openly whereby we are made odious in the eyes of the people We were sufficiently hated before but now we are like to be much more hated Ans You have sinned openly and therefore you are to be rebuked openly that others might hear and fear and not follow your evil example 1 Tim. 5.10 Them that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear 2. Open rebuke is better than secret love Prov. 27.5 And you are not offended with a man for loving of you though it be with a secret love Why then should you be offended for being openly rebuked 3. I have named no mans person I have only laid open the odious nature of your sin And your sin is more odious than can be expressed I would not have any man hate your persons but I would have all men hate your sins 4. If you had died in your sins you should have been put to everlasting shame for that will be the portion of impenitent sinners to be put to shame and contempt for ever Dan. 12.2 Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame and contempt But if by this or any other means you are brought to repentance then shall you have everlasting glory CHAP. IV. Inferences from the foregoing Discourse I Shall now draw some Inferences from what hath been said concerning the greatness of the sin of these Informers that persecute righteous men for praying to God and preaching and hearing his holy Word and cause their Assemblies to be broken up and their goods to be taken from them Inf. 1. If this be such a great sin then let those that have been guilty of it repent and make restitution Without repentance there 's no possibility that you should avoid perishing for ever Luk. 13.3 I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Consider how sharply the Lord Jesus reproved the Pharisees hindring mens entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven Matt. 23.13.33 Wo unto you Scribes Pharisees Hypocrites for ye shut up the Kingdom of heaven against men for you neither go in your selves neither suffer ye them that are entring to go in Ye serpents ye generation of vipers How can ye escape the damnation of hell The Pharisees were said to shut up the Kingdom of Heaven because they hindred the preaching of the Gospel which is called The Gospel of the Kingdom Matt. 24.14 And the Kingdom of Heaven Matt. 13.47 Because it is the way and means of bringing men into the Kingdom That the Pharisees did shut up the Kingdom of Heaven by hindring the preaching the Gospel is evident from Luk. 11.52 where the shutting up the Kingdom is called the taking away the key of knowledg They acted the part of Serpents and Vipers they did bite and sting those that preached and those that heard the Gospel Job 9.22 and so hindred mens entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven And for this Serpentine carriage Jesus tells them they were in danger of eternal damnation How can ye escape the damnation of hell will ye do the same things the Pharisees did and yet think ye shall not fall into the same condemnation your only way to avoid it is by timely and sincere repentance Ezek. 18.30 Repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions and so iniquity shall not be your ruine And as you must leave off your sins so if you expect mercy from God you must make restitution to those persons from whom you have taken or caused to be taken away any of their goods To convince you of the necessity of making restitution consider such Scriptures as these Ezek. 33.15 If the wicked restore the pledge give again that he hath robbed walk in the statutes of life he shall surely live he shall not dye It 's not sufficient that the wicked leave off robbing but he must give again that which he hath robbed to those from whom it was robbed if he would enter into life and not dye in his sins It may be you will say We are not thieves and robbers and so are not obliged by this Scripture to make restitution Ans 1. The Hebrew word Gazal signifieth any violent wresting and forcing mens right out of their hands And it is so rendred of things taken away violently when a man seeth or knoweth it as Deut. 28.31 Job 20.19 2. Restitution is to be made for all acts of deceit as well as secret theft Lev. 6.2 4 If a soul sin and commit a trespass agaimst the Lord in a thing taken by violence and hath deceived his neighbour Then it shall be because he hath sinned and is guilty that he shall restore what he hath violently taken away or the thing he hath deceitfully gotten 3. In some respects you are worse than thieves and robbers For 1. Thieves are ashamed when they are discovered Jer. 2.26 The thief is ashamed when he is found But 't is not so with you 2. The thief usually takes the dead time of the night but you commit your sin at mid-day The more impudency there is in any sin the greater it is 3. The thief doth not rob men for their Religion but you take away mens goods for serving God see the necessity of restitution from other Scriptures Zophar tells us that oppressors and such as take away others goods must make restitution or else they shall never enjoy peace in their Consciences Job 20.18 19 20. According to his substance shall the restitution be and he shall not rejoyce therein because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor because he hath violently taken away an house which he hath not builded surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly Zacheus when he was converted made restitution to all persons he had wronged by false accusation for all wrongs he had done them Luk. 19.8 If I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation I restore him fourfold Hear what Grotius saith on this place Quatenus fieri potest resarcienda sunt damna aliis per vim aut dolum illata quod ipsa natura dictat neque enim peccare desistit qui alienum retinet As far as a man is able all the wrongs he hath done to other men either by fraud or violence must be restored and made up for the light of nature teacheth a man so to do neither doth he desist from his sin that doth not make restitution It concerns you to consider whether you have not wronged these men by false accusation when you accused them to the Magistrates for keeping seditious Meetings and thereby getting their goods distrained if you have this example of Zacheus should provoke you to restore and make up all the wrongs they have sustained by your false accusation Ins 2. Let all men take heed of being partakers with these Informers in their great sin For such as partake with them in their sin shall also be partakers of those Plagues which God will send upon
