nettles are used for pot-hearbs and sâ—llets made of Eldern buds so fond parents welcome and embrace in their children the first beginnings of sinne yea please themselves to hear their infants dispraise God swear call names talk wantonly yea this is accounted wit in the little children I am sure it is want of wit in the greater children for so I may fitly call their foolish parents who take delight therein I say no more but as for those parents who will not use the rod upon their children I pray God he useth not their children as a rod for them Now least those who at this present time are neither children to parents nor parents to children should complain with the Grecian widdows that they this day are neglected in the dispensation of my doctrine hearken to a generall use which will take us all in let us all take notice of a bad principle which lurks in our hearts this naturall corruption which deserves the wrath of God in the low Countries half their houses ly buried in the ground the laying of the foundation is counted as much as the rest of the building so half our badnesse lyes secret and unseen consisting in originall corruption whereof too few take notice for though as I have said before baptisme taketh away the commanding and condemning power thereof yet the blot still remaining as by woefull experience we daily find makes us backward to all goodnesse and headlong forwards to all badnesse this is that which S. Paul to the Romans who though he might touch at an improper expression sure would never land there and dwell so long therein calls sinne fourteen times and we shall find it fourteen thousand times to be so in our selves Away then with the sick doctrine of the soundnesse of freewill and merit of works we have alwayes that in us which baneth the perfection of all our performances namely the lawless law in our members which rebelleth against the law of our mind and leadeth us captive to the law of sinne which is in our members Thou shalt not commit adultery and thou shalt commit adultery thou shalt not steal and thou shalt steal thou shalt not bear false witnesse against thy neighbour thou shalt bear false witnesse against thy neighbour witches they say say the Lords prayer backward but concupiscence this witch in our soul sayes all the commandments backward and makes us crosse in our practise what God commands in his precepts Thus every day we sin and sorrow after our sin and sin after our sorrow and do what we would not and would what we do not and the vvind of Gods spirit blovveth us one vvay and the tide of our corruption hurryeth us another these things he that seeth not in himself is sottish-blind he that seeth and confesseth not is damnably proud he that confesseth and bewaileth not is desperately profane he that bewaileth and figheth not against it is unprofitablely pensive but he that in some weak manner doth all these is a Saint in reversion here and shall be one in possession hereafter FINIS THE SNARE BROKEN Genes 49. vers 6. O my soul come not into their secrets By T. F. B. D. LONDON Printed by R. Daniel for J. S. 1656. THE SNARE BROKEN Genes 49. vers 6. O my soul come not thou into their secrets AMong the many arguments to prove the pen-men of the scripture inspired by the spirit of God this is not the last and least that the pen-men of holy writ do record their own faults and the faults of their nearest and dearest relations for instance hereof how coursly doth David speak of himself So foolish was I and ignorant I was as a very beast before thee And do you think that the face of S. Paul did look the more foul by being drawn with his own pencill when he sayes I was a murtherer a persecutor the greatest of sinners c. This is not usuall in the writings of humane authors who praise themselves to the utmost of what they could and rather then loose a drop of applause they will lick it up with their own tongues Tully writes very copiously in setting forth the good service which he did the Roman state but not a woâ—d of his covetousnesse of his affecting popular applause of his pride and vain glory of his mean extraction and the like Whereas clean contrary Moses he sets down the sinne and punishment of his own sister the idolatry and superstition of Aaron his brother and his own fault in his preposterous striking the rock for which he was excluded the land of Canaan No wonder then if he tell the faults of Simeon and Levi both their cruell murther and the heavy curse which their father laid upon them Old Jacob lyes now a dying the lanthorn of his body was ready to be broken and the light that was in it to be exâ—inguished his twelve sonnes get about him every one expects a blessing and they raise their intentions the more because they knew that he was a prophet He begins sadly Reuben hath a check and Simeon and Levi have a curse No doubt old Jacob as a private man had affection to them both but now he speaks to them as a prophet he knowes no naturall affection being acted with spirituall inspiration he leaves off flesh and blood being prompted by the spirit of God and tells them cursed be their wrath for for it was fierce and their anger for it was furious I shall use no other method in the words but such observations as are pertinent to the text profitable for your souls First O my soul c. seeing Jacob doth entertain a discourse with his own soul wee may learn A Christian who can discourse with his own soul may make good company for himself This was Davids precept Psal. 4. vers 4. commune with your own hearts upon your beds this is no contradiction there is a kind of discourse which makes no noise this communion is the heart of heavenly meditation he may give himself a question and answer it himself and David what he prescribes to us practises himself when he sayes why art thou so sad O my soul and why art thou so disquieted within me trust still in God Had people this art of entertaining a time to discourse with themselves it would prevent much mischief thou mayest divide thy soul into severall parts and thou maist discourse if thou wilt with every faculty with thy understanding memory fancy and the severall affections of thy soul. Ask that question of thy understanding which Philip askt of the Eunuch Acts 10. understandest thou what thou readest call your understanding to account whether you understand what you read or not Ask thy fancy that question which Acbish once propounded to king David where hast thou been roving all this day bring thy fancy to account Ask that of thy memory which the master did of the unjust steward Luke 16. give an account of thy stewardship ask thy
