and obedience other fruits of grace in some good and comfortable measure it is a good sign of grace and sanctification in the heart But if thou hast these things only by fits and starts and sudden moods and art sometimes violently hot upon them and other sometimes again and oftner key cold presume not too much upon shews but suspect thy self still of hypocrisie and insincerity and never cease by repentance and prayer and the constant exercises of other good graces to physick and dyet thy soul till thou hast by Gods goodness put thy self into some reasonable assurance that thou art the true child of God a sincere believer and not an hypocrite as Ahab here notwithstanding all this his solemn humiliation was Here is Ahab an Hypocrite and yet humbled before the Lord. But yet now this humiliation such as it was what should work it in him That we find declared at vers 27. And it came to pass that when Ahab heard these words c. There came to him a message from God by the hand of Eliah and that was it that humbled him Alas what was Eliah to Ahab a silly plain Prophet to a mighty King that he durst thus presume to rush boldly and unsent-for into the presence of such a potent Monarch who had no less power and withal more colour to take away his life than Naboth's and that when he was in the top of his jollity solacing himself in the new-taken possession of his new-gotten Vine-yard and there to his face charge him plainly with and shake him up roundly for and denounce Gods judgments powerfully against his bloody abominable oppressions We would think a Monarch nusled up in Idolatry and accustomed to blood and hardened in Sin and Obstinacy should not have brooked that insolency from such a one as Eliah was but have made his life a ransom for his sawciness And yet behold the words of this underling in comparison how they fall like thunder upon the great guilty Offender and strike palsie into his knees and trembling into his joints and tumble him from the height of his jollity and roll him in sackcloth and ashes and cast him into a strong fit of legal humiliation Seest thou how Ahab is humbled before me And here now cometh in our second Observation even the power of Gods Word over the Consciences of obstinate sinners powerful to Cast down strong holds and every high thought that exalteth it self against God That which in Heb. 4. if I mistake not the true understanding of that place is spoken of the Essential word of God the second person in the ever blessed Trinity is also in an analogy true of the revealed Word of God the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles that it is Quick and powerful and more cutting than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow Is not my word like as a fire saith the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces Jer. 23. Like a soft fire to dissolve and melt the hearts of relenting sinners and true Converts but like a strong hammer to batter and break in pieces the rocky and flinty consciences of obstinate and hardened offenders Examples hereof if you require behold in the stories of the Kings Saul whining when Samuel reproveth him in the books of the Prophets Ninevites drooping when Ionas threatneth them in the Acts of the Apostles Felix trembling when Paul discourseth before him in the Martyrologies of the Church Tyrants and bloody Persecutors maskered at the bold consessions of the poor suffering Christians in this Chapter proud Ahab mourning when Eliah telleth him his sin and foretelleth him his punishment Effects which might justly seem strange to us if the Causes were not apparent One cause and the Principal is in the instrument the Word not from any such strength in it self for so it is but a dead letter but because of Gods Ordinance in it For in his hand are the hearts and the tongues and the ears both of Kings and Prophets and he can easily when he seeth it good put the spirit of Zeal and of Power into the heart of the poorest Prophet and as easily the spirit of fear and of terrour into the heart of the greatest King He chooseth weak Instruments as here Eliah and yet furnisheth them with power to effect great matters that so the glory might not rest upon the instrument but redound wholly to him as to the chief agent that imployeth it We have this treasure in earthen Veslels saith St. Paul that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us 2 Cor. 4. We say words are but wind and indeed the words of the best Minister are no better as they are breathed out and uttered by sinful mortal man whose breath is in his nostrils but yet this wind as it is breathed in and inspired by the powerful eternal Spirit of God is strong enough by his effectual working with it not only to shake the top branches but to rend up the very bottom-root of the tallest Cedar in Lebanon Vox Domini confringens Cedros Psal. 29. The voice of the Lord is mighty in operation the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice The voice of the Lord breaketh the Cedars yea the Lord breaketh the Cedars of Lebanon Another Cause is in the Object and that is the force of Natural Conscience which the most presumptuous sinner can never so stifle though he endeavour all he can to do it but that it will be sometimes snubbing and stinging and lashing and vexing him with ugly representations of his past sins and terrible suggestions of future vengeance And then of all other times is the force of it most lively when the voice of God in his Word awakeneth it after a long dead sleep Then it riseth and Sampson-like rouseth up it self and bestirreth it self lustily as a Giant refreshed with Wine and it putteth the disquieted patient to such unsufferable pain that he runneth up and down like a distracted man and doth he knoweth not what and seeketh for ease he knoweth not where Then he would give all Dives his wealth for A drop of Water to cool the heat he feeleth and with Esau part with his birth-right for any thing though it were never so little mean that would give him but the least present refreshing and preserve him from fainting Then sack-cloth and ashes and fasting and weeping and mourning and renting the garments and tearing the hair and knocking the breast and out-cries to heaven and all those other things which he could not abide to hear of in the time of his former security whilest his conscience lay fast asleep and at rest are now in all haste greedily entertained and all too little if by any means they can possibly give any ease or asswagement to the present torment
and he best knew his own meaning was of two sorts the leaven of Hypocrisie Luke 12. and the leaven of corrupt and superstitious doctrine Matth. 16. We read 1 Cor. 5. of a third sort and that is the leaven of maliciousness which also usually accompanieth the other two Where any of the three are in abundance but especially where they all meet and abound as in these Pharisees it is impossible by any care or cunning so to keep them hidden as not to bewray themselves upon occasion to an observing eye As you know it is the nature of leaven though it be hidden never so deep in a heap of Meal to work up to the top so that a Man may certainly know by the effects and be able to say that there it is In the story of this present Chapter the Pharisees discover all the three Malice Hypocrisie and Superstition Their Malice against Christ although it appeared sufficiently in this that their quarrelling his Disciples for eating with unwashen hands was with the intent to bring an odium upon him for not instructing them better yet he passeth it by without taking any special notice thereof It may be for that his own person was chiefly concerned in it But then the other two their Hypocrisie and Superstition in rejecting the Commandments of God for the setting up of their own Traditions because they trencht so near and deep upon the honour of God his heavenly Father he neither would nor could dissemble But themselves having given him the occaâ—ion by asking him the first question Why do thy Disciples transgress the tradition of the Elders he turneth the point of their own weapon full upon them again as it were by way of recrimination not without some sharpness Do you blame them for that But why then do you your selves also transgress the Commandment of God by your Tradition which is a far greater matter 2. That is their Charge verse 3 Which having made good by one instance taken from the fiâ—th Commandment more he might have brought but it needed not this one being so notorious and so convincing he thenceforth doubteth not to call them Hypocrites to their faces and to apply to them a passage out of the Prophet Isaias very pat to his purpose Wherein the Prophet charged the People of those times with the very same crimes both of them whereof these Pharisees are presently appealed to wit Hypocrisie and Superstition Hypocrisie in their Worship and Superstition in the Doctrine The Leaven whereof by how much more it swelled them in their own and the common Opinion making them to be highly esteemed among Men for their outward preciseness and semblances of Holiness by so much the more it sowred them towards Almighty God rendring the whole Lump of their so strict Religion abominable in his sight So true is that of our Saviour Luke 16. That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God Their Hypocrisie he putteth home to them in the Verses before the Text Ye Hypocrites well did Isaias prophesie of you saying This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me That done he forgetteth not to remember them of their Superstition too continuing his allegation out of the Prophet still in the words of my Text But in vain they do worship me teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men 3. This later verse I have chosen to entreat of alone at this time for although Hypocrisie and corrupt teaching do often go together as in those Iews whom the Prophet long before reproved and in these Pharisees whom our Saviour here reproveth yet have I purposely severed this Verse from the former in the handling moved thereunto out of a double consideration First because Hypocrisie lurking more within we are not able to pronounce of it with such certainty neither if we were have we indeed any good Warrant so to do as we may of unsound Doctrines which lie more open to the view and are allowed to our examination Secondly and especially because hundreds of those my Brethren whom I cannot in reason excuse from symbolizing with the Pharisees in teaching for doctrines the commandments of men which is the fault reproved in this verse I cannot yet in charity and in my own thoughts but acquit from partaking with them in the measure at least of that their foul Hypocrisie wherewith they stand charged in the former verses The words themselves being one entire proposition to stand upon the curious dividing of them would be a matter of more ostentation than use and the truth thereof also when the meaning is once laid open will be so evident that I shall presume of your assent without spending much time in the proof The main of our business then upon the Text at this time must be Explication Application and Use. First the Explication of the Words then the Application of the Matter and lastly some Corollaries inferred therefrom for our Use. Which for your better understanding and remembrance I shall endeavour to do as plainly and orderly as I can 4. As for the Words first There are three things in them that desire Explication First what is meant by the commandments of men Secondly what it is to teach such commandments for doctrines Thirdly how and in what respect they that teach such doctrines may be said to worship God in vain For the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Commandment properly and strictly taken is an affirmative precept requiring something to be done the contrary whereof is a Prohibition or negative precept forbidding the doing of something But in the Holy Scriptures as in our common speech also the word is usually so extended as to comprehend both Prohibitions also as well as Commandments properly so called The reason whereof is because Affirmatives and Negatives do for the most part mutually include and infer the one the other as in the present Case it is all one whether the Pharisees should command Men to wash before meat or forbid them to eat before they had washed We call the whole Decalogue the ten commandments though there be Negative precepts there as well as Affirmative yea more Negative than Affirmative And those Negatives Touch not taste not handle not are called the Commandments of men Col. 2. 12. Which place I note the rather because the appellation here used and cited out of Isa. 29. according to the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are not found any where else in the whole Testament besides in the relation of this story save in that one place only By the analogy of which places inasmuch as there is mention made in them all as well of Doctrines as of Commandments and that in some of them with the Conjunction Copulative between them we are warranted to bring within the extent of this word according to the general intention
to the spoil The good Magistrate must put on his resolution to go on in this course and without fear of one or other to do justice upon whosoever dareth do injustice and to suppress oppression even in the greatest A resolution necessary whether we consider the Law the Magistrate or the offender Necessary First inrespect of the Laws which as all experience sheweth are far better unmade than unkept Quid vanae sine moribus leges proficiunt The life of the Law is the Execution without which the Law is but a dead letter of less use and regard than scar-crows are in the corn-fields whereof the birds are a little afraid at the first but anon after a little use they grow so bold with them as to sit upon their heads and defile them We see the experience hereof but too much in the too much suffered insolency of two sorts of people than against whom never were Laws either better made or worse executed Rogues and Recusants Now we know the Laws are general in their intents and include as well the great as the small The Magistrate therefore who is Lex loquens and whose duty it is to see the Laws executed must proceed as generally and punish transgressors of the Laws the great as well as the small It is an old complaint yet groweth out of date but slowly that Laws are like Cobwebs wherein the smaller flies are caught but great ones break through Surely Laws should not be such good Laws are not such of themselves they do or should intend an universal reformation it is the abuse of bad men together with the baseness or cowardice of sordid or sluggish Magistrates that maketh them such And I verily perswade my self there is no one thing that maketh good Laws so much contemned even by mean ones too at the last as the not executing them upon the great ones in the mean time Let a Magistrate but take to himself that courage which he should do and now and then make a great man an example of Iustice he shall find that a few such examples will breath more life into the Laws and strike more awe into the people than the punishment of an hundred underlings and inferiour persons Again in respect of the Magistrate himself this courage and resolution is necessary for the maintenance of that dignity and respect which is due to him in his place and calling Which he cannot more shamefully betray than by fearing the faces of men Imagine you saw a goodly tall fellow trick'd up with feâ—thers and ribbands and a glittering sword in his hand enter the lists like a Champion and challenge all comers by and by steppeth in another man perhaps much of his own size but without either sword or staff and doth but shew his teeth and stare upon him whereat my gay Champion first trembleth and anon for very fear letteth his sword fall and shrinketh himself into the croud Think what a ridiculous sight this would be and just such another thing as this is a fearful Magistrate He is adorned with Robes the marks and ensigns of his power God hath armed him with a sword indeed as well to put courage into his heart as awe into the people And thus adorned and armed he standeth in the eye of the World and as it were upon the stage and raiseth an expectation of himself as if sure this man would do something his very appearance threatneth destruction to whosoever dareth come within his reach Now if after all this braving he should be out-dared with big looks and bug words of those that could do him no harm how justly should he draw upon himself scorn and contempt parturiunt montes Wherefore is there a price saith Solomon of the sluggard in the hands of a fool to buy Wisdom and he hath no heart So wheréfore is there a Sword may we say of the fearful Magistrate in the hands of a Coward to do justice and he hath no heart You that are Magistrates remember the promise God hath made you and the Title he hath given you You have an honourable promise GOD will be with you in the cause and in the judgment 2 Chronicles 19. If God be with you what need you fear who shall be against you You have an honourable Tittle too I have said ye are Gods Psalm 82. If you be Gods why should you fear the faces of men This is Gods fashion he giveth grace to the humble but he resisteth the proud he exalteth the meek and lowly but he putteth the Mighty out of their seats If you will deal answerably to that high name he hath put upon you and be indeed as Gods follow the example of God lift up the poor oppressed out of the mire and tumble down the confidence of the mighty and proud oppressour when you receive the Congregation judge uprightly and fear not to say to the wicked be they never so great Lift not up your horn So shall you vindicate your selves from contempt so shall you preserve your persons and places from being baffled and blurted by every lewd companion Courage in the Magistrate against these great Ones especially is thirdly necessary in respect of the Offenders These wicked ones of whom Iob speaketh the longer teeth they have the deeper they bite and the stronger jaws they have the sorer they grind and the greater power they have the more mischief they do And therefore these great ones of all other would be well hampered and have their teeth filed their jaws broken their power curbed I say not the poor and the small should be spared when they offend good reason they should be punished with severity But you must remember I now speak of Courage and a little Courage will serve to bring those under that are under already So that if mean men scape unpunished when they transgress it is oftner for want of care or conscience in the Magistrate than of Courage But here is the true trial of your Courage when you are to deal with these great Ones men not inferiour to your selves perhaps your equals yea and it may be too your Magistracy set aside men much greater than your selves men great in place great in wealth in great favour that have great friends but withal that do great harm Let it be your honour that you dare be just when these dare be unjust and when they dare smite others with the fist of violence that you dare smite them with the sword of Iustice and that you dare use your power when they dare abuse theirs All Transgressours should be looked unto but more the greater and the greatest most as a Shepherd should watch his Sheep even from Flies and Maukes but much more from Foxes most of all from Wolves Sure he is a sorry Shepherd that is busie to kill Flies and Maukes in his Sheep but letteth the Wolf worry at pleasure Why one Wolf
