that is a retribution and a prize to the end he might raise our hearts unto this sublime hope and incite us thereby to labour chearfully for the receiving of so rich a recompence For as prizes are not given but to those that have laboured and striven so this life of GOD is not prepared but for those that shall in their vocation have fought a good fight and kept the faith and duly finished their course And as the Prince promiseth a Souldier honour and the Master a work-man wages and the one do perform if the others discharge their duty so the LORD promiseth us His kingdom and will according to His faithfulnesse assuredly give it to every one that doth believe and persevere Lo wherefore the holy Apostle calls that blessed life we hope for a reward or guerdon But lest this term should cause us to presume of some merit in our labours he pertinently adds another name to cure us of that error and calls the same reward an inheritance For an inheritance as all know comes not by merit but by another different title even because one is a child of the Family Expect then Faithful souls this Divine retribution not from the dignity or merit of your works but from the bounty and munificence of GOD who having freely adopted you into the number of His children will give you part in this eternal inheritance to which neither you nor any mortal man had naturally any right at all It is His grace and His faithfulness and His promise that conferrs upon you all the share you have in it And His goodness and word being immutable you ought to expect it with as much assurance as if you merited it though you acknowledge that you never can But because it might seem strange that the Apostle should promise Christians the reward of the inheritance of the LORD for services done to men he repeats what he had intimated afore namely that to speak properly it 's JESUS CHRIST they serve and not men For saith he you serve the LORD CHRIST It is true this Soveraign LORD is in Heaven in perfect glory and hath no need of our services much less of such as slaves and mercenaries do their Masters But such is His goodness that He allows us all that as done to His own person which we do to men according to His command and for His sake Thus He assureth us in the Gospel that it is to Him we give all the alms the visits and assistances wherewith we gratifie the least of His servants in His Name Mat. 25.40 You have done it unto Me saith He in that you have done it to one of the least of these All the duties of that obedience which He commands us are of the same nature in this behalf Doing them unto men we do them unto JESUS CHRIST who hath commanded them therefore it 's also unto Him that the least and lowest services do pertain which men perform to the Masters unto whom the order of His Providence hath put them in subjection which they perform I say because of Him or for His sake so that He being infinitely good and liberal they ought to attend assuredly that precious recompence which He promiseth those that serve Him But if so high and glorious an hope be not sufficient to affect us and sway us to that willing obedience which He requireth of us let us regard at least the penalty He denounceth in case we fail of our duty It 's this the Apostle sets here before the eyes of Christian servants when after proposal of the reward of the heavenly inheritance to such as discharge their duty he addeth But he that doth unjustly shall receive what he hath unjustly done and there is no regard to the shew of persons It 's a general sentence reaching all men of whatever condition they be servants or masters men or women poor or rich Whoever doth another wrong either by positive outrage or by not rendring what he owes him according to the laws of the Gospel shall receive at the hand of the supreme Judge what he hath unjustly done that is be payed for his fault and punished with a penalty exactly proportioned to their crime Nor should any one perswade himself either that the miserableness of his condition will move the Judge to pity him or that the splendor and grandeur of his quality will blind His eyes and so conceit the possibility of an escape In this Divine judgement no regard saith the Apostle is had to the look or outside of men GOD will weigh your cause alone not consider your person And as He will not take notice of the rich or the mighty not of Lords or Monarchs so as to spare them if they have lived in the practice of unrighteousness and violence so neither will He regard the poverty or meanness of the lowest as to exempt them from the punishments which their unjustness or infidelity deserveth but as He sometime commanded the Judges of Israel Lev. 19.15 He will judge justly not honouring the countenance of the potent nor respecting the person of the poor Whence it follows that servants which rob their masters or serve them not as they ought shall surely suffer for their injustice since granting that men do let their wickedness pass unchastised yet the supreme Judge of the World will not fail to call them to their tryal one day and bring to publick light the infidelities the theeveries and acts of disobedience which they think they have hid safe enough in the dark of their deceits and condemn them to the just torments they have merited by violating the sacred orders He hath made for humane society and doing that to others which they would not any should do to them Such is Brethren the Apostle's instruction to servants Let us now peruse what he prescribes to Masters Masters saith he render to your servants right and equity knowing that you also have a Master in Heaven First he gives them in charge their duty Secondly sets before them an excellent reason to sway them to it Their duty is to render right and equity to their servants It may not be imagined that the power of Masters over their servants is unlimited A mutual justice there is between them which obligeth them each to other reciprocally and either of them that trespasseth against the rules thereof is faulty And as it is just that servants should obey and be subject so is it likewise just that Masters should be of good conduct and give meet entertainment It 's this the Apostle means by that right which he chargeth them to render to their servants It compriseth work maintenance correction and wages So that Masters are obliged for the right discharging of this duty towards them to carry themselves in these four points with all prudence and equity giving them a reasonable task to do sufficient food moderate chastisement and a meet salary They that do otherwise and transgress in these things
either by defect or excess do not render to their servants what is right as for instance those that overbear them with toil or strokes and they that quite contrary let them live idle and in debauches those that diet them ill or too well and lastly they that defraud them of their wages which is one of the most horrid and cruel acts of injustice that can be committed But besides right the Apostle would have Masters render also to their servants equity The word he makes use of in the original properly signifies a certain equality and correspondence that should appear between the offices of the one of them and the deportment of the other so that as the servant obeyeth in singleness of heart and in the fear of GOD the Master likewise do command holily and religiously and that as the one serveth with joy and respect in like manner the other do govern with mildness and affection In a word right comprehends all that refers to justice and equity all that pertains to Christian Charity and gentleness For the reducing of the faithful unto this holy moderation he orders them to remember that they also have a LORD in the Heavens His meaning is that the dominion they have over their servants is not absolute but dependant on GOD and by consequence such as ought to be regulated by His word and will If they have people beneath them they have a Master and a Soveraign above them who is the common LORD of them all and unto whom they are to give account of the treatment which their servants shall receive at their hands He says particularly that this LORD is in the Heavens to hold them the better to their duty by the consideration of so redoutable a Majesty who is not here beneath on earth the place of misery and vanity but on high in Heaven sitting on an eternal throne and from that glorious habitation of light and immortality doth consider and govern all things at His pleasure nothing coming to pass in His whole Empire but He plainly perceives and most justly judgeth of This great LORD is above all and there is neither Master nor Prince of such elevation among men but is under His feet He is superlatively holy just and good He loveth all His creatures and concerns Himself in the wrongs of the meanest and most contemptible ones hating nothing more than injustice and insolence outrage and cruelty possessing withal an infinite wisdome and an almighty power which none is able to resist Sure then consideration of the Empire and soveraign dominion that He hath over us is very proper to keep us within bounds and to restrain us from abusing the power He hath given us over persons subject to us nor could the Apostle put those that have servants in mind of any thing more pertinently that should oblige 'em to render them right and equity Thus we have explained his instructions It 's now for you Beloved Brethren to make your profit of them and to gather the fruits he offers you in them for the amendment of your lives and the consolation of your souls First Ye Christians whom the meanness of your birth or as they call it of your fortune hath reduc'd to the condition of serving rejoyce ye at the the honour done you by this great Minister of CHRIST who disdaineth not to address his holy voice unto you Set the care he hath of you against the contempt