might have the juster pretence to secure their persons for spies of the land And this made David so often and so fervently pray for the clearing up of his integrity not that he suspected the integrity of his own heart for he was a man after Gods heart and so could not deal treacherously but Saul had suggested false insinuations of him He had laid to his charge things that he knew not they devised deceitfull matters against him that was quiet in the Land I am loath to preach Matchiavil in the pulpit It is truly said of the old Satyrists that they whipp'd the vices of the times so naked that they made sport to lascivious eyes to behold them I should be loth in the unmasking the designs of Tyrants to set a copy to any although of an inferior rank to write by Yet it is too well known that nothing so much advances the purposes of usurpers as plots ingeniously contrived by themselves and as fortunately discovered when their counsels are ripened for them For by this means they raise the reputation of their own sagacity and waking diligence and evermore weaken the power of the adverse party some of which must fall victims to their wit and industry But how prosperous soever such counsels are for a time Christianity warrants us not for such dark-lanthorn Stratagems But the third and last fallacy of these treacherous dealers is their non causa pro causâ the assigning the cause of their mischiefs to them who are most unconcern'd and innocent If a Lamb be drinking at a stream though much below the Wolf it is occasion enough to worry him and to pretend that he hath roil'd the waters When Ahab's cruelty and Iezabels sorcery had begot a famine in the fruitfull Land of Canaan and that Countrey felt an ebb which before had flowed with milk and honey the blood of the Lords prophets which were slain is quite forgotten and the abominations of the Zidonians Baals Idolatry not reflected on but the blame of all must rest upon Elijah that it s he that troubles Israel Herodotus tells us of a foolish people of Mauritania which yearly go out to curse the Sun with a great solemnity because he tanns their naked bodies Thus when jealousies and fears have laid us naked to all the mischiefs of base suspicion when ingratitude and rebellion have stain'd our souls as black as the sins the furies that harbour in them we have gone out to curse the Sun and make the blessed influence of his heat and light the cause of all our grievances But there is no Nation except our own hath given more pregnant instances of this then the Israelites whose ingratitude this way made the very quails their meat stink between their teeth and named the waters they drank of bitterness from their murmuring Sometimes Corah and his seditious Elders shall quarrel at Aarons the High Priest's preheminence upon a pretence of holiness they are as good as he why lifts he up himself above the people of the Lord And if Moses the civil Magistrate steps in to his rescue there is Tyranny straight clapt in his teeth He goes about to make himself a Lord over them Straight after this two hundred and fifty assembly-men shall dare challenge a share in holy administrations and offer incense on their unhallowed censers And when God shall make a miraculous discrimination between hâ—s anointed and those that rebel against them by not suffering them to dy who did not deserve to live but opening the mouth of the earth he shall let some of them down quick to hell whilst he rains down Hell from Heaven consuming fire upon the rest the very next day Moses and Aaron shall be challenged for it that they have murthered the people of the Lord even that very people that perished in their rebellion This begets a new plague when these whom they accuse for their murtherers must be their deliverers again for there is wrath gone out against them from the Lord whilst a cloud covers Moses and Aaron at the Tabernacle of the Congregation Yet in the very next story they are no sooner pinch'd with a little drought but they fall a chiding their governours again as the cause of all 't is they have brought them up to perish in the wilderness But what says Moses Hearken O ye Rebels why murmure ye against the Lord ye are gathered together against the Lord and what are we that you murmure against us And have not our eyes beloved seen all this acted Hath not the preheminency of our Aarons been questioned by a pretended godly party Hath not our Moses been accused of Tyranny because he stood up to vindicate them Nay hath not our Moses been arraigned for murthering of them that perished in their rebellion Hath not every unsuccessfull adventure every dear year every deluge or drought been imputed to him and his party Hath there been any thunder or rain in wheat-harvest which hath not been charged upon that great wickedness of asking a King But hearken Oh ye rebels 't is Gods Ordinances you despise in trampling upon Aaron Hearken Oh ye rebels 't is Gods Soveraignity you refuse in resisting Moses Hearken Oh ye rebels 't is God himself whom you arraign in challenging his Magistrate with the blood of them that perished in their rebellion Thus have they committed falshood the thief cometh in and the troop of robbers spoileth without Hos. 7. 1. and they have dealt treacherously against the Lord And this is the second aggravation of their sin they deal treacherously The last and chiefest remains this sin was acted without any just provocation They spoiled when they were not spoiled they dealt treacherously when they were not dealt treacherously withall without any just provocation I say For against unreasonable fears and jealousies there can be no security Historians tell us of the time when the Romanes might not whisper together in the streets least their breath should be accused to be rebellious I am sure we have known when our very prayers have been suspected of sin When Hannahs prayers were muttered in the Temple Eli supposed she had been drunken But alas the Temple hath been shut up against us and our worship as it was in Ieroboam's days and if we met in private to whisper our devotions some Sanballats and Geshams would be ready to inform that we met together to rebell Thus have they devised deceitful matters against them that were quiet in the land And quiet they are upon a double account First they cannot Secondly they will not retaliate injuries First I say they cannot For what teeth and claws hath a Lamb to encounter with a Wolf What beak or talons hath a Dove to grapple with a Vulture God does many times disarm his people of all outward help and leave them onely the spiritual weapons of prayers and tears to encounter with their enemies and this is to make trial what these dare do and what those can suffer Sad was it
