and of all that die in the Faith of our Lord Jesus to whom bee ascribed all Might Majestie Dominion and Glorie both now and for ever more Amen This Man of God and faithfull Minister of Christ departed this life upon Friday the 10. of May Anno Domini 1639. neare the end of the six and fiftieth yeare of his age Feb. 25. 1639. Imprimatur THOMAS WYKES Banburies Funerall teares powred forth upon the Death of her late pious and painefull Pastour Mr. William Whately deciphered in this Sympathizing Elogy I am that Orbin which of late did shine An heav'n enlightned starre with raies divine Which did arise within mee and dispence Light life heate Heav'n-infusing influence And went before me steering right mine Eye Vnto the very place where CHRIST did lye He was a Cynosura in my motion To Heaven's bright haven on this worlds vast Ocean Or as the Aegyptian Pharos to descrie The rockes of sinne and errour to mine Eye Hee was my Glorie Beautie Consolation My very soule I but the Corporation I would goe on with bleedings to recite His and mine owne sad fall but I can't write Throbs shake mine hand and griefe my sight destroyes And when I speake ah teares doe drowne my voice Yet will I sigh and give my sorrowes pent Within my breast by mournefull breathings vent Come then speake sighs write teares and sadly storie The dark Ecclipse that hath befell my glorie My Starre is falne and Heavens did so dispose That there he fell where he at first arose The Starres above us thus their races runne Returning thither whence they first begunne But did I say hee 's fallen Stay me there He is translated to an higher spheare Where though to th' world he is obscur'd he may Shine forth unvailed in a purer ray Fixt to an endlesse rest in heavens bright throne Above all starry Constellation But ah alas Death hath dispos'd it so That his rise prooves my fall his weale my woe His weale my woe strange what a change is this My welfare was but now in wrapt in his But thus Death innovates and did he not Tell me that he Commission hath got And warrant for his fact from heavens great King I would have brought him into questioning Ah death what hast thou done Dost thou not care To make a breach which ages can't repaire So rare a Frame in peeces for to take VVhich Heav'n and nature did combine to make A Master-peece For who did ere behold So sound a spirit in so strong a mold Heaven's treasure which within his breast abode VVas by his liberall tongue disperst abroad All Graces gave a meeting in him even To make his breast a little map of Heav'n His lips distilled Manna and he stood Not so for Church-goods as the Churches good His voice it was a trump whose sound was made VVith breath divine which it from Heaven had His life a dayly Sermon which alas Methinkes was measur'd by too short a glasse Ah Death though Painters give thee holes for eyes Yet thou canst see to take the richest prize To hit the fairest mark yet I suspect It was my sinne which did thine hand direct My light had I improov'd it well for gaine VVould have remaind els lights sha'nt burn in vain Yet sure he is not dead for why I find Him still surviving in my breast enshrin'd And who can say that he 's of life bereaven That lives in 's works inpious hearts in Heaven He 's but a sleepe by death undrest not dead Or hath but changd his dresse for he in stead Of these sin-staind ragges of mortality VVeares a pure robe whose length's eternity M. B. EXAMPLE I. OF Adam and Eve AS all other knowledges are conveniently taught by Precepts and Examples so is that best of knowledges the art of living holily Hence it is that as I have instructed you to my poore ability in the Law and the precepts of good life so I doe now intend to set before your eyes the Examples recorded in Scripture of Men both good and bad that by observing the swervings of the one and the right walking of others you may better keepe your owne feete in the streightest paths Onely concerning Examples you must know this thing in generall that no Example at all hath the force of a precept either to binde the consciences of men to any thing as a duty or to restraine from any thing as a sinne because the knowledge of sinne is from the Law and where there is no Law there is no transgression and our care must be to walke in Gods waies not in the waies of any man whatsoever But Example prevaileth alone to perswade the will as a fit argument of Exhortation or Dehortation not as an argument to proove a thing needfull or sinfull Seeing then my duty is to perswade you to all goodnesse and to disswade you from all evill and the Examples of Scripture are undoubted and certaine and they offer themselves as it were unto the sences and so more worke on the will to allure or deterre I thinke it a convenient meanes of helping you in all righteousnesse and against the contrary to make a collection of those Examples of good or bad things which are left us upon record by a divine pen and I will range these Examples according to the order of time wherein they lived so farre as I can informe my selfe thereof by the Word of God And I will begin with Adam and Eve and put them both together because their good and evill was put togeher in practise thereof The Method I intend to take in each person is this I will consider his Birth Life and Death and in his Life I will looke to his carriage and behaviour in respect of the deeds he did good bad indifferent and doubtfull and the things that befell him either prosperously or adversely in benefits or afflictions Now for Adam and Eve because they were the first fountaines of mankind and therefore could not be borne in the same manner as others be for he that is borne must have a Parent and he that hath a Parent was not the first man or woman because his Parent was before him therefore I cannot tell you any thing of their Birth but of their entring into the world by another way which was to them the same in effect that our begetting and birth is to us I will informe you according to the Scriptures for it much concernes us to understand our originall and to know certainely how mankinde came into the world Know then in summe That God made Man of the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living soule Here is in briefe the Creation of Adam now Adam signifieth red Earth because his body was made of such kinde of Earth and concerning Woman it is noted that God caused a deepe sleepe to fall upon Adam and then tooke one of his ribbes
