himself called not to deliberate but act without casting of scruples or fore-casting of dangers or expecting Commission from men when he had his warrant sealed within he taketh his weapon dispatching his errand and leaveth the event to the providence of God Let no man now unless he be able to demonstrate Phinees spirit presume to imitate his fact Those Opera liberi spiritus as Divines call them as they proceed from an extraordinary spirit so they were done for special purposes but were never intended either by God that inspired them or by those Worthies that did them for ordinary or general examples The error is dangerous from the privileged examples of some few exempted ones to take liberty to transgress the common rules of Life and of Laws It is most true indeed the Spirit of God is a free spirit and not tyed to strictness of rule nor limited by any bounds of Laws But yet that free spirit hath astricted thee to a regular course of life and bounded thee with Laws which if thou shalt trangress no pretension of the Spirit can either excuse thee from sin or exempt thee from punishment It is not now every way as it was before the coming of Christ and the sealing up of the Scripture Canon God having now settled a perpetual form of government in his Church and given us a perfect and constant rule whereby to walk even his holy word And we are not therefore now vainly to expect nor boastingly to pretend a private spirit to lead us against or beyond or but beside the common rule nay we are commanded to try all pretensions of private spirits by that common rule Adlegem ad testimonium To the Law and to the Testimony at this Test examine and Try the spirits whether they are of God or no. If any thing within us if any thing without us exalt it self against the obedience of this Rule it is no sweet impulsion of the holy Spirit of God but a strong delusion of the lying spirit of Satan But is not all that is written written for our Example or why else is Phinees act recorded and commended if it may not be followed First indeed Saint Paul saith All that is written is written for our learning but Learning is one thing and Example is another and we may learn something from that which we may not follow Besides there are examples for Admonition as well as for Imitation Malefactors at the place of execution when they wish the by-standers to take example by them bequeath them not the Imitation of their courses what to do but Admonition from their punishments what to shun yea thirdly even the commended actions of good men are not ever exemplary in the very substance of the action it self but in some vertuous and gracious affections that give life and lustre thereunto And so this act of Phinees is imitable Not that either any private man should dare by his example to usurp the Magistrates office and to do justice upon Malefactors without a Calling or that any Magistrate should dare by his Example to cut off graceless offenders without a due judicial course but that every man who is by virtue of his Calling endued with lawful authority to execute justice upon transgressors should set himself to it with that stoutness and courage and zeal which was in Phinees If you will needs then imitate Phinees imitate him in that for which he is commended and rewarded by God and for which he is renowned amongst men and that is not barely the action the thing done but the affection the zeal wherewith it was done For that zeal God commendeth him Numb 25. vers 11. Phinees the son of Eleazer the son of Aaron the Priest hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel whilst he was zealous for my sake among them And for that zeal God rewardeth him Ibid. 13. He shall have and his seed after him the Covenant of an everlasting Pristhood because he was zealous for his God And for that zeal did Posterity praise him the wise son of Syrac Eccl. 45. and good old Matthias upon his death bed 1 Macc. 2. And may not this phrase of speech he stood up and executed judgment very well imply that forwardness and heat of zeal To my seeming it may For whereas Moses and all the congregation sate weeping a gesture often accompanying sorrow or perhaps yet more to express their sorrow lay grovelling upon the earth mourning and sorrowing for their sin and for the Plague it could not be but the bold lewdness of Zimri in bringing his strumpet with such impudence before their noses must needs add much to the grief and bring fresh vexation to the souls of all that were righteous among them But the rest continued though with double grief yet in the same course of humiliation and in the same posture of body as before Only Phinees burning with an holy indignation thought it was now no time to sit still and weep but rowzing up himself and his spirits with zeal as hot as fire he stood up from the place where he was and made haste to execute judgment Here is a rich example for all you to imitate whom it doth concern I speak not only nor indeed so much to you the Honourable and Reverend Iudge of this Circuit of whose zeal to do justice and judgment I am by so much the better perswaded by how much the eminency of your place and the weight of your charge and the expectation of the people doth with greater importunity exact it at your hands But I speak withal and most especially to all you that are in Commission of the peace and whose daily and continual care it should be to see the wholsome laws of the Realm duly and seasonably executed Yea and to all you also that have any office appertaining to justice or any business about these Courts so as it may lie in you to give any kind of furtherance to the speeding either of Iustice in Civil or of judgment in Criminal causes Look upon the zeal of Phinees observe what approbation it had from God what a blessing it procured to his seed after him what glorious renown it hath won him with all after-ages what ease it did and what good it wrought for the present State and think if it be not worthy your imitation It is good saith the Apostle to be zealously affected always in a good thing And is it not a good thing to do justice and to execute judgment nay Religion excepted and then care of that is a branch of justice too do you know any better thing any thing you can do more acceptable to God more serviceable to the State more comfortable to your own souls If you be called to the Magistracy it is your own business as the proper work of your Calling and men
it a man whose great Wisdom and Bounty and Sanctity of Life gave a denomination to it or hath made it the more memorable as indeed it ought also to be for being the birth-place of our Robert Sanderson And the Reader will be of my belief if this humble Relation of his Life can hold any proportion with his great Sanctity his useful Learning and his many other extaordinary Endowments He was the second and youngest Son of Robert Sanderson of Gilthwait-hall in the said Parish and County Esq by Elizabeth one of the Daughters of Richard Carr of Buterthwate-hall in the Parish of Ecclesfield in the said County of York Gentleman This Robert Sanderson the Father was descended from a numerous ancient and honourable Family of his own Name for the search of which truth I refer my Reader that inclines to it tâ— Dr. Thoriton's History of the Antiâ—â—ities of Nottinghamshire and other Records not thinking it necessary here to ingage him into a search for bare Titles which are noted to have in them nothing of reality For Titles not acquir'd but deriv'd only do but shew us who of our Ancestors have and how they have atchiev'd that honour which their Descendants claim and may not be worthy to enjoy For if those Titles descend to persons that degenerate into Vice and break off the continued line of Learning or Valour or that Vertue that acquir'd them they destroy the very Foundation upon which that Honour was built and all the Rubbish of their Degenerousness ought to fall heavy on such dishonourable Heads ought to fall so heavy as to degrade them of their Titles and blast their Memories with reproach and shame But this Robert Sanderson lived worthy of his Name and Family of which one testimony may be That Gilbert call'd the great and glorious Earl of Shrewsbury thought him not unworthy to be joyn'd with him as a God-Father to Gilbert Sheldon the late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury to whose Merits and Memory Posterity the Clergy especially ought to pay a Reverence But I return to my intended Relation of Robert the Son who like Iosia that good King began in his Youth to make the Laws of God and Obedience to his Parents the Rules of his life seeming even then to dedicate himself and all his Studies to Piety and Vertue And as he was inclin'd to this by that native goodness with which the wise Disposer of all hearts had endow'd his So this calm this quiet and happy temper of mind his being mild and averse to oppositions made the whole course of his life easie and grateful both to himself