unprofitable the fig-tree or the apple-tree or others when they are unprofitable and beare no fruit you may make a pin of them to hang a vessell on but the vine what is it good for surely it is good for nothing but the fire from one end to the other of it you cannot make a pin to hang a vessell on So either there must be grapes there must be fruit or woe and eternall perdition To distribute and to doe good forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased Heb. 13.16 To doe good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased HEre is an Exhortation and the Reason to enforce it The Exhortation is To doe good and to communicate And then doe wee doe good when we doe communicate that good that God hath given us to the good of others Wee have done with the Exhortation Wee come to the Reason that the Apostle useth to enforce the Exhortation withall For with such sacrifices God is well pleased Hee saith not With such workes God is well pleased but with such sacrifices There are spirituall sacrifices Prayer is one and Thanksgiving another and Repentance another and Beneficence another But the thing that is offered to God in all these spirituall sacrifices is the heart A devout heart in Prayer a broken heart in Repentance a gratefull heart in Thanksgiving and a tender compassionate heart in Beneficence And it is the tendernesse and compassionatenesse and the charitablenesse of the heart that makes it a sacrifice to God and well-pleasing to him and accepted of him Againe hee doth not say This is such a sacrifice as God requires though hee doe require it too but This is such a sacrifice as God is well pleased with It is motive enough to perswade a good child to doe this or that if it be a thing that will please his father It is motive enough to perswade a faithfull honest-hearted servant to doe a thing to tell him This will please your Master It is enough to perswade any good subiect to doe this or that to assure him the thing will please his Soveraigne It is motive enough to a Christian heart to perswade him to doe good and communicate to assure him that this is a thing that God is well pleased with But yet it is not every work done not every thing that is in it of the substance of a good work that is pleasing to God there is more required then so to make a sacrifice acceptable to God There is something required in the doer and There is somewhat required in the thing done There is somewhat required in the doer First hee must be in Christ that will offer a sacrifice acceptable to God Take these Rules First If the person of a man please not God his works can never please him God accepted Abel and his sacrifice Abel first and then his sacrifice God never accepts a mans offering till first hee accept of his person Now God accepts of no mans person but in Christ this is hee in whom I am well pleased The Apostle calls Christ the Sonne of Gods love and there are none that ever God loves but hee loves them in his Sonne the Sonne of his love Col. 1.13 That is one ground Another is Though a work be good as it comes from the Spirit of God the Author of all goodnesse yet it cannot come thorow our fingers but wee soyle it All our righteousnesses are as menstruous cloaths If God should bee extreme to marke what is done amisse in our best works who were able to obide it Even as the offering of the children of Israel it was called a holy offering yet as holy as it was there was some iniquity in that holy offering but that was laid on Aaron and when hee bare the iniquity of all the other the men and their workes were accepted So it is here the workes of a Christian man may be good workes good in substance because they are works that God requires at his hands Then they may be good in the fountaine when they spring from the Author of all goodnesse And good in the end because they are done to the glory of God and the good of our brethren But yet as there was some iniquity did cleave to the holy offering of the children of Israel as holy as it was so there is some iniquity cleaves to our good worke how good soever it be when that iniquity that cleaves to our workes is laid upon Christ who in his owne body on the tree bare the iniquity of us all then our persons and workes are graciously accepted and all the iniquity that cleaves to our workes mercifully pardoned This is the first thing What is required in the doer to make his beneficence acceptable to God But here is not all there is something required in the thing done and that I shall shew you in the remainder of the time by Gods grace And I shall lay it down in foure Rules The first is about the end And you must not wonder that I begin at the end for howsoever the end is the thing last attained yet it is the thing first intended it is the first thing in a mans intention And besides God regards not so much quid as propter quid not so much what wee doe as for what we doe A man may doe good works for ill ends and then hee must not look that God should accept them It is the end that commends the action Now there are three ill ends of doing good works One end that some propound to themselves in doing good works is to make satisfaction to divine iustice for the sins they have committed The Apostle would have us doe good works for necessary uses but God never appointed this use of good works Our good works may be tokens of our secret predestination they may be fore-tokens of our future happinesse but to think that by doing good wee can make recompense and satisfaction to divine iustice and appease the infinite wrath of God for sinne before the which the very Angels themselves are not able to stand it is a senslesse and gracelesse fancie tending much to the dishonour of Christ and that all-sufficient satisfaction that hee hath made for the sinnes of the world when hee offered up his flesh a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour to God That is one ill end Secondly some propound another end that is to merit eternall blisse by it And our English men Rhemists Romish English men by birth and Rhemists by education and Romish by profession oft times stand to it to prove that good works are truly and properly meritorious ex condigno even of very condignity In so much say they in their Comment upon Heb. 6. Good works are so farre meritorious that God were uniust if hee should not give heaven to our good works hee were uniust if hee should not yeild heaven to our good works This is the onely place wherein they