purpose and then shewed it her Hath not God succoured some of us in dangers almost as great by sending us or shewing us some present meanes of helpe which it was not possible for any wit of ours to provide Let not such a benefit be forgotten and let us learne to trust upon him ever after and not to be carkingly troubled with casting dangers before hand and disquieting our selves with feares because we see no way out God will have a Well in store and shew it us at the exigent Againe it was a great mercy of God that himselfe vouchsafed to give him a name and so sweet a name as that of Ishmael which signifieth God will heare and may seeme to point out the deliverance whereof I spake last for then it is said I have heard the cry of the lad O that we could labour to be Ishmaels in this sence such as have interest unto this mercy of being heard of God Such we shall be if we depart from iniquity and study to please God for if any man doe the will of God him will God heare Lastly God blessed Ishmael in outward things and made him to prosper so much in the world that he became a great man and had twelve Princes issuing from his loynes and after a great nation Why should the Saints doubt of things needfull seeing even those of whom we are not sure that they were Saints enjoyed so great abundance or why should any man boast himselfe of these things which an Ishmael may have as well as an Isaac And why should not we be incouraged to serve God in uprightnesse who vouchsafeth so liberally to reward his servants as to blesse their children so much for their sakes And so much for the life of Ishmael Now for his death which is set downe Gen. 25.17 These are the yeeres of the life of Ishmael 137 yeeres and then hee gave up the ghost and died and was gathered to his people He lived ten yeeres more then Sarah for she lived 127 and he an 137 and this is to be noted of him that the yeeres of his life are reckoned which is not done to any wicked man in Scripture againe whereby some probability is given that he was a good man seeing it is also said that He was gathered to his people a phrase not used of any but good men signifying that he went among the Congregation of the good men which went before him But howsoever we must learne by his death to prepare for ours that we may be gathered unto our people If we live as Gods people we shall die as Gods people and be gathered amongst them and shall be raised up also with them at the resurrection of the just But if we live with the wicked we shall die with the wicked and be gathered together with them to shame and torment at the last And so much of Ishmael Abrahams sonne by Hagar Now of others that lived at the same time Eliezer of Damascus the Steward of his house into whose hands hee committed all that he had so it is told us Gen. 15.2 and 25.2 Hee was his eldest servant and ruled over all that he had of his Birth and Death we reade nothing in Scripture but of his Life some passages are related 1. His vertues and good deeds for of his bad deeds no mention is made not that he was altogether free from sinne for if Abraham and Sarah were in some things found faulty it cannot be thought that this man a servant of theirs was faultlesse but because the Lord did not write an entire story of his life but would set him before the eyes of servants as an example for them to imitate Now of him therefore wee must note his good carriage his benefits and his crosses First for his good deeds when Abraham called him and would have him put his hand under his thigh a gesture used to the godly Patriarkes by such as bound themselves to them by an oath perhaps to signifie their subjection to them and faith in the promised seed which was to come out of their loynes he would not hastily and hand-over-head take that oath which was ministred unto him but with due caution and warinesse that he might not thrust himselfe into the danger of forswearing himselfe by rashnesse but might have a quiet conscience by seeing clearely how farre his oath bound him and to what that so he might know himselfe able to performe his oath and might accordingly fulfill it In him therefore we learne to be warie in swearing and to sweare in judgement that is advisedly and with good consideration informing our selves fully of the thing sworne too that it might not be either impossible or unlawfull to the intangling of our soules in the perill of falling into that hainous offence of perjury No man must proceede to an oath hastily and inconsiderately but must ponder upon the thing sworne too that he may have a full resolution to accomplish the same Looke to your selves that you shew the like religious respect to the great name of God An oath is a strong bond in which a man laies his soule as it were in pawne to God so that the breach of his oath is a forfeiture of his pretious soule to the hands of Gods judgement so great a bond must not be taken upon us without great cautelousnesse They therefore that have sworne on a suddaine not deliberating seriously of it must know that they have even offered contempt to God because though perhaps the thing was just and possible yet it was so by chance alone and as it fell out and if it had beene otherwise yet they would have taken it so that no thankes was due to any religious care of theirs if it were otherwise Repent therefore of your hastinesse and heedelesnesse in swearing this is to shew your selves such as doe not feare an oath and so doe not duely reverence and honour the great Majesty of God whose name in swearing you invocate against your selves Therefore also those that minister an oath must not be displeased at such cautelousnesse but must readily satisfie the doubts and scruples of those that sweare that with good conscience and a quiet minde they may take it upon them for seeing they be carefull before they sweare to understand what they sweare unto it giveth good hope that after they have sworne they will be as carefull that they keepe it and so their oath shall be to some purpose which should very much content and satisfie him that gives them the oath But he that will speedily and without considering take an oath will also be as ready to breake it alledging his former ignorance or mistaking as an excuse of his not fulfilling it Hitherto of his devotion to God in respect of his wary entring into an oath Now comes to be handled his good carriage towards Abraham in the businesse by oath committed unto him First he
