dutie of a servant against Gods mercie delivering against the Lawes of thankefulnesse But Lot cannot escape to the mountaine Cannot then in vaine are these Lawes of a Lord of a Servant of gratitude urged if Lot cannot obey But let us see the strength of his reason if that will excuse the weaknesse of his I cannot first in a generall survey after in a more full examination of them I cannot sayes Lot ne fortè aliquod makim capiat moriar lest some evill take me and I die First there is fortè malum perchance some evill Secondly But what evill nay that he knowes not it 's but aliquod malum some evill Thirdly let there be more than fortè a certaine evill more than aliquod let there be malum horrendum informe ingens a great one what then O nè fortè capiat Lest it take him Fourthly well be it so too let there be an evill and that evill a great one and that great one take him yet et moriar Lest it take me and I die What 's in all this to excuse either the boldnes of his not so or the weaknesse of his I cannot For First it 's causuall whether there be not mala but so much as malum in the singular any one evill Secondly it 's casuall if there be malum what it is for it 's but fortè aliquod 3. It 's casuall thirdly si sit malum aliquod hoc aliquod grande utrum capiat if there be an evill and that evill a great one it 's casuall whether it take him Fourthly si sit malum hoc malum grande hoc grande capiuat utrum moriar if there be an evill and this evill a great one and this great one take him it 's casuall whether it be mortall And yet Lot cannot will not dare not go to the mountaine ne forte aliquod malum c. Lest some evill take him and he die But now as dividedly I have weighed his arguments and have found them light let me set one part of the Text against another and as in a picture you shall have the shadow of the one to set of the sight of the other But first the subject of both parts thy servant must runne through both parts and in that there 's an argument both against his ne sic and ne fortè his disobedient ne and his destrusting nè For if Lot be Gods servant in servitute tuâ perfecta libert as in Gods service is perfect freedome Gods servant that hath God's passe may goe through fire and water amongst Swords and Cannons nothing shall hurt him Now for collating of the parts The first thing in Lot's way is fortè ne fortè lest perhaps lest perchance For that against ne fortè I 'le set conspectus tuus Ecce invenit servus tuus gratiam in conspectu tuo the eye of God's providence against blinde obance and then shall not Gods eye see better to guard thee then blinde fortune to hit thee The second stop is aliquod malum and in that I 'le grant the most that it is magnum or ingens malum and then magnitudini mali hujus or miseriae I will set against it magnificasti magnitudinem misericordiae to the greatnesse of this evill or misery the greatnes of Gods mercy Psal 145.9 And let that which is above all his works answer the feare of the greatest evill that can betide him Thirdly against capiat I 'le set inven◠gratiam he 's accepted of God let acceptus then stand agoinst captus And lastly against moriar I 'le set servando vitam against lest I die I 'le set in saving my life And now collecting all what reason had Lot to trespasse against the authority of his Lord against the duty of a servant against the mercy of his deliverer Why for fear of a fortè who was in conspecta Dei in Gods sight Why for fear of any evill who had found grace in the sight of God Why of the greatest evill who had tasted Gods mercy magnified towards him Why for fear any evill should take him who was accepted of God Why for feare of loosing his life which God had so graciously saved It is disputed by Aulus Gellius in his first book of his Noctes Atticae A. Gellius lib. 1. noct artic whether a servant receiving such or such injunctions from his Lord may upon assurance of his masters greater profit either leave undone his masters command or vary from it in any point or circumstance of moment Or whether there be required in a servant such an obedience which the Schools call caecam infinitum and irrationalem so that he ought to observe punctually the command of his master whether any unexpected accident threaten losse and disadvantage to accrew by doing that which was commanded and an assured profit by doing the contrary 'T is neither proper to this place nor my purpose to dispute this question only give me leave to relate a Story by him recited with which he seems to determine the question Crassus Mutianus a man that by Sempronius Asellio other historians is reported to have bin happy in the joynt fruition of five of the greatest and chiefest of humane blessings That he was the richest of the Romans the most noble the most eloquent the most skilfull in the Lawes and lastly that he was High-Priest This Crassus