of God is to account him glorious so that when we pray Hallowed be thy Name our desire is that Gods name which is holy of it selfe may be so accounted of us and be holily used by us And whereas he saith not glorificetur or magnificetur nomen tuum glorified or magnified by thy Name but sanctificetur hallowed or sanctified be thy Name it is to the end that we receiving the sanctification of Gods spirit might have a holy regard of his Name for things may be accounted great and glorious by those which are accounted neither great nor glorious but sanctificetur cannot come from any persons that are prophane but onely such persons as are holy therefore the Angels in heaven cry not Glorious Glorious but Holy Holy Holy Esay 6. The title that Aaron ware upon his breast was not Glory but Holinesse unto the Lord Exod. 28. And the foure beasts ceased not to cry day and night Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Rev. 4.8 The duties which pertaine to the sanctifying of Gods name are two First that against which we do Deprecari or pray to be removed secondly that for which wee do pray or desire to be granted First wee are to pray that we may not use the name of God which is Wonderfull and Holy either contemptuously to Magicke or cursing or negligently abuse it upon any slight occasion because that holy things are to be separated from a common use and are not to be used but when necessity requireth We see by experience that the holy name of God hath not that reverence which it ought to have and therefore the persons which do take it in vaine do oftentimes pull upon themselves the plagues and vengeance of God by that sinne for God doth in justice punish such offenders not because the name of God can receive any pollution by mens default but because we doe quantum in nobis est as farre as in us lyeth pollute the holy name of God even as hee that looketh after a woman to lust after her hath already committed the sinne of uncleannesse although she be not a whit the lesse chaste for his lust Mat. 5. The Heathen faile in this duty because they do appropriate the name of God to foure-footed beasts Rom. 1.23 And change the glory of God who is incorruptible into the similitude of mortall man The Jew sinneth because he contemnes the name of JESUS which is a name above all names Phil. 2. and despiseth the name of CHRIST the preciousnesse whereof appeareth herein by that that it is Oleum effusum an ointment powred out Cant. 1. But as we are to pray against the contemptuous abuse of Gods name so we are to pray that we do not negligently or carelesly use it without that reverent estimation and regard that is due to it that we tread not under feete the Sonne of God nor account of the blood of the Testament whereby we are fanctified as a common thing Heb. 10.29 Secondly Moses and Aaron were debarred from entring into the land of Canaan not because they polluted Gods name but for that they did not sanctifie the Lord among the children of Israel at the waters of strife Deut. 32.51 Therefore as we pray against the contempt and negligent use of Gods name so we must pray that we may have a due regard of it First that we sanctifie Gods name in our hearts 1 Pet. 3. Secondly we must not use the name of God with our tongues but seriously and therefore we are forbidden to take it in vain in the third Commandement Thirdly in all our actions we must not begin any thing that is extraordinary but in the Name of the Lord that made heaven and earth Psal 124. and men must referre the end of them to the Glory of his name 1 Cor. 10. God whose name is called upon by us is holy and Christ of whom we are called Christians Act. 11. is holy therefore we must sanctifie God in our actions Neither do we pray that we our selves onely may sanctifie Gods name but that others also may do the same for Christ saith not Sanctisicemus let us sanctifie but Sanctificetur let thy name be sanctified This is it whereunto the Prophet exhorteth Laudate Dominum omnes Gentes Laudate Dominum omnes populi Psal 100. and Psal 117. Praise the Lord all yee Nations praise him all yee people that is for persons For places The Lords name be praysed from the rising of the Sunne to the going downe of the same Psal 113. Thirdly for the time Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth for evermore Psal 113. But because it cannot generally be sanctified except it be known we must desire that all may know God and pray with the Prophet Let thy way be knowne upon earth and thy saving health among all Nations Psal 67. Secondly not to know it only but cheerfully to go forward in the profession of Gods truth and in the worship of his name Thou hast multiplyed the people but not increased their joy Esay 9.2 But wee are to pray that as all Nations know his name so that they may so carry it and professe it as that the Heathen may not have occasion to say scoffingly Populus Dei est iste Ezek. 36.20 We must desire of God that all that professe his name may so carry themselves that for their sakes the name of God may not be evill spoken of among the Gentiles Rom. 2. But contrariwise that they may shine as lights in the world among a froward and crooked generation Phil. 2. That they may by their good workes stirre up all men to glorifie our heavenly Father Matth. 5. and by their good conversation without the word winne those that obey not the Word 1 Pet. 3.2 We are to desire that such as have not yet cared to performe this duty may now begin that such as have begun to sanctifie Gods name may goe forwards and that such as are fallen away from God and pollute that holy Name which sometimes they did highly esteeme may resipiscere that being renewed by repentance they may recover themselves out of Relapses that they may be of the society of Angels that cry continually Holy Holy Holy Esay 6. Rev. 4. We must be carefull not for our selves onely but for those over whom we have power that they may sanctifie Gods name and account it holy that the Heathen may not take occasion to pollute the holy name of the Lord saying Are these the people of the Lord but that while they behold our good conversation they may have occasion to say Verily God is in you 1 Cor. 14.1 Cor 14.25 Thirdly Tuum nomen thy name men are given generally to give a kind of honour to God but in the meane time they will have themselves honoured but here they are taught otherwise It is our duty to ascribe all glory to God Non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam Not unto us O Lord not unto us
spake to him to rebuke them for it he alledged for them out of Psal 8.2 out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained to set forth thy praise 3. Matth. 18.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christs curse is on them that hinder little children to come unto him though at that time it pleased him to beare with his Disciples and to shew mercy to them yet even after a curse is pronounced and in the same place Matth. 18.14 when his Disciples forbad them to come to him he saith It is not the will of our Father which is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish Perish they must unlesse they come to him and Christs curse is on all that seeke to lay a stumblingblock before them And they have a stumblingblock laid before them yet that shall be taken away by admonitions and if they will not heare when they are forewarned they shall perish for we may say that the Lord hath purposed their destruction as 1. Sam. 2.25 Notwithstanding they obeyed not unto the voyce of their father because the Lord would slay them Speaking of the sonnes of Eli. 4. Christ being ready to be taken up into Heaven his charge to Peter and so in him to all the Apostles and in them to all their successors which was his last charge as Augustine noteth 1. Feed my Lambes pasce agnos nieos 2. Pasce oves meas 2. Feed my Sheepe For the prospering of the Lords sheepfold dependeth upon the good feeding of the Lambes And thus you see that children are to be brought up in the feare of the Lord. The reason Reasons 1. There is a promise and stipulation in our baptisme that as soone as we could we should fall in hand with it as Prov. 6.4 When a man hath made a promise unto the Lord he is not to rest untill he hath performed it For though the naturall order be as Christ biddeth Matth. 28.19 first teach and then baptize yet in singular mercy to the children of the faithfull he hath granted this priviledge In primi◠annis dantur nobis magistri ut in nobis generent timorem Dei In our first yeeres Tutors are given unto us that they may beget in us the feare of the Lord. Piut. Sumptio virilis tagae non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The taking of the robe of a man is not a casting away of the groundworke but a change 2. Pers first to be baptized therefore though we begin never so soone yet we doe it not in that order that it should be done Of this Nazianzen saith well let us not set that in no place because the Lord hath set it in the second place which should have been in the first 2. And Augustine he saith Quare adhibetur magister extrinsecus nisi ut sit magister intus Wherefore is there given unto us an outward teacher but that there may be an inward teacher But when we come to be men we cannot have this outward teacher ergo we are to endeavour as soone as may be to establish the inward teacher that is to direct us all our life long 3. For as much as the light of nature doth leade us thus farre that there is an aptnesse in children to vice ergo it is requisite that we take the advantage and apply their aptnesse to goodnesse for he that is able to say to Elizeus bald-pate is able to say to Christ Hosanna 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and I will instruct or catechise you Arg. A nomine probat tenuiter declarat concinnè he proves it from the name barely declares it properly English Latine followeth the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 catechising which seemeth to come of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth repetere acuere to rehearse to sharpen in which two is contained the office of the Catechist and the catechized And as in the one so in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is included an iteration of a sound from whence our eccho commeth for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to sound the last syllable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sound the whole speech after another Clemens defineth catechising to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What Catechising is an abridgement of Christian doctrine to be delivered to the youth The difference of catechising from preaching The differences betwixt catechising and preaching is in three things 1. Preaching is the dilating of one member of Religion catechising is a contraction of the whole 2. Catechising is to be delivered to the yong and ignorant preaching to all 3. Preaching exacteth no repetition catechising requireth repetition Whether the Scriptures may be abbreviated They may first from Christs example Abbreviating of Scriptures taught us of God 2. From Salomon Concerning that it is a summe here is a doubt whether such summes or epitomes may be made They may For proofe whereof see Matth. 22.37 where Christ draweth the whole Law into two Heads and John 3.16 Christ catechising Nicodemus contracteth the summe of the Gospell into one verse God so loved the world that he gave his onely c. 2. Likewise also Eccles 12.13 Salomon compriseth all that hee had said before in these two heads First feare God Secondly and keepe his Commandements for this is the whole duty of man 3. Practice of the Church It hath beene the use of the Church in all ages that it be not onely delivered to them but also required of them againe 3. Hebr. 6.2 The whole summe of Religion is drawne into repentance from dead works and faith in Christ This is also seene in other Sciences Physitians have their principles 1. Aphorisme commonly delivered in parva arte in the short or briefe art 2. Lawyers in their institutions their maximae Philosophers in their introductions their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chiefe sentences One calleth this sepes legis the fence of the law Clemens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fundamentum vel basis a foundation or pillar The fruit of this It is a limit to the whole Scriptures It teacheth us how to range our studies into method and order 4. The same in other sciences The fruit of catechising to what head we are to referre all our readings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thankes be unto the blessed God who hath made these things that are necessary short and easie to be understood and things not concise not necessary and difficult Seeing therefore things are drawne into such a narrow compasse they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without excuse that will not frame themselves to the knowledge of God being so easie and compendious In these places Catechising a short Gospell 2 Pet. 3.18 1 Cor. 14.20 Ephes 14.13 We are to proceed continually For as there are places where every Lambe may wade over so there are places also where Elephants may swim For wee shall never be free from Scrutamini Scripturas search the Scriptures 2.
