that call themselves brethren fall soule upon one another not only girding at and clashing against but biting and nipping and devouring one another as if they were bent to consume and destroy one another But a most blessed thing on the other side pleasant as the holy oyle distilling from Aarons head upon his beard and garments and rejoycing the heart as the dew upon the mountains refresheth the grass when there is nothing done in the house through strife or vain glory but such an accord amongst them that all the Brethren are of one minde and judgment or if not alwayes so yet at leastwise of one heart and affection bearing the burdens and bearing with the infirmities one of another and ready upon all occasions to do good as to all men generally and without exception so especially to their Brethren that are of the same houshold of faith with them 35. Lastly we are Brethren by partnership in our Fathers estate Coparceners in the state of Grace all of us enjoying the same promises liberties and priviledges whereof we are already possessed in common and Coheirs in the state of Glory all of us having the same joy and everlasting blisse in expectancy and reversion For being the sonnes of God we are all heirs and being brethren all joynt-heirs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one and the same glorious inheritance reserved for us in the heavens which St. Iude therefore calleth the common salvation It argueth a base wrangling spirit in us having such goodly things in reversion enough for us all so as heart can wish no more to squabble and fall out for such poore trifles as the things of this world are We that have by Gods goodness competent sustenance for our journey and full sacks to open at our coming home as Iosephs brethren had when they came out of Egypt to return to their own land shall we fall out among our selves and be ready to mischief one another by the way 36. Having all these Obligations upon us and being tied together in one Brotherhood by so many bands of unity and affection I presume we cannot doubt de Iure but that it is our bounden duty thus to love the Brotherhood There remaineth now no more to be done but to look to our performances that they be right wherein the main thing we are to take heed of besides what hath been already applyed is Partiality I charge thee before God and the Lord Iesus Christ and the elect Angels that thou observe these things without preferring one before another doing nothing by Partiality It was S. Pauls charge to Timothy in another businesse but may suit very well with this also 27. Not but that we may and in most cases must make a difference between one brother and another in the measure and degree of our Love according to the different measures and degrees either of their goodness considered in themselves or of their neerness in relation to us those two considerations being as you heard the grounds of our Love So David loved Ionathan as his own soule his heart was knit to him both because he was a good man and had withall approved himself his trusty friend Yea our blessed Saviour himself shewed a more affectionate Love to Iohn then to any other of his disciples the disciple whom Iesus loved for no other known reason so much as for this that he was neer of kin to him his own mothers sisters son as is generally supposed No reasonable man among us then need make any question but that we may and ought to bear a greater love unto and consequently to be readier to do good unto caeteris paribus our Countrymen our neighbours our kindred our friends then to those that are strangers to us and stand in no such relation And so no doubt we may and ought in like manner upon that other ground of Goodness more to love and to shew kindness sooner to a sober discreet judicious peaceable humble and otherwise orderly and regular man caeteris paribus then to one that is light-headed or lazy or turbulent or proud or debauched or heretical or schismatical 38. But still that proviso or limitation which I now twice mentioned caeteris paribus must he remembred for there may such a disparity arise by emergent occasions as may render a meer stranger a heathen a notoriously vitious person a fitter object of our compassion help or relief pro hîc nunc then the most pious Christian or our dearest friend or ally In cases of great extremity where the necessities of the party importune a present succour and will admit no delay Cedat necessitudo necessitati the former considerations whether of Neerness or Goodness must be waved for the present and give way to those Necessities He is most our neighbour and brother in a case of that nature that standeth in most need of our help as our Saviour himself hath clearly resolved it in the case of the wounded traveller in the parable Luke 10. Nor doth this at all contradict what hath been already delivered concerning the preferring of the brethren before others either in the affection of love or in the offices which flow therefrom For the affection first it is clear that although some acts of compassion and charity be exercised towards a stranger yea even an enemy that hath great need of it rather then towards a friend or brother that hath either no need at all or very little in comparison of the other it doth not hinder but that the Habit or affection of love in the heart may notwithstanding at the very same time be more strongly carried towards the brother or friend then towards the enemy or stranger as every mans own reason and experience in himself can tell him And as for the outward acts and offices of love it is with them as with the offices of all other vertues and gracious habits or affections which not binding ad semper as the graces and habits themselves do are therefore variable and mutable as the circumstances by which they must be regulated vary pro hic nunc And therefore the rules given concerning them must not be punctually mathematically interpreted but prudentially and rationally and hold as we use to say in the Schools communiter but not universaliter that is to say ordinarily and in most cases where circumstances do not require it should be otherwise but not absolutely and universally so as to admit of no exception 39. This rub then thus removed out of the way it may yet be demanded where is this partiality to be found whereof we spake or what is it to have the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ with respect of persons if this putting of a difference in our love between brother and brother which we have now allowed of be not it I answer It is no partiality to make such a difference as we have hitherto allowed so long as the said difference