and others And this blessed temper was maintain'd and improv'd by his prudent Fathers good Example as also by his frequent conversing with him and scattering short and vertuous Apothegms with little pleasant Stories and making useful applications of them by which his Son was in his Infancy taught to abhor Vanity and Vice as Monsters and to discern the loveliness of Wisdom and Vertue and by these means and God's concurring Grace his knowledge was so augmented and his native goodness so confirm'd that all became so habitual as 't was not easie to determine whether Nature or Education were his Teachers And here let me tell the Reader That these early beginnings of Vertue were by God's assisting Grace blest with what St. Paul seem'd to beg for his Philippians namely That he that had begun a good Work in them would finish it And Almighty God did For his whole life was so regular and innocent that he might have said at his death and with truth and comfort what the same St. Paul said after to the same Philippians when he advis'd them to walk as they had him for an Example And this goodness of which I have spoken seem'd to increase as his years did and with his goodness his learning the foundation of which was laid in the Grammar School of Rotheram that being one of those three that were founded and liberally endow'd by the said great and good Bishop of that Name And in this time of his being a Scholar there he was observ'd to use on unwearied diligence to attain learning and to have a seriousness beyond his age and with it a more than common modesty and to be of so calm and obliging behaviour that the Master and whole number of Scholars lov'd him as one man And in this love and amity he continued at that School till about the thirteenth year of his Age at which time his Father design'd to improve his Grammar learning by removing him from Rotheram to one of the more noted Schools of Eaton or Westminster and after a years stay there then to remove him thence to Oxford But as he went with him he call'd on an old Friend a Minister of noted learning and told him his intentions and he after many questions with his Son receiv'd such Answers from him that he assur'd his Father his Son was so perfect a Grammarian that he had laid a good foundation to build any or all the Arts upon and therefore advis'd him to shorten his journey and leave him at Oxford And his Father did so His Father left him there to the sole care and manage of Dr. Kilbie who was then Rector of Lincoln College And he after some time and trial of his manners and learning thought fit to enter him of that College and not long after to matriculate him in the University which he did the first of Iuly 1603. but he was not chosen Fellow till the third of May 1606. at which time he had taken his degree of Batchelor of Arts at the taking of which Degree his Tutor told the Rector that his Pupil Sanderson had a Metaphysical brain and a matchless memory and that he thought he had improv'd or made the last so by an Art of his own invention And all the future imployments of his life prov'd that his Tutor was not mistaken I must here stop my Reader and tell him that this Dr. Kilibie was a man of so great Learning and Wisdom and so excellent a Critick in the Hebrew Tongue that he was made Professor of it in this University and was also so perfect a Grecian that he was by King Iames appointed to be one of the Translators of the Bible And that this Doctor and Mr. Sanderson had frequent Discourses and lov'd as Father and Son The Doctor was to ride a Journey into Darbyshire and took Mr. Sanderson to bear him company and they resting on a Sunday with the Doctor 's Friend and going together to that Parish Church where they then were found the young Preacher to have no more discretion than to waste a great part of the hour allotted for his Sermon in exceptions against the late Translation of several words not expecting such a hearer as Dr. Kilibie and shew'd three Reasons why a particular word should have been otherwise translated When Evening Prayer was ended the Preacher was invited to the Doctor
everlasting punishments are they wherein Gods Iustice shall be manifested to every eye in due time at that last day which is therefore called by Saint Paul Rom. 2. The day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God Implying that howsoever God is just in all his Judgments and acts of providence even upon earth yet the Counsels and Purposes of God in these things are often secret and past finding out but at the last great day when He shall render to every man according to his works his everlasting recompence then his vengeance shall manifest his wrath and the righteousness of his judgment shall be revealed to every eye in the condign punishment of unreconciled sinners This is the Second Certainty Temporal evils are not always nor simply nor properly the punishments for sin If any man shall be yet unsatisfied and desire to have Gods justice somewhat farther cleared even in the disposing of these temporal things although it be neither safe nor possible for us to search far into particulars yet some general satisfaction we may have from a third Certainty and that is this Every evil of pain whatsoever it be or howsoever considered which is brought upon any man is brought upon him evermore for sin yea and that also for his own personal sin Every branch of this assertion would be well marked I say first Every evil of pain whatsoever it be whether natural defects and infirmities in soul or body or outward afflictions in goods friends or good name whether inward distresses of an afflicted or terrors of an affrighted Conscience whether temporal or eternal Death whether evils of this life or after it or whatsoever other evil it be that is any way grievous to any man every such evil is for sin I say secondly every evil of pain howsoever considered whether formally and sub ratione poenae as the proper effect of Gods vengeance and wrath against sin or as a fatherly correction chastisement to nurture us from some past sin or as a medicinal preservative to strengthen us against some future sin or as a clogging chain to keep under disable us from some outward work of sin or as a fit matter and object whereon to exercise our Christian graces of faith charity patience humility and the rest or as an occasion given and taken by Almighty God for the greater manifestation of the glory of his Wisdom and Power and Goodness in the removal of it or as an act of Exemplary Iustice for the Admonition and Terror of others or for whatsoever other end purpose or respect it be inflicted I say thirdly Every such evil of pain is brought upon us for sin There may be other Ends there may be other Occasions there may be other Vses of such Evils but still the Original Cause of them all is sin When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin It was not for any extraordinary notorious sins either of the blind man himself or of his Parents above other men that he was born blind Our Savious Christ acquitteth them of that Iohn 9. in answer to his Disciples who were but too forward as God knoweth most men are to judge the worst Our Saviour's Answer there never intended other but that still the true Cause deserving that blindness was his and his parents sin but his purpose was to instruct his Disciples that that infirmity was not laid upon him rather than upon another man meerly for that reason because he or his Parents had deserved it more than other men but for some farther Ends which God had in it in his secret and everlasting purpose and namely this among the rest That the works of God might be manifest in him and the Godhead of the Son made glorious in his miraculous Cure As in Nature the intention of the End doth not overthrow but rather suppose the Necessity of the Matter so is it in the works of God and the dispensations of his wonderful Providence It is from Gods Mercy ordering them to those Ends he hath purposed that his punishments are good but it is withal from our sins deserving them as the Cause that they are just Even as the Rain that falleth upon the Earth whether it moisten it kindly and make it fruitful or whether it choak and slocken and drown it yet still had its beginning from the Vapours which the Earth it self sent up All those Evils which fall so daily and thick upon us from Heaven whether to warn us or to plague us are but Arrows which our selves first shot up against Heaven and now drop down again with doubled force upon our heads Omnis poena propter culpam all evils of pain are for the evils of sin I say fourthly All such evils are for our own sins The Scriptures are plain God judgeth every man according to his own works Every man shall bear his own burden c. God hath enjoyned it as a Law for Magistrates wherein they have also his Example to lead them that not the fathers for the children nor the children for the fathers but every man should be put to death for his own sin