and take his portion of meat drinke livery lodging and every other thing at the discretion and appointment of his master Neither may the servant of God looke to be his owne carver in any thing neither ought hee to mutter against his master with that ungracious servant in the porable complaining of his hardnesse and austerity if his allowances in some things fall short of his desire but having food and rayment be it never so little never so course hee should be content with it nay though he should want either or both he should be content without it Wee should all learne of an old experienced servant of God Saint Paul what grace and long experience had taught him In what soever state wee are to bee therewith content We are to shew our obedience to our heavenly master yet further by submitting to his wholsome discipline when at any time he shall see cause to give us correction Our Apostle a little after the text would have servants to be subject even to their froward masters and to take it patiently when they are buffetted undeservedly and without fault How much more ought wee to accept the punishment of our iniquity as wee have the phrase Levit. 26. and with patience to yeeld our backs to the whip when God who hath been so gracious a master to us shall thinke fit to exercise some little severity towards us and to lay stripes upon us Especially since he never striketh us first but for our fault such is his justice nor secondly such is his mercy but for our good And all this belongeth to that Obedience which the servant of God ought to manifest both by doing and suffering according to the will of his master The third and last generall duty is Fidelity Who is a faithfull and wise servant Well done thou good and faithfull servant As if both the wisedome and goodnesse of a servant consisted in his faithfulnesse Now the faithfulnesse of a servant may be tryed especially by these 3. things By the heartinesse of his service by being tender of his masters honour and profit and by his quicknesse and diligence in doing his businesse A notable example whereof we have in Abrahams servant Gen. 24. in all the 3. particulars For first being many miles distant from his master he was no lesse sollicitous of the businesse he was put in trust withall then hee could have beene if hee had beene all that while in the eye of his master Secondly hee framed himselfe in his speeches and actions and in his whole behaviour to such a discreet carriage as might best set forth the credit and honour of his master Thirdly he used all possible diligence and expedition losing not any time either at first for she delivery of his message or at last for his return home after he had brought things to a good conclusion Such faithfulnes would well become us in the service of God in all the aforesaid respects The first whereof is Heartinesse in his service There are many servants in the world that will worke hard and bustle at it lustily for a fitt and so long as their masters eye is upon them but when his back is turned can be content to goe on fayre and softly and fellow-like Such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle condemneth Col. 3. and elsewhere admonishing servants whatsoever they doe to doe it heartily and to obey their masters not with eye-service but in singlenesse of heart Towards our heavenly master true it is if wee had but this eye service it were enough because we are never out of his eye his eyes are in all the corners of the earth beholding the evill and the good and his eye lids tryeth the children of men he is about our beds and about our paths and spyeth out all our goings And therefore if we would but study to approve our selves and our actions before his sight it could not be but our services should be hearty as well as handy because our hearts are no lesse in his sight then our hands are Wee cannot content our master nor should wee content our selves with a bare and barren profession in the service of God neither with the addition of some outward performances of the worke done But since our master calleth for the heart as well as the hand and tongue and requireth truth in the inward parts no lesse rather much more then shew in the outward let us but joyne that inward truth of the heart un to the outward profession and performance and doubtlesse we shall be accepted Only feare the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart 1 Sam. 12. Secondly wee must shew our faithfulnesse to our master by our zeale in his behalfe A faithfull servant will not endure an evill word spoken of his master behind his back but he will be ready upon every occasion to vindicate his credit and to magnify him unto the opinion of others He will make much of those that love his master and set the lesse by those that care not for him And as to his credit principally so he hath an eye also in the second place to the profit of his master Hee will have a care to save his goods the best he can it will grieve his very heart to see any of them vainely wasted or embeazeled by his fellow servants yea and it will be some griefe to him if any thing under his hand doe but chance to miscarry though it be without his fault See we how far every of us can apply all this to our owne selves in the service of God If we have no heart to stand up in our ranke and place for the maintenance of Gods truth and worship when it is discountenanced or overborne either by might or multitudes if our blood will not appeare a little when cursed miscreants blast the honour of God with their unhallowed breath by blaspheming oathes fearefull imprecations scurrile prophanations of Scripture licentious and bitter sarcasâ—â—es against the holy ordinances of God iâ— a profound drunkard an obscene rimer an habituated swearer a compleat roarer every loose companion and professed scorner of all goodnesse that dâ—e but peepe out with a head be as welcome into our company and finde as full and free entertainement with us as he that caryeth the face and for any thing we know hath the heart of an honest and sober Christian without either prophanenesse or precisenesse If we grieve not for the miscariages of those poore soules that live neere us especially those that fall any way under our charge what faithfulnesse is there in us or what zeale for God to answer the title we usurpe so often as we call our selves the servants of God Thirdly if we be his faithfull servants we should let it appeare by our diligence in doing his businesses No man would willingly entertaine an idle
