and Debaucheries Hast thou a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is thy Body turned black and sallow and thy beauty faded 't is probably occasioned by a too great delight and content in admiring the excellency of thy frail Complexion Hast thou a Paralysis is the use of thy Limbs taken from thee 't is Sin is the cause perhaps thy Hands have been shut to the Poor or thy Feet swift to shed Blood or to walk in the paths of ungodliness Sin therefore is not the object of a rational man's Choice because it is the Souls Sickness and the sourse of all bodily Distempers and Diseases Seventhly Sin is not a sit Object to be elected because it is the unhappy parent of Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Death By Sin Death entred into the World Rom. 5. 12. Death is the Child of sin not of Nature Nay it destroys our Souls as well as our Bodies The Soul that sinneth shall dye the death of Nature and the death of Grace Sin occasion'd both and not only so but the death that never dies is sins Wages 't is Sin keeps in the fire of Hell to all Eternity that lays on those everlasting torments prepared for the Devil and his Angels 't is sin that not only feeds the Worm with our Bodies but the never-dying worm with our Souls likewise it kindles the slames of Lust here in our hearts and blows the coals in Hell to torment both our bodies and souls to eternal Ages and who can dwell with everlasting burnings Lastly Sin is not the object of a rational Man or good Christians Choice if put in the ballance with Afflictions and that is the last Branch of the Thesis which I laid down at the beginning of my Discourse occasioned by Elihu's Reprehension of Job under the notion of chusing wickedness rather than sufferings and this I shall demonstrate briefly and plainly and make Application to our selves My Position is this without any Equivocation it is the property of a good Man to chuse the greatest Affliction before the least Sin or there is more evil in one sin than in all whatsoever Suffering This appears in ten Particulars 1. Sin separates from God but Affliction not 2. Affliction is not Sin is evil in its self 3. A sinful state cannot but an afflicted may consist with the love of God 4. The evil of Suffering is but momentany of Sin everlasting 5. We are called to Suffering commanded by Christ to take up our Cross and to follow him but not called to sin 6. The end of Suffering is glory of Sin shame 7. By suffering we lose some outward good by Sin the soul 8. Suffering speaks our conformity to Christ Sin to the Devils 9. God is the Author of Affliction not of Sin Lastly Afflictions may be good if sanctified to us but not Sins I shall not observe a strict order as to every one of these Heads but single out the chiefest and most useful for a mixt Audience 1. To chuse Affliction is a hard choice for Affliction is not good in its self but however it may be useful to us happy is the man that endureth temptations and chastnings the Scripture speaks in many places but happy is the man that commits Iniquity hath not the patronage of one single Text David could say upon tryal Psal 119. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes but he never said It is good for me that I have sinned unlearned thy Precepts or broke thy Commandments David pleased himself in being afflicted but not in thinking he had sinned as is visible enough in his seven Penitential Psalms and particularly if we compare the 2 Sam. 10. chap. 11. ver with Psalm 51. we shall find David reckoning his sins as the 1 2 3. greatest punishment in all the World David did not first pray that his House might be delivered from the fury of the Sword or that his Wives might not be violated before his face his Children might not be Rebells the good man passed by these things as temporal and trivial punishments but he cries upon his Sins his Sins his Sins three times in a breath Psal 51. 1. as so many haunting Devils that disturbed his rest When Paul of a Persecutor became a persecuted Apostle and was delivered from his sins he was immediately so ravished with the love of his deliverer and the joy of his deliverance that he cared not to be delivered from any misery besides he even gloried in tribulation as very useful both to exercise and feed his patience as Rom. 5. 3. Acts 21. 13. he was ready not to be bound only but dye for the Lord Jesus Sickness and Plunder Banishment and Bonds and every kind of Persecution are heavy burthens to the Flesh but light being wighed in the ballance with the pressures and miseries of Sin and Wickedness when God the Father of Spirits afflicts his Sons and Daughters he doth it that they may be partakers of his Holiness as Heb. 12. 10 11. but Sin is the sting of all afflictions 't is the suffering as Evil doers that keeps men from being Martyrs but they are happy who suffer in a good cause for even hereunto are ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should tread in his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his lips Moses well understood himself when he chose rather to be afflicted with the people of God than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Heb. 11. 