remedie but the cords of your tabernacles must be fastned among the tents of Kedar among Idolaters then learne and remember how Noah lived in the old world hee walked with God when all the world walked from him Remember how Lot lived in Sodome how Joseph lived in the Court of Pharaoh and Obadiah in the Court of Ahab and Daniel in the Court of Babylon Remember how the Saints lived in Neros houshold Phil. 4.22 Remember a Church that held the Name of God and denied not the Faith that lived in such a place where Satan's throne was The fish keepes the fresh taste though it live in salt-water A Myrtle loseth not the nature it is a Myrtle still though it grow in the midst of netles It is a foule shame to live among good men in good places not be good but it is an high commendation to live among evill men in evill places and not be ill Thus much shall suffice concerning the Idoll It was a calfe and they learned to make it in Egypt I come now to their worke the making of it They made a calfe in Horeb. There are three circumstances in that making of it First who were they that made it They made it Secondly where did they make it In Horeb. Thirdly of what did they make it That my Text speakes not of here but wee must take it out of the story It was of the golden eare-rings that Aaron tooke out of the eares of the men and women of their sonnes and daughters and of that they made a calfe They made a calfe in Horeb. For the first the persons that made it They made it The Hebrewes the Jewes would very faine put this from themselves they say that there were some Egyptians that were mingled among them and indeed wee reade that there came out a great multitude a mixed confused company came out of Egypt but they were not these only that made the calf the Israelites themselves made it too They made it Yet I doe not thinke that all of them had a hand in making of it I make no question but some of them hated this calfe with a perfect hatred and them that made it them that worshipped it they were but some of the people that made it Harke what the Apostle saith Let us not be Idolaters as some of them were Idolaters 1 Corinth 10.7 But some of them were Idolaters yea a great company of them were Idolaters They made the calfe But how can it be said they made it for if you look in the story wee shall finde that Aaron made it Aaron threw their gold into the fornace Aaron polished the calfe Aaron set up an Altar Aaron proclaimed an holy day To morrow shall be an holy day unto the Lord. It was Aaron that made it why is it not said that Aaron made the calfe in Horeb but They made the calfe Marke those words where this storie is set downe Exod. 32. verse ult It is said there that God plagued the people for their sinne in making the calfe that Aaron made Marke God plagued the people for their sinne in making the calfe that Aaron made So the people and Aaron both made it the people first They made it Take these rules A man may have a hand hee may have fellowship in the unfruitfull workes of darknesse many waies foure especially It is the usuall phrase of Scripture 1. A man is said to doe that that he doth not himself but another man if he command it that is one So David slew Uriah the Hittite with the sword because hee commanded him to be set in the Army where he might be slaine with the sword of the Children of Ammon Secondly a man may be said to doe that that another man doth if hee doe counsell and perswade to it and entice and solicite to it Thus the High-Priests and the Scribes and Pharisees are said with their wicked hands to take Christ and to crucifie him and to hang him on a tree They with their wicked hands did not doe it but they perswaded Pilate to doe it with much importunity therefore they did it Thirdly a man may be said to doe that that another man doth if hee occasion the doing of it It is said of Judas that hee purchased a field Acts 1. ver 18. This man purchased a field Judas did not purchase it but Judas by returning the money to the treasury again for which he sold Christ gave them occasion to purchase it therefore this man purchased the field Fourthly a man may be said to doe that that another man doth if he doe not hinder the doing of it if he ought and might hinder it The men of Tyrus came upon the Sabbath day and sold wares in Jerusalem Nehemiah that good governour hee goes to the Rulers of the people and saith What is this that you doe and breake the Sabbath Nehem 13. They brake it because they should have hindred the breaking of it and did it not Wee have sinnes enough and too many of our own to answer for wee need not answer for the sins of others yet wee shall answer for the sins of others too for all those sinnes that other men have committed if either wee Command them Counsell them Occasion them Or not hinder them Aaron made the calfe but yet they made it because they would have him make it Aaron made it It is a thing to be considered a little Whether did Aaron sinne in making this calfe or no Did Aaron well in yielding to the people in making this calfe Tantum Sacerdotem condemnare non audemus c. saith S. Ambrose We dare not condemne so great an High-Priest and we cannot tell how to justifie and excuse him yet some in former time and one of late dayes in our time but a Papist hath written a book Munsius de AARONE purgato of Aaron purged Hee will free Aaron from all manner of sinne in making of this calfe but it will not be Should he purge him with Nitre and with Fullers sope seven times over hee could not doe it I see the Fathers are wondrous carefull in extenuating this sin and we may doe that excuse it we cannot we must needs acknowledge it a very great sin in this High-Priest First of all say they the people would have him doe it hee would not have done it else Well be it so hee was now a Governour left under Moses hee should have been more vigilant and have looked better to his government The permission of an evill is as great an evill as the commission of it Woe to that people that are humoured in their sins either by the Ministers or by the Magistrates the one should check them the other should punish them but woe to the people that are humoured in them But then you will say This people was set upon a mischief they would have it there would be no remedie Indeed Aaron told Moses so It is true they were so Be they so