profitable service And now I pray you what can any man â—lledge or pretend for himselfe if he shall hang backe and not with all speed and cheerefulnesse tender himselfe to so just so necessary so easie so honourable so profitable a service Me thinkes I heare every man answer as the Israelites sometimes said to Iosâ—uah with one common voice God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve any other Nay but we will serve the Lord for hee is our God Ioshua 24. But beloved let us take heed we doe not gloze with him as we doe one with another wee are deceived if wee thinke God will bee mocked with hollow and empty protestations Wee live in a wondrous complementall age wherein scarce any other word is so ready in every mouth as your servant and at your service when all is but meere forme without any purpose or many times but so much as single thought of doing any serviceable office to those men to whom we professe so much service However we are one towards another yet with the Lord there is no dallying it behoveth us there to be reall If wee professe our selves to be or desire to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the servants of God we must have a care to demeane our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all respects as becommeth the servants of God To which purpose when I shall have given you those few directions I spake of I shall have done ServaÌ„ts owe many duties to their earthly masters in the particulars but 3. generals comprehend them all Reverence Obedience Faithfulnesse Whereof the first respecteth the masters person the second his pleasure the third his businesse And he that will be Gods servant in truth and not onely in title must performe all these to his heavenly master Reverence is the first which ever ariseth from a deliberate apprehension of some worthinesse in another more then in a mans selfe and is ever accompanied with a feare to offend and a care to please the person reverenced and so it hath three brauches Whereof the first is Humility It is not possible that that servant who thinketh himself the wiser orany way the better man of the two should truly reverence his master in his heart S. Paul therefore would have servants to count their owne masters worthy of al honor 1 Tim. 6. 1. he knew well they could not else reverence them as they ought Non decet superbum esse hominem servum could he say in the Comedy A man that thinketh goodly of himselfe cannot make a good servant either to God or man Then are wee meetly prepared for this service and not before when truly apprehending our owne vilenesse and unworthinesse both in our nature and by reason of sinne and duly acknowledging the infinite greatnesse and goodnesse of our Master wee unfainedly account our selves altogether unworthy to bee called his servants Another branch of the servants reverence is feare to offend his master This feaâ—e is a disposition well becomming a servant and therefore God as our master and by that name of master challengeth it Mal. 1. If I be a father where is my honour And if I be a master where is my feare saith the Lord of Hosts Feare and reverence are often joyned together and so joyntly required of the Lords servants Serve the Lord with feare and rejoyce to him with reuerence Psal. 2. And the Apostle would have us furnished with grace whereby to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly feare Heb. 12. From which feare of offending a care and desire of pleasing cannot be severed which is the third branch of the servants Reverence to his master Saint Paul biddeth Titus exhort servants to please their masters well in all things So must Gods servant doe hee must study to walke worthy of him unto all pleasing not much regarding how others interpret his doings or what offence they take at him so long as his master accepteth his services and taketh his endeavours in good part Who so is not thus resolved to please his master although he should thereby incurre the displeasure of the whole world besides is not worthy to be called the servant of such a master If I yet sought to please men I should not be the servant of Christ. Gal. 1. And all this belongeth to Reverence Obedience is the next generall duty Servants be obedient to your masters Eph. 6. Know you not whoÌ„ you yeeld your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey Rom. 6. As if there could be no better proofe of service then obedience And that is twofold Active and Passive For Obedience consisteth in the subjecting of a mans owne will to the will of another which subjection if it bee in something to be done maketh an Active if in something to be suffered a Passive obedience Our Active Obedience to God is the keeping his commandements and the doing of his will as the people said Ios. 24. The Lord our God will we serve and his voice will wee obey And this must be done in auditu auris upon the bare signification of his pleasure without disputing or debating the matter as the Centurions servant if his master did but say Doe this without any more adoe did it So Abraham the servant of the Lord when he was called to goe out into a place which he should receive for an inheritance obeyed and went out though he knew not whither Nor onely so but in the greatest tryall of Obedience that ever wee read any man any meere man to have beene put unto being commanded to sacrifice his onely begotten Sonne of whom it was said That in Isaac shall thy seed be called he never stumbled as not at the promise through unbeleefe so neither at the command through disobedience but speedily went about it and had not fayled to have done all that was commanded him had not the Lord himselfe when hee was come even to the last act inhibited him by his countermand If mortall and wicked men looke to be obeyed by their servants upon the warrant of their bare command in evill and unrighteous acts When I say unto you smite Amnon then kill him feare not have not I commanded you saith Absolon to his servants 2 Sam. 13. Ought not the expresse command of God much more to be a sufficient warrant for us to doe as we are bidden none of whose commands can bee other then holy and just That is our Active obedience We must give proofe of our Passive obedience also both in contenting our selves with his allowances and in submitting our selves to his corrections Hee that is but a servant in the house may not thinke to command whatsoever the house affordeth at his owne pleasure that is the masters prerogative alone but hee must content himselfe with what his master is content to allow him
the Apostle of the Circumcision and so having to deale most with the Iewes who could not brooke subjection but were of all nations under heaven the most impatient of a forraine yoke hee was therefore the more carefull to deliver the doctrine of Christian liberty to them in such a manner a◠might frame them withall to yeeld such reverence and obedience to their governours as became them to doe And therefore S. Peter beateth much upon the point of obedience But he no where pressoth it more fully then in this Chapter Wherein after the generall exhortations of subduing the lusts that are in their owne bosomes ver 11. and of ordering their conversation so as might be for their credit and honesty in the sight of others ver 12. when he descendeth to more particular duties he begineth first with insisteth most upō this duty of subjection and obedience to authority in the greatest remaining part of the Chapter The first precept he giveth in this kinde is set downe with sundry amplifications and reasons there unto belonging in the next verses before the text submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake And then he doth by way of Prolepsis take away an objection which he foresaw would readily be made against that and the following exhortations from the pretext of Christian liberty in the words of the text As free and not using your liberty for a cloake of maliciousnesse but as the servants of God Conceive the words as spoken in answer to what those new converts might have objected Wee have been taught that the Son of God hath made us free and then we are free indeed and so not bound to subject our selves to any Masters or Governours upon earth no not to Kings but much rather bound not to doe it that so we may preserve that freedome which Christ hath purchased