that in the last days perilous times shâ—â—ld come that there should be heady high-minded Traytours having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof Saint Peter that there should be false Teachers which should privily bring in damnable heresies presumptuous self-willed not afraid to speak evil of Dignities Now if all this be not sufficient Saint Iude hath taken up this Prophesie of Saint Peter and given us two clear Characters of these Persons whereby they might be known He tells us 1. That they shall be Separatists from the Church and 2. false-pretenders to the Spirit These are they which separate themselves being sensual having not the spirit I shall say no more to the Pretences relating to that Head which concerns the matter of Religion 2 ly Neither shalll I enlarge upon that other Head referring to matters Civil where I instanced in two Pretences taken from I. Harsh Administration in the Magistrate II. Competition as to power in Subjects I. Neither the Time nor the Design which I have propounded nor indeed my Profession nor Abilities do allow me to enter into the depths of the Politicks or to discourse of the limitations of Sovereign Powers Thus much is obvious to every man That there is no Cruelty so great as laxness of Government nor any Tyrany in the World like the rage of Subjects let loose and that the little â—inger of Licentiousness is harder then the Loyns of the severest Laws and stâ—ictest Government I shall briefly shew that the Scripture foreseeing the easiness by reason of the Self-love and partiality of men of this Pretence and the danger of it hath directly opposed it self against it I shall not mention particular Commands let us have recourse to the main Foundations the Body and Substance of Christianity the MISHPATHAMELEK the Ius Regium the Fundamental Law of the Kings of Israel 1. Christianity obligeth us to believe not only that Christ is God and that the Gospel is from God but that all the Circumstances of the Ministery of Christ and his Apostles were ordered by his Providence Why then were the times of Tiberius and Caligula and Claudius and Nero out of the Series of the Time spun out from the Creation chosen and selected for the promulgation of the Doctrine of Obedience If harsh Administration of Power will exempt men from Obedience at that time when Claudius or Nero was Roman Emperour why should the Holy Ghost move Saint Paul to write to the Romans They that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation So much briefly for the Gospel 2. As for the Ius Regium in the eighth of the first Book of Samuel we find the Israelites desiring a King and God though rejected by this motion commands Samuel to hearken to their voice Yet that they might know what they did and not be surprized believing they might cast of again their King at pleasure he charges him to protest solemly and shew them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Translation renders it The manner of the King The Septuagint and all ancient Eastern and Western Translations render it by words of signifying the Law or the Right of the King Ius Regium This saith Samuel shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall take your Sons and Daughters your Vine-yards your Fields and your Flocks c. He tells them of harsh Administrations Was it the meaning of the Holy Ghost that 〈◊〉 â—ure Princes ought to do or that it was lawful for them to do after the manner there described In the seventeenth Chapter of Deuteronomy we find the Duty of the Kings of Israel described in a way directly contrary to this they were to fear the Lord and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left from his Commandments Bewise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Iudges of the Earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Was it a Prediction of what would be their condition what would be the manner of their Kings Not that neither We do not read of any of the Kings of Iudah or Israel that proceeded to the height there expressed Even Aâ—ab who sold himself to work wickedness did not take Naboth's Vinyard by force he would not seise on it till Iezebeâ— had brought about the pretence of a Legal Forfeiture What then is the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Surely it imports thus much that if all this hard usage should come upon them they might cry unto the Lord Verse 18. but that it would not dissolve Ius Regium the right of Sovereignty or enable them to resist their Kings or rebel against them II. There remains yet one Pretence to speak to it concerns Competition of Power either on 1. Pretences of Succession into the Magistrate's place in case of failour of Duty or upon supposals of forfeiture of Power 2. Pretences of the last resolution of Power into the people the diffused multitude or the peoples Representative and the like Concerning which kind of Pretences I must repeat what hath been said of the other If they be admitted they are destructive to Magistracy If they be encouraged by Religion there will be reason that Magistrates be jealous over it But now is the Spirit of the Scriptures and the tendency of it entirely bent another way The New Testament affords no Instance in this kind As to the Old I shall desire that two Instances may be considered 1. The Case of David and Saul 2. The Case of Corah and Moses which two Instances if the time would bear it would take in the Substance of all that may be alledged in this kind 1. It is I conceive impossible to carry the first sort of Pretences higher then they were stated in the Case of David and Saul Saul was at first declared and constituted King by Samuel acting in the Name of the Lord and when he had reigned two years the same Samuel in the Name of the same God before the same people denounces publickly that his Kingdom should not continue and that God had sought a man after his own heart because he invaded the Priests Office After this he limits a certain day he tells him This day the Lord bath rent the Kingdom of Israel from thee and given it to thy neighbour because of his rebellion against God in the Case of Amalek The pretence of Failour and Forfeiture can go no higher Now for the pretences of David to step into his Government and wrest it from him He was anointed by Samuel for ought appears without reservation for the life of Saul He was qualified for Government a valiant man a man of War prudent in matters a comely Person and the Lord was with him He had received Testimony from God of his Election the Spirit of God departed from Saul and rested upon him He had power in his hand he was set over the men of War accepted by all the people all Israel nd