it not to mee When the rich man refused to sell all and give to the poore upon an extraordinary command from him he lets him goe and admits him not to follow him nay by his words spoken immediately after it is as possible he excludeth him from Heaven for he must needs be understood of that rich man and such as he was Now if not giving of all upon an extraordinary occasion will shut a man out of the Kingdome then the not giving of some convenient quantity upon an ordinary occasion must needs procure the like punishment because the disobedience is equall in both cases The reason is first this is a flat disobedience to most expresse plaine and frequent Commandements There is scarce a duty of the second Table which God hath more plainely laid downe more often repeated more earnestly pressed then this of giving to the poore He therefore that liveth in perpetuall negligence of this dutie and either will not acknowledge it or will not practise it lives in a wilfull and constant rebellion against God Thinke not my Brethren that it sufficeth to proove a man upright if hee doe not live in a sinne of commission that is in the continuance and allowed doing of something forbidden by God Nay if he live in a sinne of omission i. e. in the continuall and allowed neglect of a duty commanded this is not to obey God in all things this shewes ones heart is not universally subject to God This prooveth that some vice hath dominion in him and that he loveth and respecteth something more then God which cannot stand with uprightnesse yea beloved this hypocrisie which is so much over-awed as it were by cleerenesse of knowledge that it scarce dares discover it selfe by taking boldnesse to commit sinnes of commission but knowes how to hold in with sinnes of omission and to give them allowance enough is so much the more dangerous by how much it is lesse discernable For hee seemeth to himselfe to have much to say for himselfe why this duty should not at this and this time binde him because no affirmative precept bindes to all times and so hee will shift it from himselfe in such manner as not to take notice that hee offendeth whence groweth the greatest perill of all Therefore know you that this unmercifullnesse to the poore as prooving that obedience is but partiall and so that the heart is not upright is sure a very great sinne But secondly it declareth that a man beleeveth not the promises of God and so that his faith is not unfained It is sure that as hee which obeyeth not all Gods Commandements obeyeth none so he that beleeveth not all his promises beleeveth none For if we submit to his truth because it is a perfect truth wee must grant that hee cannot lie nor be deceived in any thing and if wee build not our consenting to his words upon his truth that cannot be called faith at all Now God hath made so many so evident so full promises to those that are mercifull to the poore as no other duty almost can alledge for it selfe A promise throughly beleeved must needs produce obedience to the Commandement whereto it is annexed because every man is so truly desirous of his owne welfare that what hee doth stedfastly perswade himselfe will procure good unto him with the paines and cost for that hee will surely put himselfe to the paines and to the cost Hee theerefore that is not mercifull doth not beleeve these promises because hee doth not obey the Commandements to which they be joyned How then doth hee beleeve any other promise So we have prooved him by this argument to be voide of faith and is not that a great sinne which convinceth him to be void of faith in whom it is Further no man hath true charity that hath not a heart to confirme the hand of the poore for S. Iohn makes the conclusion thus Hee that loveth not his Brother whom hee hath seene how doth hee love God whom he hath not seene And hee doth but lie that saith hee loves a man unlesse he be ready to releeve him for S. Paul saith that love is bountifull wherefore S. Iohn is peremptory in this conconclusion saying He that hath this worlds goods and seeth his Brother hath neede and shutteth up his compassion against him how dwelleth the love God That therefore is a great offence which prooveth that a man hath either none or none but counterfeit charity I have shewed you what a grievous offence this is of the Sodomites afore I passe from it let mee shew unto you a necessary distinction of poore men Some are Gods poore as I may terme them some the Divels Gods poore are they whom his hand crossing them or some naturall meere indiscretion of their owne or abundance of charge want of worke or the like hath brought into and doth keepe in poverty The Divels poore are those whom idlenesse wastfullnesse and unthriftinesse doth make poore because either their hands refuse to labour or else they consume it all up superfluously when they have gotten it The former kinde of poore you ought to strengthen and the not strengthening of them is a sinne To strengthen the hands of the latter is to strengthen their sinne and therefore their hands must not be strengthened for S. Pauls Canon is against it He that will not labour shall not eate Now consider every man of himselfe may it not be justly said of you that you doe not strengthen the hands of the poore Are not a number of you in your owne consciences convinced or if you would not winke might bee convinced that you doe not strengthen the poore mans hands When have you with any willingnesse given to any poore man any reasonable quantity Yea how backward are a number of you to give any thing at all Here is such complaining amongst you of your being seised too much one and too much another that it is more then evident you have little will to part with your money to his purpose I know not what skill to use for the fastening of a reproofe upon a niggard I will not so much as strive to doe it therefore But I call upon each of your consciences to become a just and true Judge against you and to finde one your guiltinesse and to give you no quiet till it have made you confesse the fault and blame you for it But I call upon conscience in vaine I feare for the conscience of a niggard is alwaies a bad conscience so inthralled to the love of money that he will not want excuses to make himselfe thinke he need not do that duty by which he should lessen his heape But these excuses shall one day aggravate the sinne therefore whosoever is an offendor in neglecting this duty of strengthening the hands of the poore I pray you give your consciences leave to passe a right sentence upon you viz. that your faith love obedience