obtaining the province of Asia and there besieging a City called Leuca sends to the chief Enginier of the Molealenses a People then in confederacy with the Romanes to send him of two masts which he had seene in their City the stronger and longer of which he might make a battle ramme to batter the wals of the besieged City The Enginier being a skilfull man and pondering with himself the use of the mast sends him not according to the direction the bigger but that which he knew both easier for carriage and more fit for that use which was the lesse Crassus commāds him to becal'd for inquires why he sent not that which was commanded despising all reasons he could alleadge commanded him to be stripped scourged with rods Before you brand Crassus with the name of tyrant besides that you heare the testimony of his wisedome heare a second in his reason He thought saith mine author all authority would be cheap and vile si quis ad id quod facere jussus est non obsequio debibito sed consilio non desiderato respōdeat if a servāt might excuse the duty of his obedience to which he is called by the saucines of his own advice to which he was not called and that obedience would be too much enfranchiz'd if a servant might have the liberty to make his owne counsell the Oracle at which his obedience would consult whether he should do or not do what his Lord commands If the authority of mans commands be so great and absolute that it exacts obedience peremptory and that obedience either neglected or
piscem some frailty or foul slip like Philip's boy tels them they are but men subject to like infirmities as we are sinne it selfe not excepted No marvell then if we finde righteous Lots arguments against Gods counsell and direction guilty of weaknes and folly for all his confidence in his Behold now this City is neere to flee unto c. Seest thou a man wise in his owne conceit there is more hope of a foole than of such a man Saith Solomon Prov. 26.12 The opinion of our owne wisedome is the greatest argument of our folly Multi saith Seneca potâ—issent pervenire ad sapientiam Seneca nisi put assent se pervenisse many men had been wise if they had not beene too wise and if they had not prevented themselves with the swolne dropsie of selfe-opinion had made a wholsome growth in solid wisedome Many men had gone farre if they had not look't backe on their progresse in a multiplying glasse and so thought they had gone farre already This overweening conceit of our owne knowledge as in all other learning so especially in the height of divine speculation things I meane which transcend the reach of reason is most dangerous I dare in those commend a faith implicite and prefer caecam obedientiam fidem the blind and budling faith of Papists before the most nice and oculate of the most learned Credulity there takes the place of reason and that without usurpation where we have a new Logicke and authority becomes the best argument To oppugne Gods truth or counsell with our reason is no lesse than the extremity of folly and impudence we must deny our reason become foolish nay absurd to our owne wisedome believe above against it To defend Gods truth or counsell with our reason or arguments is a foolish and unwarranted zeale and which action doth more question our judgment than commend our zeale Though the Arke of Gods truth seeme to us to be shaken by the opposers and enemies of it so that it appeare to be in danger of falling yet ought not we to be so indiscreetly zealous 2. Sam. 6.6 7. with Vzzah to uphold it with the weake hand of our reason Our obedience is then best when it seemes most absurd when it lookes only on the authority of the commander and yet that without more examination concludes an equity of the command It was the triumph of Abraham's faith Rom. 4.18 19 20. that above against hope he beleeved God when Sara's womb was now dead It was the triumph of his obedience to be ready to obey God in sacrificing of his own and onely sonne Gen. 22.10 when nature and reason had the fairest plea that could be against it and might judge it unnaturall unreasonable monstrous and wicked But he look't rather to the author than matter of the command and measured not the justice of the action by the rule of reason but considered the reason of his obedience in the will power and justice of him who commanded who is a law to himselfe and to all others It had beene well with Lot if his obedience his faith or thankefulnesse the first to Gods authority commanding the second to his wisedome directing the last to Gods mercy delivering had made him follow the Angels direction and gone unto the mountaine but while he will be so wise to teach his teacher God shewes him his folly by experience and makes the mountaine which if he had gone when God bid him a place of safety God I say makes it afterward when he goes on his own errand