any time that is of it self and in the kinde unlawful For a man to blaspheme the holy Name of God to sacrifice to idols to give wrong sentence in judgement by his power to oppresse those that are not able to withstand him by subtilty to over-reach others in bargaining to take up arms offensive or defensive against a lawfull Soveraign none of all these and sundry other things of like nature being all of them simply and de toto genere unlawful may be done by any man at any time in any case upon any colour or pretension whatsoever the express command of God himself onely excepted as in the case of Abraham for sacrificing his son Not for the avoiding of scandal not at the instance of any friend or command of any power upon earth not for the maintenance of the lives or liberties either of our selves or others not for the defence of Religion not for the preservation of a Church or State no nor yet if that could be imagined possible for the salvation of a soul no nor for the redemption of the whole world 4. I remember to have read long since a story of one of the Popes but who the man was and what the particular occasion I cannot now recal to mind that having in a consultation with some of his Cardinals proposed unto them the course himself had thought of for the setling of some present affairs to his most advantage when one of the Cardinals told him he might not go that way because it was not according to justice he made answer again that though it might not be done per viam justitiae yet it was to be done per viam expedientiae A distinction which it seemeth the High-Priest of Rome had learned of his predecessour at Ierusalem the High-Priest Caiaphas in a solemn consultation held there Iohn 11. There the chief Priests and Pharisees call a Council and the business was what they should do with Iesus If they should let him alone so the people would all run after him because of his miracles and then would the Romans who did but wait for such an opportunity make that a pretence to invade their countrey and to destroy both their religion and nation If they should take away his life that were indeed a sure course but Nicodemus had stammered them all for that a good while before in a former Council at Ierusalem Iohn 7. when he told them that they could not do it by law being they had nothing to lay to his charge that could touch his life Up standeth Caiaphas then and telleth them they were but too scrupulous to stand so much upon the nice point of legality at that time they should let the matter of justice go for once and consider what was now expedient to be done for the preserving of their nation and to prevent the incursions of the Romans You know nothing at all saith he nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not 5. What ever infallibility either of these High-Priests might challenge to themselves or their flatterers ascribe to them it is sure far safer for us to rest our judgements upon that never-failing Rule of S. Paul Rom. 3. We may not do evil that good may come thereof then to follow them in their wilde resolutions But if we desire examples rather we cannot have for the purpose in one man a more proper example on the one side for our imitation nor a more fearful example on the other side for our admonition then are those two so unlike actions of David in the matter of Saul in the matter of Vriah 6. As for Saul two several times it was in the power of his hands to have slain him if he would In the Cave he might as easily have cut the threed of his life as the skirt of his garment and in the trench as easily have taken his head from off his shoulders as the spear from beside his Boulster And much might have been said for the expediency of it too Saul was his professed his implacable enemy hunted him from place to place like a Partridge upon the mountains set snares and traps for him in every corner to destroy him and all this without cause Nor was David ignorant of what God had promised and Samuel had foretold concerning the rending of the kingdom from Saul and setling it upon him and now if ever might seem to be a fair opportunity to bring all that about now he had him in his hands By taking away his life and setting the Crown upon his own head besides the accomplishment of Gods promises he might so provide for his own safety quiet the distractions in the state turne all the forces against the common enemy advance religion in adding honourable solemnities to the publick worship and settle the kingdome in a more just moderate and peaceable government then now it was Plausible inducements all and probable and his captains and servants about him did not forget to urge them and to press the expediency But David rightly apprehended the thing it self to offer violence to the Lords anointed to be utterly unlawful and that was it that staid his hand That unlawfulness alone he opposeth against all these and whatsoever other seeming expediencies could be pretended as a sufficient answer to them all The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the Lords Anointed and who can stretch out his hand against the Lords Anointed and be guiltless This is David in the matter of Saul a worthy example for our Imitation 7. See him now another while in the matter of Uriah and how he behaved himself there Quantum mutatus Could you think it were the same man He had layen with the wife when the husband was abroad and in his service and she proved with child If this should be fam'd abroad it could not but tend much to the Kings dishonour ey and to the scandal of Religion too It seemed therefore very expedient the matter should be smothered and David setteth all his wits on worke how to doe that handsomely Many fetches and devises he had in his head and sundry of them he put to triall this way and that way but none of them would take God meant him a shame for his sin and therefore blasted all those his attempts and made them unsuccessful When he saw he could not bring his purpose to pass any other way at last he entertaineth black thoughts and falleth upon a desperate resolution to blear the eyes of the world Uriah must dye so shall the widdow be his and the Childe born in lawful wedlock be thought to be legitimate and all shall be well A hard case to take away the life of an innocent person a man of renown valiant and religious whose name stood in the list enrolled among his chiefest worthies and that
pardoned ready upon every occasion to smite him and to gall him with some touch and remorse of his old presumption Like as a man that having gotten some sore bruise in his youth and by the help of Surgery and the strength of youth overworn it may yet carry a grudging of it in his bones or joynts by fits perhaps to his dying day And as for the most part such grudgings of an old bruise are aptest to recur upon some new distemper of body or upon change of weather so the grief of an old presumptuous sin is commonly most felt upon the committing of some new sin or the approach of some new affliction Do you think David had not in all those afflictions that after befel him and at the apprehension of every sinful oversight into which he fell a fresh remembrance withall of the matter of Vriah not without some grief and shame thereat As the distress Iosephs brethren met with in Egypt Gen. 42. brought to their remembrance their treacherous dealing with him which was by probable computation at the least twenty years after the thing was done Yea and after their fathers death which by the like probable computation was near upon twenty years more the remorse of the same sin wrought upon their consciences afresh perplexing their hearts with new fears and jealousies True it is the sinner once throughly purged of the sin by repentance hath no more conscience of that sin in that fearful degree ordinarily as to be a perpetual rack to his soul and to torment him with restless doubtings of his reconcilement even to despair yet can it not chuse but put some affrightment into him to remember into what a desperate estate he had before plunged himself by his own wilful disobedience if God had not been infinitely gracious to him therein Great presumptions will not suffer him that hath repented them for ever quite to forget them and he shall never be able to remember them without shame and horrour 33. Great cause then had David to pray so earnestly as we see here he doth against them and as great cause have the best of us to use our best care and endeavour to avoid them being they spring from such cursed root and are both so grievous to the holy spirit of God and of such bitter consequents to the guilty offender Our next business will be the sin and danger being so great to learn what is best to be done on our part for the avoiding and preventing both of sin and danger Now the means of prevention our third Discovery are First to seek help from the hand of God by praying with David here that the Lord would keep us back and then to put to our own helping hand by seconding our prayers with our best endeavours to keep our selves back from these presumptuous sins 34. A Iove Principium We have no stay nor command of our selves so masterful are our Wills and headstrong but that if God should leave us wholly to the wildness of our unruly nature and to take our own course we should soon run our selves upon our own ruine Like unto the horse and mule that have no understanding to guide themselves in a right and safe way but they must be holden in with bit and bridle put into their mouths else they will either do or finde mischief If we be not kept back with strong hand and no other hand but the hand of God is strong enough to keep us back we shall soon run into all extremities of evil with the greatest impetuousness that can be as the horse rusheth into the battle running into every excesse of riot as fast as any temptation is set before us and committing all manner of wickedness with all kinde of greediness David knew it full well and therefore durst not trust his own heart too far but being jealous over himself with a Godly jealousy evermore he made God his refuge If at any time he had been kept back from sinning when some opportunity did seem to tempt or provoke him thereunto he blessed God for it for he saw it was Gods doing more then his own Blessed be the Lord that hath kept his servant from evil in the the case of Nabal 1 Sam. 25. If at any time he desired to be kept back from sinning when Satan had laid a bait for him without sutable to some lust stirring within he sought to God for it for he knew that he must do it himself could not keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins here in the Text. Without his help and blessing all endeavours are in vain his help and blessing therefore must be sought for in the first place by Prayer 35. But we may not think when we have so done that we have done all that lieth upon us to do and so an end of the business It is Gods blessing I confess that doth the deed not our endeavours but we are vain if we expect Gods blessing without doing our endeavours Can we be so sensless as to imagine it should serve our turn to say Lord keep us back and yet our selves in the mean time thrust forward as fast as we can No if we will have our prayers effectual and in their efficacy is our chiefest hope and comfort we must second our faithful prayers with our faithful endeavours Oculus ad coelum manus ad clavum Then may we with confidence expect that God should do his part in keeping us back when we are duly careful to do our part also towards the keeping our selves back from presumptuous sins Against which sins the best and most soveraign preservatives I am yet able to prescribe are these four following It is every mans concernment and therefore I hope it shall be without offence if after the example of God himself in delivering the Law I speak to every mans soul as it were in particular 36. For the avoiding then of Presumptuous sins First be sure never to doe any thing against the clear light of thine own Conscience Every known sin hath a spice of wilfulness and presumption in it The very composure of Davids Prayer in the present passage implieth as much in passing immediately after the mention of his secret and unknown sins to the mentioning of these presumptuous Sins as if there were scarce any medium at all between them And every sin against conscience is a known sin A man hath not a heavier Foe then his own Conscience after he hath sinned nor before he sin a faster Friend O take heed of losing such a Friend or of making it of a Friend an Accuser If I should see one that I loved well fall into the company of a cheater or other crafty companion that would be sure to inveigle him in some ill bargain or draw him into some hurtful inconvenience if he should close with him of whom yet he had no suspicion I should but doe the part of a Friend to take him aside