worship men like themselves Some four-footed beasts Some creeping things of the earth That same Dagon that you read of in the Scripture had the head of a man but the lower parts of it were like a fish Not to tire you with reckoning up particular vanities in this kind heare what the Apostle saith of the Gentiles Because when they knew God they glorified him not as God but were unthankfull their foolish heart being filled with darknesse when they professed themselves wise men they became fooles Fooles how They turned and marke that phrase it is the same that is here the glory of the incorruptible God to the Image and similitude of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things and changed the truth of God into a lye and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator saith the Apostle who is blessed for ever Rom. 1.21 A Question may be made here why this people since they will needs worship God under a forme would choose this forme why a calfe why a young bullock It is agreed upon by all hands old and new Writers that they all learned this kinde of service in Egypt Egypt was the mother of Idolatry so Jeremie calls it Though all people under heaven had corrupted their waies yet no people had more corrupted their waies in this kinde then Egypt quis nescit qualia demens Aegyptus who knowes not what base abominations what dung-hill gods the Egyptians worship They worshipped a deitie under the forme of a Crocodile Another deitie under the forme of Ichneumon a rat of Nilus Another under the forme of Ibis and they had more dung-hill gods then these their onions and leeks in their gardens O sanctus c. The heathen could scoffe at this foolery that they should have deities growing in their gardens But of all the gods they worshipped the greatest their great god was Apis or Serapis they worshipped him under the similitude or form of a young Bullocke pyed Bull a pyed Oxe black with such and such white spots upon him Would you know from whence Let mee trouble you a while Apis a King or another country in a famine relieved Egypt Alexandria especially when hee was dead they made him a god and decreed divine honour to be given him then they must worship him under a forme They think of the benefit they had by Apis they had their corne by the tillage of the ground by the labour of the Oxe and they will worship this great god of theirs under the form of a pyed Oxe a young pyed Bullock This people had seen this Idolatrous service in Egypt and now they did not more long after Egyptian food then after this Egyptian god I pray marke what Saint Stephen saith of this people Acts 7.39 In their hearts quoth hee they turned againe into Egypt Saying Make us a calfe make us gods to goe before us In their hearts they turned into Egypt when they required of Aaron such a worship as this The thing I observe from it is this Observ It is an easie matter for men to be drawn to the practice of that Idolatry that they have been accustomed to see practised in those places that they have a long time lived in Hee that would take heed of Idolatry let him take heed of Egypt the very aire of Egypt as I may so say is infectious in this kind See here they had seen the worship of a young bullocke in Egypt and they must have a bullock I pray remember Jeroboam the sonne of Nebat that made Israel to sinne How did hee make them sinne Hee set up two calves they set up one hee set up two one at Dan another at Bethel Where did hee learne that had hee been in Egypt too yes he lived in Egypt some space hee fled thither for feare of Solomon For when hee perceived that Solomon sought his life hee went and dwelt with Shishak King of Egypt and was with him saith the Text till the death of Solomon 1 Kings 11.40 I say hee that would take heed of Idolatry let him take heed how hee lives in Egypt The locall seat of Antichrist and what seat can that be but Rome is called in the Revelations by three names It is called Egypt Rev. 11.8 It is called Sodome in the same verse It is called Babylon in many places of the Revelations It is called Babylon in regard of her crueltie It is called Sodome in regard of her filthinesse and Egypt in regard of her Idolatry It is a hard matter for a man to live in Egypt and not to taste and savour somewhat of the Idolatry of Egypt Wee had sometime in England a proverb about going to Rome They said A man that went the first time to Rome he went to see a wicked man there Hee that went the second time to Rome went to be acquainted with that wicked man there Hee that went the third time brought him home with him How many have wee seen and it is pitie to see so many of our Nobilitie and Gentry to goe to those Egyptian parts and returne home againe but few of them bring home the same manners the same Religion nor the same soules they carried out with them Isaac had bestowed the blessing upon Jacob his younger son you know the story Gen. 27. But when Isaac sent his sonne Jacob to Padan-Aram though hee had blessed him before the Scripture saith hee blessed him againe Gen. 28. If ever Parents had need to blesse their children they had need to blesse them and blesse them againe when they send them to travell to those forraine parts Can a man be in a mill where much corne is ground and have no badge of it upon his clothes Can liquor be tunned up in a mustie vessell and not taste of the cask Can a man live in Ethiopia and his face not be discoloured Marke in verse 35. of this Psalme I have now in hand It is said there The people were mingled among the heathen and what came of it They learned their workes It is a hard matter for a man to be much conversant with Idolaters and not learn Idolatry It is a hard matter for a man to be much conversant with common drunkards and not learn to drink It is a hard matter for a man to be a common companion with them that sit in the seat of the scornfull and not to learn to scoffe It is a hard matter for a man to live among blasphemers and swearers and not learn to sweare O Wo is me saith David that I am constrained to dwell at Meshek Brethren if by any meanes by prayer or all holy endeavours you can keep your selves from the wo of living at Meshek among Idolaters labour to doe it it is a miserable condition to live among idolatrous or wicked persons But if divine providence shall necessarily cast you upon Meshek and Egypt if it stand with the good will and pleasure of God and there be no
