proceed to Scripture proofs in these things and in farther confirmation of the precedent chapter beginning with some out of the New Testament Saint Paul having declared somewhat to the Ephesians of his knowledge in the mystery of Christ doth it that thereby all men may see what was the fellowship of the mistery that is both the fellowship of Christian precepts amongst themselves and our fellowship or communion with Christ through obedience Which mistery from the beginning of the world hath bin hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ that is heretofore hid under the legal observations but is now as the unsearchable riches of Christ preached amongst the Gentiles To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places that is unto the higher powers seated and deputed by Christ might be known by the Church that is by the vertue of illumination and authority given to them through Christs headship of the Church the manifold wisdome of God And therefore Saint Pauls prayer was that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith so that they being rooted and grounded in love they may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height that is this mistery of the love of Christ which passeth all knowledge Namely that they may know how it should be effected and kept up by those that walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called who must do it with all lowliness and meekness with long suffering forbearing one another in love endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace that is in obedience to our owne Christian head which is the only bond of peace For by means of the building and foundation laid by these Christian heads Apostles and Prophets as then they were called given for the perfecting of the Saints and for the work of the ministry we come to be united as Citizens of the houshold of God or Catholick Church of which Christ himself is the chief corner stone The body of Christ being in this sort to be framed and built together in this life till we come to be past fear of being tossed to and fro of every winde of doctrine even by being come to the unity of faith through the knowledge of the Son of God or to have attained that measure and stature of fulness which is to be from Christ himself expected Of which Christian submission and obedience having set downe positive precepts in the names of Husbands Parents and Masters he finally exhorts them to be still furnished with the whole armour of God that is faith love and obedience that they may be able to stand against the wils of the Devil That is these his most crafty wiles and insinuations whereby we come to be tempted by him as an Angel of light under religious pretences to acts of obedience even by the Prince of the power of the aire the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience For saith he we wrestle not against flesh and blood meaning against fleshly rules or Masters for against the works of the flesh we must wrestle but against principalities and powers agaist the rules of the darkness of the world that is against spiritual wickedness in in high or heavenly places Or against the wills of the Devil working in such as under the colour of legal or moral precepts called usually darkness by their owne high power in the Church would countenance disobedience and so overthrow the mystery of Christ by the mysterie of iniquity For these are to know as Saint Paul saith to Tymothy that the end of the commandment is Charity or peaceable submission and obedience for charity sake out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned From which saith he some having swearved are turned aside unto vain jangling that is unprofitable questionings of legalty desiring to be Teachers of the law when they should hearers understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm But we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully that is an obeyer of legal authority whereby to retain innocence and not as judge to become guilty Knowing this that the law is not made for the rsghteous or just man that is to condemn a just or obedient man but for the lawless and disobedient for ungodly and sinners c. Where all wickedness being reckoned after as subsequent and attendant on disobedience and by opposing the disobedient and lawless against the righteous man we must understand obedience and righteousness to be contivertible For as the fruit of the Spirit is love so the fruit thereof again is joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law that is law of condemnation And this mistical way of accomplishing our innocence is farther repeated to the Collossians that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mistery of God and of the father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge In which words we may plainly see that our greatest comfort ariseth from love in our hearts and from hence have we the full assuranc of understanding of right obedience to Gods law to the acknowledgement of the mistery of God even the mistical way of justification whereby being inwardly made ready and pliable to perform all acts of benificence we by our conformity and obedience to this one precept should contrary to the doctrine of the darkness of this world be estated truely innocent In which words the general name of God is first attributed to the holy Ghost for that he is the more proper efficient in the understanding of this mistery as also of the acknowledgement of the Father and of Christ. so that in participation of the Godhead by this mistery we are made comprehensive of all the reall treasures of wisdome and knowledge in being thereby guided through Gods light and not our own Which as the Apostle spake least any should beguile them with entising words that is Religious pretence which is most enticing of any so he joyes in beholding the fruit of this inward love their order and stedfastness of their faith in Christ that is their peace and agreement in the faith And thereupon proceeds to admonish them least any man spoil them through Philolosophy and vain deceit meaning through the Greekish popular Philosophy of their Country teaching righteousness to be attained by their many precepts of morall justice or vain legall deceit of the Iews amongst them after the Tradition of men after the Rudiments of the world or worldly wisdome and not after Christ in the simplicity of this Gospell precept of obedience For we cannot offend God whilst we are obedient to him
differ in choice and pursuit In which respect although that addition to pleasure which understanding must yield from the contemplation of prudential choice or managery may make wise mens pleasures more good yet doth it not deny the other to be in degree good too no more then the acknowledgement that full pleasure or acquiescence of mind which is nowhere but in God to be had as the only object that can fill both the Sensitive and Rational appetite with full acquiescence as in its full and final object doth deny every degree of pleasure and content to be in proportion good also CHAP. VI. Of Honor. OUr discourse past was to prove mans end to be Pleasure wherein we proceeded no further then in declaring that part of it which was not altogether proper to him as man but as an individual Sensitive But now being to enter on the discourse of Society it is necessary we treat of the other part thereof which is proper to him as a moral and intellectual agent and doth arise from very Society it self because as from company and converse with others I come to affect and be provoked to imitation so again the desire to have my proficence therein appear makes me for honor sake to affect Society and Company Whereupon we may say that Honor Estimation Reputation Pride c. grow from without us and do receive both their appearance and encrease through degrees of subordination being for the most part the return of gratitude from Inferiours to Superiors For if all were equal as in nature outward honor or shame could not be in comparison of one to another Now as Superiors have high Power above those under them so have they advantage of being pleasurable to them in their many senses which because it cannot be from them adequately repaid in kind to him that hath but the sense of one person therefore by the expressions of the