better to draw my Sermon towards a conclusion then by observing how the great Preacher concludeth his Eccles. last After he had taken a large and exact survey of all the travels that are done under the Sun and found nothing in them but Vanity and vexation of Spirit he telleth us at length that in multitude of books and much reading we may sooner meet with weariness then satisfaction But saith he if you will hear the end of all here it is this is the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandements for this is the whole business of man upon which all his care and employment in this world should be spent So I say we may puzzle our selves in the pursuite of knowledg dive into the mysteries of all Arts and Sciences especially ingulph our selves deep in the studies of those three highest professions of Physick Law and Divinity For Physick search into the writings of Hippocrates Galen and the Methodists of Avicen and the Empericks of Paracelsus and the Chymists for Law wrestle through the large bodies of both Laws Civil and Canon with the vast Tomes of Glosses Repertories Responses and Commentaries thereon and take in the Reports and year-books of our Common-Law to boot for Divinity get through a course of Councils Fathers School-men Casuists Expositors Controversers of all sorts and sects When all is done after much weariness to the flesh and in comparison thereof little satisfaction to the mind for the more knowledg we gain by all this travell the more we discern our own ignorance and thereby but encrease our own sorrow the short of all is this and when I have said it I have done you shall evermore find try it when you will Temperance the best Physick Patience the best Law and A good Conscience the best Divinity I have done Now to God c. AD AULAM. Sermon X. WHITE-HALL at a publick Fast. 8 Iuly 1640. PSALM 119.75 I know O Lord that thy judgments are right and that thou of very faithfulness hast caused me to be troubled 1. IN which words the holy Prophet in two several conclusions giveth unto God the glory of those two his great attributes that shine forth with so much lustre in all the Works of his providence his Iustice and his Mercy The glory of his Iustice in the former conclusion I know O Lord that thy judgments are right the glory of his Mercy in the latter And that thou of very faithfulness hast caused me to be troubled And to secure us the better of the truth of both conclusions because flesh and bloud will be ready to stumble at both We have his Scio prefixed expresly to the former only but the speech being copulative intended to both I know O Lord that thy judgments are right and I know also that thou of very faithfulness hast caused me to be troubled Our order must be to begin with the Conclusions first as they lie in the Text and after that to proceed to Davids knowledg of them although that stand first in the order of the words In the former Conclusion we have to consider of two things First what these judgments of God are that David here speaketh of as the subject and then of the righteousness thereof as the Predicate I know O Lord that thy judgments are right 2. What Iudgements first There are judicia oris and there are judicia operis the judgements of Gods mouth and the judgements of Gods hands Of the former there is mention at Vers. 13. With my lips have I been telling of all the judgements of thy mouth And by these Iudgements are meant nothing else but the holy Law of God and his whole written word which every where in this Psalme are indifferently called his Statutes his Commandements his Precepts his Testimonies his Iudgements And the Laws of God are therefore amongst other reasons called by the name of Iudgments because by them we come to have a right judgment whereby to discern between good and evil We could not otherwise with any certainty judg what was meet for us to do and what was needful for us to shun A lege tuâ intellexi at verse 104. By thy Law have I gotten understanding St Paul confesseth Rom. 7. that he had never rightly known what sin was if it had not been for the Law and he instanceth in that of lust which he had not known to be a sin if the Law had not said Thou shalt not covet And no question but these judgments these judicia oris are all right too for it were unreasonable to think that God should make that a rule of right to us which were it self not right We have both the name that of judgments and the thing too that they are right in the 19th Psalm Where having highly commended the Law of God under the several appellations of Law Testimonies Statutes and Commandements verse 7. and 8. the Prophet then concludeth under this name of Iudgments verse 9 The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether 3. Besides these Iudicia Oris which are Gods judgments of direction there are also Iudicia Operis which are his judgments for correction And these doe ever include aliquid poenale something inflicted upon us by Almighty God as it were by way of punishment something that breedeth us trouble or grief The Apostle saith Heb. 12. that every chastening is grievous and so it is more or less or else it could be to us no punishment And these again are of two sorts yet not distinguished so much by the things themselves that are inflicted as by the condition of the persons on whom they are inflicted and especially by the affection and intention of God that inflicteth them For all whether publick calamities that light upon whole Nations Cities or other greater or lesser societies of men such as are pestilences famine war inundations unseasonable weather and the like or private afflictions that light upon particular families or persons as sickness poverty disgraces injuries death of friends and the like All these and whatsoever other of either kind may undergo a two-fold consideration in either of both which they may not unfitly be termed the Iudgments of God though in different respects 4. For either these things are sent by Almighty God in his heavy displeasure as plagues upon his enemies intending therein their destruction Such as were those publick judgments upon the old world swept away with the floud upon Sodom and the other Cities consumed with fire from heaven upon Pharaoh and his host overwhelmed in the red Sea upon the Canaanites spewed out of the land for their abominations upon Ierusalem at the final destruction thereof by the Romans And those private judgments also that befell sundry particular persons as Cain Absolon Senacherib Herod and others Or else they are laid by Amighty God as gentle corrections upon his own children in his fatherly love towards them and for their good to chastise them
Concerning the other The Lord made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evil Prov. 16. He maketh it his End we should make it ours too if but by way of Conformity 13. But he requireth it of us secondly as our bounden Duty and by way of Thankfulness in acknowledgement of those many favours we have received from him What ever we have nay what ever we are as at first we had it all from him so we still hold it all of him and that jure beneficiario as feudataries with reservation of services out of the same to be performed for the honour of the donour Our Apostle therefore in our Lords behalf presseth us with the nature of our tenure and challengeth this duty from us by a claim of right Ye have them of God saith he and ye are not your own therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods Glorifie him in both because both are his As the rivers return again to the place whence they came Eccl. 1. they all come from the Sea and they all run into the Sea again So all our store as it issued at first from the fountain of his grace so should it all fall at last into the Ocean of his glory For of him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory for ever and ever Amen 14. But say there lay no such obligation upon us yet thirdly in point of Wisdom it would concern us to seek our Masters glory the benefit whereof would so abundantly redound upon our selves For as was touched before there accrueth no advantage to him thereby the gain is solely ours By seeking his glory we promote our own and so by doing him service we do upon the point but serve our selves Doth Iob doth any man serve God for nought I speak it not for this purpose as if we should aime at Gods glory with a farther aim therein at our own benefit For that could be but a mercenary service at the best neither worthy of him nor becoming us And besides the reason should contradict it self for how could Gods glory be our farthest End if we should have another End beyond it for our selves I note it only to let us see the exceeding goodness of our gracious Lord and Master and for our better heartening that we faint not in his service who doth so infallibly procure our glory whilest we unfainedly seek his And hereof we have a faire and full assurance and that from his own mouth and that in as plain and express terms as it is possible for a promise to be made 1 Sam. 2. Them that honour me I will honour 15. From the Point thus confirmed will arise sundry profitable Inferences some whereof I shall propose to you and those all by way of admonition Since our chief aim ought to be that in every thing God may have the glory due to his name beware we first that we do not by base flattery or other too much reverence or obsequiousness give unto any mortal man or other finite creature any part of that Honour which is due to the infinite and immortal God alone Not the glory of Omnipotency unto any power upon earth be it never so great God spake once twise have I heard the same that power belongeth unto God Psal. 62. Experience sheweth there is impotency in them all Not the glory of Infallibility to any judgment be it never so clear nor to any Iudicatory be it never so solemn Let God be true and every man a lyar Rom. 3. Experience sheweth there is Errour and Partiality in them all Not the glory of Religious worship to any Image Saint Angel or other Creature though never so blessed and glorious For God is extremely jealous in that particular above all other My glory will I not give to another neither my praise to graven Images Esay 42. Experience and reason sheweth there iâ— some deficiency or other in them all 16. Beware we secondly that we do not sacrilegiously rob God of his honour by deriving the least part of it upon our selves As Ananias kept back for his proper use part of the price of his land when he should have brought in all for the Churches use Like crafty Stewards that enrich themselves by lessening their Lords â—ines or untrusty Servants that turn some of their Masters goods into money and then put the money into their own purses Non nobis Domine non nobis saith David Psal. 115. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name be the praise He repeateth it twise that he might disclaim it wholly and wash his hands of it so clearly that not any of it might stick to his fingers as who say By no means to us Our blessed Lord himself Christ Iesus who was the very brightness and express image of his Fathers glory and without robbery of equal and coeternal glory with him yet as he was man he did not glorifie himself nay let me say more having taken upon him the form of a servant he durst not seek his own glory but the glory of his Father that sent him We use to call it vain-glory when a man seeketh his own glory unduly or inordinately and rightly we so term it for Vanity is next akin to nothing and such glory is no better if Solomon may be judge For men to seek their own glory is not glory Prov. 25. 17. But though we may not seek to pull any glory upon our selves yet if others will needs put it upon us unsought for may we not admit it may we not take it when it is given us No that you may not neither Beware of that therefore thirdly It is a strong temptation I grant to our proud mindes but that maketh it nothing the lesse it rendereth it rather the more dangerous For what hath any man to do to bestow what is none of his And if we know they have no right to give it sure we are greatly to blame if we take it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that receiveth stollen goods is not much less guilty then he that stole them It did not any thing at all either excuse Herod from guilt or exempt him from punishment that he did no more but admit those shouts and acclamations wherewith the people so magnified his eloquence It is the voice of God and not of man Great ones had need take heed how they listen too much to those that magnifie them too much Because he did not some way or other shew himself displeased with those flatterers not chastening them so much as with a frown nor transmit the glory they cast upon him higher where it was of right due he standeth convicted and condemned upon record for not giving God the glory Acts 12. Marvel not that one of Gods holy Angels was so ready to do execution upon him there for
Iob to comfort himself with it as we see he did in the day of his great distress The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I caused the widows heart to sing for joy Job 29. 28. But say these poor ones should be so charitable as very seldom they be as not to curse us when we have despised them or so unthankful as seldom they are otherwise as not to bless us when we have relieved them yet the Lord who hath given every man a charge concerning his brother and committed the distresses of the poor to our care and trust will take district knowledge how we deal with them and unpartially recompense us thereafter Doth not he consider and shalt not he render to every man according to his works the last words of the Text. If therefore you have done your duty faithfully let it never discourage you that unrighteous and unthankful men forget it They do but their kinde the comfort is that yet God will both remember it and requite it God is not unrighteous to forget your work labour of love saith the Apostle Heb. 5. He will remember it you see And then saith David Psal. 41. Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble He will requite it too He that for Gods sake helpeth his poor brother to right that suffereth wrong he doth therein at once first an act of mercy because it is done in the behalf of a distressed man and an act secondly of justice because it is done in a righteous cause and thirdly being done for the Lords sake an act of Religion also Pure religion and undefiled before God even the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction Iames 1. And is it possible that God who delighteth in the exercise of every one of them singly should suffer an act to pass unrewarded wherein there is a happy concurrence of three such excellent vertues together as are Iustice Mercy and Religion The Prophet Ieremy to reprove Iehoâ—achins tyranny and oppression upbraideth him with his good father Iosiah's care and conscience to do justice and to shew mercy after this manner Did not thy father eat and drink and do judgement and justice and then it was well with him He judged the cause of the poor and needy then it was well with him was not this to know me saith the Lord But now on the contrary He shall have judgement without mercy that sheweth no mercy He that stoppeth his ears against the cry of the poor he shall also cry himself but shall noâ— be heard c. Many other like passages there are in the Scriptures to the same effect 29. Nay moreover the general neglect of this duty pulleth down the wrath of God not only upon those particular persons that neglect it but also upon the whole nation where it is in such general sort neglected O house of David thus saith the Lord execute judgment in the morning and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressour lest my fury go out like fire and burn that none can quench it because of the evil of your doings Ier. 21. Brethren we of this nation have cause to look to it in time against whom the Lord hath of late manifested his just wrath though tempered as we must all confess with much clemency yea and his hand is stretched out against us still in the heavie plagues both of dearth and death Though the land be full of all manner of sin and lewdness and so the Lord might have a controversy with us for any of them yet I am verily perswaded there are no other kinds of sins that have overspread the face of the whole land with such an universal contagion as it were of a Leprosie as the sins of Riot and Oppression have done Which two sins are not only the provoking causes as any kind of sinnes may be in regard of the justice of God but also the sensible instrumental causes in the eye of reason and experience of much penury and mortality among us 30. Surely then as to quench the fire we use to withdraw the fewel so to turn away the heavie wrath of God from us we should all put to our helping hands each in his place and calling but especially the Minister and the Magistrate the one to cry down the other to beat down as all sins in general so especially these of Ryot and Oppression Never think it will be well with us or that it will be much better with us then now it is or that it will not be rather every day much worse with us then it is never look that disorders in the Church distempers in the State distractions in our judgments diseases in our bodies should be remedied or removed and not rather more and more encreased if we hold on as we doe in pampering every man his own flesh and despising every man his poor brother So long as we think no pleasures too much for our selves no pressures too heavy for our brethren stretch our selves along and at ease upon our couches eat of the fat and drink of the sweet without any touch of compassion in our bowels for the afflictions of others we can expect no other but that the rod of God should abide upon us either in dearths or pestilences or if they be removed for God loveth sometimes to shift his rods in greater and heavier judgments in some other kinde 31. But as to the particular of Oppression for that of Ryot and Intemperance being beside the Text I shall no farther press my humble request to those that are in place of authority and all others that have any office or attendance about the Courts is this For the love of God and of your selves and your Country Be not so indulgent to your own appetites and affections either of Ease as to reject the complaints or of Partiality as to despise the persons or of filthy lucre as to betray the cause of the fatherlesse and friendlesse Suffer not when his cause is good a simple man to be circumvented by the wilinesse or a mean man to be overpowred by the greatnesse of a crafty or mighty adversary Favour not a known Sycophant nor open your lips to speak in a cause to pervert judgment or to procure favour for a mischievous person Turn not judgment into wormwod by making him that meant no hurt an offender for a word Wrangle not in the behalf of a contentious person to the prejudice of those that desire to live quiet in the land Devise not dilatory shifts to tug men on along in a tedious course of Law to their great charge and vexation but ripen their causes with all seasonable expedition for a speedy hearing In a word doe what lieth in your power to the utmost for the curbing of Sycophants and oppressours and the
