himself to continue and persist in any known ungodlinesse And thus much for our second Observation I adde but a Third and that taken from the very thing which Abimelech here pleadeth viz. the integrity of his heart considered together with his present personal estate and condition I dare not say he was a Cast-away for what knoweth any man how God might after this time and even from these beginnings deal with him in the riches of his mercy But at the time when the things storied in this chapter were done Abimelech doubtlesse was an unbeleever a stranger to the covenant of God made with Abraham and so in the state of a carnal and meer natural man And yet both he pleadeth and God approveth the innocency and integrity of his heart in this businesse Yea I know that thou diddest this in the integrity of thine heart Note hence That in an unbeleever and natural man and therefore also in a wicked person and a cast-away for as to the present state the unregenerate and the Reprobate are equally incapable of good things there may be truth and singlenesse and integrity of heart in some particular Actions We use to teach and that truly according to the plain evidence of Scripture and the judgement of the ancient Fathers against the contrary tenet of the later Church of Rome that all the works of unbeleevers and natural men are not only stained with sin for so are the best works of the faithful too but also are really and truly sins both in their own nature because they spring from a corrupt fountain for That which is born of the flesh is flesh and it is impossible that a corrupt tree should bring forth good fruit and also in Gods estimation because he beholdeth them as out of Christ in and through whom alone he is well pleased St. Augustines judgement concerning such mens works is well known who pronounceth of the best of them that they are but splendida peccata glorious sins and the best of them are indeed no better We may not say therefore that there was in Abimelechs heart as nor in the heart of any man a legal integrity as if his person or any of his actions were innocent and free from sin in that perfection which the Law requireth Neither yet can we say there was in his heart as nor in the heart of any unbeleever an Evangelical integrity as if his person were accepted and for the persons sake all or any of his actions approved with God accepting them as perfect through the supply of the abundant perfections of Christ then to come That first and legall integrity supposeth the righteousnesse of works which no man hath this latter and Evangelical integrity the righteousnesse of Faith which no unbeliever hath no mans heart being either legally perfect that is in Adam or Evangelically perfect that is out of Christ. But there is â— third kinde of integrity of heart inferiour to both these which God here acknowledgeth in Abimelech and of which only we affirm that it may be found in an unbeliever and a Reprobate and that is a Natural or Moral integrity when the heart of a meer natural man is careful to follow the direction and guidance of right reason according to that light of Nature or Revelation which is in him without hollownesse halting and hypocrisie Rectus usus Naturalium we might well call it the term were fit enough to expresse it had not the Papists and some other Sectaries by sowring it with the leaven of their Pelagianism rendred it suspicious The Philosophers and learned among the Heathen by that which they call a good conscience understand no other thing then this very Integrity whereof we now speak Not that an Unbeliever can have a good conscience taken in strict propriety of truth and in a spiritual sense For the whole man being corrupted through the fall of Adam the conscience also is wrapped in the common pollution so that to them that are defiled and unbeleeving nothing is pure but even their minde and conscience is defiled as speaketh S. Paul Tit. 1. and being so defiled can never be made good till their hearts be sprinkled from that pollution by the bloud of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God and till the Conscience be purged by the same bloud from dead works to serve the living God as speaketh the same Apostle Heb. 9. and 10. But yet a good Conscience in that sense as they meant it a Conscience morally good many of them had who never had Faith in Christ nor so much as the least inckling of the Doctrine of Salvation By which Not having the Law they were a Law unto themselves doing by nature many of the things contained in the Law and chusing rather to undergo the greatest miseries as shame torment exile yea death it self or any thing that could befall them than wilfully to transgresse those rules and notions and dictates of piety and equity which the God of Nature had imprinted in their Consciences Could heathen men and unbeleevers have taken so much comfort in the testimony of an excusing Conscience as it appeareth many of them did if such a Conscience were not in the kinde that is Morally Good Or how else could St. Paul have made that protestatâ—on he did in the Councel Men and Brethren I have lived in all good conscience before God untill this day At least if he meant to include as most of the learned conceive he did the whole time of his life as well before his conversion as after Balaam was but a cursed Hypocrite and therefore it was but a copy of his countenance and no better for his heart even then hankered after the wages of unrighteousnesse when he looked a squint upon Balaks liberal offer with this answer If Balak would give me his house full of gold and silver I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God to do lesse or more But I assure my self many thousands of unbeleevers in the world free from his hypocrisie would not for ten times as much as he there spake of have gone beyond the Rules of the Law of Nature written in their hearts to have done either lesse or more Abimelech seemeth to be so affected at least in this particular action and passage with Abraham wherein God thus approveth his integrity Yea I know that thou diddest this in the integrity of thy heart The Reason of which moral integrity in men unregenerate and meerly natural is that Imperium Rationis that power of natural Conscience and Reason which it hath and exerciseth over the whole man doing the office of a Law-giver and having the strength of a law They are a law unto themselves saith the Apostle Rom. 2. As a Law it prescribeth what is to be done as a Law it commandeth that what is prescribed be done as a Law it proposeth rewards and punishments accordingly