Inferiors joy in possessing this benefit he hath so lively a sense in his contemplation hereof that the joys of many come to be his And hence is it that it is a more blessed thing to give then to receive and that not only in respect of God who is the rewarder of charity but also because there must be more joy in the pleasures of many then one Therefore the honoured must have two properties Power and Goodness answering two other relations in the honouring Obedience and Gratitude And yet Power seems but for Goodness sake and when it is given by God or Authority is but in order to that For as in God himself the attribute of Optimus hath by the consent of all People been put before that of Maximus so in all offices of honor from him derived Power is added but as a servant to that degree of beneficence wherein by their Places they are put to represent him and act in his stead after the same manner as the means or instrument is in any thing a servant to the end So that to make power alone the object of honor is to make it the same with fear and it is also to make it not onely the same with obedience but not to difference it whether it be hearty or just or not For although to honor and to obey do usually signifie the same yet because the inferiour is alwayes in that kinde to honour his superiour it is still with presupposition of the right and merit of the person commanding else to obey the usurped power of a robber although in a greater command is not so much honour to him as it is to my Prince or father when I obey them in a less And not so onely but the several returns of our obedience and acknowledgements to persons of rightful power are in degree more or less honourable in themselves as the drift of that command is more or less meritorious So that although some of the heathen out of supposition of those many other benefits received might in complement or ignorance forbear publickly to upbraid their own Gods with those scapes and faults acted by their power yet doth the story of Pallas punishment of Arachne for pourtraying them assure us that they thought meer power to be dishonourable when it had not goodness in design Whereupon it was their use to reverence and worship as publike gods those that had first been publike benefactors Whilst a beneficial action is in intention and execution it is merit and when received it is duty which do again differ in proportion as the Courtesie and the freedom thereof do that is as the one is free and intentional in the gift and as the other is so also in the return When merit is assumed without sense of desert it is pride and when given without it it is flattery flattery being but the be-lying of our one sense to the honouring of another And therefore vulgar flattery is the basest because they can be but little worthy Whereas flatter God we cannot because he deserves beyond any expression of ours In this intercourse of obligation between superiours and inferiors a paction may seem implyed and the benefit or courtesie to call for gratitude If this gratitude come from a particular person it is called thanks if from many applause which when it is past present sense and is a fruit of memory is called honour In the pleasure formerly spoken of every mans own sense is judge this is judged by the sense of others for they had the benefit and our pleasure is in the intellect as being the reflex of theirs And as good and bad actions have the private testimony of the parties conscience so have they also the publike attestation of the people or those that receive them called honor or shame Without this way of being sensible of the pleasures of others the rule of Do as thou wouldest be done unto would not have its availe for upholding the mutual benefit of one another in society For since pleasure was our end why should I labour the pleasure of others if my self had no share therein Therefore God to provoke us to common preservation and good imparts to us of this ability of being sensible of pleasure received by others and even as for our individual preservation he makes us apprehensive of pleasures proper to senses of our own so hereby for common preservation sake he makes us sensible of the pleasures of others When we assume this honour and yet conscience consents not it is as aforesaid pride If we affect it to publike disturbance it is ambition vain-glory c. Yet ambition seems to regard the mark of it to wit publike imployment but vain-glory and applause may rest in self-content Honour arising from being beneficial to others it must be more as that is more true and general and being the reward that inferiors give to superiors it is in the first place due to God as obliging all creatures for all those pleasures they enjoy Then as it is to him onely due so from him onely
degree of submission yet more apparent which was to be given to this high Officer who should succeed in this Divine place of Authority which as it might subject them to many unavoidable miseries when evil Kings came so on the other hand they might foresee much benefit to ensue when good ones came as it proved shortly after in the days of David and Solomon So that untill this latter age of the world that men through vulgar and popular flattery could be brought both to forget Gods precepts and their own reason such Maximes and positions as are now frequent in the mouths of some seditious persons would have been abandoned as undutiful aswell as scorned as ridiculous It would have sounded strange in their ears to have heard men affirm That they had contrived a way of limitation for Kings whereby he should yet have all power left him to do good unto his people but none at all to hurt them and yet such is our present aversion to government that the hasty and inconsiderate swallowing down of such like Maxims for the limitation of Monarchical Power hath been the cause of all our publike disturbances All which right reason must say we are ever in danger of whilst Soveraignty is not entire and perfect in the person it ought to be For what shall he have such power of doing good as it shall not be in the power of others to hinder it if so then supposing him a voluntary Agent you must also suppose that if he think fit he hath power of forbearing it and so doth ill by not doing good Or if he work as an instrument and necessary Agent by the force and impulsion of another then is the power of doing good to be properly ascribed where this direction is because the Ministerial Vertue or Power of the instrument may be thereby implyed other wayes or not at all And so if you make him to carry the same force in the work of government as the Carpenters chizel doth in all his work then how shall a voluntary Agent be imagined such or what is the difference of the Kings power from that of the meanest subject when he must do so as he is directed and no otherwise And so lastly how can that be called good which is done necessarily and unwillingly But these things will be best seen by instance The power of each kingdom is in the Militia now as he that hath power hereof may benefit the kingdom by the invasion of another or by defence of his own and as he may use the same at home in maintenance of laws and equity against opposers so may he thereby do the contrary Whereupon Reason and Experience tells us how ridiculous this their device is For since the Militia must be somwhere and of absolute power if it be not in one mans hand it will be in more What will they then be the neer will they now set some in trust over these again to the end that as those were trusted above the King to hinder him from doing wrong so these again shall have power to be over them that they abuse not that their power which they before had over the King when will they have done setting of watchmen upon watchmen and must they not be men still that they shall so entrust In which respect being alike subject to transgress will they not necessarily be more in danger of injury being now under the power of many then they were before while under one And truely they that thus can fancy a possibility of stating a person in such a condition as he should alwayes have power to do good must next contrive him such a will as he shall be doing it also or else this power is but vain because he may do ill in forbearing it And they again that on the other side would take