marvellously weakning the spirit and giving a mighty advantage to the flesh even to the hazard of a compleat Conquest 24. Lastly he speaketh of the great offence Totall and Final Apostacy which some understand to be the very sin against the Holy Ghost which cutteth off from the offender all possibility of pardon and reconcilement because it is supposed to be attended with finall impenitency and without pennance there is no hope of reconcilement or place for pardon David petitioneth to be kept back from these Presumptuous sins and free from their Dominion that so he might be upright and innocent from the great transgression As if these Presumptuous sins did make some nearer approaches to that great transgression and as if no man could well secure himself against the danger of final impenitencie but by keeping out of the reach of these Presumptuous sins 15. From all these intimations in the Text we may conclude there is something more in Presumptuous sins then in sins of Ignorance and Infirmity the Obliquity greater and the Danger greater Which we are now a little farther to discover that so our care to avoid them may be the greater Their Obliquity is best seen in the Cause their Danger in the Effects It hath been cleared already that Presumptuous sins spring from the perversness of the Will as the most proper and Immediate cause and it is the Will that hath the chief stroke in all moral actions to render them good or bad better or worse It is a Maxim among the Casuists Involuntarium minuit de ratione peccati and Voluntas distinguit maleficia say the Lawyers So that albeit there be many circumstances as of Time Place Persons c. and sundry other respects especially those of the Matter and of the End very considerable for the aggravating extenuationg and comparing of sins one with another yet the consent of the Will is of so much greater importance then all the rest that all other considerations laid aside every sin is absolutely by so much greater or lesser by how much it is more or less voluntary Sithence therefore in sins of Ignorance and Infirmity there is less Wilfulness the will being misled in the one by an Errour in the Judgment and in the other transported by the violence of some Passion and in sins of Presumption there is a greater wilfulness wherein the will wanting neither information nor leisure to resolve better doth yet knowingly and advisedly resolve to do ill it will necessarily follow that Presumptuous sins are therefore far greater sins then either of the other are The Will being abundantly and beyond measure wilful maketh the sin to be abundantly and beyond measure sinful Doubtless far greater was Davids sin in murthering though but his servant then either Peters in denying his Master or Sauls in blaspheming and persecuting his Saviour 26. Nor only do Presumptuous Sins spring from a worse Cause then the other and thence are more Sinful but do also produce worse Effects then they and so are more Dangerous Whether we look at them before or at the time of Repentance or after Before Repentance they harden the heart wonderfully they waste the conscience in a fearful manner and bring such a callous crust upon the inner man that it will be a long and a hard work so to supple soften and intender the heart again as to make it capable of the impressions of Repentance For alas what hope to do good upon a Wilful man The most grave admonitions the most seasonable reproofs the most powerful exhortations the most convincing Reasons that can be used to such a man are but Tabula caeco as a curious picture to a blinde man for who so blinde as he that will not see and Fabula surdo a pleasant tale to a deaf man for whoso deaf as he that will not hear 27. Thus it is with wicked men and cast-aways whose brawny hearts are by these wilful rebellions fitted for and fatted up unto destruction And verily not much better then thus is it with Gods faithful servants for the time if at any time they hap to fall into any presumptuous sin In what a sad condition may we think poor David was after he had layen with the wife and slain the husband What musick could he now trow ye find in his own Anthems with what comfort could he say his Prayers Did not his tongue think ye cleave to the roof of his mouth and had not his right hand welnigh forget her cunning To the judgment of man no difference for some moneths together during his unrepentance betwixt holy David the man after Gods own heart and a profane scorner that had no fear of God before his eyes Such waste and havock had that great sin made and such spoil of the graces and pledges of Gods holy Spirit in his soul. Look how a sober wise man who when he is himself is able to order his words and affairs with excellent discretion when in a sharp burning-fever his bloud is inflamed and his brain distempered will rave and talke at randome and fling stones and dirt at all about him and every other way in his speeches and motions behave himself like a fool or mad-man so is the servant of God lying under the guilt of a Presumptuous sin before Repentance 28. And then when he doth come to repent Lord what ado there is with him before that great stomach of his will come down and his masterful spirit be soundly subdued And yet down it must subdued it must be or he getteth no pardon What shrinking and drawing back when the wound commeth to be searcht And yet searcht it must be and probed to the bottome or there will be no perfect recovery Presumptuous sins being so grievous as hath been shewed let no man think they will be removed with mean and ordinary Humiliations The Remedy must be proportioned both for strength and quantity Ingredients and Dose to the Quality and Malignity of the distemper or it will never do the cure As stains of a deep dye will not out of the cloath with such ordinary washings as will fetch out lighter spots so to cleanse the heart defiled with these deeper pollutions these crimson and scarlet sins and to restore it pure white as snow or wooll a more solemn and lasting course is requisite then for lesser transgressions It will ask more sighs more tears more indignation more revenge a stronger infusion of all those soveraign ingredients prescribed by St Paul 2 Cor. 7. before there can be any comfortable hope that it is pardoned The Will of a man is a sowre and stubborne piece of clay that will not frame to any serviceable use without much working A soft and tender heart indeed is soon rent in pieces like a silken garment if it do but catch upon any little nail But a heart hardened with long custome of sinning especially if it be with one of these presumptuous sins is like the knotty
root-end of an old Oak that hath layen long a drying in the sun It must be a hard wedg that will enter and it must be handled with some skill too to make it do that and when the wedg is entred it will endure many a hard knock before it will yield to the cleaver and fall in sunder And indeed it is a blessed thing and to be acknowledged a gracious evidence of Gods unspeakable mercy to those that have wilfully suffered such an unclean spirit to enter in and to take possession of their souls if they shall ever be enabled to out him againe though with never so much fasting and Prayer Potentes potenter they that have mightily offended shall be sure to be mightily tormented if they repent not and therefore it is but reason they should be mightily humbled when they do repent 29. After Repentance also Presumptuous sins for the most part have their uncomfortable Effects Very seldome hath any man taken the liberty to sin presumptuously but he hath after met with that which hath been grievous to him either in outward things or in his good name or in his soule in some or other of these if not in all even after the renewing of himself by repentance and the sealing of his pardon from God Like a grievous wound or sore that is not only of a hard cure but leaveth also some remembrance behinde it some scarr in the flesh after it is cured 30. First a Presumptuous Sinner rarely escapeth without some notable outward Affliction Not properly as a debt payable to the Justice of God by way of satisfaction for there is no proportion between the one and the other But partly as an evidence of Gods high displeasure against such a high provocation and partly as a fit chastisement wherewith he is pleased in mercy to correct his servants when they have demeaned themselves so presumptuosly that both they and others may be admonished by that example to do so no more Be David the instance What a world of mischief and misery did he create unto himself by that one presumptuous fact in the matter of Uriah almost all the days of his life after The Prophet Nathan at the very same time when he delivered him Gods royall and gracious pardon for it under seal Transtulit peccatum the Lord hath put away thy sin yet did he withall read him the bitter consequents of it as you have them set down 2 Sam. 12. And as he foretold him accordingly it fell out with him His daughter defiled by her brother that brother slain by another brother a strong conspiracy raised against him by his own son his Concubines openly defiled by the same son himself afflicted with the untimely and uncomfortable death of that son who was his darling reviled and cursed to his face by a base unworthy companion besides many other affronts troubles and vexations continually He had few quiet hours all his life long and even upon his deathb-ed not a little disquieted with tidings of his two sons almost up in arms about the succession We use to say The wilful man never wanteth woe and truly David felt it by sad experience what woe his wilfulness wrought him 31. Secondly Presumptuous sins are often Scandalous leaving an indeleble stain and blot upon the name and memory of the guilty offender not to be wholy wiped off so long as that name and memory lasteth David must be our instance here too who sinned many other times and wayes besides that in the matter of Vriah It can be little pleasure to us to rove into the infirmities of Gods servants and bring them upon the stage it would perhaps become our charity better to cast a mantle over their nakedness where the fact will with any tolerable construction bear an excuse Yet sith all things that are written are written for our learning and that it pleased the wisdome of God for that end to leave so many of their failings upon record as glasses to represent unto us our common frailties and as monuments and marks to minde us of those rocks whereat others have ship-wrackt it cannot be blamed in us to take notice of them and to make the best use we can of them for our own spirituall advantage His diffidence then and anxiety lest he should perish one day by the hands of Saul when he had Gods promise that he should outlive him His deep dissimulation with and before Achis especially when he tendred his service to him in the wars His rash cholerick vow to destroy Nabal and all that belonged to him who had indeed played the churle and the wretch with him as covetous and unthankfull men sometimes will doe but yet in rigore had done him no wrong His double injustice to his loyall subject Mephibosheth and therein also his forgetfulness of his old and trusty friend Ionathan first in giving away all his lands upon the bare suggestion of a servant and that to the false informer himself and that without any examination at all of the matter and then in restoring him but halfe again when he knew the suggestion to be false His fond affection to his ungracious son Absalom in tendring his life before his own safety and the publick good and in taking his death with so much unmanly impatience His lenity and indulgence to his other son Adonijah who was no better then he should be neither to whom he never said so much at any time as Eli did to his sons why hast thou done so His carnall confidence in the multitude of his subjects when he caused them to be numbred by the pole These and perhaps some other sinfull oversights which doe not presently occur to my memory are registred of David as well as the murther of Vriah Yet as if all these were as nothing in comparison of that one that one alone is put in by the holy Ghost by way of exception and so inserted as an exception in that glorious testimony which we finde given of him â— King 15.5 David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the dayes of his life save only in the matter of Vriah the Hittite That is he turned not aside so foulely and so contemptuously so presumptuously and so provokingly in any other thing as he did in that business of Vriah All his Ignorances and Negligences and Inconsiderations and Infirmities are passed over in silence only this great Presumptuous Sin standeth up as a pillar or monument erected ad perpetuam rei memoriam to his perpetual shame in that particular for all succeeding generations to take warning and example by 32. Yet were this more tolerable if besides a Stain in the Name these Presumptuous sins did not also leave a Sting in the Conscience of the sinner which abideth in him many times a long while after the sin is repented of and