them offer violence to them and take heed much more that they be not allured to such an evill as nothing but the violence of the doer can free them from the imputation of a grievous sin if they suffer Let their care be to keepe themselves out of places inconvenient what did Dinah with this young man in so secret a place as might encourage him to offer force Sure he would not have forced her in the midst of the streetes he was not so debausht and brutish as to compell her in an house before many Nay scarce any man so lewd that hee will attempt such a thing but when no person is present If she were ravished yet she was somewhat guilty of her owne rape because shee would be enticed to goe into an house with a stranger Had shee beene of his long acquaintance had hee beene a suitor to her before with the good consent and allowance of both Parents had she beene allowed to set her minde upon him so as to intend to become his wife then it had not beene so blame-worthy to have so farre trusted her selfe with him But when her businesse was nothing but to see and be seene to suffer her selfe to be led by a stranger into such a place as might give him opportunity to do her violence was a signe that her carriage was scarce modest not at all discreet For to excuse her by her age seemeth no just excuse seeing it appeareth by the young mans suit for her afterwards that shee was now marriageable Now therefore let her example make you maidens civill and sober and modest in your carriage and so prudent discreet and bashfull as not to venture your selves into the company of young men at such places and times as may produce as bad inconveniences to you as this that befell Dinah And so much for this daughter for after this we heare no more of her but that her brethren tooke her out of Hamors house after they had committed the execrable murder whereof we shall have cause to speake after Now come we to the sonnes and first I will handle the things that were common to them all viz. their sinnes their good deeds their miseries their benefits First it is common to them all save Ioseph and Benjamin that they were men of no goodnesse nor conscience They had a good Father and Grandfather and they professed a good religion but their conversation was naught and scandalous so that Ioseph being young could not in his conscience choose but acquaint his Father with their evill deeds O this is a grievous thing that children which have godly education by godly Parents and have knowledge of the true God and are members of the true Church should be yet of manifest ill behaviour should runne into palpable and grosse naughtinesse openly to the torment of their Parents hearts and disgrace of true religion Be not some of you youthes whose Parents though they must not be compared to Iacob yet are such as have feared God and affoorded you the best helpes they could to vertue and piety as lewd and sinfull in your carriage as Iacobs sonnes Yes yes some of you are as guilty of evill demeanour as these youthes though you have the same furtherances to goodnesse Now for the living Gods sake whose name you take upon you for your owne soules sake which else will one day rue this naughtinesse and rudenesse and for your Parents and friends sake that are ashamed and vexed with your ill report be intreated at length to consider how great a wickednesse it is to live naughtily when God hath vouchsafed you so many meanes to make you good and turne you from your evill wayes and frame you to such a conversation as will beseeme and comfort your selves and your Parents O let not a Iacobs sonne be a drunkard a gamester a wanton a night-walker and ill company keeper a quarreller let not such nettles grow upon a garden learne to shunne what was loathsome in the sons of Iacob But secondly they were all guilty of beguiling Hamor and the Sichemites with purposed fraud and guile yea and with pretending conscience and respect of religion You know the story it selfe Shechem after he had defloured Iacobs daughter continued yet to bee strongly enamoured of her and sued for her to her Father and Brethren offering any dowry They would seeme to be hindered from granting the suit by religion They were circumcised of the true religion a religion sleighted and neglected in Canaan and it was not a safe thing in conscience and would be a reproach to them to make marriages with persons uncircumcised but if they would embrace their religion and testifie it by being circumcised then they would willingly condescend Now all this talke of circumcision tended but to bring the Sichemites to such a case that they might the better accomplish revenge O miserable fault to cover hatred with deceitfull words A Potsheard covered with silver drosse To speake one thing and meane the contrary to pretend a good purpose to cover a bad and the more easily to effect it by covering Here was a mixture of impiety in making religion a cloake to revenge and of fraud in harbouring and intending and yet disguizing revenge So dealt Absalom with his Father David and the shame of such shall breake forth in the Congregation hee is a foole though hee thinkes himselfe wise Now I beseech you take heed of deceit and guile the deceitfull shall not live out halfe his dayes To hate and yet dissemble with his lips laying up deceit within him is a loathsome thing It is a part of the description of an unsanctified man With their tongues they have used deceit Nature teacheth men to blame this sin in others therefore nature gives light enough to discover it in ones selfe Shame it therefore and hate it It is bad to have used this fraud for covetousnesse or ambition sake to get wealth or honour by over-reaching others but it is worst of all when it is joyned with revenge and with bloodinesse that a man make himselfe a bloody and deceitfull man It is naught when only good will is pretended but when religion is made the cloake of cruelty and villany this is to abuse the noblest thing in the world by making it a drudge to the basest Now if any of your consciences be guilty of abusing pretences of religion for the compassing of revenge of goods of lust of any other villanous end he hath sinned the sin of Iacobs sons Let him be induced to repent and let us all be induced to abhor so great a wickednesse he that doth compasse any unlawfull end by deceit makes the sin twice as grievous as else it would be He shews that he commits it with almost a full consent of will he makes his reason a slave to his appetite and serves sin willingly most willingly and deliberately Let us love true plaine and just dealing and abhorre cousenage and