from him all power to do evil and yet think he may be all this while a voluntary Agent do in both respects seem to me to condemn God Almighty of imprudence or injustice in not governing all men in the world as these would do some in kingdoms That is not knowing how thus to take from men the power of doing ill without taking from them thereby also the power of doing well but suffering sin thus needlesly to raigne in the world Out of what hath been hitherto spoken we may gather the reason both for the establishment of Monarchy and also for annexing unto it those absolute degrees of Soveraignty not to be wrested or alienated from the person of the Prince by any of his subjects who cannot without overthrow of Monarchy be such sharers or engrossers of the Soveraignty as under pretence of bridling him from evil To say unto him what dost thou because he hath power by his Office to do whatsoever pleaseth him To which end we may also see the reason why Oaths of obedience and subjection are by subjects taken as for other ends so in case of resistance to take their part against all others The people being for this very subjection sake called the subjects of such and such Kings And this Oath in regard it is made in Gods name and presence and in regard it is the tye and obligation to maintaine policy and peace and thereby humane preservation the end of God also it is called the Oath of God as aforesaid And therefore to Kings are we to give obedience not onely for wrath but for conscience sake for so Solomon directs it the fear of a King is as the roaring of a Lyon he that provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul it is not a crime in policy onely to disobey and resist him whose wrath is as messengers of death but a sin also against Religion And least any should use their Christian liberty for a cloak to their maliciousness and the better to act their own revenge or ambition pretend that in unlawful commands obedience is not due which once granted how easie would it be to make any thing unlawful we had no minde to obey we are enjoyned to be subject Not onely to the good and gentle superiors but also to the froward for this is thank worthy if a man for conscience towards God endure grief suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when we be buffeted for our faults we take it patiently but if when we do well and suffer for it we take it patiently this is acceptible with God for even hereunto were we called because Christ also suffered as leaving us an example that we should follow his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously What could have been more expresly and rationally said for perfect submission to our superiors then here for first whereas the glory of God consists as amongst other things in the prâ—servation of man and that againe by
Kings as Supreum or unto others as sent of him As thus in many matters of Charity divine direction was usefull so to the particular direction of our Christian faith on which as a ground-work our Charity was to be built this direction was much more necessary For since none could come to God except he first know that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him so the stating our faith standing necessary as to the stating our obedience we we may see cause for the frequent commendation and injunctions thereof in the New Testament where it is expresly said that without it t is impossible to please God that is without confidence of his being and of his rewards and punishments following our good or bad actions we shall not be zealous of good works or duties of Charity And having so far shewed what the ground of Religion should be we will next shew what it usually is both in ground and practice CHAP. II. Of Religion as commonly received BEfore the knowledge of good and evil entred into man Nature was his religion and what was by her law done was also thereby justified But being once possessed with the apprehension of this discovery all our thoughts and actions were so involved herein that nothing we said or did could escape censure on one side or other and so consequently for well or ill doing we could not but expect reward or punishment But because on the one hand the natural pride and arrogancy of each man was ready to put a greater rate and desert upon his intents and doings then he saw them rewarded with in this life and on the other side knowing the great and many faults that had escaped him or others not at all espied by men or by law so throughly punished as he thought their gift required the two main guides of our nature hope and fear led on our expectations to a future reckoning in such a sort that where the souls immortallity and our resurrection are not by special revelation manifested men are yet generally found believing thereof the craft of persons in authority many times helping on and biassing these Superstitions of inferiours to sociable advantages or self respects Now the wayes men take for the obtaining of this future reward or a voiding the like punishment is their religion And then religion having its ground from conscience and each mans conscience following the light of his understanding in judging good and bad and their degree from the diversity of understanding followeth the diversity of religions which as they had their first rise and fashion from their several Authours so each one yeilds himself a Disciple as he findes his hopes or the fears of his owne conscience therewith satisfied Therefore now concluding mens religion and conscience to be according to their understanding and their understandings being not onely differing but altogether imperfect it is impossible that any Religion should be true but what is from God himself received But then again because truth doth not move by being but by being apparent and because there is no way for this apparency till it be made conceivable to my understanding will it not follow that therein also we must be subject to much difference uncertainty So that men generally acknowledging a deity that no religion can be true but what shal be from him received they do by means of this fallible guide so usually mistake in their choice For knowledg in this kinde is not innate but acquired for why else are not Children and innocents as well as men of riper capacity by priviledge of birth and species without more ado instructed Why is that long stay made until by natural course the sences and organs of the body receiving their due growth and perfection the understanding together therewith arrive also at a sufficient capacity for the same reason to work by So that then the priority and worth of divine truths being not able of themselves to enter our capacities otherwise then as let in by the senses or else made familiar by such things as formerly were so as types parables similitudes and the like it comes to pass that according to the several prepossessions of men and their several fashions in entertaining them our several beliefes and opinions do arise And although we are seldome able to remember those sensible inductions out of which they grew yet from such they must needs at first grow inasmuch as had they come in without mixture they would like truths have remained to all men the same and alike whereas now their variety shews the variety of their entertainment and admittance And therefore although naturally as men and for satisfaction of our hope and fears sake we generally adhere to one sort of Religion or another yet when we come to entertain the kindes we stand not onely disabled in our Election but for the most part use no Election at all depending rather on chance then choice For what one is there of a thousand that ever doubts of or alters the religion he was brought up in For do we not Scholly and Catechise our Children in the same opinion with our selves do we not carry and send them with directions for beliefe and attention unto such Churches and Preachers where we are sure the truth and benefit of this and the falsehood and dangers of all others shall be exemplified to the height What probability then that he should prefer an opinion unknown at least alwayes discommended before one he doth know and hears alwaies praised Whereupon we shall finde preoccupation of judgement of such force that whether they be Christian Jew Mahumetan Heathen or