her his drudge by denying her the honour of a tender respect and loving condescension Which kinde of honour is in some measure and according to their different proportions due also to be given by Parents to their children and by the greatest Masters to the meanest of their servants 6. We have another example of the like use of the word 1 Tim. 5. where S. Paul biddeth Timothy honour widdows that are widdows indeed Timothy was a man of eminent rank in the Church of God a Bishop and that of no mean See but of Ephesus a famous city and the chief Metropolis of Asia and the Widows he there speaketh of were poore old women such as in those times for the meane services they were to performe to the Saints were called also Diaconissae and were therefore to be maintained out of the contributions of the Church and the common stock The parties being of such wide distance it had been most unseemly for him to have given to them but extreme and most ridiculous arrogancy in them to have expected from him any honour properly so called honour of reverence and subjection But the honour he was to give them was such as was meet for persons of that quality especially in relation to their maintenance that in the execution of his pastoral charge amongst his other cares he should take care that those widdows should be provided for in fitting sort that so in the Province of Ephesus there might be no cause of such complaint as had formerly been by the Grecians at Ierusalem Acts 6. that their widows were neglected in the daily ministration 7. In like manner we are to understand the word Honour here in the Text in such a notion as may include together with the Honour properly so called and due to Superiors only all those fitting respects which are to be given to Equals and Inferiors also which is a kinde of Honour too but more improperly so called And then it falleth in all one with that of S. Paul Rom. 13. Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custome to whom custome feare to whom feare honour to whom honour As if he had said I would not any of you should be behinde with any man in any thing but if you owe him any duty performe it to the full If any honour or respect in whatsoever kinde or degree belong to him account it as due debt and let him have it to the utmost of what can with justice or in equity be demanded So that we then fulfill this precept of our Apostle when we are careful to our utmost power and best understanding to respect every man whether Superior Equall or Inferior secundùm gradum meritum according to his place and desert For those two are as it were the Standards whereby to measure out to every man his proportion of Honour in this kinde That is to say every man is to be honoured and respected according to the dignity of his place whatsoever his deserts are and according to the merit of his person whatsoever his place and condition be 8. It would be a tedious indeed rather an endless taske and therefore I undertake it not to drive the general into its particulars and to shew what peculiar honours and respects are due to all estates of men considered in their severall ranks and mutual relations It must be the care of every godly wise man to inform himself the best he can for that matter so far as may concern himself and those whom he may have occasion to converse withall and it must be his resolution to give honour to every man accordingly that is to say neither more or less but as nere as he can understand within a convenient latitude that which is justly his due Yet let him take this withall that where the case is doubtfull it is the safest course lest self-love should incline him to be partial to pinch rather on his own part then on his neighbours especially if his Superior That is to say rather to forgoe a good part of that honour which he may think is due to himself if he be not very sure of it then to keep back any small part of that honour which for any good pssurance he hath to the contrary may fall due to his neighbour Agreeably to the other Apostles advice Rom. 12. that not in taking but in giving honour we should go one before another 9. Now we see in the meaning of the words both what duty we are to performe and to whom The Duty Honour and that to all men and all this but Quid nominis It may next be demanded Quid Iuris upon what tye we stand thus bound to Honour all men I answer Funiculus triplex There lyeth a threefold tye upon us for the performance of this Duty to wit of Iustice of Equity of Religion A tye of Iustice first whose most proper and immediate office it is suum cuique to give to every one that which of right appertaineth to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Aristotles phrase but S. Pauls is far beyond it in the fore-cited Rom. 13. Render to all their dues So we translate it but the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which imports more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It signifieth Debts accordingly whereunto he saith in the next verse there pursuing his metaphor Owe nothing to any man We do not account it discurtesie but dishonesly in any man that is able not to pay debts Withhold not good from them to whom it is due saith Solomon Prov. 3. Whosoever withholdeth a debt or due from another doth an unjust act and is next akin to a thief and as a thief is bound to restitution The other word in the same place inforceth as much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is 〈◊〉 more then Aristotles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very same word that is used where Zacheus promised fourfold restitution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 19. Render or restore 10. It is a thing not unworthy the observing that all those words which usually signifie Honour in the three learned languages do either primarily signifie or else are derived from such words as do withall signifie either a Price or a Weight Now by the rules of Commutative Iustice the price of every commodity ought to be according to the true worth of it And things payable by weight are by Law and Custome then onely currant when they have their due and full weight and that usually with some draught over rather then under Even so it is a righteous thing with us to make a just estimate of every mans worth and to set a right valuation upon him so near as we can respectively to the quality of his place and his personal desert and to allow him his full proportion of Honour accordingly neither under-rating him in our thoughts nor setting lighter by him then we should do in our