Reddes rationem that of Christ Thou shalt give an account and every one will give morâ—â—ttention to that which he knoweth he shall after give account for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Because we are all bound to give account of our faith 1 Pet. 3.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ready alwaies to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you Oportet reddere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non stultam vanam inanem opinionem you must render a reason not a foolish and vaine opinion Therefore it is best to render a reason before Agrippa our Countreyman before we come to Caesar Forasmuch as Christ is become not onely our King and Priest We must be Prophets Our prophecying in foure things but also our Prophet we must become Prophets Our prophecying must stand in these foure things 1. In examining the doctrine that we heare 1 Iohn 4. 2. In examining our selves before the word and Sacraments 1 Cor. 11.28 2 Cor. 13.5 3. In admonishing our brethren which we cannot doe without catechising Rom. 15.14 and able to admonish one another 4. Forasmuch as when we are children we doe imbibere errores drinke in errors We must learne to put them off while we are children and have truth in their place The fruit of the first that knowing that judgement waiteth for us we may be carefull of our duties and so to practise them Of the second Forasmuch as we see of the Church in all ages that it is a thing especially commanded of the Lord we must know that those houres which we bestow on this exercise we bâ—stow them on a thing most pleasing to God Veniendum ergo alacriter cum venerimus ita nos gerere oportet ut decet scilicet ut arrectis auribus intentis animis auscultemus We must therefore come cheerfully and when we come so behave our selves as it becometh namely we must heare with attentive eares and earnest hearts Paul asketh the Romans some fruit of their former life Paul Rom. 6.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed and secondly in the 22 verse he setteth the fruit downe to be holinesse of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto holinesse And the heathen wisheth us in all our actions to aske this question Cui bono to what good admonishing us to enquire what good commeth to us by our exercises Even that which Paul setteth downe 1 Tim. 4.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For bodily exercise profiteth little but godlinesse is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come In this life the fruit length of daies as Deut. 11.21 In the life to come John 17.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eternall life Having seene the fruit we are to take care that those houres which we spend in this exercise we mispend not least we be deprived thereof For as in naturall philosophy it is a great absurdity ut quid frustrafiat that any thing be in vaine and in morall ut sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vaine desire In divine things much more Ne frustra audiamus Let us not heare in vaine 1 Cor. 15.14 Paul useth no other argument to prove that Christ is risen then that else his preaching and their hearing should be in vaine Gal. 2.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I went up by revelation and communicated unto them that Gospell which I preach among the Gentiles but severally to them which were of reputation Ratio the reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest by any meanes I should run or had runne in vaine 2 Cor. 6.1 as he desired the Corinthians that they received not the grace of God in vaine so wee are to looke that we heare nothing in vaine least we be like those Ier. 6.29 that let the bellowes burne and the lead consume in the fire and the founder melt in vaine The word of God not in vaine in respect of it selfe The word of the Lord is not in vaine either in respect 1. of it selfe 2. Preacher 3. hearer In respect of it selfe it cannot be in vaine Esa 55.10 11. As the raine and snow commeth from Heaven and returneth not againe but watereth the Earth and maketh it to bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to him that eateth 11. So shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth it shall not returne to me voyd but it shall accomplish that which I will and shall prosper in the thing whereto I send it therefore by every hearing we are either bettered or hardened 2. Neither in regard of the preacher And as the word in respect of it selfe cannot be in vaine so neither in regard of the preacher Esay 49.4 I have laboured in vaine I have spent my strength for nothing but my judgement and worke is with the Lord. It is also warranted Luke 10.6 If the sonne of peace be there your peace shall be upon him if not it shall returne to you againe More plaine 2 Cor. 2.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish Great care then is to be taken how we behave our selves in hearing 3. Pars. The third part Venite auscultate come and hearken It s the manner of the holy Ghost to comprise many things in one word In the first required presence to come the beginning of Christs obedience Psal 40.7 8. Then said I loe I come c. The action Psal 122.1 I rejoyced when they said unto me we will goe into the house of the Lord. Esay 2.2 3. And many people shall say come let us goe up to the house of the Lord c. And the Hebrew proverbe is Blessed is he that dusteth himselfe with the dust of the temple alledging the Psal 84.10 For a day in thy Courts is better then 1000 otherwhere The cause of our comming Because it is to be feared lest wee concurre with those Esay 29.23 that came rather for feare of disfavour or mulct then for any godly respect to such the Word shall be as a sealed booke that shall not be opened Therefore though all mens censure were removed and it were free for us to come or not to come yet are we so to be affected seeing the Lord hath said venite come in respect of God The Centurion Matth. 8.9 saith that they which were under him when hee called them came c. Therefore it is but a small service which we doe to the Lord in comming The people made three daies journey after Christ into the wildernesse Act. 20. Paul prolonged his speech till midnight but our comming and attention is but small to these Psal 105.31 34. Grashoppers Flies Lice Caterpillers come at the commandement of the Lord therefore if we come behind these unreasonable creatures we shall not need
est sua peccata patriae suorum quantum fiori potest tegere all of nothing So for a man to come to this that he wil not conceale his fathers mothers or friends faults to speake against his owne country and countrymen yea against himselfe is against the nature of man cannot be wrought in man but by a supernaturall cause This we see the holy men in the Scriptures did It is naturall to every man so farre as he can to cover his owne faults and the faults of his Countrey and friends Moses when no necessity bound him confessed that he came of a cursed stocke spared not his brother Aarons fault in making the Calfe but committed it to writing spared not his sister Miriam in the cause of murmuring no not his owne fault in murmuring against the Lord at the waters of strife Numb 11.11 dispossessed his owne children and would not have them to succeed him in the Magistracy a very unnaturall thing but preferred Ioshua yea he put by his owne Tribe and the Tribe of Iuda and preferred Ephraim This is not able to agree with the naturall man but must come from an higher cause Therefore the writers of these bookes must be inspired by God 10. Whereas the whole drift of the greatest Philosophers and most learned men was to teach how Kings should enlarge their Kingdomes and to be in credit with Princes and great men this teacheth that life is the contempt of life It teacheth the contempt of the world and worldly honours The Prophets they never sought to be in favour with Princes but were so farre from that that they answered them not so much to that they asked as to that they should have asked therefore this is supernaturall Therefore the true way and from God not from man Against the Iewes The next point as God is a Spirit so must his worship be spirituall so we finde in the Scriptures not onely forbidding of images and shadowes but also a flat negative And as in the case of Gods unity though false religion may agree with the true in the first point yet not in the second so in this regard howsoever they exclude images yet they fault in this that all their worship is ceremoniall bodily and rituall consisting in matters of ablution and outward types And though there be types in the old Testament yet he proclaymeth every where that he abhorreth them for he will have a contrite heart and onely the circumcision of the heart Therefore as man is bodily and his notions fall into the compasse of the body so as that worship that commeth from him is bodily whereas the worship that commeth from God is spirituall 2. To this may be added that of Miracles and Oracles to confirme this religion as the other did in confirming their religion They were not done in corners but in the sight of Pharao in the middest of all his servants 2. Againe they were not frivolous but they that have felt them have got good by them 3. They are not imitable nor expressible by the art of man as the dividing of the red Sea the causing the Sunne to stand still in Ioshuahs time the making of Ahaz Diall to goe backe 10. degrees both which Areopageta saith are in the Persian Oracles The raining of Manna from Heaven Iannes and Iambres were not able to imitate Moses For Oracles of the Gentiles they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 philippise Oracles speake as King Philip would have them and that they were very ambiguous and needed Delio natatore the Swimmer the Interpreter Apollo to expound them Therefore Porphyry said that their Oracles commonly had Posticum a backe-dore These doe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 philippise are not doubtfull need no Delius natator the Swimmer the Interpreter Apollo Last most of the heathens Oracles came not to passe but in the Scriptures they came all to passe some three hundred yeeres before some 500. some a thousand some three thousand as the dilatation of Iapheth which happened not before the calling of the Gentiles And this for confirmation both of the old and new Testament common to the Jewes aswell as to us those that follow are proper to Christian religion 1. Aug. 23. de eivitate Dei out of Porphyrie de regressu animae of the regresse of the soule the greatest enemy that ever the Church had That it is no true religion that doth not yeeld a sufficient purgation to the soule of man Moreover he addeth there that the Platonists received from the Chaldees that the purgation of the soule of man cannot be nisi per principia but by the principles we know that Plato his principles were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the father the mind love an enignaticall speech of our Trinity But this i. the purgation of the soule of man no religion teacheth but ours for it teacheth that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word tooke upon him sinfull flesh to purge away the sins of man therefore ours the true all the rest are meerely bodily for all their exorcismes and sacrifices are bodily and not spirituall and so withall the God of the Christians is not like to the heathen gods for he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one who loveth man i. he delighteth not in cutting mens throats or burning them to afhes as their divels had virgins babes old men young men good men offered up to them And the sacrifices of beasts in the old law were onely used for two respects 1. That they might be types of those things that are in the Gospell 2. To be an admonition to men to shew them that they have deserved to be thus killed and sacrificed God was so farre from having men to be sacrificed to him that he himselfe came downe to give himselfe a Sacrifice for our sinnes And what greater love can be then for a man to give his life for that he loveth for his friend therefore no greater 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 love to man then this In a witnesse two things required 1. Skill 2. Honesty 1. Ioh. 1.1 Now for the Gospell 1. For the witnesses In a witnesse two things required 1. Skill 2. Honesty First for the skill There is never a one of them but can say we write and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which we have heard which we have seene with our eyes which we have looked upon and which our hands have handled Not as Homer Plato and the rest that had their things from other and by report And withall the writers of the Scriptures writing them when the world bare greatest hatred against them and yet never any durst write any booke against Moses in his time or against the Gospell in these daies And de probitate testis concerning the honesty of a witnesse The honesty of a witnesse there can be no better reason given then that Tacitus giveth That they testifie best quibus nullum est mendacii pretium that have nothing for their labour
delivered from the curse of the Law 2. In 2 Pet. 1.10 How we may be sure that this deliverance pertaineth to us if we make our calling and faith sure 3. Quid retribuam what we are to performe i. true obedience not secundum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jus plectorium secundum jus praetorium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not according to the extremity of the Law the Law punishing but according to praeter Law equity and right in Christ Now for the Law naturall we learned in the generall prooemium or preface that we depend of Gods providence and therefore we must thinke of God as of a King For so it is Revel 19.16 and therefore as he hath rewards from us Revel 19.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The King of Kings and Lord of Lords In every law foure things are required 1. The worke 2. The manner 3. The reward 4. The punishment so he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his worke house to try us in and this is the world Then we being in a work house must have our agenda things we are to doe and the Law being defined doctrina agendorum the doctrine of things which are to be done it is our agenda thing we are to doe And as there are foure things in every Law in mundo in the world so doth this which is Lex creatoris mundi the law of the Creator of the world containe them all 1. The worke this you must doe 2. The manner thus you shall doe 3. Reward in palatio in Court 4. Carcer the prison punishment in the prison All these are in every law and so are they in Gods law In the law of Moses who hath set downe in the decalogue a perfect pandect of all the workes and duties that God requireth at our hands These are the true Ethica Christiana Christian Ethickes passing all others Ethickes In this thing are they of the Church of Rome to be commended that teaching their youth Logicke Physicke and Metaphysicke three yeeres because they are not compleately to be found in these bookes referre them to these bookes for Ethiks propter regulam morum for the rule of manners For this is the just square of all our actions it ought neither to be longer or shorter then this This law was given by Moses saith he here Gods Law is the rule of our life in regard of the first of the foure things it is called our agenda or things to be done In respect of the other the rule or cubit of the Sanctuary Here may a doubt arise Seeing that the law was not given till 2600 yeeres after the creation it might seeme that men might aswell live still without the Law But to shew how the world was governed by the law and that which is Rom. 2.14 The Gentiles both before and after doing the things that belong to the law are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Law to themselves not to doe what they list but to doe the workes of the Law how that can be it is thus that they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. they had the effect of the law written in their heart which was equivalent to the law it selfe This he proveth because they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the accusing or excusing of their thoughts and that they had their conscience for a witnesse to them both Gen. 3. Man is the image of God Col. 1.10 The Image of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the knowledge of God And therefore Augustine of the Trinity Ioh. 1.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the light shineth in darknesse and the darknesse comprehended it not Psal 119.142 Thy Law is from everlasting as concerning thy testimonies I have knowne long since that thou hast grounded than forever Effectumlegis praestitum esse ante legis traditionem Gen 31.53 Laban sware by the God of Abraham and Nahor and of their fathers but Iacob sware by the feare of his father Isaac lib. 14. ch 14. saith That every man had it in his heart which must be understood after the fall For before it was all perfection Mali multa rectè laudant rectè reprehendunt Quibus regulis hoc faciunt ubi habent hoc quod homines sic vivere debent cum ipsi sic non vivant hae regulae sunt justae mentes corum injustae hae regulae immutabiles mentes eorum mutabiles Evill men praise many things rightly and reprehend rightly upon what ground doe they this where have they this that men ought thus to live and yet they themselves live not so these rules are just their minds unjust these rules unchangeable their minds changeable then he concludeth Vident eas in libro lucis they see them in the booke of truth which truth being in God as a seale maketh a print in the mind of man and yet keepeth it it selfe which print they can never plucke out and so by this meanes all men have the effect of the Law in them To prove that this effect was performed before the giving of the Law For the first Commandement not so manifest Gen. 11.13 by the departure of Terah with Abraham Sarah and Lot out of Vr of the Chaldees from their idolatry into Canaan Gen. 35.2 Jacob said to his houshold and to all that were with him put away the strange Gods that are among you and clense your selves and change your garments For the second ibidem verse 5. where Jacob buried the idols under an Oake More plaine Gen. 31.34 Rachel hid her fathers idols in the Camels straw For the third Gen. 24 3. Abraham made his eldest servant to put his hand under his thigh and sweare by the Lord God of Heaven and earth that he should not take a wife to his sonne of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom he dwelt Gen. 31.53 The solemne oath betweene Laban and Iacob For the fourth Gen. 2.2 God hallowed the seventh day 2600. yeeres before the delivery of the Law God useth not to sanctifie a thing so long before when there shall be no use of it Gen 16.23 Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord bake that to day which ye will bake and seeth that ye will seeth and all that remaineth lay it up to keepe till the morning for you Gen. 2.2 For in the seventh day God ended his worke which he had made and in the seventh day he rested from all his workes that he had made For the fifth Gen. 27.28 Esaus howling and crying for his fathers blessing Verse 41. He stood in aw of his father though otherwise prophane For so long as his father lived he would not kill Iacob For the sixth a plaine precept Gen. 9.6 Whoso sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed For the seventh Gen. 38.24 Of Thâ—mar whom Iudah would have burned for playing the whore Gen. 34.31 The answer of Simeon and Levi that had put a whole Citty to the sword for their sister