a distinct Sect under any of these generals yet all of them to resolute to their owne side that they will embrace Martyrdom rather then a recantation Not that all in any kinde will do so for all men stand differenced between perfect Atheism and height of belief but where such tenderness of conscience and disposition is met withall as can be subdued to entertain Myrterdome on one side the same party would also have entertained it on another had education and other fore-stalling arguments been applyed unto him And even as in Christianity it self and the sects thereof we may find both Martyrs and Renegates as strength of belief leades them so in other religions also upon tryal these kindes have been apparent For as the Magitians feigned Miracles found greater belief with the Egyptians then the true ones of Moses so a false information having nothing to contradict it or education having forestalled our judgements prevailes as true with us and the contradictory thereof as false For all men thinking it reasonable that the proof of divine authority should be evinced by something more then humane and that supernatural truths otherwaies not conceiveable by sense and so demonstrable should be ascertained and illustrated by such as were it made the founders of all Religions pretend miracles as thinking their endeavours
under the tye of religion also to be entirely obeyed by all that acknowledg his Christian jurisdiction we being no more duely able to divide the supremacy of the one then of the other And therfore the mistake and inconvenience of their opinion will plainly appear that would from a short and groundless distinction of the several objects and ends of our obedience deduce a several and distinct tye whereby the same person in the performance of this duty to lawful authority should stand diversly obliged As if because the good of men and humane Society were the next ayme of my forbearance to defraud or oppress c. it were therefore the last end and not rather Gods glory as heretofore shewed Whereupon since I as a Christian had light sufficient given me to discover how God is herein served by this my advancement of the good of my brother cannot thereupon but account my self as well serving God When I do any thing as a subject to the Prince out of general tye of conscience to Gods precept that commandeth obedience to the higher powers then it is or should have been if I had done it in obedience to the perticular precepts of thou shalt not steal or thou shalt not covet And had Cato or Scipio had the like advantage of instruction with us so as to have seen through to Gods glory and their owne salvation as the great and last end and reward of all our actions as they had been obliged in conscience so they would no doubt out of respect and love to God and their owne future good have performed all those Heroick acts which for want thereof could not have in them higher consideration then temporary benefits of themselves or country and so come to be imputed unto them as bare moral vertues and duties having in their conceipts neither direction nor intention higher But for farther clearing the understanding of these things we will instance in a particular most common amongst us namely our food What the vegetative appetite as necessary to growth and nourishment doth herein covet the same being in sensitive Creatures controlled and judged by their pallats and tasts is ascribed as an action done by such or such a sensitive And in the same food again the pallat being for choice and quantity as all other senses controlable by reason for what we do therein we are accountable as men onely and not as beasts And so lastly when in this particular of food a higher authority then our owne doth command we must be then reckoned in all we do therein but as in relation and subordinate to that last and highest authority For as Christ is above them all so is our relation as Christiaâ—s to include and involve that of men or subjects So that if I now follow too much my vegetative appetite or sensative taste and also transgress reason so as to be drunken and glutonise this being done by me that am a Christian is a sin endangering punishment hereafter and not singly a moral or civil vice as transgressing onely in regard to my health or the rule of society And so farther againe when abstinence from any or all sort of food is by lawful authority enjoyned whereby the use of what was indifferent to us in respect of any direct former Christian precept comes to be streigthened we are then tyed in conscience to the obedience thereof and that not onely when a Lent or Fast day shall be enjoyned for an explicite religious end but also when abstinence shall be publickly commanded without such end expressed at all or although the preservation of Cattel or the like be the known end thereof And this because the person commanding being the same and alwayes Gods Minister where our ability of performance is equall our sin of disobedience must be equal also and that without thought of dividing his jurisdiction and authority and so disobeying the Prince as as oft as we please by taking on us as Priests in a separat jurisdiction the sole interpretation of Gods law Whereupon as every Master of a family is Priest also so far as concerns his jurisdiction so the appellations of Princes and Priests are in many places of Scripture used as equipollent But as the King in regard of the multitude under him is to use Magistrates to help him in civil administrations so Priests also in matters of the Church and religion How far this their power is to extend and how and by what order of them to be managed will be a proper discourse when the Kings part in government and peace shall be treated of Therefore now to return by the name of Church we are not to conceive there can be any congregation of Christian subjects by order so distnct from others as to have immediat power from God over the fortunes or persons of their fellows without or against the Soveraigns leave For since the time manner place and other things essential to the constituting the meeting it self must as heretofore noted depend on the leave and direction of the governour in chief and their authority as an assembly can be but subordinate to that from whence they derived it it cannot in no wise be collected that their power should be independent They of the Romish Clergy that would clayme a divine right to succeed the Apostles in the exercise of external jurisdiction and power by vertue of an uninterrupted ordination from them at first derived after the same manner as those ancient Romans were superstitious to place the vestal virgins for keeping in of their holy fire in their temple and would have the Office and power of high Priest or Bishop in the Catholike or each particular Church depend on like uninterrupted succession to his predecessor under the Gospel no otherwise then the high Priestship did descend amongst the Jewes had no doubt an ayme by this peculiar way of puting one another into authority not only to set up themselves in Apostolical power but to exclude Kings or Masters of families from having any divine right at all since no such uninterrupted derivation of succession can be on their side brought But as they cannot find any text to warrant any claim hereby so they are to consider that as to the Iewes their particular Church was the same with the Catholike so in order to Gods care for direction and government of that particular onely Church he did appoint as well a distinct family and linage for their Kingship as he did for their Priesthood it being as unlawful to alter the line of David as that of Aaron But under the Gospel where like appointment was not made nor outward prosperity was not promised as to the Jewes it will be very severe to censure any particular Church as untrue and her Pastors unlawful upon the hazard of having some interruption in succession or for want of intention or the like whereby having had some ineffectual ordination administred all ordinations succeeding and jurisdiction grounded thereupon should come