that men cast upon you Let his speaking to you comfort you and raise your hopes of the inheritance of GOD. Think well upon the report he makes you that the persons to whom ye are subject are not your Masters but in reference to the flesh Your servitude will not be eternal Nay it will not be very long nor extend further at most then to the end of that carnal life which ye lead upon the earth When this earthly tabernacle is once dissolved you shall enter into the glorious liberty of the children of GOD and then there will no more be any difference between you and your Masters For the present your better part is already in possession of this liberty namely that spirit which GOD hath formed in you after his own image and which maugre all the outrages of men will ever remain master of it self if you give it to JESUS CHRIST the great freer of mankind who doth faithfully and speedily enfranchise every one that receiveth and embraceth His truth Only take heed that ye abuse not His grace as if the spiritual liberty He hath gratify'd you with did discharge you from doing faithful service to your Masters after the flesh The more He hath illuminated you in the knowledge of Himself the more fidelity and love do you owe. For besides other reasons the fear of GOD and the will of JESUS CHRIST doth now oblige you to obey them so that the serving them makes up a part of your piety According to your acquitting your selves therein well or ill GOD will give you or deny you his inheritance But besides your own interest the glory also of the Gospel is concerned in the case For your faults defame our religion and make it believ'd to be a licentious discipline whereas your fidelity will produce us praise Every one will be constrained to acknowledge the sanctity of our doctrine when they shall see it reform the deportment even of man and maid-servants And this the Apostle doth expresly represent unto you elsewere Tit. 2.9 10. Let servants saith he be obedient to their masters pleasing them well in all things not answering again not purloyning but shewing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of GOD our Saviour in all things Object me not the ill humour and rigour of your Masters Remember the words of St. Peter 1 Pet. 2.18 who obligeth you to serve not only such as are good and equitable but also the froward Take their ill treatment for an occasion by which GOD would exercise and refine your faith Receive those strokes of the rod from His hand and not from theirs making them matter for your patience and a tryal of your faith Let the eye of JESUS CHRIST who looketh on you let His favour and benediction which always accompany conscionable sufferings let the hope of his inheritance for your Salary sweeten all the pains of your servitude How ingrateful soever men be to you your patience shall not be left unrewarded if ye persevere in it constantly for CHRIST'S sake And you Masters who so much desire to have faithful and obedient servants render ye to them that right and equity which the Apostle commands you Though your extraction or estates set you above them in humane society yet your nature is no other then theirs Ye are subject to the like infirmities with them One and the same death will consume you both nor will there be any difference between your dust and theirs You shall appear before the same Judge and the tribunal
the LORD JESUS giving thanks by Him unto our GOD and Father DEAR Brethren The love that the LORD JESUS hath born us is so great and the benefits He hath conferr'd upon us are so various and so precious that we are evidently obliged to give our selves entirely to Him and we cannot substract from Him without ingratitude any part of what we are or have He hath laid down His life for us It is just therefore that we again do consecrate ours unto Him He hath redeemed us at the price of His blood and by this admirable ransom deliver'd from death and hell not only our Souls but also our Bodies and our whole Nature We are therefore wholly His and have no more any other Master but Him neither is there any justice in the world but will adjudge Him the propriety and possession of what costeth Him so dear But though of right we be his Vassals yet it hath pleas'd His love that we should belong to Him under another much more glorious title For He hath made us His brethren having obtained of His Father that He should adopt us for His children and accumulated this grace with all the highest favours that creatures can be exalted to I mean He hath made us partakers of His inheritance and communicated to us His Nature and His Spirit and crowned us with His immortality and with His glory Though he had not shed His Blood for us as He did who seeth not but that this His great and divine liberality should have purchas'd Him all the life and being and motion we can have and that to divert any part of it from His service would be a robbing of Him and a bereaving Him with abominable Sacriledge of a thing belonging to Him so legitimatly and for many so just and weighty reasons If we be not the most unjust and ingrateful persons in the world we ought all to have such sentiments and consequently look upon our nature and our life as things no longer ours but JESUS CHRIST's and dispose of them not after our own phansie and for our own interest but at His pleasure and for His glory And as you see that the servants of a Prince above all those whom he hath particularly obliged and favoured do set up his arms through all their houses and adorn their Halls and Chambers with his Picture and have his praises alwayes in their mouth and fill up their whole life with his name and glory so should we do to JESUS CHRIST and with so much the more zeal for that He is a LORD infinitely more rich more clement more liberal and more beneficent than any Monarch of the Earth Let our Souls and Bodies therefore bear His badges let His glory appear exalted in all our actions let the words of our mouths be dedicated to Him and our whole lives full of His Name breathing throughout nothing but His honour and service without ever swerving from His Will from His interests This Beloved Brethren is the Lesson which the Apostle S. Paul now gives us in the words that you have heard And whatever ye do saith he whether in word or work do it all in the name of the LORD JESVS giving thanks by Him unto our GOD and Father By these words he concludeth that excellent exhortation which he makes to all Christians in general of what sex or age or condition soever He began it at the first Verse of this Chapter and continues it on to our Text pointing out in it briefly but divinely as you have heard in the precedent exercises our principal duties on one hand the mortifying of the flesh with its lusts as fornication covetousness wrath and the like on the other hand the studying and exercising of all Christian vertues as humility kindness patience gentleness charity and peace To all these he addeth our knowing and continual meditating of the Word of GOD with Psalms and spiritual Hymns And here it was we made stay in our last action upon this Subject Now that he might not stand to treat severally of all a Christians other duties which would be prolix and even infinite and a Discourse of too great extent for an Epistle before he passeth to that particular exhortation which he addresseth in the following Verses to some certain ranks of believers as to Married persons to Fathers to Children to Servants and Masters he closeth up his first matter with the precept he here gives us A precept verily excellent and well worthy to Crown his exhortation since it comprehends in few words all the duties of a Christian both those which the Apostle hath expresly pointed at and those which his design of brevity caused him to pass over in silence without speaking of them by name To the end we may give you an exposition of it we will endeavour by the grace of our LORD to explain one after another the two parts that offer themselves in it First that whatever we do either in word or work we do it all in the name of the LORD JESVS Secondly that we give thanks by Him to our GOD and Father When the Apostle pronounceth that all we do in work or word be done in the name of the LORD JESVS he clearly gives Him our whole life For these two sorts of things which he subjecteth unto Him words and works do comprehend all the other parts of our life it being evident that nothing issues from us but what may be referred to the one or the other of these two kinds They are either words or works Words are the fruits of our mouths works are the effects or actions of our other parts and faculties I acknowledge that beside this our spirit also does act within us when it knows or considers things and desireth or rejecteth them But besides that these internal actions might be put into the rank of our works by extending the word a little beyond its ordinary signification as in effect some interpreters do give it such a meaning here beside this I say it is evident that most of the conceptions and affections and resolutions of the Soul do refer to words and external works as being the principles and motives of them For it is not possible that our words and works should be in the name of our LORD and Saviour except our understandings and wills do so address them and it 's properly this action of the Soul the Apostle signifies when he orders that we do in the name of CHRIST all we do The tongue indeed pronounceth the words and the hands and other parts of our bodies do execute those actions of ours which are called works But it 's the Spirit that moves them all and that directeth and guideth on their functions to that end or design it hath proposed to its self and draws them from such motives as it hath conceiv'd and form'd within its self And it is properly upon this that the difference of mens actions doth depend It 's this Character that gives them