serpentis the spawn of the old Serpent children of their father the Devil And they do not shame the store they come of for the works of their Father they readily do That Hellish Aphorisme they so faithfully practise is one of his Principles it was he first instilled it into them Calumniare fortiter aliquid adhaerebit Smite with the tongue and be sure to smite home and then be sure either the grief or the blemish of the stroke will stick by it A Devillish practise hateful both to God and Man And that most justly whether we consider the sin or the injury or the mischief of it the Sin in the Doer the Injury to the Sufferer the Mischief to the Common-wealth Every false report raised in judgement besides that it is a lye and every lye is a sin against the truth slaying the soul of him that maketh it and excluding him from heaven and binding him over unto the second death it is also a pernicious lye and that is the worst sort of lyes and so a sin both against Charity and Iustice. Which who so committeth let him never look to dwell in the Tabernacle of God or to rest upon his holy Mountain GOD having threatned Ps. 50. to take speciall knowledge of this sin though he seem for a time to dissemble it yet at lest to reprove the bold offender to his face Thou satest and spakest against thy brother yea and hast slandered thine own mothers son These things hast thou done and I held my tongue thou thoughtest wickedly that I was even such an one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set before thee the things that thou hast done And as for the Injury done hereby to the grieved party it is incomparable If a man have his house broken or his purse taken from him by the high way or sustain any wrong or losse in his person goods or state otherwise by fraud or violence or casualty he may possibly either by good fortune hear of his own again and recover it or he may have restitution and satisfaction made him by those that wronged him or by his good industry and providence he may live to see that losse repaired and be in as good state as before But he that hath his Name and Credite and Reputation causlesly called into question sustaineth a losse by so much greater then any theft by how much a good name is better than great riches A man may out-weare other injuries or out-live them but a defamed person no acquittall from the Iudge no satisfaction from the Accuser no following endeavours in himself can so restore in integrum but that when the wound is healed he shall yet carry the markes and the scarres of it to his dying day Great also are the mischiefs that hence redound to the common-wealth When no innocency can protect an honest quiet man but every busie base fellow that oweth him a spite shall be able to fetch him into the Courts draw him from the necessary charge of his family and duties of his calling to an unnecessary expence of money and time torture him with endlesse delayes and expose him to the pillage of every hungry Officer It is one of the grievances God had against Jerusalem and as he calleth them abominations for which he threatneth to judge her Ezek. 22. Viri detractores in te In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood Beware then all you whose businesse or lot it is at this Assises or hereafter may be to be Plaintiffs Accusers Informers or any way Parties in any Court of Justice this or other Civil or Ecclesiasticall that you suffer not the guilt of this prohibition to cleave unto your Consciences If you shall hereafter be raisers of false reports the words you have heard this day shall make you inexcusable another You are by what hath been presently spoken disabled everlastingly from pleading any Ignorance either Facti or Iuris as having been instructed both what it is and how great a fault it is to raise a false report Resolve therefore if you be free never to enter into any action or suite wherein you cannot proceed with comfort nor come off without injustice or if already engaged to make as good and speedy an end as you can of a bad matter and to desist from farther prosecution Let that golden rule commended by the wisest heathens as a fundamentall Principle of morall and civill Iustice yea and proposed by our blessed Saviour himself as a full abridgement of the Law and Prophets be ever in your eye and ever before your thoughts to measure out all your actions and accusations and proceedings thereby even to do so to other men and no otherwise then as you could be content or in right reason should be content they should do to you and yours if their case were yours Could any of you take it well at your neighbours hand should he seek your life or livelyhood by suggesting against you things which you never had so much as the thought to do or bring you into a peck of troubles by wresting your words and actions wherein you meant nothing but well to a dangerous construction or follow the Law upon you as if he would not leave you worth a groate for every petty trespasse scarce worth half the money or fetch you over the hippe upon a branch of some blind uncouth and pretermitted Statute He that should deal thus with you and yours I know what would be said and thought Griper Knave Villain Divel incarnate all this and much more would be too little for him Well I say no more but this Quod tibi fieri non vis c. Doe as you would be done to There is your generall Rule But for more particular direction if any man desire it since in every evil one good step to soundnesse is to have discovered the right cause thereof I know not what better course to prescribe for the preventing of this sinne of sycophancy and false accusation then for every man carefully to avoid the inducing causes thereof and the occasions of those causes There are God knoweth in this present wicked world to every kind of evil inducements but too too many To this of false accusation therefore it is not unlikely but there may be more yet we may observe that there are four things which are the most ordinary and frequent causes thereof viz. Malice Obsequiousnesse Coverture and Covetousnesse The first is Malice Which in some men if I may be allowed to call them men being indeed rather Monsters is universall They love no body glad when they can do any man any mischief in any matter never at so good quiet as when they are most unquiet It seemeth David met with some such men that were enemies to peace when he spake to them of peace they made themselves ready to battell Take one of these men it is meat and drink