25. So the old Martyrs Will you have a Prison or deny your Saviour and your Lord Will you burn in this fire or commit that Idolatrous Act Will you dye by a Halter or forsake the Faith Oh say they give us Prisons Fires Axes Gibbets Wheels Lyons all the Torments invented by Men or Devils rather than we will comply with Sin and Wickedness This is a Point necessary in all but especially these Times wherein men boast of a Zeal for God but not according to Knowledge and seek to avoid future possible Afflictions by present unlawful Actions As in the Duke of York's Case no man that understands the Scriptures and will not suffer his Reason by passion to be ecclipsed can believe it lawful by Gods Laws to bar any man of his Right of Succession to a Crown of all temporal Rights the greatest to avoid future probable Inconveniences in Sacred and Civil Administrations nor do I believe that any the framers of this Bill would think it a piece of Justice to have their Children or in default of Issue their Brethren in the flesh thus debar'd of their Rights for different modes of Worship from what is now Legally Established That which is simply evil may not for any good be done the Case we are now upon if Saint Paul or the Holy Ghost speaking by him understood the Christian Religion 't is not lawful to tell an officious Lye for the glory of God as Job 13. 7.
THE Primitive Christian JUSTIFIED AND Jack Presbyter REPROVED OR A Scripture Demonstration That to be Innocent and Persecuted is more Eligible than to be Prosperously Wicked Delivered in a SERMON IN THE Abby-Church of BATH By WILLIAM GOVLDE No Flames of Civil Dissentions are more Dangerous than those which make Religious Pretentions Grounds of Factions K. CHARLES the First LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the King 's Most Sacred MAJESTY 1682. TO THE READER THIS Discourse following had never seen the light if Jack Presbyter would have permitted the Author to be quiet the Principle here defended is a plain Truth justified by our Saviour's life That an Afflicted is more Eligible than a Sinful state which I presume was sound Primitive Doctrine and will be always so esteemed by the Regular Protestant Notwithstanding it gave great Distast to the Presbyterian Brotherhood One Gentleman would have had me Whipt for saying it was Irrational and Irreligious to commit a Sin that Good might come thereof Another told me I forgot to Preach Jesus Christ and him Crucified and yet if I mistake not he was a man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief yet knew no sin niether was guile found in his mouth A third Zeal-drunk Monseur Complimented me in the Queens Bath that Mr. Topham a Serjeant at Arms I think was my very good Friend and desired a Copy of what I delivered and that if I had any Service to him he would effectually present it my Answer was very sharp and being publickly known abroad needs not now be repeated Hang the Rascal said a fourth He Preached for a Cardinals Cap at the coming in of the Pope by which you may guess what will become of William Goulde if these Gentlemen once give Law to the Church and State But I have however printed it to shew I dare be honest and will not be huft out of my Integrity by Noise and Tumult for I have learned to fear him who can cast body and soul into Eternal torment more than a Speaker or a Pope or the Reprimand of either or both In this Discourse I affirm and will prove it that by the Laws of God by the Principles of the true Protestant Religion publiquely Professed in the Church of England the Bill against the Duke of York is not to be Justified and my Reason is grounded in the Text It is not lawful to chuse Sin to avoid being Persecuted and that Bill which renders a man dead in Law for want of Grace will bring more Confusion unto a State than it pretends to avoid and approaches too near the Doctrine of the Conclave of the Popes power in disposing the Kingdoms of an Heretique I declare my self as free from Popery as any Zealot of the Kirk and in two great Points the Regall and Episcopal Government I have a greater Value for these than any Presbyterian or Independent either Rigid or Moderate He that shall consider how the Jesuitical Party in the Conventicle of Trent undermined the Power of King and Bishop to give the Jurisdiction of both to their Lord God the Pope and compare it with the practices of the Covenanting Presbyter against Prince and Bishop to make them both Truckle under the Lay-Elder-Government will think it unreasonable to excuse these later whilst the others are subject to the Penalties of the Act of the 35th of Queen Elizabeth If Jack-Presbyter think any Injury done him I hope the two following Arguments will clear me from his Charge in all moderate Mens Judgment First The Votes of Non-Addresses to or receiving