for us and reserve our selves the more entirely for Gods service by refusing to be the servants of men This objection the Apostle clearely taketh off in the text with much holy wisdome and truth He telleth them that being indeed set at liberty by Christ they are not therefore any more to enthrall themselves to any living soule or other creature not to submit to any ordinance of man as slaves that is as if the ordinance it selfe did by any proper direct and immediate vertue binde the conscience But yet all this notwithstanding they might and ought to submit thereunto as the Lords freemen and in a free manner that is by a voluntary and unenforced both subjection to their power and obedience to their lawfull commands They must therefore take heed they use not their liberty for an occasion to the flesh nor under so faire a title palliate an evill licentiousnesse making that a cloake for their irreverent and undutifull cariage towards their superiours For albeit they be not the servants of men but of God and therefore owe no obedience to men as upon immediate tye of conscience and for their owne sake but to God onely yet for his sake and out of the conscience of that obedience which they owe to his commands of honouring father and mother and of being subject to the higher powers they ought to give unto them such honour and obedience as of right belongeth unto them according to the eminency of their high places As free and not using your liberty for a cloake of maliciousnes but as the servants of God From which words thus paraphrased I gather 3. observations all concerning our Christian liberty in that branch of it especially which respecteth humane ordinances and the use of the creatures and of all indifferent things Either 1. in the existence of it As free or 2. in the exercise of it And not using your liberty for a cloake of maliciousnesse or 3. in the end of it but as the servants of God The first observation this We must so submit our selves to superiour authority as that we doe not thereby impeach our Christian liberty As free The second this We must so maintaine our liberty as that we doe not under that colour either commit any sinne or omit any requisite office either of charity or duty and not using your liberty for a cloake of maliciousnesse The third this In the whole exrcise both of the liberty we have in Christ and of the respects wee owe unto men wee must evermore remember our selves to be and accordingly behave our selves as those that are Gods servants but as the servants of God The summe of the whole 3. points in briefe this We must be carefull without either infringing or abusing our liberty at all times and in all things to serve God Now then to the severall points in that order as I have proposed them and as they lye in the text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As free which words have manifest reference to the exhortation delivered 3. verses before the text as declaring the manner how the duty there exhorted unto ought to be performed yet so as that the force of them stretcheth to the exhortations also contained in the verses next after the text Submit your selves to publike governours both supreme and subordinate be subject to your owne particular masters honor all men with those proper respects that belong to them in their severall stations But looke you doe all this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as slaves but as free doe it without impeachment of the liberty you have in Christ. Of which liberty it would be a profitable labour but that I should then bee forced to omit sundry other things which I deeme needfull to be spoken and more neerely pertinent to the points proposed to discover at large the nature and parts and causes and effects and adjuncts that we might the better understand the amplitude of that dower which Christ hath setled upon his Church and thence learne to be the more carefull to preserve it But I may not have time so to doe it shall therefore suffice us to know that as the other branches of our liberty whether of glory or grace whether from the guilt of sin in our justification or from the dominion of sinne in our sanctification with the severall appendices and appurtenances to any of them so this branch of it also which respects the use of indifferent things First is purchased for us by the blood of Christ and is therefore usually called by the name of Christian liberty Secondly is revealed unto us outwardly in the preaching of the Gospell of God and of Christ which is therefore called the law of liberty And thirdly is conveighed unto us inwardly and effectually by the operation of the Spirit of God and of Christ which is therefore called a free spirit O stablish thou me with thy free spirit because where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2. Cor. 3. 17. Now this liberty so dearely purchased so clearely
revealed so firmely conveighed it is our duty to maintaine with our utmost strength in all the parts and branches of it and as the Apostle exhorteth to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and not to suffer our selves either by the devises of other men or by our owne sloth and wilfull default to bee intangled againe with the yoake of bondage And namely in this particular branch whereof we now speake whatsoever serviceable offices wee doe to any of our brethren especially to those that are in authority wee must performe our duty therein with all cheerfulnesse of spirit and for Conscience sake but still with freedome of spirit and with liberty of Conscience as being servants to God alone and not to men Wee finde therefore in the Scriptures a peremptory charge both wayes that we neither usurpe mastership nor undergoe servitude A charge given by our Saviour Christ to his Disciples in the former behalfe that they should not bee called Rabbi neither Masters Mat. 23. and a charge given by the Apostle Paul to all beleevers in the later behalfe that they should not be the servants of men 1 Cor. 7. God forbid any man of us possessed with an Anabaptisticall spirit or rather frenzy should understand either of those passages or any other of like sound as if Christ or his Apostle had had any purpose therein to slacken those siuews and ligaments and to dissolve those joynts and contignations which tye into one body and claspe into one structure those many little members and parts whereof all humane societies consist that is to say to forbid all those mutuall relations of superiority and subjection which are in the world and so to turne all into a vast Chaos of Anarchy and Confusion For such a meaning is contrarious to the expresse determination of Christ and to the constant doctrine of S. Paul in other places and wee ought so to interpret the Scriptures as that one place may consist with another without clashing or contradiction The true and plaine meaning is this that we must not acknowledge any our supreme Master nor yeild our selves to bee wholly and absolutely ruled by the will of any nor enthrall our Iudgements and Consciences to the sentences or lawes of any man or Angell but onely Christ our Lord and Master in heaven And this interpretation is very consonant to the Analogy of Scripture in sundry places In Eph. 6. to omit other places there are two distinctions implyed the one in the 5. the other in the 7. verses both of right good use for the reconciling of sundry texts that seeme to contradict one another and