to the hearing of the Law grounded on Exod. 19. and for the hearing of the Gospell Iohn 3. Two daies a preparation to Christs passion And albeit Iohn 1.5 darknesse could not comprehend light yet the light shone in darknesse Now the exposition of the law But before the particular exposition of the law there must be a preparation There is no benefit of God to be received of us before we are prepared for it Exod. 19. A preparation of the people before the receiving of the law The hearing of the Gospell no lesse plaine by John the Baptist Parate vias Domini c. Prepare ye the ways of the Lord. Proportionable to these prepared the Church her Vespera Sabbathi the evening of the Sabbath and for their holy daies and also for there solemne feast daies at the first instituted for a good end after there grew a superstition of it and was abused Observe two things First forasmuch as the Sacrament is but appendix verbi a dependent of the word and the seale of it surely we cannot be justified for our doings that prepare our selves for the one and not to the other Secondly that we may know that a preparation is required necessarily of the hearer as of the speaker according to that Preach 4.17 Take heed to thy foote when thou enterest into the house of God and be more neere to heare then to give the sacrifice of fooles for they know not that they doe evill The preparation of the law hath his ground in Exod. 19.4 Ye have seene what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on Eagles wings and brought you to me 10. More over the Lord said to Moses goe to the people and sanctifie them to morrow and let them wash their clothes 12. And thou shalt set markes to the people round about saying Take heed to your selves that ye goe not up to the Mount nor touch the border of it whosoever toucheth the mount shall surely die Three meanes are set downe by God directly to be practised three daies before the publishing of the law and the fourth may be added drawne out of a circumstance i. Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel in every action 1. Voluntatem promovere To move forward the will A man must as well number as value the benefits of God innumerable the will is to goe first the first therefore is to make the Israelites willing to heare and receive the message that should come Therefore first he maketh a Catalogue of the benefits and goodnesse of God So that the ordinary meanes to stirre up a will in us to embrace the Law of God is that we enter into a mediation with our selves concerning the benefits that our countrey parents friends kinsfolkes have received that either respect us or them that touch us The Lord by that right interest he hath in us by vertue of creation that we are as pots in his hands to be either made or broken as he will and that we are as sons and as born subjects he may command us to doe this and need not to reward the doers of it as Dan. 3. Nebuchadnezzar his subjects had nothing for doing his commandement but if they did it not the Oven should be heated seven times hotter yea we are Deivernae Gods bond-men and as the Poet saith A fourefold consideration of the mercies of God Quis praemia vernae who gives a reward to his slave We are bought In the law nothing so humbleth No matter that a man may sooner fall into then the consideration of the Lords benefits This is a large and great sea and first if we consider our selves as we are creatures Psal 148. the dragons winds stormes snow haile c. are bound to praise him so that if it pleased the Lord to make us wind or hailestones yet in that respect also we ought to praise the Lord. How much more then for giving us a living soule 2. For the use of naturall functions for the use of all our members if we were bereft of the use of an arme or an eye or any one member how exceedingly beholden would we thinke our selves to be to those that could restore the use of this member by reason of the grievousnesse of the want of the use thereof Much more ought we to be thankefull to him that hath given us the use of all 3. But when we consider that he hath given us a reasonable soule that being a third degree of thankfulnesse and Augustine saith Quisque optat cum sanâ mente perpetuò lamentari quà m cum insanâ ridere each man had rather be in perpetuall sorrow with a sound mind then in joy with an outragious But the fourth swalloweth up all the rest namely if we consider the goodnesse and glory of all things though the earth be the Lords and all that therein is yet that he hath chosen us above all to be of his Church and to pertaine to him All the other be extreme miseries without this And this we shall learne thus to valew If we consider the Saints of God that were wiser then the sonnes of men how they have chosen him with infinite calamities and have refused places of great preferment rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season as Moses to suffer afflictions with the people of God then to be called Pharaohs daughters sonne Now afterward he divideth his benefits into 1. Past 2. To come The benefits past are either the taking away of evill or giving of good Those that are past he subdivideth into 1. Deliverance 2. Eagles wings In the deliverance it is either generall to us with many more in this is the spirituall deliverance besides a temporall in this generall either of the Common-wealth or of the Church Particular to every one either in regard of himselfe or of those that be neere him by the bond of blood or of duty or of love or of league or friendship For deliverance we need to take no other argument then that which God here useth You have seene what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried c. And going to the Egypt spirituall how we are delivered from the Kingdome of sinne and of Satan from the shadow of death from Gods judgements which doe incomparably passe Pharaoh and his servants Psal 91.3 Surely he will deliver thee from the snare of the hunter and from the noysome pestilence by the day c. And though the hunter did set a snare yet the Lord hath delivered us from all his snares à terrore nocturno liberavit à sagitta diurna He hath delivered us from the terrour by night and from the arrow that flieth by day On our right hand thousands have fallen and on our left ten thousands and yet the danger never came neere us Multi undiquaque ceciderunt nos autem stamus many have fallen on each side but we stand Eagles wings Revel 12.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And to the woman were given two wings of a great Eagle c. God saith to the woman that is the Church that he will give her two wings even the wings of a great Eagle These two wings by the interpretation of the learned are 1. the providence of God 2. His especiall grace Dei providentia in hoc seculo ala una gratia Deispecialis ala Ecclesiae altera The providence of God in this world is the one wing his speciall grace the other wing of the Church As in a wing there is an infinite number of feathers so in each of Gods wings infinite number of particular benefits but especially these three 1. Gods care over us whereby he abaseth himselfe to number the haires of our head to our dough bread c. 2. The use of all his creatures both for necessity and pleasure 3. The gard of his Angels for us base matter wormes compassed about with sinne His providence is thus considered He being a God infinite and eternall yet he considereth to looke upon every particular little thing of ours Levit. 26. and Deut. 28. to our dough our bread Psalm 41. to the turning and making of our bed In the Gospell the number of the haires of our head which we never doe Last of all he hath allotted to us poore wormes an handfull the most excellent guard of his Angels Heb. 1.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heires of salvation He hath commanded them to waite on us Yea he hath made this goodly Theater and all creatures and hath given them for our use Adeo ut sit inexhaustus fons divinae bonitatis so that the fountaine of the goodnesse of God is inexhaustible For his speciall grace in vouchsafing his sonne to redeeme the world by his death 2. A measure of sanctification and vertue to doe well 3. The outward ministery of his Word and Sacraments are as seales of his promises 4. Revel 3.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold I stand at the doore and knocke if any man will heare my voyce and open the doore I will come in to him and will suppe with him and he with me Pulsationes spiritus good motions to doe well Generall grace is first preventing 2. Following God bestoweth his benefits on us before we looke for them they are acceptable and accepted by the following The use of his meanes his Word Sacraments and motions of the Spirit the judgements of God Particular grace In particular the good gifts of nature of grace of those among whom we live of whom we have benefit Beside these if we come in particular to weigh every man by himselfe Gods particular graces 1. by bond of nature 2. of charge 3. of friendship in these graces particular we are to consider 1. that God seeing he hath done thus much for us must needs love us 2. That loving us he will command us no other thing then that which is good and profitable for us But adde to those benefits that are promised the promises that are to come Prae his illa nihil sunt in comparison of these those are nothing namely beneficia futura in futuro seculo benefits to come in the World to come The Prophet Esay 64.4 valueth them by the eye eare heart and he denieth that eye hath seene or eare hath heard or that it hath entred into the heart of man to understand those joyes that are for them which seeke him For since the beginning of the World they have not heard nor understood with the eares neither hath the eye seene another God beside thee which doth so to him that waiteth for him The eye may see much for Christ saw all the world 1. Cor. 2.9 The place of Esay recited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither hath entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him The eare can heare many things but the heart can conceive infinite things Therefore the joyes of the World to come must passe infinite being compassed about with the flesh when as yet it was never seene heard nor conceived of any And this is that name which is said Revel 2.17 No man knoweth it but he that receiveth it Revel 2.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To him that overcommeth will I give to eate of the hidden Manna and will give him a new name written which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it No knowledge of it till we receive it But for some taste of it whereas this Earth and this Heaven is too good for us yet he promiseth that he will make a new Heaven and indeed the uttermost of his power will he shew in heaping joyes and creating anew for those that seeke him so it is proved by manifest demonstration that he will shew the uttermost of his power in increasing our pleasures Therefore this is it that we conceive of it that it is more then we can conceive So that this shall be more then excellent or over-excellent because we are not able to conceive it All this tendeth to this end to stirre up in us a love and if that come we shall finde ease and delight these will diligence and continuance follow And there are but three things to move us to love 1. Pulchritudo the beauty of that we are to love 2. Consanguinitas neerenesse of kindred 3. Beneficentia benefits these make the most savage beasts to love For the excellency of the beauty of the Lord and his house his creatures and the sparkes we have by nature will sufficiently shew us 2. For the neerenesse what greater can be then betweene creature and Creator and then by the second bond of adoption we shall be his sons 1 Sam. 18.18 What am I and what is my life that I should be sonne in law to the King David maketh it a wonderfull great matter to be sonne in law to the King much more to God 3. For Benefits The Asse knoweth the Masters Cribbe and the Oxe the Stall he hath not onely bestowed on those that were before rehearsed but his love was such to mankind that he was faine to have his onely begotten sonne to come downe and die for us And if this move us not then let Jeremies saying take place Obstupescat coelum terra let Heaven and Earth be astonished And thus much to make us willing The second point is in the 10. vers Moreover the Lord said to Moses 2. Point goe to the people and sanctifie them to day and to morrow and let them wash their clothes and let them be ready on the third day For the third day the Lord will come downe in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai As the first was to make us willing so the second is to make us able and giveth us ability Before in the preface was said Sacta sanctis
head so there is a fleeting hope when a man thinkes he hopeth and doth not it may be tried thus 1. The first is Hezekiah his signe 2 King 20.3 when he was in the time of his sicknesse he prayed Remember Lord I pray thee how in my prosperity I have walked with an upright heart c. this is a signe that our hope is good this maketh us cheerefull that in the time of affliction and danger we may say that we have beene mindfull of him in our prosperity 2. The second is Saint Iohns signe 1 Iohn 3.3 it is a purger not like the presumers hope which is a very sinke to receive and maintaine whatsoever corruption our hands our eyes our hearts or any other member hath But it must be resident in the conscience So the Fathers say that conscientia est custos spei conscience is the preserver of hope and if that be cleane kept then our hope is true if not then there is no true hope 3. The third is of David Psal 37.3 hope thou in the Lord and be doing good The Heathen call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 labour the husband of hope there is hope the harlot and hope the married woman we shall know hope the wife from hope the harlot by her husband for she is alwayes with her husband Psal 4.5 sacrificate sacrificium justitiae sperate in Domino offer the Sacrifice of righteousnesse and put your trust in the Lord there must be a travelling and striving to doe good 4. The fourth is Rom. 5.3 And not so onely but we rejoyce in our afflictions knowing that affliction worketh patience and Esa 33.15 there must be tribulation to bring a proofe of our hope in sileâ—tio spe erit fortitudo vestra in quietnesse and in confidence shall be your strength Such as we are in adversity such we are in deed such as our hope was in adversity such it is if you faint in adversity thy hope is fainting and thererefore the heathen call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tribulation the bud or blossome of hope which you must passe through if that be not nipt there will be fruit of it otherwise if it bring forth no fruit it is spurium vitulamen a bastard joy The 6. rule for the provoking of it in others Rule â— not onely to have it in our selves but as Psal 40.3 that many may see it and feare and trust in the Lord and as it is Psal 62.8 that all the nations may put their trust in him so farre as it is possible and Psal 115.9 that the house of Israel 10. the house of Aaron 11. and all that feare the Lord may trust in him An encouragement endeavour thereto Ps 51.13 Davids promise to the wicked to sinners that he would teach them to hope and Ps 75.5 to the presumers that he would plainly tell them that they should not be so foolish so mad and set up their horne Invocation The necessity and use of prayer VNto every affection there is an action as the action of faith is hope so the action of hope is prayer spei operatio oratio so to come backe againe as the fruit of faith is hope and of hope prayer and as the property of hope is prayer Interpres spei oratiâ— so the property of prayer is to be interpres spei to make plaine the desire of the hope conceived In which respect as the Articles of our faith are summa credendorum the summe of our beliefe and the Law summa agendorum the summe of our actions so the Lords prayer is summa sperandorum the summe of our hope for the soule of man by considering and beleeving the judgments of God being humble and brought downe to the dust and as it were dead and buried by it hath some life againe put into it by conceiving an hope in his mercy for which mercy wee must goe to God and Prayer becommeth suiter for it Aug. Precibus non passibus itur ad Deum therefore that hope may be made pertaker of her object â— mercy we must know that Psal 13.5 mercy is of God And not onely prayer of words with the lips but it must be from the heart that it may ascend Austin writes on the 66. Psal ut descendat miseratio ascendat oratio that mercy may descend prayer must ascend and so there shall be a blessed exchange betweene our prayer and his mercy When we speake of prayer lest there should be an errour it is not to be conceived that the intreaty is made concerning that prayer in the Congregation which with lips and outward gesture we deliver such prayer Hosea 14.3 calleth vitulum labiorum the sacrifice of our lips that commeth not into the compasse of the first Commandement which is only inward but in the 1 Cor. 14.15 Orabo spiritu orabo mente I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also * * * The growing of the inward man when the spirit commeth to God which howsoever it be not heard of men by the outward eare how vehement it is yet we know it hath its effect with God for so Exod. 14.15 we read that Moses made so fervent intercession to God though there be no mention nor signe of any word he spake yet the Lord saith Why cryest thou thus unto mee So that this being the especiall part and the soule of every prayer to God without this inward prayer the lips prevaile not as Matth. 15.8 there is a drawing neere with the lippes Matth. 7.21 a doubling of Lord Lord it prevaileth nothing neither will it gaine him the Kingdome of Heaven And therefore Aug. Hoc negotium plus gemitibus constat quam sermonibus the worke of prayer consists more in grievance than words And Rom. 8.26 The spirit groaneth for us with sighs inenarrable as Esay 38.3 And so conceiving of it as of an inward oblation or speech of soule to God then whether it be of persons without the Church as Act. 10.2 of Cornelius or of those that are within the Church and have cast themselves out of Gods favour by their sinnes and so as Psal 130.1 be in the depth whether it be of an Heathen or of a sinner it is no lesse acceptable to God in substance though not in degree then the prayer of a just and righteous man Now the applying of this to Hope to the maine scope and end of it i. Gods glory as Psal 123.2 it pleaseth God by the Prophet to account it a speciall honour done to him that even as the servants eyes are alwaies on the hands of his Master and the eyes of the handmaiden are on the hands of her Mistresse so that our eyes should wait upon the Lord till he have mercy on us Or as Austin in his fifth Sermon de verbis Domini Magna est gloria Dei ut nos simus mendici God accounts it great glory done unto him when we become beggers