carriage and conversation towards him A false weight is abominable and so is every one that tradeth with it and certainly that man maketh use of a false beam that setteth light by his brother or perhaps setteth him at nought whom he ought to honour The question is put on sharply by the Apostle Rom. 14. Why doest thou set at naught thy brother as who should say with what face with what conscience canst thou do it He that defalketh any thing of that just honour which he ought to allow his brother let his pretence be what it can be how is he not guilty of the sin of Ananias and Saphira even according to the letter Acts 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being the phrase there in keeping back as they did part of the full price when they should have laid it down all Thus we are tied in Iustice to honour all men 11. The next tie is that of Equity where the Rule is Quod tibi fieri nonvis A rule which Severus a wise Emperour magnified exceedingly Lampridius saith that he learnt it of the Christians And it may very well be so for Christ himself commended it to his Disciples as a perfect breviate of the whole Law Whatsoever you would that men should do unto you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets He meaneth so far as concerneth our dealings and transactions with men A short lesson but of a large comprehension all one in the meaning and result with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St Iames calleth it that Royal Law which comprehendeth in it the whole second Table of the Law with all the several offices reducible to each commandement therein Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self If we would but once perfectly learn this one lesson and soundly follow it Do as we would be done to sailing alwayes by that Compass and framing all our actions by that Rule we should not need any other Law for the guiding of our consciences or other direction for the ordering of our conversations in respect of our carriage towards others But there is a base wretched pride in us that disordereth all both within and without and will not suffer us to be I say not just but even so much as reasonable Like some broken Merchants that drive their creditors to low compositions for great summes but call hard upon their poor neighbours for petty reckonings that stand uncrost in the book or the evil servant in the parable Mat. 18. who having craved his Masters forbearance for a very vast summe went presently and shook his fellow-servant by the throat for a trifle or as young prodigal heirs that are ready to borrow of every man that will lend them but never take any care to pay scores so are many of us Nulla retrorsum We care not how much honour cometh to our selves from others how little goeth from our selves to others Nay you shall observe it and the reason of it is manifested for the same pride that maketh men over-prize themselves maketh them also undervalue their brethren you shall observe it I say that these very men that stand most upon the termes of betterness and look for most respect from those that are below them are ever the slackest in giving to those that are above them their due honour Who so forward generally to set bounds and to give Law to the higher powers as those very men that exercise the most unbounded and unlimited tyrannie among their poor neighbours and underlings crowing over them without all mercy and beyond all reason I forbid no man to maintain the rights and to preserve the dignity that belongeth either to his place or person rather I hold him much to blame if he do not by all fair and justifiable means endeavour so to do For qui sibi nequam cui bonus He that is retchless of his own honour there is no great fear that he will be over-carefull of doing his neighbour right in giving him his Let every man therefore in Gods name take to himself that portion of honour and respect that is due to him and good luck may he have with his honour Provided alwayes that he be withall sure of these two things First that he take no more then his due for this is but just and then that he be as willing to give as to take for that is but equal He that doth otherwise is partial and unreasonable And thus we are tied in Equity to honour all men 12. There is yet a third tie that of Religion in respect of that image of God which is to be found in man All honour is in regard of some excellency or other and there is in man no excellency at all of and from himself but all the excellency that is in him is such only as God hath been pleased to put upon him So as those characters and impressions of excellency which God hath stamped upon man as some image of himself is the true foundation of all that honour that can any way belong unto him And that excellency is twofold Natural and Personal The Natural excellency is that whereby Man excelleth other creatures the Personal that whereby one man excelleth another 13. Of the Natural first which ariseth from the Image of God stamped upon man in his creation And this excellency being it was put upon the whole species of mankinde is therefore to be found in all men and that alike so as in this respect all men are honourable and all alike honourable Thou that comparing thy self with thy poorer brother thinkest thy