observable passages of the History are here remembred in three verses three special things the Sin the Plague the Deliverance The Sin with the Agravation thereof ver 28. They joyned themselves also unto Baal-peor and ate the sacrifices of the dead The Plague with the efficient cause thereof both Impulsive and Principal vers 29. Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions and the Plague brake in upon them The Deliverance with the special means and Instrument thereof is this 30th verse Then stood up Phinees and executed judgment and the Plague was stayed In which words are three things especially considerable The Person the Action of that Person and the Success of that Action The Person Phinees His action two-fold the one preparatory he stood up the other completory he executed judgment The Success and Issue of both the Plague was stayed The Person holy the Action zealous the Success happy Of each of these I shall endeavour to speak something applyable to the present condition of these heavy times and the present occasion of this frequent Assembly But because the argument of the whole verse is a Deliverance and that Deliverance supposeth a Plague and every Plague supposeth a Sin I must take leave before I enter upon the particulars now proposed from the Text first a little to unfold the original story that so we may have some more distinct knowledge both what Israel's sin was and how they were plagued and upon what occasion and by what means Phinees wrought their Deliverance When Israel travelling from the land of Bondage to the land of Promise through the wilderness were now come as far as the plains of Moab and there encamped Balak the then King of Moab not daring to encounter with that people before whom two of his greatest neighbour Princes had lately fallen consulted with the Midianites his neighbours and allies and after some advice resolved upon this conclusion to hire Balaam a famous Sorcerer in those times and quarters to lend them his assistance plotting with all their might and his art by all possible means to withdraw God's protection from them wherein they thought and they thought right the strength and safety of that people lay But there is no Counsel against the Lord nor inchantment against his people Where he will bless and he will bless where he is faithfully obeyed and depended upon neither power nor policy can prevail for a Curse Balaam the wicked wretch though he loved the ways of unrighteousness with his heart yet God not suffering him he could not pronounce a Curse with his lips against Israel but instead of cursing them blesâ—ed them altogether But angry at Israel whom when fain he would he could not curse yea and angry at God himself who by restraining his tongue had voided his hopes and withheld him from pay and honour the wretched covetous Hypocrite as if he would at once be avenged both of him and them imagineth a mischievous device against them full of cursed villainy He giveth the Moabites and the Midianites counsel to smotheâ— their hatred with pretensions of peace and by sending the fairest of their daughters among them to inveigle them with their beauty and to entice them first to corporal and after by that to spiritual whoredom that so Israel shrinking from the Love and Fear and Obedience of their God might forfeit the interest they had in his Protection and by sin bring themselves under that wrath and curse of God which neither those great Princes by their power nor their wisest Counsellors by their Policy nor Balaam himself by his Sorcery could bring upon them This damned counsel was followed but too soon and prospered but too well The daughters of Moab come into the Tents of Israel and by their blandishments put out the eyes and steal away the hearts of God's people whom besotted once with lust it was then no hard matter to lead whither they listed and by wanton insinuations to draw them to sit with them in the Temples and to accompany them at the feasts and to eat with them of the Sacrifices yea and to bow the knees with them to the honour of their Idols Insomuch as Israel joyned themselves to Baal-peor and ate the Sacrifices of that dead and abominable Idol at the least for all Idols are such if not as most have thought a beastly and obscene Idol withal That was their Sin And now may Balak save his Money and Balaam spare his pains there is no need of hiring or being hired to curse Whoremongers and Idolaters These are two plaguy sins and such as will bring a curse upon a people without the help of a Conjurer When that God who is a jealous God and jealous of nothing more than his honour shall see that people whom he had made choice of from among all the nations of the earth to be his own peculiar people and betrothed to himself by an everlasting covenant to break the Covenant of Wedlock with him and to strumpet it with the daughters and Idols of Moab what can be expected other than that his jealousie should be turned into fury and that his fierce wrath should break in upon them as a deluge and overwhelm them with a sudden destruction His patience so far tempted and with such an unworthy provocation can suffer no longer but at his command Moses striketh the Rulers and at Moses his command the under-rulers must strike each in their several regiments those that had offended and he himself also striketh with his own hand by a Plague destroying of them in one day three and twenty thousand If that Plague had lasted many days Israel had not lasted many days but the People by their plague made sensible of their sin humbled themselves as it should seem the very first day of the Plague in a solemn and general Assembly weeping and mourning both for Sin and Plague before the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation And they were now in the heat of their holy sorrow and devotions when lo Zimri a prince of a chief house in one of their Tribes in the heat of his pride and lust cometh openly in the face of Moses and all the Congregation and bringeth his Minion with him Cosbi the daughter of one of the five Kings of Midian into his Tent there to commit filthiness with her Doubtless Moses the Captain and Eleazar the Priest and all Israel that saw this shameless prank of that lewd couple saw it with grief enough But Phinees enraged with a pious indignation to see such a foul affront given to God and the Magistrate and the Congregation at such a heavy time and in such open manner and for that very sin for which they then lay under Gods hand thought there was something more to be done than bare
souls by fasting or by an issue at the Tongue or Eye in an humble confession of their sins and in weeping and mourning for them with tears of repentance And they did well now to make tryal of those Remedies again wherein they had found so much help in former times especially the Remedies being proper for the Malady and such as often may do good but never can do harm But alas fasting and weeping and mourning before the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation had not strength enough against those more prevalent Corruptions wherewith the State of Israel was then pestered This Phinees saw who well perceived that as in a dangerous Pleurisie the party cannot live unless he bleed so if there were any good to be done upon Israel in this their little less than desperate estate a Vein must be opened and some of the rank Blood let out for the preservation of the rest of the Body This course therefore he tries and languishing Israel findeth present ease in it As soon as the Blood ran instantly the Grief ceased he executed Iudgment and the Plague was stayed As God brought upon that people for their sins a fearful destruction so he hath in his just wrath sent his destroying Angel against us for ours The sins that brought that Plague upon them were Whoredom and Idolatry I cannot say the very same sins have caused ours For although the execution of good Laws against both Incontinent and Idolatrous persons hath been of late years and yet is we all know to say no more slack enough yet God's holy Name be blessed for it neither Idolatry nor Whoredom are at that height of shameless impudency and impunity among us that they dare brave our Moseses and out-face whole Congregations as it was in Israel But still this is sure no Plague but for sin nor National Plagues but for National sins So that albeit none of us may dare to take upon us to be so far of God's Counsel as to say for what very sins most this plague is sent amongst us yet none of us can be ignorant but that besides those secret personal Corruptions which are in every one of us and whereunto every man 's own heart is privy there are many publick and National sins whereof the people of this Land are generally guilty abundantly sufficient to justifie GOD in his dealings towards us and to clear him when he is judged Our wretched unthankfulness unto GOD for the long continuance of his Gospel and our Peace our Carnal Confidence and security in the strength of our wooden and watry Walls our Riot and Excess the noted proper sin of this Nation and much intemperate Abuse of the good Creatures of GOD in our Meats and Drinks and Disports and other provisions and comforts of this life our incompassion to our brethren miserably wasted with War and Famine in other parts of the World our heavy Oppression of our Brethren at home in racking the rents and cracking the backs and Grinding the faces of the poor our cheap and irreverent regard unto Gods holy Ordinances of his Word and Sacraments and Sabbaths and Ministers our Wantonness and Toyishness of understanding in corrupting the simplicity of our Christian Faith and troubling the peace of the Church with a thousand niceties and novelties and unnecessary wranglings in matters of Religion and to reckon no more that universal Corruption which is in those which because they should be such we call the Courts of Iustice by sale of Offices enhaunoing of Fees devising new subtilties both for Delay and Evasion trucking for Expedition making Traps of petty poenal Statutes and but Cobwebs of the most weighty and material Laws I doubt not but by the mercy of God many of his servants in this Land are free from some and some from all of these common Crimes in some good measure but I fear me not the best of us all not a man of us all but are guilty of all or some of them at least thus far that we have not mourned for the Corruptions of the Times so feelingly nor endeavoured the reformation of them to our power so faithfully as we might and ought to have done By these and other sins we have provoked God's heavy judgment against us and the Plague is grievously broken in upon us and now it would be good for us to know by what means we might best appease his wrath and stay this Plague Publick Humiliations have ever been thought and so they are Proper Remedies against Publick Iudgments To turn unto the Lord our God with all our heart and with Fasting and with Weeping and with Mourning to sanctifie a Fast and call a solemn Assembly and gather the People and Elders together and weep before the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation and to let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and to pray the Lord to spare his people and not be angry with them for ever Never did people thus humble themselves with true lowly and obedient hearts who found not Comfort by it in the mean time and in the end benefit And blessed be God who hath put it into the heart of our Moses with the consent of the Elders of our Israel by his Royal Example first and then by his Royal Command to lay upon us a double necessity of this so religious and profitable a course But as our Saviour told the young man in the Gospel who said he had kept the whole Law Unum tibi deest One thing is wanting so when we have done our best and utmost fasted and wept and prayed as constantly and frequently and fervently as we can unless you the Magistrates and Officers of Justice be good unto us one thing will be wanting still One main Ingredient of singular Virtue without which the whole Receipt besides as precious and sovereign as it is may be taken and yet fail the Cure And that is the severe and fearless and impartial Execution of Iudgment Till we see a care in the Gods on Earth faithfully to Execute theirs our hopes can be but faint that the God of Heaven will in mercy remove his judgments If God send a Famine into the Land let holy David do what he can otherwise it will continue year after year so long as judgment is not done upon the bloody house of Saul for his cruelty in slaying the Gibeonites God will not be intreated for the land One known Achan that hath got a wedge of gold by sacrilege or injustice if suffered is able to trouble a whole Israel and the Lord will not turn from the fierceness of his Anger till he have deserved judgment done upon him If Israel have joyned himself unto Baal-Peor so as the Anger of the Lord be kindled against them he will not be appeased by any means until Moses take the heads of the people and hang them
up before the Lord against the Sun If the Land be defiled with blood it is in vain to think of any other course when God himself hath pronounced it impossible that the Land should be purged from the blood that is shed in it otherwise than by the blood of him that shed it Up then with the zeal of Phinees up for the love of God and of his people all you that are in place of authority Gird your Swords upon your thigh and with your Iavelins in your hand pursue the Idolater and the Adulterer and the Murtherer and the Oppressor and every known Offender into his Tent and nail him to the Earth that he never rise again to do more mischief Let it appear what love you bear to the State by your hatred to them and shew your pity to us by shewing none to them The destroying Angel of God attendeth upon you for his dispatch if you would but set in stoutly he would soon be gone Why should either sloth or fear or any partial or corrupt respect whatsoever make you cruel to the good in sparing the bad or why should you suffer your selves for want of courage and zeal to execute Judgment to lose either the Opportunity or the Glory of being the instruments to appease Gods wrath and to stay his plagues But for that matters appertaining to Iustice and Iudgment must pass through many hands before they come to yours and there may be so much juggling used in conveying them from hand to hand that they may be represented unto you many times in much different forms from what they were in truth and at the first That your care and zeal to execute Iustice and Iudgment faithfully according to your knowledge may not through the fault and miscarriage of other men fail of the blessed end and success that Phinees found I desire that every of them also as well as you would receive the word of Exhortation each in his place and office to set himself uprightly and unpartially as in the sight of God to advance to the utmost of his power the due course and administration of Iustice. And for this purpose by occasion of this Scripture which pointeth us to the End of these Assemblies I shall crave leave to reflect upon another which giveth us sundry particular directions conducing to that End And it is that Scripture whereinto we made some entrance the last Assizes and would have now proceeded farther had not the heavy hand of God upon us in this his grievous Visitation led me rather to make choice of this Text as the more seasonable That other is written in Exodus 23. the Three first Verses Thou shalt not raise a false report put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause Wherein were noted five special Rules shared out among five sorts of persons the Accuser the Witness the Iurer the Pleader the Officer I will but give each of them some brief intimation of their duty from their several proper rules and conclude If thou comest hither then as a Plaintiff or other Party in a civil cause or to give voluntary Information upon a Statute or to prosecute against a Malefactor or any way in the nature of an Accuser Let neither the hope of Gain or of any other advantage to thy