Son of Bozor who loved the wages of unrighteousness but was rebuked for his iniquity The dumb Ass speaking with mans voice sorbade the madness of the Prophet They that out of love to the wages of unrighteousness will curse the Israel of God are little better than mad-men The very beasts had they power to speak would cry out of and rebuke the iniquity of these men 3. If this practise of yours be so sinful as hath been proved then what you gain in this kind is got with the loss of your Souls and if you could gain the whole world and should lose your souls you would be miserable for ever Mark 8.36 What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own Soul 4. Consider what the Scripture saith of unrighteous men and the gain they make by their unrighteous practises And I leave it to your Conscience to judge whether to get riches by causing men to be punished for praying to God and hearing his Word be not to get them unrighteously 1. All that is gained unrighteously is got with the loss of the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 9.6 Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 2. All that is gotten unrighteously will last but a little while Jer. 17.11 He that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his days and in the end shall be a sool 3. The riches you get this way will eat your flesh as it were fire the remembrance of these things in the other world will torment your Conscience as much as fire does your flesh Jam. 5.3 4. Your gold and silver is cankered and the rust of them shall witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire ye have heaped up treasure against the last days Behold the bire of the labourers which have reaped down your fields which is of you kept back by fraud cryeth and the crys of them that reaped are entred into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth If the hire of a labouring man kept back by fraud cryeth and the cry entereth into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth how much more do the estates of those Ministers who have been Labourers in God's vineyard which have been by you taken away by force and violence cry unto the Lord and their crys enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts And if the rust of the estates of covetous men who heap up Money and do no good with it will be a witness against them and will eat their flesh like fire then what a witness will all those goods be against you at the day of Judgment which you have caused to be taken away from the servants of God and how will the remembrance thereof vex and torment your Consciences even as if your flesh were continually burning in the fire Plea 10. We abhor those men that turn Informers for filthy lucre sake and look upon them as vile persons It is zeal for the glory of God and the good of the Church that makes us prosecute these men I purpose to give my part of the fines to the poor and to charitable uses therefore I hope I am praise-worthy Ans 1. Suppose it be zeal that carries you out to prosecute these men yet you may be guilty of persecution When the Apostle Paul made havock of the Church of Christ and haled the members of it to Prison he did not act for gain or preferment but out of zeal yet he acknowledgeth himself a persecutor and injurious though what he did proceeded out of a blind zeal Phil. 3.6 Concerning zeal persecuting the Church Act. 26.9 I verily thought with my self I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth And though he did nothing against the members of Christ but what he thought to be his duty yet when he was better instructed he called himself the chief of sinners for persecuting of Jesus Christ 2. An indiscreet zeal may carry a man out not only to do that which is prejudicial to himself but may bring Judgments upon the Kingdom where he lives Saul slaying the Gibeonites out of zeal to the children of Israel and Judah brought a famine which is a sore Judgment that continued a long time in the Land even three years 2 Sam. 21.1 2 Then there was a
you take away that which is as dear to them as their lives Act 20.24 But none of these things move me neither count I my life dear to my self so that I might finish my course with joy and the Ministery which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testifie the Gospel of the grace of God 5. You have cause to fear lest a worse Sin than blood be laid to your charge What 's that what is worse than blood The loss and ruine of immortal Souls who possibly might have obtained Salvation had not you broken up the meetings where they went to attend when now they may become a prey to erroneous persons and be swallowed up of Satan who goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour Scattered sheep are in danger to be a prey to wild beasts Ezek. 34.4 5. With force and with cruelty ye have ruled them And they were scattered because there is no Shepherd and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered And in the eighth and tenth Verses The Lord swears by his life that seeing his Flock was become a prey and meat to every beast of the field he would require his Flock at their hands that had been the cause of their scattering Obj. 2. But we do not look upon these as righteous men if we did we would not molest them Ans Though you do not yet if God owns and accepts them as righteous this will not excuse your Sin I have in part answered this already and shall do it more fully Ch. 3. Plea 1st Obj. 3. We do not punish them for righteousness sake but for keeping Conventicles which is a thing we hate Ans 1. The work you find them at when you come to their meetings is Praying to God in the name of Jesus Christ giving God thanks Preaching