â—OR â—F â—â—â—STITY 〈…〉 made and preached BY â—â—HN FEATLY 〈…〉 â—amentum nobilium exaltatio 〈…〉 c. Cypr. LONDON Printed by G. P. for Nicholas Bourne and are to be sold at his shop at the South entrance of the Royall Exchange 1632. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL Sir THOMAS WARNER Knight Super-intendent of the Ilands of Saint Christopher and Metalina in the Province of Carlile in the West-Indiaes my much honored friend c. Worthy Sir GOodnes knowe's as well how to accept the service of humility as to merit it Your courtesies challenge my thanks and your love my affection J have here taught the World what J should rather than what J can performe Thus J acknowledge the rules of gratitude and my desire to observe them Let it be your favour to entertaine this expression your glory to countenance it Vpon this hope I have ventured upon a vulgar censure and what was intended to be stifeled in an hower now prostitutes it selfe to an Age. If the subiect please not the Readers let them remember 't is Scripture If not the Sermon J confesse 't is mine So all the faults may be favourably corrected because freely acknowledged J that am the Father of this weakenesse professe my selfe the admirer of better and shall strive to imitate when the severest censurer will set me a copie To require a Master-piece of learning and iudgement from the least of the Apostles is to forget discretion by expecting a miracle Let the World rest satisfied that for your sake this atom is espied in the rayes of our Sunne and emboldened by your importunities To you therefore I addresse my selfe desiring your acceptance both of this and the Author Your faithfull Friend to serve you IOHN FEATLY THE HONOVR OF CHASTITY GENESIS 39.9 How can I doe this great wickednesse and sinne against God HVmane policie is the life of the unsanctified but religious is the life of the regenerate The former plotting for the deceitfull riches of this World the latter rewarding with a Crowne immortall 'T is no taske then of impossibility to determine which of the two shall best deserve our approbation For the one just like a Parenthesis giveth light onely to the sentence of the other The same support's with a bladder only exposed to the hazard of the smallest flaw the other is an Arke which carrieth us safely to the cape of felicity Dignori detur Let the honour then bee given not to Pan but to Apollo not to humane devices but to religion and let each indifferent Judge censure that grosse ear'd Midas whose impiety or ignorance devote's him to error Ioseph in my Text shall bee the just deligate and arbitrate the matter contrary to custome without any sinister corruption Had not he been as pious to his God as just to his Master he might peradventure have stollen a fall through impiety to deprive him at once both of chastity and honour But 't was the plot of his religion to preserve him honest that hee might remaine fortunate Hee that was at first rejected by his brethren was received by the Ismaelites and 't was the chance of chance to make him happy when hee expected misery His bondage instead of servility became a freedome His slavery was soone converted into liberty And as if the Sea of his afflictions deemed him too good to be drowned in infelicity even that helped him to float in the height of applause None so great as Ioseph now in the love of the vulgar in the talke of the greater or in the heart of his Master Durst wee to attribute this change unto Fortune wee might with the Poet justly Deifie her But the great Iehovah disdain's such a no-thing should prove injurious to his Majesty and hate 's as much the Epicure's deity as this sacrifice Ioseph was not more highly promoted than religiously disposed and render's therefore his best thankes to the God of honour Yet behold a strange alteration That which before exalted him is now as ready to cry him down His Mistresse love's him So doth hee her Nay she lust's after him but so will not he her His conscience sweare's him to obedience to the King of Kings teaching him observance to his Mistresse but onely in things lawfull Yet cannot hee bee bolder in refusing than shee in wooing The redoubt which hee had to repaire to for an excuse was the infidelity to his Master which would have insued upon it And lest hee should bee taken off from that be retreates to another of far greater strength in the words of my Text Quomodo facerem malum hoc maximum peccarem in Deum The words are an interrogative objurgation to avoid a more impious temptation and containe 1. The Author refusing I Ioseph 2. The action refused aggravated 1. By the name Wickednesse 2. By the extension Great 3. The reason of the refusall 1. In respect of the offence Sin 2. In respect of the obiect or party offended God Of these in their order and first of The Author refusing I Ioseph When God distils his grace into the heart 't is sinnes antidote and works effectually Divine vertues elevate the soule and disdaine as much a willing consent to as