may fall to morrow O Consider thy selfe either thou art tempted or hast been tempted or mayest be tempted as that man was The Lord would have Aaron to fall that hee might look with an eye of compassion upon sinners Then lastly It pleased God to suffer him to fall thus that hee might be a warning to us Quomodò tener Agnus c. Alas how shall the tender Lamb doe when the Bell-wether of the flock is thus endangered If Aaron the saint of the Lord as hee is called in this Psalme a man so familiarly acquainted with God and divine visions and a man that had been so powerfull with Moses in working miracles a man that approached so near to God a man so long conversant with God a man that had gone of so many errands of God as hee did with Moses to Pharaoh If so holy and so great a man as hee fell into so great a sinne as this then let us learn to worke out our salvation with feare and trembling Howle Firr-tree saith the Prophet when the Cedar fals Be not high-minded but feare It is the use wee are to mak of it So much for the first circumstance The second circumstance is Where they made this calfe In Horeb. There ran all along in Arabia a ridge of mountaines it was but one mountain but there were two great tops of it Sinai was one and Horeb was the other and you shall finde them sometime called by the one name and sometimes by the other sometimes the whole mountaine is called by the name of Sinai sometimes all the mountaine is called by the name of Horeb sometime by the one top sometime by the other Now this is a thing to be observed they were not gone yet from Horeb the law was given in Sinai but a little before where the Lord charged them out of the fire Thou shalt not make an Image to me they were but at the foot of the hill and had not tarried there much above a month after the law was given they saw mount Sinai before them that was the higher top and they could not but remember how mount Sinai was all on a smoaking fire and flame and with what earnestnesse God had charged them Thou shalt not make any similitude of mee they were not yet gone altogether from the mountaine they were yet in Horeb and yet you see as it is ver 13. They made haste and forgat God and fell to this sinne so saith God to Moses Goe get the downe this people are quickly gone out of the way Exod 32.7 You may see it in this I stand not upon that point The third circumstance is Whereof did they make this calfe They made it of their golden eare-rings Pull off the golden ear-rings saith he from your wives and your sonnes and your Daughters and give them to mee No doubt of it but the servant of God Aaron would faine by this have diverted them from making them a calfe Hee would faine have turned them from it if hee could Hee knew that all those people in those Easterne parts were much delighted in ornaments in eare-rings they say they weare them usually there to this day And suppose hee could perswade the men to be content to part with their ornaments out of their eares yet he thought it impossible to get the women to part with theirs What for a woman to part with her jewels and ornaments This seems a thing impossible You see they are so desirous of them they will many of them pinch their bellies that they may lay somewhat more upon their backes We know there are many that had rather their bellies should want sufficient sustenance then their backes a superfluous ornament You see what a hard matter it is to get women to leave an idle instrument or a bagge of vanity that they carrie about with them but to leave their jewels to part with their ornaments hee never thought they would doe it though the men might part from theirs yet they all do both men and women Wee may observe how easily men and women will part with any thing to maintaine Idolatry I cannot tell whether it be as that Father imagined the pride of our hearts that wee are in love with the workes of our owne hands with the devices of our owne braine with the invention of our own spirits that because they are our own we like them Or whether it be the vigilancy of the divell that roaring lyon that goes about seeking whom he may devoure or what else is the cause I know not but this I know men are more willing to part with any thing to an Idoll to a superstitious worship then to the true worship and service of God And for this cause Idolatry may fitly be compared to whoredome You see a whoremonger will be pinching and sparing enough to his wife and children at home but he cares not how expensive and excessive and lavish he be upon his whores abroad Thus it is in spirituall whoredome men are never so niggardly as in the worship of God but they are content to part with any thing for the maintaining of Idolatry This forwardnesse of this people even to pull their very eare-rings out of their eares to bestow upon an Idoll it will rise up and condemne us that are not willing to pull any thing out of our purses to the worship and service of God Many men in this liberall age we live in are content with the Wise men to take a great journey to see Christ peradventure they are content to fall downe and worship him but they are not willing with those Wise-men to open their treasures Speake to them of opening their treasures whether for works of piety to God or of charity to men then they stand at it as Naaman the Assyrian Nay the Lord be mercifull to me for that Brethren I could speak a great deale more to this purpose but I am loath to trouble you Then besides I know how unnecessary this is in this place I have had many a time here twice especially a plentifull experience of your forwardnesse I have seene how your hearts have beene enlarged in bounty towards the enlarging of this place towards the maintenance of the Ministery and service of God in this place I need not speake of that now But yet I will exhort you now to a worke of charity Do you remember the Briefe that was read even now for that poore towne of Cambridge Me thought your hearts did even yearne within you with pity and compassion to heare of almost 3000. poore distressed soules brought into this extreame misery through the hand of * The great plague in Cambridge Aug. 1630. God Brethren I need say no more I beseech you give us that are your servants in ordinary here in the worke of the Ministery both of the one side and of the other we are all brought up in the Universities I pray give us leave to repaire to your houses and If