AD MAGISTRATUM THREE SERMONS preached before the Justices of Assize at Bury-St. -Edmunds in the Countie of Suffolk With sacred Hymns upon the Gospels for the Hyemal quarter BY THO. STEPHENS CAMBRIDGE Printed by Iohn Field printer to the Universitie Anno Dom. 1661. Academiae Cantabrigiensis Liber ¶ To the right Honourable FREDERICK Lord Cornwallis Baron of Eye Treasurer of his Majesties Houshold and one of the most Honourable Privy Council My Noble Lord THe presumption of prefixing your Name to this piece were unpardonable were it not unlawfull for me to appear abroad without your liverie since I have had the honour to serve you in the Service of God and to wait upon you to the Throne of Grace The importunate desires of my obliging friends hath made it thus publick 'T is weak and tender-eyed and cannot well endure the sun But your acceptance will create a worth We have seen and known an evil time wherein the prudent kept silence Amos 5. 13. An evil time indeed wherein there was never more preaching and never fewer sermons For I cannot call illiterate seditious discourses by so honourable a name It adds a lustre now to your Lordships loyaltie and vertue that you were then content to be under a cloud when the sun it self could not break out And blessed be God that we had then a cloud for a covering Blessed be God who gave such a shelter to our Moses and Aarons at the Tabernacle of the Congregation when the factious multitude were destroyed Surely the Glory of the Lord never more appeared then in such an overshadowing That cloud is now removed and divides us from our enemies It gives light to us but to them a thick darkness It is an earnest of the reestablishment of our decayed Church that he gave us still a nail in the Temple and suffered a remnant to escape If the Lord would kill us he would not have received a sacrifice My Lord The Levitical law commanded that the snuffers of the Sanctuary should be made of pure gold There was never more need of snuffers So many Thieves are gotten into the wike of the Churches Tapers that they are well-near wasted and the snuffers which should cleanse them are so foul and bedrozzled that they have rather extinguished their light then cleared them Some were made of gold indeed but they were laid aside and through disuse grown rusty The temple-gates at Jerusalem were shut up and it was inconsistent with the religion of many to go up to worship at Dan and Bethel If a desuetude of eighteen years have made this piece rough and unpolisht although I could never pretend to the smoothness of Art I hope it will finde an easie pardon from your Lordship who know experimentally that sighs and tears had in them the most perswasive Rhetorick even then when our mouthes were stopped God preserve you to enjoy that honour for which you were reserved So prays my Lord Your Honours most humble servant and devoted Chaplain Tho. Stephens THE SPOILER SPOILED THE FIRST SERMON Preached at the Assizes at St. Edmunds Bury September 10. 1660. At the request of Iohn Wyard Esq. then High-Sheriff of the County of Suffolk HINC ◆ LVCEM ◆ ET ◆ POCVLA ◆ SACRA ALMA MATER CANTABRIGIA CAMBRIDGE Printed by Iohn Field Printer to the Universitie 1661. ISAIAH 33. 1. Wo to thee that spoilest and thou wast not spoiled and dealest treacherously and they dealt not treacherously with thee When thou shalt cease to spoil thou shalt be spoiled andwhen thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously they shall deal treacherously with thee A Wo in the first word makes us willing to shift off the sin which brings that vengeance What! Theives amongst our selves God forbid Out of the Camp of the Philistines from the uncircumcised may come up spoilers perhaps 1 Sam. 13. 17. and let them tremble as ver 15. of the next chap. tremble with a great trembling on God's name they deserve it But far be it from us to deal treacherously We are true Israelites in whom there is no guile if we borrow from the Egyptians golden earings or bracelets although with a purpose never to repay them it is at the worst but fraus pia a waranted cheat approved of by God For that 's the Devil's doctrine in opposition to St. Paul to do evil to those which are enemies to the Holy Cause and to rob and spoil them forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased Thus after prostituting our conscience to injustice and rapine we are ready with Solomons adulterous woman to wipe our mouth and say we have done no wickedness Prov. 13. 