the act of sinne The purity of the Operator contemn's a corrivall in the heart solely possessing that chaire of estate But if once the malice of temptation purchaseth entertainment the former peace was not more delightfull than the succeeding warre prove's terrible The Almighty become's a sutor who not intending to work by his power wooe's by intreaty and as if that Virgin that chast soule of man were not worth acceptance if won without opposition the divel likewise aime's at the purchase of it to Happy is that person whose reason despising the false allurements yeeld's a consent to the God of Gods Thus was Ioseph wonne by the deity and his heart was found as constant as the opposer turbulent Had his education nuzled him up in error or his parents instructed him in Idolatry Had his brethren played with wickednesse or his companions dallied with disobedience then the mist of ignorance might peradventure have bred a Cacatact or drawne a Curtaine over the eyes of his understanding But such excuses must needs be silent because his education was vertuous his life religious Quo semel est imbuta recens c. Teach a childe the trade of his youth saye's Salomon and he will not forget it when hee is old Ioseph had learned the principles of Religion of his parents and therefore must not nay cannot forget them among the Egyptians That Court which in some kinde was the schoole of villany could never prove guilty of so bad a proficient in such ill and uncivill wayes But What do'st thou here Eliah What hath Ioseph to doe that hee dances attendance at the Court Exeat aula qui vult esse pius Mee thinkes that a Cottage in the Country or a lodge in the Wildernesse of rustickes should have better suited with his religious
to the whirle-poole of destruction and lest his body should bee forgotten behinde that crawle's upon the very diseases which it hath gotten and so stalke's to confusion Erre not then my beloved brethren as St. Iames saith neither fall into the tallons of your untutored lusts Subject not your selves to the slavery of temptation but determine with the Father that Levissima cogitatio peccandi fit peccatum The smallest and finest-spun thought of sinning is an offence What then Ioseph in my Text hath termed great call not thou small What he hath determined to be stiled wickednesse doe not thou boast of with impudence but correct thy libidinous motions with the words of my Text. Levia sunt sed multa sunt saith S. Augustine These sins peradventure may seeme small to thee yet they are many and will oppresse thee as much by their number as others by their weight That this offence then which belongeth chiefly to our purpose is not wickednesse who dares affirme Or that 't is great who can deny Thomas Aquinas is so sensible of the greatnesse of it that he proposeth a question touching a branch thereof seeming very triviall in appearance yet of greater consequence than a common judgement will censure it An in amplexibus osculis consistat peccatum mortale Tho. Aqu. in 2. secundae q. 154. art 4. Whether a mortall sinne may not couch it selfe under our common greetings And he resolve's the question thus Secundum suam rationem non nominant peccatum mortale Si autem fiant propter delectationem luxuriae dicuntur libidinosa sunt peccata mortalia Those kinde of complements of themselves suffer not the name of sinnes But if their aime bee luxurious their end is pernitious If then our very salutations and common greetings standing onely in impure vessels may gather dregs and so be turned into corruption What are those more impious acts which swelling in our hearts breake forth into wickednesse Might not Ioseph upon grounds sufficiently warranted aggravate the offence by the extension of it and conclude it a great wickednesse Great indeed in the first place on his owne part if you consider him First meerely as a man should hee have thus trespassed with any of the least the worst the poorest of women Secondly as a man in honour in the same house Justly might his fidelity have beene stained with infamy had his Captain 's courtesie been rewarded with such an injury And thirdly as a childe of Grace whose fall had he yeelded might have proved more destructive to his soule than his former honor could gaine him affection But indeed as if his integrity grew too wise to forget the danger of such an errour he could not easily fall lest his example should teach his inferiours to be guilty of the like or the noise of the fact command the people to scorne him For whom we suspect guilty of so great an offence we rather crush with our blushes than maintaine by our industrie Great againe on her part too If his Master's wife should have prostituted her selfe to her servant her vassall the censure of her crime would freely have passed and each common inferiour would have become her Judge Secondly If to one whom shee loved the sinne had beene the greater For who know's not that God in his Justice hath punished the fact here on earth at least with a mutuall