with me first the party to whome the wrong was offered was a stranger the word stranger in the very mention of it ought to carry with it a protection from all wrongs the heathen Romans were so Christian in this kind that if their enemy chanced to enter into their house in nature of a stranger there was a cessation from enmity during his abode under their roof and revenge gave place to hospitality Secondly she was a woman that sex may seem in some sort to be fenced from injury because it is not fenced from injuries For such is the known weakness of women that wee count it weaknesse in men to offer them any wrong and our modesty is the best safeguard and defence for theirs Thirdly she was a Levites wife and methinks some shadow of sacrednesse should be reflected from him on her Fourthly she was abused to death indeed she died not presently but before she came into the house her soul got out of her body and even in our law it is murther that comes within the compasse of a year and a day now murther you know is a crying sinne yea like Stentor the Graecian it shouteth louder then 50. other ordinary offences The monster mother may smother her child but when she hath done she cannot smother the murther of her child Fifthly abused to death by a whole city those are deceived who conceive the multitude of offendors diminish the offence Rather the more the sinners the more heinous the sinne the worst sinne that ever was was the most generall sinne that ever was when all mankind together sinned at once in Adam yea in our law that which being done by one or two is but a trespasse committed by more assumes the name of a ryot Lastly by a whole city of Israelites but if they had been Hivites or Hittites that had done me this dishonour then perchance I should have born it had they been Canaanites or Jebusites had offered me this disgrace then more patiently could I have digested it but they pretended to serve the same God and observe the same religion They were descended from the loyns of Jacob and issued from the womb of Rachel what good doth the ark of God in Shiloh with Levites a tending before it Aarons rod pot of manna mercy seat within it if there be a Sodome in Sion a Bethaven in Bethel folly in Israel verily I say unto you I have not found so great an offence no not amongst the Gentiles Happy those poor Armenians which live in those remote parts where the shrill sound of the gospel was never trumpetted forth their invincible ignorance will be an Orator in the ears of the mercifull judge not wholly to excuse but much to diminish their fault not to prevaile for a full pardon yet to procure a lighter punishment whilst in the same day they shall rise up and condemn the Jewes in my text seeing better by the light of a candle then the Iewes by the beams of the sun I come now to the prescribing of the wholesome order for the future consult consider and give sentence but first wee must remove an objection which here may rise for may some say why is it not particularly exprest in the law of Moses what punishment ought to be inflicted upon an whole city when by lust they abuse a woman to death had this been a book-case and the penalty precisesly specified it would have spared the Israelites all their pains to consult and consider yea this may seem to argue the law of God of some defects and imperfections that it is not adaequate to all occasions and of extent large enough for all necessities and needs to be patcht and peeced with the accession of humane deliberation For two reasons the particular punishment is expressed first because the spirit of God being charity it self charitablely presumed that no Israelites would be so wicked the heathen appointed no punishment for parricides supposing that sinne could not be committed Men must first murther all nature in themselves before they can be so unnaturall as to murther their parents Secondly the mentioning of the punishment might by satans suggestion and mans corruption be abused to make them commit the sin some sinnes are left out in the law not because they are too little but because they are too great should the punishment of every villany be put into the law the committing of many villanies would be put into our minds which otherwise might be forgotten and sinnes punisher would be made sins remembrancer Yet though this case for circumstance is not set down in the Bible for substance it is in severall places who sheddeth mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed Gen. 6.9 now the scripture is not written for those that will be idle but for such as comparing one place with another by faithfull consequence will proportionably extract and deduce what ought to be done in each severall action whose substance in the bible is recorded though each circumstance particularly set down And now I come to the order for the time to come but behold in the order it self much confusion arising from the variety of translations you shall scarce find three bibles wherein two of these words are rendred alike what therefore must wee do the best way to expound the text is to practise it and before wee give sentence what should be the meaning of these severall words let us first consult with interpreters and consider the originall The first word in the great Bible consult importeth in the originall a meeting of many together rendred by learned Tremelius adhibete vos ad istud settle your selves together to this matter The observation is this in matters of moment we are not severally to follow our private advice but jointly to unite your selves together in consultation eyes see more then an eye saith the proverb I must confesse Paphnutius with his one eye for his persecutors had bored out the other saw more in the matter of ministers marriage then the 300 two-eyed bishops assembled in the councel oâ— Nice But he was an exception from a generall rule ordinarily tow are better then one yea Solomon the wisest of earthly kings had his councel of aged men which stood before him 1 Kings 12.6 nay a greater then Solomon may be brought for the proof of this point God himself Genes 1.26 being about to contract the first volume of the world into the abrigement of man called as it were a councel in the persons of the Trinity let us make man Had God any need of councel is not the same eternall act which is done by one person done by all or are not these things rather written for our instruction surely for our instruction they are written that when we enterprise things of consequence we may call for and make use of the councels and directions of others to blame then are they who rashly runne on their own heads I cannot but commend the swiftnesse of