he never setting about them but when he may do them in the name of CHRIST For though the nature of them be indifferent the usage of them is not so but must be governed by the good and the evil that may thence redound either to or against the glory of GOD and the edification of men as the Apostle sayes elsewhere All things are lawful for me but all things are not expedient All things are lawful for me but all things edifie not Whence you see 1 Cor. â—0 2â— how vain the pretext of those is who excuse the excess of their habits of their tables and of their houses by the liberty which they pretend the LORD hath left them to clothe and feed and lodge themselves as they think good alledging that He hath not forbidden them Velvet or Silks or Gold or Silver or precious Stones or Tapistry or any sort of Furniture nor excluded from their Tables any kind of Meats or Services they being taken with thanksgiving I grant the use of these things to speak in general is free they all being created of GOD for man Yet this hinders not but each of you ought to observe certain rules about them and this one in particular namely that ye consider whether the thing be such as ye may do it in the name of JESUS CHRIST whether the money you waste in it might not be better employed in the service of His poor or of His Sanctuary whether your making men believe that you are vain glorious or intemperate or voluptuous by clothing or lodging or treating your selves more richly and more magnificently than beseems your condition whether this opinion I say which you give your Neighbours of you does not scandalize them and be not prejudicial unto the name and interests of our Saviour Hence again appears how inexcusable they are that marry with persons of a contrary Religion I confess that Marriage is honourable and that it is not prohibited to any But this action as well as all a Christians others must be done in the name of the LORD JESVS 1 Cor. 7.9 and so much the rather for that it is more important and continues as long as our lives Wherefore the Apostle doth expresly modifie the liberty he gives the believing widow by this exception She is at liberty saith he to marry again only so as it be in the LORD Now judge if it be a marrying in the LORD when you make alliance with a person allienate from your communion who will be a snare to pervert you from it will pluck the name of CHRIST out of your house and consecrate your blood to error and be so far from helping you in the exercises of your piety that the person will disturb them In fine this saying of the Apostle's shews us also what we are to think of Dances and Balls and such other vain pomps of the world If you can truly say that it is in the name of CHRIST you Masque and Dance I will accord that you fail not of your duty in it But if it be clear and manifestly known as it is that the LORD JESUS hath no part in these follies that in them His name is blasphem'd rather than glorified that His Spirit breaths not in them but indeed the Spirit of Satan and the world that scandal is given in them but no edification received confess it a thing contrary to your duty Add not impudence to guilt acknowledge if you be a Christian that it 's a violation of the Apostle's order to participate in such things which neither are nor can be done in the name of our LORD JESUS CHRIST I advertise you particularly of it because we are entring on the season in which the world is won't to give it self the greatest licence for such debauches Dear Brethren let not it's ill examples seduce you Let not the custome of the age nor the pleasing of men induce you to forget the respect you owe to the Apostles voice and the Churches consolation Seek your joys in the service of your LORD and Saviour and in the meditation and expressing of His life and having always before your eyes the love He beareth you the death He suffered for you and the Heaven to which He calleth you love Him with all your heart and whatever you do whether in word or work do it all in the name of this sweet and merciful Saviour rendring thanks by Him to our GOD and Father unto His glory and the edification of your Neighbours and your own Salvation Amen THE FORTY THIRD SERMON ON COLOSSIANS CHAP. III. VER XVIII XIX Verse XVIII VVives be subject unto your own Husbands as is meet in the LORD XIX Husbands love your VVives and be not bitter against them DEAR Brethren As man is subject to a twofold consideration first in regard of his nature simply as he is a reasonable creature secondly in reference to his condition or the rank he holds in humane society that is as either a Master or a Servant a Magistrate or a Subject or the like so he is obliged according to these two different respects to two divers sorts of duties those of the first sort are general and common universally to all men the others of the second do relate but to some certain order of persons only I place in the first rank piety towards GOD honesty temperance justice and charity and such other vertues for which neither sex nor age nor condition doth dispense with any because every man whatever he is otherwayes being a reasonable creature is bound upon that account to practice all those vertues as a perfection and ornament meet for such a nature I reckon among the duties of the second sort the service that bondmen owe their masters the obedience of children to their fathers the dependance of wives in relation to their husbands and the like which pertain as you see only to persons in such conditions and not to all men generally This difference hath produc'd in the Schools of Heathen Sages the distinguishing of active Philosophy into divers parts the first whereof which they call Moral Philosophy or the Ethiques do's explain that first sort of common and general duties the others do treat of the second to wit the Economicks which regulate and form the several different conditions that constitute a family namely husband and wife parents and children master and servants and the Politicks whose task is to expound the devoirs of all the divers orders that compose an Estate as the Prince and the Subject the Magistrate and the Citizen men of the long Robe and of the Sword and the like The Apostles of our LORD in those writings which they have left us where they have unfolded to us the Divine Philosophy of their Master have also followed the same order though their difference otherwayes be very great For they set before us in like manner some general duties which oblige all Christians of what quality soever and in whatever
degree of society either civil or domestick or religious they be placed And though this part being once well comprehended hath in it a great and almost sufficient light to direct and govern all the rest yet they forbear not upon it to descend unto the particular duties of each of those estates and conditions which the faithful live in in humane society Thus the Apostle S. Paul hath done in this Epistle for after having formed us all in general unto piety and sanctity and charity which belong to all Christians equally as you have heard in the precedent exercises he now addresseth himself in particular to each of those three orders of which an houshold is composed the first whereof is the Husband and the Wife the second the Father and the Children the third Master and Servants giving each of them a good lesson for their conduct in the condition to which GOD hath called them Elsewhere he regulateth the duties of Subjects in reference to the civil Powers under which they live of the faithful in reference to their Pastors and reciprocally of Pastors in reference to their flocks not omitting Deacons the other part of Ecclesiastick Ministry and this not in one place alone but many In consideration hereof before we proceed any further permit me I beseech you to make here at the entrance one general reflection upon this the Holy Apostles way of treating thus Whence comes it that having been so careful to instruct and to direct in particular each of those different ranks of persons which then were and still are in the Church they never drop'd one word of the duties of three kinds of conditions in which now a dayes Rome makes the main and in a manner the all of the Christian Commonweal to consist I mean the Pope Sacrificers or Priests and Monks The Apostles do instruct the lowest Masters how they ought to treat their attendants and the simplest Presbyters or Bishops that is Pastors how they ought to feed their flocks They never tell the Pope in what manner he ought to deport himself in that great government of all Christendom which as is said hath been given him of GOD. The Apostles do advertise the most abject slaves of the servitude they owe their Masters and every flock of the diference and respect it owes its Pastors They never speak a word either to single believers or their guides of that infinite subjection which they are obliged to profess unto the Pope or of kiâ—â—ing his feet or of submitting the conscience or any other such like thing The Apostles do exactly inform Bishops or Pastors of the duties of their charge of preaching exhorting instructing of watching of correcting of censuring of excluding the scandalous from communion They never order any Sacrificers to offer a propitiatory hoast unto GOD for the sins of quick and dead nor tell them of the preparations ceremonies and observances necessary thereto nor of purifying by means of an auricular confession the consciences of such as are to participate of such a sacrifice nor of the precautions and subtilties that are necessary for the right administration of it In fine the Apostles verity vouchsafe to take the pains to enter into Families and there regulate the demeanour of Husbands and Wives of Virgins and Widows of Fathers and Children of Masters and Servants Why say they nothing unto Monks neither