hatred betweene the delinquents so that like to that of Tamar and Amnon the future hatred wherewith she would have hated him might have beene greater than the love wherewith she had loved him Thirdly great in respect of her greatnesse also by the Poet's censure Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se Crimen habet c. Enormities are built up higher and grow more eminent when their foundation is the errour of an eminent person And Isiodore render's the reason of it Crescit enim delicti cumulus quod minoribus ignoscitur majoribus imputatur For the fault say's hee increaseth and the loftie Cedars are viewed by all when they are shaken whilest the neglected shrubs are not regarded Great againe not in respect of Ioseph the Favourite of his Master onely or his Mistris the wife of his Master but also in respect of the offence chiefly considered in it selfe that it is a sinne Which is The first part of my third Generall The reason of the refusall First in respect of the offence Sinne How can I doe this great wickednes and sinne c. This part of my Text command's me to extract some-thing out of no-thing For my discourse must be of a privation and that which onely hath gotten a name must teach us our proper nature I am fallen here upon sinne yet without offence I hope and shall intreat thereof without trespassing on your patience My Text give 's me not authority to be tedious in the generality lest I should neglect this which it doeth chiefly particularize Curious Schoole-distinctions I could but will not trouble you with lest the time denie me your attention and the nicenesse your acceptance Let it suffice that I walke in the vulgar tract and divide sinne onely into originall and actuall The former include's both a falling from God in the loynes of Adam and the evill which followed it which is as well the defect of originall good in the soule and body as the succession of evill instead of that originall good in both The second which is Actuall is either internall or externall spirituall or carnall of omission or commission infirmity or presumption c. as your daily Sermons instruct you To our purpose then I must confine my selfe to the intention of my Theame Where I finde that if Ioseph had sinned according to his temptation it might have beene a great actuall sinne committed perhaps with presumption and severely to be punished by the rod of Heaven It was therefore the mercy of our jealous God to vouchsafe him assistance in his greatest temptations Thus a man being in honour was of understanding that hee might not bee compared to the beasts that perish Had he himselfe beene the tempter and she denyed his sinne had beene entertained by the first extravagancie of his words Eph. 5.4 Had hee wooed and shee consented the mischiefe had doubled it selfe by the act Had he secretly desired her and not discovered the fire yet Athanasius would censure him in his Qui formam concupiscit quamvis sine fascinore peccatum sine teste commisit Hee that desire 's the beauty yet not foulely enjoying it hath committed a sinne though without a witnesse Or if you please the Scripture shall better English it in that Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her in his heart Here peradventure I have onely as yet awakened the conscience of Ioseph's Mistris whilest the rest applaud themselves in their seeming integrity But alas beloved I must summon you all to the Court of Conscience and it may be find them guilty
hath not left himselfe without witnesse in that hee doth good and giveth us raine from heaven and fruitfull seasons filling our hearts with food and gladnesse Acts. 14.17 Whatsoever therfore is endued with a reasonable soule cannot choose but determine of a supernaturall power Caelum ipsum vide quam latè tenditur quam rapidè volvitur c. as Minucius Felix hath it and the Psalmist shall be the interpreter The heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handi-worke I will not labour your eares with the many and vulgar arguments to prove a God as if I were to catechise a congregation of Infidels Let me only present you with one of the same Author which I hope shall command your attention and approbation Let us consider our selves as we are men and view the variety of faces which we daily behold with a reasonable eye and observe how we are lost in the admiration of so much dissimilitude in our likenesses Min. Felix Similes universi videmur inter se singuli dissimiles invenimur We seeme all among our selves like one the other and yet are we found in some thing or other each unlike the other Which demonstrate's unto us the wonderfull worke of a superior Power to be magnified in this variety The Heathens in ancient times were confirmed in the Quod sit in the positive determination of a divine Commander although they erred in the Quid sit as well as the Quis sit what he hee was as who hee was And I can justifie by mine owne experience that the Salvages in the Westerne Indiaes at this present have a generall tradition received from their Ancestors which teache's them as far in Divinity as some of the former Heathen had learned even that there is a great Controller above who doth never injure them yet they sacrifice to the Devill because they feele his frequent correction I taxe not our times for a worse than salvage ignorance although with sorrow I speake it I feare here are some even among us Qui non tam Dei nomen quam ipsum Deum ignorant which are not ignorant of the name but the attributes of God Let it not then bee accounted a digression if I give the same Minucius leave to instruct such ignorant Christians in the properties of their unknowne GOD. Vniversa quaecunque sunt saith he verbo jubet ratione dispensat virtute consummat c. 