Prophet brings men to the consideration of the love of a mother to her child can a Mother forget her Child c The love of Man to God holds no proportion to his Excellency and his goodness and the heart in judging of it is obnoxious to mistakes and very deceitful therefore the Apostle helps us towards an apprehension of it He that loves not his neighbour whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen So seeing the turpitude of mens ingratitude towards God is ineffable and inconceivable it will be requisite to speak a little of the unworthiness of Ingratitude towards men and leave you to work out this proportion Look how high the heaven is in comparison of the earth so great nay infinitely greater is the unworthiness of ingratitude towards God And here I shall not go about to Philosophize or to demonstrate the turpitude of ingratitude from the nature of it à priori The immediate and evident corollaries of natural principles admit only of jejune and inconsiderable reasonings in that kind of demonstration The odiousness of ingratitude is such a corollary naturally and immediately flowing from that universal maxim quod tibi fieri non vis c. which runs thorow all morality and is not only the last resolution of Philosophy but of the Law and the Prophets and of the Gospel Luke 6. 31. As therefore when an abstruse proposition in matter of speculation is resolved into an evident principle or the contrary position into a plain absurdity the demonstrator goes no further but hath said all that can be pertinently spoken so when a piece of doubtful Morality is once resolved into this grand absurdity Omnia dixeris there is no more to be added all the rest is diminution It is said that Lycurgus made no law against ingratitude because Nature had made one to his hand So some Divines have observed that there is no direct precept against ingratitude in the Scripture though many testimonies in effect against it because it was needless as being supposed from the light of nature and below the Majestie of the spirit breathing in the scriptures to insist upon it according to that of our Saviour If ye love and do good and lend to them that love and do good to you what thanks or reward have you do not Sinners or Publicans even the same To that spirit which commands us to return good for evil to love our Enemies c. it were a kind of whiffling to command the return of good for good or prohibit the return of evil to those that have obliged us Now of these two sorts of ingratitude the former is branded in Scripture with an everlasting brand in the case of Pharaoh's Butler to Ioseph the Israelites to Ierubaal and the like But the ingratitude in the text being of the latter kind and of a deeper die and because the easiest Criterion of turpitude is the detestation of all the sons of men I shall endeavour à posteriori by some Scriptural instances of the resentments of that kind of ingratitude to shew the turpitude of it in the judgment of mankind We read when Ioash had commanded Zachariah to be stoned who was the son of Iehojada who had preserved him in his minority from Athaliah and made him King his own servants conspired against him and kill'd him in his bed because he remembred not the kindness of Iehojada but slew his son When Abner apprehended ingratitude in Ishbosheth whom he had made King consider his resentment he was very wroth he said am I a Dogs head who do shew kindness to the house of Saul God do so to Abner and more also except I translate the Kingdome from the house of Saul He swore he would do it and he did perform it It may be objected that the resentment of these men was not so considerable as that the Judgment of Mankind should be collected from it those that conspired against Ioash were Zabad the son of an Ammonitess and Iehozabad the son of a Moabitess and we read not any great praise either of the piety or morality of Abner Consider then the resentments of Gideon of whom it is said the Lord was with Gideon and of David the man after God's own heart When the men of Succoth dealt ungratefully with Gideon he said that he would tear their flesh with the thorns of the Wilderness and he took the Elaers of the City and the thorns of the Wilderness and with them he taught the men of Succoth i. e. he taught them better Morals When Nabal had upon a good day the shearers feast refused to give a little something that should come to hand and put a scorn upon David who is David c. then David said Surely in vain have I kept the goods of this fellow and he hath requited me evil for good so and more also do God to the enemies of David if I leave of all that perteineth to him before the morning light any that pisseth against the wall But it may be said that these be men of war and those enraged and these might be the resentments only of their passions Proceed we therefore to the resentments of Prophets and righteous men let us have recourse from David the Captain to David the Prophet and the Psalmist when he was composed and when he was composing Had it been my open enemies then I could have born it but it was thou my friend and my acquaintance it was an act of Treachery and Ingratitude let death seise upon them and let them go down quick into hell And again They rewarded me evil for good let them be confounded let them be as the dust before the wind let their way be dark and slippery and the Angel of the Lord persecute them Shall evil be recompensed for good saith Jeremy I stood before thee to speak good for them and they have digged a pit for my soul Therefore deliver up their children to the famine and pour out their blood by force of the sword c. Briefly because it may be objected that all these were the resentments of a legal and Mosaick spirit consider the resentment of the lamb of God the son of man the man Christ Jesus when he denounced a woe upon Corazin c. Woe unto thee Corazin woe unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre c. Therefore it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for thee Consider his resentment when he pronounced a judgment upon Ierusalem O Ierusalem Ierusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest those that are sent unto thee How often would I have gathered thy children and ye would not Behold now your house is left unto you desolate From what hath been spoken of the resentments of men the wickedness of Israels ingratitude against God though it cannot be