but commodata When God lent us the use of them he had no meaning to forgoe the property too and therefore they are his goods still and he may require them at our hands or take them from us when he will and dispose of them as he pleaseth I will return and take away my corn and my wine in the season thereof and will recover my wooll and my flax Osee 2. What we have we hold of him as our creditor and when he committed these things to our trust they were not made over to us by covenant for any fixed term Whensoever therefore he shall think good to call in his debts it is our part to return them with patience shall I say ey and with thankfulness too that he hath suffered us to enjoy them so long but without the least grudging or repining as too often we do that we may not hold them longer Non contristor quòd recepisti ago gratias quòd dedisti Thus did Iob when all was taken from him he blessed the name of the Lord still and to his wife tempting him to impatience gave a sharp but withall a most reasonable and religious answer Thou speakest like a foolish woman Shall we receive good things at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil also As who say shall we make earnest suite to him when we would borrow and be offended with him when we are called on to pay again We account him and so he is an ill and unthankful debter from whom the lender cannot ask his own but he shall be like to lose a friend by it Add yet how impatiently oftentimes do we take it at our Lords hand when he requireth from us but some small part of that which he hath so freely and so long lent us 21. Try thy self then Brother by these and the like signes and accordingly judge what progress thou hast made in this so high and useful a part of Christian learning 1. If thou scornest to gain by any unlawfull or unworthy means 2. If thy desires and cares for the things of this life be regular and moderate 3. If thou canst finde in thy heart to take thy portion and to bestow thereof for thine own comfort 4. And to dispense though but the superfluities for the charitable relief of thy poor neighbours 5. If thou canst want what thou desirest without murmuring and lose what thou possessest without impatience then mayest thou with some confidence say with our Apostle in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content But if any one of these particular signes be wholy wanting in thee thou art then but a truant in this learning and it will concern thee to set so much the harder to it and to apply thy self more seriously and diligently to this study hereafter then hitherto thou hast done 22. Wherein for the better guiding of those that are desirous of this learning either to make entrance thereinto if they be yet altogether to learn which may be the case of some of us or to proceed farther therein if they be already entred as the best-skilled of us all had need to do for so long as we are in the flesh and live in the world the lusts both of flesh and world will mingle with our best graces and hinder them from growing to a fulness of perfection I shall crave leave towards the close of this discourse to commend to the consideration and practise of all whether novices or proficients in this Art of Contentation some usefull Rules that may serve as so many helps for their better attaining to some reasonable abilities therein The general means for the obtaining of this as of every other particular grace we all know are fervent Prayer and the sincere love of God and goodness Which because they are general we will not now particularly insist upon it shall suffice without farther opening barely to have mentioned them 23. But for the more special means the first thing to be done is to labour for a true and lively Faith For Faith is the very basis the foundation whereupon our hearts and all our hearts-content must rest the whole frame of our contentment rising higher or lower weaker or stronger in proportion to that foundation And this Faith as to our present purpose hath a double Object as before was touched to wit the Goodness of God and the Truth of God His Goodness in the dispensation of his special providence for the present and his Truth in the performance of his temporal promises for the future First then labour to have thy heart throughly perswaded of the goodness of God towards thee That he is thy Father and that whether he frown upon thee or correct thee or howsoever otherwise he seem to deal with thee he still beareth a Fatherly affection towards thee That what he giveth thee he giveth in love because he seeth it best for thee to have it and what he denieth thee he denieth in love because he seeth it best for thee to want it A sick man in the extremity of his distemper desireth some of those that are about him and sit at his bed-side as they love him to give him a draught of cold water to allay his thirst but cannot obtain it from his dearest wife that lieth in his bosome nor from his nearest friend that loveth him as his own soul. They consider that if they should satisfie his desire they should destroy his life they will therefore rather urge him and even compel him to take what the Doctor hath prescribed how unpleasant and distastful soever it may seem unto him And then if pain and the impotency of his desire will but permit him the use of his reason he yieldeth to their perswasions for then he considereth that all this is done out of their love to him and for his good both when he is denied what he most desireth and when he is pressed to take what he vehemently abhorreth Perswade thy self in like sort of all the Lords dealings with thee If at any time he do not answer thee in the desire of thy heart conclude there is either some unworthiness in thy person or some inordinacy in thy desire or some unfitness or unseasonableness in the thing desired something or other not right on thy part but be sure not to impute it to any defect of love in him 24. And as thou art stedfastly to beliéve his goodness and love in ordering all things in such sort as he doth for the present so oughtest thou with like stedfastness to rest upon his truth and faithfulness for the making good of all those gracious promises that he hath made in his word concerning thy temporal provision and preservation for the future Only understand those promises rightly with their due conditions and limitations and in that sense wherein he intended them when he made them and then never doubt the performance