a revocation of a fearfull sentence against a whole Nation what may a multitude of Gods chosen ones doe uniting their forces and soliciting heaven for mercy I know beloved brethren what opinion the world hath of Gods children of Gods chosen ones they doe not onely thinke them to be contemptible things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speakes the very filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things unto this day Men of no name as Job saith Nay men of no being Those things that are not saith the Apostle They may have a being in nature but they have no being in the esteeme and account of men those things that are not And they not onely thinke them thus but besides the only troublesome dangerous men in a state Ahab tooke Eliah to be the man that troubled all Israel The men of Thessalonica tooke Jason and the brethren in his house to be the men that turned the world upside downe as they speake Acts 17. ver 5. Tertullus accuseth Paul to be a pestilent fellow nay it is somewhat worse in the Greeke it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the abstract the pestilence it selfe a plague one that moved sedition thorow the world where hee came Acts 24. In the first ages of the Church if either Tyber at any time did flow above the accustomed height or Nilus did not flow to the accustomed height if either there were famine or pestilence in the land or any calamity they laid all the fault upon the Christians the Christians were in the fault away with the Christians to the lions with them as though they were men not worthy to live in the world Yet hearken I pray what the Apostle saith for all that in Hebrew 11. ver 38. The world was not worthy of them Hee speakes of some men that wandred up and downe in sheep-skins and goat-skins destitute afflicted tormented yet the world was not worthy of them Why not worthy These men bring blessings to the places where they come they bring blessings to the world the world is not worthy of these blessings therefore not worthy of the men that procured them And what blessings will you say doe Gods children bring to a place I tell you they bring a blessing with their very presence their very presence is a blessing The presence of Jacob was a blessing in the house of Laban The very presence of Joseph was a blessing in the house of Potiphar And what a blessing was in the widow of Zarephath's house when Eliah was there Then they procure a blessing with their prayers where they come Jam. 5.16 The prayer of a faithfull man prevailes much with God God promised this to Abimelech as a great favour Gen. 20.5 My servant Abraham shall pray for thee And the like favour is promised to the three friends of Job Goe saith God to those three men Job's friends goe every one of you offer a burnt offering seven bullockes and seven lambes for a burnt offering and my servant Job shall pray for you Job ult 8. Thirdly they procure blessings by their good example of life because they shine as stars among a wicked and froward generation Yea and they procure this blessing not onely to private houses as Jacob did to the house of Laban and Joseph to the house of Potiphar but to the whole society to all that are in the company There were in the ship with Paul two hundred seventy and six soules in a mighty shipwrack not one of those men perished not a haire fell from the head of any one of them and all for Paul's sake They bring a blessing to the whole company that is with them Nay further they bring a blessing to a whole City where they be Runne to and fro saith the Lord to the Prophet in the streets of Jerusalem and see if you can finde a man that will execute judgement and speake the truth and I will spare the City for his sake Jer. 5.1 If there had been but ten men in Sodome righteous it had not been destroyed there was but one righteous man found there and God could doe nothing to Sodome till hee was out of it Get thee gone saith the Angell to Lot I can doe nothing till thou be gone Nay further they doe good to the whole country wherein they live Wee are not in a continent here wee live in an Island And hearken what Eliphaz the Temanite saith according to our former translation our new somewhat varies but the words will beare as well the one as the other The righteous shall deliver the Island and it shall be delivered through the uprightnesse of his hands Job 22. ult Nay I will goe further The children of God are not the men that turne the world upside downe they are the men that keepe it upright Were it not for the Elect in the world God would soone turne it upside downe It is for the Elects sake that hee keepes it up as soone as the Elect are gathered together the world will be at an end Let mee make use of it and I have done Doth God for the righteous sake shew favour to the wicked mee thinkes the wicked for their owne sakes should shew favour to the righteous If Moses were gone and the wrath of God begin to burne like fire against us who should run to the gap and to the breach If Aaron were gone and the plague should wax hot among us who should run with his censer and stand between the living and the dead and make atonement for us If war should be in the land and if the Chariots and Horse-men of Israel were gone who should fight for us A fearefull presage of an utter destruction and was ever held so is the untimely end of many eminent persons in the Church or Common-wealth a fearfull presage Methuselah if you marke the story did live to the very six hundredth yeare of Noah's life and in the second month of that six hundredth yeare the Flood came Methuselah was but new dead and as soone as Methuselah was dead God sent the Flood As soone as Josiah that good King was slaine then came that miserable captivity Esay chap. 57. ver 1. The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and good men are taken away Why from the evill that is to come Marke that from the evill that is to come God takes those away those would hinder him those would run to the breach those would stay divine justice from proceeding further hee takes them away Let me conclude this point You have had here one worke of Moses let mee tell you of another in another history In the 17th of Exodus there was war between Israel and Amalek Moses hee gate up on the hill and held his hands to God in prayer As long as Moses his hands were held up Israel prevailed when Moses his hands grew faint come Aaron and Hur one on the one hand and the other on the other