the place of his punishment You have heard before Lots negative request with the reasons of it not so my Lord for I cannot Now it remaines that we come more particularly to handle his affirmative request and reasons of it O let me escape thither to Zoar In the affirmative request we observed First the order of it and Secondly the matter of it 1. The order of it that it comes in the rere of his arguments under the lee and shelter of them we will therefore reserve to it the last place and here first take notice of his Asteriske or note of attention before which betrayes his confidence in the equitie of his request Behold now sayes Lot How weake is our wisedome yet how strong our confidence and opinion yet obstinacie and pride beare up our opinions even against God himselfe so that with a sawcy presumption we dare capitulate and indent with him nay even chalk him out the way with a not so for I cannot but behold now Behold now When man lookes through the false medium of his owne affection and passion what monstrous errours and solecismes doth he count The intellective part of the soule is like a cleare and undisturbed fountaine wherein the forme of things is truely represented but when once the affections which are the muddy and earthy parts of the soule are stirred up it becomes a dirtie puddle wherein things are represented blindly lamely and falsely The istericke eye wonders that others see not all things yellow as it selfe does and calls that others blindnesse which is indeed its own infirmitie This City is new Yea 't is so neer thy affection that a just distance being wanting a condition of perfect sight thine eye must needs commit an errour If God therefore behold he shall but see thy errour rather then any thing that may move him to condescend to thy request Behold now Why as though thou saw something that God saw not or as though He that had power to deliver thee could want wisdome to direct thee but He must be directed by thee with a not so my Lord but behold now He that made the eye shall not be see Psal 94.9 10. He that made the soule and invested it with that noble and royall facultie of understanding shall not He understand Natura agit per line as breviores saith Phylosophy Nature is never superfluous in her actions but goes the neerest and most compendious way to worke and shall the God of nature not doe so much more God is in Heaven and thou on the Earth saith Solomon if then He hath the advantage of the ground Eccles 5.2 as much as the heaven is higher then the earth needs He to be lifted up on the shoulders of us dwarfes needs that Sunne of light our candle that Ocean our spoonefull or that first intelligence our information or direction of not so my Lord but behold now must He be beholding to thee for thy behold now Behold now Why as if God saw as man saw Our eye is hindered by darkenesse by distance by interposure of a grosse body Being not hindered what sees it but colour It is terminated in the outward surface and superficies never penetrating into the inmost and retired essence But Gods eye is not as mans neither doth He looke as man looketh Within without hidden covered darke light are words and things to which onely mans weaknesse hath
shew you in this one three severall motives to Lots desire Plentie Societie and Safetie Then in answering these againe I might without being Heterogeneall dilate upon the commendation of their opposites Povertie and Solitarinesse each of which besides the true determining and moderating of our desire of these might suffice to hold discourse beyond the limits of your patience But I shall content my selfe to glance at some of these rather then to tye your patience in a long discourse First then of Lots first argument This Citie T is a Citie the other a rude and barren mountaine This Citie was before time called Bela as appeareth out of Gen. 14.8 untill this occasion of Lots request and the reason of it altered the name to Zoar which signifies little because he said it is a little one and is it not a little one It was one of the five Cities of the Plaines called the Plaines of Jordan Gen. 13.10 a Valley wherein nature prevented the labour of the industrious husbandman in a voluntarie and unbought fruitfulnesse so that it needed not to be watered with the sweat of industry to make it fruitfull but of it selfe yeclded to the inhabitants occasion of idlenesse to the neighbours of envy and to all of wonder Such a place it was that it grew to a word exemplary to set forth the pride and height of fruitfulnesse It was watered like the Garden of God Gen 13.10 and like the plaines of Jordan before the Lord destroyed Sodom Here were then three strong attractives to Lots desire Plentie Societie and Safetie and in this Citie all these three concurre to make life securely happy Abundance of wealth and delicacies to refresh the