performance what it can be God is both pleased and honoured therewithal Who so offereth praise glorifieth me Psal. 50. That is so he intendeth it and so I accept it 10. You have now all I would say by way of explication from these words The particulars are six First we should propose to our selves some end therein Secondly look at God Thirdly that God may have glory and that he alone may have it Fourthly Fifthly that something be done for the advancement of his glory and Lastly that it be done by us The result from the whole six taken together is That the glory of God ought to be the chiefest end and main scope of all our desires and endeavours In what ever we think say do or suffer in the whole course of our lives and actions we should refer all to this look at this as the main Whatsoever become of us and our affairs that yet God may be glorified Whether ye eat or drink saith S. Paul or whatsoever else ye do let all be done to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. He would have us not onely in the performance of good works and of necessary duties to intend the glory of God according to that of our Saviour Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven but even in the use of the Creatures and of all indifferent things in eating and drinking in buying and selling and in all the like actions of common life In that most absolute form of prayer taught us by Christ himself as the patern and Canon of all our prayers the glory of God standeth at both ends When we begin the first petition we are to put up is that the Name of God may be hallowed and glorified and when we have done we are to wrap up all in the conclusion with this acknowledgement that to him alone belongeth all the kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever 11. The glory of God you see is to be the Alpha and the Omega of all our votes and desires Infinitely therefore to be preferred not onely before riches honours pleasures friends and all the comforts and contentments the World can afford us in this life but even before life it self The blessed Son of God so valued it who laid down his life for his Fathers glory and so did many holy Martyrs and faithful servants of God value it too who laid down their lives for their Masters glory Nay let me go yet higher infinitely to be preferred even before the unspeakable joyes of the life to come before the everlasting salvation of our own souls It was not meerly a strain of his Rhetorick to give his brethren by that hyperbolical expression the better assurance of his exceeding great love towards them that our Apostle said before at Chap. 9. of this epistle that he could wish himself to be accursed to be made an Anathema to be separated and cut off from Christ for their sakes Neither yet was it a hasty inconsiderate speech that fell suddenly from him as he was writing fervente calamo and as the abortive fruit of a precipitate over-passionate zeal before he had sufficiently consulted his reason whether he should suffer it to pass in that form or not for then doubtless he would have corrected himself and retracted it upon his second thoughts as he did Acts 23. when he had inconsiderately reviled the High-Priest sitting then in the place of judicature But he spake it advisedly and upon good deliberation yea and that upon his conscience ey and upon his Oath too and as in the presence of God as you may see it ushered in there with a most solemn asseveration as the true real and earnest desire of his heart I speak the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience bearing me witness in the holy Ghost Not that S. Paul wished their salvation more then his own understand it not so for such a desire neither was possible nor could be regular Not possible by the law of Nature which cannot but begin at home Omnes sibi melius esse malunt quà m alteri Nor regular by the course of Charity which is not orderly if it do not so too That is not it then but this That he preferred the glory of God before both his own salvation and theirs In so much that if Gods glory should so require hoc imposibili supposito he could be content with all his heart rather to lose his own part in the joyes of heaven that God might be the more glorified then that God should lose any part of his glory for his salvation 12. And great reason there is that as his was so every Christian mans heart should be disposed in like manner that the bent of his whole desires and endeavours all other things set apart otherwise then as they serve thereunto should be the glory of God For first all men consent in this as an undoubted verity That that which is the chiefest good ought also to be the uttermost end And that must needs be the chiefest good which Almighty God who is goodness it self and best knoweth what is good proposeth to himself as the End of all his actions and that is meerly his own glory All those his high and unconceiveable acts ad intra being immanent in himself must needs also be terminated in himself And as for all those his powerful and providential acts ad extra those I mean which are exercised upon and about the creatures and by reason of that their effluxe and emanation are made better known to us then the former if we follow them to their last period we shall finde that they all determine and concenter there He made them he preserveth them he forgiveth them he destroyeth them he punisheth them he rewardeth them every other way he ordereth them and disposeth of them according to the good pleasure of his will for his own names sake and for his own glories sake That so his wisdom and power and truth and justice and mercy and all those other his divine excellencies which we are to believe and admire but may not seek to comprehend might be acknowledged reverenced and magnified Those two great acts of his most secret and unsearchable counsel then the one whereof there is not any one act more gracious the Destination of those that persevere in Faith and Godliness to eternal happiness nor any one act more full of terrour and astonishment then the other the designation of such as live and die in Sin and Infidelity without repentance to eternal destruction the scriptures in the last resolution referr them wholy to his Glory as the last End The glory of his rich mercy being most resplendent in the one and the glory of his just severity in the other Concerning the one the scripture saith that he predestinated us to the praise of the glory of his grace Eph. 1.