Deut. 24. If Israel take up a Proverb of their own heads The fathers have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge they do it without cause and they are checked for it The soul that sinneth it shall die and if any man eat sowre grapes his own teeth and not anothers for him shall be set on èdge thereby For indeed how can it be otherwise or who can reasonably think that our most gracious God who is so ready to take from us the guilt of our own should yet lay upon us the guilt of other mens sins The only exception to be made in this kind is that alone satisfactory Punishment of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ not at all for his own sins far be the impiety from us so to imagine for He did no sin neither was there any guilt found in his mouth but for ours He payed that which he never took it was for our transgressions that he was wounded and the chastisement of our Peace was laid upon him Yet even those meritorious sufferings of his may be said in a qualified sence to have been for his own sins although in my judgment it be far better to abstain from such like speeches as are of ill and suspicious sound though they may be in some sort defended But how for his own sins his own by Commission by no means God forbid any man should teach any man should conceive so the least thought of this were Blasphemy but his own by Imputation Not that he had sinned and so deserved punishment but that he had taken upon him our sins which deserved that punishment As he that undertaketh for another mans debt maketh it his own and standeth Chargeable
less of the two viz. to say there were two Gods a good God the Author of all good things and an evil God the Author of all evil things If then we acknowledge that there is but one God and that one God good and we do all so acknowledge unless we will be more absurd than those most absurd Hereticks we must withal acknowledge all the Creatures of that one and good God to be also good He is so the causer of all that is good for Every good gift and every perfect giving descendeth from above from the Father of lights as that he is the causer only of what is good for with him is no variableness neither shadow of turning saith St. Iames. As the Sun who is Pater luminum the fountain and Father of lights whereunto St. Iames in that passage doth apparently allude giveth light to the Moon and Stars and all the lights of Heaven and causeth light wheresoever he shineth but no where causeth darkness so God the Father fountain of all goodness so communicateth goodness to every thing he produceth as that he cannot produce any thing at all but that which is good Every Creature of God then is good Which being so certainly then first to raise some Inferences from the Premisses for our farther instruction and use certainly I say Sin and Death and such things as are evil and not good are not of Gods making they are none of his Creatures for all his Creatures are good Let no man therefore say when he is tempted and overcome of sin I am tempted of God neither let any man say when he hath done evil It was God's doing God indeed preserveth the Man actuateth the Power and ordereth the Action to the glory of his Mercy or Iustice but he hath no hand at all in the sinful defect and obliquity of a wicked action There is a natural or rather transcendental Goodness Bonit as Entis as they call it in every Action even in that whereto the greatest sin adhereth and that Goodness is from God as that Action is his Creature But the Evil that cleaveth unto it is wholly from the default of the Person that committeth it and not at all from God And as for the Evils of Pain also neither are they of Gods making Deus mortem non fecit saith the Author of the Book of Wisdom God made not death neither doth he take pleasure in the destruction of the living but wicked men by their words and works have brought it upon themselves Perditio tua ex te Israel Hosea 13. O Israel thy destruction is from thy self that is both thy sin whereby thou destroyest thy self and thy Misery whereby thou art destroyed is only and wholly from thy self Certainly God is not the cause of any Evil either of Sin or Punishment Conceive it thus not the Cause of it formally and so far forth as it is Evil. For otherwise we must know that materially considered all Evils of Punishment are from God for Shall there be evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3. 6. In Evils of sin there is no other but only that Natural or Transcendental goodness whereof we spake in the Action which goodness though it be from God yet because the Action is morally bad God is not said to do it But in Evils of Punishment there is over and besides that Natural Goodness whereby they exist a kind of Moral Goodness as we may call it after a sort improperly and by way of reduction as they are Instruments of the Iustice of God and whatsoever may be referred to Iustice may so far forth be called good and for that very goodness God may be said in some sort to be the Author of these evils of Punishment though not also of those other evils of Sin In both we must distinguish the Good from the Evil and ascribe all the Good wheresoever it be Transcendental Natural Moral or if there be any other to God alone but by no means any of the Evil. We are unthankful if we impute any good but to him and we are unjust if we impute to him any thing but good Secondly from the goodness of the least Creature guess we at the excellent goodness of the great Creator Ex pede Herculem God hath imprinted as before I said some steps and footings of his goodness in the Creatures from which we must take the best scantling we are capable of of those admirable and inexpressible and unconceivable perfections that are in him There is no beholding of the body of this Sun who dwelleth in such a a Glorious light as none can attain unto that glory would dazle with blindness the sharpest and most Eagly eye that should dare to fix it self upon it with any stedfastness enough it is for us from those rays and glimmering beams which he hath scattered upon the Creatures to gather how infinitely he exceedeth them in brightness and glory De ipso vides sed non ipsum We see his but not Him His Creatures they are our best indeed our only instructers For though his revealed Word teach us that we should never have learned from the Creatures without it yet fitted to our capacity it teacheth no otherwise than by resemblances taken from the Creatures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Paul calleth it Rom. 1. the whole Latitude of that which may be known of God is manifest in the Creatures and the invisible things of God not to be understood but by things that are made St. Basil therefore calleth the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very School where the knowledge of God is to be learned And there is a double way of teaching a twofold method of training us up into that knowledge in that school that is to say Per viam Negationis and per viam Eminentiae First Viâ Negationis look whatsoever thou findest in the Creature which savoureth of defect or imperfection and know God is not such Are they limited subject to change composition decay c Remove these from God and learn that he is infinite simple unchangeable eternal Then Viâ Eminentiae look whatsoever perfection there is in the Creature in any degree and know that the same but infinitely and incomparably more eminently is in God Is there Wisdom or Knowledge or Power or Beauty or Greatness or Goodness in any kind or in any measure in any of the Creatures Affirm the same but without measure of Godâ—â— and learn that he is infinitely wiser and skilfuller and stronger and fairer and greater and better In every good thing so differently excellent above and beyond the Creatures as that though yet they be good yet compared with him they deserve not the name of good There is none good but one that is God Mar. 10. None good as he simply and absolutely and essentially and of himself such The creatures