to mount unto who wanted the wings of holy writ the direction of S. Paul in my text that we are by nature the children of wrath even as others Here perchance some may expect that as the master of the feast said to him that wanted the wedding garment friend how camest thou in hither so I should demand of originall sin foe and worst of foes how camest thou in hither and by what invisible leakes didst thou soak into our soules but I desire if it be possible to present you this day with a rose without prickles to deliver plain and positive doctrine without thorny disputes or curious speculations lest as Abrahams ramme was caught in the thicket so I imbroyle you and my self in difficult controversies and here in generall to prevent such objections as might be made against this doctrine of the wrath deserving condition of men by nature pray hearken to these three excellent rules 1. Let us not with our wanton wit kick against the pricks of our own consciences and goe about to prove by arguments that is not which we by woefull experience find is or that that is not just which is done by justice it self 2. Let us not make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the doctrine of the chair to determine controversies between God us for the wisdome of the flesh is a malefactor no wonder if the malefactor being made a Judge doth accquit himself 2ly it is enmity to God no reason that hee should be censured by him that is his enemy his wayes I say which are often above reason but never against right let us not make the pallat of corrupt flesh which savoureth not the things of the spirit our taster in spirituall matters 3. Let us not busy our brains so much to know how Originall sinne came into us as labour with our heart to know how it should be got out of us but the worst is most men are sick of the Rickets in the soul their heads swell to a vast proportion puft up with the emptinesse of airy speculations whilst their leggs and lower parts do wast and consume their practicall parts do decay none more lazy to serve God in their lives and conversations and here the better to ballace both mine and your judgements aganinst all blasts and billowes of private opinions hearken to the resolution of the Church of England as she hath delivered her self in the article which is the ninth in number and beareth the title of originall or birth-sin originall sin standeth not in the following of Adam as the Pelagians do vainly talk but it is the fault and corruption of every man which naturally is ingendred of the of-spring of Adam whereby man is very far gone from originall righteousnesse and is of his own nature inclined to evil so that the flesh lusteth alwayes against the spirit therefore in every person born into the world it deserveth Gods wrath and damnation and that this infection of nature doth remain yea in them that are regenerate whereby the lust of the flesh called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some do expound the wisdome and some sensuality some the affection some the desires of the flesh is not subject to the law of God and although there be no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized yet the Apostle doth confesse that concupiscence and lust hath of it self the nature of sinne So far the golden Article which as all the rest was written by their hands who had good heads and hearts in whom wisdome did contend with their learning but their piety was a Conquerour above both who what they learnedly distilled out of the scripture faithfully infused into these Articles and as the reall serpent of Moses did devoure the seeming serpents which Jannes and Jambres the Egyptian enchanters did make so shall the truth of these Articles outlast and outlive confute and confound all false and erroneous doctrines whatsoever even when wilfull Heretiques shall have their eyes put out with the beams of truth and factious Schismaticks want a conventicle to hide their shame in and furious Innovatours either run themselves out of breath if the law do not first overtake them or else fall down through the giddinesse of their own brains and then shall the eternall truth of these Articles want nothing but a foe to oppose them because herein they concurre with the doctrine of S. Paul in my text that wee are by nature children c Is it so that that we are by nature the children of wrath this serves to confute three sorts of people namely those who either faintly affirm it or flatly deny it or falsely maintain it faintly affirm it and such are those as have written Peccatum originis non nisi ex duobus scripturae locis effoditur originall sin is digg'd out but of two or three places of scripture is diggd out do they mean is extracted by faithfull consequence as if what were so deduced were not Scripture as well as that which is their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in so many words Is diggd out and so are gold and pretious stones and are mysteries of religion of lesse price because they are to be gathered by some pains is diggd out and that is false for it lyes above ground in plain and pregnant places of scripture though these men had rather stumble at it then behold it But out of two or three places of scripture why out of the mouth of two or three witnesses shall not every truth be established but out of two or three places of scripture as if one were not all one with one thousand when it comes from an infallible mouth places of scripture are not to be taken out by the tale but the weight Thus these men labour to lessen originall sin O let us all labour to lessen originall sin but not by extenuating it in our tenets and opinions but by labouring to crucify mortifie it in our lives and conversations and surely many mens immoderate diminishing originall sin making it next to nothing gave the unhappy occasion to learned Illyricus to fall foul on that opinion if his meaning there be not mistaken that originall sin was a very substance indeed an opinion so absurd that at the same time I could both laugh at the ridiculous tenet and weep at the unhappinesse of the man that maintained it well let us go backward and if we want wherewithall to cover his nakednesse let us do it with the sheets of his own books and let his admirable mastery in other things crave a concealment of his errour in this Flatly deny it and such are the Pelagians who say that all sinne comes onely by imitation surely Cain never learned to kill his brother by imitation he was the first that set that black coppy and wrote not after any other Indeed children would not be so bad or so soon bad but for bad examples set before them but bad examples are not the root from