First the supposal of a duty though for the most part and by most men very slackly regarded and that is the delivering of the oppressed In the two former verses If thou faint in the day of adversity If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain Secondly the removal of the common pretensions which men usually plead by way of excuse or extenuation at least when they have failed in the former duty in the last verse If thou sayest Behold we knew it not doth not he that pondreth the heart consider it c. So that if we will speak any thing to the purpose of the Text we must of necessity speak to those two points that do there-from so readily offer themselves to our consideration to wit the necessity of the duty first and then the vanity of the excuses 3. The Duty is contained and the necessity of it gathered in and from the tenth and eleventh verses in these words If thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain Wherein the particulars considerable are First the Persons to whom the duty is to be performed as the proper object of our justice and charity Them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain They especially but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also all others that are in their condition in any kinde or degree those that are injured or oppressed or in danger to be injured or oppressed by any manner way or means Secondly an act of Charity and justice to be performed towards those that are in such a condition by such as by reason of the power and opportunities and other advantages that God hath put into their hands are in a capacity to do it which is the very duty it self viz. to look upon them in the day of their adversity and to deliver them out of the hand of their oppressours Thirdly a possibility of the neglect or non-performance of this so just and charitable a duty by those that might and therefore ought to do it expressed here by the name of forbearance If thou forbear to deliver Fourthly the true immediate cause of that neglect wheresoever it is found viz. the want of spirit and courage in the heart faint-heartedness from whatsoever former ot remoter cause that faintness may proceed whether a pusillanimous fear of the displeasure or a desire to winde himself into the favour of some great person or the expectation of a reward or a loathness to interpose in other mens affairs or meer sloth and a kinde of unwillingness of putting himself to so much trouble or what ever other reason or inducement can be supposed If thou faint in the day of adversity Lastly the censure of that neglect it is an evident demonstration à posteriori and as all other visible effects are of their more inward and secret causes a certain token and argument of a sinful weakness of minde If thou faintest c. thy strength is small 4. The result of these particulars amount in the whole to this Every man according to his place and power but especially those that being in place of magistracy and judicature are armed with publick authority for it are both in Charity and justice obliged to use the utmost of their power and to lay hold on all fit opportunities by all lawful means to help those to right that suffer wrong to stand by their poorer brethren and neighbours in the day of their calamity and distress and to set in for them throughly and stoutly in their righteous causes to protect them from injuries and to deliver them out of the hands of such as are too mighty or too crafty for them and as seek either by violence or cunning to deprive them either of their lives or livelyhoods Briefly thus and according to the language of the Text It is our duty every one of us to use our best strength to deliver the oppressed but our sin if we faint and forbear so to do And the making good and the pressing of this duty is like to be all our business at this time 5. A point of such clear and certain truth that the very Heathen Philosophers and Lawgivers have owned it as a beam of the light of Nature insomuch as even in their account he that abstaineth from doing injuries hath done but the one half of that which is required to compleat Iustice if he do not withal defend others from injuries when it is in his power so to do But of all other men our Solomon could least be ignorant of this truth Not onely for that reason because God had filled his heart with a large measure of wisdom beyond other men but even for this reason also that being born of wise and godly parents and born to a kingdom too in which high calling he should be sure to meet with occasions enough whereon to exercise all the strength he had he had this truth considering the great usefulness of it to him in the whole time of his future government early distilled into him by both his parents was seasoned thereinto from his childhood in his education His father David in Psal. 72. which he penned of purpose as a prophetical benediction and instruction for his son as appeareth by the inscription it beareth in the title of it a Psalm for Solomon beginneth the Psalm with a prayer to God both for himself and him Give the King thy judgements O God and thy righteousness unto the Kings son And then after sheweth for what end he made that prayer and what should be the effect in order to the Publick if God should be pleased to grant it Then shall he judge the people according unto right and defend the poore ver 2. He shall keep the simple folke by their right defend the children of the poor and punish the wrong doer or as it is in the last translation break in pieces the oppressour ver 4. and after at the 12. 13. and 14. verses although perhaps the passages there might principally look at Christ the true Solomon and Prince of peace a greater then Solomon and of whom Solomon was but a figure yet I beleeve they were also literally intended for Solomon himself He shall deliver the poor when he cryeth the needy also and him that hath no helper He shall be favourable to the simple and needy and shall preserve the soules of the poor He shall deliver their soules from falshood and wrong and dear shall their blood be in his sight And the like instructions to those of his father he received also from his mother Bathsheba in the prophesie which she taught him with much holy wisdom for the matter and with much tenderness of motherly affection for the manner What my Son and what the Son of my wombe and what the Sons of my vowes