see when we have gone through the faire promises of the gaine-sayer we are to deale with other enemies as anguishes of this life c. then with the last enemies and then we are to make account that when wee deale with the last enemy i. death if wee escape him we shall be sure to keepe our soules Patience the roofe of godâ—â—nesse tectum In consideration whereof as we said in faith that it is fundamentum virtutum the foundation of other vertues so patience is tectum virtutum omnium the roofe to keepe them from the stormes of afflictions without which showres would fall into the building and rot it And this may well be warranted Luke 8.15 our Saviour describing the spirituall harvest saith that they brought fruit in patience the fruit is the last thing in the other the bud and the blossome the fruit that must come through the blade more plaine I am 1.4 that therefore patience must be that we may be perfect and want nothing i. that perfection may be added Phil. 1.29 he joynes them both together to beleeve and to suffer Vnto you it is given not onely to beleeve in him but also to suffer for him Heb. 6.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ye be not slothfull but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises faith and patience the first and the last the beginning and the ending Sure it is that when this vertue is come and covered the roofe we have good cause to rejoyce in so much as the Apostle 2 Cor. 12 10. he will rejoyce in his patience that he had suffered reproaches infirmities persecutions and anguishes for Christs sake Which patience Rom. 5.4 working experience then hee hath spem solidiorem more sure and solid hope then he comes to that Rom. 8.35 that he throweth downe his Gauntlet to any thing that can separate him from the love of God and he beginneth with the stoutest enemies speaking by experience as the worke being perfect in him If â—n punishment it brings forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the precept what is commanded that is patience but we will distinguish it according to this object to affliction that is of two sorts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 precept for direction punishment for correction and accordingly on both sides there is a diverse patience It is said that in every law there is a directive and corrective force if the first escape the second will take hold aut faciendum quod oporter aut patiendum quod oporiet either we must doe what is due or suffer what is due we must be either Active or Passive 1. The first patience this whereby when we see that we are under the rod we submit our selves to the corrective law knowing it to be just for our deserts The reasons be two but one for suffering 1 Pet. 4.19 the maine reason of both these because it is the will of God Of his Will we enquire not the cause but the reason it is revealed therefore we are bold for the confirmation of our faith one this he will have the whole world know The manifestation of his own justice that sinne shall not be unpunished partly plaine Numb 20.12 the waters of Meribah cost Moses his life his wavering that waters came not at the first was the forfeiture of entrance into the land of promise and many more may be brought but they are all darkened by Christ his punishment for sinne may shew how well God liketh it Now albeit the maine punishment fell on Christ the Son of God and this passio Christi his Passion was the greatest sign of the love that he bare to us so must it be reciproce though that fell on him yet so it fell that there should still be a visitation of his Church though it was promised in the beginning God makes a covenant with us and to this end that his mercy may not be withdrawne from us yet Psal 89.31.32 But if his children forsake my law then I will visit their transgression with the rod c. So it is a part of the league betweene him and us that we shall endure the fatherly correction 1 Pet. 4.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the time is that justice shall beginne at the house of God an argument if justice beginne at the house of God if God shew his justice in punishing those which he hath a speciall favour and love unto therefore it doth argue that he will punish the unbeleevers more grievously Luke 23.31 It in me that am a greene tree what shall become of a dry tree therefore the green shall downe too Ier. 25.29 If mine owne house where my name is called upon offend I will beginne to plague it and shall you go scotfree therefore there is a not sparing of the house of God This would be very unpleasant unto us but that if we suffer not this a worse thing to be left would follow Heb. 12.6 Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth Revel 3.19 God doth castigare omnem silium quem recipit he scourgeth every sonne whom he receiveth so herein is our choyce whether we will be disinherited or chastened Aug. Si hoc tibi magis malum videtur exhaeredari quam non casligari ist hoc elige So that if a man will be of the company of the wicked then Psal 73. he may share prosperity with them if not then Ier. 12. he shall be of the afflicted heritage and if our inheritance be magis bonum a good rather then the other we must passe under this 2. The procuring of out own benefit either by calling us backe when we are gone or retaining us in the state we 〈◊〉 in 2. Another reason of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 correction as the first was the declaration of Gods judgements so this for our owne benefit 1. Esa 28.19 vexatio dat intellectum vexation gives understanding Psal 119.14 it was good for David that he was in trouble i. many men cannot be without it Aug. saith of himselfe that when he did follow with a full streame worddly pleasures pectoris dolâ—r a griefe in his chest was the first visitation that recall'd him by Pauls unhorsing and smiting blinde was his entrance and so many have beene recovered to God and unlesse we be thus smitten and awaked the naturall folly and the world ringing in our eares will make us that we shall not heare So in our continuance of sundry Hase 2.6 Sepiam viam tuam spinis I will hedge up thy way with thornes if thou wilt out of the way a thorne shall pricke thee and bring thee in againe Basil is said that being a man much subject to infirmity and sicknesse once in his sicknesse was very earnest with God for the recovery of his health and when he had obtained it he remembred that he had left out a condition that when he requested of the Lord that he might recover his health he
lipps be as Psal 45.2 the pen of a ready writer and our tongue a Trumpet to sound his praise And not only these but also in outward action It is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that light Mat. 5.16 that our works may be as the works of him that our tongues may be declares of Gods glory as Psal 19.1 the Heavens and firmament are Now wee come to the commandement which hath two parts 1. a Precept 2. a Penalty To declare the precept we must learne what these three words meane 1. Name of God 2. Take 3. In Vaine For the Name of God which being a word as properly belonging to the Tongue so the duty of the tongue is commanded in it it is a word as the Heathen saith per quod cognoscimus alios ab illis cognoscimur by which wee both know and are knowne of others and consequently it is a word of distinction whereby wee distinguish a thing from all other things And that is the proper use of it and the first according to which use the Name of God is set downe diversly in the Scriptures 2 uses in the Bible It is best set downe in Exod. 34.6.7 he protesteth to proclaime his name when he cryeth Jehova Jehova c. his name there is of three sorts 1. in respect of his Essence Jehova 2. in respect of his Attributes or Adjuncts which be of two sorts affirmative as misericors omnipotens aeternus mercifull omnipotent eternall 2. â—egalize as infinite invisible incomprehensible c. and all those names that made Dionysius to write de Theologia negativa of negative Divinity and those that belong to his qualities as they doe denominate 3. in respect of his works Creator Redeemer Sanctifier c. and they are vers 7. And to these three may be referred whatsoever may be read of his name Now this very Name is reverently to be used Of every of these names may it be said as the Angell said to Manoah Jud. 13.18 that it is most fearfull And if the Angell Jud. 13.18 appearing to Manoah sayd to him inquiring after his Name Search not after my name for it is fearefull much more is the name of the Lord fearefull and cannot be knowne It is no question as it is Deut. 28.58 so it is If thou wilt not doe all these words that are written in this booke if thou wilt not beare reverence to this name The Lord thy God then there followeth a Catalogue of Plagues in that place Now if that be reverenced then the second use of his name is much more to be reverenced because men are onely knowne or distinguished by it that some duty might some way be done to them that is not done to any other We must take heed of the Pharisees distinction Matth. 5.33 concerning this name that except he did sweare by the Lord Jehova and take the very Name of God in his mouth he was safe from this commandement but there a man might sweare by the Heavens or Earth or Jerusalem because they were not the Name of God therefore that that maketh this Name is that wee call a Good name in English or Credit in private men but those that are in higher places as the dialect of Princes is their glory magnificence majestie c. as in Jer. 13.11 that they might have a name and praise and glory For the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of praise and glory and the common phrase of that tongue is this that if a man be in credit he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of Name a man of credit a famous person This good name hath a more extra ordinary commendation annexed to it according to the glory of the person so riseth this name as the Apostle reasoneth Heb. 1.4 that Christ was so much above the Angells in glory as he had received a more excellent Name then they and Gen. 17.5 it is the practise of God when he would exalt Abraham from an Harlot to his Church and establish the church in his house and make him Father of the faithfull then because he was more glorious he giveth him a more glorious name Thou shalt no more bee called Abram but Abraham c. And wee see the like Gen. 35.10 Jacobs name is changed to Israel a name of more dignity Then the second use is of good report if it be of private men For a private man it is a pleasure to have a good name Eccles 7.1 A good name is better then a good oyntment The especiall thing to keep a mans name because it was it that was most usuall and most esteemed in those dayes and for treasure and profit Pro. 22.1 A mans name is better then either silver or gold The other name may be changed as Abrahams and Jacobs but this is such as may not be forgon for neither pleasure nor profit And it is not onely of Gods Law but also of mans the Heathen could see the excellency of this for they say Interesse famae est majus omni alio interesse the weight of a mans good report goeth beyond and above all weight And further as a Father saith Fama pari passu cum vita ambulat goeth cheek by joll with his life Man seeth this that it is greatly to be magnified so Psal 138.2 Thou hast magnified thy name above all things by thy word So that indeed it is the glory of God that is chiefly here intended and secondly his very name 2. Non assumis c. thou shalt not take To understand it fully it is the scarcity of our tongue Take that the word is no better expressed For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence it commeth hath a double use and to these two may be referred whatsoever is borrowed It signifieth properly to take up to lift up and that two sorts of things First it is applyed to a standard or banner and secondly to an heavy thing as a burthen And indeed these two kindes of things are they that wee take away or remove If any thing be glorious we are content commonly to take and lift it up And on the other side if there be any thing that is necessary and that we have use of though it be heavy and weighty yet we will lift it so that the one is in rebus gloriosis the other in rebus necessariis On the contrary if they be neither glorious nor necessary we let them lye the first use the glory of it is set downe Exod. 28.37 God saith there must be a Plate and in it must be written SANCTITAS JEHOVAE Holinesse to the LORD and it must be removed to Aarons forehead as it must stand in the Myter of Aaron And Moses in Exo. 17.15 called the Altar Jehovah nissi from a word of great affinity The Lord isour standard that is lifted up as glorious things as the badge of any Nobleman it is lifted up on the shoulders of their servants to be seen For the other use for
the the state of a Learner and yet shewed a great gift that way above his yeares And if points of doctrine faile Luke 3.10 and Act. 2.37 what other points were to bee resolved of as there were divers questions moved by some how they might live accordingly id est by the Souldiours and by the Publicanes Now because there are no doubts it is a signe that feare is cleane extinguished out of mens hearts and if there bee any it is not of doing or leaving undone but of detracting 2. Betweene equalls Gal. 2.2 2. Kings 2.11 Luke 24.17 Mal. 3.16 When as hearers or two of like calling whether they bee Teachers as in the two first places as Elias and Eliseus went talking The word in the originall beareth a further signification and as Paul with Peter and the disciples in Luke with CHRISTS approbation and in Malachie it is accompanied with a blessing id est because that thing in the preaching of the Word doth good to one which doth not to the other by the laying together as it were a symbolum in a common shot they receive a more generall benefit As on the other side those imperfections and infirmities that hinder mee happly the same may fall into the minde of my brother and I may shew him how his case and how I was delivered out of it The third is Deuter. 11.19 Where it is sayd Of the exercise of the Law there shall bee an examination in families and the father or chiefe thereof hee shall question with the younger and that shall enter and whet them more and make it sticke faster So these three make a full member 4. Concerning the fourth and last It is not to bee passed over Aug. lib. 10. de Civit. DEI accompteth it totum opus Sabbathi as if the Sabbath was made for nothing else But onely for thanksgiving and prayse For this ende was as is aforesayd penned Psal 92. for that ende appointed Howbeit they have drawne Psalmes generally to these three points That the Church of GOD publikely that every man particularly may make use Either of those that containe generall matter or of some particular custome For generall instruction Psal 91. the generall Psal 103. of some particular benefit as Psal 68. When as wee have had too much raine and pray for faire weather or when there is too much drought the latter part of Psal 65. Then for these particular benefites particular Thanksgiving or as Psal 35.18 the neglect of which is a blemish in our Church Hee desireth deliverance and promiseth that beeing heard hee will sing His Praise in the Congregation So Psal 65.1 the very word there is due There is due to thee an Hymne The reason is because thou hast heard our prayers Tibi debetur Hymnus à SION These actions are so generall as that they may serve for every action of the Sabbath In wicked exercises wee can never bee frequent enough God requires that wee should bee as faithfull in his worke The celebration of the Sacraments Exod. 12.16 and performing of the discipline of the Church It is the Sabbath dayes worke The order doth pertaine to all and it so pertaineth to all that least any man should thinke it is enough to doe it once Revel 22.11 Qui sanctisicatus est sanctisicetur adhuc Hee that is holy let him bee holy still There is still a necessitie every Sabbath day wee must continue 1. Cor. 13.9 Our knowledge is but in part and our prophecying but in part There shall still remaine scrutamini scripturas search the Scripture Revel 7.14 That wee should still wash our Robes in the bloud of the Lambe id est Come still nearer and nearer to cleannesse so farre forth as 1. Tim. 4. If wee continue there in wee shall save our selves This for the Meanes The Meanes are for the Fruit and therefore hee that planteth a Vineyard hoc est vltimum fructus ejus Though hee hope when it is yet aframing yet last is the Fruit. This is the fruit that GOD looketh for the great ende of the Commandement that His Name may be sanctified in us We must not use the Meanes only For the Meanes the phrase is set downe Numb 20.12 Because ye beleeved mee not to sanctifie mee in the presence of the children c. Levit. 20.7 Sanctificate sancti estote Sanctifie your selves and bee yee holy Such wordes because of the two folde glorie that redoundeth to GOD have a double use GOD is glorified 1. either by us directly or 2. from us by others indirectly Matth. 5.16 That they seeing our good workes might glorifie Him Therefore commeth it to passe that these wordes as sanctification and justification c. have a double sense First it signifieth a making holy When wee are indeed made holy and that is by Meanes for this cause sanctification is a making holy Second in regard of the other a declaring of this made sanctification And of our selves The first beeing 2. Pet. 1.10 And second shewing it to all other men to bee so and so wee may glorifie GOD our selves and GOD may bee glorified in others Whereby it falleth out that because good workes make this Therefore CHRIST Matth. 12.12 sayth That a good worke is lawfull on the Sabbath day What worke soever sheweth Regeneration is lawfull 2. Tim. 2.21 for there the Apostle sayth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Prepared or made fit to every good worke But because that the day is specially instituted for the remembrance of his great Mercies as 1. Making us when wee were nothing 2. Redeeming us when wee were in a worse case and 3. The beginning of Sanctification for these three great Mercies Therefore it is that no worke doth so well agree as Thanksgiving for these Mercies Hee is so delighted in no worke as in the worke of Mercie And therefore commeth it that there is an especiall affinitie betwixt sanctification and workes of mercie Ose 6.6 When hee had sacrifice without this hee abjecteth all Therefore to compare this with the rituall sanctification of the law As you had annointing so you had the second part every thing was sanctified by two meanes First If hee were a person his hand was filled by Aaron implevit manum ejus Aaron And if it were an Altar then there was somewhat offered on it So oblation or filling the hand is the second Deut. 16.16 There is a charge to Aaron that whensoever they came to appeare before the LORD none of them should appeare emptie Therefore Levit. 8.31 There is mention made of a Basket of sanctification in which were reserved those thinges that afterward they would consecrate to the LORD The very same order was taken 1. Cor. 16.1.2 On the LORDS Day there should bee collection for the poore There is nothing that so setteth out the matter as Deut. 26. wholly The workes are either outward and performed to the bodie or inward and performed to the spirit of man For the first Matth. 25.