self the better man and so despisest him compare thy self and him another while in puris naturalibus and thou shalt finde no difference Take him as a man he is every way as good a man as thou thou carriest a body about thee no less mortal then his he harboureth a soule within him no less immortal then thine And where is the difference Well then here is the first honour we owe to all men even as they are men and that without all either exception none to be excluded or differences none to be preferred viz. this that we despise no man but that as much as lieth in us we preserve the being and advance the well-being of every man and that because of Gods Image set upon him As when a piece of base mettal is coyned with the Kings stamp and made currant by his edict no man may thenceforth presume either to refuse it in pay or to abate the value of it So God having stamped his own image upon every man and withall signified his blessed pleasure how precious he would have him to be in our eyes and esteem according as you shall finde the tenour of the Edict in Gen. 9. At the hand of every mans brother will I require the life of man with the reason of the edict also annexed for in the image of God made he man
wealthy and with the despitefulness of the proud but he doth not say it should be so Iobs carriage was otherwise in so far that he disavoweth it and protesteth against it utterly If I did despise the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant when they contended with me c. He would affoord the meanest servants he had the honour to debate the matter with them and if there were reason on their side to allow it The greatest subject in the land need not think it any disparagement to him to give a just respect to a very mean person if he will but remember that it is the duty even of the King himself to vouchsafe that honour to the poorest begger within his Realm as to protect him from violence and to require an account of his bloud though it should be spilt by the hand of a Lord. 17. And yet behold a greater then Iob although I take it he was a King too within his own territories a greater then any of the great Kings of the earth ready to teach us this duty by his example even our Lord Iesus Christ and the same minde should be in us that was in him And what was that He was pleased so far to honour us base sinful unworthy creatures as we were as for our sakes to lay aside his own greatness emptying and devesting himself of glory and Majestie making himself of no reputation and taking upon him the form of a servant Ill do they follow either his Example or his Apostles Doctrine here who think themselves too good to condescend to men of low estate by doing them any office of service or respect though they need it never so much crave it never so oft deserve it never so well And they who look another way in the day of their brothers distress as the Priest and Levite passed by the wounded man in the parable without regard And not to multiply particulars all they who having power and opportunity thereunto neglect either to reward those that have worth in them according to their merit or to protect those that are wronged according to their innocency or to relieve those that are in want according to their necessity 18. There are a third sort that corrupt a good Text with an ill gloss by putting in a conditional limitation like the bodging in of a course shred into a fine garment as thus The Magistrate shall have his tribute the Minister his tythe and so every other man his due honour if so be he carry himself worthily and as he ought to do in his place and so as to deserve it In good time But I pray you then first to argue the cause a little with thee who ever thou art that thus glossest Who must judge of his carriage and whether he deserve such honour yea or no Why that thou hopest thou art well enough able to do thy self Sure we cannot but expect good justice where he that is a party will allow no other to be judge but himself Where the debter must arbitrate what is due to the creditor things are like to come to a fair reckoning 19. But secondly how dar'st thou distinguish where the Law distinguishes not Where God commandeth he looketh to be answered with Obedience and doest thou think to come off with subtilties and distinctions The precept here in the Text is plain and peremptory admitteth no Equivocation Exception or Reservation suggesteth nothing that should make it reasonable to restrain the Vniversality expressed therein by any such limitation and therefore will not endure to be eluded with any forced Gloss. 20. Least of all thirdly with such a Gloss as the Apostle hath already precluded by his own comment in the next verse where he biddeth servants to be subject to their Masters not only to the good and gentle but to the froward also and such as would be ready to buffet them when they had done no fault Such Masters sure could challenge no great honour from their servants titulo meriti and as by way of desert But yet there belonged to them jure dominij and by vertue of their Mastership the honour of Obedience and Subjection Which honour due unto them by that right they had a good title to and it might not be detained from them either in part or in whole by cavilling at their desert 21. But tell me fourthly in good earnest dost thou beleeve that another mans neglect of his duty can discharge thee from the obligation of thine dic Quintiliane colorem Canst thou produce any publick Law or private Contract or sound Reason wherenn to ground or but handsome Colour wherewith to varnish over such an imagination Fac quod tuum est do thou thy part therefore and honour him according to his place howsoever He shall answer and not thou for his unworthiness if he deserve it not but thou alone shalt answer for the neglect of thine own duty if thou performest it not 22. Lastly ex ore tuo When thou sayest thou wilt honour him according