any Messages from the late Martyr'd Monarch was certainly Cozen-German if not more nearly related to the Bull of Pope Pius against Queen Elizabeth be it remembred that those Votes were never recalled till the King was under the Armed Power of the Independent Secondly The Bill against Bishops root and branch solemnly attending upon the League and Covenant was as much prejudicial to the Episcopal Government of the Church of England as any thing said or Acted against that Ancient order by any Jesuit Papists in the Council aforesaid Of these two Arguments if the Reader dares be Honest and Candid he is left to be the Judge between the Presbyterian Brotherhood and William Goulde JOB xxxvi 21. Verse Regard not Iniquity for this thou hast Chosen rather than Affliction TO have the favour to receive Commands and the Meekness to obey them is the satisfaction of Angels and it is hence concluded by Gerson the late learned Chancellor of Paris that if an Angel were to set out himself in lustre and triumph in a Magnificat it would be rather in the blessed Virgins stile as a servant of God than a Prince of so many Myriads of Subjects would the Scripture allow me that kind of Idolatry the binding my Faith or obedience to any one infallible earthly Judge or Prince were it reconcileable to my Creed it would be certainly with my interest to get into that posture of Obedience yet we find Subjection so hard a lesson to the Sons of men that neither Wrath nor Conscience can prevail with us to obey God or for his sake to submit to our lawful Superiours This is so well understood by wise Princes and States that they have invented new ways to entertain busie and active Spirits to keep them from tampering with their publique Laws and Constitutions The body of a Flea or an Ant will afford a Vertuoso many choice Observations demonstrating Problems solving Phaenomena's and drawing Schemes and Diagrams may divert your busie Mercurial Witts from making new Ideas and Platforms for Churches and Kingdoms the ground of which Aversness is the want of a right understanding of that great principle of our Christian Religion the going the high-way of the Cross to the Kingdom of heaven and hence it comes that Christianity is scandalized by Recusants Popish and Puritan who prefer Rebellion before Martyrdom and so are lyable to Elihu's reprehension for chusing iniquity rather than affliction I shall summ up the substance of the whole Text into one plain and Genuine Observation That Sin is neither eligible in its self nor to be chosen to avoid the suffering of Persecution Sin I say cannot properly taken be the object of a rational mans or true Christians choice First if considered in its self or Consequences Secondly if we look on Sin as opposite to Gods Essence and Attributes Thirdly if we consider it as the transgression of Gods Laws Fourthly as destructive to our own Souls Fifthly as the Original of all the distempers of our Bodies and Sixthly as the occasion of Death in all kinds Temporal Spiritual and Eternal as Divines distinguish according to the Scriptures Lastly which includes the second branch of the Thesis it cannot be the object of a rational choice as put in the ballance with the greatest Pressures Afflictions and Difficulties None can deny considering the present juncture of Affairs but that I have pitched on a seasonable Subject of Discourse
and that Shame is its never failing consequence and so ineligible in both respects Absalon's Rebellion was covered over with a fit of Devotion one Herod murthers with worshipping the blessed Babe and another Herod strikes off the Baptists Head to avoid being perjur'd Saul excused his sin by bringing it to the Altar and the worst of men incarnate Devils of whom St. Paul speaks 2 Timoth. 3. chap. from the 2. to the 7. ver had a form of godliness Now were Sin an eligible thing the proper object of a rational Choyce what need were there of excuses or denials after the commission of any wickedness or giving it glorious or borrowed titles to cover its deformities And so Sin is not to be chosen either for its self or with respect to its immediate fruits or consequences Thirdly Sin is not the object of a rational Mans or true Christians choice because every way opposite to all Gods glorious Attributes and his very Being and Essence If we consider Gods sovereignty Sin is Rebellion if his Justice it is Iniquity if his Goodness sin is Unkindness If God's holiness and pureness Sin is defilement Consider God's holiness as a Rule Sin is a Transgression if as an Excellency Sin is Deformity Thus it is contrary to the whole nature of God and strikes at his Attributes and Essence As God is every way in himself good so Sin is evil in its self and good in no respect and as God is to be loved for himself because the chiefest good so Sin is to hated for it self The holy Ghost could not call it by a worse name than its self as Rom. 7. 