self not secret malice or envy against thine adversary nor thy desire to give satisfaction to any third party sway thee beyond the bounds of Truth and Equity no not a little either to devise an untruth against thy neighbour of thine own head or by an hard construction to deprave the harmless actions or speeches of others or to make them worse than they are by unjust aggravations or to take advantage of letters and syllables to entrap innocency without a fault When thou art to open thy mouth against thy brother set the first Rule of that Text as a watch before the door of thy lips Thou shalt not raise a false report If thou comest hither secondly to be used as a Witness perhaps Graecâ fide like a down-right Knight of the Post that maketh of an Oath a jest and a pastime of a Deposition or dealt withal by a bribe or suborned by thy Landlord or great Neighbour or egged on with thine own spleen or malice to swear and forswear as they shall prompt thee or to s enterchange deposition with thy friend as they use to do in Greece Hodie mihi cras tibi Swear thou for me to day I 'll swear for thee to morrow or tempted with any corrupt respect whatsoever by thy Word or Oath to strengthen a false and unrighteous report When thou comest to lay thy hand upon the book lay the second Rule in that Text to thy heart Put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness Though hand joyn in hand The false witness shall not be unpunished If thou comest hither thirdly to serve for the King upon the Grand Inquest or between party and party in any cause whatsoever like those selecti judices among the Romans whom the Praetor for the year being was to nominate and that upon Oath out of the most able and serviceable men in his judgment both for Estate Understanding and Integrity or to serve upon the Tales perhaps at thine own suit to get something toward bearing charges for thy journey or yoked with a crafty or a wilful foreman that is made before-hand and a mess of tame after men withal that dare not think of being wiser than their Leader or unwilling to stickle against a Major part whether they go right or wrong or resolved already upon the Verdict no matter what the Evidence be Consider what is the weight and religion of an Oath Remember that he sinneth not less that sinneth with company Whatsoever the rest do resolve thou to do no otherwise than as God shall put into thy heart and as the Evidence shall lead thee The third Rule in that Text must be thy rule Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil They are silly that in point either of Religion or Iustice would teach us to measure either Truth or Right by multitudes If thou comest hither fourthly as to thine Harvest to reap some fruit of thy long and expenceful study in the Laws to assist thy Client and his Cause with thy Counsel Learning and Eloquence think not because thou speakest for thy Fee that therefore thy tongue is not thine own but thou must speak what thy Client will have thee speak be it true or false neither think because thou hast the liberty of the Court and perhaps the favour of the Iudg that therefore thy tongue is thine own and thou mayest speak thy
of and for which God here promiseth that he will not bring the evil in his days Lay all this together the man and his ill conditions and his present carriage with the occasion and success of it and it offereth three notable things to our consideration See first how far an Hypocrite a Cast-away may go in the outward performance of holy duties and particularly in the Practice of Repentance here is Ahab humbled such a man and yet so penitent See again secondly how deep God's Word though in the mouth but of weak Instruments when he is pleased to give strength unto it pierceth into the Consciences of obstinate sinners and bringeth the proudest of them upon their knees in despite of their hearts here is Ahab quelled by Elijah such a great one by such a weak one See yet again thirdly how prone God is to mercy and how ready to apprehend any advantage as it were and occasion to shew compassion here is Ahab humbled and his Judgment adjourned such a real substantial favour and yet upon such an empty shadow of Repentance Of these three at this time in their order and of the first first An Hypocrite may go very far in the outward performances of holy duties For the right conceiving of which assertion Note first that I speak not now of the common Graces of Illumination and Edification and good dexterity for the practising of some particular Calling which Gifts with sundry other like are oftentimes found even in such apparently wicked and profane men as have not so much as the form much less the power of Godliness but I speak even of those Graces which de tota specie if they be true and sincere are the undoubted blessed fruits of God's holy renewing Spirit of Sanctification such as are Repentance Faith Hope Ioy Humility Patience Temperance Meekness Zeal Reformation c. in such as these Hypocrites may go very far as to the outward semblance and performance Note secondly that I speak not of the inward power and reality of these Graces for Cast-aways and Hypocrites not having union with God by a lively Faith in his Son nor communion with him by the effectual working of his Spirit have no part nor fellowship in these things which are proper to the chosen and called of God and peculiar to those that are his peculiar people but I speak only of the outward performances and exercises of such actions as may seem to flow from such spiritual Graces habitually rooted in the heart when as yet they may spring also and when they are found in unregenerate men do so spring from Nature perhaps moralized or otherwise restrained but yet unrenewed by saving and sanctifying Grace Note thirdly that when I say an Hypocrite may go very far in such outward performances by the Hypocrite is meant not only the gross or formal Hypocrite but every natural and unregenerate man including also the Elect of God before their effectual calling and conversion as also Reprobates and Cast-aways for the whole time of their lives all of which may have such fair semblances of the fore-named Graces and of other like them as not only others who are to judge the best by the Law of Charity but themselves also through the wretched deceitfulness of their own wicked and corrupt hearts may mistake for those very Graces they resemble The Parable of the seed sown in the stony ground may serve for a full both declaration and proof hereof which seed is said to have sprouted forth immediately springing up forthwith after it was sown but yet never came to good but speedily withered away because for want of deepness of earth it had not moisture enough to feed it to any perfection of growth and ripeness And that branch of the Parable our blessed Saviour himself in his Exposition applieth to such hearers as when they hear the Word immediately receive it with gladness and who so forward as they to repent and believe and reform their lives but yet all that forwardness cometh to nothing they endure but for a short time because they have no root in themselves but want the sap and moisture of Grace to give life and lasting to those beginnings and imperfect offers and essays of goodness they made shew of Here are good affections to see to unto the good word of God they receive it with joy it worketh not only upon their judgments but it seemeth also to rejoice yea after a sort to ravish their hearts so as they feel a kind of tickling Pleasure and Delight in it which the Apostle calleth tasting of the heavenly gift and the good Word of God and the powers of the World to come Heb. 6. And as they receive the seed joyfully so it appeareth quickly it springeâ—h up anon in the likeness of Repentance and Faith and Obedience and newness of life They may be touched with a deep feeling of their sins and with heavy hearts and many tears confess and bewail them and not only promise but also purpose amendment They may be superficially affected with and find some overly comfort and refreshing from the contemplation of those gracious promises of mercy and reconciliation and salvation which are contained in the glorious Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ and have some degrees of perswasion that those promises are true and some flashes of confidence withal of their own personal interest therein They may reform themselves in the general course of their lives in sundry particulars refraining from some gross disorders and avoiding the occasions of them wherein they have formerly lived and delighted aud practising many outward Duties of Piety and Charity conformable to the letter of the Laws of both Tables and misliking and opposing against the common errors or corruptions of the times and places wherein they live and all this to their own and others thinking with as great zeal unto godliness and as thorough indignation against sin as any others All this they may do and yet all the while be rotten at the Heart wholly carnal and unrenewed quite empty of sound Faith and Repentance and Obédience and every good Grace full of damnable Pride and Hypocrisie and in the present state of Damnation and in the purpose of God Reprobates and Cast-aways Examples hereof we have in Saul's care for the destroying of Witches in Iehu's zeal in killing Baal's Priests in Herod's hearing of Iohn Baptist gladly and doing many things thereafter and to omit others in this wicked King Ahab's present fit of Repentance and Humiliation At all which and sundry other like effects we shall the less need to marvel if we shall seriously consider the Causes and Reasons thereof I will name but a few of many and but name them neither First Great is the force of Natural Conscience even in the most wicked men especially when it is awakened by the hand of God
hearts not only with that joy and gladness which ariseth from the experience of the Effect viz. the refreshing of our natural strength but also joy and gladness more spiritual and sublime than that arising from the contemplation of the prime cause viz. the favour of God towards us in the face of his Son that which David calleth the light of his countenunce For as it is the kind welcome at a friends Table that maketh the chear good rather than the quaintness or variety of the dishes Super omnia vultus accessere boni so that a dinner of green herbs with love and kindness is better entertainment than a stalled Ox with bad looks so the light of Gods favourable countenance shining upon us through these things is it which putteth more true gladness into our hearts than doth the Corn and the Wine and the Oil themselves or any other outward thing that we do or can partake Now this sanctified and holy and comfortable use of the Creatures ariseth also from the Word of Gods decree even as the former degree did but not from the same decree That former issued from the decree of common Providence and so belonged unto all as that Providence is common to all But this latter degree proceedeth from that special Word of Gods decree whereby for the merits of Christ Jesus the second Adam he removeth from the Creature that curse wherein it was wrapped through the sin of the first Adam And in this the wicked have no portion as being out of Christ so as they cannot partake of Gods Creatures with any solid or sound comfort and so the Creatures remain in this degree unsanctified unto them For this reason the Scriptures stile the Faithful Primogenitos the first-born as to whom belongeth a double portion and Haeredes Mundi heirs of the World as if none but they had any good right thereunto And S. Paul deriveth our Title to the Creatures from God but by Christ All things are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods As if these things were none of theirs who are none of Christs And in the Verse before my Text he saith of meats that God hath created them to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth as if those that wanted Faith and Saving Knowledge did but usurp the Bread they eat And indeed it is certain the wicked have not right to the Creatures of God in such ample sort as the Godly have A kind of Right they have and we may not deny it them given them by Gods unchangeable ordinance at the creation which being a branch of that part of Gods Image in man which was of natural and not of supernatural grace might be and was foully defaced by sin but was not neither could be wholly lost as hath been already in part declared A Right then they have but such a right as reaching barely to the use cannot afford unto the user true comfort or sound peace of Conscience in such use of the Creatures For though nothing be in and of it self unclean for Every Creature of God is good yet to them that are unclean ex accidenti every Creature is unclean and polluted because it is not thus sanctified unto them by the Word of God And the very true cause of all this is the impurity of their hearts by reason of unbelief The Holy Ghost expresly assigneth this cause To the pure all things are pure but to them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled As a nasty vessel sowreth all that is put into it so a Conscience not purified by Faith casteth pollution upon the best of Gods Creatures But what is all this to the Text may some say or what to the Point What is all this to the Duty of Thanksgiving Much every manner of way or else blame S. Paul of impertinency whose discourse should be incoherent and unjoynted if what I have now last said were beside the Text. For since the Sanctification of the Creature to our use dependeth upon the powerful and good Word of God blessing it unto us that Duty must needs be necessary to a sanctified use of the Creature without which we can have no fair assurance unto our Consciences that that Word of Blessing is proceeded out of the mouth of God And such is this Duty of Thanksgiving appointed by God as the ordinary means and proper instrument to procure that Word of Blessing from him When we have performed this sincerely and faithfully our hearts may then with a most chearful but yet humble confidence say Amen so be it in full assurance that God will joyn his Fiat to ours Crown our Amen with his and to our So be it of Faith and Hope add his of Power and Command blessing his Creatures unto us when we bless him for them and sanctifying their use to our comfort when we magnifie his goodness for the receipt You see therefore how as unseparable and undivided companions the Apostle joyneth these two together the one as the Cause the other as the Means of the Creatures sanctification it is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer By the Word of Gods powerful decree as the sole efficient and sufficient Cause and by the Prayer of Thanksgiving for such Prayer he meaneth as either hath Thanksgiving joyned with it or else is a part of Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving a part of it by Prayer I say and Thanksgiving as the proper Means to obtain it This is the blessed effect of Thanksgiving as it is an Act of Religion And thus you have heard two grand Reasons concluding the necessity of Thanksgiving unto God in the receiving and using of his good Creatures The one considering it as an Act of Iustice because it is in the only acceptable discharge of that obligation of debt wherein we stand bound unto God for the free use of so many good Creatures The other considering it is an Act of Religion because it is the most proper and convenient Means to procure from the mouth of God a word of Blessing to sanctifie the Creatures to the uses of our lives and to the comfort of our Consciences This Thanksgiving being an Act both of Justice and Religion whensoever we either receive or use any good Creature of God without this we are unjust in the Receipt and in the Use Prophane It is now high time we should from the Premises infer something for our farther use and edification And the first Inference may be shall I say for Trial or may I not rather say for Conviction Since we shall learn thereby not so much to examine our Thankfulness how true it is as to discover our Unthankfulness how foul it is And how should that discovery cast us down to a deep condemnation of our selves for so much both Unjustice and Prophaneness when we shall find