to the solitary as Hermits and Anachorets nor to those that live associated in separated dwellings Why do they not somewhere instruct the Guardians the Abbots the Superiours and Generals of these orders Why do they not exhort their inferiors to yield them a blind obedience Why say they nothing of their three vows and of the means of well observing them And why give they no instructions to Religious women who imitating the zeal of men shut themselves up in Convents But what say I that they no where regulate the carriage and particular duties of these three sorts of conditions More than so they make no mention of them at all neither expresly nor implicitly And if you read the Books of the New Testament you will find that there is no more speech in them of the Pope and the Sacrificers and the Monks of Rome than of the Bramines of India or the Bonzians of Japan or the Muphti of the Musulmen Whence comes so strange a silence so universal an obliviousness Is it that the thing was not worthy of the Apostles care and quill But how can that be imagin'd since if you believe those of Rome it 's upon these three orders that Christianity depends For as to the Pope he is the head of the Church and exerciseth so necessary an imperial power that out of his communion there is no salvation And as for Priests or Sacrificers it 's they alone that purifie the souls of men both by the absolution they give those whom they confess and by that Deity which they deliver unto such as they communicate Lastly as for Monks their order is the state of perfection They are the Angels of the earth the glory and the rampart of the Church the sole patterns of Evangelick piety and sanctity wherefore they call their fraternities Religions and disdaining their old name of Monks each sex of them stiles themselves Religious as if the piety of other Christians did not deserve to be called Religion in comparison of theirs Whence comes it then that the Apostles have so forgotten these three sorts of people which are as highly or more necessary in the Church than the four elements in the world Dear Brethren you plainly see the reason and if passion did not blind our adversaries they might see it too as well as we The Apostles have said nothing to these three sorts of people because there were none such among Christians in their time Had there been then a Pope and Sacrificers in the Church the Apostles without doubt would have told them their duty as well as Bishops and Elders that is Pastors And if there had been Monks and Religiouses they would undoubtedly have spoken unto them as well as unto men and women that live in wedlock Since they did it not be we certainly assured that neither of these three plants was sown or set by JESUS CHRIST or His Apostles but they have all sprung up since their dayes partly from the imprudence partly from the superstition and corruptness of men who also affording them cultivation have raised them by little and little to that prodigious greatness which now for divers ages they have had And this be spoken at the entrance upon occasion of the care the Apostles in general had to form and regulate the duties of the divers conditions of persons which are found in the Church As for S. Paul's particular in this place he speaks here first unto Husbands and Wives next unto Fathers and Children and last of all unto Masters and Servants following therein the natural order of the things themselves For if you consider the
the only rule of our lives so as we do nothing but what is pleasing unto Him This is the soveraign reason of our duties not to dare any thing that displeaseth Him nor neglect any thing that 's agreeable to Him This rule is of very vast and perpetual use in all the parts of life And omitting others for this time I beseech you only to apply it to the pastimes to the balls and banquettings and comedies of the present season Each of you consult your own conscience hereupon if it be informed by the word of GOD and ask it if these exercises of the world be verily pleasing unto GOD and whether running after them with the multitude you can assure your self you do therein a thing that delighteth him If it answer that there is no reason to believe it but very much to the contrary in the name of GOD my Brethren follow this resolution of your own conscience Abstain from these works of darkness Spare the Church Give it no scandal Expose not its name and its profession to the scorn of those without by engaging them in the disorders of the present generation Let your manners have no less purity in them than your faith and let there be a difference between the very divertisements of children of GOD and of others Give to the poor what is cast away usually in such follies and you shall acquire a firm and solid consolation which shall never be followed with repentance and regret but go on still increasing untill it be changed into that eternal and incomprehensible joy which is kept for us in the Heavens by our LORD JESUS CHRIST to whom as to the Father and the Holy Spirit the true and only Eternal GOD be Honour Praise and Glory unto ages of ages Amen THE FORTY FIFTH SERMON ON COLOSSIANS CHAP III. VER XXII XXIII XXIV XXV And Chap. IV. Ver. I. Verse XXII Servants obey in all things them that are your Masters according to the flesh not serving to the eye as willing to please men but in singleness of heart fearing GOD. XXIII And whatever ye do do it all with courage as unto the LORD and not as unto men XXIV Knowing that ye shall receive of the LORD the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the LORD CHRIST XXV But he that doth unjustly shall receive what he hath unjustly done and there is no regard to the shew of persons CHAP. IV. Verse I. Masters render right and equity to your Servants knowing that ye also have a Master in Heaven IF mankind after the devastation sin hath made hath any thing left it that is laudable and commodious and conducing unto welfare it is without doubt the order of those societies which compose it For this correspondence and this harmony of several persons different in themselves and yet knit together by the mutual offices they do one another and by that common end unto which they direct them is an effect and production of a very perspicacious and exquisite reason and bears such evident marks of it as no one can choose but perceive if he ever so little apply his mind to this consideration The thing is such as made an Heathen sometime say Cicero that that grand and supreme Divinity which governeth the world doth see nothing on earth more agreeable to Him than the bodies of Families and Re-publicks establish'd among men and governed by good equitable laws For as there is nothing not only more unsightly and deformed but also more incommodious than confusion so on the contrary there is nothing that is at once both more beautiful and more beneficial than order For order setting every thing in its place and uniting all together by the co-aptation and combining of particulars does cherish and conserve the whole and by their union frameth up a body which conjoyning in one the forces and perfections of each of them becomes by this means extremely fair and most considerable This is the reason why the Apostles of our LORD and Saviour did carefully discriminate this order from those defects and imperfections which their Master came to correct in the world And whereas their holy discipline doth batter and overthrow and bring to nought all that the unrighteousness and the pride of sin hath rear'd up among us it doth establish and mightily confirm the civil and domestick societies which it found in mankind as so many holy and necessary institutions of GOD our Creator You have heretofore heard with what affection St. Paul recommends to Christians the sacred and inviolable duties of husbands and wives of fathers and children for conserving domestick society in its integrity among us Now that he might leave no disorder at all in it he speaks to Servants and Masters and in this Text discreetly regulates the subjection of the former and the domination of the latter representing to the one and the other of them excellent considerations taken from fundamentals of Gospel-doctrine to sway them to their duty The same namely the subjection of Servants and the superiority of Masters shall be the two points we will treat of if GOD permit in this action observing briefly the particulars they may afford for our common edification and consolation He insisteth most upon the first point which respecteth servants because subjection is bitter and a thing which our nature is loth to accommodate its self unto especially in the condition that servants at that time were For it was not with them as it is now with ours who are persons in reality free and disposing of themselves do only let out their services for a time and upon certain conditions but not devest themselves of the liberty they were born in The servants of the ancients in the Apostle's time and among the nations to whom he wrote were slaves which belonged to their Masters and were theirs by the same kind of property their cattle were They could not dispose of their own persons nor of their children but by the authority and will of their masters The law of servitude was of like nature among the Jews also excepting only that such servants as were of the Hebrew race went out of that condition and were set at liberty when they came to the year of Jubile as is evident by divers places in the books of Moses The Apostle knowing how harsh this condition was unto men took a particular care to sweeten it and to recommend the duties of it to such as Divine Providence had ranked in it least disgust at so strict a subjection and love of liberty should carry them to shake off the yoke and to disturb the order of publick society by their rebellion First he orders them to obey next he prescribeth them the manner of this obedience not serving to the eye as willing to please men and finally in the two last verses of this Chapter he sets before them some considerations taken from the benignity and justice of GOD to incite them unto a faithful discharge of