and hold up his hands and prop them up that they might not be weary Brethren wee should all be holding up our hands to God for mercy If thou out of conscience of thine owne unworthinesse thinkest surely that God will not regard the holding up of thine hands he will never have an eye to thine hands when thou holdest them up yet doe as Aaron and Hur hold up the hands of them whose hands thou thinkest God will respect If thou canst not act Moses his part act Aarons and Hurs Alas the hands of Gods children are faint they are discouraged their knees are feeble with prayer O encourage them lift up their hands it may be God will yet heare their prayers and shew mercy to them Thus much shall serve for the first point It was Moses that got the sentence revoked I come to the other the meanes by which he got it revoked hee stands in the breach had not Moses his chosen stood in the breach A military phrase a phrase taken from the wars If a City be besieged and if the enemy without by a ram or any other warlike Engine hath made a breach in the wall all that are men of courage and valour runne to the wall runne to the breach and strive by all meanes possible to keepe the enemy from entring in at that breach chat hee hath made This fearefull sinne of the people had made a breach by which divine justice might have entred and have brought an utter destruction upon them all Moses runnes to the breach and sets himselfe between God and the people that God should not proceed further to their destruction Now you must note he stood in the breach two waies First by a due execution of justice And then by an earnest importunate intercession for mercy First I say by the execution of justice Doth the wrath of God at any time burne like fire against a sinfull people There are two things whereby it may be quenched A man may quench the wrath of God in regard of any temporall calamity the fire of Gods wrath with two things two liquors The one is blood The other is teares The blood I meane is the blood of malefactors principall malefactors that shall be shed with the sword of justice The teares I speake of are such teares as are shed by principall men by the Favourites of heaven in their prayers for mercy Moses doth both he pleads Gods cause here against the people and he pleads the peoples again with God First Causam Dei apud populum gladio he pleads Gods cause against the people with a sword of justice hee pleads the peoples cause against God with teares and prayers in both hee shewes himselfe a zealous Magistrate and I cannot tell whether hee shew himselfe more zealous to the glory of God in the one or more zealous of the peoples good in the other For the first his execution of justice There is a way to stand in the breach Moses is said to be the mildest man that was upon the earth but I pray marke what this mild man did when hee saw the glory of God bestowed upon a base filthy inglorious abomination First hee comes from the Mount and brings the Tables of God in his hand and casts down the Tables and breakes them I doe not thinke hee did it through impotency of passion Mark his words Deuteronom 9. ver 17. mee thinkes hee did it advisedly but with some secret warrant from God Hee saw the people had broken the Covenant and hee before their eyes breakes the Tables of the Covenant the most precious monument that ever the world had This was the first thing hee did Hee stayes not here hee goes to the Calfe the sinne that they had made as hee calls it he takes it and breakes it to pieces stampes it to powder hee beats it as small as dust and casts it into the brooke and makes them drink the water of it these are the Gods that shall goe before them Let them looke their god in their urine He is not yet content but cries Who is on the Lords side And the Tribe of Levi come and gird their swords on their sides and run from one side of the camp to the other and slay every man his brother and every man his Father and every man his companion They slew at that time three thousand and with the blood of these three thousand hee slacked the wrath of God The sonnes of Levi never offered a sacrifice of the flesh of beasts that was a sacrifice of so sweet a smelling favour in the nostrils of God as this sacrifice of their brethren When a sinne is committed wherewith earth is annoyed and heaven provoked the justice of God sets out presently against that sin but goes on slowly very slowly hee will see whether mans justice will follow after it or no if mans justice overtake it Gods justice pursues it no further there is an end There may be easily an unmercifull cruelty in the shedding of blood and there may be an over-cruell mercy in the sparing of it Jonah was no sooner cast out of the ship but the sea was quiet Achan and his family were no sooner stoned to death and burned with fire but Israel prevailed The sonnes of Saul were no sooner hanged but the famine ceased Phineas stood up and executed judgement and the plague was stayed in verse 30. of this Psalme As soone as this blood of three thousand men that were principall offenders in this Idolatry as soone as that was shed as soone as that blood was throwne upon the fire of Gods wrath the fire slacked presently But yet it was not quenched till his prayer came There is the second way his prayer Jam. 5.16 The prayer of a righteous man prevaileth much if it be fervent Can you finde a more fervent prayer then this that Moses made for this people Mark the prayer you shall finde it Exodus 32. where this story is set downe First hee puts God in mind of his propriety in this people It was thy people O God c. God before called them Moses his people as you may perceive when God bids him goe downe Goe downe for thy people that thou hast brought out of Egypt c. Moses disclaimes them as if he should say Lord they are none of my people they are thy people Wilt thou lose any thing that is thine There is his first argument His second argument is from Gods great workes Lord thou hast brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand Wee love not to lose our former benefits our former benefits are lost if they be not seconded with new Lord wilt thou lose thy former favours done to this people The third argument is hee puts God in mind of his glory Lord what will the Egyptians say Thou hast brought them forth with a mighty hand and an out-stretched arme Why is it To kill them in the mountaines To consume them from the earth Lord how