in or to keep back Retinui or Cohibui or as the Latine hath it Custodivi te implying Abimelech's forwardness to that sin certainly he had been gone if God had not kept him in and held him back The Greek word rendreth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I spared thee and so the Latin Parcere is sometimes used for impedire or prohibere to hinder or not to suffer as in that of Virgil Parcite oves nimium procedere Or taking parcere in the most usual signification for sparing it may very well stand with the purpose of the place for indeed God spareth us no less indeed he spareth us much more when he maketh us forbear sin than when having sinned he forbeareth to punish and as much cause have we to acknowledge his mercy and rejoyce in it when he holdeth our hands that we sin not as when he holdeth his own hands that he strike not For I also with-held thee from sinning against me How Did not Abimelech sin in taking Sarah or was not that as every other sin is a sin against God Certainly had not Abimelech sinned in so doing and that against God God would not have so plagued him as he did for that deed The meaning then is not that God with held him wholly from sinning at all therein but that God with held him from sinning against him in that foul kind and in that high degree as to defile himself by actual filthiness with Sarah which but for Gods restnaint he had done therefore suffered I thee not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non demisi te that is I did not let thee go I did not leave thee to thy self or most agreeable to the letter of the Text in the Hebrew non dedi or non tradidi I did not deliver or give That may be non dedi potestatem I did not give thee leave or power and so giving is sometimes used for suffering as Psal. 16. Non dabis sanctum tuum Thou wilt not suffer c. and elsewhere Or non dedi te tibi I gave thee not to thy self A man cannot be put more desperately into the hands of any enemy than to be left in manu consilii sui delivered into his own hands and given over to the lust of his own heart Or as it is here translated I suffered thee not We should not draw in God as a party when we commit any sin as if he joyned with us in it or lent us his helping hand for it we do it so alone without his help that we never do it but when he letteth us alone and leaveth us destitute of his help For the kind and manner and measure and circumstances and events and other the appurtenances of sin God ordereth them by his Almighty power and providence so as to become serviceable to his most wise most just most holy purposes but as for the very formality it self of the sin God is to make the most of it but a sufferer Therefore suffered I thee not To Touch her Signifying that God had so far restrained Abimelech from the accomplishment of his wicked and unclean purposes that Sarah was preserved free by his good providence not only from actual adultery but from all unchaste and wanton dalliance also with Abimelech It was Gods great mercy to all the three Parties that he did not suffer this evil to be done for by this means he graciously preserved Abimelech from the sin Abraham from the wrong and Sarah from both And it is to be acknowledged the great mercy of God when at any time he doth and he doth ever and anon more or less by his gracious and powerful restraint with-hold any man from running into those extremities of sin and mischief whereinto his own corruption would carry him headlong especially when it is agog by the cunning perswasions of Satan and the manifold temptations that are in the world through lust The points then that arise from this part of my Text are these 1. Men do not always commit those evils their own desires or outward temptations prompt them unto 2. That they do it not it is from Gods restraint 3. That God restraineth them it is of his own gracious goodness and mercy The common subject matter of the whole three points being one viz. Gods restraint of mans sin we will therefore wrap them up all three together and so handle them in this one entire Observation as the total of all three God in his mercy oftentimes restraineth men from committing those evils which if that restraint were not they would otherwise have committed This Restraint whether we consider the Measure or the Means which God useth therein is of great variety For the Measure God sometimes restraineth men à toto from the whole sin whereunto they are tempted as he withheld Ioseph from consenting to the perswasions of his Mistress sometimes only à tanto and that more or less as in his infinite wisdom he seeth expedient suffering them perhaps but only to desire the evil perhaps to resolve upon it perhaps to prepare for it perhaps to begin to Act it perhaps to proceed far in it and yet keeping them back from falling into the extremity of the sin or accomplishing their whole desire in the full and final consummation thereof as here he dealt with Abimelech Abimelech sinned against the eighth Commandment in taking Sarah injuriously from Abraham say he had been but her brother and he sinned against the seventh Commandment in a foul degree in harbouring such wanton and unchaste thoughts concerning Sarah and making such way as he did by taking her into his house for the satisfying of his lust therein but yet God with-held him from plunging himself into the extremity of those sins not suffering him to fall into the act of uncleanness And as for the Means whereby God with-holdeth men from sinning they are also of wonderful variety Sometimes he taketh them off by diverting the course of the corruption and turning the affections another way Sometimes he awaketh natural Conscience which is a very tender and tickle thing when it is once stirred and will boggle now and then at a very small matter in comparison over it will do at some other times Sometimes he affrighteth them with apprehensions of outward Evils as shame infamy charge envy loss of a friend danger of humane Laws and sundry other such like discouragements Sometimes he cooleth their resolutions by presenting unto their thoughts the terrors of the Law the strictness of the last Account and the endless unsufferable torments of Hell-fire Sometimes when all things are ripe for execution he denieth them opportunity or casteth in some unexpected impediment in the way that quasheth all Sometimes he disableth them and weakneth the arm of flesh wherein they trusted so as they want power to their will as here he dealth with Abimelech And sundry other ways he hath more than
it is partly in our own power what other men shall speak and think of us Not that we are Lords either of their tongues or thoughts for men generally and wicked men especially challenge a property in these two things as absolute Lords within themselves Our tongues are our own say they and Thought is free But that we may if we behave our selves with godly discretion win good report even from those that in their hearts wish no good to us or at least put such a muzzle upon their tongues that whereas they would with all their hearts speak evil of us as of evil doers they shall not dare for shame to accuse our good conversation in Christ For who is he that will harm you saith St. Peter if ye be followers of that which is good As if he had said Men that have any shame left in them will not lightly offer to do you any harm or to say any harm by you unless by some miscarriage or other of your own you give them the advantage The oâ—d saying that every man is Fortunae suae faber and so Famae too is not altogether without truth and reason For seldom doth a man miscarry in the success of his affairs in the World or labour of an ill name but where himself by some sinful infirmity or negligence some rashness credulity indiscretion or other oversight hath made a way open for it This I note the rather because it falleth out not seldom to be the fate or fault of very good men by assed too much by self-love and partiality to impute such crosses and disgraces as they sometimes meet withal wholly to the injuries of wicked men which if they would search narrowly at home they might perhaps find reason enough sometimes to impute at least in part unto themselves When by busie intermedling where they need not by their heat violence and intemperance of spirit in setting on those things they would fain have done or opposing those things they would fain hinder by their too much stiffness or peremptoriness either way concerning the use of indifferent things without due consideration of times places persons other circumstances by partaking with those they think well of so far as to the justifying of their very Errors and Exorbitances and denying on the other side to such as are not of their own way such fair and just respects as to men of their condition are in common civility due or by some other like Partialities and Excesses they provoke opposition against themselves their persons and good names from such men especially as do but wait an opportunity and would greedily apprehend any occasion to do them some displeasure or disgrace 35. That it may be otherwise and better with you Beloved ponder well I beseech you what our Solomon wrote long since Prov. 19. The foolishness of man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth against the Lord or which cometh to one against such persons as the Lord is pleased to make use of as his rods wherewith to give him due correction Neither cast off this care of your good Names by any pretensions of impossibility which is another Topick of Sophistry wherewith Satan teaches us to cheat our selves It is indeed and I confess it something a hard thing and not simply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have every mans good word but I may not yield it impossible Demetrius hath good report of all men and of the truth it self saith St. Iohn Do you what in you lieth towards it and if then men will yet be unjust and speak evil of you undeservedly you have your comforts in God and in Christ and some comfort also in the testimony of your own hearts that you have faithfully done what was to be done on your part to prevent it and by walking honestly and wisely to cut off occasion from them that seek occasion But so far as you have been wanting to your selves in doing your part so much you take off both from their blame and from your own comfort It concerneth you to have a great care of preserving your good Names because by your care you may do much in it 36. Consider thirdly that a good Name is far easier kept than recovered Men that have had losses in sundry kinds have in time had some reparations Sampson's locks were shorn of but grew again Iob's Goods and Cattel driven but restored again the Widows Child dead but revived again the Sheep and the Groat in the Parable lost but found again But the good Name once lost the loss is little better than desperate He had need be a good Gamester they say and to have very good fortune too that is to play an After-game of Reputation The shipwrack of a good Name though in most and the most considerable respects it be incomparably less yet in this one circumstance it is in some sort even greater than the shipwrack of a good Conscience The loss there may be recovered again by Repentance which is tabula secunda post naufragium as in Act. 27. some on boards some on broken pieces of the ship got all safe to Land But when our good Names are shipwrackt all is so shattered in pieces that it will be hard to find so much as a board or plank to bring us ashore And the Reason of the difference is manifest which is this When we have made shipwrack of our Consciences we fall into the hands of God whose Mercies are great and his Compassions fail not and who if we timely and unfeignedly repent is both able and willing to restore us But when we make shipwrack of our good Names we fall into the hands of men whose bowels are narrow their tenderest Mercies cruel and their Charity too weak and faint to raise up our Credit again after it is once ruined I have sometimes in my private thoughts likened a flaw in the Conscience and a flaw in the good Name to the breaking of a bone in the body and the breaking of a Christal Glass or China dish at the Table In the mischance there is no comparison a man had better break twenty glasses or dishes at his Table than one bone in his body And so a man had better receive twenty wounds in his good Name than but a single raze in his Conscience But yet here the recovery is easier than there A broken bone may be set again and every splinter put in his due place and if it be skilfully handled in the setting and duly tended after it may in short time knit as firm again as ever it was yea and as it is said firmer than ever so as it will break any where else sooner than there But as for the shivers of a broken Glass or Earthen Dish no art can piece them so as they shall be either sightly or serviceable they will not abide the file nor the hammer neither solder nor glue nor
speak of the Donatists and other Schismaticks of old who confined the Church to some little corner of the World for which they were soundly confuted by St. Augustine Optatus and other godly Fathers of their times First of all extremely partial in this kind are the Romish Party at this day Who contrary to all truth and reason make the Roman and the Catholick Church terms convertible exacting external Communion with them and subjection to their Bishop as a condition so essentially requisite for the qualifying of any person to be a member of that Church of Christ out of which there is no Salvation as that they have inserted a clause to that purpose into the very definition of a Church So cutting off from this brotherhood in a manner wholly all the spacious Churches of Africk and Asia together with all those both Eastern and Western Churches of Europe also which dare not submit to so vast a power as the Bishops of Rome pretend to nor can think themselves obliged to receive all their dictates for undoubted Articles of faith 41. The like Partiality appeareth secondly in our brethren of the Separation Marvel not that I call them Brethren though they will by no means own us as such the more unjust and uncharitable they And in this uncharitableness such a coincidence there is sometimes of extremes the Saparatists and the Romanists consequently to their otherwise most distant Principles do fully agree like Samsons Foxes tied together by the tails to set all on fire although their faces look quite contrary ways But we envy not either these or those their uncharitableness nor may we imitate them therein But as the Orthodox Fathers did the wayward Donatists then so we hold it our duty now to account these our uncharitable brethren as well of the one sort as the other our Brethren still whether they will thank us for it or no Velint nolint fratres sunt These our Brethren I say of the Separation are so violent and peremptory in unchurching all the World but themselves that they thrust and pen up the whole Flock of Christ in a far narrower pingle than ever the Donatists did concluding the Communion of Saints within the compass of a private Parlour or two in Amsterdam 42. And it were much to be wished in the third place that some in our own Church who have not yet directly denied us to be their Brethren had not some of the leaven of this Partiality hidden in their breasts They would hardly else be so much swelled up with an high opinion of themselves nor so much sowred in their affections towards their brethren as they bewray themselves to be by using the terms of Brotherbood of Profession of Christianity the Communion of Saints the Godly Party and the like as titles of distinction to difference some few in the Church a disaffected party to the established Government and Ceremonies from the rest As if all but themselves were scarce to be owned either as Brethren or Professors or Christians or Saints or Godly men Who knoweth of what ill consequence the usage of such appropriating and distinctive titles that sound so like the Pharisees I am holier than thou and warp so much towards a separation may prove and what evil effects they may produce in future But however it is not well done of any of us in the mean time to take up new Forms and Phrases and to accustom ourselves to a garb of speaking in Scripture-language but in a different notion from that wherein the Scriptures understand it I may not I cannot judge any mans heart but truly to me it seemeth scarce a possible thing for any man that appropriateth the name of Brethren or any of those other titles of the same extent to some part only of the Christian Church to fulfil our Apostles precept here of loving the Brotherhood according to the true meaning thereof For whom he taketh not in he must needs leave out and then he can love them but as those that are without Perhaps wish them well pray for their conversion shew them civil respect c. which is no more than he might or would do to a very Iew Turk or Pagan 43 As for us beloved brethren let us in the name and fear of God beware of all rotten or corrupt partiality in the performance either of this or of any other Christian duty either to God or man And let us humbly beseech the God of all grace and peace to put into our hearts a spirit of Wisdom and Charity that we may duly both honour and love all men in such sort as becometh us to do but especially that we may love and honour him above all who hath already so loved and honoured us as to make us Christians and hath further engaged himself by his gracious Promise to love honour and reward all those that seek his honour and glory To whom be all honour and glory ascribed c. AD AULAM. The Fourth Sermon BEUVOYR JULY 1636. Psal. 19. 13. Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins Let them not have dominion over me So shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression 1. THis Psalm is one of Davids Meditations That it is Davids we have it from the Title in the beginning That it is a Meditation from the close in the end of it Now there are but two things especially whereon to employ our meditations with profit to the right knowledge whereof some have therefore reduced the whole body of Divinity God and our selves And the meditation is then most both compleat and fruitful when it taketh in both Which is to be done either viâ ascensus when we begin below and at our selves and so build upwards raising our thoughts higher to the contemplation of God or viâ descensus when we begin aloft and with him and so work downward drawing our thoughts home upon our selves 2. This latter is the method of this Psalm in the former part whereof David beginneth as high as at the most Highest and then descendeth as low as to himself in the latter For the succouring of his Meditations there he maketh use of the two great Books that of Nature or of the works of God and that of Scripture or of the Word of God In that he readeth the Power in this the Will of this Maker That declareth his Glory this revealeth his Pleasure That from the beginning of the Psalm The heavens declare the glory of God c. to the end of the sixth verse This from the beginning of the seventh verse The Law of the Lord is perfect c. to the end of the eleventh verse 3. Hence coming to reâ—â—ect upon himself he hath now use of a third Book that of his own conscience wherein are enrolled the principal acts and passages of his whole life That by a just survey of the particulars therein enregistred he might observe what proportion