same performed But these things seem naturally to fall upon us for as every man doth submit to Government in general out of consideration of his own private good to be therein enjoyed and not out of care advance the publike otherwise then in order thereunto so must it again fall out that in all deliberations for the manner or measure of exercise thereof that form of administration should be still chosen that in each parties judgement affords to himself most full and free enjoyment placing his first respect to his own particular and regarding the publike but in order thereuto from whence such difference of judgement in forms of Government do arise And from hence also it comes to pass that the Subjects in Polarchies are always upon experience more complaining and desirous to return under Monarchy again then they were at first to abandon it even because they now finde themselves deluded and defeated of that share and degree of Power and Government which they upon their princes removal did before vainly expect By all which it will appear that intention of good according to our own light cannot estate any guiltless for then all would be so but publike good must arise by joynt submission unto one Judge of common good Else it will prove that this strong desire to do good will be the continual cause of harm For malice it self being but in order to envy and revenge if men are no farther enclined to such like prosecution as before noted then as being hindered in their own way of doing good it must then follow that to do good disorderly is the ready way to be malicious For though the will to good must always reside in private and separate persons yet the understanding and direction thereof must be conform to such as are in Authority and the judgement of such as are under subjection is to be imployed in knowing what but not why to obey By which means we shall preserve and maintain undenyably that which is tâ—e most general and highest step to Providence and general benefit namely publike peace Whereas pursuing our neighbors benefit according to rules and ways of our own framing the truth of our private speculations towards beneficence can be but as contingent if not more then that of Authority and must by the distraction of mine own and others obedience through exemplar encouragement for each one to follow his own judgement in ways and acts of benoficence unavoidably defeat all publike good and Charity in defeating the bond of peace that unity of direction that should have led thereunto For upon the same warrant I follow mine own or others private judgement against publike command now I may do so again as often as I pretend or really conceive my neighbors good to be thereby encreased And the same liberty being taken by others also what can follow but that men differently acting and obeying according to different Consciences and Interests they must force difference to arise amongst themselves in their services one towards another to the final overthrow of Charity and publike good As for example I that am unknowing or heedless of the good and benefit of strangers and such as are more remote in comparison of those neer me and such as I converse with and which must again make such difference between those which are of my neighborhood in respect of that different affection I shall cast towards them as they have in particular friendships and kindnesses deserved at my hands or do in affections or interests simpathize and comply with me cannot thereupon but out of this my unequal regard dispense so unequally of my Charity that those I know not shall have no share or provision at all and of those I do know either through contrariety of humor or thwarting of designs some will come to be esteemed and prosecuted as enemies even for that they stood contrary in affection or act to that way or course I had resolved on or put in practice for the advancement of the good of those which I esteemed more as being my particular kindred or friends Whereupon another again that held greater relation or friendship to those I slighted or disesteemed was thereupon induced from the height of my more fierce and private love towards the promoting the good of these above others whom he loved better to labor on the contrary the hindrance and harm of them above others By which means it shall come to pass that each subject in particular shall be truely wanting of his due measure of Charity and beneficence in execution and enjoyment whilst through private design and power the same is onely measured and practised even to the overthrow of all true Charity and publike peace also The which considerations well weighed might methinks perswade any to the obedience of Christ in his deputed Minister for direction of their Charity Namely to consider that since love and propension to acts of beneficence were placed in us for publike good sake and for that of others more then of their own it is therefore reason we should submit to be therein guided by the publike direction of others also Whom obeying according to Christs Precept given to that very end of doing all things without murmuring and disputing why should we doubt of being blameless and harmless the sons of God and having really loved others as our selves and so performed the moral Law since we have submitted to act according thereunto Wherefore the summe of all is That God made man upright but he sought out many inventions And that therefore publick good acted by private direction onely is always evil and the more intently and confidently so done the more evil That private equity is publike iniquity That that natural former inclination to beneficence which leant on the principles of our dark fleshly wisdom ayming at and so corrupted through original pride and presumption of our own managery is to be now abandoned and we renewed in the spirit of our mindes through love and its fruits Meekness Gentleness Patience c. Which inward root of love as it comes from God onely so is it at his onely dispose being made perfect by obedience to him or Officers holding direct Authority from and under him By which means we may perceive how Nature comes to be perfected by Grace and how that natural and original intention to beneficence that through our fall was defeated by pride comes to be made useful by the Gospel light and directions of Obedience Humility Long-suffering Patience Meekness Gentleness c. this inward root of love being always ready to bridle us against envy hatred malice and all uncharitable actings against others even so far as according to the light of our own Conscience not otherwise authorized we are to abstain from all appearance of evil By which means God that could never act contrary to to himself or to the defeating of his own work or end which could never be but perfect and
in it self worthy of preservation doth by Grace restore and rectifie what in our fall had been corrupted Thus that love which Nature provokes me to express out of inward delight Religion enjoyns and directs me to execute according to explicite precept That good which for Honor or Vertue sake I seek to act as a moral man I must now for Duty and Conscience sake re-inforce and prosecute as a Christian. That degree of beneficence which in nature I might arbitrarily and differently dispense according to mine own relations of Family Friends or the like I must now according to the tye of conscience and subjection distribute indifferently or according to such rules as he that hath publike charge shall direct For our state of innocency consisteth more in negative then in positive acts that is more in being harmless then beneficial because innocence or abstinence from harm is always a praise and compatible to all men inferior as well as others but to be positively beneficial is the attribute and sole honor of the Fountain of good and is to mankind no otherwise communicable and proper then as impowered and deputed from him and acting in his stead And therefore is Lord said to be the fulfilling of the Law because it worketh no ill to his neighbor And in that Chapter as obedience to the Higher Power is most strictly enjoyned and may be understood compleating the Precepts of the first Table and so inclusive of that Law of Honor thy father and mother So is the love of our neighbors as our selves set all down in negative Precepts Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not steal c. Nay our justification and the forgiveness of our offences and sins against God is made to depend most on our forgiving one another which was chiefly hinted at in that