knowledge 35 3. nor exempt from his punishment 36 The Inference thence Sermon III. Ad Magistratum on 1 SAM xii 3. Sect. 1 3. THe Occasion 4 Scope and 5 7 Division of the Text. 8 POINT I. Samuels voluntary offering himself to the trial 9 13 Five probable Reasons thereof 14 15 POINT II. Samuels confidence of his own Integrity 16 18 The Inference and Application 19 21 POINT III. Samuels Justice I. In disclaiming all unjust gain II. In general 22 24 With the general inference thence 25 26 and special application to Judicature 27 30 in the Particulars viz. 1. Fraud 31 34 2. Oppression 35 39 3. Bribery 49 41 a special property whereof is to blind the eyes 42 c. III. In offering Restitution Sermon VIII Ad Populum on PROV xix 21. Sect. 1 3. BEtween Gods ways and ours 4 5 Three remarkeable Differences in the Text. 7 14 DIFF I. in their Names 15 17 II. in their Number 18 21 III. in their manner of Existing 22 REASONS thereof taken from 23 24 1. The Soveraignty of God 25 26 2. The Eternity of God 27 28 3. The Wisdom of God 29 30 4. The Power of God 31 INFERENCES thence 32 3 The First 34 The Second 35 37 The Third 38 39 The Fourth 40 41 The Fifth 42 An Objection 43 44 Answered AD AULAM. The first Sermon WHITE-HALL November 1631. Eccles. 7. 1. A good Name is better than precious Oyntment and 1. WHere the Author professeth himself a Preacher it cannot be improper to stile the Treatise a Sermon This Book is such a Sermon and the Preacher being a King a Royal Sermon He took a very large but withal a very barren Text. His Text the whole World with all the pleasures and profits and honours and endeavours and businesses and events that are to be found under the Sun From which so large a Text after as exact a survey thereof taken as unwearied diligence in searching joyned with incomparable wisdom in judging could make he could not yet with all his skill raise any more than this one bare and short Conclusion proposed in the very entrance of his Sermon as the only Doctrinal Point to be insisted upon throughout Vanity of Vanities saith the Preacher Vanity of Vanities all is vanity This he proveth all along by sundry Instances many in number and various for the kind to make the induction perfect that so having fully established the main Doctrine which he therefore often inculcateth in his passage along that all things in the World are but Vanity he might the more effectually enforce the main Use which he intended to infer from it and reserveth as good Orators use to do for the close and Epilogue of the whole Sermon namely that quitting the World and the Vanities thereof men should betake themselves to that which alone is free from vanity to wit the fear and service of God Hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole duty of man 2. To the men of the world whose affections are set upon the World and who propose and promise to themselves much contentment and happiness from the things of this World as the main Doctrine it self is so are most of the Proofs and passages of the whole Sermon very Paradoxes We may not unfitly therefore call this Book Solomons Paradoxes Look no further than a few of the next following verses of this very Chapter To prefer the house of mourning before the house of feasting sorrow before laughter rebukes before Praises the end of a thing when it shall be no more before the beginning of it when it is ing and coming on a soft patient suffering spirit before a stout and haughty mind and learning before riches as the Preacher here doth what are all these and other like many if we respect the common judgment of the World but so many Paradoxes The Writings of Zeno and Chrysippus if we had them extant with the whole School of Stoicks would not afford us Paradoxes more or greater than this little book of Solomon doth There are no less than two in this short verse Wherein quite oppositely to what value the World usually setteth upon them Solomon out of the depth of that Wisdom wherewith God had filled his heart preferreth a good Name before precious Oyntment and the day of death before the day of ones birth Paradoxes both Besides the common opinion but most agreeable to truth and reason both as to him that shall duly examine them both will clearly appear It will find us work enough at this time to examine but the former only in those words A good name is better than a precious Oyntment 3. Wherein before I come to the pith of the matter I cannot but take notice of an Elegancy observable in the very bark and rind of the Letters in the Hebrew Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Figure Paronomasia as Rhetoricians call it a near affinity both in the Letters and Sound between the words whereby the opposite Terms of the Comparison are expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Name and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Oyntment Such allusions and agnominations are no strangers in either of the holy Tongues but of frequent use both in the Old and New Testaments Examples might be alledged many As out of the Old Testament Jer. 1. 11. 12. Ose. 9. 15. Amos 5. 5. and 8. 2. Ezek. 7. 6. And out of the New many more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 15. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Thes. 3. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 three together as it were with a breath Rom. 1. 29. 31. But omitting the rest I shall commend unto you but two but those very remarkable ones out of either Testament one The one in Isa. 24. where the Prophet expressing the variety of Gods inevitable judgments under three several appellations The Fear the Pit and the Snare useth three several words but agreeing much with one another in letters and sound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pachadh the Fear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pachath the Pit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pach the Snare The other in Rom. 12. where the Apostle exhorting men not to think of themselves too highly but according to sobriety setteth it off with exquisite elegancy thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. The more inconsiderate that I say not uncharitable and unjust they that pass their censures very freely as I have sometimes heard some do fondly and rashly enough upon Preachers When now and then in their popular Sermons they let fall the like Elegancies scatter in here and there some flowers of Elooution among As if all use of Rhetorical ornaments did savour of an unsanctified spirit or were the rank superfluities of a carnal Wit or did adulterate corrupt and flatten the sincere milk
prospered it is said that his name spread far abroad 2 Chron. 26. And the Prophet saith of the People of Israel in respect of her first comely estate before such time as she trusted in her own beauty and played the harlot that her name went forth among the Heathen for her beauty Ezek. 16. 20. Besides a good name as it reacheth farther so it lasteth longer than the most precious Ointments and so it excelleth in the extension of Time as well as of Place As for Riches Pleasures Honours and whatsoever other delights of mortal men who knoweth not of what short continuance they are They many times take them wings and fly away from us leaving us behind to grieve for the loss If it happen thy stay with us to the last as seldom they do yet then is the parting uncomfortable we can neither secure them from the spoil of others nor can they secure us from the wrath of God However part we must If they leave not us whilest we live sure enough we shall leave them when we die It may be when we are dead some pious friend or other may bestow upon our carcasses the cost of embalming with Spices Odours and Ointments as we see the Custom was of old both amongst the Heathens and the People of God And those precious Ointments may perhaps preserve our dead bodies some few months longer from putrefaction than otherwise they would have endured But at length howsoever the worm and the grave will prevail and we shall turn sooner or later first to dirt and then to dust And here is the utmost extension continuance and period of the most precious Ointments literal or Metaphorical the World can afford 21. But a good Name is a thing far more durable It seldom leaveth us unless through some fault or neglect in our selves but continueth with us all our life long At the hour of death also it standeth by us and giveth some sweetning unto the bitterness of those last pangs when our consciences do not suggest to our expiring thoughts any thing to the contrary but that we shall die desired and that those that live by us and survive us will account our gain by that change to be their loss Yea and it remaineth after death precious in the memories and mouths and ears of those that either knew us or had heard of us Surely no Ointments are so powerful to preserve our bodily ashes from corruption as a good name and report is to preserve our Piety and Vertue from Oblivion Their bodies are buried in peace but their name endureth for evermore Ecclus. 