20. It is needless I presume to tell you why Isaiah was called the Evangelical Prophet who through all his prophesies hath like another St. Iohn prepared the way of the Lord and made a straight path to advance his Kingdome So that although first and more immediately his writings were directed to the Iews yet mediately they were to be diffused so far as God diffused his Church and all were concerned in them who hoped to have a Nail within the Temple Dagon must be smitten down wheresoever the Ark of God was to come and these hucksters which deal treacherously and mony-changers which spoil and oppress must be whipt out that the King of Glory may enter in So that although the Iews which did too much delight in injury and oppression were the first sharers in this wo yet all nations that must expect the Lord their judge the Lord their Lawgiver and the Lord their King as in the 22 v. of this Chap. must look for this distributive part of his justice and righteousness And it is not onely at this day literally verified in your Man-eating Cannibals where he that breakfasts upon his brother in the morning is made afeast at supper for another and your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst men your irrational heathen as I may call them whose capacity of Morall principles can onely from hence be prov'd because they are born with natural concupiscence to circumvent and plunder one another But amongst your more civilized Mahumetans too whose law pretends much to the golden rule of Equity of doing to another as they would be done unto themselves and finde it indeed verified in a sence which they least desire whilst the Officers of the State are made the spunges of the Grandseignior who suck up the moisture of the people till they be full and swoln and fitto be sqeezed themselves As for us Christians we have a law by which we must be judged Nay we have a double law as well the tenth Commandment which restrains us from thinking perversly or coveteousness in the heart as the eight which forbids us to do perversly or to spoil with the hand Yet God knows we have liv'd to see iniquity established by another law or at least that which hath pretended to it if the Oratours rule be true that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is
says the wise man blindeth the eyes But if justice be thus blinded it will have its reward in the land of darkness And yet although justice be blinde not to distinguish between party and party it must not be deaf too to neglect the cry of the poor Either cease to be a King or do me right says the bold Petitioner to the Persian Monarch Oh my Lords Let not the cries of the oppressed reach heaven before you least it bar your entrance there When Philip sate sleeping on the bench whilst a false judgement passed in the Court he was wakened with the bold appeal of Machaetas The King disdaining a higher Iudicatory to which an appeal could be made replies with indignation whither dost thou appeal thou Varlet To thy self To K. Philip says he Te in te appello to Philip waking from Philip sleeping Such sleepy Iudges love darkness and the deeds of darkness more then light But as their ears must be open yet they must open but one at once W th the Graecian Monarch they must stop up one while the Plaintiff is objecting and leave it free not prepossest when the Defendant makes his Plea For this cause too as a Magistrate hath two ears to hear both sides speak so he hath but one tongue to pronounce single judgement To w ch he must come impartiall and unpraejudicate Remember that Gods law was wrote in Tables of Stone not of Leather or Parchment which would stretch wider or contract narrower His Command Thou shalt not steal takes in as well Alexanders royall pillaging Navy as a poor fly-boat of a single pick-aroon Such corruption of the laws Severus complained of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says he he that steals much to inable him to give a little makes a bridge of gold for his own escape I press this the more because all the guilt of a malefactor is contracted by that Iudge who takes cognisance of it and lets it go unpunished Qui non vetat peccare cum potest jubet That Magistrate that consents to a thief is himself a robber and he that winks at an adulterer lets in that foul Devil at his closed eye Bitter was that reply of the malefactor who being asked of his judge who was accessary to his felony Thou thy self says he for hadst thou trusst me up for my former I had not lived to commit another which leads me my Lords to your second capacity as you are Gods you must execute wrath on evildoers you must spoil the spoilers And here you have need of Hercules his strength to cleanse another Augaean stable This age hath furnished us with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Comaedian calls them gulfs and whirlpools of rapine and oppression But since his royall Majesty hath thrown a mantle over them not such an one as Ahasuerus the Persian did over Haman a token of condemnation but of pardon and absolution I will not uncover their nakedness but leave our spoilers to Gods plentifull reward at the last account if they do not before that time make satisfaction for their extortion and violence Let it suffice your Lordships with a Calendar of such criminals as have in other places or may come before you here or rather the prophet Hosea shall do it for me Hos. 4. 2. They brake forth into swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery and blood touching blood And well may I call those criminals which are guilty of these because for such sins as these the Land hath mourned and if they be not removed or cut off by the hand of justice the Land shall mourn again and the inhabitants thereof shall languish Yet all this while God hath but a controversie with these sinners he will implead them and proceed judicially against them But in the fourth verse there follows a sin that stops Gods plea that he will no more take pains to convince them but give them up to an obdurate sense Let no man strive nor reprove another says he for the people are as they that strive with the Priest So near relation betwixt God and his Vicars those which are labourers in his stead that they that rob them of their Tithes and Offerings rob God Mal. 3. 8. They that strive against Aaron are gathered together against the Lord Numb 16. 