time in such a place by such and such when indeed these things were not so but somewhat equivalent to them was true viz. Arguments convincing their guiltinesse even as much as these things would though not to make them confesse I say such courses taken by way of probation and tryall and finding out guiltinesse are not to be esteemed lyes because here the meaning is to be taken according to that which shall be shortly discovered and not according to the present shew of words These be but a kind of ironicall carryage no more lies then an irony that by affirming one thing in such and such a manner and gesture doth affirme the quite contrary But to doe thus in way of excusing or hiding a fault and keeping ones selfe from the knowledge of a Governour is altogether sinfull and naught and must not be allowed Take heed that you doe not imbolden your selves to deny and to shift them off from your Superiours examining you because you see Ioseph trying his brethren by talking with them so as is apparent he meant not as he said Againe Ioseph made it evident that he had forgotten all his brethrens wrongs and therefore useth them exceeding kindly for he weeps over them and comforts them bidding them not to bee sorry that they had sold him and he sends for their families and gives them gifts and maintaines them and their families and sets some of them before Pharaoh and prevailes to get them the Land of Goshen to dwell in and after their Fathers death when they send and come to him he useth them with all kindnesse weeping and comforting them as is manifest in the story So that he had utterly forgotten all wrongs and loves them no whit lesse now that they have repented then if they had never sinned Hence we must learne the duty of Brothers one to another even to communicate their wealth one to another and the richer to help to maintaine the poore in case of dearth or want or any hand of God afflicting and distressing them Indeed if any bring want upon themselves abler kinsmen are not bound to provide for them that spend it on their lusts if they will serve the Devill with what they have let them be pinched no man is to pity them in such case But when Gods hands brings affliction when they frame to good courses then they are to be helped by those of their kindred that are of ability And one able person should improve his wealthinesse to the helping and inriching of those that be poorer and to their maintenance in their necessity as Ioseph did else they are guilty of wanting naturall affection and of great uncharitablenesse Further you see that when men have truely repented of their sinnes be they never so great their sinnes must be forgotten and they must be accepted and regarded even as if they had never sinned Ioseph is as loving to his brethren as if they had beene the honestest men in the world because now they were truly changed So should men be to the greatest offendours when a sound and thorough reformation and amendment shewes it selfe in their lives Till sinnes be amended it is not requisite to shew such respect but when they be amended Therefore every sinner should hasten to amend that he might repaire his broken estimation and regaine the love which he hath lost with good and wise men And those must not please themselves in their folly that to a man truly reformed are still objecting and upbrayding former evill deeds Herein they shew not the detestation of the vices but wrath and discontent against the persons and are farre unlike to God himselfe who doth blot the sinnes of his converting children out of his remembrance and that so as if they commit them no more he will no more remember them Againe in Iosephs carryage to his brethren we see how easie he was to pardon for though he shewed himselfe rough at first yet that was not out of a revengefull passion but out of a desire to bring them to repentance for their sinnes for he knew they had beene very wild and faulty in their youth but he still shewes love and kindnesse notwithstanding the hatred that they shewed to him and he sees God in it and would have them see God in it and so comforts them and pacifieth himselfe All good men must imitate him in this forgive and forget huge great and enormous injuries If one have gone about to deprive us of our liberty our goods of our lives yea have not alone gone about it but effected it so much as in him lay and after fals into our hands so that we may if we will revenge our selves of him yet we must not yeeld our selves to thoughts of revenge but must doe good against evill especially if a neere kinsman or brother have so forgotten himselfe yet must not we so farre forget our selves as to requite like for like evils with evils but must doe them all the good we can and blot their faults out of our minds Our Saviour teacheth this in the Parable you know he that hath beene forgiven the 1000 Talents as all of us have must be easily perswaded to forgive the hundred pence And this will make us forgive and forget our brethrens offences if we frequently remember our owne to admire the goodnesse of God that so graciously doth pardon us If any therefore find themselves apt to remember and requite wrongs yea petty small wrongs nothing so high as these of Iosephs brethren they must blame the greatnesse of their stomacks and condemne that rancour which swelleth within them as a great fault shewing that they have not well considered the love that God shewed to man-kind in Christ to forgive iniquity transgression and sinne And now learne all of you this excellent vertue strive to be of a sweet and a mild and an amiable nature ready to passe by great injuries to shew great kindnesse against great unkindnesse and to overcome bad with good This is a thing well pleasing to God and shall comfort the conscience in the day of any affliction more then all the riches in the world Revenge tasts sweet in the doing but after it shall lade the conscience with terrours passing by faults loving enemies doing good to those which have done us evill be hid things to the flesh and blood and seeme difficult in the practise but the remembrance of them after shall afford unspeakeable content I have spoken of Iosephs good deeds in some part viz. Those that he shewed in his Fathers house and some of those that he shewed in Egypt viz. In his private estate both in his Masters house and his prison house and in his publike estate before his advancement to Pharaoh in respect of his dreames and after his advancement to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians and his brethren Lastly Ioseph after his Father was dead carryed himselfe lovingly to his brethren for had he revenged himselfe after his