and Hearing God's holy Word and for these things you go and inform against them and raise Persecution against them What is If this be not persecuting men for righteousness sake For Praying Preaching and Hearing the Word of God are Duties commanded by God as was proved before And God's commands are all righteousness Ps 119.72 All thy Commandments are righteousness So that when men are persecuted for these things that are commanded of God they are persecuted for righteousness sake 2. What do you mean by keeping Conventicles If you take Conventicles as Minshew describes a Conventicle when it is taken in an ill sense Pro conventu seditiosorum sceleratorum For a meeting of Seditious and wicked men These men whom you persecute abhor Conventicles taken in this sense as much and it may be more than you do And if you call the Assemblies of these men Conventicles in this sense you are guilty of reproaching the servants and the ways of the living God and so commit a double Sin the one in reproaching the other in molesting them while they are serving the Lord. Remember there is a wo to them that call good evil Is 5.20 3. If the privacy of their meeting be that which you stile a Conventicle then you will find the Disciples of Christ at a Conventicle and Jesus Christ in the midst of them speaking peace to them Joh. 20.19 Then the same day at evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the Disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them Peace be unto you Here is a private Assembly of the Disciples they met in the evening their doors were shut for fear of the Jews And Christ Jesus honoured this private meeting with his presence he came to them he stood in the midst of them and said Peace be unto you He did not chide them and say Sirs what do you here why do you not meet in the Synagogue why do you shut the doors But speaks peace unto them Let those consider whether they be led by the Spirit of Christ who if they hear of the servants of Christ met together with the doors shut for fear of their Enemies Cry out a Conventicle a Conventicle and load them with reproaches and stir up trouble and persecution against them 2. Arg. Those Informers do offend those little ones that believe in Jesus Christ And that is such a dangerous sin that a man had better have a milstone hang about his neck and be cast into the depths of the Sea than to offend the least and meanest of all those that believe in Jesus Christ Matt. 18.6 whoso shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me it were better for him that a milstone were hung about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea Observe here 1. What a dangerous sin it is to offend the meanest person that believeth in Jesus Christ such a man had better have a milstone hung about his neck and be drowned in the depths of the Sea If a man were cast into the depth of the Sea though he had no weight upon him though he had great skill in swimming he would certainly be drowned But if a man had a great stone a milstone tyed about his neck and were cast into the depths of the Sea he would sink suddenly and violently to the bottom of the Sea and it would not be in the power of his friends to recover him again And who would be in this mans condition to gain the whole world Yet they that offend them that believe in Christ are in a worse condition than such a man as is drowned in the deepest place in the Sea with a milstone about his neck for it is not said it were equally good but it were better for him to have a milstone hung about his neck and be drowned in the midst of the Sea than offend those that believe in Jesus Christ 2. The Nature of the sin It is not said whosoever shall kill them whosoever shall imprison them but whoever shall offend them 3. The person offending that is put in this evil condition by his offence Every one whoever he be that shall offend Whoso shall offend It reacheth all persons in all ages and generations of all ranks and conditions 4. The persons whom it is so dangerous to offend and they are such as believe in Jesus Christ any one of them even the least and meanest of them Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me Now there are in these Assemblies to which the Informers come and against which they raise up persecution many that do believe in Jesus Christ They do all of them profess Faith in Jesus Christ and many of them do by their works shew forth their Faith and give good evidence that they do from their hearts believe on the Lord Jesus Christ It remains now to be proved that these Informers and those that joyn with them are guilty of offending such as believe in Christ which will easily be manifested if
them for their sins and they are very dreadful which without repentance will be their portion as hath been shewn in the second Chapter Rev. 8.4 Come out of her my people that you be not partakers of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues As they that partake of Babylon's sins shall be partakers of Babylon's Plagues so shall they that partake of the Informers sins partake of the Informers Plagues Prov. 29.24 Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul The same I may say of him that is partner with these Informers he hateth his own Soul And why doth he that is a partner with a thief hate his soul Because he takes a sure and speedy course to destroy his own Soul Let me here shew you how many ways a man may be partaker with these Informers in their sin for these men do involve many others in the guilt of their hainous transgression 1. They that harbour these men in their houses and wish them good success in their undertakings are partners with them in their evil deeds 1 Joh. 2. Ep. v. 10 11. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine receive him not into your house neither bid him God speed For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds As he that harboureth and encourageth false teachers is partaker with them in their evil-deeds so also they that receive into their houses encourage and wish success to these men that oppose the Ministers of Christ that teach the Word of God in truth are partakers with them in their evil deeds 2. They become partakers with them in their sin who rejoyce and take pleasure and delight to see these Informers disturb the Meetings of these men Obad. v. 12 But thou shouldst not have looked upon the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger neither should thou have rejoyced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction neither shouldst thou have spoken proudly in the day of their distress They that take pleasure in others wickedness are under the same or rather a greater guilt than those persons that commit the wickedness Rom. 1.32 Who knowing the Judgment of God that they that do such things are worthy of death not only do the same but take pleasure in them that do them Hoc pejus illo saith Grotius upon the place This latter To take pleasure in them that do them is worse than the former for a man may do evil under a temptation but to take pleasure in another man's sin argues an exceeding great corruption in that man's heart God was greatly offended with Moab for rejoycing at the Assyrian spoiling the Israelites Jer. 48.26 27. Moab also shall swallow in his vomit and he also shall be in derision For was not Israel a derision unto thee was he found among thieves For since thou speakest of him thou skippedst for joy 3. Such as at the instigation of these Informers take away or buy those Goods which are taken away from men fearing God for their worshipping God and that either because they are sold at a low rate or because they would not have the Informers go without a reward Obad. 13. Thou shouldst not have entred into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity yea thou shouldst not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity nor have laid hands on their substance 4. Such as plead their cause defend and justifie them in their evil ways they are deeply guilty and partakers with them in all the evil and mischief that they do It is worse to plead for sin than to commit it As Grotius observeth Nam affectu abreptus peccat aliquis sine eo non peccaturus At qui defendunt talia docent vitio carere sane gravius delinquunt Joash thought that man worthy to dye that should plead for sin Judg. 6.31 Will ye plead for Baal will you save him He that will plead for him let him be put to death while it is yet morning To justifie a wicked man is an abominable sin in the sight of God Prov. 17.15 He that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just even they both are abomination to the Lord. 5. They that afford their aid help and assistance to these men in their evil designs are partakers of their sin To help an ungodly man in an evil undertaking will bring down wrath from the Lord 2 Chron. 19.2 Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. When the Apostle Paul made confession of his sin of persecution he mentions the keeping the clothes of them that stoned Stephen as an evidence of his consent to that wicked fact and his being involved in the guilt of his blood Act. 22.20 And when the blood of thy Martyr Stephen was shed I was standing by and consenting to his death and kept the rayment of them that slew him Paul did not help to throw the stones he did but keep the rayment of those persons that stoned him and this little assistance that he gave them was a great trouble to his Conscience Take heed therefore of giving any assistance to these men either by guiding them to the places where these persons are assembled that they seek after It is recorded to Judas eternal infamy That he was guide to them that took Jesus Act. 1.16 or by telling them the names of the persons whom they find assembled together or drawing up their Informations they give unto the Magistrate or aiding them in the dispersing these Assemblies or any other way helping them in their evil way 6. Such as excite counsel and put forward these Informers to undertake their evil work are partakers with them in their sin The people of Israel were said to make the calf which Aaron made because he made it by their instigation Exod. 32.2.35 The people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him up make us Gods which shall go before us And the Lord plagued the people because they made the calf which Aaron made The guilt was equally and the plague greater upon the people for stirring up Aaron to make the calf than upon Aaron himself that made the golden calf David is charged with killing Uriah 2 Sam. 12.9 Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword yet David himself did not touch him they were the Ammonites that killed him but because David plotted and contrived his death and wrote Letters to Joab to set him in the forefront of the battel where he was slain Ch. 11.14 15. Uriah's blood was laid to David's charge Jezabel stirring up Ahab to work wickedness made her a partaker of Ahab's guilt 1 Kings 21.25 There was none like unto Ahab that did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord whom Jezabel his wife stirred up 7. Such as hire those Informers to undertake this