for the clearing of sundry difficulties in the present argument Servants saith S. Paul there be obedient unto them that are your Masters according to the flesh Which limitation affordeth us the distinction of Masters according to the flesh only and of Masters after the spirit also Intimating that we may have other Masters of our flesh to whom wee may and must give due reverence so far as concerneth the flesh that is so farre as appertaineth to the outward man and all outward things But of our spirits and soules and consciences as we can have no fathers so we may have no Masters upon earth but onely our Master and our Father which is in heaven And therefore in Mat. 23. Christ forbiddeth the calling of any man upon earth Father as well as he doth the calling of any man Master And both the prohibitions are to be understood alike and as hath beene now declared Againe saith S. Paul there with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men which opposition importeth a second distinction and that is of Masters into supreme and subordinate those are subordinate Masters to whom we doe service in ordine ad alium and as under another Those are supreme Masters in whom our obedience resteth in the finall resolution of it without looking farther or higher Men may be our Masters and we their servants the first way with subordination to God and for his sake And we must doe them service and that with good will but with reservation ever of our bounden service to him as our only supreme soveraigne and absolute Master But the later way it is high sacriledge in any man to challenge and it is high treason against the sacred Majesty of God and of Christ for us to yeild to any other but them the mastership that is the soveraigne and absolute mastership over us Briefely wee must not understand those Scriptures that forbid either Mastership or servitude as if they intended to discharge us from those mutuall obligations wherein either in nature or civility wee stand tyed one unto another in the state Oeconomicall Politicall or Ecclesiasticall as anone it shall further appeare but onely to beget in us a just care amidst all the offices of love and duty which we performe to men to preserve inviolate that liberty which we have in Christ and so to doe them service as to maintaine withall our owne freedome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as free A thing whereof it behooveth us to have a speciall care and that for sundry and weighty respects First in regard of the trust reposed in us in this behalfe Every honest man taketh himselfe bound to discharge with faithfulnesse the trust reposed in him and to preserve what is committed unto him by way of trust though it bee another mans no lesse if not rather much more carefully then he would doe if it were his owne that so he may be able to give good account of his trust Now these two the Christian Faith and the Christian Liberty are of all other the choisest jewels wherof the Lord Jesus Christ hath made his Church the depositary Every man therfore in the Church ought earnestly to contend as for the maintenance of the faith as S. Iude speaketh so also for the maintenance of the liberty which was once delivered to the Saints even eo nomine and for that very reason because they were both delivered unto them under such a trust O Timothee depositum custodi S. Paul more then once calleth upon Timothy to keepe that which was committed to his trust He meaneth it in respect of the Christian faith which he was bound to keepe intire as it was delivered him at his perill and as hee would answer it another day And the like obligation lyeth upon us in respect of this other rich depositum this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Christian liberty for which we shal be answerable to Christ from whom we received it how we have both kept it and used it And if by our default and for want either of care or courage in us dolo vellatâ culpâ as the Lawyers say we lose or imbeazell it as she said in the Canticles They made me the keeper of the Vineyard but
subject is tyed to obey the Constitution in the rigour of it whatsoever occasions may occurre and whatsoever other inconveniences may follow thereupon so as he sinneth mortally who at any time in any case though of never so great necessity doth otherwise then the very letter of the Constitution requireth yea though it be extra casum scandali contemptus Which were an heavy case and might prove to be of very pernicious consequence and is indeed repugnant to Christian liberty by enthralling the conscience where it ought to be free But if on the other side which is the truth the Constitution of the Magistrate bind the conscience of the subject not immediately and by its owne vertue but by consequent onely and by vertue of that law of God which commandeth all men to obey their superiours in law full things then is there a liberty left to the subject in cases extraordinary and of some pressing necessity not otherwise well to be avoided to doe otherwise sometimes then the Constitution requireth And he may so doe with a free conscience So long as he is sure of these two things First that he be driven thereunto by a true and reall and not by a pretended necessity onely and secondly that in the manner of doing hee use such godly discretion as neither to shew the least contempt of the law in himselfe nor to give ill example to others to despise government or governours And this first difference is materiall And so is the second also if not much more which is this If the Magistrates Constitution did binde the conscience virtute propria immediately then should the conscience of the subject be bound to obey the constitution of the Magistrate exiâ—tuâ—â—â— praecepti upon the bare knowledge and by the bare warrant thereof without farther enquiry and consequently should bee bound to obey as well in unlawfull things as lawfull Which consequence though they that teach otherwise will not admit you in truth they cannot avoid for the proper and immediate cause being supposed the effect must needes follow Neither doe I yet see what sufficient reason they that think otherwise can shew why the conscience of the subject should be bound to obey the Lawes of the Magistrate in lawful things and not as well in unlawfull things The true reason of it is well knowne to bee this even because God hath commanded us to obey in lawfull things but not in unlawfull But for them to assigne this reason were evidently to overthrow their owne Tenent because it evidently deriveth the bond of conscience from a higher power then that of the Magistrate even the Commandement of God And so the Apostles indeed doe both of them derive it S. Paul in Rom. 13. men must be subject to the higher powers why because the powers are ordained of God And that for conscience sake too why because the magistrates are the ministers of God Neither may they bee resisted and why because to resist them is to resist the ordinance of God That is S. Pauls doctrine And S. Peter accordeth with him Submit your selves saith he to every ordinance of man What for the mans sake or for the ordinance sake No but propter dominum for the Lords sake ver 13. And all this may very well stand with Christian liberty for the conscience all this while is subject to none but God By these answers to their objections you may see what little reason some men have to make so much noise as they doe about Christian liberty