to his place if he deserve it dost thou not observe that thou art still unjust by thy own confession For where place and merit concur there is a double honour due The Elders that rule well are worthy of double honour 1 Tim. 5. There is one honour due to the place and another to merit He that is in the place though without desert is yet worthy of a single honour for his place sake and justice requireth he should have it But if he deserve well in his place by rightly discharging his duty therein he is then worthy of a double honour and justice requireth he should have that too Consider now how unjust thou art If he deserve well sayest thou he shall have the honour due to his place otherwise not Thou mightest as well say in plain terms If he be worthy of double honour I can be content to afford the single otherwise he must be content to goe without any Now what justice what conscience in this dealing where two parts are due to allow but one and where one is due to allow just none 23. But I proceed no further in this argument having purposely omitted sundry things that occurred to my meditations herein and contracted the rest that I might have time to speak something to the later precept also Love the brotherhood To which I now pass hoping to dispatch it with convenient brevity observing the same method as before Quid nominis Quid juris Quid facti What we are to do and Why and how we performe it 24. First then for the meaning of the words we must know that as Adam and Christ are the two roots of mankinde Adam as in state of Nature and Christ as in a state of Grace so there is a twofold Brotherhood amongst men correspondent thereunto First a Brotherhood of Nature by propagation from the loines of Adam as we are men and secondly a
Concerning the other The Lord made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evil Prov. 16. He maketh it his End we should make it ours too if but by way of Conformity 13. But he requireth it of us secondly as our bounden Duty and by way of Thankfulness in acknowledgement of those many favours we have received from him What ever we have nay what ever we are as at first we had it all from him so we still hold it all of him and that jure beneficiario as feudataries with reservation of services out of the same to be performed for the honour of the donour Our Apostle therefore in our Lords behalf presseth us with the nature of our tenure and challengeth this duty from us by a claim of right Ye have them of God saith he and ye are not your own therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods Glorifie him in both because both are his As the rivers return again to the place whence they came Eccl. 1. they all come from the Sea and they all run into the Sea again So all our store as it issued at first from the fountain of his grace so should it all fall at last into the Ocean of his glory For of him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory for ever and ever Amen 14. But say there lay no such obligation upon us yet thirdly in point of Wisdom it would concern us to seek our Masters glory the benefit whereof would so abundantly redound upon our selves For as was touched before there accrueth no advantage to him thereby the gain is solely ours By seeking his glory we promote our own and so by doing him service we do upon the point but serve our selves Doth Iob doth any man serve God for nought I speak it not for this purpose as if we should aime at Gods glory with a farther aim therein at our own benefit For that could be but a mercenary service at the best neither worthy of him nor becoming us And besides the reason should contradict it self for how could Gods glory be our farthest End if we should have another End beyond it for our selves I note it only to let us see the exceeding goodness of our gracious Lord and Master and for our better heartening that we faint not in his service who doth so infallibly procure our glory whilest we unfainedly seek his And hereof we have a faire and full assurance and that from his own mouth and that in as plain and express terms as it is possible for a promise to be made 1 Sam. 2. Them that honour me I will honour 15. From the Point thus confirmed will arise sundry profitable Inferences some whereof I shall propose to you and those all by way of admonition Since our chief aim ought to be that in every thing God may have the glory due to his name beware we first that we do not by base flattery or other too much reverence or obsequiousness give unto any mortal man or other finite creature any part of that Honour which is due to the infinite and immortal God alone Not the glory of Omnipotency unto any power upon earth be it never so great God spake once twise have I heard the same that power belongeth unto God Psal. 62. Experience sheweth there is impotency in them all Not the glory of Infallibility to any judgment be it never so clear nor to any Iudicatory be it never so solemn Let God be true and every man a lyar Rom. 3. Experience sheweth there is Errour and Partiality in them all Not the glory of Religious worship to any Image Saint Angel or other Creature though never so blessed and glorious For God is extremely jealous in that particular above all other My glory will I not give to another neither my praise to graven Images Esay 42. Experience and reason sheweth there iâ— some deficiency or other in them all 16. Beware we secondly that we do not sacrilegiously rob God of his honour by deriving the least part of it upon our selves As Ananias kept back for his proper use part of the price of his land when he should have brought in all for the Churches use Like crafty Stewards that enrich themselves by lessening their Lords â—ines or untrusty Servants that turn some of their Masters goods into money and then put the money into their own purses Non nobis Domine non nobis saith David Psal. 115. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name be the praise He repeateth it twise that he might disclaim it wholly and wash his hands of it so clearly that not any of it might stick to his fingers as who say By no means to us Our blessed Lord himself Christ Iesus who was the very brightness and express image of his Fathers glory and without robbery of equal and coeternal glory with him yet as he was man he did not glorifie himself nay let me say more having taken upon him the form of a servant he durst not seek his own glory but the glory of his Father that sent him We use to call it vain-glory when a man seeketh his own glory unduly or inordinately and rightly we so term it for Vanity is next akin to nothing and such glory is no better if Solomon may be judge For men to seek their own glory is not glory Prov. 25. 17. But though we may not seek to pull any glory upon our selves yet if others will needs put it upon us unsought for may we not admit it may we not take it when it is given us No that you may not neither Beware of that therefore thirdly It is a strong temptation I grant to our proud mindes but that maketh it nothing the lesse it rendereth it rather the more dangerous For what hath any man to do to bestow what is none of his And if we know they have no right to give it sure we are greatly to blame if we take it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that receiveth stollen goods is not much less guilty then he that stole them It did not any thing at all either excuse Herod from guilt or exempt him from punishment that he did no more but admit those shouts and acclamations wherewith the people so magnified his eloquence It is the voice of God and not of man Great ones had need take heed how they listen too much to those that magnifie them too much Because he did not some way or other shew himself displeased with those flatterers not chastening them so much as with a frown nor transmit the glory they cast upon him higher where it was of right due he standeth convicted and condemned upon record for not giving God the glory Acts 12. Marvel not that one of Gods holy Angels was so ready to do execution upon him there for
Prophecies the darkest part of all yet are not without some degree of lustre they shine saith S. Peter though but as a candle in a dark place But then the light of the Gospel that is a most glorious light shining forth as the Sun when he is in his greatest strength at noon day in Summer 11. Hence also ariseth as one light commonly begetteth another a third light the light of grace and saving knowledge wrought in the hearts of men by the holy word of God set on by his holy Spirit withal accompanying it God who bringeth light out of darkness hath shined in your hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ. 2 Cor. 4. 12. And where the light of grace is there is another light also fourthly that alwayes attendeth thereupon the light of comfort For Grace and Comfort are Twins the blessed inseparable effects of one and the same blessed Spirit Lux orta est justo there is sprung up or as some translate it there is sowen a light for the righteous and joyful gladness for such as be true hearted Psal. 97. The true heart that is the light heart indeed Light in both significations light without darkness and light without sadness or heaviness 13. There is yet remaining a fifth light the light of Glory Darkness is an embleme of horrour We have not a fitter similitude whereby to express the miseries of the hell within us that of an evil conscience or of the hell without us that of eternal torments then by inner and outer darkness But light is a most glorious creature then which none fitter to express to our capacities either the infinite incomprehensible glory and majesty of God He clotheth himself with light as with a garment and dwelleth in the light that no man can approach unto or that endless glory and happiness which the holy Angels do now and all the Saints in their due time shall enjoy in heaven Who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 14. In these respects he that hath the honour to be styled a Christian in any degree hath also a title so far forth to be styled a childe of light Whether it be by the outward profession of the Christian faith only or by the inward sanctification of the Spirit also Those are nomine tenùs Christiani Christians but in name and shew equivocal Christians these only are Christians indeed and in truth Of these is made up the Church of Gods elect otherwise called the invisible Church of Christ and not unfitly because the persons appertaining to that Church as members thereof are not distinguishable from others by any outward infallible character visible to us but by such secret inward impresses as come not within the cognisance of any creature nor can be known by any creature otherwise then conjecturally only without special revelation from God The foundation of God standeth firm having this seal Dominus novit The Lord knoweth who are his Should we take these here meant the opposition between the children of this world and the children of light would be most perfect Those who remain in the state of depraved nature and so under the dominion of Sin and Satan being the children of this world in the strictest notion and those whom God hath called out of darkness into his marvellous light that is brought out of the state of nature into the state of grace and translated into the kingdom of his Son Iesus Christ being the children of light in the stricter notion also 15. But forasmuch as we who cannot look beyond the outside are no competent judges of such matters it will best become us to make use of that judgment which alone God hath allowed us I mean that of Charity And then it will be no hard business for us to pronounce determinately applying the sentence even to particular persons who are to be esteemed the children of light Even all those that by outwardly professing the name and faith of Christ are within the pale of the visible Church of Christ. The holy Apostle so pronounceth of them all 1 Thess. 