tell him who had him in hand and bid him look well to himself and beware a cheat But if he should after such warning given grow into farther fammiliarity with him and I should still give him signes one after another to break off speech and to quit the company of such a dangerous fellow and all to no purpose Who could either pity him or blame me if I should leave him at last to be gulled and fooled that set so little by the wholsome and timely admonitions of his friend Much greater then his is thy folly if thou neglectest the warnings and despisest the murmurings of thine own Conscience Thou sufferest it but deservedly if thy Conscience having so ofen warned thee in vain at length grow weary of that office and leave thee to take thine own course and so thou become a prey to the Devil and fall into sundry grievous presumptions Quis enim invitum servare laboret Be carefull not to grieve thine own spirit by offending thy Conscience and thou shalt not lightly grieve the spirit of God by sinning Presumptuously 37. Secondly strive to be Master of thine own will We count our horses unserviceable till they be broken and the more head-strong the more unserviceable And it is a point of the greatest skill in the art of Education for Parents betimes to break their children of their wills If David had done so with his Absolon and his Adoniah for ought we know he might have had more comfort of them Why shouldest not thou carry as steddy and severe a hand over thine own soule as a discreet father would do over his childe and be as carefull to break thy self of thine own will as he his childe of his And to get the mastery over thy self in greater matters it will behove thee to exercise this discipline first in lesser things as he that would be a skilfull Wood-man will exercise himself thereunto first by shooting sometimes at a dead mark In thy meats and drinks in thy pastimes and society in other delights and things such as are in themselves both lawfull and honest exercise this soveraignty now and then over thine own will When thou observest it eagerly bent upon some one thing that may without sin or folly be left undone sometimes deny thy self and thine own will therein curbe thy desires though they be somewhat importunate and thou shalt finde in time incredible benefit by it There are some other but this is one of the best uses of Fasting and to my seeming the most proper and immediate good that cometh by it not so much to tame the Flesh and take down the body though that also as to cross the appetite and pull down the Will That proverbial form of afflicting the soule usual among the Hebrews and that peculiar to Solomon of putting a knife to the throat do both look this way And so doth S. Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 9. which is an athletique pugilar word as those that beat one another with their fists striving for the mastery so did he to bring his body in subjection that so he might have as the phrase is otherwhere in the same Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power over his own will 38. The fact was barbarous but yet the story memorable of Amurath the great Turke in cutting off with his own hands the head of his beautifull minion Irene upon no dislike at all but meerly that his Princes who were displeased to see his minde by doating upon her drawn off from all care of the publick affairs might withall see how he could command himself and conquer his own affections But we need not seek out so far for an example having one more innocent and of a far better man then he in the scriptures even our David Who longing with an earnest appetite to drink of the water of the well by the gate of Bethlehem yet when he had it brought him by the brave attempt of three of his Worthies he would not taste a drop of it but in condemnation of the inordinacy of his appetite which had exposed such worthy persons to the hazard of their lives poured it out unto the Lord. What a mass of Sin and misery had he escaped could he have so denied himself in the matter of Vriah Verily there is no conquest like this for a man to conquer himself and he that hath subdued his own will hath done a braver thing then he that hath taken a town or scaled the walls of a Castle It is wilfulness only that begetteth Presumption the more therefore thou canst master thine own will the safer thou art from sinning Presumptuously That is the second 39. Thirdly beware of engaging thy self to sin It is a fearful thing when sin hath got a tye upon a man Then is one properly in the snare of the Devil when he hath him as it were in a string and may lead him captive to what measure of presumption he will And sundry wayes may a man thus entangle himself by a Verbal by a Reall by a Sinfull Engagement He shall do best to keep himself out of all these snares But if once he be in there is no way out again but one even this To loose his pledge to break in sunder the bonds wherein he is tied as Sampson did the green wit hs and to cast away those cords from him 40. A man hath bound himself rashly by some promise vow or covenant to do something he may not do or not to do something he ought to do He is now engaged in a sin the Devil hath got this tye upon him And though his conscience tell him he cannot proceed without sin yet because of his Vow or his Oath he is wilful and must on It was Herods Case for taking off the Baptists head It was against his conscience to do it for he knew he had not deserved it Ey and it was against his minde too to do it for the Text saith he was exceeding sorry that his niece should put him upon it But yet saith the story withall for his oath sake and because the great ones about him should not say but the King would be as big as his word he resolved it should be done gave commandement accordingly to have it done This I call a Verbal Engagement 41. There is a Reall one too as ill as this For example A man heareth of a bargaine which he apprehendeth will be for his profit or spieth out a likely way for his advancement and being unwilling to lose the opportunity perhaps disburseth some moneys or putteth his great friends upon it to further his design It may be afterwards upon better consideration he espieth a flaw in it which he saw not before or some intervening accident which he could not probably foresee hath cast such a rub in his way that he cannot go on fairly as at first he hoped but he must strain his conscience
fumum accepit fumum vendidit as it is in the Apothegme Or in an Epigram I have heard of two Dunces and their disputation Attulit ille nihil rettulit ille nihil we are yet upon even terms and that can deserve no great imputation of folly 17. Indeed should we speak of our bodies only these mortal corruptible vile bodies as we finde them termed by all those Epithets or look upon our whole nature as it is now embased by Sin or even taken at the best and set in comparison against God in one of which three respects it must be understood where ever the scriptures speak of our worthlesnesse or nothingnesse there might then be some place for these allegations But take the whole Man together soule as well as body yea chiefly that and state him as he was before he was sold as so we must do if we will give a true judgement of the fact and compare it but with other creatures which is but reasonable and then all the allegations aforesaid are quite beside the purpose The Soule is a most rich indeed an inestimable commmodity Preciosa anima saith Solomon Prov. 6. the precious Soule So he saith but that speech is somewhat too generall he doth not tell us how precious Indeed he doth not for in truth he could not it is beyond his or any mans skill to give an exact praisment of it There is somewhat bidden for it Mic. 6. But such a contemptible price that it is rejected with scorn though it seem to sound loud thousands of Rams and ten thousands of Rivers of Oyle He that alone knew the true worth of a soule both by his natural knowledge being the eternall wisdom of God and by his experimental knowledge having bought so many and pai'd a full price for them our blessed Redeemer the Lord Iesus assureth us there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the universal world affordeth not a valuable compensation for it Mat. 16. We will rest upon his word for this as well we may and spare further proof 18. And then the inference will be clear that there never was in the world any such folly as sin is any such fools as sinners are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he said and Solomon putteth the soole upon the sinner I am not able to say how oft That we should thus sell and truck away these precious souls of ours the very exhalations and arrachements if I may so speak of the breath of God not estimable with any other thing then with the precious blood of God and that not for the whole world which had been to our incomparable disadvantage no nor yet for any great Portion thereof but for a very small pittance of it whereof we can have no assurance neither that we shall hold it an houre and which even whil'st we have it and think to enjoy it perisheth in the using and deceiveth our expectations Which of us laying the promises to heart can do less then beshrew his own grievous folly for so doing and beg pardon for it at the hands of God as David did after he had numbred the People I have sinned greatly in that I have done and now I beseech thee O Lord take away mine iniquity for I have done very foolishly 19. And the more cause have we most humbly to beg pardon for our baseness and folly herein by how much less we are any way able to excuse either of both it being our own voluntary act and deed For so is the next Particular Ye have sold your selves Naturally what is blameworthy we had rather put off upon any body else light where it will then take it home to our selves Translatio criminis the shifting of a fault is by Rhetoricians made a branch of their Art We need not go to their schools to learn it Nature and our mother-wit will prompt us sufficiently thereunto we brought it from the womb suck'd it from the breasts of our mother Eve This base and foolish act whereof we now speak how loath are we to own it how do we strive to lay the whole burden and blame of it upon others or if we cannot hope to get our selves quite off yet as men use to do in common payments and taxes we plead hard to have bearers partners that may go a share with us and ease us if not à toto yet at leastwise à tanto and in some part But it will not be Still Perditio tua ex te it will fall all upon us at the last when we have done what we can 20. We have but one of these three wayes to put off a fourth I cannot imagine By making it either Gods act who is the original owner or Adams act who was our Progenitor or Satans act who is the Purchaser If any of these will hold we are well enough Let us try them all It should seem the first will for is there not Text for it How should one of them chase a thousand saith Moses except their rock had sold them Deut. 32. and God was their rock So David Psalm 44. Thou hast sold thy people for nought and sundry times in the book of Iudges we read how God sold Israel sometimes into the hands of one enemy and sometimes of another Very right But none of all this is spoken of the sale now in Question it is meant of another manner of Sale which is consequent to this and presupposeth it God indeed selleth us over to punishment which is the sale meant in those places but not till we have first sold our selves over to sin which is the sale in this place We first most unjustly sell away our souls and then he most justly selleth away our bodies and our liberty and our peace and our credit and the rest 21. Let us beware then whatsoever we do that we do not charge God wrongfully by making him in the least degree the author of our sins or but so much as a party or an accessory to our follies either directly or indirectly Himself disclaimeth it utterly and casteth it all upon us Esay 50.1 Which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you if it were my deed deal punctually tell me when and where and to whom But if it were not why do you lay it to my charge Behold for your iniquities have you sold your selves It was meerly your own doing and if you suffer for it blame your selves and not me 22. Hâc non successit We must try another way and see if we can leave it upon Adam For did not he sell us many a fair year before we were in rerum naturâ And if the Father sell away the inheritance from his unborn childe how can he do withall and if he cannot help it why should he be blamed for it Must our teeth be set on edge with the grapes our grand-father ate and not we It must be confest