the hand they will let him goe Quaecunque malo incobantur principio difficulter hono persiciuntur exitu God blesseth not the ends of those that come not in by the doote The Merceâ—â—â—y taâ—â—or Now the two other markes doe make a distinction againe For they that follow come in right but there is an abuse of it Therefore there is a thing called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Purpose 2 Tim. 3.10 O Timothy you know my purpose you know what you have to doe It is well expressed Phil. 2.20 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a naturall care as if there were some that had spuriam curam a bastard care And that germanam curam that naturall care one of the Fathers calleth zelum animarum a zeale of soules They that have not this purpose of heart John 10.13 be called mercenarii for they have no care of feeding Zach. 11.15 they are not instrumenta pastoris boni Inâ—irumâ—â—â—â— pâ—â—â—â—â—is stulti but stulei they are not the instruments of a good but a foolish Shepheard which the Fathers make forcipes mulclram a paire of Sheeres for the Fleece and a Paile for the Milke And so after whatsoever occasion befall that there come danger to the Flock for the soule they reward it not but when there is but the least danger of the wooll or milke then every one sumit instrument a pastoris stulti takes the instruments of a foolish Shepheard and bestirreth himselfe The Jewes call them such as draw neare to the Arke or Temple for the Corban for the offering box Mat. 15. they care not for the Law so the Corban speed well Abiathur of the offpring and posterity of Elie being a wicked man it is prophecied of him 1 Sam. 2. last that Elies posterity should stand thus affected they should come to some of the Priests desire a place to serve for a peece of bread and a peece of silver this was their end But Abiathar was displaced by Salomon and Zadok put in his room Christ Job 10. sheweth a way how this should be discovered For if there come a Wolf or fall Teacher with authority a persecutor they will flie to him And Acts 20.29 30. they will also become as bad as Wolves Heb. 13.17 the Apostle would have them marke the issue of their conversation Now this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or issue marreth all here for if the Wolfe come either he will give over Iohn 10.12 or worrie the flock too The Apostle saith that even of your selves shall rise men teaching perverse things So you see that whether he continue the care for his belly or degenerate into a Wolfe yet he hath his lawfull institution And this discerneth them that come in right but yet are Mercenary Now though this duty every minister ought to looke too yet quia obediendum est malo the people must obey an evill shepheard if it be not ad malum unto evill But this question is before Page 378. c. Come to the second that as care is to be had of their comming Mat. 22.12 in so of their abuse And that there is no abuse but where there is a duty it is plainely set downe Ezek. 34.3 that as the manner is now they did eate the fat and cloth themselves with the wooll and killed them that were fedde but the sheepe they feede not Where there is an abuse of a dutie and the duty here is of foure parts which may be subdivided into two The first they call Exemplum example it is here of Christ John 10.3 4. expressed by going before the sheepe And their manner was in the East countries they drave not their sheep before them but their sheep followed them More plainely 1 Tim. 4.12 he must be Typus that is such a thing as maketh a stampe upon the coine and the Iron that giveth the forme and impression to the money So it is used againe Tit. 2.3 and 1 Pet. 5.3 And it is Moses his order Deut. 33.8 first Thummim integrity of life then Urim learning and Num. 17.8 which is by way of figure it pleased God to make it a signe of Aarons calling that his rodde was virga fructifera a rod bearing fruit by which as by the fruits of the spirit good workes and vertues bee often meant So of Christ Acts 1.1 his order quae caepit Jesus 1. facere 2. docere first what he did and then what he taught and where it is ex professo handled 1 Tim. 3. Tit. 1. that he be exemplum unblameable that for manners he be not rebukeable So that is first that he be typus and that he may facere doe and then afterward that he may docere teach He may be exemplum an example two wayes First in himselfe Secondly in his Family 1 Tim. 3.4 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 3.2 without spot so there is a relation to Levit. 21.17 18.22 none of Aarons seed if he were mishapen or had a blemish shall come neere to offer the sacrifices of the Lord made by fire That is it that the Apostle saith here If he have any notorious sinne or crime for he speaketh not of inward crimes but of outward onely of such as may be laid to a mans charge he may not take on him this Fatherhood the reason is because 2 Cor. 6.3 there must no offence be given to the weak to thinke that they may doe so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Ministery be not blamed that there might be no slander no Momus no slander for the adversary to laugh at For the taking away of these slanders according to the Apostles interpretation 2 Cor. 8.20 we must beware of all things which comprehend occasionem scandali occasion of scandall This was the Apostles care concerning the almes that should be carryed to the poore brethren in Jerusalem he would not meddle with it except he had another to goe with him because he would be without blame least some should suspect him of defrauding because he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 provide for honest things before God and men He would not give the adversary occasion to speak evill of him so John 4.27 when the Disciples found Christ talking with a Woman they marvelled shewing that it was not his custome Hee eschewed as much as might be all occasions of slanderous suspitions Thus of the Genus Now of the Species foure and the soure opposite vertues which he must have in himselfe The first is that he be Tit. 1.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 temperate and 1 Tim. 3.2 opposite to this is non habere unam uxorem not to be content with one Wife onely So continencie or single life is the vertue Secondly 1 Tim. 3.2 3. the vertue opposed vers 2. Sober for his dyet opposed vers 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transiens ad vinum sitting by the Wine for the lust of the body and the pleasure of the taste they must be in this order
sufficient There was city against city and that was the occasion of the Civill government And indeed this Ecclesiastica potestas the Ecclesiasticall government would have been sufficient to have governed the whole World but that as David saith Psal 32.9 there is in some another nature They are like the Horse and wild Mule that will runne upon men and offer violence and injury and consequently there must be another power to bridle those Now then the great reason of the Common-wealth why they would be under one man and of giving potestatem vitae necis The great reason of the Common-wealth power over life and death to one man their maxime is Praestat timere unum quam multos better to feare one Wolfe then to have every Wolfe to be his controller and to have his life continually in hazard Gen. 9.6 A magistracy and the sword was appointed by God and so consequently Gen. 14.18 Melchisedech whom the best writers agree to be Sem tooke upon him a Kingdome and tooke upon him a way to defend the Church and people of God The chiefe end of a Common-wealth is to serve God Praecipuus finis re publicae cultus De◠1 Tim. 2.2 Which Abraham not finding in Caldea where he was pars patriae one of the countrey chose rather to live solitarily by himselfe Exod. 5.13 the same end is noted Israel being under a strange King in Aegypt that knew not Jehovah desired to goe and serve the Lord in the Wildernesse out of the Land of Aegypt Psal 122. the Church and Countrey are both joyned together and 2 Chron. 11.13 14. the Levites ran from Jeroboam out of all the suburbs and possessions and came to Juda and Jerusalem For Jeroboam and his sons had cast them out from ministring in the Priests of sice before the Lord Deu. 17.18 as soon as the King is set in his throne he must get him a copie of the Law For this a man may forsake his Countrie if his end be gone that is the service of God 2. End peace After this end came in the other as the second end quietnesse That is in three points in this order Because Pastor is applyed to the Minister much adoe there is Pastor in the word more often applyed to the Magistrate then to the Minister in urging great and extraordinary diligence in them But it is strange that Pastor in the Scriptures being oftner attributed to the Magistrate no such diligence is required of him The first metaphor from that signification is given to the Magistrate Gen. 49.24 to Joseph and Psal 78.71 to David Secondly Num. 27.17 metaphorically So also provide a man over them that they be not as sheep without a shepheard Now that they might not stray as sheep because it is good for sheep to keep together for feare of the Wolves therefore it is first that they might be fedde And then for that there falleth dissension among them Ezek. 34.18 21. I will judge betweene sheep and shepheard vers 23. And I will set up a shepheard over them even my servant David c. There are the fat and the leane sheep and what doe they The fat sheep having fed and drunke trample the grasse and trouble the water that the leane sheep can eate and drinke nothing but such and vers 21. they will strike one another with their hornes c. Now for the keeping of the fat from the leane in the inside of the fold that they may feed quietly This is the second end 3. Now besides John 10.12 because there is a Wolfe without the fold an outward enemie that is forraigne invasion here is the third end to be quiet from forraigne invasion from the great Goats and Wolfe We see how the causes depend one of another The first end of Princes to be nutricii ecclesiae nourishers of the Church pascere nos non seipsos to feed not themselves but us The second is to be procurers of peace at home The third to keep off forraigne invasion plaine in exemplo regis non boni by an example of none of the best Kings Saul 1 Sam. 11.5 he lookes there ne quid sit populo quod fleat that the people have no occasion to weep they be not disquieted by Nahash the Ammonite c. so we see the end Now to the duties Usurpation An usurpation is here too as well as in Ecclesiasticall government Judges 18.7 In Laish men were quiet because there was no usurping Prov. 8.15 Per me reges regnant By me Kings raigne saith Salomon As hee is the doore Practises of usurpers so they that enter rightly enter by him but he saith contra Hosea 8.4 Regnaverunt sed non per me they have set up Kings but not by me So there bee some Usurpers of Magistracie Videlicet such as be not called as Hebrewes 5.4 but doe as Amos 6.13 Assumpserunt sibi cornua that is potestatem c. take unto themselves hornes by hornes is meant power We have an example in Abimelech Judges 9. Ambition is the usurper his meanes be verse 2. his friends But now they are growne more impudent they will say it themselves Abimelech had more blood in his face he desired his friends to say for him and he doth by humbling of himselfe seeke friendship and verse 4. When they had little better consideration of them he getteth him a few light brayned fellowes to ayde him verse 5. and 21. those that had right to it he drove away These are the three practises of Usurpers which Jotham verse 15. and 16. telleth them in a Tale and so sheweth them what manner of fellows they are c. The Magistrate being set in his charge rightly by God the division of 1 Pet. 2.13 14. commeth in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under Officers as in Warre the Captaine in Peace the Judge The cause of under officers The reason of Under officers is Deut. 2.9 Moses confession Exod. 18.13 Jethro telleth him he is unable to beare the burthen of the whole government Numb 11.16 is Gods approbation Deut. 17.16 they have authority to make a King and Deut. 16.10 to make under Officers Here note that these under Officers are given to helpe the King Underofficers must not bee too many therefore that there be no more granted then will serve to help the King that the Realme be not clogged with too many Nehem. 5.15 They themselves handle them not hardly but their servants their under Officers oppressed the people Therefore that is gravamen reipublicae a burthen to the Common-wealth which the people cannot beare So it is against policie and against justice too for they must have their Fees to them Generall dutyes So the duties in generall of both What manner of men they should be What manner of men they should be And the first is this Whom God calleth All elections must be according to that rule Deut.
17.15 Quem Deus eligerit whom God shall choose else nought and injust ipso facto 1 Kings 1.20 Bethsabees speech to David The eyes of all Israel are upon thee that thou shouldest tell them who shall sit on the throne of my Lord the King after him and verse 33. he chooseth Salomon And 1 Chron. 28.5 he saith Among all the sonnes I have God hath chosen Salomon And indeed it is all one to choose a man for his gifts as if God had chosen him Every one must be chosen for their gifts of wisedome c. that shall be acceptable in the sight of the Lord. A second forme Deut. 27.15 1.13 generall to both he must be some of their owne Nation The first reason is because of naturall affection grounded on education Where a man hath been bred he will be most profitable The second reason is Acts 26.3 the reason of Pauls joy in that he should answer before Agrippa a great matter to bee acquainted with the customes of the Countrie These in generall Deut. 27.1 In any wise he shall not prepare him many horses nor bring the people againe into Aegypt 4. Particular duties of the Prince for to encrease the men The particular duties of the Prince Deut. 17.16 foure duties are set downe First he must not be affected to Aegypt which is Nutrix idololatriae the nurcery of Idolatry he must not favour false Religion and if he doe he ought not to be a King ver 16. Secondly ver 17. not uxorius it is a Synechdoche whereby is meant he must not be voluptuous given to pleasure Pro. 3.3 4. they must not meddle with Wine and Women Salomon pronounceth woe against the Land where Princes be early at their Banquets yea and late too Thirdly ver 17. No hourder of Gold and Silver not covetous 1 Kings 12.4 it was Salomons fault for he by his seven hundred Wives and three hundred Concubines made such an imposition on the Land that when his sonne came to raigne the Subjects come and tell him plainely he should not raigne and be their King unlesse he would ease his Fathers burthens 1 Kings 12. Thy Father made our yoke grievous make thou it light and we will serve thee And ver 16. seeing themselves not regarded said What portion have we in David Wee have no inheritance in the sonne of Ishai to your Tents O Israel now looke to thine owne house David The Prince to have a copy of the Law therein to learne three things Fourthly vers 18. which is the first to be done because it is provision for all the rest he must have a copy of the Law in which he may learne three things first to feare God Secondly to shew the practise of it 1. in himselfe 2. in the Court 3. in the whole Country And the third thing to be humble And keeping this Law his throne shall last for ever as Pro. 29.14 that will make sure succession as Samuel told Saul 1 Sam. 10.6 dedit Deus cor aliud God gave him another heart How Because he was there among Prophets The meanes be plainer Psal 2.10 Erudimini Reges be wise now therefore O ye Kings c. Christ Mat. 10.21 gave one that he liked a lesson but his possessions choaked all so they choake learning and all other good things Hinc illud Christi How hard is it for rich men to enter into the Kingdome of Heaven He that is thus qualified is meet for a kingdome Now being in his seat he must not thinke he is there by himselfe according to their stile Caesar Dei gratia c. Caesar by the grace of God c. So whereas the Law distinguisheth potestas into arbitraria delegata power is either Arbitrary The Princes duty delegate not arbitrary Assigned He must acknowledge the later to be his and say with the Centurion Mat. 8.9 I am under authority of Claudus Lisias he under Faelix he under the Emperour he pro Deus under God and so he is under authority also The Heathen man said Kings are our Countries and over Kings is God Being Gods Viceroyes they must rule as God would if he were on earth How is that Even secundum verbum ejus according to the prescript of the Word So must Princes rule and Numb 27.21 because the Prince hath no perfect skill and deep cogitation in the Word therefore this ruling must bee at the mouth of Eleazar And this is the first duty The peoples duty answering to this To acknowledge him Gods deputie 1. Duty of the people 1 Sam. 10.26 whose heart God touched they are obedient Obedience as Principality is of Gods spirit Mat. 22.21 by Christs answer there it appeares how he stood affected in his obedience unto Caesar Two sorts of men were then in Juda There was one Theudas that made an insurrection for Tribute that was commanded some there were that would not pay tribute and Theudas Captaine of them he tooke on him to defend them and to prove that no tribute must be paid On the other side there were certaine spiritus aulici court spirits Herodians they would have every thing given to Caesar even Gods part too And therefore they and the Scribes aske Christ tempting him Is it lawfull to give tribute unto Caesar or not To whom he saith not omnia sunt Caesaris all things are not due to Caesar but Caesar hath his quae and God hath his quae So he goeth from Theudas to Obedience that is medium mediocritas the true meane 2. Duty of the Prince The second duty is because God hath dealt so liberally with Caesar as to make him his Deputy Quod dicitur de Deo creaturis derivatur a Deo in creaturas that supremacy which God hath over his creatures he hath derived and given to the creature So it comes from God who was able to have done all himselfe alone if he had followed that which some worldly men say Author alienae potentiae aufert de sua perdit suam he that sets up another puls downe himselfe he had not bestowed his dignity upon any But he imparted of his honour to Caesar Now Caesar must not requite him with breaking into that that is Gods alone for there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a division quae Caesaris quae Dei Caesar hath his and God hath his therefore he must let God have his owne And so Caesar must not dominari conscientiae beare rule over the conscience none but God keepeth court in conscientia Therefore he must not command a man against his allegeance in baptisme that sealed his conscience to God So he must not goe against the Word from which faith proceedeth Jerome saith That that is payd to Caesar against the Word is not Caesaris vectigal but daemonis not Caesars but the Devils tole So he knowing Gods glory to be his end he must be Deut. 16.17 custos legis that is omnium operum legis a keeper of