Appetite or Affections If nothing were amiss in any of these all our actions issuing thence would be perfect and free from all stain of sin But it is a truth and our misery that in this state of corruption the whole soul is out of frame and all the faculties thereof depraved Much Blindness and Error in the Understanding much Rashness and Impetuousness in the Affections much stubbornness and perversness in the Will which rendreth our whole lives full of Swervings Weaknesses and Rebellions Yea by reason of the joynt concurrence of those three faculties in their operations there is in most sinful actions especially those that are compleatly such a mixture of Ignorance Infirmity and Wilfulness or Presumption Whence it is that all Sins are in the Scriptures indefinitely and indifferently called sometimes Errors sometimes Infirmities and sometimes Rebellions 14. But when we would speak more exactly of these three differences and so as to distinguish them one from another by their proper appellations the enquiry must be when a sin is done where the fault lay most and thence it must have the right denomination 1. If the Understanding be most in fault not apprehending that good it should or not aright the sin so done though possibly it may have in it somewhat both of Infirmity and Presumption withal is yet properly a Sin of Ignorance 2. If the main fault be in the affections through some suddain passion or perturbation of mind blinding or corrupting or but out-running the Judgment as of Fear Anger Desire Ioy or any of the rest the Sin thence arising though perhaps joyned with some Ignorance or Presumption withal is yet properly a sin of Infirmity 3. But if the Understanding be competently informed with knowledge and not much blinded or transported with the incursion of any sudden or violence of any vehement perturbation so as the greatest blame must remain upon the untowardness of the Will resolvedly bent upon the Evil the Sin arising from such Wilfulness though probably not free from all mixture of Ignorance and Infirmity withal is yet properly a wilful Presumption such a Presumptuous sin as we are now in treaty of 15. Rules are soonest learned and best remembred when illustrated with â—it Examples And of such the rich storehouse of the Scripture affordeth us in each kind variety and choice enough whence it shall suffice us to propose but one eminent one of each sort The Men all of them for their holiness of singular and worthy renown David St. Peter and St. Paul The sins all of them for their matter of the greatest magnitude Murthering of the innocent Abnegation of Christ Persecution of the Church Pauls Persecution a grievous Sin yet a Sin of Ignorance Peters denial a grievous Sin yet a Sin of Infirmity Davids Murther a far more grievous sin than either of both because a sin of Presumption 16. St. Paul before his conversion whilest he was Saul persecuted and wasted the Church of God to the utmost of his power making havoâ—k of the Professours of Christ entring into their very houses and haling thence to prison both men and women and posting abroad with Letters into remote quarters to do all the mischief he could every where with great fury as if he had been maâ—â— breathing out wherever he came nothing but threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord. His affections were not set against them through any personal provocations but meerly out of zeal to the Law and surely his zeal had been good had it not been blind Nor did his will run cross to his judgment but was led by it for he verily thought in himself that he ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Iesus and verily his Will had been good had it not been misled But the error was in his Understanding his Iudgment being not yet actually convinced of the truth of the Christian Religion He was yet fully perswaded that Iesus was an Impostor and Christianity a pestilent Sect raised by Satan to the disgrace and prejudice of Moses and the Law If these things had indeed been so as he apprehended them his Affections and Will in seeking to root out such a Sect had been not only blameless but commendable It was his erroneous Iudgment that poisoned all and made that which otherwise had been zeal to become Persecution But however the first discernable obliquity therein being in the Understanding that Persecution of his was therefore a Sin of Ignorance so called and under that name condemned by himself 1 Tim. 1. 13. 17. But such was not Peters denial of his Master He knew well enough who he was having conversed so long with him and having long before so amply confessed him And he knew also that he ought not for any thing in the world to have denied him That made him so confident before that he would not do it because he was abundantly satisfied that he should not do it Evident it is then that Peter wanted no nowledge either of his Masters person or his own duty and so no plea left him of Ignorance either Facti or Iuris Nor was the fault so much in his Will as to make it a sin properly of Presumption For albeit de facto he did deny him when he was put to it and that with fearful oaths and imprecations yet was it not done with any prepensed Apostasie or out of design Yea he came rather with a contrary resolution and he still honoured his Master in his heart even then when he denied him with his tongue and as soon as ever the watch word was given him by the second Cock to prefer to his consideration what he had done it grieved him sore that he had so done and he wepâ— bitterly for it We find no circumstance in the whole relation that argueth any deep obstinacy in his Will But in his Affections then Alas there was the fail A sudden qualm of fear surprising his soul when he saw his Master so despightfully used before his face which made him apprehensive of what hard usage himself might fall under if he should then and there have owned him took from him for that time the benefit and use of his reason and so drew all his thoughts to this one point how to decline the present danger that he had never a thought at so much liberty as to consult his judgment whether it were a sin or no. And thus proceeding from such a sudden distemper of passion Peters denial was a sin properly of Infirmity 18. But Davids sin in contriving the death of Uriah was of a yet higher pitch and of a deeper dye than either of these He was no such stranger in the Law of God as not to know that the wilful murther of an innocent party such as he also knew Uriah to be was a most loud crying sin and therefore nothing surer than that it was not meerly a sin of Ignorance Neither yet
are indeed the most unpleasing part of this holy learning especially to a young Novice in the School of Christ the Apostle saith truly of it Heb 12. that for the present it is not joyous but grievous But yet it is a very necessary part of the learning and marvellously profitable after a time for as it there also followeth Nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the quiet and peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby 11. We have hitherto seen the point opened and proved that true Christian contentment springeth not first from Nature nor secondly from Morality nor thirdly from Outward things but is taught only by God himself Who first perswadeth the hearts of his Children out of the acknowledgment of his fatherly providence that that estate is ever presently best for them which they have for the present and assureth them secondly by faith in his Temporal Promises that they shall never want any thing that may be good for them for the time to come and thirdly exerciseth and inureth them by frequent interchanging of prosperity and adversity and sanctifying both estates unto them both to glorifie him and to satisfie themselves by and with either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here and in the next verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have learned and have been thereunto instructed and as it were initiated into it as into an art or mystery in whatsoever state I am therewithal to be content Now for the Uses and Inferences hence 12. First St. Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here notably discovereth both the vanity of those men who boast as if they had minds richly content when as yet they never knew what grace and godliness meant and withal the folly of those men that seek for or promise to themselves contentment but seek for it other where than where alone it is to be found that is to say in the School of Christ and of his Holy spirit In all learnings it is a point of special consequence to get a good Master He hath half done his work that hath made a happy choice that way And the more needful the learning is the greater care should be had in the choice Here is a piece of excellent learning every man will confess Why should any of us then trifle away our time to no purpose and put our selves to a great deal of fruitless pains to learn contentment from those that cannot teach it Yet such is the folly of most of us we seldom look farther than our selves seldom higher than these sublunary things for this learning It is one of our Vanities that we love to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we glory not a little in that knowledge which we have hammered out by our own industry without a Teacher But that which we use to say in other learnings is indeed most true in this He that scorneth to be taught by any but himself shall be sure to have a fool to his Tutor Cato and Seneca and other the wisest and learnedst among Philosophers ever shrunk when they came to the trial and by their timorousness and discontentedness sufficiently discovered the unusefulness or at least the unsufficiency of their best Precepts to effect that blessed tranquillity of mind which they promised Professing themselves in their speculations to be wise in their practice they became fools and were confounded in the vanity of their own imaginations It was a vain brag of him that said it Hoc satis est orare Iovem qui donat aufert Det vitam det opes animum mî aequum ipse parabo He would pray to Iupiter to give him health and to give him wealth but as for Contentment he would never put him to trouble for that If he might have health and wealth he doubted not but he could carve out his own contentment well enough without any of Iupiters help Little did he know the cursed corruption of his own heart and that he stood rather in more need of God for this than for those other things A far wiser man than he hath told us from his own experience and observation and that not in one or two or a few particulars but he saith It is a common evil among men A man to whom God hath given riches wealth and honour so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth yet giveth him not power to eat thereof Eccles. 6. 1 2. But admit his brag had been as true as it was vain and that he could indeed have wrought his own contentment if Iupiter should give him the things he required yet still he had come far short of St. Pauls learning in the Text. For even by his own confession he could not raise himself a contentment out of nothing He must have wealth and health to work upon or else he could do nothing He had not yet attained to that high pitch of learning as in whatsoever state he should be to be therewith content Which yet every poor simple Christian that truly feareth God hath in some measure attained unto who can find contentment also in sickness and in poverty if the Lord be pleased to send them as well as in health and plenty and bless his Name for both in the words of holy Iob The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord. 13. Secondly since Contentment is a point of learning as we see and we know also where it is to be learned or not at all it were well we would all of us be perswaded in the next place to be willing to learn it St. Paul had never had it if he had never learned it and you see what use he had of it and how mightily it did bestead him the whole course of his life after he had learned it And the more to quicken you hereunto take into your consideration amongst other these inducements Consider first the excellency and difficulty of this learning Most Scholars will not satisfie themselves with the knowledge of ordinary and obvious things but are desirous to learn things that are beyond the reach of the vulgar Lo now here is a Lesson worthy the ambition of every Disciple in the School of Jesus Christ such a Lesson as none of the Princes or Philosophers of the World by all their power or wisdom could ever attain unto But that the difficulty discourage you not Consider secondly that as we use to say so indeed there is nothing hard to a willing mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you know But here is the misery of it that as boys love play so we love the world and this maketh us as that doth them truants in our learning And so we are long about a little because we cannot abide to ply it But if we would once set our selves to this spiritual learning with all our might and buckle close to it certainly we should in short time find our selves to have profited in it wondefully
together Thirdly for the order why Patience first and before Consolation Five in all somewhat of each 11. The former Title is the God of Patience Which may be understood either Formaliter or Causaliter either subjectively or effectively as they use to distinguish Or if these School-terms be too obscure then in plain terms thus either of Gods patience or Ours That is to say either of that patience which God useth towards us or of that patience which God by his grace and holy Spirit worketh in us Of Gods patience and long-suffering to us-ward besides pregnant testimony of Scripture we have daily and plentiful experience How slowly he proceedeth to Vengeance being so unworthily provoked how he beareth with our Infirmities Infirmities yea and Negligences too yea and yet higher our very Presumptions and Rebellions how he spreadeth out his hand all the day long waiting day after day year after year for our conversion and amendment that he may have mercy upon us And even thus understood Subjectivè the Text would bear a fair construction and not altogether impertinent to the Apostles scope It might at least intimate to us this that finding so much patience from him it would well become us also to shew some patience to our brethren But yet I conceive it more proper here to understand it effectivè of that Patience which is indeed from God as the Cause but yet in us as the Subject Even as a little after Verse 13. he is called the God of Hope because it is he that maketh us to abound in Hope as the reason is there expressed And as here in the Text he is stiled the God of Consolation for no other reason but that it is he that putteth comfort and chearfulness into our hearts 12. It giveth us clearly to see what we are of our selves and without God nothing but heat and impatience ready to vex our selves and to fly in the faces of our brethren for every trifle You have need of Patience saith the Apostle Heb. 10. We have indeed God help us 1. We live here in a vale of misery where we meet with a thousand petty crosses and vexations quotidianarum molestiarum minutiae in the common road of our lives poor things in themselves and as rationally considered very trifles and Vanity yet able to bring Vexation upon our impatient spirits we had need of patience to digest them 2. We are beset surrounded with a world of temptations assaulting us within and without and on every side and on every turn we had need of Patience to withstand them 3. We are exposed to manifold Injuries Obloquies and Sufferings many times without cause it may be sometimes for a good cause we had need of Patience to bear them 4. We have many rich and precious Promises made us in the Word of Grace of Glory of Outward things of some of which we find as yet but slender performance and of other some but that we are sure the anchor of our hope is so well fixt that it cannot fail no visible probability of their future performance we had need of patience to expect them 5. We have many good duties required to be done of us in our Christian Callings and in our particular vocations for the honour of God and the service of our brethren we had need of patience to go through with them 6. We have to converse with men of different Spirits and Tempers some hot fiery and furious others flat fullen and sluggish some unruly some ignorant some proud and scornful some peevish and obstinate some toyish fickle and humorous all subject to passions and infirmities in one kind or other we had need of patience to frame our conversations to the weaknesses of our brethren and to tolerate what we cannot remedy that by helping to bear each others burdens we may so fulfil the Law of Christ. 13. Great need we have of Patience you see and my Text letteth us see where we have to serve our need God is the God of patience in him and from him it is to be had but not elsewhere Whenever then we find our selves ready to fret at any cross occurent to revenge every injury to rage at every light provocation to droop at the delay of any promise to slugg in our own performances to skew at the infirmities of others take we notice first of the impatience of our own spirits and condemn it then hie we to the fountain of grace there beg for patience and meekness and he that is the God of patience will not deny it us That is the former Title the God of Patience 14. The other is The God of Consolation And the reason is for this can be understood no otherwise than Effective because sound comfort is from God alone I even I am he that comforteth you saith he himself Isa. 51. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me saith David Psal. 23. And the Prophets often The Lord shall comfort Sion The Holy Ghost is therefore called as by his proper Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Comforter Yea perhaps as one among many others or allowing the Greek Article his Emphasis as the chiefest of all the rest which hindereth not but there may be other Comforters besides though haply of less Excellency If there were no more in it but so and the whole allegation should be granted it should be enough in wisdom to make us overlook all them that we might partake of his comforts as the best But in truth the Scriptures so speak of God not as the chiefest but as the only Comforter admitting no partnership in this prerogative Blessed be God c. The Father of Mercies and the God of Consolation 15. May we not then seek for comfort may some say nay do we not sometimes find comfort in Friends Riches Reputation and such other regular pleasures and delights as the creatures afford Verily under God we may always and do sometimes reap comfort from the creatures But those Comforts issue still from him as from the first and only sufficient cause Who is pleased to make use of his Creatures as his instruments either for comfort correction or destruction as seemeth good in his own Eyes When they do supply us with any comfort it is but as the conduit-pipes which serve the offices in a great house with water which yet springeth not from them but is only by them conveyed thither from the foundation or spring-head Set them onc◠against God or do but take them without God you may as soon squeeze water out of a flint-stone or suck nourishment out of a dry breast as gain a drop of comfort from any of the Creatures Those supposed comforts that men seek for or think they have sometimes found in the Creatures are but titular and imaginary not substantial and real Comforts And such however we esteem of them onward they will appear to be at the last for they will certainly fail us in the Evil day