11. Tremble then thou Theomachus that darest fight against God in his holy Ministers darest fight against God in his holy Ordinances God will take no pains to reprove thee he will give thee up to a reprobate minde Thou art one that strivest with the Priest thou art one of those that castest him out of the Synagogues Nay to make up our Saviours prophesie thou thinkest thou dost God good service if thou killest him And truly my Lords this is onerosa prophetia this is the burden of the Land that by a pretended kind of Saintship men intitle God to the Devills cause they think they do the Lord service by killing his servants and as if his kingdome were divided against it self they fancy that they set up the Scepter of Christ by pulling down his anointed Thus was it in St. Peters days if any man suffered as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bloody cut-throat or a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thievish felon or a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spoiling plunderer or an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Bishop in another mans Diocess a Sequestrator in anothers living it was voyced abroad to be suffering for the name of Christ. And if your sword of justice should cut off any such ulcerated gangrain'd member the congregation of these Saints would be ready to murmure against you as they did against Moses and Aaron Numb 16. and say ye have killed the people of the Lord. But remember I beseech you Jehoshaphats instruction to his Judges 2 Chr. 19. 6. Take heed what ye do for ye judge not for man but for the Lord who will be with you in judgement Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you take heed and do it for there is no iniquity with the Lord nor respect of persons nor taking of gifts Arise therefore up and be doing and the Lord be with you Hypocrisie unmask'd THE SECOND SERMON Preached at the Assizes at St. Edmunds Bury March 4. 1660. At the request of Sr. Iohn Castleton Baronet High-Sheriff of the County of Suffolk HINC ◆ LVCEM ◆ ET ◆ POCVLA ◆ SACRA ALMA MATER CANTABRIGIA CAMBRIDGE Printed by Iohn Field Printer to the Universitie 1661. 2 TIM 3. 5. Having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof THe Context will tell you that these words are part of the description of those men who should cause perillous times in the last days Which days although a learned Paraphraser contends to be all one with St. Iohns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 John 2. 18. the last hour before Christ's coming in vengeance to destroy his enemies the Jews an hour which of all the Disciples St. John
distinguish between them some that get into the train and the retinue of Godliness as hatred to our brother attends upon zeal to Gods honour vain glory waits upon hospitable charity So that when we open to entertain the one the other too often creeps in with it which make a Christians life checquer'd Sables and Argent are quartered together Seeing then that malum est ex quolibet defectu bonum non nisi ex causis integris whatsoever is good must be intirely so when any evil circumstance is enough to deprave an action and weaken the power of Godliness no marvail if throughout the world we see so much shâ—w and so little substance And truly most men make it their work to live up to opinion not to reality They come unto thee as my people cometh says the Prophet Ezek. 33. 31. and they sit before thee as my people and they hear thy words but they will not do them They come and sit and hear here 's formality enough and thus far we are for them And yet they are not Gods people And would to God all would follow them thus far There are too many amongst us that will not sit as Gods people sit with reverence and adoration and fear before the Lord their King Marlorat interprets the Formalists in my text by a Metaphor fetch'd from images and idols which have the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the resemblance but want the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the life of what they represent which have eyes and see not which have ears and hear not But these do sit and hear that is the voyce of man with the ears of their body not the voyce of God with the ears of their soul. Indeed we live in age when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole body of devotion and religion is hearing like Pliny's monsters whose ears cover all their bodies It is worth observing here that the Prophets complaint is not they kneel and pray but they sit and hear although I know there is too much formality even in our devotions too yet because Gods house is emphatically called an house of prayer a devout deportment of our body there carries much of good example with it were it they sit and pray they would finde too many followers amongst us who dare present themselves before God in our most sacred and mysterious parts of publick worship in that unmannerly posture Our Saviour forwarning us of the practise of Hypocrites which are chiefly designed here in reference to the duty of prayer Mat. 6. 5. describes them by two notable circumstances The first is peculiar to them they pray standing in the Synagogues or publick assemblies The second they borrow from the heathen in using vain repetitions and many words And hath not this age justified their practise where kneeling in the Church of God hath been changed to standing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in comitiis in assemblies and committees where tautologies of Lord Lord have been repeated as long as Baals worshippers cried out O Baal hear us 1 King 18. 