a fault committed by him especially if it be done out of weakenesse feare or the like distemper as to caf him off have no more to doe with him or the like but still to hope and thinke well of him especially if hee doe confesse his weaknesse as Abraham and to affoord any due courtesie and kindnesse to him over-harshnesse towards others for faults which we finde in them is a signe of uncharitablenesse and pride It shewes that we doe not duely perceive our owne faultinesse and aptnesse to some other as bad sinnes yea perhaps to the very same sinnes and that wee doe not beare a tender compassion to them because wee have not a right knowledge of our selves Compare the dealing of Pharaoh before observed and Abimelechs carriage here noted and what your consciences tell you was the more commendable and approveable that imitate I come to the last good deed of Abimelech He takes notice of Gods goodnesse to Abraham saying Chap. 21. ver 22. God is with the in all that thou dost and therefore accompanied with his principall Officer one Phicol goes and intreates Abraham to make a league of amity with him as you may reade in the Story and when Abraham told him of a well of water which was taken from him by his servants hee excuseth himselfe that he never knew of it before and so willingly restoreth the well and confesseth Abrahams right to it by taking the Ewe-lambs and consenting to name the well Beer sheba that is the well of an oath because they swore there each to other It is a good thing to observe the goodnesse of God so his people thereupon to think well of them and to desire to live in amity and peace with them Why should not wee have our eyes open to see Gods blessing going along with men and when wee see it why should wee not rather love them and wish their friendship then beare an evill eye towards them and maligne them It is a signe of some goodnesse to acknowledge that God is the Author of all good successe to mens affaires herein wee give him the honour of being the ruler of the world And it is a signe of some good will to men when their prosperous estate makes us rather like them and joyne friendship with them then stirreth up grudging and repining at them Surely Abimelechs carriage giveth us some probable grounds to conceive that himselfe was a holy man in that hee shewes some knowledge of God and good affection to so good a servant of God Let us goe a little further and strive to interest our selves into Gods blessing on the godly by following them in godlinesse But let his willing restitution of the Well which his servants had taken away by violence teach us also not to beare out the servants or people that are under our government in any unjust carriage of theirs yea rather so soone as wee come to the knowledge of their naughty carriage let us cause them to amend and to repaire the wrongs that they have done A mans servants faults must not bee imputed to him till it bee knowne whether hee be privie to them or not but if when hee is informed of them he be carelesse to see them amended now is himselfe as guilty of the sinne as his servants were before Thus you have the faults and vertues of Abimelech so farre as I could note them out of holy Writ Consider now what benefits God bestowed upon him First hee made him a King In those daies it is evident that Kings were not rulers over so large dominions as now they be of old the chiefest ruler over one or two Cities and the territories about it was a King as in the land of Canaan there were 31 Kings and the five Cities of the plaine of Sodome and the rest had each of them severall Kings and yet there were some Kings that raigned over whole Countries as the King of Egypt but in it selfe considered it is a favour of God to preferre a man unto the honour of a King as the Scripture prooveth in saying a diligent servant shall stand before Kings and not before those of the meaner sort If to be in favour and account with a King be a thing fit to be promised as a reward of diligence much more the enjoying of a Kingdome therefore God upbraides both Saul and David when he would sharpely reproove their sins that he had made them Kings over his people Israel for Kings have likely riches honour and authority by the two former of which they may partake of much comfort themselves and communicate much also to their friends and kindred by the latter they may bring much honour to God and much good also to men in establishing true religion and justice Now God hath not pleased to make any of you Kings but he hath made some of you richer and greater then others as I may say little petty Kings in your places Beware you pervert not this goodnesse of God by making your wealth and power a meanes of swelling your hearts with pride and imboldening you to wrong and oppresse others and furnishing you with instruments to serve your owne lusts for the such abuse of these benefits will turne them into poyson as it were to your soules and cause that they shall serve at length for the same purpose which S. Iames saith the rust of the rich mans treasure shall doe even to consume your flesh like fire and to bring upon you greater damnation in another world to be preferred before this more then an inheritance is before the lease of one alone yeere none shall suffer so much torment and unhappinesse as those that have played the untrusty subjects to God and made their high places a weapon to beare out their sinnes But take notice of God in your Eminency in this present world and labour to be so much more thankefull and obedient to God and serviceable and profitable to men and then shall preferrement here bee a meanes of inlarging your joyes hereafter too O happie is hee that shall be great in Heaven as well as on Earth by his well employing of his earthly greatnesse and you that cannot be great here yet strive to attaine a Kingdome and here too in a spirituall sence Labour to bee Kings over your selves in establishing the Kingdome of grace in your hearts that you may bee Kings hereafter and that in farre greater glory and happinesse then the greatest of all earthly Kings either did ever or ever could enjoy the meanest Christian may get the Kingdome of grace and of glory as well as a David or a Salomon Another benefit wee must observe the Lord by his providence kept him from committing that sinne which else hee would have committed but indeed of meere ignorance for his heart was upright with God so farre that if hee had knowne it hee would not have committed it So the Lord tels him therefore I kept thee