brought up Moses Or a man may find some naked person that hee may clothe as Dorcas did Or a man may find some wounded person which if hee have the gift and skill of healing hee may heale as the good Samaritane did I might goe further It is impossible while thou art here but thou shalt meet with oportunities of good doing wee cannot want them Let none excuse themselves with this that they have no oportunity of doing good they may have daily either to doe good to the soules or the bodies of some or perhaps both to soule and body I must worke saith our Lord while it is day the night commeth when no man can work The day is the time of life we must follow our Lord in this work while it is day while you have now time here is the time to work good The night comes when death comes there is no more time then to doe good Eccles 9.10 whatsoever thine hand shall find to doe saith Solomon there that is whatsoever God hath enabled thee to doe whatsoever good doe it with all thy power Why there is neither working nor iudgement nor knowledge nor invention in the grave whither thou goest Thinke of that you are going now to your grave you know not how long or how short a time it may be before you come there therefore whatsoever thy hand shall find to doe whatever good God hath enabled thee to doe doe it with thy power for there is no doing of good in the grave whither thou art going Titus the Romane Emperour is commended by St. Ierome and hee deserved commendations indeed and Ierome propounds his example and saying to others as commendable Titus the Romane Emperour would every night call himselfe to account what good he had done that day and if he found that all the day long there had been no good done hee would cry out to his friend Friend I have lost a day A great losse it seemed to him but to us Christians a greater losse that know we must make account to God for every day of our life what good wee have done in it And surely considering in our selves how much good God requires at our hands first in our generall calling as wee are Christians and then in our particular calling according to the places wee hold in Church and Common-wealth and in our private families it were not good to lose a day every day to doe somewhat as that Painter that would never have a day passe over his head without some line drawing wee should not suffer one day to passe over our heads without some good work done some good worke every day Since there are so many oportunities of doing good every day never suffer a day to goe over our heads without some good The Scripture saith of the devill hee bestirres himselfe and the reason is because hee knoweth that his time is short How much more should wee bestirre our selves then to doe good knowing that our time is shorter then his While wee have time saith the Apostle let us doe good to all The word is not in the Greek but while wee have oportunity so wee read it in the new Translation While wee have oportunity to doe good Gal. 6.10 Now as long as wee live here a charitable heart will never want oportunity of doing good we shall still have oportunity to doe good but when wee are gone there is no oportunity of doing good there is no doing good after but then wee are to receive for that wee have done already whether good or evill Excellently Origen with which I will conclude this point saith hee The six ages of our life are as the six dayes of the week they are dayes to gather Manna in but the day of death that is our Sabbath there is no Manna then to be gathered it is no day to gather Manna when wee are dead but then we shall eat that we have gathered before There is no doing good when wee are dead but wee then come to receive for the good wee have done before if wee have done it therefore To doe good and to communicate forget not That is the first Correllary The second is this that Since there are so many wayes of doing good there is no man exempted from doing good there is no man but may doe good some way or other Indeed rich men must be rich in good workes they that have a great deale of goods must doe a great deale of good But there is no man so poore that may challenge freedome from this doing good because hee is poore Harke what the Apostle saith Ephes 4.28 Let him that stole steale no more but let him labour with his hands working that which is good that hee may communicate to thens that need See the poore labouring man that labours with his hands hee must not bee free from doing good Iohn Baptist when hee was asked of the people What shall wee doe Marry saith hee Hee that hath two coats let him impart to him that hath none and hee that hath meat let him doe likewise Luke 3.11 Let him that hath two coats hee saith not Let him that hath ten coats a number of coats but him that hath two coats let him part to him that hath none Our blessed Lord did live upon that which good women gave him that you shall see if you look Luke 8.3 there it is said that Mary Magdalene out of whom hee had cast seven devils and Ioanna the wife of Chuza Herods steward and Susanna and other women ministred unto him of their substance Christ lived upon that that good persons gave unto him yet out of that that was given him hee was wont to give almes you may perceive that by that speech of the Apostles when our Lord had bidden Iudas That hee did doe quickly they did not know what he meant but did think that hee would have them provide somewhat or to give somewhat to the poore Ioh. 13.29 To give somewhat to the poore Our Lord himselfe lived upon that which was given him yet hee himselfe out of that which was given him gave to the poore The Macedonians are commended by St. Paul for their great liberality that whereas they were poore I deeply poore it was deep poverty so the word is profound poverty deep poverty as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 8.2 it was poverty deeply poverty yet they abounded in liberality for all that You know the woman in the Gospel cast in but two mytes into the Treasury but it was all that ever shee had it was but a little money but it was great charity a great worke of charity all that ever shee had When the Creple asked an almes of Peter and Iohn coming to the Temple say they Silver and gold wee have none but such as wee have give wee thee If thou have no silver and gold to give that thou canst not give that yet give such things as thou hast The widow of Sarepta had no gold