27. from morning unto noon Mistake me not I know a devout repetition in publick prayers does inflame our devotion but to lay hold of the sacred name of God till they can take surer footing and know what to speak next if this be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I confess I know notthemeaning of the phrase The next duty w ch our Saviour pitches upon is that of fasting ver 16. and although the adjunct to Hypocrites there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a sad countenance be fully made up in our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our fierce men as I lately interpreted the word yet Isaiah leavs these religious duties more directly at our doors Chap. 58. ver 4. ye fast says he for strife and debate and to strike with the fist of wickedness We may all remember what horrid murthers and prodigious rapines have been ushered in by this religious pageantry so that if once they came to an in nomine Domini a seeking of the Lord the people were taught to expect an inundation of mischief overwhelming them It were no difficulty to run a parallel between Hypocrites practises and our own in all those circumstances mentioned by our Saviour But in one we do apparently fall short of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this shew of Godliness even of the Pharisees themselves For they hold it as a tradition of the Elders not to eat nor drink nor sacrifice with unwash'd hands which was so general a practise among the heathen that I finde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 washing the hands in Lycophron put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for sacrificing But God knows we do too often approach Gods altars without washing our hands in innocency nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Poets language besmear'd with gore and blood as if we were going to lay a bloody sacrifice upon Gods altar And indeed so great enemies to innocency are we grown of late that we cannot indure any thing that is a badge of it A Surplice affrights us more then garments rolled in blood And if any Minister now should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a custome says the learned Grotius among all nations for those that officiate in holy offices to be clothed in white I say if any should appear like the angel at our Saviours sepulchre Mat. 28. 3. with raiment white as snow we are ready to cast durt upon it and make it as black by our reviling as the Prince of darkness as if the power of Godliness consisted in opposing all shews and appearance of it The ambition of Satan at first was to be like God Now although he hath lost his happiness yet he retains his vice still he is as ambitious as ever to appear to be like God The sons of God cannot present themselves before the Lord but Satan will crowd in amongst them Iob 2. 1. And this Prince of darkness will work as wonderously in his new lights as Manoahs angel did in the flame Iudg. 13. 19. Eusebius tells us that Simon Magus the first Antichrist appear'd in all power and signes and lying wonders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doing strange miraculous works by the power of the Devil So that he was reputed a God and had a statue erected to him by Claudius in Rome with this inscription Simoni magno deo to the great god Simon And no wonder that superstitious Rome should do this when even in Samaria where a Church was now planted he was called the great power of God Act. 8. 11. Nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Eusebius the principal God as his strumpet Helena was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first cogitation the first Minerva of this Iupiter This great Impostor to make his inchantments gain credit without control makes a shew of Christianity was baptized by Philip desires to buy from the Apostles the power of the Holy Ghost Nay boasted says Irenaeus quod in geÌ„tibus quasi spiritus sanctus adventaverit
was the work of our most religious reformers to melt it down to its first purity and refining it from its dross to retain nothing but either what is Scripture or deduced from it by the opinion and practise of the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church of Christ which thus reformed hath been signed by the attestation of religious confessours and sealed by the blood of glorious Martyrs those triumphant and undaunted Vancouriers of our religion who have felt the overflowing joys and power of Godliness in using the form thereof But secondly in the fear of God Brethren suffer a word of exhortation And here I beg leave of my reverend brethren of the Clergy to press this home upon them Bullinger is of an opinion that you are principally intended in this text you which are instructers of the foolish and teachers of babes Rom. 2. 20. and have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a form of knowledge the word of my text Oh labour for the power of it Let your lives confute gain-sayers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let your lives write a comment upon your Doctrine and be an example to believers as St. Paul exhorts Timothy 1 Tim. 4. 12. in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity Epictetus laughs at some who were Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drest up in their beards and gowns but uncase them under that vizard you should finde licentious Poets debauchers of youth and corrupters of sober principles But what need I trace the lives of Heathens when St. Paul in the next words to my text observes those in the bosome of the Church who under this pretence and form of Godliness creep into houses and lead captive silly women What use hath been made of Pulpit holiness we all know where an opinion of zeal and sanctity once gain'd hath been gloss enough to set off the foulest and the blackest actions and they which have seemed most devout on the Sunday in the work of the Lord least they should seem to do it negligently the week after have dipp'd their black coats in blood My dear Brethren those men now call you formalists formalists for your habits as well as your way of worship O shame not your cassocks be like Simon the son of Onias Ecclus. 