their duty The command of obedience is expressed in these words Servants obey in all things them that are your Masters according to the flesh The very names which he makes use of do shew the justice of the duty which he gives them in charge For since they are servants and those whom they serve are their masters it 's evident that they are obliged by the reason and nature of the things themselves to render them exact and faithful obedience But his saying of Masters that they are their masters according to the flesh doth mitigate the rigour and the meanness of servitude limiting the power of masters and superiors and extending it no further than unto temporal and corporeal things not unto the soul and conscience Man may be master of our flesh GOD alone is LORD over our Spirits Whatever be the subjection of our bodies we have still our souls free and dependant on none but GOD their Creator who alone hath the power as well as the right to do them good or evil as our LORD and Saviour remonstrates unto us Fear not them saith He that kill the body Matt. 10.28 and cannot kill the soul but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell It is with this distinction that we are to take the obedience which the Apostle recommends unto servants in all things his meaning is in all things that lye within the Master's power and do purely and singly refer unto the flesh not reflecting on or touching the interests of the spirit For if our master according to the flesh command us things contrary to the will of our Master according to the spirit that is of GOD in this case it is evident that we ought to obey GOD rather than man and that if we owe much and in some sense even all things unto men yet we owe them nothing to the prejudice of GOD and that there is nothing but we should suffer rather than fail of that first and eternal servitude we owe to our Creator and Redeemer This holy doctrine of the Apostle's sheweth us first that the LORD JESUS CHRIST doth not at all disturb the order of humane societies He leaves to every one in them the just rights they are possessed of unto persons or things He subjecteth us unto Himself and unto GOD His Father but without doing wrong unto Caesar or any of the lawful powers that govern either Estates or Families He intends that all His should render to them what they owe them He destroys but the treacheries and tyrannie of sin and Satan Herod dread not His coming He will neither pull your Scepter out of your hand nor diminish in any thing the rights of your Crown His design is to give you Heaven not to out you of the earth to enfranchise you from the slavery of vices and not to deprive you of the service of your subjects Whence appears how unjust and scandalous the pretention of those is who under the ombrage of Gospel-liberty would abolish all dominion and soveraignty among Christians accounting it incompatible with the state of grace and their 's no less who subject even in respect of temporals all that are Christians not the greatest Monarchs excepted to one mortal man making their Crowns to depend upon his will and giving him authority to depose them and to loose their subjects from the yoke of their obedience dogmatizing too by the same means that a Christian Prince who falleth into heresie loseth the right he had over his people Can there a thing be said more pernicious or more contrary to the Apostle who would not that Paganism it self a matter worse than heresie should make Masters and Superiors lose any of the lawful rights they have over their Christian slaves Secondly the Apostle's limiting the authority and power of masters over their slaves in things of the flesh naming them their masters according to the flesh doth shew us that there is none but GOD alone who is our Master according to the spirit whence it follows that such as under any pretext whatever do peremptorily invade the Lordly ruling of our souls do grievously erre and usurp a thing which belongs to none but GOD an attentat which those of Rome are evidently guilty of in that they put the consciences of all Christians in subjection to their Pope and Council whereas the holy Apostles do expresly declare that they have no dominion over our faith 1 Cor. 1.19 1 Pet. 5.2 and advertise all the Ministers of CHRIST to feed the flock committed to them not as being Lords over GOD's heritage but so as they may be a pattern to them But I return unto St. Paul who having in general injoyned servants that obedience which they owe their masters according to the flesh in all things doth adjoyn the manner after which he would have 'em to obey them not serving to the eye saith he as bent to please men but in simplicity of heart fearing GOD. He first purgeth the carriage of Christian servants of a vice very ordinary with persons of that quality namely serving only to the eye because they have no other design but to content men They do not think themselves obliged by reasons of conscience but only by those of their own interest to do their masters any duty or service And so they serve them no further than they judge necessary for the exempting themselves from that chastisement which they should incurr if they failed to obey or for their procuring some recompence by winning their favour They respect nothing but this in all the obedience they render them Whence it comes that when they see their master present they play the good husbands as we say and labour at their work with most officious diligence and care But if he turn his back they return unto their nature caring for nothing less than for his service like that evil servant in the parable who seeing that his master delaid to come betook himself to his debauches and fell an outraging his Lord's houshold and wasting his goods All these peoples servitude is but a Comedy And as Players put on their disguise and act their parts when there is an assembly of spectators so these do not their duty but when their master looketh on And if they thought they could deceive his eyes and knowledge or avoid his correcting them or save their salary they would surely never take the pain to do ought of what he hath commanded them It 's this fallacious and truly servile disposition of heart which the Apostle here forbids to Christian servants when he says they should not serve to the eye as aiming only to please men But instead of this he would have them serve in singleness of heart fearing GOD that is sincerely without fraud or feigning and having more respect to GOD than men To that eye-service he had mentioned he opposeth singleness of heart and to the pleasing of men the fearing of GOD. The
Scripture is wont to attribute two hearts or a double heart unto a feigning person because he maketh shew of one intention and yet hath another quite different so he that serves to the eye To see him you would say that he loves his master and desires his profit yet under this deceitful masque he hides quite different thoughts and affections heeding nothing less than the interests of him whom he serves But the servant whom the Apostle formeth here hath but one affection and one thought and having learned in the School of CHRIST that it is just and reasonable the servant should obey his master he serves his to fulfill this piece of righteousness and acquit himself of his duty which he would think himself deficient in if he did otherwise so that bearing about every where this sentiment with him engraven in his conscience there is neither place nor time wherein he doth not faithfully serve his master whether he be absent or present seen or unseen Hereto the Apostle further addeth that he do fear GOD. Whereas others totally referr the condition of servants only unto man he would have a Christian know that GOD is the author of it that it 's He who hath appointed it and would have us approve our fidelity in it when His providence hath called us to it Think not saith he that you have to do with none but men It 's GOD who hath put you in this estate Do not imagine it sufficient to respect and content the eye of your master You must reverence and satisfie the eye of GOD whom you cannot deceive nor content at any lower rate than the doing of your duty exactly and sincerely But the Apostle would not have a Christian simply to do all his Master commands him He would also have him do it chearfully and with the heart Whatever ye do saith he do it all with courage that is first not by constraint and with murmurring but voluntarily and secondly with affection for those who command you Verily you will say an hard law For if the Master be froward if he command as often happens things that are difficult and harsh and inhumane how is it possible a servant should fall to work about them with any cheerfulness I answer that our flesh finds it uneasie to relish such obedience and cannot suffer so hard a bit without reluctance and recalcitration But the fear of GOD inclines us to account those things sweet which are of their own nature very harsh If you look upon man only I acknowledge you have some ground to think it hard that one who is at the bottom but a man as you are should have you in such subjection to his will But if you lift up your eyes higher and consider that it is GOD who hath instituted this order that it 's He who hath called you to this condition that the master whom you serve is His Minister and Officer then the roughest of his commands will become supportable to you And it 's to this the Apostle reduceth you when to bend you unto this sweet and willing obedience he adviseth you to do all things as unto the LORD and not as unto men Make account saith he that it is to JESVS CHRIST and not to a mortal man that you render your services Respect this soveraign LORD in the person of your masters and think that it 's He who orders you to do all that they command you For He likewise it is who hath given you them by His providence for Masters Withal He declares expresly in His word that it is His will you should obey them Admire now Christian I pray the vertue of the Gospel which as sometime the tree of Moses doth sweeten the bitterest things and so changeth their nature that of distasteful and forced it makes them pleasing and voluntary What is there harder or more abject than the servitude of a slave The Gospel changeth it into a devotion into a religious service that is into the noblest and most voluntary of all humane actions The beleever directeth that obedience unto JESUS CHRIST which an infidel gives only to his master He doth that for his GOD which the other doth but for a man Wherefore he doth it chearfully and heartily while the other doth it not but by constraint and with regret Hence the Apostle saith else-where that a servant called in the LORD 1 Cor. 7.22 is the LORD's free-man Not that he ceaseth to do his former master the service he was wont This he is so far from that he now becomes much more faithful Philem. 