perfect model of Prayer Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us Heaven it self being the reward of our innocence not of our merit and that because we cannot without derogation to Gods honor take on us to act in matters of beneficence without him And so again the Devil being the father of malice the more we take upon us to act therein the more we shew our selves his servants Of which his delight in malice contrary to the Precept of love we have a plain instance in Witches who spend their whole power in things destructive and mischievous being wholly swayed by desire of revenge which as it did at first grow from being crossed in their own designs so they had beneficence in their aims And therefore so far as any is malicious to others that is is wilfully set to prosecute his own ways of doing future good by present evil so far hath he listed himself under this Destroyer and thrust himself out of Divine favour and protection by renouncing Divine obedience whereas others may know they are passed from death to life not only because they love the brethren but also for that they are obedient to Gods minister in the manner thereof For without God every one may be truly said to act that hath not from him as great and full direction and authority as was in his power to procure even in that particular in which he acts but doth relie only on such general directions as were for ought he knows not proper to the cause in question And so not being by Gods Minister interpreted and warranted as to license therein he must remain still as much as before without true warrant to act on another and the other again without just cause of suffering at his hands For since both of these having from Reason and Scripture alike power to judge interpret and impose upon each other he must be concluded to have been most innocent and obeyed God most that hath most obeyed his Vicegerent and stuck to his direction therein And this because the positive Precepts of Scripture and Religion coming only to supply and make more applyable those general and ambiguous rules of natural reason to which end determinate Interpreters were again put to see the meaning of these Scriptures applyed to these cases and persons unto which they are proper it must thereupon follow that as those that undertake to judge cases by the light of nature only without regard therein had to Scripture cannot in so doing be guiltless so also they that undertake to be their own judges from the immediate rules of Scripture and do balk the the direction of the authorized Intepreter and Keeper they must thereby become lyable to guilt also So that now to sum up all these Discourses concerning love and obedience it is still to shew how men under the second Adam stand in respect of works in a like condition for innocence as they did at first For as then the only Precept was to forbear tasting of the knowledge of good and evil even so it is the only Precept still For so much in brief our Saviour explains saying For judgement am I come into this world that they which see not might see and they that see might be made blind And again as before noted answered those that presumed to derive Innocence and Righteousness from their own light If ye were blind ye should have no sin But now ye say we see therefore your sin remaineth The which and other places are certainly plain enough to convince any whom The God of this World hath not blinded to their own destruction And however formerly amongst the Jews where God was immediate Law-giver and by plain litteral Precepts did set down his pleasure to be observed by each one in particular the differencing of obedience into active and passive was useful that thereby upon occasion subjects might perform their duties to God and his Vicegerent also as also it was before the higher Powers were Christians yet now unto Christian Subjects that have not from Christ rules set down for their external abearance one towards another but they are to be taught his commands from his Deputies and Ambassadors the case is otherwise For so the words are Teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you not what I have commanded them So that when subjects are by their Christian head now commanded to be actively obedient in any thing they are then disobedient if they are not so because where doing is required their doing to their power and not their suffering must shew their obedience For as I cannot find that the Crown of Martyrdom was promised to any but such as were persecuted for the name of Christ or Christianity which in Heathenish persecutions was to come to pass so cannot I tell what other title then that of Rebel to give to such as oppose or resist their Christian Prince Nor can I find what other reason to give for that expression of our Saviours saying that God hath given him authority to execute judgement because he is the son of man then thereby to shew how
of Patience Humility c. will be found the chief drift of the Gospel if not the only Precepts that private persons can of their own judgements relye upon they proceeding from the same Precept of Love and Charity These teaching us how with Charity to suffer from others as the orher doth how to be inwardly affected in my actings towards them For as Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning so was it done that we through Patience and comfort of the Scriptures that is through the Precepts and Examples thereof therein set down as practised and the comfort and reward thereof thence also arising might have hope and encouragement to the performance of the like duties that through the grace and goodness of the God of patience and consolation we may be hereby enabled to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus And so be not only actively charitable whilst in things in our power each one shall not seek to please himself but his neighbour but also the same example will teach us to be passively charitable too by our readiness to submit to authority the only way to the peace and unity of the Church that therein with one mind and one mouth we may glorifie God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. However I cannot tell whether from these lights I have given sufficient reason or no for casting off revenge and disobedience and entertainment of patience and humility yet sure I am that I can by mine own good experience say that as I become every day a more true Disciple of my Saviour even by willingly taking up my cross and following him and that as I do more and more consider that slander persecution and all worldly afflictions when suffered for or in a good conscience which may be best known by the corruption and wickedness of the persecutors are not only testimonies of Christianity in order to his predictions that way given but also of Gods more especial and fatherly favour that chasteneth every son whom he loveth So do I more and more encrease every day in true comfort Even from the assurance I thereby gather of Gods protection and care of me and that in a far higher and more setled degree then any revenge by my self formerly taken could afford Nor can I or any man else that considers these usuages of God with a well measured judgement but thereby find advantage to arise even in this worlds consideration also It faring no otherewise with men in the behalf of their Reputation and Honour then in consideration of worldly estate and fortune For as he that will always be living at the height of his fortune will be so much the nearer to poverty by how much he is more expensive and in the sight of envy and yet have no more true inward content then others even so such as live in the height of reputation must be subject to the same diminutions and hazard for when those faults which really all men must more or less have or those which meer envy shall discover shall be divulged to the world he cannot then but be rendred both to other men so much the more ill by how much he hath formerly been held more good and to himself hereby so much more miserable by how much he deemed himself before more happy Whereas he that is really good cannot but be always in a thriving and prosperous condition although that steady course of vertue and honesty which he walks in may through difference of the common practise of the World as making God and his Neighbours