50. make garments of holiness honourable some of your coats too have had a tincture of blood the blood of suffering as Iosephs had Oh stain them not that at the first sight your father may say this is my son Iosephs coat Remember upon Aarons robe there was imbroydered round about the hem a bell and a pomgranate a bell and a pomgranate the sound of one is good but the fruit of the other feeds more Gods herald ought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he must do as well as speak or else he 's but the shadow of a preacher for words are but the shadow of deeds says Democritus We know whose motto it is and from whom he borrowed it non magna loquimnr sed vivimus We do not speak well but we live well Let others triumph in their volubility of tongue and smoothness of language let them enjoy the reputation of gifted brethren and let their mouthes overflow with the inticing words of mans wisdome As for us Brethren Vivamus let us live Christians let Gods Commandments be the text and our lives the Sermons on it The Priest says our English laws is daily bound to say divine service unless he be otherwise lawfully let and hindred I confess of late we have had too great and invincible hindrances The paths to Gods Temple have been so overgrown with briers and thorns that we can hardly hit the way thither now The mercies of God under the government of our most religious and gracious Soveraign have begun to pave the way again and opened the prison doors out of the house of bondage to his service which is perfect freedom and we hope ere long the sons of Aaron will learn to attend upon the morning and evening sacrifice And wilt thou so often dare to call upon God by the name of Our father which art in heaven when thy actions speak thee to be the child of wrath and son of the Devil wilt thou say O Lord open thou our lips when thy mouth is used to do the Devils drudgery in blaspheming the holy name of God Wilt thou cry Gloria patri c. when thou art plotting and contriving those things which may most dishonour him 'T is St. Paul's command 2 Tim. 2. ver 19. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity Sirs religion hath taught us more then barely to name the name it obliges us to pay adoration to the holy Name and shall we imitate the accursed Iews that bowed their knee to Iesus and spit him in the face shall we tread the steps of the Tyrant Herod who pretended that he came to worship the holy Infant when he intended to kill him For every scandalous sin which sticks a disgrace upon our profession is another stab or wound given to our blessed Saviour 'T is the duty of all men to avoyd sin but the Priest which compasseth Gods altar must avoyd the very appearance of evil When Aristippus was perswaded once in a frolick to dance at a Bacchanal he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he put off his Philosophers robe and put on an effaeminate habit least his profession might suffer by his laciviousness O Brethren ye have found that there are many whose daily work is to throw durt upon you and make spots in your black coats and then as if those spots were leprous they have pretence enough to cast you out of the Synagogues And that they may kill your names if not your persons they will write volumes and Centuries upon you If there be any here that have outlived such disgraces make I beseech you your indeavour to be so eminent in the exercise of vertue which is truly the power of Godliness that your enemies in the gate may see and confess that whom they called the scandalous are the scandalized Clergy And yet the Clergy are not concern'd alone the Laity have a share in this exhortation Many among you I know there are who are least for form and cry up most the power of Godliness Take heed I beseech you least what you think to be the power be not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a form and bare pretence We have lived to see a generation of rebellious people as Isaiah calls them Isaiah 30. 10. which have said to the seers see not and to the prophets prophesie not unto us right things speak unto us smooth things prophesie deceits And hence have we had so many blinde watchmen as it follows chap. 56. ver 10. seers which have beams in their eyes and yet will be casting out motes out of their brothers as our Saviour describes Hypocrites Neglecting the Ordinances and superstitious will-worship
in the next chapter or their idolatrous worshipping of Baalim and Ashtaroth in the former which caused the anger of the Lord to break out upon them insomuch that he for sook the Tabernacle in Shilo Ps. 78. 60. and suffered the Ark to be captivated by the Philistines the husbands are slain and the wives miscarry and the children are named Ichabod for glory is departed from Israel 1 Sam. 4. 21. Yet the Ark even during the captivity of it had power enough to triumph over Dagon and made those of Ashdod Gath and Ekron smart for their sacrilegious usurpation But at Samuels appointment the people assembled at Mizpeh and drew water the tears of Repentance from the royll'd fountains of their hearts and poured them out before the Lord and fasted and confessed their sins And then the Lord looked down in mercy upon them and discomfitted their enemies who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thunder-strook astonished God thunders upon them with a great thunder He sent humanas motur a tonitrua mentes He discharged the Cannon bullets of heaven against them which smote them until they were all destroyed And that their late Ataxy and confusion might be redressed by the happy establishment of a settled government he sets up Samuel over them who judged Israel all his days and went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh and judged Israel in all those places 'T were too disingenuous to mistrust your application Mutato nomine de Te This is Englands story Israel is but our Looking-glass We have served Baalim and Ashtaroth even worshipped our own inventions we have kicked at Gods sacrifices and offerings which he commanded in his habitation 1 Sam. 2. 