44. And upon this account expresly it is that the same Ecclesiasticus elsewhere as you heard before preferreth a good Name not only before the greatest riches because it will out-last a thousand great treasures of gold but even before life it self yea before a good life at least in this though in other respects it be below it as but an appurtenance thereunto that whereas a good life hath but a few days a good Name possibly may endure for ever 22. Now lay all together that hath been said that a good nà me is a more peculiar blessing That it bringeth more solid content That it enableth us more and to more worthy performances That it is of greater extension both for place and time reaching farther and lasting longer than the most precious Ointments either literally or Metaphorically understood and then judge if what Solomon hath here delivered in the Text how great a Paradox soever it may sound in the ears of a Wordling be not yet a most certain and clear Truth viz. That a good name is better then a precious Ointment and therefore in all reason to be preferred by every understanding man before Pleasures Riches Honours or whatsoever other outward delights of wordly men 23. But it is needful you should be here admonished lest what hath been hitherto said should be in any part either mistaken or misapplied that all this while I have spoken but of material Ointments and such other contentment as the outward things of this World can afford The preeminence of a good Name thus far just beware ye make not unjust by over-stretching For there is besides all these a spiritual Ointment also an inward anointing the anointing of the inner mán the Soul and Conscience with oil of the Spirit the saving graces and sweet comforts of the Holy Ghost that oil of gladness wherewith the blessed Son of God was anointed above his Fellows and without measure and whereof all the Faithful and elect Children of God are in their measure his fellow partakers Ye have an Unction from the Holy One saith St. Iohn And again The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you This is a singular and right precious Ointment indeed infinitely more to be preferred before a good Name than a good name is to be preferred before other common and outward Ointments The inseparable adjunct and evidence whereof is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we usually call a good Conscience God forbid any man should so far tender his good name as for the preservation of it to make shipwrack of the other Duae sunt res Conscientia Fama c. saith St. Augustine Two things there are saith he whereof every man should be specially chary and tender his Conscience and his Credit But that of his Conscience must be his first care this of his Name and Credit must be content to come in the second place Let him first be sure to guard his Conscience well and then may he have a due regard of his Good Name also Let it be his first care to secure all within by making peace with God and in his own breast that done but not before let him look abroad if he will and cast about as well as he can to strengthen his Reputation with before the World 24. A very preposterous course the mean while is that which those men take that begin at the wrong end making their Consciences wait upon their Credit Alas that notwithstanding the clear evidence both of Scripture and Reason to the contrary after so many sharp reprehensions by the Minister so many strait prohibitions by the Magistrate there should yet be found among our Gentry so many spirits of that desperate unchristian resolution as upon the slightest provoking word that but toucheth upon their reputation to be ready either to challenge or to accept the duel Either of which to do must needs leave a deep sting in the Conscience if yet it be penetrable and not quite seared up since thereby they expose themselves to the greatest hazard if not inevitable necessity of wilful murther either of themselves or their brethren 2. Alas that there should still be found amongst our Clergy-men that formerly being perswaded that our Church Ceremonies and Service were unlawful and having during such their perswasion preached
but reason they should be mightily humbled when they do repent 29. After repentance also Presumptuous sins for the most part have their uncomfortable Effects Very seldom hath any man taken the liberty to sin presumptuously but he hath after met with that which hath been grievous to him either in outward things or in his good name or in his soul in some or other of these if not in all even after the renewing of himself by repentance and the sealing of his pardon from God Like a grievous wound or sore that is not only of a hard cure but leaveth also some remembrance behind it some scar in the flesh after it is cured 30. First a Presumptuous sinner rarely escapeth without some notable outward Affliction Not properly as a debt payable to the Justice of God by way of satisfaction for there is no proportion between the one and the other But partly as an evidence of Gods high displeasure against such a high provocation and partly as a fit chastisement wherewith he is pleased in mercy to correct his servants when they have demeaned themselves so presumptuously that both they and others may be admonished by that example to do so no more Be David the instance What a world of mischief and misery did he create unto himself by that one presumptuous fact in the matter of Uriah almost all the days of his life after The Prophet Nathan at the very same time when he delivered him Gods royal and gracious pardon for it under seal Transtulit peccatum the Lord hath put away thy sin yet did he withal read him the bitter consequents of it as you have them set down 2 Sam. 12. And as he foretold him accordingly it fell out with him His daughter defiled by her brother that brother slain by another brother a strong conspiracy raised against him by his own Son his Concubines openly defiled by the same Son himself afflicted with the untimely and uncomfortable death of that Son who was his darling reviled and cursed to his face by a base unworthy Companion besides many other affronts troubles and vexations continually He had few quiet hours all his life long and even upon his death-bed not a little disquieted with tidings of his two Sons almost up in arms about the Succession We use to say The wilful man never wanteth woe and truly David felt it by sad experience what woe his wilfulness wrought him 31. Secondly Presumptuous sins are often Scandalous leaving an indelible stain and blot upon the name and memory of the guilty offender not to be wholly wiped off so long as that name and memory lasteth David must be our instance here too who sinned many other times and ways besides that in the matter of Uriah It can be little pleasure to us to rake into the infirmities of Gods Servants and bring them upon the Stage it would perhaps become our charity better to cast a Mantle over their nakedness where the fact will with any tolerable construction bear an excuse Yet sith all things that are written are written for our learning and that it pleased the wisdom of God for that end to leave so many of their failings upon record as glasses to represent unto us our common frailties and as monuments and marks to mind us of those rocks whereat others have been shipwrackt it cannot be blamed in us to take notice of them and to make the best use we can of them for our own spiritual advantage His diffidence then and anxiety lest he should perish one day by the hands of Saul when he had Gods promise that he should out-live him His deep dissimulation with and before Achis especially when he tendred his service to him in the Wars His rash cholerick vow to destroy Nabal and all that belonged to him who had indeed played the churl and the wretch with him as covetous and unthankful men sometimes will do but yet in rigore had done him no wrong His double injustice to his loyal Subject Mephibosheth and therein also his forgetfulness of his old and trusty friend Ionathan first in giving away all his Lands upon â—he bare suggestion of a servant and that to the false Informer himself and that without any examination at all of the matter and then in restoring him but half again when he knew the suggestion to be false His fond affection to his ungracious Son Absolom in tendring his life before his own safety and the publick good and in taking his death with so much unmanly impatience His lenity and indulgence to his other Son Adonijah who was no better than he should be neither to whom he never said so much at any time as Eli did to his Sons Why hast thou done so His carnal confidence in the multitude of his Subjects when he caused them to be numbred by the Poll. These and perhaps some other sinful oversights which do not presently occur to my memory are registred of David as well as the murther of Uriah Yet as if all these were nothing in comparison of that one that one alone is put in by the Holy Ghost by way of exception and so inserted as an exception in that glorious testimony which we find given of him 1 King 15. 5. David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite That is he turned not aside so foully and so contemptuously so presumptuously and so provokingly in any other thing as he did in that business of Uriah All his Ignorances and Negligences and Inconsiderations and Infirmities are passed over in silence only this great Presumptuous sin standeth up as a Pillar or Monument erected ad perpetuam rei memoriam to his perpetual shame in that particular for all succeeding generations to take warning and example by 32. Yet were this more tolerable if besides a Stain in the Name these Pre sumptuous sins did not also leave a Sting in the Conscience of the sinner which abideth in him many times a long while after the sin is repented of and pardoned ready upon every occasion to smite him and to gall him with some touch and remorse of his old presumption Like as a man that having gotten some sore bruise in his youth and by the help of Surgery and the strength of youth over-worn it may yet carry a grudging of it in his bonos or joynts by fits perhaps to his dying day And as for the most part such grudgings of an old bruise are aptest to recur upon some new distemper of body or upon change of weather so the grief of an old presumptuous sin is commonly most felt upon the committing of some new sin or the approach of some new affliction Do you think David had not in all those afflictions that after befel him and at the apprehension of every sinful oversight