Schooles and Colledges Mark 6.41 Some cast in a great deale into the Treasurie This is the second duty And then consequently the Common-weale contra back againe is to deale that these men may be especially good and so doe good Acts 13.8 There was a great care lest Elimas should have corrupted Sergius Paulus the cheife man in that countrey therefore Paul dealeth roundly with him vers 10. 1 Tim. 6.10 when he had made an end of all he would have him take order that rich men may be good and doe good to many The Heathen man saith If I were to make Amphions harpe I would bestow greater paines in making that then if I were to make a common Harpers harpe The third duty of Rich men downward 1 Tim. 6.17 not to be high minded nor to trust in their riches Pro. 18.11 they commonly count their riches their strong City or Towre that is when they have any cause though there be no right in it yet they will doe it Pro. 31. they will undertake evill matters trusting in their wealth and so likewise 1 Sam. 25.17 Naball was such a surly fellow that no body could speake to him Pro. 16.2 The rich and the poore meet and the Lord hath made them both The rich must not despise the poore And then the duty 1 Sam. 18. of them that be under is to account themselves their Sonnes and them their Fathers 4. Of receiving benefits and thankfulnesse Fourthly of receiving benefits and of thankfulnesse Job 29.16 he shewed himselfe a Father to the poore c. Whatsoever is sub ratione beneficii may be considered as a benefit or good turne of any thing done to any man it cometh under here There are three duties of the Benefactour and three duties of him that ought to be thankfull First Rich men must doe it They are not bound to any one in particular in officib they are but not in beneficio They may make their choice but to some they must doe it they must give wheresoever they are they must not marke mens ingratitude And the Heathen man giveth a reason why they should not give nothing melius est ut pereat beneficium apud illum quam apud te it is better that he should abuse thy benefit that receives it then thee in not giving it that is they must doe it freely And these men that say our preferments are benefits yet they doe not give them freely They looke not as the Phylosopher saith ubi optime but ubi quaestuosi ssime where they may doe it for the greater good but where they may bestow it for the greater gaine so they bestow upon men as a man alloweth his Horse when he is to ride forth he alloweth him so much bread because he should ride on him c. So they bestow on such a one because they be to use him So the Physitian looseth his honour now a dayes perdit honorem gratiae propter praemium for sure it is he cannot sufficiently be recompenced that saveth a mans life but now because he prostituteth his Art for gaine because he doth now as it were buy and sell he looseth his great honour Dignus est decipi qui de recipiendo cogitavit cum dedit He is well worthy to be cheated that when he giveth thinketh of receiving and feareth least the party should not fulfill his expectation I thinke the World will shortly make Indentures when they give Benefits to bind men to be thankfull Secondly another property it is the rule it is not now as it was Apage homines quorum lenta sunt beneficia praecipites injuririae away with those men that are quick enough to doe one an injury but will consider on 't before they will doe you any good but now prosande odium simul infunde beneficium They will not let him have all the benefit at once bu first weary out his patience and then a little pleasure or benefit Seneca sheweth it very well They will have longum spectaculum potentiae suae it must be Your worships your honours pleasure and many such circumstances and be forsooth must be prayed and they looke for an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some gratuitie So their benefit is like lapidosus panis as gravell in a mans mouth and it cannot be without griefe and torment to any ingenuous nature while he receiveth it Thirdly that when you have done the benefit to any you must forget it If a man bestowed a benefit on me and I know that he should bestow it ut ducat me in triumphum to make me the object of his Vaine-glory I would never thanke him for his benefit nay I would thanke him more if he had never bestowed it so he had not done this Therefore it must be done and they not know of it Now the Receiver oweth a Recognisance First that such a man was Gods Instrument or principium by whom such a blessing of God came to him and so to acknowledge There is nothing that the Fathers have concerning this but they take it out of Seneca And surely but for some points that the Stoicks hold his seven Books De beneficiis are very excellent Books and worthy the reading Seneca would have eandem hilaritatem accepti beneficii quae fuit petiti the same cheerfulnesse after the receiving as there was in asking a benefit Because gratia doth so soone senescere because a good turne doth so soon wax old therefore that a mans value or estimation should be all one that he made before that or when he received the benefit Secondly not onely this is required but also effusio affectus the effusion of this affection and this is testimonium excellentiae externae a testimonie of his externall excellency that God hath exalted such a one to be a Benefactor If he remember it I need not as exprobatio is satisfactio pro beneficio so if he forget it I must not but must tell it and not extenuate it but be benignus interpres interpret it well as that it was a great benefit or if it were not that it was a great one to me if it were not neither yet I know he did it with so good an affection that I cannot but think of it highly Thirdly if happely ever he shall need but we must not desire or wish it that we be ready to doe the like for him and interim to acknowledge that we cannot recompence it Though now they call finem injuriae beneficium they thinke they doe a benefit by making an end of their injury and it is a pollicy now a dayes they will mergere eos ut extrahentur throw them into the water that they may pull them out and when they have pulled them out they thinke that they are beholden to them such benefits must not be I am not to wish that he were in need but if ever he stand in need my assiduity and diligence about him and the best counsell I can give him he shall be sure
Art thou come to pursue a dead dogge and a stie and as 1 Sam. 26.20 a Partridge and a Worme and no man The Fathers say in that respect it may be he is Dominus iugenii liaguae he may have wit and eloquence at command but if he be servus peccati subject to sinne it will be sufficient matter to humble him And so consequently seeing want of gifts within him or with them his unthankfulnesse which makes them of no fruit nor account it cannot but quiet such aspiring thoughts and bring the heart into better temper that he may follow the Apostles counsell Phil. 4.11 This is that I have learned in what place soever God hath set me I am well contented with it And 2 Sam. 15.2 David If God will have me come againe c. if not here I am let him doe as seemeth good unto him So to say If I be for the place the Lord will provide it for me if not what dignity soever it be I can be as well without it as have it And so consequently Psal 131.2 there will be ablactatio a weaning because there is in us a spirit and a lust longing after honour even as the Babe doth lust for the pappe And David he hath weaned his soule from such thoughts Indeed he could set such before his Fancie and they were delightfull to him but he weaned himselfe from them And 2 Sam. 6.22 a degree further he was too low as Michall thought indeed for such a Kings daughter as Saul shee thought he had disgraced himselfe but he saith hee had not onely prepared himselfe to be so low but also to be yet more vile and low so farre was hee from thinking of an higher estate that he would demeane himselfe according to those of the lower sort and exercise as it were how hee should be able to prepare himselfe if it please the LORD to set him in a lower estate if he become more vile This were good to prepare our hearts before and to answer as Numb 24.11 Balack did Balaam though he were a wicked King I was purposed to have promoted you but God hath denyed you Mat. 20.23 Zebedees sonnes would needs sit one at Christs right hand and the other at his left Christ answereth It must bee for whom God hath prepared it And so confequently that greedinesse Ezekiel 13.4 the Prophets were like a sort of young and old Foxes hungry in a desert Schooles like Foxes hungry and ravening every man desiring a testimonie of that excellencie that is not in him And so he will not give place not bee in lower estate But whereas Christ Luke 14.8.9 counselleth not to take the highest places and Luke 12.42 saith my Steward shall answer according to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Portion Hee will have more then his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so requireth Injustice of the Lords Steward Signes of good Inferitiours The fifth Rule The signes First of Inferiours herein we will take no other course to measure this honour then the Heathen men have done One of them saith non dicto aut facto aut vultu laesi pietatem I have not forgot my duty to him either in word or deed no nor of an ill looke can he accuse me And for Vultw it is a common saying that Vultu saepe laeditur pietas a man may by a wry countenance breake this duty And for deeds Heb. 13.17 Our outward deeds ought to be such to our Superiours as they may take pleasure and rejoyce in them and they that may not governe us with sorrow Exemplum 1 Sam. 24.6 David did not hurt Saul in the Cave but onely cut the lappe of his coate yet his heart touched him it being a disgrace to the garment of Saul The Apostle 2 Cor. 9.8 exhorteth Christians to abound in every good worke they must shew forth a fruit of righteousnesse and he saith there it must be abundans fructus a fruit that aboundeth We must doe our duty and more oftner then our duty in more places further off then our duty enjoyneth us The Apostle Phil. 4.17 speaking of a duty likewise It is not the matter wee esteeme or weigh so much the paying of Taxe or Tithes but this is that we speake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Fruit that shall be counted an overplus at the reckoning day This is a good signe to doe more then duty By this meanes as wee see in a contrary in Jacob Gen. 34.30 they had made him stinke among the Inhabitants of the Land c. We shall cast a good comfortable smell to the Superiour as Esay 9.17 so as God and the Superiours shall take delight and pleasure in our young men doing not onely that they should but also those duties that are not necessary Secondly for Dictum Words Exemplum 2 Kings 2.23 When the Prophet came by the children of Bethel they had their termes for him and were there executed An example Luke 16.14 Christs auditors knew themselves in a fault yet it is sayde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they scoffed at him it is the uttermost part of derision a drawing together of the Nose they made a nose at him this ought not to be But the Wise man saith Proverbs 25.12 Blessed is hee that speaketh to an understanding eare And he sheweth there how an understanding eare will make use of it and will lay it to heart and will not goe away and scoffe at it This is not that eare to which hee may deliver that Wisedome Thirdly For Countenance Gen. 4.5 Cain being angry c. his countenance sell c. he hanged his countenance Gen. 31.2 Labans countenance not to day as yesterday toward Jacob c. So contra as Jerome saith on Psalm 80.16 there is vultus increpationis a rebuking countenance and that by looke and there is vultus detraclionis a detracting countenance how is that Pro. 21.29 to strengthen the face when he is rebuked to put on a good strong face or as Psalm 131.1 an high looke an hardned countenance which signifieth that inwardly as much as in him lyeth he doth laedere pietatem Elisha 2 Kings 3.4 saith to Jehoram But that I reverence the face of King Jehosophat c. So that their presence who be not infected with I do latry is to be reverenced of us Signes of a good Governour and government For the duties of Superiours because as they say their power is bottomlesse so their abuses are bottomlesse There be certaine signes of a good government First Esay 32.3.5 In a good government eyes that can see shall not need to winke c. and he that is flagitiosus a wicked lewd man shall not be called a good Superiour c. So he giveth to understand that an ill government quod scis nescis you must see and not see you must Sir him that is not to be Worshipped you must bring your termes crosse Example in Esay and Amos the one living in the dayes of Uzziah and Manasseh
man divideth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 riches into such as are got by violence and such as are the gift of God and saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are the gift of God are farre the better Hesiod So there are some that come by them by evill meanes and use what meanes they can Numb 24 11. yet they cannot be rich as Balaam did and when all came to all he could get nothing but lingring there he lost his life And so Iudas though he stole out of the bagge and sold Christ yet it prospered not with him And so Witches and Sorcerers though they give their soule to the Devill for riches yet not one among many proveth rich the one is the gift of God the other his permission So some if they be poore in spirit shall weare the crowne of patience others the crowne of beauty So that a man standing thus perswaded that God will have me to be rich he will so blesse me by lawfull meanes that I shall be rich if not then as 2 Sam. 25.26 hee saith If God will have me restored to my Kingdome so it is if not here I am let him doe with me as pleaseth him as Phil. 4.11.12 that he had learned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be content he could 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suffer need c. and stand contented with it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abound and behave himselfe as the will of God would direct him Then this indifferencie by which he standeth thus affected and by which he standeth upon Gods gift as he is perswaded that both these states are of God and if he will exalt him he will blesse him and if he will not possum deficere I can suffer want this is the third thing that a man must be perswaded If he bee not thus perswaded then either God punisheth him by letting him fall into covetousnesse and so dum semper metuit ne indigeat indiget whiles he is continually afraid lest he should want he wants he is punished with the evill that he feareth or else as Prov. 5.13 6.2 hee sheweth a marvellous strange judgement it thriveth not with him and decayeth a man cannot give a reason nor tell how yea sometimes when his bags are filled Luke 12.20 when his barnes are ready to be filled he dieth This standing for a mans calling then he must take off the whetstone 1. of too high a saile so Tit. 2.