work or give them a reward for what they do are partakers of their evil deeds As the adversaries of the Jews hired men to hinder the building of the temple Ezr. 4.5 They hired counsellers against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus So some men that are adversaries to these Meetings and are ashamed to appear in this odious work themselves do hire men fit for their turn to carry on this evil design Let such persons remember what a mark of displeasure the Lord left upon the Moabites for hiring Balaam to curse Israel Not only the men of that generation but their posterity was excluded for ever from coming into the Congregation of the Lord for this sin Neh. 13.1 2 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people and therein was found written that the Ammonite and Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water but hired Balaam against them that he should curse them Howbeit God turned the curse into a blessing All that clense their hearts from sin and walk according to the rule of the Word are as dear to God as the children of Israel were of old yea they are God's Israel Ps 73.1 Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God And if God were so angry with the Moabites for hiring Balaam to curse Israel that he would not suffer them to come into the Congregation of the Lord for ever Then how much more will God's anger be kindled against those that profess themselves Christians and yet hire vain persons to persecute such as are Israelites for worshipping and serving the Lord Inf. 3. Are these Informers guilty of such a great sin then let me advise such as are or hereafter may be tempted to turn Informers in the words of Solomon Prov. 1.10 11 12 13 14 15. My Son if sinners entice thee consent thou not If they say come with us let us lay wait for blood let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause We shall find all precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil Cast in thy lot among us let us all have one purse My Son walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path Let no proffer of any reward tempt you to persecute innocent men for serving God for such as lye in wait against the innocent lye in wait to destroy their own soul Prov. 1.11 18 Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause They lay wait for their own blood they lurk privily for their own souls It is mentioned by the Psalmist among the Characters of those that shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven that he must be one that will not be hired by any reward to do any hurt to an innocent man Ps 15.1 5 Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle and who shall dwell in thy holy hill He that back-biteth not with his tongue nor doth evil to his neighbour nor taketh reward against the innocent Remember our Lord Jesus when the Devil offered him all the Kingdoms of the world and all the glory of them to have committed one act of sin he rejected his proffer with disdain Matt. 4.6 7 8. As the gaining the whole world could not tempt Christ to consent to one act of false worship So no gain should tempt you to disturb the true worshippers of God that worship him in Spirit and Truth So as to hinder one act of true worship Inf. 4. Let the Friends Relations and Acquaintance of these Informers as they love their Souls pity them and pray to God for them and reprove them for their sins and plead with them to turn from their evil ways If you let them go on in their sins without reproving them you have no love for their souls but you hate them in your hearts Lev. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin upon him And if they do not or will not hearken unto you plead with God for them that he would give them repentance and pull them as fire-brands out of the fire before they fall into everlasting burnings And watch your seasons to deal with them when God shall lay affliction upon them that is a good season to be dealing with them for they that are as the deaf adder in the day of prosperity and will not hearken unto any good counsel have their ears open to instruction in a day of trouble Job 36.8 9 10. Inf. 5. If these Informers and their adherents be guilty of such great evils then it concerns those that are placed in the condition of watch-men upon Mount Zion to warn them of their sin and to warn others also that they be not partakers with them in their sins For if they dye in their sins and they have given them no warning their blood will be required at their hands Ezek. 3.17 18 Son of man I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me when I say unto the wicked Thou shalt surely dye and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life the same wicked man shall dye in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thy hand Inf. 6. Caution to those that are sufferers by these Informers Let neither the greatness of their sins nor the greatness of your sufferings who are persecuted by them provoke you to return evil to them for the evil they have done unto you Rom. 12.17 Recompence to no man evil for evil Vengeance belongs unto God and not unto us and therefore we must not go about to avenge our selves on those that injure us v. 19 Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. Our Lord Jesus hath taught us that we must love pray for and do good to the worst enemies we have in all the world even such as hate us curse us use us despitefully and persecute us Matt. 5.44 But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you These men are the rod of God and therefore look beyond the instruments to the hand of the Lord who correcteth you that he may make you partakers of his holiness and humble your selves under his mighty hand and turn to him that smiteth you and then the Lord will turn all your sufferings to your advantage And as you must not offer any violence to these men so neither should you fret nor be cast down at their prosperity