29. We have prophaned the service of his sanctuary and polluted Gods holy Ordinances Therefore hath our Ark been taken and our Eli's have fallen backward and broke their necks Our maidens have not been given in marriage and our women have miscarried and their children named Ichabod because our glory is departed from us And notwithstanding that the Philistines have gotten but little advantage by seizing upon our Ark for even during the captivity of it the Dagon of the times fell down before it and the sacrilegious Ashdodites and Gathites and Ekronites who thought to have made it their own possession found the hand of God heavy upon them Haemorroide they have voided blood enough propensione intestinorum and well might they want bowels who before shewed no compassion And the prophane Bethshemites who being common persons durst pry into those sacred Mysteries have been smitten with blindness a spiritual blindness for all the pretence of New Lights within them yet hath it been more then seven months more then twice so many years before our Ark could be brought home to Kiriath-jearim the house of God But upon the assembling of the people at Mizpeh and drawing of waters waters either an embleme of their faith for the forgiveness of their sins as some of the Rabbies say the people cryed out here evanescant pecâ—ata mea ut haec aqua dele peccata mea let my sins glide away as this water wash away mine offences or waters a sign of humility as another Certè nos sumus coram Te sicut aqua effusa Lord we are but like water poured out before thee or waters è puteo cordis as the Ghaldee Paraphrase waters drawn from the wells of their hearts in sorrow and repentance before the Lord I say when the people fell down and wept before the Lord God heard the voice of their tears and exhaled them into clouds from whence he thundred upon our enemies Even by a miraculous power from heaven he confounded them that we may call the name of the place Ebenezer and say Hitherto hath the Lord helped us He is lapis adjutorii the rock of our salvation And least the thunder that hath destroyed our enemies might still present black clouds of horrour to us lest the late confusions of war should still obstruct our quiet behold limina bellicosa Jani Justis legibus foro coronat He hath restored us Judges as at the first and Counsellers as at the beginning Isa. 1. 26. Even Samuels which may go in circuit from county to county and judge the land in all those places The words present you with the first pattern of an itinerant Judge and in them consider these three parts 1. The Judge himself which was Samuel whose commission was for life He judged Israel all the days of his life 2. His Circuit He went from year to year to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh 3. The Assizes which he kept there He judged Israel in all those places These are the stages through which we shall drive in this hours discourse which will not allow us time to lodge in them but onely to bait at them 1. The Iudge was Samuel qualified for that dignity after an extraordinary manner His extraction was from Elkanah a Levite of Ramah-Sophim so named says Vatablus because it was the habitation of Prophets and Seers and such as were Doctors of the law His mother was Hannah a woman of a religious and a melting soul who notwithstanding the provocations of her rival Peninnah For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Poet make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a divided bed makes a divided house yet ceas'd she not devoutly and constantly to attend her husband to the solemn feasts at Shilo there to beg of God a son whom she might devote and dedicate to his Service A Nazarite she will make him that no rasor come upon his head I wonder whence the order of our bald-pate Friers came The Chaldee Paraphrase by adding one Aleph interprets it no terrour shall come upon him that is he shall be free from the commands of men to wait upon God whose service is perfect freedom And as she was free in promising she was not slack in performing but as God lent her a son she lent him back unto the Lord 1 Sam. 1. 28. She restored the petition which God had given her says the Targum and whereas other Levites were not admitted to their ministrations before twenty years of age She offers him so soon as he was wean'd to appear before the Lord and to abide there for ever 1 Sam. 2. 18. And he whilst he was yet a childe began to Minister that is says Munster to study the law and the knowledge of God and to sing divine service and to play upon musical instruments For such were made use of in the service of the Sanctuary being girt with a linnen Ephod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a surplice if you please besides a little coat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an embroidered cope which his mother yearly made him to wear upon the solemn Festivals And I hope these garments were not Popish in those early days For thus habited our little Chorister daily attends upon the holy Ministrations in Shiloh And this was Samuel's imployment all