Whereupon if I have insisted farre beyond both your expectations and my owne first purpose I have now no other thing whereby to excuse it but the earnestnesse of my desire if it be possible to containe within some reasonable bounds of sobriety and duty those of my brethren who thinke they can never run farre enough from superstition unlesse they run themselves quite out of their allegiance There are sundry other things which I am forced to passe by very needfull to be rightly understood and very usefull for the resolution of many cases of conscience which may arise from the ioynt consideration of thesâ— two points of Christian obedience and of Christian liberty For the winding of our selves out of which perplexities when they may concerne us I know not how to commend both to my owne practise and yours a sharter and fuller rule of direction then to follow the clew of this Text Wherein the Apostle hath set just bounds both to our obedience and liberty Bounds to our Obedience that we obey so farre as we may without preiudice to our Christian liberty in all our acts of obedience to our superiours still keeping our consciences free by subiecting them to none but God Submit your selves c. but yet as free and as the servants of God and of none besides Bounds to our Liberty that the freedome of our iudgements and consciences ever reseâ—ved we must yet in the use of indifferent things moderate our liberty by ordering our selves according unto Christian sobâ—iety by condescending sometimes to our brethren in Christian charity and by submitting our selves to the lawfull commands of our governours in Christian duty In any of which respects if wee shall faile and that under the pretension of Christian liberty we shall thereby quite contrary to the expresse direction of both the Apostles but abuse the name of liberty for an occasion to the flesh and for a cloake of maliciousnesse As free but not using your liberty for a cloake of maliciousnesse but as the servants of God And so I passe from this second to my third and last observation wherein if I have been too long or too obscure in the former I shall now endeavour to recompence it by being both shorter and plainer The Observation was this In the whole exercise both of the liberty we have in Christ and of those respects wee owe unto men we must evermore remember our selves to be and accordingly behave our seves as those that are Gods servants in those last words But as the servants of God containing our condition and our cariage by our condition we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the servants of God and our cariage must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the servants of God I shall fit my method to this division and first shew you sundry reasons for which we should desire to be in this Condition to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the servants of God and then give some directions how we may frame our cariage answerably thereunto to demeane our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the servants of God For the first Wee cannot imagine any consideration that may be found in any service in the world to render it desireable which is not to be found and that in a farre more eminent degree in this service of God If Iustice may provoke us or necessity enforce us or easinesse hearten us or Honour allure us or Profit draw us to
widdowes houses shall certainely receive damnation for that but if withall they doe it under the colour of devotion and of long prayers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall receive the greater damnation for that also But if men will needs be hypocrites and must have a cloake for their maliciousnesse they might yet at lest bethinke themselves of somewhat else of lighter price to make a cloake of and not use to so base a purpose so rich a stuffe as is this blessed liberty which the sonne of God hath purchased with his mostprecious blood As in nature corruptio optimi pessima so in morality by how much better any thing is in the right use of it by so much is it worse in the abuse As the quickest spirited wine hath the sowrest lees and the best wit misgoverned is the most pernicious and an Angel when he falleth becommeth a devil So to use this liberty which is a spirituall thing for an occasion to the flesh to take this liberty which if I may so speake is the very livery cloak of the servant of God and to make it a cloak of maliciousnesse for the service of sin must needs be presumption in a high degree and an unsufferable abuse Now we see how great a sinne it is thus to abuse our liberty it will be needfull in the next place to inquire more particularly wherein this abuse consisteth that so we may be the better able to avoid it Wee are therefore to know that Christian liberty may be used or rather abused for a cloake of maliciousnesse these foure wayes following First we make it a cloake of maliciousnesse if we hoâ—d our selves by vertue thereof discharged from our obedience either to the whole moral Law of God or to any part of it Where to omit those that out of the wretched prophanenesse of their own hearts pervert this branch of Evangelicall doctrine as they doe all the rest to their owne destruction as a spider turneth the juyce of the sweetest and most medicinable herbes into poyson so these turne the grace of God into wantonnesse and the liberty they have in Christ into a profane licensiousnesse great offenders this way are the Libertines and Antinomists who quite cancell the whole Law of God under the pretence of Christian Liberty as if they that were in Christ were no longer tyed to yeeld obedience to the Morall Law which is a pestilent error and of very dangerous consequence Whereas our blessed Saviour himselfe hath not onely professed that he came not to destroy the Law but expresly forbidden any man to thinke so of him Think not that I came to destroy the Law I came not to destroy it but to fulfill it And Saint Paul rejecteth the consequence with an absit as both unreasonable impious if any man should conclude that by preaching â—he righteousnesse of faith the Law were abolished Dee wee then make void the Law through faith God forbid yea saith he rather wee establish the Law Rom. 3. But they interpret those words of Christ in this sence He came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it that is hee came not to destroy it without fulfilling it first but by fulfilling it in his owne person he hath destroyed it unto the person of every beleev or and therefore is Christ said to be the end of the Law to every one that beleeveth Rom. 10. Whence it is that the faithfull are said to be freed from the law delivered from the law dead to the law and to be no longer under the law and other like speeches there are many every where in the New Testament I acknowledge both their exposition to be just and all these allegations true yet not sufficient to evict their conclusion Not to wade far into a controversie which I had not so much as a thought to touch upon when I fixed my choyce upon this Scripture It shall suffice us to propound one distinction which well heeded and rightly applyed will cleere the whole point concerning the abrogation and obligation of the Morall Law under the New Testament and cut off many needlesse curiosities which lead men into errour The Law then may be considered either as a Rule or as a Covenant Christ hath freed all beleevers from the