5. Ye are all the children of the light and of the day And Eph. 5. Ye were sometimes darkness but now are light in the Lord. our very baptism entitleth us hereunto which is the sacrament of our initiation whereby we put on Christ and are made members of Christ and children of God Whence it is that in the Greek Fathers Baptism is usually called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is an enlightning and persons newly baptised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an office in the Greek Church to whom it belonged to hear the confessions of the Catechumeni and after they were approved to present them to baptism with many other phrases and expressions borrowed from the same metaphor of light and applied in like manner to Baptism 16. Now to bring all this long and as I fear tedious discourse home to the Text the question here resolved seemeth in the right stating thereof to come to this issue whether natural and worldly men in the managery of their worldly affairs to the best temporal advantage or they that profess themselves Christians in the business of their souls and pursuit of everlasting salvation do proceed the more rationally and prudentially in their several wayes towards the attainment of their several ends How the question is resolved we shall consider by and by In the mean time from this very consideration alone that the children of light and the children of this world stand in mutual opposition one to the other we may learn something that may be of use to us We would all be thought what I hope most of us are not nomine tenùs only by outward profession and at large but in very deed and truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good Christians and children of light in the stricter and nobler notion Yet were it but the other only our very baptism and profession of Christianity would oblige us to a holy walking sutable to our holy calling and profession and to the solemn vow we took upon us at our baptism It were a base yea a very absurd thing for us to jumble and confound what we finde here not only distinguished from but even opposed against the one the other Children of God and of the Church by profession and yet children of Satan and of the world in our conversation Children of light and yet hold fellowship with and take delight in the unfruitful works of darkness Quae communio saith S. Paul It astonisht him that any man could think to bring things so contrary as Light and Darkness to any good accord or but tolerable compliance When we were the children of this world and such we were as soon as we were born into the world by taking Christendome upon us at our
Proverbs 31. where she giveth him this in charge vers 8.9 Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction Open thy mouth judge righteously and plead the cause of the poore and needy 6. For the farther evidencing of the necessity of which Duty that so we may be the more effectually quickened to the chearful and conscionable performance of it there are sundry important whether reasons or inducements or both for we shall not now stand so much upon any nice distinguishing of the. termes but take them togetherward the one sort with the other very well worthy our Christian consideration Some in respect of God some in respect of our selves some in respect of our Brethren and some in respect of the Thing it self in the effects thereof 7. To begin with the most High we have his Command first and then his Example to the same purpose First his Command and that very frequently repeated both in the Law of Moses and in the Psalms and in the Prophets I shall the less need to cite particular places since that general and fundamental law which is the ground of them all is so well known to us even that which our Saviour maketh the second great Commandement that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St Iames calleth it that royall Law Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Oh how we can stickle in our own Causes and solicite our own business with unwearied diligence How active and provident and vigilant we can be in things wherein our selves are concerned or when our own lives or livelihoods are in jeopardy Not giving sleep to our eyes or slumber to our eye-lids till we have delivered our selves from the snare of the Oppressour as a Roe from the hand of the hunter or as a bird from the snare of the fowler Now if we can be thus fiery and stirring when it is for our selves but frozen and remiss when we should help our neighbour how do we fulfil the royal Law according to the Scripture Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self 8. Let no man think to put off this duty with the Lawyers question Luke 10. But who is my neighbour Or with the Pharisees evading Gloss Mat. 5. Thou shalt love thy neighbour My neighbour true but not mine enemy Or with Nabals churlish reasoning 1 Sam. 25. Shall I put my self to pains and trouble for men whom I know not whence they be For in all the Cases wherein the offices whether of Iustice or Charity are to be exercised every man is every other mans neighbour All men being by the ordinance of God so linked together and concorporated one into another that they are not only all members of the same body of the same civil body as they are men and of the same mystical body too if they be Christians but even members also one of another Eph. 4. yea even every one one anothers members Rom. 12. So that if any man stand in need of thy help and it be in the power of thy hand to do him good whether he be knowen to thee or a stranger whether thy friend or thy foe he is a limbe of thee and thou a limbe of him He may challenge an interest and a property in thee as thy poor and thy needy Deut. 15. Yea more as thine own flesh Esay 58. Thou