'T is hee which commandeth all things which are by his Word order's them by his reason and perfect's them by his vertue Hic nec videri potest visu clarior est nec comprehendi tactu purior est nec aestimari sensibus major est Infinitus immensus soli sibi tantus quantus est notus He is such a GOD as cannot be seene to convict the worshippers of beasts and the like because he is cleerer than our sight Nor can hee be comprehended to confute our Labans with their stolne gods because he is too pure to be touched Nor can he be sufficiently valued to convince our Libertines which serve him after their common triviall and irreligious manner because hee is greater than our senses can determine him to be He is infinite immense yea what he truely is is only truely knowne to himselfe Sic eum dignè aestimamus dum inaestimabilem dicimus So that wee esteeme him most when wee conclude him inestimable But this way to discourse of GOD is not directly commanded by my Text. We are here to looke upon him with the eyes of our minds more directly either as a sin-revenging GOD and so learne to avoid uncleannesse because 't is a sinne against GOD who will wound the heads of his enemies and the hairie scalpe of such a one as goeth on still in his wickednesse Or else as an indulgent Father and so learn to shun all appearance of this evill because it is a sinne against GOD who is so loving to us and requires no requitall at all but our reciprocall love in our obedience to him Should not Ioseph then have beene justly questioned if in this conflict his Mistresse's temptation had over swayed his religion to taxe him with ignorance or forgetfulnesse of the Lord his Maker If neither a filiall nor a servile feare of this GOD could have reigned his unbridled appetite To the prevention whereof yee see 't is the onely spell which he charme's the firie devill in his Mistresse with How can I doe this great wickednesse and sinne AGAINST GOD Let not us then beloved who know the GOD of Ioseph by his attributes yea and are trained up in the wayes of his service subject our selves to the bondage of our corruptions Let not the affectation of nor the smallest consent to the least sinne rob us of our service to the greatest GOD but let us reason with our temptations in the words of my Text. Paula the Matron is cōmended by S. Hierom that Ita levia deflevit peccata ut grandissimorum crederes ream She did so bewaile her smallest sinnes that she seemed by her zealous repentance to be guilty of the greatest Servants we are to GOD Let us therefore as Saint Paul commandeth be obedient to our Master in all things Sonnes we are of GOD let us tender therefore our duties to him as he himselfe require's and enable's us to performe it lest he question us in his owne words If I be a Father where is mine honour If I be a Master where is my feare saith the Lord. Rege ergo tuos adfectus dirige actus corrige gressus as saith Bonaventure Subdue then thine affections direct thy actions and correct thy steps that thou maist not tread out of this path which Ioseph hath led thee in checking thine opposer upon all assaults with How can I doe this great wickednesse and sinne against GOD Hitherto have I endeavoured to handle each particular part of my Text severally Your attention hath now given me assurance of your acceptance and to gratifie you I must crave your patience a second time I am ingaged to looke backe upon my Text once more before I can leave it and in the first part which is The Author Ioseph I must beseech you to consider His place of honour from a low estate His place of justice guided by discretion And his place of providence to store for a future necessity Here is true honour begot by wisedome borne by observance and maintained by honesty Againe Here 's the some of envie from his brethren wiped cleane off by the love of his GOD. Moreover Here 's poverty and bondage without repining climb'd up into riches and freedome yet without pride or ambition Besides Here 's patience in adversitie and faithfulnesse in servilitie Here is humility in honour and piety in plenty If his example winne us not in any of these wee 'll proceed to the second part The action refused Here I am certaine none can want admonition None of the eight sorts of uncleannesse write