Preaching God forbid we should be so wicked But the reason why we are so eager in persecuting them is because they break the Laws and are not conformable to the Service and Ceremonies of the Church Ans 1. It hath been an old device of Satan and his instruments to raise up and cast slanders upon men fearing God as though they were rebellious persons and disobedient to Laws when they have been imployed in the Service of God When Nehemiah went about to build the wall of Jerusalem the adversaries of the Jews gave out words that he was about to rebel against the King Neh. 2.19 What is this thing that ye do will ye rebel against the King So when the Ministers Preach for no other end but to convert Souls and build up such as are converted their adversaries give out they are rebels against the King The like accusation was raised against the Apostles when they Preached the Gospel up and down the world their enemies represented them to be such as walked contrary to to the decrees of Caesar Act. 17.6 7. Those that have turned the world upside down are come hither also whom Jason hath received and these all do contrary to the decrees of Casar And more particularly against the Apostle Paul Act. 18.12 13. The Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul and brought him to the judgment-seat saying This fellow perswadeth to worship God contrary to the Law Act. 21.28 Men of Israel help this is the man that teacheth all men every-where against the people and the Law and this place Daniel was a man so eminent for Piety that he is ranked with Noah and Job who had great power with God in Prayer Ezek. 14.14 He had an Angel sent to him from Heaven who told him he was a man greatly beloved of God Dan. 10.11 He was so blameless that his enemies that sought occasion against him could find no fault with him Dan. 6.3 Yet this Daniel was accused for not regarding the King and his Laws v. 13. Daniel regardeth not thee Oh King nor the decree that thou hast signed This was the device Haman made use of against the Jews He accused them to the King for breaking the Laws Est 3.8 Their Laws are diverse from all people neither keep they the King's Laws therefore it is not for the King's profit to suffer them 2. The worst of men have had pretences for their vilest practises The Jews that went about to stone Christ would not own it that they stoned him for a good work but pretended it was for blasphemy Joh. 10.32 33. Jesus answered them many good works have I shewed you from my Father for which of these works do you stone me The Jews answered him saying For a good work we stone thee not but for blasphemy and because that thou being a man makest thy self God As the Jews ignorantly or maliciously called Christ's preaching blasphemy and pretended they would have stoned him not for a good work but for blasphemy So the Informers either ignorantly or maliciously call these mens preaching rebellion and say they do not persecute them for preaching but for rebellion against the Laws They that cast out their brethren that trembled at God's Word pretended God's glory but the Lord saw that action proceeded from malice and hatred Is 66.5 Hear the word of the Lord ye that tremble at his word your brethren that hated you that cast you out for my name sake said the Lord be glorified But he shall appear to your joy and their shame 3. To represent these Ministers as disobedient to authority and rebellious persons is a grievous calumny and a great wrong to them It is contrary to their professed and declared principles and contrary to their practice For they believe and teach that every Soul ought to be subject to the higher Powers and the Powers that be are ordained of God And therefore they obey Magistrates not only to avoid their wrath but for Conscience sake And for further evidence of the soundness of their judgment in this point of obeying Magistrates they do fully concur with and are ready to subscribe if called to it unto the seven and thirtieth Article of the Church of England which treats of the civil Magistrate And if at any time it so fall out that the command of the Magistrate be contrary to the commands of God if in such a case they choose to obey God rather than men they are not upon this account to be called rebels and contumacious persons For 1. This was the practice of the Apostles to obey God rather than men Act. 14.19 Whether it be right in the sight of God to bearken unto you more than unto God judge ye And in so doing they did no more than what was their duty to do Act. 5.29 We ought to obey God rather than men 2. When the Midwives were commanded by Pharaoh to do that which was contrary to the command of God it was not rebellion in them to go against the command of Pharaoh But this action of theirs did proceed from the fear of God Exod. 1.17 But the Midwives feared God and did not as the King commanded 3. The Magistrate is the Minister of God for good Rom. 13.4 He is but the Minister of God and the Minister of God for good that is all that he enjoyns must be for God's honour and for a publick good If he command any thing contrary to the command of Christ and we obey him we exalt him above God we prefer the Servant before the Master 4. These men are more obedient to Authority and truer Subjects than many of their adversaries that reproach them with disloyalty and rebellion For many of those men that cry out against these Ministers for their disobedience to the Laws make no scruple of breaking such Laws of God and men as are contrary to their lusts There are good Laws established in this Nation against Swearing Drunkenness Symony c. yet many that are common Swearers Drunkards and live in other vices condemned by the Laws of God the Laws of the Nation and the light of their own Consciences cry up themselves for obedient Subjects and cry out against Ministers for not conforming to such things as they are not satisfied are lawful for them to do which have been for many years and still are controverted among learned men not only of this but of other Nations and which they profess could they be satisfied in their Consciences of their lawfulness they would yield obedience to them 5. As for those that complain of these Ministers preaching contrary to the command of the Magistrate I would put them in mind of the strict command that God hath given to those whom he hath called to the work and office of the Ministry to Preach the Gospel as they will answer the neglect thereof to himself and his Son Jesus Christ at the day of Judgment 2 Tim. 4.1 2. I charge thee therefore before God and the
Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom Preach the Word be instant in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and patience 1 Cor. 9.15 Yea wo is unto me if I preach not the Gospel Now if men forbid that which God commands whom are we to obey God or men If any say this charge was given to Timothy and that wo was pronounced against Paul and that is nothing to these men if these men had a charge from God to preach as Timothy and Paul had we should not dare to oppose or hinder their preaching I answer This charge that was given to Timothy to preach the word doth and will concern all Ministers of the Gospel to the worlds end as well as it did him As that promise given to Joshua I will never leave thee nor forsake thee is interpreted by the Holy Ghost to be spoken to all Christians to the end of the world Josh 1.5 compared with Heb. 13.5 So this command given to Timothy who was a Minister of the Gospel concerns all the Ministers of the Gospel in all places and all ages of the world What was spoken to the Apostles as they were Christians belongs to all Christians Mark 13.37 And what I say unto you I say unto all watch And what was spoken to them as Ministers of the Gospel belongs to all Ministers as well as unto them 6. As for them that charge these men with sin yea with rebellion for Praying and Preaching contrary to Law I would mind them of the examples of Daniel and the Apostles There was a royal Law made by all the Presidents of the Kingdom the Governours the Princes the Counsellors and Captains under a very great penalty That no man should ask a Petition of any God or Man for the space of thirty days save of the King and this decree was signed by Darius the King Dan. 6.7 8 yet when Daniel knew this decree was signed he prayed three times a day as his usual custom was and did not omit the opening of the windows in the time of Prayer v. 10. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as at other times What think ye Did Daniel sin against God and rebel against the King in praying contrary to the decree If you think Daniel sinned in giving such an example to after-ages to pray contrary to a decree made with such a penalty or if you think he sinned that he kept his wonted times and would not so far comply with the decree as to forbear for a few days or that he did not take other hours or that he would not shut his windows or pray so secretly and privately as none but his own Family should know of it you may be convinced of your mistake from v. 22. My God hath sent his angel and hath shut the Lions mouth that they have not hurt me forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me and also before thee O King have I done no hurt It is evident from these words that Daniel's Praying to God in his usual manner contrary to the decree was no sin either against God or the King And is not Prayer a Duty now as well as in Daniel's time The Apostles had a strict charge from the rulers of the Jews not to Preach in the name of Jesus Christ Act. 4.17 18. Let us straitly threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in this name And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus That this command to forbear Preaching was given by the Rulers we may see v. 5 6. yet after this strict charge and severe command given by the rulers to the Apostles to cease Preaching they were as diligent as before in Preaching of the Gospel Act. 5.27 28. And when they had brought them they set them before the Councel and the High-Priest asked them saying Did not we straitly command you that you should not teach in this name and behold you have filled Jerusalem with your Doctrine And after they had been beaten for Preaching the Gospel and had received a new command not to speak in the name of the Lord Jesus They continued to take all opportunities to teach and preach Jesus Christ both in the Temple and every House ver 40 41 42. When they had called the Apostles and beaten them they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go And they departed from the presence of the councel rejoycing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name And daily in the Temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ Did the Apostles sin against God or rebel against their rulers for preaching the Gospel when they were straitly charged by their rulers not to Preach and beaten because they did not obey the command and another command given them after that to leave Preaching and yet they proceeded in their work If any shall say or think the Apostles did sin in so doing all good Christians will condemn their rash judgment and they may easily be refuted from Act. 4.29 After they had been commanded to cease preaching and threatned they Pray to to God to assist them to preach the word with boldness And now Lord behold their threatnings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy Word And they would not pray for assistance in that which was sinful And their boldness in preaching after their prohibition from the rulers of the Jews is ascribed to their being filled with the Holy Ghost v. 31. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and spake the word with boldness And that man is a blasphemer who shall say the Apostles sinned in preaching against the command of their rulers whenas it was the Holy Ghost which gave them boldness to preach the Word of God Besides they were encouraged to preach after their rulers had forbidden them and had imprisoned them for preaching contrary to their commands by an Angel that was sent from Heaven that opened the Prison-doors and said unto them Go and stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life Act. 5.9 20. And when they were again brought before the rulers and examined whether they did not know of that strict charge they had given them and were taxed with the disobeying their command Did not we straitly command you that you should not teach in this name and behold you have filled Jerusalem with your Doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us They justified their preaching though they had disobeyed their rulers commands v. 29. Then Peter and the other Apostles answered and said we ought to obey