were so replete with all filthy and impious abominations that if they should have been made known to the world it must needs have exposed their whole religion to the contempt of the vulgar and to the detestation of the wiser sort 6. Such and no better were those mysteria sacra among the Heathens whence the word Mystery had its birth and rise Both the Name and Thing being so vilely abused by them it yet pleased the holy Spirit of God to make choice of that Word whereby usually in the New Testament to express that holy Doctrine of Truth and Salvation which is revealed to us in the Gospel of grace By the warrant of whose example the ancient Church both Greek and Latin took the Liberty as what hindereth but they might to make use of sundry words and phrases fetcht from the very dregs of Paganism for the better explication of sundry points of the Christian Faith and to signifie their notions of sundry things of Ecclesiastical usage to the people The Greek Church hath constantly used this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Heathenish superstitious word and the Latin Church in like manner the word Sacramentum a Heathen military word to signifie thereby the holy Sacraments of the Christian Church I note it the rather and I have therefore stood upon it a little longer than was otherwise needful to let you know that the godly and learned Christians of those Primitive times were not so fondly shy and scrupulous as some of ours are as to boggle at much less so rashly supercilious I might say and superstitious too as to cry down and condemn for evil and even eo nomine utterly unlawful the use of all such whether names or things as were invented or have been abused by Heathens or Idolaters 7. But this by the way I return to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which being rarely found in the Greek version of the Old Testament indeed not at all so far as my search serveth me save only some few times in Daniel is frequently used in the New and that for the most part to signifie for now I come to the Quid Rei either the whole Doctrine of the Gospel or some special branches thereof or the dispensations of Gods providence for the time or manner of revealing it To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God Mat. 13. We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery 1 Cor. 2. So the Gospel is called the mystery of Christ Col. 4. mystery of Faith in this Chapter at the ninth verse and here in the Text The mystery of Godliness 8. But why a Mystery That I shall now shew you First when we see something good or bad done plainly before our eyes yet cannot imagine to what end or purpose it should tend nor can guess what should be the design or intention of the doer that we use to call a Mystery The Counsels of Princes and affairs of State Regione di stato as the Italians call it when they are purposely carried in a cloud of secrecy that the reasons and ends of their actions may be hidden from the eyes of men are therefore called the Mystery of state and upon the same ground sundry manual crafts are called Mysteries for that there belong to the exercise of them some secrets which they that have not been trained up therein cannot so well understand and they that have been trained up therein could like well that none but themselves should understand In a worser sence also it is not seldom used If some crafty Companion with whom we have had little dealings formerly should begin of a sudden to apply himself to us in a more than ordinary manner with great shews and proffers of kindness and we know no particular reason why he should so do we presently conclude in our thoughts that sure there is some mystery or other in it that is that he hath some secret ends some design upon us which we understand not Iosephâ—s writing of Antipater the Son of Herod who was a most wicked mischievous person but withal a notable dissembler very cunning and close and one that could carry matters marvellous smoothly and fairly to the outward appearance so that the most intelligent and cautious men could not escape but he would sometimes reach beyond them to their destruction he saith of him and his whole course of life that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing but a very mystery of wickedness 9. In this notion in the better sence of it may the great work of our Redemption by Jesus Christ which is the very pith and marrow of the Gospel be called a Mystery Who that should have seen a child of a span long to be born in an Inn of a mean parentage coursely swadled up and cradled in a manger and then afterwards to be brought up under a Carpenter and to live in a poor and low condition scarce worth a room where to rest his head and after all that to be bought and sold buffeâ—ed spit on reviled tortured condemned and executed as a Malefactor with as much ignominy and despightfulness as the malice of Men and Devils could devise Who that should have seen all these things and the whole carriage thereof could have imagined that upon such weak hinges should have moved the greatest act of Power Wisdom and Goodness that ever was or ever shall be done in the world that such Contemptible means should serve to bring about the eternal good will and purpose of God towards mankind yet so it was whiles Iudas was plotting his treason and the Iews contriving Christs death he to satisfie his Covetousness and they their Malice and all those other that had any hand in the business were looking every man but at his own private ends all this while was this Mystery working Unawares indeed to them and therefore no thanks to them for it nor benefit to them from it but yet by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God who most wisely and powerfully ordered all those various and vitious motions of the creature for the effectuating of his own most glorious and gracious purposes That is one Reason 10. Secondly We use to call all such things Mysteries as cannot possibly come to our knowledge unless they be some way or other revealed unto us whether they have or have not otherwise any great difficulty in them Nebuchadnezzar's dream is so called a Mystery Dan. 2. And St. Paul in one place speaking of the conversion of the Iews calleth it a Mystery I would not Brethren that you should be ignorant of this Mystery Rom. 11. and in another place speaking of the change of those that should be found alive at Christs second coming calleth that a Mystery too Behold I shew you a Mystery we shall not all dye c. 1 Cor. 15. In this notion also is the Gospel a Mystery it being utterly impossible that any wit of
our hands towards the necessities of others Of the temporals we here enjoy we are not to account ourselves Proprietaries but Stewards and such as must be accountable It should be our wisdom therefore as it will be our happiness to dispose them into other hands by Alms-deeds and other charitable works and so to improve these Temporals which we cannot properly call our own to our own spiritual and eternal advantage That latter and more special application is in the next verse Make you friends of the unrighteous Mammon c. The words proposed contain the more general application our business at this time delivered here by way of comparison a way more effectual ordinarily to provoke endeavour than bare Exhortations are For the children of this world are in their Generation wiser than the children of Light 3. In which comparison there are observable first and secondly as the terms of the comparison two sorts of persons distinguished either from other by their several Appellations and compared the one with the other in the point of wisdom The children of this world on the one part and the children of light on the other between these the question is whether sort is wiser Thirdly the sentence or judgment given upon the question clearly on behalf of the former sort they are pronounced the wiser The children of this world wiser than the children of light Lastly the limitation of the sentence how far forth it is to be understood They wiser true but then you must take it right wiser in their generation not simply and absolutely wiser Of which in order 4. The persons are