there need no more be said of it All the skill is about the latter branch how we may know that it is done out of very love and faithfulness whensover God causeth us to be troubled 25. For which purpose the best help I can commend unto you for the present is to observe how variously Almighty God manifesteth his love and faithfulness to his children in all their tribulations especially in three respects every one of which marvellously setteth forth his gracious goodness towards us First the End that he aimeth at in them Secondly the Proportion that he holdeth under them and thirdly the Issues that he giveth out of them 26. For the End first He aimeth always at our good Our earthly friends do not ever so no not our Parents that love us best The Apostle telleth us and experience proveth it that they chasten us sometimes for their own pleasure He meaneth that sometimes when they are distempered with passion and in an outragious mood they beat the poor child either without cause or more than there is cause rather to satisfie their own fury than to benefit the child But he doth it always for our profit saith he Heb. 12. If I should enter here into the Common place de bono afflictionis I should not well know either where to begin or when to make an end In the whole course of Divinity I find not a field of larger scope than that is I shall therefore bring you but into one corner of it and shew you how God out of very faithfulness maketh use of these troubles for the better draining out of some of those evil corruptions that would otherwise so abound in us like noysom humours in the body that they would endanger a plethory in our souls especially these four Pride Security Worldly-mindedness and Incompassion 27. Pride must be first else is it not right And we have store of that in us Any toy puffeth us up like a bladder and filleth us full of our selves Take the instance but in our knowledge A sorry thing God knoweth he that hath most what he knoweth is not the thousandth part of what he knoweth not and yet how strangly are some over leavened with a very small pittance of it Scientia inflat the Apostle might well say knowledge puffeth up So do riches and honour and praise and valour and beauty and wit or indeed any thing A bush of hair will do it where it groweth yea and where it groweth not Now prosperity cherisheth this corruption wonderfully as ill-humours abound most in full bodies and ill weeds grow rankest in a fat earth and setteth a man so far from God and above himself that he neither well knoweth the one nor the other Our Lord then when he seeth us thus high set sendeth afflictions and troubles to take down these unkindly swellings to prick the bladder of our pride and let out some of the wind and so he bringeth us into some better acquaintance with our selves again King Philip had a Crier to put him daily in remembrance that he was but a man lest he should forget it and think himself a little God as his Son Alexander did soon after But there is no remembrancer can do this office better than affiictions can Put them in fear O Lord that the Heathen may know themselves to be but men Psal. 9. If afflictions were not would not even that be soon forgotten 28. Security is next Ease and prosperity fatteneth the heart and maketh us drousie and heavy in Gods service It casteth us into a spiritual Lethargy maketh us settle upon our lees and flatter our selves as if we were out of gunshot and no evil could reach us Soul take thine ease eat and drink thou hast provision laid up before-hand for many years yet to come Marvel not to hear ungodly men vaunt it so in a vapouring manner Psal 10 Tush I shall never be removed there shall no harm happen unto me when holy David upon some little longer continuance of prosperity than usual did almost say even as they he thought his hill so strong that he should never be removed Psal. 30. When God seeth us thus setling upon our lees he thinketh it high time to pour us from vessel to vessel to keep us from growing musty He layeth his hand upon us and shaketh us out of our dead sleep and by laying trouble upon our loyns driveth us to seek to him for remedy and succour He dealt so with David when in his prosperity he had said he should never be removed as we heard but now out of Psalm 30. the next news we hear of him is He was removed God out of very faithfulness caused him to be troubled and he was the better for it Thou didst turn away thy face from me and I was troubled Then cried I unto thee O Lord and gat me to my Lord right humbly as it there followeth in that Psalm In the time of my trouble I sought the Lord saith he elsewhere Belike in the time of his ease he either sought him not or not so carefully In their afflictions they will seek me diligently Hosea 5. but negligently enough out of affliction Absolon had a mind to speak with Ioab but Ioab had no mind to speak with him Absolon sendeth for him one messenger after another still Ioab cometh not Well thinketh Absolon he will not come but I will fetch him and so he sendeth some of his people to fire his corn-fields and that fetcheth him then he cometh running in all haste to know what the matter was So God sendeth for us messenger after messenger one Sermon after another to bring us in we little regard it but sit it out and will not come in till he fire our corn or do us some displeasure and that if any thing will bring us 29. Thirdly we are full of worldly-mindedness Adhaesit pavimento as David speaketh in this Psalm so may we say but quite in another sence Our soul cleaveth to the dust We all complain the world is naught and so it is God mend it tot us in maligno nothing but vanity and wickedness and yet as bad as it is our hearts hanker after it out of all measure And the more we prosper in it the more we grow in love with it the faster riches or honours or any of these other vanities encrease the more eagerly do we pursue them and the more fondly set our hearts upon them Only afflictions do now and then take us off somewhat and a little embitter the lusciousness of them to our taste That we have any apprehension at all of the vanity of the world we may thank for it those vexations of spirit that are interwoven therewithal Loving it as we do being so full of those vexations as it is how absurdly should we doat upon it if we should meet with nothing in it to vex us 30. Lastly we are full of
Incompassion Our brethren that are in distress though they be our fellow-members yet have we little fellow-feeling of their griefs but either we insult over them or censure them or at best neglect them especially when our selves are at ease When we stretch our selves upon Ivory beds eat the fat and drink the sweet and chaunt it to the Viols live merry and full it is great odds the afflictions of Ioseph will be but slenderly remembred no more than Lazarus was at the rich mans gates where he found no pity but what the dogs shewed him But then when it cometh to be our own case when we fall into sicknesses disgraces or other distresses our selves Non ignara mali Then do our bowels which before were crusted up begin to relent a little towards our poorer brethren and our own misery maketh us the more charitable Then we remember those that are in bonds whom we forgat before as Pharaohs Butler forgat Ioseph when we our selves are bound with them and those that are in adversity when we find and feel that we our selves are but flesh Thus God out of very faithfulness causeth us to be troubled as for our good many other ways so particularly in purging out thereby some of that Pride and Security and Worlidiness and Incompassion besides sundry other Corruptions that abound in us 31. That for the End Next God manifesteth his faithfulness to his servants in their troubles by the proportion he holdeth therein whether we compare therewith their deservings their strength or their comforts very measurably in all First our sufferings are far short of our deservings He doth ever chasten us citra condignum He dealeth not with us after our sins neither rewardeth us after our iniquities Psal. 103. After what then Even after his own loving kindness and fatherly affection towards us Even as a father pitieth his own children as it there followeth And how that is every father can tell you Pro magnâ culpâ parum supplicii satis est patri When we for drinking in iniquity like water had deserved to drink off the cup of fury to the bottom dregs and all he maketh us but sip a little overly of the very brim And when he might in justice lash us with Scorpions he doth but scourge us with rushes The Lord promised his people Ier. 30. that though he could not in justice nor would leave them altogether unpunished yet he would correct them in measure and not make a full end of them And he did indeed according to his promise they found his faithfulness therein and acknowledged it seeing that our God hath punished less than our iniquities deserve Ezra 9. Iacob confessed that he was less than the least of Gods mercies and we must confess that we are more than the greatest of his corrections 32. Secondly he proportioneth our sufferings to our strength As a discreet Physician considereth as well as the malignity of the disease the strength of the Patient and prescribeth for him accordingly both for the ingredients and dose Abraham and Iob and David and St. Paul the Lord put them to great Trials because he had endowed them with great strength But as for most of us God is careful to lay but common troubles upon us because we have no more but common strength as Iacob had a good care not to over-drive the weaker cattel If he shall hereafter think good to send such a messenger of Satan against us as shall buffet us with stronger blows doubtless if we be his friends and do but seek to him for it he will give us such an addition of strength and grace as shall be sufficient for our safety The Apostle both observeth God's thus dealing with us and imputeth it also to his faithfulness 1 Cor. 10. God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able Either Cain said not truly or if he did the fault was in himself not in God when he complained that his punishment was greater than he could bear God is not so hard a Master to us for all we are so slack and untoward in our service as either to require that of us which he will not enable us to do or lay that upon us which he will not enable us to bear if we will but lay our hands and our shoulders thereunto and put out our strength and endeavours to the utmost 33. Thirdly he proportioneth us out also comforts sutable to our afflictions every whit as large as they and more effectual to preserve us from drooping and to sustain our souls in the midst of our greatest sufferings For as the smallest temptation would foil us if God should with-hold his grace from us but if he vouchsafe us the assistance of that we are able to withstand the greatest so the least afflictions would over-whelm our spirits if he should with-hold his comforts from us but if he afford us them we are able to bear up under the greatest And God doth afford unto his children in all their distresses though not perhaps always such comforts as they desire yet ever such as he knoweth and they find to be both meet and sufficient Spiritual comforts first and they are the chiefest the testimony of a good Conscience from within and the light of God's favourable Countenance from above These put more true joy into the heart than the want of Corn or Wine or Oyl or any outward thing can sorrow And by these our inner man is so renewed and strengthened that yet we faint not whatsoever becometh of our outward man no not though it should perish David had troubles multitude of troubles troubles that touched him at the very heart but the comforts of God in his soul gave him more refreshing than all those troubles could work him vexation Psal. 94. And St. Paul found that still as his sufferings encreased his comforts had withal such a proportionable rise that where those abounded these did rather superabound 2 Cor. 1. 34. These inward comforts are sufficient even alone Yet God knoweth our frame so well and so far tendereth our weakness that he doth also afford us such outward comforts as he seeth convenient for us A small matter perhaps in bulk and to the eye but yet such as by his mercy giveth us mighty refreshing For as any little affliction scarce considerable in it self is yet able to work us much sorrow if God mean to make a rod of it so any otherwise inconsiderable accident when God is pleased to make a comfort of it is able to chear us up beyond belief The coming of Titus out of Achaia into Macedonia seemed to be a matter of no great consequence yet coming at such a time and in the nick as it were St. Paul remembreth it as a great mercy from God and a great comfort to him in 2 Cor. 7. He was much distressed it seemeth at that time with fightings without
or his own Mother-wit that it may appear to whom he was beholding for it the Story saith the Devil put it into the heart of Iudas to betray his Master And the infusion of that spirit of Satan was so strong in him that it did after a sort transform him into the same image insomuch as he is called by his name Have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil Let all Iudas-like traitors know lest they be too proud and sacrifice to their own wits to whom they owe their wisdom 25. But perhaps you will say this consideration can weigh but little For as Satan by his spirit infuseth wisdom into the children of this world so God by his Spirit infuseth wisdom into the children of light and then since the spirit of God is stronger than the spirit of Satan it should rather follow on the contrary that the wisdom of the children of light should exceed the wisdom of the children of this world The fullest answer hereunto would depend upon the prosecution of the next point the limitation which I shall have occasion to speak something unto anon to wit that the wisdom of the children of this world being but of a very base metal in comparison though it be more in bulk is yet far less in value as a little Diamond may be more worth than a whole quarry of ragge 26. But I answer rather which is sufficient for the present because it leadeth us also to a second reason of the difference That the spirit of God in the children of light doth not act ad ultimum sui posse according to the utmost of his Almighty power but according to the condition of the subject in whom he worketh leaving him as rational Creature to the freedom of his will and as a child of Adam obnoxious to the carnal motions of original concupiscence and after the good pleasure of his own will withal When Satan therefore infuseth of his spirit into a man he hath this advantage that he hath all the wisdom of the flesh to joyn with him readily and to assist him without any thing within to make opposition there-against and to counter-work the working of that spirit that it should not take effect and so the work meeting with some help and no resistance is soon done Facilis descensus as a stone when it is set a going tumbleth down the hill apace or as a Boat that having wind and tide with it runneth glib and merrily down the stream But when God infuseth his spirit into a man though that spirit once entred maketh him partly Willing yet is there in every child of Adam so long as he liveth here another inward principle still which the Scripture use to call by the name of flesh which lusteth against the good Spirit of God and opposeth it and much weakneth the working of it From whence it cometh to pass that the Spirit of God worketh so slowly and so imperfectly in us like a ship adverso flumine much ado to tug it along against the current or the stone which made Sisyphus sweat to roll up the hill although it tumbled down again always of it self 27. Thirdly since it is natural to most men out of self-love to make their own dispositions and thoughts the measure whereby to judge of other mens hence it