rigour and curse of the law considered as a Covenant but he hath not freed them from obedience to the Law considered as a Rule And all those Scriptures that speak of the law as if it were abrogated or anulled take it considered as a Covenant those againe that speake of the Law as if it were still in force take it considered as a Rule The Law as a Covenant is rigorous and under that rigour we now are not if we be in Christ but the Law as a Rule is equall and under that equity wee still are though we be in Christ. The Law as a Rule only sheweth us what is good and evill what we are to doe and not to doe He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what the Lord requireth of thee without any condition annexed either of reward if we observe it or of punishment if we transgresse it But the Law as a Covenant exacteth punctuall and personall performance of every thing that is contained therein with a condition annexed of Gods acceptance and of blessing if we performe it to the full but of his wrath and curse upon us if wee faile in any thing Now by reason of transgression wee having all broken that Covenant the Law hath his worke upon us and involveth us all in the curse so as by the covenant of the Law no flesh living can be justified Then commeth in Christ who subjecting himselfe for our sakes to the Covenant of the Law first fulfilleth it in his owne person but in our behalfe as our surety and then disanulleth it and in stead thereof establisheth a better Covenant for us even the Covenant of Grace so that now as many as beleeve are free from the Covenant of the Law and from the Curse of the Law and set under a Covenant of Grace and under promises of Grace There is a translation then of the Covenant but what is all this to the Rule That still is where it was even as the nature of good and evill is stil the same it was And the Law considered as a Rule can no more be abolished or changed then can the nature of good and evil be abolished or changed It is our singular comfort then and the happiest fruit of our Christian Liberty that wee are freed by Christ and through faith in him from the Covenans and Curse of the Laws but we must know that it is our duty notwithstanding the liberty that wee have in Christ to frame our lives and conversations according to the Rule of the Law Which if we shall neglect under the pretence of our Christian Liberty we must answer for
both both for neglecting our duty and for abusing our liberty And so much for the first way The second way whereby our liberty may be used for a cloake of maliciousnesse is when wee stretch it iâ— the use of things that are indeed indifferent beyond the just bounds of sobricty Many men that would seeme to make consciences of their wayes will perhaps aske the opinion of some Divine or other learned man whether such or such a thing be lawful or no and if they be once perswaded that it is lawfull they then thinke they have free liberty to use it in what manner and measure they please never considering what caution and moderation is required even in lawfull things to use them lawfully Saint Gregories rule is a good one Semper ab illicitis quandoque alicitis things unlawfull wee must never doe nor ever lawfull things but with due respect to our calling and other concurrent circumstances Wine and musick and gorgeous apparell and delicate fare are such things as God in his goodnesse hath created and given to the children of men for their comfort and they may use them lawfully and take comfort in them as their portion but he that shall use any of them intemperately or unseasonably or vainely or wastfully abuseth both them and himselfe And therefore wee shall often find both the things themselves condemned and those that used them blamed in the Scriptures The men of Israel for stretching themselves upon their couches and eating the lambs out of the slock and chaunting to the sound of the Viall and drinking Wine in bowls Amos 6. And the women for their bracelets and earerings and wimples and crisping pins and their other bravery in Esay 3. And the rich man for faring deliciously and wearing fine linnen in the Parable Luk. 16. Yea our Saviour himselfe pronounceth a woe against them that laugh Luk. 6. And yet none of all these things are or were in themselves unlawfull it was the excesse only or other disorder in the use of them that made them obnoxious to reproofe Though some in their heat have said so yet who can reasonably say that horse-matches or playing at cardes or dice are in themselves and wholy unlawfull And yet on the other side what sober wise man because the things are lawfull would therefore approve of that vaine and sinfull expence which is oftentimes bestowed by men of meane estates in the dyeting of horses and wagering upon them or of that excessive abuse of gaming wherein thousands of our gentry spend in a manner their whole time and consume away their whole substance both which ought to be farre more precious unto them I might instance in many other things in like manner In all which we may easily erre either in point of judgement or practice or both if wee doe not wisely sever the use from the abuse Many times because the abuses are common and great wee peevishly condemne in others the very use of some lawfull things And many times againe because there is evidently a lawfull use of the things wee impudently justifie our selves in the very abuses also That is foolish precisenesse in us and this profane partiality by that we infringâ— our brethrens liberty by this pollute our owne The best and safest way for us in all indifferent things is this to be indulgent to others but strict to ourselves in allowing them their liberty with the most but taking our owne liberty ever with the least But is not this to preach one thing and doe another ought not our doctrine and our practice to go together It is most true they ought so to doe Neither doth any thing I have said make to the contrary What wee may doctrinally deliver to be absolutely necessary wee may not in our owne practice omit and what wee may doctrinally condemne as simply unlawfull wee are bound in our own practice to forbeare But things of a middle and indifferent nature wee may not doctrinally either impose them as necessary neither forbid as unlawfull but leave a liberty in them both for other men and our selves to use them or not to use them as particular circumstances and occasions and other reasons of conveniency shall lead us And in these things both wee must allow others a liberty which for some particular reasons it may not be so fit for us to take and we may also tye our selves to that strictnesse for some particular reasons which we dare not to impose upon others It was a foule fault and blame worthy in the Scribes and Pharisees to tye heavy burdens upon other mens shoulders which they would not touch with one of their owne fingers but if they should without superstition and upon reasonable inducements have said such burdens upon themselves and not imposed them upon others for any thing I know they had beene blamelesse There are many things which in my conscience are not absolutely and in Thesi necessary to be done which yet in Hypothesi for some personall respects I think so fit for me to doe that I should resolve to undergoe some inconveniency rather then omit them still reserving to others their liberty to doe as they should see cause There are againe many things which in