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soberly and righteously First we must keepe it within our measure and scantling and then we shall doe justly for justice is alwayes racked and stretched if sobriety be broken 1 Cor. 6.13 if he bee brought under the power if he must have such meate and such apparell then he must have money and if it cannot be gotten by direct meanes then justice must be racked for it by indirect meanes And therefore that is another rule he must set downe he must sobrie vivere live soberly that he may live juste righteously Take a note too low rather then too high Now from hence when a man is thus affected he commeth to his businesse and there he commeth to wish gifts ex donatione or haereditate by legacies gifts or inheritances as is before It is the rule of the world if any man will give me any thing I will take it but it is an evill rule I must not take of every man but ad mercedem or debitum from such to whom I have done good offices and deserved wel at their hands We have Gen. 14.23 Abrahams practise he might have had a reasonable good booty of the King of Sodom and Gen. 23.16 the field was offered him for nothing of Ephron but he would pay for it and the Cave cost him 400. shekels And in the after times in the dayes of Elisha 2 King 5.16 Naaman he maketh a good offer he would not take it and 2 King 4.11 he taketh of the Shunamite And Paul Phil. 4.15 he had a good opinion of them for he had not taken of any Church but of them that is as Lydia Acts 16.15 saith If ye have judged me to be faithfull unto the Lord enter into my house Therfore there must be choyce of those that we are to be bound to as the Heathen man saith he will not onely have beneficium a benefit from one but judicium hee will know from whom also as the sonne of Sirach saith he will open his mouth like a Towne-cryer to day he lendeth and to morrow will he aske it againe Come to ther othe second industria contractus industry and contracts And for industria whensoever a man is to have for his paines 3 Iohn vers 5. he giveth Gaius a good commendation for dealing faithfully Beloved thou doest faithfull whatsoever thou doest and Gen. 31.6 of Iacob that he had done his service truely with all his minde In 2 Chron. 31.18 whosoever is partaker of holy things is partaker of them by his fidelity And no doubt if he be not faithfull he is an usurper of them and therefore faithfulnesse and paines in the calling wherein we live is the second part of this that is required And a second thing standeth upon Sobrietie Luke 3. Be content with your wages when a man looketh on it with an evill eye and thinketh he hath not enough he chargeth himselfe with thick clay and so must needs be unfaithfull Exod. 16.3 if a man repine and say he will goe to Egypt againe and wish for the flesh-pots there 1. Rule 1. For Contracts For the charge it selfe before five cases when there is any fault in it for the adequation of it to the price by reason of its worth And it is true that it is not the worthinesse but the need of it that maketh August Vnus panis one loafe of bread is worth twenty Flies and one field better worth then a great company of Mice not for creation for they that are living creatures are more worth and sometimes a good Horse is more esteemed then an unprofitable Man because there is more need of it 2. And to the need they adde the use which if it be fit for our purpose if it be durable or if it have manifold uses it increaseth in price Now because the want of things is varied wonderfully as in regard of the place as in the middle of the land sea-fish therefore they are dearer there In regard of time because presently before harvest every man is to looke to the getting in of his corne it is dearest and the longer from harvest the cheaper it is And the scarsity of the thing because there are but few that have it And utentium inopia the scarsity of such as use it when there are but few that will use it and great pains to make it those make that there can be no certain price and no termini indivisibiles to make things equall because the need
devotion and reverence for both must be joyned together neither feare without the consideration of his goodnesse nor bold confidence that is not tempered with a dutifull regard of his power is acceptable to him So that which we learned in lege credendi that God is the Father Almighty is here taught againe in lege supplicandi where wee are instructed in our prayers to ascribe both these unto God first that hee is our Father secondly our heavenly Father The consideration of these two are the pillars of our faith and there is no petition wherein we doe not desire that God will either shew us his goodnesse or assist us with his power and no Psalme or Hymne that is not occupied in setting forth one of these The titles which expresse Gods goodnesse have two words the one a word of faith the other a word of hope and charity Of both these words of Pater and noster Basil saith that here Lex supplicandi non modo credendi sed operandi Legem statuit The Law of prayer doth not onely establish and confirme the Law of beliefe but of working also For where in the word Father is expressed the love of God to us it comprehendeth withall the love wee beare to him Where we call God our Father and not my Father therein is contained our love to our neighbour whom we are to love no lesse then our selves Vpon these two hang the Law and the Prophets Matth. 22. Againe the word Father is a word of faith and our a word of charity and the thing required of us in the new Testament is Fides per charitatem operans Faith which worketh by charity Gal. 5. So that in these words Our Father we have a summe both of the Law and the Gospel Christ might have devised many more magnificent and excellent termes for God but none were apt and fit for us to assure us of Gods favour Our Saviour saith Luke 11.13 That earthly fathers which many times are evill men have notwithstanding this care for their children that if they aske them bread they will not give them a stone much more shall our heavenly Father give us the holy Spirit if we aske it Wherefore Christ teaching us to call God by the name of Father hath made choyce of that word which might serve most to stirre us up unto hope for it is Magnum nomen sub quo nemini desperandum a great name under which no man can despaire There may seeme an opposition to be betwixt these words Father and Our if we consider first the Majesty of God before whom the hils doe tremble and the Angels in Heaven cover their faces Secondly our owne uncleannesse and basenesse both in respect of the mould whereof we be made which made Abraham confesse himselfe unworthy to speake unto God being but dust and ashes Gen. 18. And also in regard of our pollution of sinne in which regard we are called The slaves of sinne and children of the Devill Iohn 8. Herein we finde a great distance between God and us and so are we farre from challenging this honour to bee the sonnes of God in regard of our selves Who durst saith Cyprian pray to God by the name of Father if Christ our Advocate did not put these words in our mouthes He knoweth how God standeth affected towards us for all our unworthinesse and therefore seeing he hath framed this patition for us we may boldly as he commandeth say thus Our Faâ—her Therefore albeit of our selves we cannot conceive hope that God is our Father yet we may call him Father by the authority of Christ and say with Augustine Agnosce Domine stilum advocati Filâ—iâ—ui Lord take notice of the stile of our Advocate thy Sonne Wee know not Gods affection towards us but by Christ wee take notice of him for hee hath declared him unto us Iohn 1.18 and being taught that God in Christ vouchsafeth to admit us for his children Wee doe with boldnesse come to the throne of grace Heb. 4. Therefore we have thankfully to consider unto what dignity wee that live under the Gospel are exalted not onely above the Patriarches in the time of the Law but above the heavenly Spirits Before the Law was given Abraham saith Shall I speake to the Lord Gen. 18. In the Law Christ saith Ego sum Dominus Deus tuus Exod. 20. then he was not called Father But if we aske that question which the Apostle makes To which of the Angels said he Thou art my Sonne Heb. 1.5 It will appeare that God hath honoured us in a degree above Angels for that he giveth us leave to call him Father Thus we see what preheminence we have from God above as well the Saints on earth in time of the Law as the heavenly Angels that we may not only pray but pray thus Our Father In the word Father we are further to note not onely that God is the cause of all things for that he bringeth forth all things but also his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or naturall affection to those things that are produced Gods Paternity is first generally to be considered in all creatures which for that they have their being from God he is said to be their Father So Iob called God Pater pluviae The Father of the raine Iob 38. Also he is called Pater Luminum Iam. 1.17 and this is a motive sufficient to move God to be favourable to our prayer if there were no more that we are his creatures so David spake Despise nâ—t the work of thine owne hands Psal 138. But men have another use of Gods paternity for whereas of other things God said Producat terra Ger. 1. When man was to be created he said Let us make man giving us to understand that how soever other creatures had their being from God immediately God himselfe would be his Father and frame him immediately with his owne hand Secondly when God created man according to his owne Image he breathed into him life immortall he gave him the sparkes of knowledge and indued his soule with reason and understanding in which regard it is called the candle of the Lord Prov. 21. Thirdly when man was fallen from his first estate God opened to him a doore of repentance which favour hee hath not vouchsafed to the Angels that fell and so wee may crave Gods favour not onely as we are the workes of Gods hands but as we are his owne Image Fourthly God is our Father as we are Christians that which Moses saith Is he not thy Father Deut. 33. and Doubtlesse thou art our Father Isa 63. is to be understood of our generation but we have a second birth called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Regeneration which setteth us in a degree above mankinde and makes us not onely men but Christians which if we be then we are the sons of God not as the raine or lights or they that are created to the Image of God but for that we are borne of God
Iohn 1.18 that is borne againe of the Water and of the Spirit without which Regeneration no entrance is into the Kingdome of God And our dignity in being the sonnes of God in these three sorts is to be considered First in that we are the price of Christs bloâ—d 1 Cor. 6. Secondly we have Characterem that is the stampe of the sonnes of God when we are called Christians Acts 11. Thirdly we are the Temples of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 3. By meanes whereof he giveth us holy desires and maketh us sorry that we have offended his Majesty the assurance of this is that which the Apostle caâ—s the Spirit of Adoption which hee sends into the hearts of Christians to certifie them both that they are the sonnes of God and may call him Father Rom. 8. in a double sense both in respect of nature and grace not onely by generation but by Regeneration In the naturall affection that God beareth us we have two things 1. the immutability of it 2. the excellencie God doth teach us that his love to us is unchangeable in this that he expresseth it by the name of Father nam pater eâ—tansi offersâ—s est pater filius etiamsi nequam tamen filius A father though offended is a father and a sonne though naught yet is a sonne The Master may cease to be a Master so may a servant The husband may cease to be a husband so may the wife by meanes of divorce but God can never cease to be our Father though he be never so much offended and we cannot cease to bee his sonnes how wicked soever wee bee and therefore God doth by an immutable terme signifie unto us the immutability of his affection Heb. 6. And indeed whether hee doe bestow good things on us or chasten us his love is still unchangeable for both are to bee performed of a father toward his children and therefore whether hee afflict us or bestow his blessings on us we are in both to acknowledge his fatherly care howsoever To flesh and bloud no affliction seemeth good for the present Heb. 12. This immutability of his love as it ministreth comfort in time of affliction so doth it comfort and raise us up in sinne and transgression so that notwithstanding the greatnesse of our sinnes wee may bee bold to seeke to God for favour and say Etsi amisi ingenuitatem filii tamen tu non amisisti pietatem patris Although Lord I have lost the duty of a sonne yet thou hast not lost the affection of a father The excellencie of Gods love appeareth herein that he is not described to be God under the name of a King or great Lord as Mat. 18. There we have an example of great goodnesse in pardoning tenne thousand Talents but yet a doubt will arise in our mindes except we know him to be good otherwise then as he is a King for so looke what mercie he sheweth to us the like he will have us shew to others but we come short of this But this is it that contents us that he describes his goodnesse under the terme of Father in which regard how wickedly soever we deale yet still wee may say with the evill child I will goe to my Father Luke 15. He had cast off his father he had spent all his patrimony yet for all that he resolveth to goe backe and his father is glad to receive him he went and met and entertained him joyfully such affection doth God beare to his children The benefits that we have by the fatherly love of God is of two sorts First Fructus indulgentiae paternae Secondly Fructus liberalitatis paternae that is the fruit of fatherly compassion and the fruit of fatherly bounty Fathers stand thus affected towards their children that they are hardly brought to chasten them and if there be no remedy yet they are ready to forgive or soone cease punishing Pro peccato magno panlulum supplicii satis est Patri for a great offence a small punishment is enough to a father And for their bountifulnesse the Apostle saith that there is naturally planted in fathers a care to lay up for their children 2 Cor. 12. they are both in God for facility ad veniam to pardon and readinesse to forgive makes him Patrem misericordiarum 2 Cor. 3. not of one for he hath a multitude of mercies great mercie and little mercie Psal 51. The affection of David toward Absolon a wicked sonne was such that he forgave him though he sought to deprive his father of his Kingdome 2 Sam. 12. and though wee offend the Majesty of God yet hee assureth us that hee will be no lesse gracious to our offences then David was For David was a man after Gods owne heart 1 Sam. 13. Touching the care which God hath to provide for us the Prophet saith and also the Apostle Cast your care upon the Lord for hee careth for you 1 Pet. 5. He careth for us not as he hath care of Oxen 1 Cor. 9. but such a tender care as he hath for the Apple of his eye Zach. 2. He provideth for us not lands and goods as earthly fathers but an inheritance immortall incorruptible and that fadeth not reserved in Heaven for us 1 Pet. 1. and hath prepared for us an heavenly Kingdome whereof we are made co-heires with his Sonne Christ Rom. 8.17 and this is the fruit of his fatherly bountifulnesse towards us Out of these two the immutability and excellencie of Gods love shewed both in forgiving sinnes and providing good things ariseth a duty to be performed on our parts for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all comfort nomen patris ut explicat sic excitat charitatem the name of a father as it sheweth so it stirreth up love as it sheweth quid sperandum sic quid sit prastandum what is to be performed of us the name of a father doth promise unto us forgivenesse of sinnes and the blessings not of this life onely but especially of that that is to come and this duty lieth upon us that we so live as becommeth children wee may not continue in sinne but at the least must have virtutem redeundi the vertue of returning Isa 63. Why hast thou caused us to goe out of the way A child though he have wandred never so farre yet at length will come to that resolution I will returne to my father Luke 15. But if we consider the dignity whereunto we are exalted wee shall see on earth Si filii Dei quodammodo Dii simus if we be sonnes we are after a sort Gods Divinae participes naturae 2 Pet. 1. partakers of the divine nature as the sonnes of men are men But the Apostle sets down this plainely Behold what great love he hath shewed us That we should be called the sonnes of God 1 Iohn 3. This dignity requireth this duty at our hands that we reverence our Father Mal. 1.6 If I be your Father where is my love If