cometh to pass that honest plain-dealing men are not very apt unless they see apparent reason for it to suspect ill of others Because they mean well themselves they are inclinable to believe that all other men do so too But men that have little truth or honesty themselves think all men to have as little and so are full of fears and jealousies and suspicions of every body Mala mens malus animus Now this maketh them stir up their own wits the more and bestir themselves with the greater endeavours because they dare trust no body else and so they become the more cautelous and circumspect the more vigilant industrious and active in all their enterprises and worldly concernments and consequently do the seldomer miscarry Whereas on the contrary those that out of the simplicity of their own heart suspect no double-dealing by others are the more secure and credulous by so much less solicitous to prevent dangers and injuries by how much less they fear them and consequently are often deceived by those they did not mistrust Which very thing the world being apt withal to judge well or ill of mens counsels by their events hath brought simplicity it self though a most commendable vertue under the reproach of folly we call those simple fellows whom we count fools and hath won to craft and dissimulation the reputation of wisdom 28. Lastly the consciousness of an ill cause unable to support it self by the strength of its own goodness driveth the worldling to seek to hold it up by his wit industry and such like other assistances like a ruinous house ready to drop down if it be not shored up with props or stayed with buttresses You may observe it in Law-suits the worse cause ever the better solicited An honest man that defireth but to keep his own trusteth to the equity of his cause hopeth that will carry when it cometh to hearing and so he retaineth counsel giveth them information and instructions in the case getteth his witnesses ready and then thinketh he need trouble himself no farther But a crafty companion that thinketh to put another beside his right will not rest so content but he will be dealing with the Iury perhaps get one packt for his turn tampering with the witnesses tempting the Iudge himself it may be with a Letter or a Bribe he will leave no stone unmoved no likely means how indirect soever unattempted to get the better of the day and to cast his Adversary You may observe it likewise in Church affairs A regular Minister sitteth quietly at home followeth his study doth his duty in his own Cure and teacheth his people truly and faithfully to do theirs keepeth himself within his own station and medleth no further But schismatical spirits are more pragmatical they will not be contained within their own Circle but must be flying out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they must have an Oar in every Boat offering yea thrusting themselves into every Pulpit before they be sent for running from Town to Town from House to House that they may scatter the seeds of Sedition and Superstition at every table and in every corner And all this so wise are they in their generation to serve their own belly and to make a prey of their poor seduced Proselytes for by this means the people fall unto them and thereout suck they no small advantage You may observe it also in most other things but these instances may suffice 29. The point thus proved and cleared that the children of this world are wiser than the children of light that we may make some use
day of their adversity protect the innocent from such as are too mighty or too crafty for him hew in pieces the snares and break the jaws of the cunning and cruel oppressor and deliver those that are drawn either to death or undoing 24. The course is preposterous and vain which some Men ambitious of honour and reputation take to get themselves put into the place of Magistracy and Authority having neither head nor heart for it I mean when they have neither knowledge and experience in any measure of competency to understand what belongeth to such places nor yet any care or purpose at all to do God their King and Country good service therein The wise Son of Sirac checketh such ambitious spirits for their unseasonable forwardness that way Sirac 7. Seek not of the Lord preeminence neither of the King the seat of honour Think not he hath any meaning to dissuade or dishearten Men of quality and parts for medling with such employments for then the service should be neglected No Men that are gifted for it although the service cannot be attended without some both trouble and charge yet should not for the avoiding either of charge or trouble indeed they cannot without sin seek either to keep themselves out of the Commission or to get themselves off again being on His meaning clearly is only to repress the ambition of those that look after the Title because they think it would be some glory to them but are not able for want either of skill or spirit or through sloth nor willing to perform the duties And so he declareth himself a little after there Seek not to be a Iudge being not able to take away iniquity lest at any time thou fear the person of the mighty and lay a stumbling-block in the way of thy uprightness 25. Did honour indeed consist which is the ambitious Man's error either only or chiefly in the empty Title we might well wish him good luck with his honour But since true Honour hath a dependence upon vertue being the wages as some or as others have rather chosen to call it the shadow of it it is a very vanity to expect the one without some care had of the other Would any Man not forsaken of his senses look for a shadow where there is no solid body to cast it Or not of his reason demand wages where he hath done no service Yet such is the perversness of our corrupt nature through sloth and self-love that what God would have go together the Honour and the Burden we would willingly put asunder Every Man almost would draw to himself as much of the honour as he can if it be a matter of credit or gain then Why should not I be respected in my place as well as another But yet withal would every Man almost put off from himself as much of the burden as he can If it be a matter of business and trouble then Why may not another Man do it as well as I Like lazy servants so are we that love to be before-hand with their wages and behind-hand with their work 26. The truth is there is an Outward and there is an Inward Honour The Outward honour belongeth immediately to the Place and the place casteth it up on the Person so that whatsoever person holdeth the place it is meet he should have the honour due to the place whether he deserve it or not But the Inward honour pitcheth immediately upon the Person and but reflecteth upon the Place and that Honour will never be had without desert What the Apostle said of the Ministry is in some sense also true of the Migistracy they that labour faithfully in either are worthy of double Honour Labour or labour not there is a single honour due to them and yet not so much to them as to their Places and Callings but yet to them too for the places sake and we are unjust if we with-hold it from them though they should be most unworthy of it But the double Honour that inward Honour of the heart to accompany the outward will not be had where there is not worth and industry in some tolerable measure to deserve it The knee-worship and the cap-worship and the lip-worship they may have that are in worshipful places and callings though they do little good in them but the Heart-worship they shall never have unless they be ready to do Iustice and to shew Mercy and be diligent and faithful in their Callings 27. Another fruit and effect of this duty where it is honestly performed are the hearty prayers and blessings of the poor as on the contrary their bitter curses and imprecations where it is slighted or neglected We need not look so far to find the truth hereof asserted in both the branches we have a Text for it in this very Chapter Prov. 24. He that saith unto the wicked Thou art righteous him shall the people curse nations shall abhor him But to them that rebuke him shall be delight and a good blessing shall come upon them Every Man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer As he that with-holdeth corn in the time of dearth having his Garners full pulleth upon himself deservedly the curses of the poor but they will pour out blessings abundantly upon the head of him that in compassion to them will let them have it for their mony Prov. 11. So he that by his place having power and means to succour those that are distressed and to free them from wrongs and oppressions will seasonably put forth himself and his power to do them right shall have many a blessing from their mouths and many a good wish from their hearts but many more bitter curses both from the mouth and heart by how much men are more sensible of discourtesies than of benefits and readier to curse than to bless if they find themselves neglected And the blessings and cursings of the poor are things not to be wholly disregarded Indeed the curse causless shall not come neither is the Magistrate to regard the curses of bad people so far as either to be deterred thereby from punishing them according to their desert or to think he shall fare ever the worse doing but his duty for such curses For such words are but wind and as Solomon saith elsewhere He that observeth the wind shall not sow so he that regardeth the speeches of vain persons shall never do his duty as he ought to do In such cases that of David must be their meditation and comfort Though they curse yet bless thou And as there is little terrour in the causless curses so there is as little comfort in the causless blessings of vain evil Men. But yet where there is cause given although he cannot be excused from sin that curseth for we ought to bless and to pray for not to curse even those that wrong us and persecute us yet vae homini withal woe to the
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 do what lieth in your power to the utmost for the curbing of Sycophants and Oppressors and the protecting of the peaceable and innocent use the Sword that God by his Deputy hath put into your hands for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise and safety of those that do well So shall the hearts of every good Man be enlarged towards you and their tongues to honour you and to bless you and to pray for you Then shall God pour out his blessings abundantly upon you and yours yea it may be upon others too upon the whole Land by your means and for your sakes The Lord by his Prophet more than once hath given us some comfortable assurance of such blessed effects to follow upon such premisses The words are worthy to be taken notice of If thou throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour if thou oppress not the stranger the fatherless and the widow and shed not innocent blood in this place Then will I cause you to dwell in this place for ever and ever Jer. 7. And in Ier. 22. Execute ye judgment and righteousness and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor and do no wrong do no violence to the stranger the fatherless nor the widow neither shed innocent blood in this place For if ye do this thing indeed then shall there enter in by the gates of this house Kings sitting upon the throne c. But if ye will not hear these words I swear by my self faith the Lord c. 32. Concerning which and other-like passages frequent in the holy Prophets I see what may be readily opposed True it is will some say where these things are constantly and generally performed a national Iudgment may thereby be removed or a Blessing procured But what are two or three of us if we should set our selves to it with all our strength able to do towards the turning away of God's Iudgments if there be otherwise a general neglect of the Duty in the Land There is something of truth I confess in this Objection for doubtless those passages in the Prophets aim at a general reformation But yet consider first we have to deal with a wonderful gracious and merciful God slow to anger and of great kindness and such a one as will easily be induced to repent him of the evil And who can tell but he may return and repent and leave a blessing behind him where but two or three in a whole Nation do in conscience of their duty and in compassion of the State set themselves unfeignedly to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with their God though the generality should be corrupt Especially since we have in the second place such excellent precedents of the riches of his Grace and Goodness in this kind upon record that we might not be without hope if we do our part tho we were left even alone God was ready to have spared the five Cities of old Gen. 18. if there had been in them to be found but twice so many righteous Men. But he did actually spare Israel by instantly calling in a great plague which he had a little before sent among them for their sin upon one single act of Iustice done by one single Man Phineas moved with an holy zeal did but stand up and execute judgment upon two shameless offenders and the plague was stayed Psal. 106. Add hereunto that most gracious Proclamation published Ier. 5. and you cannot want encouragement to do every Man his own part whatsoever the rest do Run to and fro through the streets of Ierusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof if you can find a Man if there be any that executeth Iudgment that seeketh the Truth and I will pardon it Or say thirdly that the sins of a Nation should be grown to that ripeness that the few righteous that are in it could not any longer adjourn the Iudgment for as there is a time of Mercy wherein the righteousness of one or a few may reprieve a whole Nation from destruction so when the appointed time of their fatal stroke is come tho Noah Job and Daniel should be in the midst of it they could prevail no farther than the delivery of their own souls yet even there those that have been faithful shall have this benefit that they shall be able to say with comfort either in the one sense or in the other Liberavi animam meam That is They shall either be preserved from being overwhelmed in the common destruction having their life given them for a prey and as a brand snatched out of the fire as Noah escaped when all the World was drowned and Lot from the deflagration of Sodom or if God suffer them to be involved in the publick calamities have this comfort to sustain their Souls withal that they were not wanting to do their part toward the preventing thereof But howsoever why should any Man fourthly to shift off his duty unseasonably obtrude upon us a new piece of Metaphysicks which our Philosophers hitherto never owned in abstracting the general reformation from the particulars For what is the general other than the particulars together And if ever there be a general reformation wrought the particulars must make it up Do not thou then vainly talk of Castles in the air and of I know not what general reformation but if thou truly desirest such a thing put to thy hand and lay the first stone in thine own particular and see what thy example can do If other particulars move with thee and so a general reformation follow in some good mediocrity thou hast whereof to rejoice that thou hadst thy part a leading part in so good a work But if others will not come on end chearfully so as the work do not rise to any perfection thou hast yet wherewithal to comfort thee that the fault was not thine 33. Thus have you heard sundry reasons and inducements to stir you up to the chearful performance of the duty contained in the Text of doing justice and shewing mercy in delivering the oppressed Some in respect of God who hath given us first his express command to which our obedience and secondly his own blessed example to which our conformity is expected Some in respect of our selves because first whatsoever power we have for the present it was given us for this end that we might therewithal be helpful to others and we know not secondly in what need we may stand hereafter of like help from others Some in respect of our poor distressed brethren who deserve our pity and best furtherance considering first the