10. and much more profitable to him than he ' erst was as Onesimus the servant of Philemon who after he once knew JESUS CHRIST went voluntarily to put himself again under his old Master's yoke which during the darkness of his unbelief he had cast off All the difference is that whereas in the time of his ignorance he had respect meerly to his master's will and authority now he hath little regard thereto considering principally his LORD and Saviour's so that to say the truth 't is Him he serves and not a man CHRIST hath freed him from man's yoke and put him under his own since henceforth his aim in all he doth for man is chiefly to please not man but JESUS CHRIST For the forming of the spirits of Christian servants to this holy disposition the Apostle represents unto them in the two last verses of this Chapter that the LORD JESUS is indeed the true Master and super-intendent of their whole lives who sets them their task and looks on their labours whatever condition they are in and will not fail when His day is come to make up a true and faithful accompt with them largely recompencing such of them as shall be found to have honestly discharged their duty and severely punishing the negligent Do all things as to the LORD and not as unto men knowing saith he that you shall receive of the LORD the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the LORD CHRIST But he that doth unjustly shall receive what he hath unjustly done and there is no respect of persons First he would have them take for certain that their servitude shall not be in vain nor unfruitful if they acquit themselves in it as he hath prescribed and if their masters according to the flesh have no regard to it their soveraign LORD will not fail to give them their pay and recompence Next he shews them what this recompence is which they are to expect from the LORD It is saith he the reward of the inheritance Thers 's no one in the School of CHRIST but well knows that this inheritance which the Apostle speaks of is that blessed and glorious immortality which JESUS CHRIST hath purchas'd for us by the merit of His death and calls us all to the possession of by His Gospel Now see how prudently the holy Apostle hath ballanced his expressions of it He calleth it a reward or guerdon
at which you shall be examined will have no more complacency for you then for them That LORD whom you see over you is their Creatour and Redeemer as well as yours He hath put them under you but to govern them not to tyrannize over them to have care of them as his creatures and children not to tread them under foot as worms Remember He will treat you as ye shall have treated them You are his servants as they are yours or to say better they are your brethren and ye are not worthy to be so much as His Vassals You and they are one and the same flesh that came out of the earth and unto earth shall return but neither they nor you have any thing in common with GOD. He is in the Heavens and you crawl in the dirt He is the King of Glory and ye are but dust and ashes Yet such is His goodness that notwithstanding this infinite inequality He hath not disdained your nothingness He hath pardoned you your sins He hath washed you in the bloud of his Son He hath forgiven you all your debts He hath communicated to you His divine nature Respect His graces and have no less gentleness and goodness for your own flesh and bloud then this Soveraign LORD hath had for you who were His enemies With what face will you beg mercy of Him if ye be inexorable to your people How can you hope for the grace of your Master if you have none for your Servants I beseech you both have these holy thoughts night and day fore your eyes to the end you may faithfully discharge those mutual duties which the Apostle enjoyns you the one subjection and obedience the others justice and equity both of you living in such an holy correspondence as that the loyalty the respect the humility the submission and the diligence of servants may go in conjunction with the gentleness the gravity the liberality and benevolence of Masters If ye so do you will be happy the families where you live together in this manner will become the wonder of the earth and the honour of the Church The blessing of Heaven will fall continually on them and besides the contentment and repose which this kind of life will give you abundantly for the present it will also bring you hereafter into the possession of the heavenly inheritance But Dear Brethren it is not enough that those Masters and Servants to whom St. Paul particularly speaks do make their profit of his instructions We all have in them what to learn of whatever quality and condition we be For since he would have servants render so exact and so frank an obedience to their Masters according to the flesh judge ye what kind of obedience we owe to that Highest LORD whom we all have in Heaven The Master according to the flesh gave not his servant the being he hath and if he redeemed him he redeemed but his flesh and that at the price of a sum of money only Ours did make us and it 's by His liberality alone that we hold all the being life and motion that we have Nor hath He only created us He hath also redeemed the whole of us our soul and body flesh and spirit not with silver and gold which are corruptible things but with His own precious bloud having voluntarily sacrific'd His life to preserve us from death and give us an happy immortality Never Master had so much right to command His servants as He hath in reference to us Let us obey Him then in all things without reservation and consecrate this whole life of ours to His service the whole whereof we have once and again received from His grace Neither is it with this LORD as with Masters according to the flesh These oftentimes command things unjust or unhonest things contrary to our salvation which we cannot do without destroying our selves He commands us nothing but what is just what is honest and reasonable what is worthy both of Himself and of us Wherefore the most abject bond-servant owes his Master but a limited obedience whereas we owe ours such as is absolute and infinite His yoke is easie and His burthen light He demands no other thing of us but that we love Him and our brethren for His sake that we live honestly and holily that is be happy O ingrateful and execrable creatures that we are if we deny a Master to whom we owe so much so just and so reasonable so beneficial and so blessed an obedience Again judge ye Faithful if the bond-servant ought to obey his Master in singleness of heart with courage and affection as the Apostle says with what ardour promtitude and devotion should we serve ours who is not only allmighty and all-wise but also goodness love clemency and beneficence it self Then as for the bond-man though he ought to serve his Master at all times and in every place yet his Master sees him not always whereas we are ever under the eye of ours He hath a full view of us sees us within and without nor can we hide our selves in any place where He is not present We cannot speak a word nor form the least thought in the secret of our hearts but He 's a witness of it knows the whole assoon as our selves Now sure there is no slave so sottish and shameless but the Master's eye will keep in order and compel unto obedience It such a one be idle or exorbitant he is not so but in the other's absence Since then we have ours alway present what remaineth but that we be never idle that we employ all our time in His service bearing respect to His Divine eye that looketh on us and is over us both day and night Again even when the serving of a man is in question the Apostle would have the slave not serve to please the man meerly so great an integrity and probity doth he require in all our performances Judge then how much more holy and how much more pure from all interest that obedience should be which we render to the LORD JESUS GOD blessed for ever Undoubtedly they that serve Him to please men to gain their esteem and acquire a reputation for sanctity among them or to draw thence any other profit they I say beside their being ridiculous and vain do commit also an huge and an inexcusable sacriledge profaning the Name of GOD and the sacred acts of religion Matt. 6.2 and most unrighteously abusing them for worldly ends Such are those hypocrites that fast and pray and hear the word of GOD and celebrate His Sacraments and give alms to be seen and had in honour that in short serve not GOD but to please men They saith CHRIST have their wages They are paid they have nothing more to look for at GOD's hands For such vain and deceitful service they shall have no other reward but that vain and deceitful breath which they have coveted and sottishly preferred to the glory of