and by ill meanes Then lastly it must be done with cheerfulnesse cheerfulnesse shewed in the countenance in words in speedinesse and readinesse to give If it be thus then it is a sacrifice acceptable to God Nay I will goe further God will reward such a sacrifice as this you shall be sure of a reward at the hand of God Though not for the merit of the work away with merit talk not of that yet you shall have a reward through the free mercy of God in Christ That is lost you say that is bestowed on an unthankfull person but as Luther saith if a man will not doe good unlesse he can find a thankfull man let him look another world to doe it in this is not a world for him if one of ten give thanks it is enough it was so with Christ one Leper comes of ten but yet though men prove unthankfull they will not seeme to requite though men forget yet our good God will not forget Hark what saith the Prophet Mal. 3.10 Bring yee all the tithes into the store-house that there may be meat in mine house meat for the reliefe of the Levites and so for the poore for there went part that way too that there may be meat in mine house and try me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts if I will not open you the windowes of heaven and poure you out a blessing from thence Try me Beloved brethren you have tried many men and you have made ventures some perhaps to the furthest parts of the world some have made ventures in this Kingdome and you dare trust this man and that man with your estates and goods and it may be some have cozened you of a great deale this may be lost Man is deceitfull on the weights lighter then vanity it selfe but trust God with somewhat venture somewhat to heaven you venture in giving to the poore you make it a hazard but you never make so safe a return of any commodity in the world as that that you give to your brethren Riches we call the muck of the world I would we did account it so as we call it the muck of the world May I give you a simile from your selves A heap of muck as it lies in the yard it doth no good but carry it abroad into your pasture fields and spread it and you find the benefit of it Thus it is as long as your money and your goods lie heaped with you it doth no good carry it abroad and disperse it as the Scripture saith Hee hath dispersed and given to the poore Psal 112. it is taken from dung spread in the field lay it out upon your poor brethren and look for an increase if you have it not in this life assure your selves you shall have it in the life to come if you have it not in outward blessings you shall be enriched in grace here and in glory hereafter To which the Lord bring you for his sake that hath dearly purchased it for you Iesus Christ the righteous Amen FINIS A SERMON PREACHED at Pauls Novem. 14th Anno Dom. 1641. 2 CORINTH 6.8 By honour and dishonour by evill report and good report as deceivers and yet true THe words doe refer to the 4th verse wherein the blessed Vessell of election St. Paul beginneth to shew how hee and Timothy and other faithfull Ministers of Jesus Christ did approve themselves to be so by exercise of patience by purenesse by knowledge by long-suffering by kindenesse by the holy Ghost by love unfeigned by the Word of truth by the power of God by the armour of righteousnesse on the right hand and on the left and all this when as it is in the Text they passed thorow honour and dishonour evill report and good report accounted to be deceivers when they were true In the handling of the words wherein are three Antitheta's I propound this course I will first handle the Antitheta's themselves severally In the second place I will shew how it is the lot of the best of Gods children to passe thorow every one of them And in the third place I shall shew that we shall then approve our selves to be true Ministers of Jesus Christ as Saint Paul doth here when as passing through honour and dishonour evill report and good report held to be deceivers when wee are yet true wee doe notwithstanding keep the faith hold our owne fulfill our Ministery Honour and Dishonour HOnour in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is nothing else but a good opinion and estimation which a man findeth among such as are wise and virtuous and religious upon the acknowledgement either of some good graces wherewith God hath honoured him or of some good virtuous actions wherewith hee hath honoured God Honor in Scripturis non tantum in salutationibus officiis deferendis quantum in eleemosynis ac munerum oblatione sentitur Hieron in caput 15. Matthaei And this honour is made knowne abroad not onely by salutations and greetings in the Market-place which was a piece of Honour wherewith the Pharisee was well pleased nor onely in Titles to be called Rabbi Rabbi which they also affected but in the performance of God offices and all due observances together with rewards and presents which are therefore called Honoraria as given by way of honour Thus the Queen of Sheba honoured Solomon with a present of an hundred and twenty talents of gold beside precious stones and spices in great abundance 1 King 10.10 Thus the men of Judah honoured Jehosophat with so many presents that hee had riches and honour in abundance 2 Chro. 17.5 So the Wise-men that came from the East did their honour to Christ not onely by falling downe and worshipping him but by opening their treasures and presenting their gifts Gold Frankincense and Myrrhe Matt. 2.11 Our Saint Paul had honour and much honour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so saith Saint Luke Acts 28. ver 10. They honoured us with many honours and laded us with such things as were necessary for our journey And to say no more What is that double honour which the Elders are worthy of that rule well 1 Timoth. 5.17 but Reverence and Maintenance If maintenance be taken away reverence is soon lost who will give honour to the Minister what ever worth be in his person if ability and outward meanes be wanting Solomon telleth us that the wisedome of a poore man is despised and his words are not heard Ecclesiast c. 9. ver 16. This honour in what thing soever it is shewn must be acknowledged a blessing of God bestowed upon his children as a reward of former good services and an encouragement to future Thus was Abraham though a stranger honoured among the Hittites as a Prince of God and had a choyce given him of a Sepulchre amongst the choycest of their Sepulchers Genesis 23. Jehoida that reverend High-Priest lived in honour and dyed as full of honour as of dayes having been matched in Marriage