children of this world and children of light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both sons or children That is terminus convenientiae as opposites have always something wherein they agree Men of some special Country Profession Quality or Condition are by an usual Hebraism in the Scriptures expressed by this word Children with some addition thereunto as Children of Edom Children of the Prophets Children of death From the Hebrews other Languages have by derivation entertained the same Pleonasm as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so frequent in Homer filii medicorum and the like In the Scriptures it is very usual both in the good part and in the bad In the good part you have children of Abraham children of Wisdom children of God in the evil part children of Belial children of Disobedience children of Hell Here are both Children of the World and Children of Light 5. For the World first the Greeks have two words for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one importing more properly the frame of the creatures the other some space or duration of time rather That propriety is not always observed by Writers yet here it is for the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hath respect unto Time Next whereas it is said this World that implieth there is another set oppositely against this distinguished Luke 20. by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this world and that world otherwhere by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world that now is and the world to come Again this world so taken to wit as it standeth distinguished from that world or the world to come is yet capable to be understood in a double notion For it may be taken either in a more general sence with respect to the common affairs of this life without difference of good or bad as it is taken in that place of Luke now mentioned The children of this world marry and are given in marriage but they that shall be counte'd worthy of that world c. The children of this world that is men that live here on earth whilest here they live and the children of that world they that hereafter shall live for ever in heaven Or it may be taken in a narrower and more restrained sence as the world is opposed an contradistinguished to the Church And the opposition of the children of this world to the children of light sheweth it must be so taken here in effect as if he had said the children of darkness Those then are the children of this world here meant who as subjects serve under the Prince of darkness the God of this world live in the works of darkness the employment of this world and when they die unless God in special mercy deal otherwise with them and that will not be done but upon the condition supposed that of their repentance shall be cast into utter darkness at the end of the world 6. And this title we may conceive to belong unto them in a threefold respect in asmuch as 1. Their affections are bent upon this world 2. Their conversations are conformed to this world and 3. There portion is allotted them in this world First children of this world for that their affections are wholly set upon the world The Godly are in this world tanquam in alieno as strangers and pilgrims in a foreign yea in the enemies country and they look upon the world and are looked upon by it as strangers and are used by it accordingly If they were of the world the world would own them and love them as her own party and they would also love the world again as their own home But because they are not of the world though they be in it but are denizons of heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 3. therefore the world hateth them and they on the other side are weary of the world and long after heaven their own countrey where their treasure is laid up and where their hearts and affections also are Like an English Factor in Turkey that hath some dealings there if not rather like an English Captive that is held Prisoner there but still professeth himself a Subject of England and his heart and desires are here But the Children spoken of here in the Text are in the World tanquam in proprio as in their own Countrey at their own homes where if they might they would willingly set up their rest for ever As Socrates being asked what Countrey-man he was answered that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a Citizen of the world so but in another and a worse sence are they No marvel then if they doat so much upon the world as bad as it is and settle their hearts and affections so entirely thereupon saying as St. Peter did when he said he knew not what bonum est esse hic It is good being here Their souls cleave to the world and it is death to them to part from it 7. And as for their Affections so secondly children of this world in respect of their Conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle fashion not your self after this present world The Godly being changed in the renewing of their minds do
and by what evidence you must approve your selves to be Gods Defend the poor and fatherless saith he in that Psalm See that such as be in need and necessity have right Deliver the out-cast and poor Save them from the hand of the ungodly This premised it then followeth one verse only interseâ—â—ed I have said Ye are Gods As if he had said So do and then you are Gods indeed but without this care you are Idols and not Gods Much like the Idol-Gods of the Heathen that have eyes and see not ears and hear not mouths and speak â—â—ot that have a great deal of worship from the people and much reverence but are good for nothing By this very Argument in Baruc 6. are such Idols disproved to be Gods They can save no Man from death neither deliver the weak from the mighty They cannot restore a blind Man to his sight nor help any Man in his distress They can shew no mercy to the widow nor do good to the fatherless How should a Man then think and say that they are Gods 11. I hope the greatest upon earth need think it no disparagement to their greatness to look down upon the afflictions of their meanest brethren and to stoop to their necessities when the great God of Heaven and Earth who hath his dwelling so high yet humbleth himself to behold the simple that lie as low as the dust and to liâ—t up the poor that sticketh fast in the mire The Lord looketh down from his Sanctuary from the Heaven did the Lord behold the Earth That he might hear the mournings of such as be in captivity and deliver the children appointed unto death So then for the performance of this duty thou hast God's Commandment upon thee and thou hast God's Example before thee If there be in thee any true fear of God thou wilt obey his Command and if any true hope in God follow his Example 12. If from God we look downward in the next place upon our selves and duly consider either what power we have or what need we may have from both considerations we may discover yet farther the necessity of this duty And first from our Power There is no power but of God and God bestoweth no power upon Man nor indeed upon any Creature whatsoever to no purpose The natural powers and faculties as well of our reasonable souls as of our organical bodies they have all of them their several uses and operations unto which they are designed And by the Principles of all good Philosophy we cannot conceive of Power but in order and with reference to Act. Look then what power God hath put into any of our hands in any kind and in any measure it lieth us upon to employ it to the best advantage we can for the good of our brethren for to this very end God hath given us that power whatever it be that we might do good therewithal The Lord hath in his wise providence so disposed the things of this World that there should ever be some rich to relieve the necessities of the poor and some poor to exercise the charity of the rich So likewise he hath laid distresses upon some that they might be succoured by the power of others and lent power to some that they might be able to succour the distresses of others Now as God himself to whom all power properly and originally belongeth delighteth to manifest his power rather in shewing mercy than in works of destruction God spake once Twice have I heard the same that power belongeth unto God and that thou Lord art merciful Psal. 62. O let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before thee according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die Psal. 79. So all those upon whom God hath derived any part of that power should consider that God gave it them for edification not for destruction to do good withal and to help the distressed and to save the innocent not to trample upon the poor and oppress those that are unable to resist Pestifera vis est valere ad nocendum It is in truth a great weakness in any Man rather than a demonstration of power to stretch his power for the doing of mischief An evident Argument whereof is that