my conscience are not absolutely and in Thesi unlawfull to be done which yet in Hypothesi and for the like personall respects I thinke so unfit for me to doe that I should resolve to undergoe some inconvenience rather then doe them yet still reserving to others the like liberty as before to doe as they should see cause It belongeth to every sober Christian advisedly to consider not onely what in it selfe may lawfully be done or left undone but also what in godly wisedome and discretion is fittest for him to doe or not to doe upon all occasions as the exigence of present circumstances shall require Hee that without such due consideration will doe all he may doe at all times under colour of Christian liberty hee shall undoubtedly sometimes use his liberty for a cloake of maliciousnesse And that is the second way by using it excessively It may be done a third way and that is by using it uncharitably which is the case whereon I told you Saint Paul beateth so often When we use our liberty so as to stumble the weake consciences of our brethren thereby and will not remit in any thing the extremity of that right and power wee have in things of indifferent nature to please our neighbour for his good unto edification at least so farro as we may doe it without greater inconvenience we walke not charitably and if not charitably then not Christianly Indeed the case may stand so that wee cannot condiscend to his infirmity without great preiudice either to our selves or to the interest of some third person As for instance when the magistrate hath positively already determined our liberty in the use of it the
better nor worse any mans particular judgement or opinion thereof notwithstanding For the differences between good evil and the several degrees of both spring from such conditions as are intrinsecall to the things themselves which no Outward respects and much lesse then mens opinions can vary He that esteemeth any creature unclean may defile himselfe but he cannot bring impurity upon that creature by such his estimation Secondly that mens judgements may make that which is good in its owne nature the naturall goodnesse still remaining become evill to them in the use essentially good and quoad rem but quoad hominem and accidentally evill It is our Apostles owne distinction in the fourteenth verse of this Chapter Nothing uncleane of it selfe but to him that esteemeth any thing to be uncleane uncleane to him But then wee must know withall that it holdeth not the other way Mens judgements or opinions although they may make that which is good in it selfe to become evill to them yet they cannot make that which is evill in it selfe to become good either in it selfe or to them If a man were verily perswaded that it were evill to aske his father blessing that mis-perswasion would make it become evill to him But if the same man should be as verily perswaded that it were good to curse his father or to deny him reliefe being an unbeleever that mis-perswasion could not make eithâ—r of them become good to him Some that persecuted the Apostles were perswaded they did God good service in it It was Saint Pauls case before his conversion who verily thought in himselfe that he ought to doe many things contrary to the name of Iesus But those their perswasions would not serve to justifie those their actions Saint Paul confesseth himselfe to have been a persecuter and blasphemer and injurious for so doing although he followed the guidance of his owne conscience therein and to have stood in need of mercy for the remission of those wicked acts though he did them ignorantly and out of zâ—ale to the Law The reason of which difference is that which I touched in the beginning even because any one defect is enough to render an action evill and consequently a defect in the agent may doe it though the substance of the action remaine still as it was good but all conditions must concurre to make an action good and consequently a right intention in thâ— agent will not suffice thereunto so long as the substance of the action remaineth still as it was evill Thirdly that the Conscience hath this power over mens wills and actions by vertue of that unchangeable Law of God which he establisheth by an ordinance of nature in our first creation that the will of every man which is the fountaine whence all our actions immediately flow should conforme it selfe to the judgement of the practique understanding or conscience as to its proper and immediate rule and yeeld it selfe to be guided thereby So that if the understanding through Errour point out a wrong way and the will follow it the fault is chiefly in the understanding for mis-guiding the will But if the understanding shew the right way and the will take a wrong then the fault is meerely in the will for not following that guide which God hath set over it It may be demanded secondly Whether or no in every particular thing wee doe an actuall consideration of the lawfulnesse and expediency there of be so requisite as that for want thereof we should sinne in doing it The reason of the doubt is because otherwise how should it appeare to be of Faith and Whatsoever is not of faith is sinne I answer First that in matters of waight and worthy of consultation it is very necessary that the lawfulnesse and expediency of them be first diligently examined before they be enterprised And secondly that even in smaller matters the like examination is needfull when there is any apparant cause of doubting But thirdly that in such small and triviall matters as it much skilleth not whether we doe them or no or whether wee doe this rather then that and wherein no doubt ariseth to trouble us an actuall consideration of their lawfulnesse or expediency is so farre from being requisite that it would rather be troublesome and incommodious True it is that all voluntary actions are done with some deliberation more or lesse because it is the nature of the will to consult with the understanding in every act else it should be irrationall and brutish Yet there are many things which wee daily doe wherein the sentence of the understanding is so quick and present because there is no difficulty in them that they seeme to be and are therefore sometimes so termed actus indeliberati such as are to sit downe and to rise up to pluck a flower as wee walke in a garden to aske the time of the day or the name of the next towne as we travell by the way to eate of this or that dish at the table and the like For the doing of every of which it were a ridiculous servility to be imposed upon men if they should be tyed to a district examination of the lawfulnesse and expediency thereof There is not in them dignus vindice nodus and a mans time ought to be more precious unto him then to be trifled away in such needlesse and minute enquiries It is even as if we should tye a great learned man that is ready in his Latine tong to bethink himselfe first of some grammar rule or example for the declining and parsing of every word hee were to speake before he should adventure to utter a Latine sentence But as such a man is sufficiently assured out of the habit of his learning that hee speaketh congruously and with good propriety though hee have no present actuall reference to his Grammar rules so here an habituall knowledge of the nature and use of indifferent things is sufficient to warrant to the conscience the lawfulnesse of these common actions of life so as they may be said to be of faith though there be no farther actuall or particular disquisition used about them A very needful thing it is the whilst for Christian men to endeavour to have a right judgement concerning indifferent things without which it can scarcely be avoided but that both their Consciences will be full of distracting scruples within themselves and their conversations full of unbrotherly carriage towards others It may be demanded thirdly Since Whatsoever is not of faith is sinne What measure of Faith or what degree of Perswasion is necessary for the warranting of our actions so as lesse then that will not serve I answere that what is here demanded cannot be positively defined by any peremptory and immoveable rules There is most an end a Latitude in such things as these are which may be strained or extended more or lesse according to the exigence of