13. Sin that it might appear sin and Sin by the commandment appeared exceeding sinful Again God is the great reward of himself and Sin the punishment of its self Dyametrically opposite We are hereby enemies to God Coloss 1. haters of God Rom. 1. 30. Sin is contrary to the glory of God essential and manifestative it denies the glory due to God Rom. 1. 21. Titus 1. 16. despiseth and reproacheth his glory and misimployes it by giving it to men to our selves or to the Devil as they who told our Saviour that he cast out Devils by Belzeebub Sin wrongs God in his very Nature and Being as Psal 14. 1. every sinner wisheth there were no God and saith it in his heart as David observeth Upon each of these Heads I might insist very largely but to avoid trespassing on your patience I pass to the following particulars Fourthly Sin is the transgression of God's Laws and so not the object of a Christians Choice In the Law there is a Rectitude every thing in God's Commands is just and right Sin is crookendness the Law teacheth wisdom Sin is folly and the Wicked man a fool and both in Scripture and very frequent in the Proverbs made convertible terms God's Commands are pure Sin is filthiness Rom. 7. 12. there is liberty in the Law James 2. 8. Sin is a bondage 2 Timothy 2. 26. the keeping of the Law brings a reward but Sin shame and death Rom. 6. 22 23. but that which aggravates the sinfulness of Sin upon this account is that it is the transgression of such Laws as are not grievous 1. Laws reasonable and suitable to our nature and advantageous to our interest 2. Such Laws as the Author of which hath given us sufficient power and strength if not wanting to our selves for the performance 3. Such Laws by obedience to which we arrive at an Eternity of happiness 1. The Laws of God of which Sin is a transgression are reasonable suitable to our Nature and advantageous to our Interest He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to doe Justice and love Mercy and walk humbly with thy God This is the summ of the natural Law that we behave our selves reverently and obediently to the divine Majesty and justly and Charitably towards men and for the better discharge of both to govern our selves in sensual delights with Temperance and Moderation and what is there grievous in all this That we inwardly reverence and love God and express it by external worship and our readiness to obey his will revealed testifie our dependance on him in all Dangers and Wants by offering up to him our constant Prayers and Supplications and acknowledge our obligations by continual Praises and Thanksgivings for all his mercies to entertain of God no unworthy thoughts nor give to others that honour and reverence which is only sutable to his Excellence and Perfections carefully to avoid the prophanation of his Name and take heed of the neglect and contempt of his Worship or any thing belonging to it this is the first part of Natural Religion the generals of those Duties which every mans reason tells him he owes to God and here thus far there is nothing commanded but what agrees very well with the reason of Mankind As for the six last precepts of the Decalogue relating to the good order and government of our Selves with respect to our selves Equals Inferiours or Superiours these are such Laws as tend to our own peace and the happiness of humane Socieites and as expounded in Christ's Sermon on the Mount nothing more can be devised for the welfare of Mankind by sweetning their Spirits and allaying their Passions and Animosities 2. The Author of those Laws of which Sin is the Transgression hath not left us destitute of Strength or Power for performance 't is true We have Contracted a great deal of Weakness by our wilful Degeneracy from goodness but that grace which the Gospel offers to us for our Assistance is sufficient for us greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world 1 John 4. 4. and if so then it clearly followeth that such as apply themselves seriously to Religion and yield themselves tractable to good Motions will find the Spirit of God more ready and active for their Incouragement than the Devil to pull them back unless we think God hath given a greater power and a larger commission to the Devil to doe us mischief than to his holy Spirit and his holy Angels to doe us good which were Blasphemy to assert and the calling in question the goodness of God Some say we cannot keep the Commandments and its true of our selves as of our selves we are not able to think a good thought much less to doe a good work As of our selves Note that for the same Apostle saith I can doe all things through Christ that strengtheneth me and these two must be reconciled we cannot and we can keep the Commandments that is we cannot of our selves but we can through Christ that strengthens us and whose grace is never wanting to us unless we are wanting to our selves To say we cannot keep the Commandments without adding Saint Paul's Comment as of our selves I look upon as a Crude position incourageing Idleness for God inquestionably offers us