be carried away Greater is he that is in you saith S. Iohn that is Christ then he that is in the world that is the Devil Christ came into the world on purpose to destroy the works of the Devil and he did atchieve what he came for he hath destroyed them And amongst his other works he hath destroyed this Purchase also wrung the evidences out of his hand even the handwriting that was against us and having blotted defaced and cancell'd it took it out of the way nayling it to his Cross. 28. Such was his Power his Love secondly not less which made him as willing as he was able to undertake this work of our redemption In his love and in his pitty he redeemed them Esay 63.9 There is such a height and depth and length and bredth in that Love such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every dimension of it as none but an infinite understanding can fathom Sic Deus dilexit So God loved the world But how much that so containeth no tongue or wit of man can reach Nothing expresseth it better to the life then the work it self doth That the Word should be made Flesh that the holy one of God should be made sin that God blessed for ever should be made a curse that the Lord of life and glory should suffer an inglorious death and poure out his own most precious blood to ransom such worthless thankless graceless Traitors as we were that had so desperately made our selves away and that into the hands of his deadliest enemy and that upon such poore and unworthy conditions O altitudo Love incomprehensible It swalloweth up the sence and understanding of Men and Angels fitter to be admired and adored with silence then blemished with any our weak expressions 29. I leave it therefore and go on to the next his Right When de facto we sold our selves to Satan we had de jure no power or right at all so to do being we were not our own and so in truth the title is nought and the Sale void Yet it is good against us however we may not plead the invalidity of it for so much as in reason no man ought to make advantage of his own act Our act then barreth us But yet it cannot bar the right owner from challenging his own wheresoever he finds it And therefore we may be well assured God will not suffer the Devil who is but malae fidei possessor an intruder and a cheater quietly to enjoy what is Gods and not his but he will eject him we have that word Iohn 12.21 Ejicietur now is the Prince of this world cast out and recover out of his possession that which he hath no right at all to hold 30. Sundry inferences we might raise hence if we had time I may not insist yet I cannot but touch at three duties which we owe to God for this Redemption because they answer so fitly to these three last mentioned assurances We owe him Affiance in respect of his Power in requital of his Love thankfulness and in regard of his Right Service First the consideration of his Power in our Redemption may put a great deal of comfort and confidence into us that having now redeemed us if we do but cleave fast to him and revolt not again he will protect us from Sin and Satan and all other enemies and pretenders whatsoever O Israel fear not for I have redeemed thee Esay 43. If then the Devil shall seek by any of his wiles or suggestions at any time to get us over to him again as he is an unwearied sollicitor and will not lose his claim by discontinuance Let us then look to that Cornu salutis that horn of salvation that God hath raised up for us in Christ our Redeemer and flie thither for succour as to the horns of the Altar saying with David Psalm 119. I am thine oh save me and we shall be safe In all inward temptations in all outward distresses at the hour of death and in the day of judgment we may with great security commit the keeping of our souls to him both as a faithful creator and as a powerful Redeemer saying once more with David Into thy hands I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of truth Psalm 31.6 31. Secondly the consideration of his love in our Redemption should quicken us to a thankful acknowledgment of his great and undeserved goodness towards us Let them give thanks whom the Lord hath redeemed and delivered from the hand of the enemy Psal. 107. Let all men let all creatures do it but let them especially If the blessings of corn and wine and oyl of health and peace and plenty of deliverance from sicknesses pestilences famines and other calamities can so affect us as to provoke at least some overly and superficial forms of thanksgiving from us how carnal are our minds and our thoughts earthy if the contemplation of the depth of the riches of Gods mercy poured out upon us in this great work of our Redemption do not even ravish our hearts with an ardent desire to pour them out unto him again in hymns and Psalms and songs of thanksgiving with a Benedictus in our mouths Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people 32. Thirdly the consideration of his Right should bind us to do him service We were his before for he made us and we ought him service for that But now we are his more then before and by a new title for he hath bought us and paid for us and we owe him more service for that The Apostle therefote urgeth it as a matter of great equity you are not your own but his therefore you are not to satisfie your selves by doing your own lusts but to glorifie him by doing his will When Christ redeemed us by his bloud his purpose was to redeem us unto God Rev. 5.9 and not to our selves and to redeem us from our vain conversation 1 Pet. 1.18 and not to it And he therefore delivered us out of the hands of our enemies that we might the more freely and securely and without fear serve him in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of our lives Luke 1. which being both our bounden duty and the thing withall so very reasonable we have the more to answer for if we do not make a conscience of it to perform it accordingly He hath done his part and that which he was no way bound unto in redeeming us and he hath done it to purpose done it effectually Let it be our care to do our part for which there lie so many obligations upon us in serving him and let us also do it to purpose do it really and throughly and constantly 33. Thus is our Redemption done effectually it is also done freely which is the only point now remaining Not for price nor
and he should not love him faithfully but foolishly if he should out of fond indulgence let him go on in an evil way without due correction He that spareth the rod hateth his childe saith Solomon he meaneth it interpretativè that is he doth his childe as much hurt out of his fond love as he could not do him more harm if he were his enemies childe whom he hateth Will not a mother that loveth her childe with all tenderness if it have got some hurt with a fall lay on a plaster to heal it though it smart and though the child cry and struggle against it all it can yet will shee lay it on for all that ey and binde it too to keep it on and all out of very love and faithfulness because she knoweth it must be so or the childe will be the worse for it I use these comparisons the rather not onely because they are familiar and the more familiar ever the better if they be fit but because the Lord himself also delighteth to set forth his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and love to us by the love of a discreet father and the affection of a tender mother towards the fruit of their own loins and womb And the Apostle at large prosecuteth the resemblance and that in this very matter whereof we now speak of our heavenly Fathers correcting his children in love and for their good most accurately and comfortably in Heb. 12. 22. But to return back to the relation of friendship from which yet I have not disgressed for can we have any better friends then our parents If any of us have a friend that is lethargique or lunatique will we not put the one from his drousie seat and shake him up and make him stir about whether he will or no and tie the other in his bed hamper him with cords ey and with blows too if need be to keep him quiet though it be death to the one to be stirred and to the other to be tied Or if we have some near friend or kinsman that we wish well to and partly dependeth upon us for his livelyhood that will not be advised by us but will flee out into bad company drink and quarrell and game will we not pinch him in his allowance refuse to give him entertainment set some underhand to beate him when he quarrels in his drink or to cheat him when he gameth too deep and if he will not be reclaimed otherwise get him arrested and laid up and then let him lie by it till shame and want give him some better sight and sence of his former follies Can any man now charge us truly with unfaithfulness to our friend for so doing Or is it not rather a good proof of our love and faithfulness to him Doubtless it is You know the old saying Non quòd odio habeam sed quòd amem it hath some reason in it For the love and faithfulness of a friend is not to be measured by the things done but by the affection and intention of the doer A thing may be done that carrieth the shew of much friendship with it yet with an intent to do the party a mischief Eutrapelus cuicunque nocere volebat c. As if he should put his friend upon some employment he were unmeet for of purpose to disgrace him or feed him with money in a riotous course to get a hanck over his estate like Sauls friendship to David in giving him his daughter to wife that she might be a snare to him to put him into the hands of the Philistines This is the basest unfaithfulness