and a â—y-word and a reproach among all their neighbours round about Cursed shall they be in the wife of their bosom and cursed in the fruit of their body The Lord shall smite them with a consumption and with a feaver with an inflammation and with an extreme burning He shall smite them with the botch of Egypt and with the Emerods and with the scab and with the itch with â— botch that cannot be healed from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head Their carcase shall be meat for the fowls of the air and for the beasts of the earth and no man shall fray them away 2. Moreover he shall pour out spiritual judgements upon them he shall give them over to the wickedness of their hearts he shall let them aloneâ— that they may commit sin with greediness He shall send upon them a spirit of blindness and hardness of heart a spirit of slumber and carnal security Then when they have filled up the measure of their enormities he shall smite them with madness and astonishment with terrours of conscience and desperation His arrows shall stick fast in them and his hand shall press them sore there shall be no health in their bodies because of his displeasure nor any rest in their bones by reason of there sin The iniquity of their heels shall take hold upon them the terrours of death shall compass them about and the flouds of their ungodliness shall make them afraid Every man that sees me shall slay me said cursed Cain my punishment is greater than I can bear I have slain a man in mine anger and a young man to my wounding If Cain shall be avenged seven sold surely Lamech seventy times seven Hearken unto me ye wives of Lamech They shall be weary of life and wish for death and hasten sometimes to break off their torments by tragical and fearful ends Fall thou upon me and slay me saith desparing Saul Behold anguish is upon me because my life is whole in me Away with the wages of iniquity cryed despairing Iudas and he betook himself to the fatal halter and the tree 3. Yet all these are to the finally impenitent but the beginnings of sorrow the praeludium to those unutterable miseries which are eternal to the worm which dyeth not to the fire which never shall be quenched to utter darkness and everlasting burnings For they go down quiâ—k into hell As it is with persons so it is with Nations when their iniquitie is full when once they have filled up the measure of their abominations if none of all his methods will bring them to repentance if they will not humble themselves if they will not fear if they will not turn from their evil ways he will set his face against them to destroy them He will pour out blindness upon them also and the things belonging to their peace shall be â—id from their eyes He will do to them as he did to Shilo he will take away their light he will come quickly and remove the candlestick out of its place He will give them over to the career and swinge of their abominations Ephraim is joyned to idols let him alone Though it be with violence to his nature though it be with reluctancy to his inclination O Ephraim how shall I give thee up O Ephraim yet their numbers shall not defend them their privileges shall not excuse them from destruction Though Conâ—ah were as the signet upon my right hand yet would I pluck thee thence Though Ephraim is his dear son though Israel be a pleasant child though Iudah is a pleasant plant yet if they will not frame their doings to turn unto the Lord therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquities and Iudah also shall fall with them Though Noah Daniel and Iob were there they shall deliver neither son nor daughter but their own souls only For unnatural and extraordinary rebellions he hath supernatural and extraordinary judgements The windows of heaven were opened the cataracts were poured forth and drowned the old world Fire descended and brimstone came down from heaven and consumed the Cities of Sodom and Comorrha The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the congregation of Abiram The Sun stood still till Ioshua was avenged of the Lords enemies The stars in their courses fought against Sisera For the usual and ordinary impenitency of Nations he hath his three fold national scourge his judgements in ordinary The famine the pestilence and the sword Sometimes he breaks the staff of bread and they shall eat bread by weight and with care and they shall drink water by measure and with astonishment that they may want bread and water and consume away in their iniquity Their seed shall be rotten under the clods their garners desolate their barns broken down their beasts shall groan their cattle shall be perplexed the flocks of sheep shall be made desolate They shall eat their children of a span long they that did feed delicately shall be desolate in the streets they that were brought up in scarlet shall imbrace dunghils Sometimes he sends forth his Plague 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the raging and the noisome pestilence the pestilence that walketh in darkness the plague that destroyeth at noon day He scatters infection like lightning he casts forth his Contagion and tears them in a moment he shoots his poyson'd arrows and consumes them Sometimes he gives commission to the sword to revenge the quarrel of his covenant by intestine rebellions or forreign invasions He suffers a fawning Absalom to steal away the hearts of the people from their Sovereign or a cursed Sheba to blow a trumpet and cry To your tents O Israel He permits a spirit of giddiness of fears and jealousies and of fanatick wildness to inrage whole Nations to tear the womb that bare them to destroy them and their king He causes nation to rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom He calls in the families of the North he hisses for the Assyrian the rod of his anger Behold saith our Saviour the day is coming when thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee on every side Then all things shall be filled with plunder and confusion and garments roll'd in bloud Her stately Palaces her goodly Temple shall be destroyed The thorns shall come up in her palaces nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof and it shall be an inhabitation for dragons and a court for owls The satyre shall cry to his fellows the owle and the vulture to his mate the scrichowle shall make its nest there Faunes and satyres shall dance there Babylon is fallen it is fallen Ierusalem is a place for dragons Behold the reward of obstinate and final impenitency behold the portion reserved for the persons in the Text. When neither interest nor ingenuity â—udgements nor mercies could