miraculous School illuminated and consecrated by His Spirit Who could doubt but that it was from the mouth of this holy man that the Mysteries of GOD should be learned and that what was contrary to His Doctrine ought to be judged false and vain I confess his Mission was extraordinary and miraculous and is not to be made a precedent for others Yet notwithstanding what he here saith of it affordeth us two Instructions which reach all Pastors generally The first is that they should never intrude themselves into this Sacred Office if GOD call them not so as they may say with good conscience as Paul doth in this place that they have been made Ministers of the Gospel It is true JESUS CHRIST now speaketh not to men from heaven as He yerst did to S. Paul to call them unto His work But so much He doth that He maketh us perceive His will first by the moving of His Spirit within us which never faileth to incite us to His work when GOD calleth us thereto and secondly by the voyce and authority of His Church that is to say of His faithful people to the Body and Community of whom He hath given the power to apply the right of this Ministry to such as they discern meet for it as the examples of the primitive Church registred in the Book of the Acts and elswhere do shew us And as for Ordination as it is called which is done by the Imposition of the hands of other Ministers already established I confess it also ought to intervene for the compleating and crowning of the call accordingly you see it is seriously practised among us But I add that it is not yet so absolutely requisite but that in case of extreme and invincible necessity as in places and times when there are no true Ministers of JESUS CHRIST found to give it the call of the Church that is of a body of faithful people may suffice to a valid instituting of a Pastor the person supposed to have the ability and inclination requisite for such a charge The other particular that we have to learn here is That all Pastors of what rank soever they may be are Ministers and not Masters of the Gospel It 's the title which the Apostle here assumeth according to the Declaration he makes elswhere that he hath no dominion over the faith of believers 1 Cor. 1.24 but is an helper of their joy The duty of a Minister is to propose what hath been committed to Him what he hath received of the Master If he go beyond it and will have his own will and his private imaginations bear sway he is no longer a Minister he doth the act of a Master and consequently sets up a tyranny since the Church neither hath nor can have any lawful Master but JESUS CHRIST This dear Brethren is th◠which we had to deliver upon this Exhortation of the Aposile to the Colossians Make account that it is to you also he directs it Amid the scandals which Satan casteth in the way of your faith and the temptations he offereth to turn you out of it have still in your hearts and in your ears this Sacred voyce that says aloud from heaven to you Continue in the faith being founded and firm and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which ye have heard and which hath been preached to every creature under heaven whereof I Paul have been made a Minister Oppose the authority of this Divine command to the Seducements and illusions of the world to the flatteries and babble of Sophisters to the suggestions and lusts of the flesh From what Coast soever counsels contrary to it do come whether from within or from without judge them impious and abominable And blessed be GOD who hitherto so settled you in the belief of His Word that neither the forcible attempts of open Enemies nor the fraud of false friends hath been able to remove you at all But dear Brethren it is not enough to have stood fast hitherto There must be preparing for more combats to come after those that are past For we have to do with Enemies with whom we must look for neither peace nor truce They will be still setting on work one Engine or other and if repulsed on one side will not fail to attaque us immediately on another Be we therefore in like manner still upon our guard Let us have no less zeal and constancy for our our preservation then they have rage and resoluteness for our ruine Fortifie we our faith daily Arm it with Armor of proof Found it on the Eternal Rock and so fasten it that nothing may be able to pluck it out of our hearts To this purpose let us continually read and meditate that heavenly Word whence we have drawn it Let us fill our souls with this Divine wisdom and render it familiar to us Let us instruct our youth in it Let us make it to abound on all hands among us Let it be the matter of our mutual entertainments and the most usual subject of our cogitations For as an ancient yer while said very prudently Chrys Hom. 〈◊〉 de Lazaro The reading of the holy Scriptures is an excellent and an assured Preservative to keep us from falling into sin and ignorance of the Scriptures is an huge Precipice a deep gulf of Perdition In the design of our perseverance let us particularly make use of the two means which S. Paul here furnisheth us withal The one that the Gospel which we have heard hath been preach'd in the whole world the other that it is the same which was committed to our Apostle It 's in the belief of this Gospel that he would have us abide firm It 's to this faith that he promiseth the peace of GOD His Favour and His Eternity GOD saith he hath reconciled you to Himself that He might present you holy without spot and unreproveable if indeed you continue firm in the faith and are not moved away from the hope of the Gospel From whence it follows that if we have this Gospel among us we may certainly assure our selves that by retaining it we shall obtain the peace and the Salvation of GOD. The only question therefore is Whether the Doctrine which we have embraced be truly this Gospel or no If it be I have no further search to make I am content to have found what is sufficient for me that I may appear before my GOD without confusion and receive of Him life everlasting But that the Doctrine whereof we make profession is the same Gospel that Paul preached the same that he and the other Apostles sowed in the world and which the world overcome by the force of its truth did in the end receive and adore This I say is so clear that I do not think the Devil himself as hardned in impudence as he is can deny it For the GOD whom we serve and the CHRIST whom we adore and His Merit in
CHRIST the Prince of Life and with that fulness of grace we have received and the holy Apostles preached Mix nothing forreign with it To add to it is to accuse it of imperfection and insufficiency Instead of losing time in the inventions of Error and in the laborious but childish exercises of Superstition Let us employ all hours in good and holy works walking in JESUS CHRIST rooting and building up our selves more and more in him establishing our selves and abounding in faith and testifying and proving the truth of it by a pure piousness towards GOD and an ardent love towards our Neighbour by the fervency of our Prayers the liberality of our Alms the humility of our Deportments the modesty of our Persons the honesty justness and integrity of all our Words and Actions to the glory of the LORD JESUS whom we serve and own for our Master to the edification of men and our own salvation Amen THE TWENTIETH SERMON COL CHAP. II. VER VIII Ver. VIII Beware lest any man make prey of you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after CHRIST OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST comparing the society of his faithful ones in the tenth Chapter of S. John to a Flock of Sheep doth advertise us that there are Thieves who coast about this mystical Fold and do come only to steal to kill and to destroy as also that there are Wolves which take away and scatter the Sheep You are not ignorant dear Brethren that under the names of these spiritual Thieves and Wolves he doth represent unto us evil Spirits and the false Teachers whom they set on work who both together earnestly promote the same design though by divers means namely the debauching and alienating of the faithful from the Communion of JESUS CHRIST their only Pastor getting them and appropriating them to themselves as the Thief who takes what is another's and makes it his own Whence ensues their death and destruction For as the Wolf kills the Sheep he hath seized so these Ministers of Satan do bereave of life those whom they pull away from the Flock of Christ out of whose communion there is nothing but death and perdition But these wretched workers do employ as I said many different means to compass their cruel and bloody design Some they take away by downright force making them leave the bosome of the Church by the violence of persecutions or drawing them into the world by the pleasures of the flesh and do bring them even to a renouncing of the very Name of JESUS CHRIST the Prince of Life Against others they make use of fraud training them forth and distancing them by little and little from JESUS CHRIST under fair and plausible pretences so as in the end they have nothing of his left them but a name and a vain unprofitable profession remaining indeed under the power and in the possession of his Enemy It 's against these mystical Thieves and Robbers that the Apostle doth awaken the Colossians in the Text we have read exhorting them to take heed of ' em Before he prayed them to establish to build up to root themselves more and more in the Communion of the LORD JESUS acknowledging with humble gratitude the excellency of his gift mâ—de them 〈…〉 ensure this Treasure to them he adviseth them to watch against