of all other sub amici fallere nomen and by many degrees worse then open hostility Let not their precious balmes break my head Let the righteous rather smite me friendly saith David There may be smiting it should seem by him without violation of friendship And his wise son Solomon preferreth the wounds of a friend before the kisses of an enemy These may be pleasanter but those will prove wholsomer there is treachery in these kisses but in those wounds faithfulness 23. You may perceive by what hath been said that God may cause his servants to be troubled and yet continue his love and faithfulness to them nevertheless yea moreover that he bringeth those troubles upon them out of his great love and faithfulness towards them It should make us the more willing whether God inflict or threaten whether we feel or fear any either publick calamity or personal affliction any thing that is like to breed us any grief or trouble to submit our selves to the hand of God not only with patience because he is righteous but even with thankfulness too because he is faithful therein Very meet we should apprehend the wrath of God and his just indignation against us when he striketh for he is righteous and will not correct us but for our sin Which should prick our hearts with sorrow nay rend them in pieces with through-contrition that we should so unworthily provoke so gracious a God to punish us But then we must so apprehend his wrath that we doubt not of his favour nor despair of staying his hand if we will but stay the course of our sins by godly repentance and reformation for he is faithful and correcteth us ever for our good Doth he take any pleasure think you in our destruction He hath sworn the contrary and dare you not believe him Doubt ye not therefore but that humility and confidence fear and hope may consist together as well as justice and mercy may in God or repentance and faith in us Presume not then to continue in sin but fear his judgments for he is righteous and will not acquit the guilty Neither yet despair of finding pardon but hope in his mercy for he is faithful and will not despise the penitent I forbid no man but charge him rather as he meaneth to build his after-comforts upon a firm base to lay a good foundation of repentance and godly sorrow by looking first upon Gods justice and his own sins that he may be cast down and humbled under the mighty hand of God before he presume to lay hold of any actual mercy But after he hath by this means assured the foundation let him then in Gods name proceed with his work and bring it on more and more to perfection by sweet meditations of the great love and gracious promises of our good God and his undoubted stedfastness and faithfulness therein Never giving it over till he come to that perfection of art and skill that he can spy love even in the very wrath of God Mel de petra suck honey out of the stony rock gather grapes of thornes and figs of thistles Till we attain to this I say not but we may have true hope and comfort in God which by his mercy may bring us to salvation but we have not yet
in a most base and treacherous fashion too not without a great deal of dawbing and hypocrisie withall The circumstances aggravate much No doubt Davids heart that was so ready to smite him at other times upon very small occasions in comparison would now buffet him with stronger checks and not suffer him to be ignorant of the wickedness and unlawfulness of his foule intentions But all is one for that Iacta est alea. He was in and he must on so it must be now thinketh he or else we are shamed for ever This is David in the matter of Uriah a fearful example for our Admonition 8. Heaven and Hell are not at more distance nor light and darkness more unlike then Davids carriage in the one case and in the other Of which so great difference and unlikeness if we examine what was the true cause we shall finde it to have bin none other but this that in the former he looked chiefly at the unlawfulness of the thing and in the later at the expediency only In the matter of Saul he saw the thing was utterly unlawful to be done as being repugnant to the ordinance of God and the duty of a subject and therefore expedient or inexpedient he resolves he will not do it for a world and that was certainly the right way In the matter of Uriah he saw the thing was expedient to be done as conducing to his ends for the saving of his credit at that time and therefore lawful or unlawful he resolveth he will do it whatsoever come of it and that was certainly the wrong way 9. Take we warning by his example it is the cheapest learning to profit by anothers harme not to adventure the doing of any thing that we know to be unlawful seem it never so expedient and conducible to such ends as we intend Alas why should any of us for the serving of our own bellies cast the Commandments of God behind our backs or violate his holy laws to satisfie our own impure lusts Can the compassing of any thing we can desire in this world profit pleasure preferment glory revenge or any thing else be to us of so great advantage that for the attainment thereof we should so far dishonour God and quench the light that is in us as to lye and forswear and flatter and slander and supplant and cheat and oppress or do any other unjust or unlawful act against the light of our own reason or contrary to the checks of our own consciences 10. Nor ought we to be careful hereof then only when in our ends we look meerly at our selves and our own private conveniencies in any of the forementioned respects of profit pleasure and the rest but even then also when our intentions are more noble and honourable the honour of God the edification of our brethren the peace of the Church and the common good For neither pious intentions alone nor reasons of expediency alone nor yet both together will either warrant us before hand to the choice nor excuse us afterwards for the use of unlawful means What ever Sauls intention was in sparing the fatter cattel I make no question but that Vzzah's very intention was pious in reaching forth his hand to stay the Arke from falling when it tottered in the cart The things themselves both the one and the other seemed to be very expedient But Gods special command to Saul that all should be destroyed and his law given by Moses concerning that sacred and mysterious utensil having made both those things unlawful did thereby also make both the facts inexcusable and Almighty God to win reverence and honour to his own ordinances punished with great severity both the disobedience of the one and the rash presumption of the other 11. Be our ends and aimes therefore what they will unless we arm our selves with strong resolutions before-hand not to do any thing we know to be unlawful upon any terms seem it otherwise never so expedient and then afterwards use all our best prayers and endeavours by Gods grace to hold our resolutions We are gone Satan is cunning and we but weak and he will be too hard for us if he do but finde us any whit staggering in our resolutions for doing nothing but what is lawful or lending an ear to any perswasions for the doing of any thing that is unlawful By this very means he got within our Grandmother Eve and prevailed with her to taste of the forbidden fruit though it were unlawful by perswading her that it was expedient This once is a sure ground for us to build upon to a good Christian that desireth to make conscience of his wayes nothing can be truly expedient that is apparently unlawful And so much for the first Observation 12. The Apostle first supposeth the thing to be lawful else it may not be done howsoever But if it be lawful then we hope we may use it at our pleasure without either scruple in our selves or blame from others Indeed that is the common guise of the World Have but the opinion of some Divine of note concerning any thing we have a minde to that it is lawful and then we think we need take no more care nor trouble our selves about circumstances But there is a great deal more belongeth to it then so Lawfulness alone will not bear us out in the use of a thing unless there be care had withal to use it lawfully lest otherwise our liberty degenerate into a carnal licentiousness as easily it may do For preventing whereof the Apostle here requireth that we consider as well what is expedient to be done as what is lawful Which was our second Observation All things are lawful for me but all things are not expedient 13. S. Bernard to Eugenius requireth trinam considerationem a threefold consideration or enquiry to precede the doing of any action of moment and worthy our deliberation An liceat An deceat An expediat Whether it be lawful or no whether comely or no whether expedient or no lawful in it self comely for us expedient in respect of others He maketh there that of decency and that of expediency two different considerations the one from the other yet both necessary And as well the difference that is between them as the necessity of both ariseth from those two grand vertues which must have a special influence into every action morally and spiritually good to wit Discretion and Charity of which two Discretion is the proper judge of decency and Charity of expediency though both do in some sort belong to both But as for decency it may be the Apostle intended not to speak of it at all as being not so very pertinent to his present argument and having besides a purpose to mention it more seasonably afterwards Or if he did he then taketh expediency in a larger sence so as to comprehend under that name all that which Bernard meaneth by decency and expediency