maiest not therefore hide thy self from him because he is thine own flesh For thy flesh thou art bound though not to pamper yet to nourish and to cherish it by affording all convenient succour and supply to the necessities of it 9. God then hath laid upon us his royal command in this behalf Nor so only but he hath also laid before us a royal president in his own blessed example Lord thou hast heard the desire of the poor to help the fatherless and poor unto their right that the man of the earth be no more exalted against them Psal. 10. saith David for the time past And for the time to come Psal. 140. Sure I am that the Lord will avenge the poor and maintain the cause of the helpless If you would hear it rather from his own mouth take it from Psal. 12. Now for the comfortless troubles sake of the needy and because of the deep sighing of the poor I will up saith the Lord and will help every one from him that swelleth against him and will set them at rest You see which way your heavenly father goeth before you Now be ye followers of God as dear children It is the hope of every good Christian that he shall hereafter be like unto God in glory and happiness it should therefore be his care in the mean time to be like unto God in grace and goodness in being merciful as his heavenly father is merciful in caring for the strangers and defending the fatherless and widow in helping those to right that suffer wrong and in doing works of piety and charity and mercy The duty concerneth all in general 10. But Princes Iudges Magistrates and all that are in authority are more specially engaged to follow the example of God herein sith God hath been pleased to set a special mark of honour upon them in vouchsafing to put his own name upon them and so to make them a kinde of Petty-Gods upon earth Dixi Dij I have said ye are Gods Psal. 82. Not so much be sure for the exalting of their Power and to procure them due honour esteem and obedience from those that are under them though that also no doubt was intended thereby as to instruct them in their Duty and eftsoons to remember them that they are very unworthy the glorious title they bear of being Gods if they do not imitate the great and true God by exercising their God-ships if I may so speak in doing good and protecting innocency Flaterers will be ready enough to tell you You are Gods but it is to evill and pernicious purposes To swell you up with conceits of I know not what omnipotency You are Gods and therefore may do what you will without fear in your selves or controll from any other They that tell you so with such an intention are lyers and you should not give them any countenance or credit or so much as the hearing But when the God of truth telleth you Ye are Gods he telleth you withall in the same place and as it were with the same breath what you are to do answerably to that Title and by what evidence you must approve your selves to be Gods Defend the poor and fatherless saith he in that Psalm See that such as be in need and necessity have right Deliver the outcast and poor Save them from the hand of the ungodly This premised it then followeth one verse only interserted I have said Ye are Gods As if he had said So doe and then you are Gods indeed
And there is a reason of it there given also For bloud saith he defileth the land and the land cannot be cleansed from the bloud that is shed therein but by the bloud of him that shed it Read that passage with attention and if both forehead and conscience be not harder then the nether milstone thou canst not have either the heart or the face to glory in it as a brave exploit who ever thou art that hast been the instrument to save the life of a murderer 20. Indeed all offences are not of that hainous nature that Murder is nor do they cry so loud for vengance as Murder doth And therefore to procure undeserved favour for a smaller offenderâ— is not so great a sin as to do it for murderers But yet so far as the proportion holdeth it is a sin still Especially where favour cannot be shewen to one man but to the wrong and grievance of some other as it happeneth usually in those judicial controversies that are betwixt party and party for trial of right Or where favour cannot be shewen to an offender but with wrong and grievance to the publick as it most times falleth out in criminal causes wherein the King and Common-wealth are parties Solomon hath taught us that as well he that justifieth the wicked as he that condemneth the just are an abomination to the Lord. Yea and that for any thing that appeareth to the contrary from the Text and in thesi for circumstances may make a difference either way in hypothesi they are both equally abominable In doubtful cases it is doubtlesly better and safer to encline to Mercy then to Severity Better ten offenders should escape then one innocent person suffer But that is to be conceived only when things are doubtful so as the truth cannot be made appear but where things are notorious and evident there to justifie the guilty and to condemn the innocent are still equal abominations 21. That which you are to do then in the behalf of the poor is this First to be rightly informed and so far as morally you can well assured that their cause be just For mean and poor people are nothing less but ordinarily much more unreasonable then the great ones are and if they finde the ear of the Magistrate open to hear their grievances as it very meet it should be they will be often clamorous and importunate without either cause or measure And if the Magistrate be not very wary and wise in receiving informations the countrey swain may chance prove too cunning for him and make him but a stale whereby for himself to get the start of his adversary and so the Magistrate may in fine and unawares become the instrument of oppression even then when his intention was to vindicate another from it The truth of the matter therefore to be first