give place by subjection no not for an hour lest we be ensnared by our own default ere we be aware For indeed we cannot be ensnared in this kinde but meerly by our own default and therefore S. Paul often admonisheth us to take heed that none deceive spoil or beguile us as if it were in our power if we would but use requisite care thereunto to prevent it and as if it were our fault most if we did not prevent it And so in truth it is For we oftentimes betray away our own liberty when we might maintain it and so become servants unto men when we both might and ought to keep our selves free Which fault we shall be the better able to avoid when we shall know the true causes whence it springeth which are evermore one of these two an unsound head or an unsound heart Sometimes we esteem too highly of others so far as either to envassal our judgements to their opinions or to enthrall our consciences to their precepts and that is our weaknesse there the fault is in the head Sometimes we apply our selves to the wills of others with an eye to our own benefit or satisfaction in some other carnal or worldly respect and that is our fleshlinesse there the fault is in the heart This latter is the worst and therefore in the first place to be avoided The most and worser sort unconscionable men do often transgresse this way When for fear of a frown or worse displeasure or to curry favour with those they may have use of or in hope either of raising themselves to some advancement or of raising to themselves some advantage or for some other like respects they become officious instruments to others for the accomplishing of their lusts in such services as are evidently even to their own apprehensions sinful and wicked So Doeg did King Saul service in shedding the bloud of fourscore and five innocent Priests and Absalons servants murdered their masters brother upon his bare command and Pilate partly to gratifie the Iewes but especially for fear of Cesars displeasure gave sentence of death upon Iesus who in his own conscience he thought had not deserved it In such cases as these are when we are commanded by our superiours or required by our friends or any other way solicited to do that which we know we cannot do without sin we are to maintain our liberty if we cannot otherwise fairly decline the service by a flat and peremptory denial though it be to the greatest power upon earth As the three young men did to the great Nebuchadnezzar Be it known unto thee O King that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up And the ancient Christians to the heathen Emperors Da veniam Imperator tu carcerem ille gehennam And the Apostles to the whole councel of the Jewes Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken to you more than unto God judge ye Acts 4. He that will displease God to please men he is the servant of men and cannot be the servant of God But honest and conscionable men who do not easily and often fail this way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word is Rom. 16. men that are not evill are yet apt sometimes to be so far carried away with an high estimation of some men as to subject themselves wholly to their judgements or wills without ever questioning the truth of any thing they teach or the lawfulnesse of any thing they enjoyn it is a dangerous thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Iude speaketh to have mens persons in admiration though they be of never so great learning wisdome or piety because the best and wisest men that are are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subject to the like infirmities as we are both of sin and error and such as may both deceive others and be themselves deceived That honour which Pythagoras his Scholars gave to their Master in resting upon his bare authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a sufficient proof yea as a divine Oracle many judicious even among the heathen altogether misliked as too servile and prejudicial to that libertas Philosophica that freedom of judgement which was behooveful for the study of Philosophy How much more then must it needs be prejudicial in the judgement of Christians to that libertas Evangelica that freedome we have in Christ to give such honour to any other man but the man Christ Iesus only or to to any other writings than to those which are in truth the Oracles of God the holy Scriptures of the old and new Testament There is I confesse much reverence to be given to the writings of the godly ancient Fathers more to the Canons and decrees of general and provincial Councels and not a little to the judgement of learned sober and godly Divines of later and present times both in our own and other reformed Churches But we may not jurare in vèrba build our faith upon them as upon a sure foundation nor pin our belief upon their sleeves so as to receive for an undoubted truth whatsoever they hold and to reject as a grosse error whatsover they disallow without farther examination Saint Iohn biddeth us try the spirits before we beleeve them 1 Ioh. 4. And the Beroeans are remembred with praise for so doing Act. 17. We blame it in the Schoolmen that some adhere pertinaciously to the opinions of Thomas and others as pertinaciously to the opinions of Scotus in every point wherein they differ insomuch as it were grande piaculum a heinous thing and not to be suffered if a Dominican should dissent from Thomas or a Franciscan from Scoâ—us though but in one single controverted conclusion And we blame it jâ—stly for S. Paul blamed the lâ—ke sidings and partakings in the Church of Corinth whilest one professed himself to be of Paul another of Apollo another of Cephas as a fruit of carnality unbeseeming Christians And is it not also blame-worthy in us and a fruit of the same carnality if any of us shall affect to be accounted rigid Lutherans or perfect Calvinists or give up our judgements to be wholly guided by the writings of Luther or Calvin or of any other mortal man whatsoever Worthy instruments they were both of them of Gods glory and such as did excellent service to the Chuâ—ch in their times whereof we yet finde the benefit and we are unthankful if we do not blesse God for it and therefore it is an unsavoury thing for any man â—o gird at their names whose memories ought to be precious But yet were they not men had they received the spirit in the fulnesse of it and not by measure knew they otherwâ—se than in part or prophesied otherwise than in part might they not in many things did they not in some things mistake and erre Howsoever the Apostles