acknowledgement If you would learne that all things are pure unto the pure you would not bee hindred from so good a service by any scruple or abuse But I am afraid niggardlinesse hath as great a hand in breaking of such feasts as any thing else Whether you feast or not be it at your choise but mee thinks againe I repeat it safe escaping the danger that tooke away Rachel may well call for even a publicke and thankfull acknowledgement So much of Rachel whom we leave by her husband solemnly interred unner a monument erected upon her grave which kept her name up long and occasioned the calling of all the mothers dwelling thereabouts by her name When it is said Rachel weeping for her children because they were not Now of Leah she was a wife of Iacobs the first he had given though not promised Of her vertues we have not much noted but she shewed her selfe patient and loving to her husband somewhat quiet to her envious sister and thankfull to God for her children though her husband loved her lesse than was meet yet we read of no brawles either with him or her sister She entertained him very lovingly when he came home from field and she had hired him of her sister She consented also to goe with him into Canaan she was desirous of children and had many but a fault or two she slipped in First she went to bed to her sisters husband at her fathers persuasion which she ought not to have done In him that thought she was Rachel there was no sinne in her that knew she was not Rachel it was a great fault but excused by the fathers authority but she wronged Iacob much and made her owne life full of affliction Another little fault she had shee seemed a little too unkind to her sister in not being willing to impart some of her sonnes mandrakes but often unkindnesses and wrongs breed such an estrangement betwixt them who are otherwise neerly joyned as that they sticke at small curtesies We must take heed it doe not so with us but Leah had a little anger with her she could upbraid her sister with an injury when she came for a curtesie O that she had not too many followers in this weaknesse Her benefits were these she had a good husband and many children and was matcht into the Church and we hope went to Heaven for her carriage in respect of her children shews some goodnesse Indeed she was faulty in imitating her sister and giving Zilpah to Iacob much more faulty in thinking that God gave her the next sonne for a reward of that fault But so weake we are and ignorant of sin somtimes that we verily thinke God is pleased with our sins and recompenceth them with benefits And for her crosses they were want of her husbands love and comfortable cohabitation and all the miseries shee underwent with her husband besides her Father was something unkinde as it may seeme for she saith He counted them strangers and she also had an imperfection in her visage for she was bleare-eyed I hope you will all learne to imitate her vertues flie her sins be thankfull for the like mercies and patient under the like crosses and then you shall not be losers of time by hearing her story Now the two handmaidens Zilpah and Bilhah Zilpah hath nothing said of her but that Shee bare Iacob two children Gad and Asher So called of Leah that would needs imitate her sisters weaknesse and call them hers Bilhah is taxed of a grievous sin she suffered her selfe to be polluted with incest by Iacobs first borne If he offered her violence or surprized her by any device it was his fault not hers but it is not likely to have been so because God doth not report it so For God would not wrong any in reporting their acts to the worst but if there had been any excuse of her fault the Lord would have done her right in rehearsing it he should not else doe the office of a good writer of a Story O let all women take heed of adultery and chiefly of incestuous adulteries with their husbands son in law or brothers or a like neare of blood where the offence is made much more heinous by that aggravation and if any have committed any such crime let the mentioning of it in this woman bring it to their remembrance and provoke them to repentance that they may not have so fearefull a crime to answer for upon their sick-bed in the houre of death Likely such grosse crimes will cry out then if they have been smothered before but a conscience purged from them by sincere repentance performed in health may enjoy quiet and peace in death notwithstanding the remembrance of them For a sin repented of shall be pardoned and a pardoned debt cannot hurt at all not so much as terrifie if the pardon of it be knowne But something there was in it that God saw it fit to have his Church stored with the seed of bond-women for two of Iacobs wives were such because he would have us know that hee doth not much stand upon nobility and being free borne and the like One third part of his people Israel were seed of bond-women Though he would not let Hagars seed inherite yet that was not because he did looke to her condition but that he might figuratively set forth his aversnesse from them that will needs be in bondage under the Law when the Gospell brings them liberty and therefore now he doth equally take into the Church Dan and Nephthali Gad and Asher as well as Reuben and Levi Simeon and Iudah These earthly considerations vary nothing with God nor is the one any more acceptable with him than the other Let not those which enjoy the priviledges of this world in these matters sleight or despise such as want them and let not those that are meanlier borne trouble themselves at that depression Spirituall priviledges may belong to those that are of no reckoning in the world and those that are of high esteeme in it may be deprived of them The Tribes that came of the bond-woman were admitted into the possession of Canaan and to the fellowship of the Tabernacle as well as the rest It were a misery indeed to be outwardly mean if that would impeach our spirituall estate but seeing no such thing will follow let us shew our high esteeme of the soul above the body by not regarding the things of the body so that the soul be wel * ⎠* THE ONE AND TWENTIETH EXAMPLE OF LABAN WE have spoken of Iacobs selfe and of his Wives now I will goe on to speake of his Vncle and so of his Children His Vncle and Father in law was one Laban of Padan Aram of whose birth and death the Scripture takes no notice at all and indeed it is scarce worth the while to mention the birth and death of wicked men It is no great matter when they