th◠〈…〉 ambushes of their Enemies who sought to surprise them and pluck by 〈…〉 tifice of their subtilities and fair discourses JESUS CHRIST out of their hearts and render themselves Masters of them and of their life Beware saith he lest any man make prey of you c. For it is the duty of a good Pastor such a one as the Apostle was not only to seed the mystical Sheep which the chief Shepherd hath committed to his care by giving them the pure and wholsom doctrine of the Gospel the only pasture of souls but also to preserve them with all his power from the paws of Wolves and the hands of Robbers advertising them of the danger and dextrously delivering them out of it by the saving-tone of his voice But as your Pastors are obliged to this care so you see dear Brethren that it is your duty to watch for your own safety to open your eyes and senses that ye may discern a stranger from a domestick a thief from the shepherd the hand of a robber from that of a friend Beware saith the Apostle to you He would not have the faithful be silly sheep that let themselves be led away by the first commer and indifferently embrace all that is offer'd them His will is that we have our senses exercised and habituated in discerning between truth and falshood able to prove all things that we may hold fast what is good and not suffer our selves to be surprised either by the dignity of a Robe or the blaze of Wit or some appearances of Deportment seeing that Angels of Satan do sometimes clothe themselves with light The prudence of the Beraeans is praised by the Holy Ghost Acts 17.11 who examined S. Paul's preaching comparing what he had spoken to them with the Scriptures that they might assuredly know the state of the matter The salvation of our souls is too precious for us to trust any other than GOD in it Whence appears how dangerous that security of implicit faith as they call it is which without any scruple receives all that its Teachers deliver and is so far from examining it that it vouchsafes not so much as to understand it believing it true without knowing it provided only that the mouth which publisheth it hath been opened by the Pope's hand If the question were only of a title those of whom the Apostle adviseth the Colossians here to take heed were Teachers and he contesteth not with them about their dignity in any part of this Epistle He deals with them only about their Doctrine Accordingly the case is concerning Doctrine whether we ought to believe it or no and whatever may be the hand that delivereth it to us if it be false it will not fail to destroy us as poyson doth not forbear to kill though he that prescribed it hath taken his degrees with all the formalities requisite S. Paul too elsewhere with one word overthrows all the prepossessions that might be for any Preachers upon any ever so eminent quality of their persons when he proclaims twice together If we our selves Gal. 1.8 or an Angel from heaven do preach another Gospel to you beside what we have preached let him be an Anathema Be you all that you will you cannot be more than S. Paul or an Angel of Heaven Since their Doctrine ought to be examined by the Gospel for its having reception or being accursed as it should be found conform or contrary thereto it will be no wrong done you if yours be put to the same trial But consider I pray with what emphasis the Apostle recommendeth to us
us to the obedience of GOD and after Him to the obedience of our Parents If we have chanced through imprudence or other-waies to tye up our selves else-where we must speedily break the bond and make no scruple nor conscience to break it but to observe it Beside evident reason for it and the confession of all wise men who hold that vows made against moral duty do not oblige the word of GOD expresly maketh this decision If a woman saith the Law shall vow a vow unto the LORD Numb 30.4.6 and bind her self by a bond in her youth being in her Father's house if her Father disallow her in the day he heareth it not one of all her vows nor of the bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand Here you see that vows though in other respects good and lawful yet oblige not if made by children of the family without their fathers allowance And this is yet more forcibly concluded from the Lawgiver's adding Num. 30.7 8 9. that the vows of a married wife disallowed by her husband are null and void it being evident that the authority of a Father over his child is much greater and more strict than that of an husband over his wife And hither must that censure be referred which our LORD and Saviour pass'd upon the Pharisees who under colour of the religion of vows did also annul the honouring of parents by their children so expresly commanded in the Law Saith He Matt 15.4 5 6. GOD hath commanded saying Honour thy Father and thy Mother And again He that curseth his Father or Mother shall dye the death But ye say whosoever shall say to his Father or his Mother All that whereof thou mightest have profit by me is a gift or Corban though he honour not his Father or his Mother shall be free Thus have ye made the commandment of GOD of none effect through your tradition For the right understanding of this discourse of our Saviour's and of that tradition of the Pharisees he opposeth we are to know that the Jewish Rabbies as we learn by their own books did and still do make a very great account of vows holding the religion of them absolutely inviolable Moreover they listed in the rank of vows not those only which were legitimate and conceiv'd in solemn manner with terms of a full extent as when one said I make a vow unto GOD not to taste wine or strong drink during the space of forty daies and the like but also all other words in what form soever conceiv'd and uttered whether upon deliberation or in choler or otherwise by which one devoted any thing whatever were it expresly or covertly as for instance if a man in a fit of choler or in the trouble of a quarrel with his neighbour came to say through indignation Let me dye if ever I do thee any service the Rabbines took this for a true vow and accounted such a man obliged in conscience never to do that person any service against whom he had uttered such words Now because the Corban that is the sacred gifts given to the Temple were a thing which they esteemed most inviolable and the offerings there kept might not be employed to any profane use nor any private person put his hand into the treasury for that end upon pain of death hence it comes that to signifie the use of a thing was totally interdicted unto any one they said it was to him corban that is he was no more permitted to make use of it than of the sacred gifts which in their language were called by that name When therefore it fell out that a son through distaste or anger at his Father once came to say All that of which you might have profit by me is a gift or corban that is you shall never be the better for me or you shall never draw service or profit from me no more than from the corban the Pharisees and other Rabbies held that such a man was obliged by this vow of his to do his Father no service any more and they judged him innocent and blameless though he never did him any how pressing soever the Father's necessity might be alledging that the religion of a vow was above the natural obligation of children towards their fathers and their mothers which was in very deed to annull the Law of GOD by their tradition as our Saviour charged them Judge if those of Rome do not the same thing dispensing with children for the obedience due to Parents upon pretence of monastick vows in like manner and if by consequent we have not all the reasons in the world to apply unto them what our LORD said of the Pharisees even that they make the commandment of GOD of none effect by their tradition Let us then lay aside since the LORD doth so injoyn it us all humane inventions and simply and faithfully keep to the will of our Soveraign Master as He hath declar'd it to us in His word As also you see that in the Text it 's the only reason the Apostle doth alledge to oblige children to this duty He might have urged the justice of the thing it self it being evident that we owe respect and honour unto those who gave us both life and education and if not all at least the greatest part of whatsoever help and honour we possess and understand He might have argued from Nature which hath engraven this law in the heart of animals themselves whom we see especially while they are little to be subject to those that brought them forth He might have produced the custome of all nations even the least civilized not excepted who by their usage and some of them by their laws have authorized the veneration of parents as of sacred persons and have noted as is indeed very notable that the Pagan both Greeks and Romans made so great an account of this duty as to give it the same name they gave unto the fearing and worshipping of GOD calling not only devout and religious persons but those also pious who were industrious to honour and to serve their Fathers and Mothers whence it came they held that excesses committed against Parents Val. Maâ— were to be punished as violations of the honour of the Deity were The Apostle might have produced all these things and divers others But he doth it not He alledgeth nothing but the sole will of GOD as the best and the strongest and the most considerable of all reasons Children obey your Fathers and your Mothers in all things Why Because this saith he is well-pleasing to the LORD If you be a Christian this is sufficient to perswade you to render to your Parents that obedience which the Apostle commands you For how can you neglect what is pleasing to that LORD upon whom depends all your Salvation who hath been so good to you as to redeem you from eternal perdition by the death of His only Son and to give you in