and punisheth it wheresoever he findeth it with severe chastisements in his own dearest servants and children but with fiery vengeance and fury poured out upon his Adversaries Where he enjoineth a duty he looketh for obedience and therefore where the duty is unperformed the disobedience is sure to be punished let the offender pretend and alledge never so largely to excuse it Quid verba audiam factacum videam It is the work he looketh at in all his retributions and where the work is not done vain words will not ward off the blows that are to be inflicted for the neglect nor any whit lessen them either in their number or weight Will they not rather provoke the Lord in his just indignation to lay on both more and heavier strokes For where a Duty is ill neglected and the neglect ill excused the Offender deserveth to be doubly punished once for the omission of the Duty and once more for the vanity of the Excuse 36. Let me beseech you therefore dearly beloved brethren for the love of God and your own safety to deal clearly and impartially betwixt God and your own Souls in this Affair without shuffling or dawbing and to make straight paths to your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way Remember that they that trust to lying vanities and false pretences are no better forsake their own mercy And that feigned excuses are but as a staff of Reed a very weak stay for a heavy body to trust to for support which will not only crack under the weight but the sharp splinters thereof will also run up into the hand of him that leaneth upon it You see what God looketh at It is the heart that he pondereth and the Soul that he observeth and the work that he recompenseth Look therefore that your hearts be true and your souls upright and your works perfect that you may never stand in need of such poor and beggarly shifts as forged pretences are nor be driven to fly for refuge to that which will nothing at all profit you in the day of wrath and of trial Let your desires be unfeigned and your endeavours faithful to the utmost of your power to do Iustice and to shew Mercy to your Brethren and to discharge a good Conscience in the performance of all those duties that lie upon you by virtue either of your general Callings as Christians or of your particular Vocations whatever they be with all diligence and godly wisdom that you may be able to stand before the Iudgment-seat of the great God with comfort and out of an humble and well-grounded confidence of his gracious acceptance of your imperfect but sincere desires and endeavours in Christ not fear to put your selves upon the trial each of you in the words of holy David Psal. 139. Try me O God and seek the ground of my heart prove me and examine my thoughts Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me and lead me in the way everlasting in the way that leadeth to everlasting life Which great Mercy the Lord of his infinite goodness vouchsafe unto us all for his dear Son's sake Iesus Christ our blessed Saviour To whom c. AD MAGISTRATUM The Third Sermon At the Assizes at Notingham in the Year 1634. at the Request of ROBERT MELLISH Esq then High-Sheriff of that County 1 Sam. 12. 3. Behold here I am witness against me before the Lord and before his Anointed Whose Oxe have I taken or whose Ass have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith And I will restore it you 1. ABold and just challenge of an old Iudg made before all the People upon his resignal of the Government into the hands of a new King Samuel was the Man Who having continued whilst Eli lived in the Service of the Tabernacle as a Levite and a private Man was after his death to undergo a new business in the exercise of Publick Iudicature For that phanatical Opinion which hath possessed some in these later times That no Ecclesiastical Person might lawfully exercise any Secular Power was in those days unheard of in the World Eli though a a Priest was a Iudg also and so was Samuel though a Levite after him And we find not that either the People made any question at all or that themselves made any scruple at all of the lawfulness of those concurrent Powers Samuel was now as it is collected by those that have travelled in the Chronology aged about five and thirty Years and so in his full strength when he was first Iudg Which so long as it continued in any measure he little respected his own case in comparison of the common Good but took his yearly Circuits about the Country keeping Courts in the most convenient places abroad besides his constant sittings at Rama where his dwelling was for the hearing and determining of Causes to the great ease of all and content no doubt of the most or best 2. But by that he had spent about 30 years more in his Countries Service he could not but find such decays in his Body as would call upon him in his now declining Age to provide for some ease under that great burden of Years and Business Which that he might so do as that yet the publick Service should not be neglected he thought good to joyn his two Sons in commission with him He therefore maketh them Iudges in Israel in hope that they would frame themselves by his example to judg the people with such-like diligence and uprightness as himself had done But the young Men as they had far other aims than the good old Father had so they took quite other ways than he did Their care was not to advance Iustice but to fill their own Coffers which made them soon to turn aside after lucre to take bribes and to pervert judgment This fell out right for the Elders of Israel who now had by their miscarriage a fair opportunity opened to move at length for that they had long thirsted after viz. the change of the Government They gather themselves therefore together that the cry might be the fuller and to Ramah they come to Samuel with many complaints and alledgments in their mouths But the short of the business was a King they must have and a King they will have or they will not rest satisfied It troubled Samuel not a little both to hear of the misdemeanour of his sons of whom he had hoped better and to see the wilfulness of a discontented people bent upon an Innovation Yet he would consult with God before he would give them their answer And then he answereth them not by peremptorily denying them the thing they so much desired but by earnestly dissuading them from so inordinate a desire But they persisting obstinately in their first resolution by
We find it expressed with that adjunct Heb. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the immutability of his Counsel And it is here laid down as the great foundation of our Christian hope and the very strength of all our consolation Quod scripsi scripsi What he hath written in the secret Book of his determinate Counsel though it be counsel to us and uncertain until either he reveal it or the event discover it yet is it most certain in it self and altogether unchangeable We follow our own devices many times which we afterwards repent and truly our second thoughts are most an end the wiser But with God there is no after-counsel to correct the errors of the former he knoweth not any such thing as repentance it is altogether hid from his eyes He is indeed sometimes in the Scriptures said to repent as Gen. 6. and in the business of Nineveh and elsewhere But it is not ascribed unto God properly but as other humane passions and affections are as grief sorrow c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to import some actions of God eventually and according to the manner of our understanding like unto the operations which those passions produce in us but have nothing at all of the nature of those passions in them So that still that is eternally true which was spoken indeed by a false Prophet but whose spirit and tongue was at that time guided by the God of Truth Num. 23. 19. God is not a Man that he shall lye Neither the Son of Man that he should repent His Counsel therefore standeth ever one and the same not reversed by repentance or countermanded by any after counsel 18. Followeth the third Difference which consisteth in their Efficacy that is expressed in the Text by their different manner of Existing Many devices may be in a man's heart but it is not in his power to make them stand unless God will they shall never be accomplished But in despight of all the World the counsel of the Lord shall stand nothing can hinder or disappoint that but that it shall have the intended effect 19. The Heart although sometimes it be put for the appetitive part of the Soul only as being the proper seat of the desires and affections as the Head or Brain is of the conceptions or thoughts yet is it very often in Scripture and so it is here taken more largely so as to comprehend the whole Soul in all its faculties as well the apprehensive as the appetitive and consequently taketh in the Thoughts as well as the Desires of the Soul Whence we read of the thoughts of the heart of thoughts arising in the heart of thoughts proceeding from out the heart and the like The meaning then is that multitudes and variety of devices may be in a Man's head or in his heart in his thoughts and desires in his intentions and hopes but unless God give leave there they must stay He is not able to bring them on further to put them in execution and to give them a real existency They imagined such a device as they are not able to perform Psal. 21. Whatsoever high conceits Men may have of the fond imaginations of their own hearts as if they were some goodly things yet the Lord that better understandeth us than we do our selves knows all the thoughts of Men that they are but vain Psal. 94. And this he knoweth not only for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is so by his omniscience and prescience but for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too which is the most perfect kind of knowledg why it is so even because his hand is in it to render them vain It is he that maketh the devices of the people yea and of Princes too as it is added in some Translations to be of none effect Psal. 33. 20. Possibly the heart may be so full that it may run over make some offers outward by the mouth for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and the tongue may boast great things and talk high It may so indeed but that boasting doth not any thing at all to further the business or to give the thoughts of the heart a firm bottom or base whereon to rest it many times rather helps to overturn them the sooner We call it vapouring and well may we so call it For as a vapour that ariseth from the earth is scattred with the wind vanisheth and cometh to nothing so are all the imaginations and devices that are conceived in the heart of Man blasted when the Lord bloweth upon them and then they come to nothing 21. But as for the Counsels of his heart they shall stand Rooted and established like the Mountains The foundation of God standeth firm though spoken by the Apostle in another sence is most true in this also What he hath purposed either himself to do or to have done by any of his Creatures shall most certainly and infallibility come to pass in every circumstance just as he hath appointed it It is established in the Heavens and tho all the Powers in Earth and Hell should joyn their forces together set to all their shoulders and strength against it and thrust sore at it to make it fall yet shall they never be able to move it or shake it much less to remove it from the place where it standeth or to overthrow it His Name is Iehovah it signifieth as much as Essence or Being 1. Not only because of the eâ—ternity of his own being and that from himself and underived from any other 2. Nor yet because he is the Author of Being to all other things that are 3. But also for that he is able to give a Being reality and subsistence to his own Will and Word to all his Purposes and Promises Da voci tuae vocem virtutiâ— What he hath appointed none can disappoint His counsel doth shall must stand My Counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure Isa. 46. 10. 22. The consideration of these differences hath sufficiently discovered the weakness frailty and unsuccessfulness of Mens devices on the one side and on the other side the stability unchangeableness and unfailingness of God's Counsels Whereof the consideration of the Reasons of the said differences will give us yet farther assurance and those Reasons taken from the Soveraignty the Eternity the Wisdom and the Power of God 23. First God is the prima causa the soveraign Agent and first mover in every motion and inclination of the Creature Men yea and Angels too who far excel them in strength are but secondary Agents subordinate Causes and as it were Instruments to do his Will Now the first cause hath such a necessary influence into all the operations of second causes that if the concurrence thereof be with-held their operations must cease The Provdence of God in ordering the World and the acting of the Creatures by his actuation of them is
will think you Surely not thousands have resisted and daily do resist that will the Will and the Commandments of God But he meaneth it of his secret will the will of his everlasting Counsels and purposes and that too of an effectual resistance such a resistance as shall hinder the accomplishment of that Will For otherwise there are thousands that offer resistance to that also if their resistance could prevail But all resistance as well of the one sort as of the other is in vain as to that end Though hand joyn in hand it will be to no purpose the right hand of the Lord will have the preeminence when all is done Associate your selves O ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces Take counsel together and it shall come to nought speak the word and it shall not stand Isa 8. 9 10. But the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand and none shall be able to hinder it 31. Lay all these together the Soveraignty the Eternity the Wisdom and the Power of God and in all these God will be glorified and you will see great reason why the Lord should so often blast mens devices bring all their counsels and contrivances to nought and take the wise in their own craftiness Even to let men see in their disappointment the vanity as all humane devices that they might learn not to glory in or trust to their own wisdom or strength or any thing else in themselves or in any creature but that he that glorieth might glory in the Lord only 32. Let every one of us therefore learn that I may now proceed to the Inferences from the consideration of what we have heard First of all not to trust too much to our own wit neither to lean to our own understanding Nor please our selves over-much in the vain devices imaginations fancies or dreams of our own hearts Tho our Purposes should be honest and not any ways sinful either in Matter End Means or other Circumstance yet if we should be over-confident of their success rest too much upon our own skill contrivances or any worldly help like enough they may deceive us It may please God to suffer those that have worse purposes propose to themselves baser ends or make use of more unwarrantable means to prosper to our grief and loss yea possibly to our destruction if it be but for this only to chastise us for resting too much upon outward helps and making flesh our arm and not relying ourselves intirely upon him and his salvation 33. Who knoweth but Iudgment may nay who knoweth not that Iudgment must saith the Apostle that is in the ordinary course of God's providence usually doth begin at the house of God Who out of his tender care of their well-doing will sooner punish temporally I mean his own children when they take pride in their own inventions and sooth themselves in the devices of their own hearts than he will his professed enemies that stand at defiance with him and openly fight against him These he suffereth many times to go on in their impieties and to climb up to the height of their ambitious desires that in the mean time he may make use of their injustice and oppression for the scourging of those of his own houshold and in the end get himself the more glory by their destruction 34. But then secondly howsoever Judgment may begin at the house of God most certain it is it shall not end there but the hand of God and his revenging justice shall at last reach the house of the wicked oppressor also And that not with temporary punishments only as he did correct his own but without repentance evil shall hunt them to their everlasting destruction that despise his known Counsels to follow the cursed devices and imaginations of their own naughty hearts The Persecutors of God in his servants of Christ in his members that say in the pride of their hearts with our tongues with our wits with our arms and armies we will prevail We are they that ought to speak and to rule Who is Lord our us We have Counsel and strength for war c. what do they but even kick against the pricks as the phrase is Act. 9. which pierce into the heels of the kicker and work him much anguish but themselves remain as they were before without any alteration or abatement of their sharpness God delighteth to get himself honour and to shew the strength of his arm by scattering such proud Pharaohs in the imaginations of their hearts and that especially when they are arrived and not ordinarily till then almost at the very highest pitch of their designs When they are in the top of their jollity and gotten to the uppermost roundle of the ladder then doth he put to his hand tumble them down headlong at once and then how suddenly do they consume perish and come to a fearful end Then shall they find but too late what their pride would not before suffer them to believe to be a terrible truth that all their devices were but folly and that the counsel of the Lord must stand 35. A terrible truth indeed to them But Thirdly Of most comfortable consideration to all those that with patience and chearfulness suffer for the testimony of God or a good conscience and in a good cause under the insolencies of proud and powerful persecutors When their enemies have bent all the strength of their wits and power to work their destruction God can and as he seeth it instrumental to his everlasting counsels will infatuate all their counsels elude all their devices and stratagems bring all their preparations enterprises to nought and turn them all to their destruction his own glory and the welfare of his servants 1. Either by turning their counsels into folly as he did Achitophel's 2. Or by diversion finding them work else where as Saul was fain to leave the pursuit of David when he and his Men had compassed him about and were ready to take him upon a message then brought him of an invasion of the Land by the Philistines And as he sent a blast upon Senacherib by a rumour that he heard of the King of Aethiopia's coming forth to war against him which caused him to desert his intended siege of Ierusalem 3. Or by putting a Blessing into the mouth of their enemies instead of a curse as he guided the mouth of Balaâ—m contrary to his intendment and desire 4. Or he can melt the hearts of his enemies into a kind of compassion or cause them to relent so as to be at peace with them when they meet tho they came out against them with minds and preparations of hostility as he did Lâ—ban's first and Esau's afterwards against Iacob 36. Howsoever some way or other he can curb and restrain either their malice or