controversie were brought before the Priests and Levites who must shew them the sentence of judgement And this was practised in David's days 1 Chron. 26. 29. when Chenaniah and his sons of the tribe of Levi were set over Israel for all outward business in omni negotio divino humano says Vatablus for officers and Iudges The same we shall finde in the days of good Iehoshaphat who set of the Priests and of the Levites for the judgement of the Lord and for controversies between blood and blood between Laws and Commandments between Statutes and Ordinances 2 Chron. 19. 8. And if the Embassey of the Gospel be more honourable then that of the Law let not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Embassadours be more dishonoured Our Samuels are bred up in Ramah-Sophim too in the Schools of the Prophets and at the feet'of Doctors And as their education may intitle them to some talents of knowledge some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so pity it is that they should want the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they should be excluded those offices in which they may improve them Samuel's first title I know was to be set apart for the service of the Tabernacle and he did not seek his temporal power by any indirect ambitious or preposterous courses but being called by God he judged Israel all his life time And if the favour and grace of the Supream Magistrate which indeed is Gods call shall call any Clergy man to the exercise of any temporal power let us not quarrel at the preferment of a Priest as in contempt we use to call them for in such oblique descants we glance at the royal prerogative and either ty up the hands or question the discretiō of our Soveraigns And so much for the Person of Samuel which judged Israel all the days of his life 2. We have seen the Judge and his commission proceed we now to his Circuit He went from year to year in Circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh Indeed Josephus adds to the story and says that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Twice every year passing through the cities he sate in judgement there I confess the temper of the Jews was so turbulent and their nature so seditious that without two Assizes in the year their prisons would swarm and like the Colledge of the sons of the prophets be too little for them Witness those unparalleld riots which we read of in the latter end of the Iudges where in the short inter-regnum of judiciary power they fall to Idolatry in families Burglaries in Counties and Rapes in cities And would to God England were so well tempered that the justice and righteousness of the inhabitants did not call for judgement as often But the Original is from year to year whether once or twice is not determined The places whither he went were Bethel and Gilgal Mizpeh Bethel signifies the house of God Gilgal Revelation Mizp Intention From whence Rabanus makes this observation that judgement in the house of God is to be pronounced not indiscreetly or with a malevolous soul but as Scripture reveals and with a good intention and brotherly love and so we must return to our own house at Ramah to the closets of our breasts and there give up our selves to Meditation All this is very true but too much forced 'T is ultra sobrietatem sapere to be too wise in fixing such sence upon holy Scripture as the Spirit of God never pointed at Lyra's short gloss is much more significant that he went per loca ad judicandum idonea to places most fit to hold Assizes in and such were these whether we consider the Situaation or the capacity of them Look upon the site and you will find Bethel upon mount Ephraim the navel of the Country Gilgal and Mizpeh in the middle of the Longitude So placed that Mizpeh was on the west side of the Latitude and Gilgal on the East In the middle and on both sides of the Country were the Courts of judgement erected Again look to the receit of the places and ye will finde that Bethel after it was honoured by Iacobs pillar became populous and large At the return of the Israelites into Canaan it had a King of its own was of so great a strength that the children of Joseph were constrained to take it by Stratagem not by force Judg. 1. 21. As for Gilgal it was the constant head-quarters where Joshua pitched his camp And Mizpeh was the place where all Israel randezvous'd to expiate the Idolatry of Baalim and Ashtaroth They must needs therefore be large and capacious towns fit for the reception of all that repaired to the Courts of Iustice there Appointed no doubt for the ease and benefit of the inhabitants whose charge and pains would have been too great to have repaired to Ramah the common seat of judgement Upon which precedent no doubt our King Henry the second by the counsel of his Son and Bishops which was afterward ratified by Parliament authority under Ed. the third appointed Iustices of Eyre justiciarios itineris that is Judges itinerant to hear and deterwine Pleas of the crown and pleas between party party in the several Counties where the facts are committed That so the notoriety of them may appear and the chargeable attendance upon Law-Suits at Westmin may not make men think the remedy worse then the disease And now I should have done with the Places the Parallel that is run between them and us if I were not assured that there is something Emphatical and extraordinary in them to intitle them to the seats of Justice Bethel was at first called Luz Gen. 28. 19. which signifies an Almond a rod of which tree God made to flourish miraculously to shew the preheminence of Aaron in the Priesthood It was by Jacob dedicated to God and called the house of the Lord and the gate of heaven because of Gods gracious appearance to him at that place After the return of the Israelites from the Egyptian bondage it was set apart for the worship of God For there was an Altar and thither went men up to sacrifice and to pray even at this very time as will appear 1 Sam. 10. 3. by the three men which Saul met there upon that occasion A place consecrated by Gods especial presence and manifestation of himself there according to that of the Prophet in Bethel invenit eum He found him in Bethel then he spake with us Hos. 12. 4. Yet Bethel the house of God is made choice of by Samuel for the seat of justice Gilgal was remarkable for the twelve stones which Ioshua pitched there in remembrance of the twelve Tribes w ch at that place passed over Iordan It is called the hill of fore-skins Iosh. 5. 3. from the circumcision which by Gods command was renewed there upon all the children of Israel There the camp continued till the Passover was celebrated Nay so convenient Quarters it was that for