body abundance of company to delight and cheer the minde and then safety which onely makes the other consummate in the securitie to enjoy them For plentie and riches it is true that Quintillan sayes Quint. dialog de Oratoribus pag. 689. Divitias facilius est ut invenias qui vituperet quam qui contempserit It s easier to finde a man that will dispaire them then that will despise them one that can in the Schooles wittily declaime against them rather then one that will disclaime them Quis nisi mentis inops he shall presently be begd for a foole To stand in tire upon his owne bottome and not need to be beholding to any nay to have all that which shall hold all others either in his friendship or slavery O it is supremum mortalitatis votum locus diis proximus it is the highest condition mortality can be capeable of and riches give it Most of the studies inventions toiles travels and undertakings of men aime at this one end to be rich Heaven it self is but too often made the price of this purchase Men goe there to fetch gold where they loose heaven and day itum est viscera terrae into the bowels of the earth deeper into hell This Image of Caesar causeth an universall idolatry and to that superscription all subscribe That Lot then should desire to go to this Citie rather then to a barren and naked mountaine we need not wonder unlesse we wonder that men preferre plenty before poverty I shall be industriously idle to make more words of so confess'd a theme In that it is a City there is a second attractive Society and that is to man as his owne element Society is the life of our life and solitarinesse is a very living buriall I might here move a Problem why men naturally in remote and silent retirements and solitudes finde a kinde of horror and affrightfulnesse Is it that as Solomon sayes of friends Prov 27.17 they strengthen the faces one of another so our Genius doth receive a mutuall comfort and livelyhood from one anothers presence and so in this solitude being out of the rayes and circle of their vertue acknowledges that want in this weaknesse Or doth the soule apprehend the presence of some good or evill spirit which are both ready the one to offend the other to defend us Or is it the reflexe of our owne conscience upon it selfe which being guilty of sinne must needs be of feare Or is it antipathy of nature which in this sees a praeludium of that universall silence to which all go downe Siquis asperitate ea est ut congress us societatem hominum fugiat oderit qualem fuisse Athenis Timonem nescio quem accepimâ—â—s tamen is pati non possit ut non acquirat aliquem apud quem c Cicero de Amic fol. 220 vide si placâ—t plura ibid. What the reason of it is I know not thus much I am sure of that this horror is an evident argument that man is politicum animal that in his nature is implanted a love of Society and that he was as well made for Cities as Cities for him so that Auchorites and Hermits are gone as farre from mans nature as they are from his company Timon himselfe that greatest Owle of Athens and prodigie of nature that profess'd an antipathy to all man nay to all humanity yet he for all his doggednesse as Cicero wittily sayes of him could not carere hominum consortio apud quos virus acerbitatis suae evomeret he could not want the company of men though it were but to spit the poyson of his gall upon them 3. Now for Lots third attractive to the City which is safety that man should desire it needs no more proofe than that a man loves himselfe and it were vaine in me to go about to prove it Here then were seeming reasons to justifie the lawfulnesse of his request and excuse his unwillingnesse to obey God's command But From the specious shew and waight of those arguments I come to the fallacie in them and for answer in generall to all first by concession say 't is true suppose it that this being a City is more convenient to fly unto more comfortable to rest in there are those invitations here which in the mountaines are not But what then must God be obeyed only with our conveniency and the condition of our service be our owne content What is this but to make Gods of our selves and to observe him only whilst he will pleasure us Egregiam vero laudem Virgil. How much better did afflicted Job Iob. 2.10 Shall we receive good at Gods hands and shall we not receive evill What if God commanded thee not to danger but to certaine losse of thy content thy estate nay thy life wilt thou not obey Is not he the supreame arbiter of life and death He that gave thee all may be not therefore command all thou art owner of Must our reason or will or content be check-master with his supreame authority and our obedience be limited to our profit our pleasure or such respects Yet 't is thus alas many times with many amongst us God hath many that seeme his servants who are indeed but their owne men