throughly sifted out the circumstances duly weighed and as well the legal as the equitable right examined and compared and this to be done with all requisite diligence and prudence before you engage in the poor mans behalf 22. But if when this is done you then finde that there is much right and equity on his side and that yet for want of skill or friends or means to manage his affairs he is in danger to be foiled in his righteous cause Or if you finde that his adversary hath a legal advantage of him or that he hath de rigore incurred the penalty of some dis-used statute yet did not offend wilfully out of the neglect of his known duty or a greedy covetous minde or other sinister and evil intention but meerly out of his ignorance and in-experience and in the simplicity of his heart as those two hundred Israelites that followed after Absalom when he called them not knowing any thing of his conspiracy had done an act of treason yet were not formally traitours In either of these cases I say you may not forsake the poor man or despise him because he is poor or simple But you ought so much the rather to stick by him and to stand his friend to the utmost of your power You ought to give him your counsel and your countenance to speak for him and write for him and ride for him and do for him to procure him right against his adversary in the former case and in the later case favour from the Iudge In either case to hold back your hand to draw back your help from him if it be in the power of your hand to do him any help is that sin for which in the judgement of Solomon in the Text the Lord will admit no excuse 23. Come we now in the last place to some reasons or motives taken from the effects of the duty it self If carefully and conscionably performed it will gain honour and estimation both to our persons and places purchase for us the prayers and blessings of the poor yea and bring down a blessing from God not upon us and ours only but upon the State and Common-wealth also But where the duty is neglected the effects are quite contrary First do you know any other thing that will bring a man more glory and renown in the common opinion of the world then to shew forth at once both justice and mercy by doing good and protecting the innocent Let not mercy and truth forsake thee binde them about thy neck write them upon the table of thy heart so shalt thou finde favour and good understanding or acceptance in the sight of God and man Prov. 3. As a rich sparkling Diamond addeth both value and lustre to a golden ring so do these vertues of justice and mercy well attempered bring a rich addition of glory to the crowns of the greatest Monarchs Hoc reges habent magnificum ingens prodesse miseris supplices fido lare protegere c. Every man is bound by the Law of God and of charity as to give to every other man his due honour so to preserve the honour that belongeth to his own person and place for charity in performing the duties of every Commandment beginneth at home Now here is a fair and honest and sure way for all you that are in place of authority and judicature or sustain the persons of Magistrates to hold up the reputation both of your persons and places and to preserve them from scorn and contempt Execute judgement and justice with wisdom and diligence take knowledge of the vexations of those that are brought into the Courts or otherwise troubled without cause be sensible of the grones and pressures of poor men in the 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 oppressour 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 not yet any care or purpose at all to do God their King and Countrey good service therein The wise son of Sirac checketh such ambitious spirits for their unseasonable forwardness that way Sirac 4. Seek not of the Lord preeminence neither of the King the seat of honour Think not he hath any meaning to disswade or dis-hearten 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 skil or spirit or through sloth not 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 mans errour either only or chiefly in the empty Title we might well wish him good luck with his honour But since true honour hath a dependance 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 sences 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 goe 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 withall 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 theâ—e is an Inward honour The outward honour belongeth immediately to the Place and the place casteth it upon 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 ministery is in some sence also true of the Magistracy 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 injust if we withhold 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 justice 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 far to finde the truth hereof asserted in both the branches we have Text for it in this very chapter ver 24-26 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 withholdeth corn in the time of dearth having his garners full pulleth upon himself deservedly the curses of the poor but they will powr 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 then of benefits and readier to curse then to bless if they finde themselves neglected And the blessings and cursings of the poor are things not to be wholy dis-regarded Indeed the curse causeless 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 causeless curses so there is as little comfort in the causeless 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 withall woe to the man from whom the provocation cometh Such curses as they proceed from the bitterness of the soul of the grieved person in the mean time so they will be in the end bitterness to the soul of him that gave cause of grievance And if there were not on the other side some comfort in the deserved blessings of the poor it had been no wisdom for