two of his sonnes and staied till the third was marrigeable that could not be lesse then some 18. or 19 yeares and Pharez could not be thought to have two sonnes but that he must be some 18. or 19. yeares which make some 32. at least therefore Iudah when he married must be no more then some 18. or 19. yeares His youth therefore I say extenuates his fault but let none of your ages be blemished with such a fault as was too blameworthy even in the greenenesse of his youth Thirdly he sinned in committing as he thought whoredome with a professed harlot but it was indeede incest with his daughter in law who of purpose lay to intice him in the habit of a harlot by the way where shee knew he must goe This is a filthinesse that a man should suffer himselfe to be so farre inslaved to lust after a disguised harlot by the way as to solicit her and hire her and abuse her He was at that time a widdower and the time of mourning for his wife was past and now he made no great conscience of single whoredome but God will judge whoremongers and whoremongers shall not inherit Gods kingdome If there be any amongst you as bad as Iudah that makes little conscience of avoiding whoredome if he may doe it closely and without knowledge and hath abused his wealth to hire an object for his unlawfull lust to worke upon he must see his fault in Iudah and repent of it And you must all be exhorted to arme your selves with a resolution of flying fornication and of watching over your selves and so carefully resisting the first motions to evill that you may not be so easily drawne away and enticed And such as God hath made of a better temper then that such an object would so soone intangle them and hath not intangled them must acknowledge Gods favour in preventing them from such evills and take heed to themselves that they allow not others as bad revenge quarrelling drunkennesse deceit or the like Another fault of Iudah was that he dissembled with his daughter in Law making her beleeve shee should have his sonne Shelah if shee would stay a little till hee was growne up but never meant to performe it nor did not goe about to accomplish the marriage when the young man was growne up which caused her to thinke of a sharpe and lewd revenge even to draw him to doe that unlawfully which his sonne should have done lawfully raise up seed to his brother a custome which was then in use amongst them I know not on what ground but it seemes to be from God because he did establish it by Moses Law after You must learne to take heede of counterfeiting and deceiving making promises alone for shifts and delaies which you minde never to performe but alone to serve a present turne especially in matters of some weight This is flat lying for to speake otherwise then my meaning is to goe against the minde and to utter falsehood of set purpose as much as any other made lie can be thought to be yet nothing more common then this men for an advantage will promise and say any thing which they never meane or thinke to make good how can hee say hee is a true Israelite in whom there is so much guile How can hee say that hee speakes the truth that is in his heart yee false promising double tongued men see how you be dishonest and unjust and false men and learne to bewaile and amend this wickednesse Now promise nothing but what you fully intend and know that upon good reason you may intend to performe and when the promise is made give it seasonable accomplishment Wee must reade Stories and Scriptures to see and amend not to excuse the like faults in our selves But Iudah shew'd a fault or two more in dealing with Tamar when her big belly shewed what shee had done hee forgat his owne naughtinesse and would have had her burnt What authority he had in that place I know not whether he had made himselfe a member of that towne of Adullam and had gotten to be a Ruler but shee was accordingly brought forth to be burnt and then seeing the signes hee could not deny them and then blames himselfe and the sentence of burning grew cold because both or neither it seemes were to be burnt But before hee knew his owne guiltinesse hee was glad to have an occasion of being rid of her that his sone Shelah might scape her Loe what rash censurers wee are like to be of other mens faults and willing to have them punished in the meane time forgetting our owne as great offences Let us learne to be more moderate and to have the wisedome to looke upon our owne offences before they be brought to our mindes by such tokens as made Iudah confesse his fault Againe when Iudah had committed whoredome he goes his way never repenting but all his care is to redeeme his pledge by sending the kid which either was of lesse worth or at least not so apt to bewray him and when the woman could not be found and that his friend returned ashamed to make so infamous an inquiry hee said let her take it least wee be laughed at so the sinne did not much moove him if he might escape the reproach It is thus with most men such a sleepie conscience they have within them that if they beare out the fault with secrecy they be not grieved for it onely reproach by having the businesse knowne would make them startle and be troubled O if any be so affected he shewes that no feare of God is before his eyes Let us labour at least to have so much truth of goodnesse left in us that if we should fall into any grosse sinne though never so secretly and without knowledge of it to any yet we might be affected with sorrow in regard of the offence done to God and so fall downe before him and lament it and confesse it and repent of it before him and renew our purposes of amendment and she for pardon and helpe which till wee have done wee are not recovered out of the snare of the Divell but shall be carried into the same sinne againe and againe so often as he can present us with occasions He that can let sinne goe lightly away if no naturall evill follow from it is either destitute of all graces or hath his graces much abated and infeebled by the prevailing of corruption Hitherto of Iudahs faults now his particular good deeds First he returned at last to his Fathers house and dwelt there with his Brethren as a member of his Fathers family againe when hee made his returne I know not but that hee did it is most certaine If any have departed out of the Church and society of good men let him learne of Iudah to turne backe againe the better way and to come home to the place where God dwelleth David was grieved