place not our felicity in the enjoyment or please our selves too much in the confidence or allow our selves overmuch freedom in the use of any creature Lest as Ionas was overjoyed when the gourd sprang up and over-vexed when it withered so the loss of what we over-valued whiles we had it overwhelme us with grief and impatience when we must part from it Quem res plus nimio delectavére secundae Mutatae quatient 15. If we would seriously consider what defects the things of this world are subject unto and what casualties and frailties we should reap at least this threefold benefit thereby It would make us first receive these outward things with more thankfulness secondly use them with more moderation thirdly forgoe them with more patience then usually we do Laudo manentem si celeres quatit Pennas resigno quae dedit as he said of Fortune Whilest we have them it will become us to bless God for them and to make our best of them But if they will be gone farewell they let them goe but let us bear up notwithstanding since we are neither hopeless nor helpless When all faileth we have yet one string left which we are sure will hold even the Name of the Lord our God who standeth ever by us ready to take us up when all others have forsaken us Which is the other point in those later words of the verse The Lord taketh me up 16. The primary signification of the Hebrew Verb here used is to gather and so it might allude to that whereunto our Saviour in the Gospel resembleth his compassion towards the Jews of a hen gathering her chickens under her wings But it is here rather translated by taking up as the word very usually signifieth 1. And it seemeth to resemble the state of young infants by the unnaturall parents exposed to the wide world as we read Cyrus and Romulus and some others both in Fables and Histories to have been where they must have perished if some good body had not taken pity of them and taken them up 2. Or the state of some impotent neglected Cripple like him that lay before the pool of Bethesda and had neither limbs to put himself into the water nor any friend to help him in 3. Or the travailer in the Parable Luke 10. that lay in the high-way wounded by theeves half dead where he must have died outright if the Samaritan passenger had not taken him up and taken order for his tending and recovery 17. The plain meaning is that though our Fathers and Mothers forsake us though all other friends and comforts fail us because they either can not or will not help us yet our heavenly Father never doth nor will fail or forsake those that put their trust in him Yea rather then is his providence neerest and his help readyest when we are most forsaken of others and left most destitute of all worldly succour Whence it is that so often in the Psalms to procure readier help from God David alledgeth it as a forcible argument that he was a desolate and forsaken man The poore committeth himself to thee for thou art a helper of the friendless O go not far from me for trouble is nigh at hand and there is none to help me O be thou our help in trouble for vain is the help of man and many the like And how often doth the Lord himself whose general providence watcheth over all men yea even all creatures profess himself yet in a more special manner to be the Father of the fatherless and to have a special care of the widdow the poor and the stranger above others as being more destitute of worldly succour and friends then others are In three Psalms together you have passages to this purpose In the 145th The Lord upholdeth all those that fall and lifteth up all those that be down In the 146. The Lord helpeth them that are fallen the Lord careth for the stranger He defendeth the fatherlesse and widow In the 147. He feedeth the young ravens that call upon him The observation is common that he instanceth in the raven rather then in any other bird because of all other birds the ravens are observed soonest to forsake their yong ones Whether the observation hold or no it serveth to my purpose howsoever for if God so sufficiently provide for the yong ravens when the dams forsake them will he not much more take care of us when our Fathers and Mothers forsake us Are not we stampt with his own image much more valuable with him then many ravens 18. But dictum factum These are but words are there producible any deeds to make it good Verily there are and that to the very letter When Ismaels Mother despairing of his life had forsaken him and laid him down gasping his last for ought she knew or could do to help it in the wilderness the Lord took him up He opened a new spring of water and opened her eyes to see it and so the child was preserved Gen. 21. When Moses his Parents also had forsaken him for they durst not stand by him any longer and laied him down among the rushy flags the Lord took him up too He provided him of a Saviour the Kings own daughter and of a nurse the childs own mother and so he was preserved too Take but two Examples more out of either Testament one David and S. Paul both forsaken of men both taken up of God How was David forsaken in Psal. 142.5 when he had looked upon his right hand and saw no man that would know him he had no place to fly unto and no man cared for his soule But all the while Dominus à dextris there was one at his right hand though at first he was not aware of him ready to take him up As it there followeth ver 6. I cried unto thee O Lord thou art my hope and my portion in the land of the living And how S. Paul was forsaken take it from himself 2 Tim. 4.16 At my first answer no man stood with me but all forsook me A heavy case and had been heavier had there not been one ready to take his part at the next verse Nevertheless the Lord stood by me and strengthened me c. What need we any more witnesses In ore duorum In the mouth of two such witnesses the point is sufficiently established 19. But you will yet say These two might testifie what they had already found post-factum But David in the Text pronounceth de futuro before hand and that somewhat confidently The Lord will take me up As he doth also elsewhere Sure I am that the Lord will avenge the poore and maintain the cause of the helpless Psal. 140. But is there any ground for that Doubtless there is a double ground one in the nature another in the promise of God In his Nature foure Qualities there are
do but look upon some general considerations only we shall see reasons enough why the Apostle notwithstanding his approving of their former carriage might yet be jealous over them with a godly jealousie in this matter 25. First he knew not persecutions ever attending the Church as her lot but they might and Christ having foretold great tribulations shortly to come upon that nation it was very like they should meet with more and stronger trials then they had ever yet done It was indeed and by the Apostles confession a great trial of afflictions they had undergone already and they had received the charge bravely and were come off with honour and victory so that that brunt was happily over But who could tell what trials were yet behinde These might be for ought they knew or he either but the beginnings of greater evils to ensue You have not resisted unto blood saith he in the very next words after the Text as if he had said You have fought one good fight already and quit your selves like men I commend you for it and I bless God for it Yet be not high-minded but fear you have not yet done all your work your warfare is not yet at an end What if God should call you to suffer the shedding of your blood for Christ as Christ shed his blood for you you have not been put to that yet but you know not what you may be If you be not in some measure prepared even for that also and resolved by Gods assistance to strive against sin and to withstand all sinful temptations even to the shedding of the last drop of blood in your bodies if God call you to it you have done nothing He that hateth not his life as well as his house and lands for Christ and his kingdom is not worthy of either Sharp or long assaults may tire out him that hath endured shorter and easier But he that setteth forth for the goal if he will obtain must resolve to devour all difficulties and to run it out and not to faint or slug till he have finished his course to the end though he should meet with never so many Lions in the way 26. Secondly so great is the natural frailty of man so utterly averse from conforming it self entirely to the good will and pleasure of Almighty God either in doing or suffering that if he be not the better principled within strengthened with grace in the inner man he will not be able to hold out in either but every sorry temptation from without will foil him and beat him off Be not weary of well-doing saith the Apostle Gal. 6. for in due time we shall reap if we faint not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word again Weariness and faintness of minde we are subject to you see in the point of well doing But how much more then in the point of suffering which is of the two much the sorer trial 27. Marvel not if ordinary Christians such as these Hebrews were might be in danger of fainting under the Cross when the most holy and eminent of Gods servants whose faith and patience and piety are recorded in the Scriptures as exemplary to all posterity have by their failings in this kinde bewrayed themselves to be but men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subject to passions of fear and distrust even as others Abraham the father of the faithful of so strong faith and obedience that he neither staggered at the promise of having a son though it were a very unlikely one at that age through unbelief nor stumbled at the command of sacrificing that son though it were a very hard one having no more through disobedience yet coming among strangers upon some apprehensions that his life might be endangered if he should own Sarah to be his wife his heart so far mis-gave him through humane frailty that he shewed some distrustfulness of God by his doubting and dissimulation with Pharaoh first and after with Abimelech Gen. 13. and 20. 28. And David also so full of courage sometimes that he would not fear though ten thousands of people whole armies of men should rise up against him and encompass him round about though the opposers were so strong and numerous that the earth should be moved and the mountains shake at the noise thereof yet at some other times when he saw no end of his troubles but that he was hunted like a partridge upon the mountains day after day and chased from place to place perpetually that he could rest no where his heart began to melt and to faint within him And although he had a promise from God of succeeding in the kingdom and an anointing also as an earnest to confirm the promise yet it ran strongly in his thoughts nevertheless that he should perish one day by the hands of Saul Insomuch that in a kinde of distrust of Gods truth and protection he ventured so far upon his own head never so much as asking counsel at the mouth of God as to expose himself to great inconveniences hazards and temptations in the midst of an hostile and idolatrous people The good man was sensible of the imperfection acknowledgeth it an infirmity and striveth against it Psal. 77. 29. But of all the rest S. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostome often stileth him a man of great boldness and fervency of spirit betrayed the greatest weakness Who after so fair warning so lately given him and his own so confident profession of laying down his life in his masters quarrel yet within not many hours after when he began to be questioned about his Master and saw by the malicious and partial proceedings against the Master how it was like to goe with him if he were known to have such a near dependance upon him became so faint-hearted that contrary to his former resolutions and engagement he not only dis-owned him but with oaths and imprecations forswore him Such weakness is there in the flesh where there is yet left some willingness in the spirit that without a continual supply of grace and actual influence of strength from above there is no absolute stedfastness to be found in the best of the sons of men 30. Yet is not our natural inability to resist temptations though very great the cause of our actual faintings so much because of the ready assistance of Gods grace to relieve us if we would but be as ready to make use of it as a third thing is To wit our supine negligence that we do not stand upon our guard as it concerneth us to do nor provide for the encounter in time but have our armes to seek when the enemy is upon us As Ioseph in the years of plenty laid in provision against the years of dearth so should we whilest it is calm provide for a storm and whilest we are at ease against the evil day It is such an ordinary point of wisdom in the common affairs