good his aym and not Covetousness or Vain-Glory make him to differ from the rest of the World in his Deportments and so for a time displease For a time I say For as men can never wholly banish truth so this mans innocence and integrity cannot but by degrees appear at which time the very height of former calumny will redound to his encrease of reputation And all men being ready to take occasions for extolling their own abilities in matters of extraordinary discovery they will from hence take occasion the more to set forth and admire this mans Merits or Innocence even for that others have heretofore so much leaned to the contrary Which Commendations again growing to this party by continual encrease and degrees and those deserved must thereby render him also in point of reputation both continually prosperous and likewise steady therein But if it fall out otherwise and that Gods love to us above the rest of the world shall be made farther appear by their unjust and oppressive usage of us in matters of our estates or by the dislike and rejection of our communion by such as are riotous or factious as we have hereby fresh comfort in our selves in respect of our Christian Faith and Assurance in order to Gods promises made that way so may we also reap true inward content even in point of Heroick Resolution and Prudence out of the consideration that this their mislike of our cause or carriage arose not from any well grounded estimate of justice or vertue Vulgar justice being many times nothing else but the effect of Bribery Importunity Friendship or the knotting together of some party for the preferring some such mans cause as hath insinuated himself into most favour The which cannot be expected from him that hath his confidence so much in God and the goodness of his cause that he cannot he dare not distrust providence so far as not to resolve on and prefer a noble suffering before an ignoble prevention And so again in point of civil behaviour and in that reputation which is to be expected from mens sociable deportments so little regard is usually had to the general and publike benefit of society that the Commendations of Breeding Comity Urbanity or the like are often times but the flattering compliances and endearments of some sorts or orders of the subjects one towards another whose usual issue is in a Faction And the ordinary way of winning worldly friendship and esteem is either by open applauding each others abilities and courses or else by such profession and insinuation of our services and affections towards them as to give occasion upon all opportunities even out of self-regard to commend their friends and their abilities as esteeming themselves commended in these that so much own and approve them Whereas he that is truly conscientious of Gods Service and his Neighbours so farre as to place them above Popular shews dares not undertake this kind of serving himself by his neighbors ruine but will watch all seasonable opportunities to perform the office of a true friend by expression of such deeds and Councels as shall advance other mens benefit in the first place and his own honor amongst them in the second By which means as I shall really do the part of a true Commonwealths-man and Christian so shall I never want the true comfort thereof as
of things actions persons c. as to Civil hope Conscience hath not his correlate as shame which is opposite to Honor unless the passion of Hope be taken in Honor and shame respect reward and punishment present or rather carry it with them Conscience that which is hereafter And thereupon one regards the Sentence and Judgemen of such as have present power the other the commands and power of such as shall judge for the future So that one sort of good Conscience may be want of memory or unaccusing but Honor must be active Absence of guilt contents the one but the other must be possessive And as Conscience is an affection upon affections as they relate to guilt and punishment hereafter so Honor governs affections as they have judgement of things c here and as the known Will of that God I fear can onely oblige me in the one so the Will of those men I esteem in the other And indeed all our affections are as instigated so Governed by hope and fear For under these two as under the desire of attaining good or avoiding bad in the general all things are included and all other affections in the choice of objects have respect towards them that is from observation to judge what expectations of good or harm that is pleasure of sense or honor or pain of sense or shame here or hereafter is like to proceed from them or their different managery and application But then as more go to Heaven by the way of Hell and we had rather have our commendable actions suppressed then the contrary much divulged so fear is stronger then hope for although pleasure be the object of the one and pain of the other yet because pleasure is never so perfect as pain nor can be so fixed and continuing nor again without fear of loss it must therefore belooked upon as the most general and steady guide of our actions Upon which ground we need not wonder at the commonness of superstition nor why as children are scared with Hobgoblins c. so some men little differing from them should be so obnoxious to the terrors and affrights of such as they credit In which case it may happen to these that are negatively superstitious as being scandalized at some Ceremonies which they understand not themselves but which their guides are pleased to blast as under the notion of humane inventions or the like as it doth with that way of affrightment of children also by telling them of Raw head and bloody bones for as to them that for the present understand not that all living things should be so these things are apprehended as really dangerous and terrible because terribly delivered even so under the odium of humane invention Popery or the like are we many times brought to be superstitiously flying those things that are in themselves good and are also by so much the better as being by Christian Authority approved as having the more ancient and Catholike President of the Christian Churches usage For doubtless they cannot be so weak as seriously to believe that those that do refuse communion with the Papists even for that very difference sake which is in many things between them should at the same time they account them erroneous in the service of God and in matters of Ceremonies also implicitely follow them in some other things and upon no other score but because they do so But by these and such like arts it is usual with seditious persons to steal away peoples hearts from their own Church guides and Rulers For upon the same reason that a second dis-affects so far as to spoil the whole harmony so one crossing and unexpected fear raceth that whole method of belief and perswasion we stood before possessed of as to the goodness of our Religion or of our practice therein And that fear is more pressing and prevalent then hope appears in that our hope to attain good can never want our fear of missing it nor can the possession of pleasure want the fear of deprivation We may also observe that deaf men do ever suspect things are spoken to their ill or prejudice even when they may as likely speak to their good The like jealousie is entertained when any whisper in our Company or speak to one another in a language we understand not Nay pleasure is but absence of pain especially that of sense and then we need not wonder why a positive thing should affect more then a negative For pain being as before noted when the spirits are stopped in their wonted motions and it must still happen but they should be more or less so pleasure can neither be high nor lasting but at best mixed and be but by comparison of a less pain to a greater Upon knowledge and due consideration of the prevalence of this passion of fear towards the guidance of men as in a state of subjection it seemed good in the eye of divine wisdom to rank his service and all our returns of duty and obedience as under that notion Nay we may observe that he doth not onely set down the commendations of such as have been dutiful and obedient unto him under the oppression of such as feared him but also for the encrease of this return of duty and service towards himself he is