observation of Solomon in Prov. 28. confirmed also by daily experience that a poor Man that oppresseth the poor is ever the most merciless oppressor It is in matter of Power many times as it is in matter of Learning They that have but a smattering in Scholarship you shall ever observe to be the forwardest to make ostentation of those few ends they have because they fear there would be little notice taken of their Learning if they should not now shew it when they can And yet you may observe that withal it oftentimes falleth out very unluckily with them that when they think most of all to shew their Scholarship they then most of all by some gross mistake or other betray their Ignorance It is even so in this case Men of base spirit and condition when they have gotten the advantage of a little power conceive that the World would not know what goodly Men they are if they should not do some Act or other whereby to shew forth their power to the World And then their minds being too narrow to comprehend any brave and generous way whereby to do it they cannot frame to do it any other way than by trampling upon those that are below them and that they do beyond all reason and without all mercy 13. This Argument taken from the end of that power that God giveth us was wisely and to good purpose pressed by Mordecai Esth. 1. to Queen Esther when she made difficulty to go into the Presence to intercede for the people of the Iews after that Haman had plotted their destruction Who knoweth saith he there whether thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this As if he had said Consider the marvellous and gracious providence of God in raising thee who wert of a despised nation and kindred to be partaker with the most potent Monarch in the World in the Royal Grown and Bed Think not but the Lord therein certainly intended some great work to be done by thy hand and power for his poor distressed Church Now the hour is come now if ever will it be seasonable for thee to make use of those great fortunes God hath advanced thee to and to try how far by that power and interest thou hast in the King's favour thou canst prevail for the reversing of Haman's bloody Decree and the preserving our whole Nation from utter destruction And of this Argument there seemeth to be some intimation in the very Text as those words in the 12th verse may and that not unfitly be understood He that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it that is He that hath preserved
they found them Hoc olim factitavit Pyrrhus seemed to him plea enough in the Comedy It so much the more concerneth every good and wise Man especially those that are in place of Authority whose actions are most looked upon and soonest drawn into Example so to order themselves in their whole conversations that such as come after them may be rather provoked by their good example to do well than encouraged by their evil example to do amiss If at any time hereafter Saul should take any Man's Ox or Ass from him by any manner of fraud oppression or bribery the constant practice of his immediate Predecessor for sundry Years together shall stand up and give evidence against him and cast him Samuel's integrity shall condemn him both at the Bar of his own Conscience and in the mouths of all Men at leastwise he shall have no cause to vouch Samuel for his Precedent no colour to shroud his miscarriages under the authority of Samuel's Example 14. We cannot now marvel that Samuel should thus offer himself to the trial when as no Man urged him to it sith there may be rendred so many congruous reasons for it Especially being withal so conscious to himself of having dealt uprightly that he knew all the World could not touch him with any wilful violation of justice He doth not therefore decline the trial but seek it and putteth himself upon it with marvellous confidence challenging all Comers and craving no favour Behold here I am witness against me before the Lord and before his Anointed Here is no excepting against any Witness nor refusal of any Iudg either God or Man He had a good cause and therefore he had also a good heart All Vertues are connext among the rest so are Iustice and Fortitude The righteous are bold as a Lion The Merchant that knoweth his Wares to be faulty is glad of the dark Shop and false Light whereas he that will uphold them right and good willeth his Customers to view them in the open Sun Qui malè agit odit lucem He that doth evil loveth to skulk in the dark and will not abide the light which is to him as the terrors of the shadow of death lest his evil deeds should be found out and laid open to his shame Even as Adam hid his head in a bush when he heard the Voice of God because his Conscience told him he had transgressed 15. A corrupt Magistrate or Officer may sometimes set a face upon it and in a kind of bravery bid defiance to all the World but it is then when he is sure he hath power on his side to bear him out when he is so backt with his great friends that no Man dare mutire contra once open his lips against him for fear of being shent Even as a rank Coward may take up the Bucklers and brave it like a stout Champion when he is sure the Coast is clear and no body near to enter the Lists with him And yet all this but a meer flourish a faint and feign'd bravado his heart the while in the midst of his belly is as cold as lead and he meaneth nothing less than what he makes shew of If the offer should be indeed accepted and that his actions were like to be brought upon the publick stage there to receive a due and impartial hearing and doom how would he then shrink and hold off trow ye then what crouching and fawning and bribing and dawbing to have the matter taken up in a private Chamber and the wound of his credit a little overly-salved tho upon never so hard and base conditions His best wits shall be tried and his best friends to the utmost if it be possible by any means to decline a publick trial 16. Be just then Fathers and Brethren and ye may be bold So long as you stand right you stand upon your own legs and not at the mercy of others But turn aside once to defrauding oppressing or receiving rewards and you make your selves slaves for ever Intus pugnae foris timores Horrors and gripes within because you have knowingly done what you ought not Terrors and fears within lest your wicked dealings should come to light whereby you might receive the due shame and punishment thereof Possibly you may bear up if the times favour you and by your greatness out-face your Crimes for a while but that is not a thing to trust to O trust not in wrong and robbery saith David Psal. 62. The wind and the tide may turn against you when you little think it and when once you begin to go down the wind every base and busy Companion will have one puff at you to drive you the faster and farther down 17. Yet mistake not as if I did exact from Magistrates an absolute immunity from those common frailties and infirmities whereunto the whole race of mankind is subject The imposition were unreasonable It is one of the unhappinesses that attends both your Calling and ours Magistracy and Ministry that every ignorant Artisan that perhaps knoweth little and practiseth less of his own duty can yet instruct us in ours and upon every small oversight make grievous out-cries by objecting to you your place to us our cloath a Man of his place a Man of his cloath to do thus or thus As if any Christian Man of what place or of what cloath soever had the liberty to do otherwise than well or as if either we or you were in truth that in respect of our natures which in respect of our Offices we are sometimes called we Angels and you Gods Truly however it pleaseth the Lord for our greater honour thus to stile us yet we find it in our selves but too well and we make it seen by us alas but too often that we are Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subject to the like passions ignorances and sinful aberrations that other Men are And I doubt not but Samuel notwithstanding all this great confidence in his own integrity had yet among so many causes as in so many years space had gone through his hands sundry times erred in judgment either in the substance of the sentence or at least in some circumstances of the proceedings By mis-informations or mis-apprehensions or by other passions or prejudices no doubt but he might be carried and like enough sometimes was to shew either more lenity or more rigour than was in every respect expedient 18. But this is the thing that made him stand so clear both in his own Conscience and in the sight of God and the World that he had not wittingly and purposely perverted judgment nor done wrong to any Man with an evil or corrupt intention but had used all faithfulness and good Conscience in those things he did rightly apprehend and all requisite care and diligence so far as humane frailty would suffer to find out the truth and the right in those things whereof he could