Whatsoever things men either with for or are affrayd of all things come from heaven whether it be raine drought or contagion or plague and from the first heaven Ubi vultures coeli Matth. 6. From this heaven Saint Paul tels the heathen that God sends us raine and fruitfull seasons Act. 14. And when Job saith that God sends raine and frosts and snow and thundreth and worketh marvellous things c. Job 37. that is done in Primo coelo But in the second heaven are the Eclipses of the Sunne and Moone there he workes in the signes of heaven He binds the seven starres together Job 38.31 whatsoever wonders are wrought there it is God that worketh them and therefore he saith to his sonnes Nolite timere à signis coeli Jer. 10. he is in the second heaven and will not suffer any thing to hurt them The third heaven is that whereunto the Saints of God shall be received in the life to come where Saint Paul heard things that were not lawfull to be uttered 2 Cor. 12. So that as God will not suffer the first or second heaven to do us hurt so hee will bring us to the happinesse of the third heaven for he is Pater noster in coelis whereby we have hope and comfort not in this life onely which is but a dead hope but a lively hope touching the life to come For Christ doth not expresse Gods power by an action saying Our Father which madest heaven and earth Psal 121. nor which ridest upon the heavens Psal 68. But by a locall word to shew that as God is in heaven so we have an interest in the same place and that he will at the length bring us to the same place where he is Fourthly this word Heaven serveth to prepare us to prayer to the end that we should lift up our hearts and affections from earth to heaven seeing we speake not to an earthly father but to one that is in heaven and this is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or sursum corda Touching which thing one saith Aquilarum est hoc negotium this businesse belongs to Eagles which as they flie highest so they look most stedfastly upon the Sunne non Talparum not belonging to moules nor of such as are blind and will not open their eyes nec Milvorvm neither of Kites which albeit they flye aloft yet cast their eyes still downeward to the dunghill wee must wish with the Prophet O that I had the wings of a Dove Psal 55. and labour more and more to flye up with the Eagle into heaven into the presence of God the Father and his Sonne who sitteth at the right hand bodily for ubi cadaver ibi congregantur aquilae Luk. 17. As the consideration of Gods Majesty who is in heaven doth bring us downe and make us bow our knees before God our Father Eph. 3. So it must cause us levare manus corda Lam. 3. and to lift up our eyes to the hills Psal 121. and to have such a continuall meditation of his power that we may say with David Providebam Dominum in conspeclu meo semper I have set the Lord alwayes before mee Fifthly this word doth admonish us what things we should sue unto God for he is a heavenly Father therefore we must aske of him heavenly things his answer to the sons of Zebedeus was Matth. 20. Ye aske yee know not what honour and wealth are not things proportionable to him that is in heaven and an earthly Prince will count it a disgrace if a man aske at his hands meane things such as may be had of every man The gifts we are to aske of our heavenly Father are the eternall salvation of our soules this gift of the holy Ghost which he hath promised to them that aske it Luk. 11. and all spirituall blessings in heavenly places Eph. 1.3 God is a Father as Abraham was and as he had moveable goods which he gave to the sonnes of Keturah so he bestowed the inherinance which was immoveable upon his sonne Isaas Gen. 25. So we that are the children of the promise as Isaac was Gal. 4. must seeke for the inheritance of Isaac and not content our selves with that portion which was given to the sonnes of Keturah Salomon saith not amisse Two things have I desired of the Lord Prov. 30. But David saith better Unam perii à Domino I have sought one thing of the Lord Psal 27. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord that I may be partaker of Grace in this life and may be received into glory in the life to come Unto Martha that was troubled about many things our Saviour said Unum est necessarium Luk. 10. and this is the reason why it is not said qui es in terris For God sheweth himselfe a Father rather in heaven then in earth Deus pater est in coelis he is in heaven by assuring us of Gods heavenly blessings for they are the signes of Gods fatherly bounty to such as are his heires by promise as for earthly things he sheweth himselfe in them rather to the sonnes of Keturah then to Isaac and in respect of this world Martha is said to have chosen the better part Luk. 10. Sixthly as it teacheth us what we must pray for so also we learn hereby what wee are to judge of our selves and how we are to dispose of our minds when we come to pray if God our Father be in heaven then because we are yet on earth we must esteeme of our selves as strangers and pilgrims This did all the Fathers acknowledge I am a stranger and sojourner upon earth as all my Fathers were Psal 39. and therefore having a longing to be in our City Wo is mee that I am constrained to dwell in Meshech Psal 120. The Apostles Peter and Paul confessed the same the one writing to the Church of God calleth them Pilgrims and strangers 1 Pet. 2. the others reporteth of the Fathers that they confessed themselves strangers and Pilgrims upon earth and in saying these things they shew that they sought a country not the land of Canaan from whence they came for they had time to returne thither if they had beene mindfull of it but they sought a better that is an Heavenly City Heb. 11.13 and we have no abiding City here but do looke for one to come Heb. 12.13 These shew us that albeit we have our dwelling in earth and be subject to many calamities yet for this our exile we do genus de coelo ducere we take our pedegree from heaven When therefore as the Poet saith os homini sublime dedit it is a shame for us to have our hearts downeward we must remember that we are of a more excellent nature then other creatures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for we are his kindred Act. 17. we have received from God a soule and spirit indued with many heavenly qualities which beeing dissolved from the body returneth to God that gave
repentance The persons to be delivered are expressed in the word nos which implyeth a twofold reason the one in regard of the word libera We are thy servants therefore make us free and suffer us not to be slaves to Satan So the Prophet reasoneth Psal 116. 143. Secondly againe deliver us for we are thy children those whom thou hast taught to call thee Father therefore though we be Mephibosheths for our deformity and Absolons for our ungraciousnesse yet shew thy selfe a Father to us and of servants though we be not only unprofitable Luk. 17. but evill and wastfull Luk. 16. yet because we are thy servants deliver us Thirdly we are thy workmanship therefore despise not the workes of thine owne hands Psal 138. Fourthly We are thy Image Gen. 1. Fifthly the price of thy Sonnes blood Sixthly Vessels to carry thy Name we are they upon whom thy name is called therefore deliver us else wee shall be a reproach to them that are about us Dan. 9.18 Seventhly we are the members of thy Church which is the body of Christ Jesus our Saviour our head Rom. 12.5 Eph. 1.22 The other reason is from the word mala the devill as hee is our enemy so he is Gods and he hateth us because we are thine and therefore laboureth to draw us from thee but save thou us that wee fall not from thee as he hath done Lastly us for we may not pray for our selves alone but for our brethren also that God will be good to them likewise and though we be out of trouble yet because we be of the body we may truly say deliver us when we pray in the behalfe of our brethren that are under the crosse Untill the last enemy death be destroyed 1 Cor. 15.26 we shall never be fully freed but have one evill or other Therefore we are to pray for that time when we shall hunger and thirst no more when God shall wipe all teares from our eyes Rev. 7.16 at the least if he take us not presently out of the world yet to keepe us from the evill of the world Joh. 17.15 till that day when there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying nor paine Rev. 21.4 but God shall be in all to us for ever THE EIGHTEENTH SERMON For thine is the Kingdome Power and Glory for ever and ever SAint Paul willeth that all things in the Church be done orderly 1 Cor. 14. which no doubt he tooke from Christ whose answer to John Baptist Matth. 3.14 was Sic enim decet for so it becommeth whereby wee see that both Christ and his Apostles have alwaies observed a decorum or decency in all things So touching prayer our Saviour Christ to shew that it is an undecent thing for any having done his Petitions to breake off suddenly or to beginne his prayer without any introduction hath not onely made an entrance to his prayer wherein he acknowledged Gods goodnesse but also addeth a conclusion wherein hee confesseth his Kingdome Power and Glory which the Fathers call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hee tooke the patterne of this conclusion out of the old Testament where King David acknowledgeth Thine O Lord is greatnesse power and glory and victory and thine is the Kingdome 1 Chron. 29.11 In the beginning we heard that all Prayer and Invocation is nothing else but a testimony and confession The Petitions that are severally made in this Prayer are confession of our weaknesse want need and unablenesse to do any thing that may please God The beginning and end of it are an acknowledgement of Gods riches power and goodnesse whereby he is inclined to supply our wants for that hee is not onely willing as a Father but able as a King so that whatsoever prayer we make whether Tekinnah or Tehillah whether we pray that we may receive some good thing of God or praise him for good received is a confession and both these confessions make for Gods glory not only to him that was to make confession of his sin it was said Da gloriam Deo Josh 7.19 but the blind man that had received a benefit by the recovery of his sight was said to give glory to God Joh. 19.24 The beginning of this prayer was a confession of Gods goodnesse the end of his power for unto doing of good is required not onely willingnesse but power and ability To shew that God is willing we are taught to call upon him by the name of Father for any father is willing to do his child good but with this willingnesse there must concurre an ability to do good which howsoever it be wanting in earthly Fathers yet it is not wanting in our heavenly Father for whereas nothing doth more expresse power then the name of a King Christ acknowledgeth God to be such a Father as hath Kingdome power and glory and therefore is able to do us whatsoever good he will So God himselfe affirmeth of himselfe I am a great King Mal. 1.14 Rev. 19.16 he is called King of Kings and Lord of Lords so that if wee will pray to God the Father wee have cause to conceive hope that hee will heare our Petitions and help us because he is not onely willing as a Father but able as a mighty glorious and powerfull Prince Secondly if to God the Sonne his dying for us doth assure us of his good will and readinesse to do us good and his rising againe from the dead when he hath broken the yron barres doth assure us of his power Thirdly if to the Holy Ghast we shall not need to doubt of his willingnesse for he is the essentiall love of God which is shed in our hearts Rom. 5. Besides he is the spirit operative by whom God worketh all good things in the hearts of his people and therefore able to do whatsoever good for us and those two to wit the assurance of Gods goodnesse and power are the two parts of the anchor of our hope Heb. 6.18 19. and he gives us not onely audaciam petendi but also fiduciam impetrandi not only boldnesse to aske but also assurance to obtaine The make requests in our owne behalfe and acknowlegement to God of his love and power are both confessions but the principall is the acknowledgment of his gooodnesse and Kingdome power for to make request to God for good things that we want concernes men but to confesse Gods power and goodnesse is that wherein the heavenly Angels are occupied in they feele no want of any good thing and therefore they have no neâ—d to make petition to God as we on earth and therefore all the confession that they make is of Gods goodnesse and power whereof they cry continually Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts the earth is full of his glory Esay 6.3 The same is done by the Saints in heaven Blessing and glory and wisedome and thanks and honour and power and might be unto our God for evermore Rev. 7.12 Whereby we learne that wee
concerning whom Christ saith That wee shall bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equall or like to the Angels Luk. 20. ought while we live on earth not speake only with the tongue of men but of Angels not onely to confesse our owne wants and to crave a supply from God but to acknowledge Gods riches goodnesse and power Againe the Petitions that wee make for our selves is a taking and sanctification of his name by ascribing Kingdome power and glory unto God is a giving and therefore as the Apostle saith It is a more blessed thing to give then to receive Act. 29.35 So the confession of Gods goodnesse and power is a better confession then that which we make of our owne weaknesse and poverty and this is the onely thing which God receives from us for the manifold benefits that we receive from him Neither is this confession and acknowledgement left to our owne choice as a thing indifferent but we must account of it as of a necessary duty which may in no wise be omitted seeing God enters into covenant that he will heare us and deliver us out of trouble when we call upon him Psal 50. therefore God challengeth this a duty to himselfe by his servants Ascribe unto the Lord worship and strength give unto the Lord the glory due unto his Name Psal 29. All Nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship thee and glorifie thy name Psal 86.9 Therefore our Saviour commends the Samaritan because he returned to give glory to God for the benefit received wherein he blames the other nine that being cleansed of their leprosie were not thankfull to God in that behalfe Luk. 17. For God for this cause doth heare our prayers and grant our Petitions that we should glorifie and honour his name But this is not all that we are to consider in these words for they are not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely an astipulation but an allegation wherein as we acknowledge Gods goodnesse and power that hath heard and granted our requests so wee alledge reasons why he should not onely heare us but also relieve and helpe us with those things that wee crave for at his hands wee do not onely say heare our Petitions for so shalt thou shew thy selfe to be a King but a mighty and glorious King and we for our parts shall acknowledge the same but we use this confession as a reason why our former requests are to be granted for it is in effect as much as if we should say Forgive thou our sinnes deliver thou us from evill hallowed be thy Name thy Kingdome come for Kingdome power and glory is thine and not ours The reason why we would have our requests granted is drawne from God himselfe in two respects first that we may by this humble confession make our selves capable of the graces of God which do not descend to any but those that are of an humble spirit For he giveth grace to the humble 1 Pet. 5. If we would have our desires granted because it is the nature of God to be good and gracious to be of power to do what hee will for the good of his people we must desire him to be gracious propter semetipsum Esay 43.25 Our motive unto God must be For thy loving mercy and thy truths sake Psalm 115.1 Helpe us for the glory of thy Name deliver us be mercifull unto our sinnes for thy Names sake Psal 79.9 By these motives we must provoke and stirre vp God to heare us This is the difference that is betwixt the prayers of profane men and those that are sanctified Heathen and profane men referre all to their owne glory so saies Nabuchadnezzar Is not this great Babell which I have built by my great power and for the honour of my Majesty Dan. 4.30 Such a man thinkes himselfe to be absolute Lord and will say Who is the Lord over us Psal 12. Therefore are they called the sonnes of Beliall But the Patriarches that were sanctified frame their prayers otherwise Jacob acknowledged I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies Gen. 32. by which humility he made himselfe capable of mercy To us belongeth shame saith Daniel chap. 9. but to thee belongs compassion and forgivenesse though we have offended So Christ himselfe in this place doth teach his Disciples to pray that God will give them the things they desire not for any thing in themselves but for his names sake for thine is Kingdome Power and Glory whereby wee perceive that humility is the meanes to obtaine at Gods hands our suites The other respect is in regard of God for he makes his covenant with us that he will be our God and we his people And when the Prophet stirreth up the faithfull to worship the Lord and to fall downe before the Lord our maker hee addeth this as a reason For he is the Lord our God and we are his people and the sheepe of his pasture Psal 95. Wherefore one saith Commemoratio est quaedam necessitas exaudiendi nos quia nos ipsius sumus ipse noster est It is a necessary motive to God to heare us because we are his and he ours Therefore in all the Prayers and Psalmes which the Saints of God make they ground their Petitions upon this in regard of God the Father who is the Creator they say Wee are thy workmanship created by thee therefore despise not the workes of thy owne hands Psal 138. Besides wee are the likenesse of Gods Image Gen. 1. therefore suffer not thine owne Image to be defaced in us but repaire it Secondly in regard of Christ Wee are the price of Christs bloud Empti estis pretio 1 Cor. 6. Yee are bought with a price therefore suffer not so great a price to be lost but deliver us and save us Againe We carry his Name for as he is Christ so wee are of him called Christians seeing therefore that his name is called upon us Dan. 9.19 be gracious to us and grant our requests Thirdly in respect of the Holy Spirit the breath of his Spirit is in our nostrills which is the breath of life which God breathed in us at our creation Gen. 2.7 Againe the same Spirit is to us an Holy Spirit and sanctifieth us wee are not onely Vaginae Spiritus viventis the sheaths of the living Spirit but Templa Spiritus sancti The Temples of the holy Spirit 1 Corinth 6.19 And therefore for his sake wee are to intreat him to be gracious to us Wee are Gods Kingdome and therefore it belongeth to him to seeke our good all the world is his kingdome by right of inheritance but we that are his Church are his Kingdome by right of purchase wee are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2.9 a people peculiar or gotten by purchase hee hath redeemed us to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 2.14 A peculiar people and the price whereby we are purchased is his owne blood 1 Pet. 1.