wont to promise a new increase and implantation of fear into the hearts of those parties and people from whom he expects it as being the only steady grace that is effectual herein If we look unto Creatures below us we shall finde that onely such of them are disciplinable and to be made tame and cohabitable as can be brought to be made sensible and subject to our corrections and also kept in such a continual fear of us as not to resist or rise against us to our prejudice Whereas Lions Wolves Foxes and the like which cannot be constantly awed are called Salvage amongst which sort we come to reckon mankinde it self when it shall once arive at that degree of temerity as to be incorrigible and disrespective to Law and Government being then become indisciplinable and impolitical For as to be informidable is to be indomitable so to be indomitable is to be unsociable Because if it were not for this mutual fear every man would be daily affronted and injured by every man Nay the boys and youths as we passed the streets might be inclined even for sport sake to abuse us with dirt or stones or the like did not the terror of punishment to come from us or their Master keep them in aw In which case as it is to be considered that as they are most ready to offer these abuses to other boys or those of their own rank because less to be feared either for personal revenge or complaints so were it not for fear sake especially for that fear which must come from Authority no society could be maintained especially in cases of great import where revenge is ready to work more
motion without neglect or leaving out of any or suffering them to croud one upon another even he shall find himself as much mistaken in his Politicks as the other in his Mathematicks And the danger of falling short and running into mistake is by so much the more to be feared in making schemes and methods of this sort then of the other by how much we are less capable of autoptical figures and means of connection and juncture here then there For he that is to frame an engine cannot but from sight and experience be informed how one board or piece of wood is ordinarily joyned to another by taking part from one and part from another and so making them even and as it were one intire piece and also how that is holpen on and upon occasion farther secured in fastness and strength by pins nails plates of iron or the like Whereas to the framing of Polity and Society it is not so easie to conceive how the natural implantation of love is by Precepts of Religion enjoyning to bear one another burthens made efficacious for fastening of one man to another and how again the application of divine and positive Rules and Laws like pins and bolts for the farther and more orderly securing of this political fabrick and structure are necessary to be applyed also for accomplishment of the entire frame according as he that hath charge and oversight of the whole work shall think fit Vulgar capacities can easily make to themselves a representation of a King riding abroad and occasionaly righting or relieving of a single person because these and such like stories use to be figured and represented in Tales and Ballads and they can also because of instance in themselves and their own prompting desires and hopes be able to raise a figure of two persons appealing before him in his judgement seat to give sentence between them in like manner as the two harlots are painted before Solomon his majestical Throne when as yet it will be very hard for such as have not been conversant in Histories and often ruminated on the causes of Civil disturbance to fancy how the whole people may be divided into two parties and factions even as it were two persons and how in that case there is no way to peace and to prevent the danger of the whole by their quarrel but by their joynt submission to the same Soveraign power also But most of all they want prenotion enough to conceive wariness enough to consider that the most common and usual way for men to be lead into these sidings and divisions amongst themselves and into associations and insurrections against Authority is from the doctrines of dis-affected persons vented in private Meetings and Congregations In which case to hope that the seeds of separation and discontent shall not be farther sowed by such as from dislike of what is already publikely taught and allowed have already begun and set up this division is as if one should permit those fires that used to burn publickly on the hearth of his house to be now carried into several corners thereof on belief that in requital of this liberty it will now be neglectful of its own nature and amidst variety of combustible matter obey him saying Good Fire burn so discreetly as not to endanger that Fabrick wherein thou art maintained So that as men from the time they begin to be apprehensive and knowing of morality do stand affected with a different sense of honor and conscience so do they accordingly proceed to make methods and collections towards the satisfaction of those strong affections of hope and fear and that in their several kinds In which doing as we come to attain knowledge and discovery in the nature and course of things from the instigation of appetites to attain satisfaction so do we differently attain wisdom and knowledge as these appetites and affections do differently engage in discovery and in ploting of means and methods for attaining them and do more hardly or easily arrive at satisfaction So for example a fool can neither be much or stadily covetous or ambitious especially the letter or indeed have much of any virtue or vice which grow chiefly from society because things of Society are by him little regarded and understood farther then to the outside and pride thereof and so also must want virtue or vice because so far as he wants understanding he wants will So then it should seem necessary that the concupiscible and irascible appetites should precede knowledge and that I must have sense of want before I can have instigation to attain the means of content For he that is content and cannot give a reason of his content is a fool and the more content the more folly and the less hope of wisdom and the more sense of want the more enquiry and the more enquiry the more wisdom And therefore as the proverb is true that of an unknown thing there can be no desire because as before shewed observation and knowledge of particulars do grow into affections and appetites so is it true again that of undesired things there can be no knowledge because none will contrive or invent any means to attain any thing which they have not first a liking unto But as Wisdom is generally found of such as seek her so in every particular men are more or less knowing and crafty as their desire to the thing hath made their diligence and attention to exceed And towards our instigation to knowledge and discovery we are much holpen on by the humour of choller for by its irritation we are kept as it were awake and intent on objects and provoked also towards action But then again for wisdom and moderation in our actions we are beholding to the humor of melancholly for by its dulness and fearfulness we are brought to hesitation and advisement Hence we may learn what insinuations are best for youth towards their proficience in wisdom namely things of hardest acquisition and that have their benefit arising through engagements to largest enquiry And these are chiefly sense of Religion and sense of honor for these oblige us to diligent attention and search in all things and all the circumstances of them also insomuch as nothing can be looked upon but as through these considerations both generally and differently concerning us in our benefit or harm And these two may well go hand in hand fixing them upon right objects that is works of Beneficence and Charity for as Conscience directs us to love and to do good to our neighbour in obedience to God so doth honor prompt us to do the like by encouragement and direction of the Laws and Rules of our Prince and Country By these means all engagements will be taken in because intervening with their concerns in all we do we shall in those secret things and occasions where honor cannot reach be tyed by conscience to hearty performance also But then we are to consider that conscience