present occasions and as the different state or quality of particular businesses shall require There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fulnesse of perswasion arising from evident infallible and demonstrative proofes which is attaineable for the performance of sundry duties both of civill Iustice and of Religion And where it may be attained it is to be endeavoured after though it be not of absolute necessity for we cannot make our assurances too strong The Apostle useth that word at the fifth verse Let every man be fully perswaded in his owne mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a metaphoricall word and seemeth to be borrowed from a Ship under full sayle that hath both wind and tide with it to carry it with a straight and speedy course to the desired poynt and nothing to hinder it But as men when they are to purchase lands will desire and propose to have as good assurance as by learned counsell can be devised but yet must be content to take such assurance as the sellers can make or else they shall make but a few markets so although we may desire ex abundanti a full assurance of faith in every waighty action wee shall enterprise yet ordinarily and in most things wee must content our selves to take up with a conjecturall probable and morall certainty or else wee shall find very few things left for us to doe Fides Logica is not to be expected in all cases in some and those the most Fides Ethica must serve the turne Nay I say yet further and I beseech you brethren to take notice of it as a matter of speciall use both for the directing and quieting of your consciences that ordinarily and in most things wee neede no other warrant for what we doe then this onely that there is not to our knowledge any Law either of Nature or Scripture against them As the Lawyers use to say of mens persons Quisquis praesumitur osse â—onus c. The Law taketh every man for a good man and true till his truth and honesty be legally disproved and as our Saviour sometimes said He that is not against us is for us so in these matters wee are to beleeve all things to bee lawfull for us to doe which cannot be shewne by good evidence either of Scripture or Reason to be unlawfull Those men therefore goe quite the wrong way to worke to the fearefull puzling of their owne and other mens consciences who use to argue on this manner This I have no warrant to doe for where is it commanded Whereas they ought rather to argue thus This I have good warrant to doe for where is it forbidden Apply this now a little to those Ceremonies that for orders sake and to adde the greater solâ—mnity to sacred actions are appointed in the Church Wearing the Surplize bowing at the name of the Lord JESUS kneeling at the holy Communion and the rest Though I might say and that truly that thâ—se also are commanded even by divine authority in genere that is to say as they fall within the compasse of decent Ceremoniâ—s by vertue of that grand Ecclesiasticall Canon Let all things â—e done honestly and in order and that even in spacio too they are commanded by the authority of those governors whom God hath set over us and to whom we are bound in conscience and by vertue of Gods commandement to yeeld obedience Yet I waive all this for the present because it is not so direct to the point in hand Onely I aske Where are any of these things forbidden If they be let it be showne and that not by weeke collections and remote consequences which are good for nothing but to engender strifes and to multiply disputes without end but by direct and full evidence either of Scripture-text or Reason which for any thing I know was never yet done neither as I verily beleeve will ever be done But if it cannot be showne that these things are forbidden without any more adoe the use of them is by that sufficiently warranted He that will not allow of this doctrine besides that he cherisheth an errour which will hardly suffer him to have a quiet conscience I yet fee not how he can reconcile his opinion with those sundry passages of our Apostle Every creature of God is good To the pure all things are pure I know nothing is oâ— it selfe uncleane All things are lawfull c. From which passages we may with much safety conclude that it is lawfull for us to doe all those things concerning which there can be nothing brought of moment to prove them unlawfull Vpon which ground alone if wee doe them we doe them upon such a perswasion of faith as is sufficient Provided that wee have not neglected to informe our judgements the best wee could for the time past and that wee are ever ready withall to yeeld our selves to better information whensoever it shall be tendred unto us for the time to come It may be demanded fourthly Suppose a man would fayne doe something of the lawfulnesse whereof he is not in his conscience sufficiently resolved whether hee may in any case doe it notwithstanding the reluctancy of his Conscience yea or no As they write of Cyrus that to make passage for his Army he cut the great river Gyndes into many smaller chanels which in one entire stream was not passable so to make a cleare and distinct answer to this great question I must divide it into some lesser ones For there are sundry things considerable in it whether we respect the Conscience or the Person of the doer or the Action to be done As namely and especially in respect of the Conscience whether the reluctancy thereof proceed from a setled and stedfast resolution or from some doubtfulnesse only or but from some scruple And in respect of the person whether hee be suijuris his owne master and have power to dispose of himselfe at his owne choyce in the things questioned of he be under the command and at the appointment of another And in respect of the Action or thing to be done whether it be a necessary thing or an unlawfull thing or a thing indifferent and arbitrary Any of which circumstances may quite alter the case and so beget new questions But I shall reduce all to three questions whereof the first shall concerne a resolved Conscience the second a doubtfull conscience and the third a scrupulous conscience The First Question then is If the Conscience be firmly resolved that the thing proposed to be done is unlawfull whether it may then be done or no Whereunto I answer in these two conclusions The first Conclusion If the Conscience be firmely so resolved and that upon a true ground that is to say if the thing be indeed unlawfull and judged so to be it may not in any case or for any respect in the world be done There cannot be imagined a higher contempt of