foolish Tertullus mistooke the antidote for the poyson the remedy for the disease Indeed he had some wit in his anger and so have his followers in slandering such as excell in vertue for whereas formerly the splendor of the others vertues hath obscured the meannesse of their credit as the lesser light of a candle is obscured by the greater light of the Sun so now by clouding and depraving him and all his fellowes himselfe shall bee judged vertuous very cheape accounted a man of honesty and honour though a Paricide or a sacrilegious person And is it not good policy for a swinish drunkard or a beastly liver to fling durt in a holy mans face when first any colour seemes the fairer when as black is by Secondly when being conscious of their owne defects by this meanes they draw away mens thoughts and consideration of the beholders from climing up into their faults while they are fixed and busied upon a new object One colour we know being laid upon another doth away the former and remaines it selfe A Cut-purse in a throng when he hath committed the fact will cry out my Masters take heed of your purses and he that is pursued will cry stop theefe that by this meanes he may escape unattached 9. It is usuall with them to Curse the godly as Goliah cursed Dauid 1 Sam. 17.43 And also Shimei 2 Sam. 16.7 to 15. Thus the Heathen cursed Israel Zach. 8.13 And thus the wicked in all ages shall be so drunke with malice that they shall spew out cursing and slander against the godly as our Saviour hath foretold Mat. 5.44 And experience proves that not a few amongst us doe steep their words in hate and curses against the good carrying this deadly poyson these arrowes swords knives razors in their mouthes wherewith to interlace their discourse whether in reviling the present or backbiting the absent There is a generation pity they should be called Christians all whose Prayers are Curses and all their relations lyes Or if sometimes they lend the truth their voice they are but false witnesses in speaking of it for their hearts are of another judgement As let them say with their mouthes I beleeve in God or Our Father which art in Heaven or God spake these words c. even in this they lye for in their hearts they thinke there is no God at all or if with their hearts they beleeve and with their tongues confesse that there is a God at least by their workes they deny him and the power of his word So that all the difference betweene them and very Infidels is onely this the one are infidels in their hearts the other are infidels in their lives as Augustine pithily And what 's the reason they curse us but this They are the Devils best schollers and of his highest Forme the language of Hell is so familiar unto them that they speake not a word of our countrey language And indeed how should they speake the language of Canaan to whom blasphemy is become the mother tongue Secondly they curse us because they cannot be suffered to kill us for in heart and Gods account they are no better then murtherers nor will it be any rare thing at the day of Judgement for Cursers to be indited of murther they would kill us if they durst they doe kill so farre as they can I would be loath to trust his hands that bannes me with his tongue It is easie to guesse how they would deale with us if we were at their mercy He that siniled on David in his throne curseth him in his flight Now his unsound and treacherous heart discovers it selfe in a tongue full of venome a hand full of stones and had not David been yet too strong for his impotent Subject hee had then breathed his last Prosperous successe hides many a false heart as a drift of Snow covers a heape of dung but when that white mantle melts the filthy rottennesse will soone appeare Neither is it any sinne we commit or offence we give them that they Curse us Who could have lesse deserved those curses those aspersions those stones then David Had Shimei been other then a dog he had never so rudely barked at so harmeles a passenger That head deserved to be tonguelesse that body to be headlesse that thus blasphemed an Innocent though he had been lesse then the Lords Anoynted Againe Why would they kill our bodies but because they could not slay our soules For it is soule-soule-blood which the Serpent and his Seed thirst after as I shall shew afterward But alasse if all their Curses and threats all their aspersions and Antichristian slanders could flout us out of the integrity of our devotion when our forefathers feared not the flames wee were fearefull cowards As for their banning of us we have learnt from Solomon That the causelesse curse shall not come Prov. 26.2 or at least it shall not come where the curser meant it Yea the Psalmist tels us plainely That though they curse yet God will blesse Psalm 109.28 And his blessing shall doe us good while their curses hurt none but themselves for what saith the Holy Ghost in the same Psalme speaking of the desperately wicked whose brand is that they love cursing The words are these As hee loved cursing so shall it come unto him and as he loved not blessing so shall it be farre from him As he cloathed himselfe with cursing as with a rayment so shall it come into his bowels like water and like oyle into his bones Let it be unto him as a garment to cover him and for a girdle wherewith he shall be alwayes girded ver 17 18 19. Heare this all yee whose tongues run so fast on the Devils errand Yee loved cursing you shall have it both upon you about you and in you and that everlastingly if you persevere and goe on For if Christians be charged to blesse their enemies What will be their case that curse their friends Yea if he which but curseth Satan curseth his owne soule as it is Eccles 21.27 What doth he that curseth the Saints and deare children of God Surely their curses shall bound back into their owne brests as the stones which Shimei threw at David did rebound upon Shimei and split his heart yea and at last knockt out his braines Cursing mouthes are like ill made Peeces which while men discharge at others recoile in splinters upon their owne faces Their words and wishes be but whirle-windes which being breathen forth returne againe to the same place Cursed be hee that curseth thee Gen. 27.29 Yea hee shall be cursed with a witnesse for even Christ which came to save the World shall say unto them at the last day Depart yee cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his Angels Matth. 25.41 Where they shall doe nothing but curse for evermore Revel 16.11.21 And indeed Who should goe to Hell if cursers should be left out Wherefore let all those learne to
nor error in his doctrine Which of you said hee can rebuke me of sinne Yet the World traduced him for a Samaritan a Blasphemer a Sorcerer a wine bibber an enemy to Caesar and what not Thus they deale with the godly as sometimes a lustfull person will doe by a chaste woman when he cannot take away her honesty he will take away her credit brag of effecting his will with her when yet he could never have admittance into her company Bad natures whom they cannot reach by imitation they will by detraction like the Fox what they cannot attaine to they will depresse and seeme to despise their cunning is to condemne others that themseves may be justified As Caligula tooke off the heads from the Images of the gods to set up his own Or as Merchants who to raise the price of their own commodities beate down the prices of others And have they not reason thus to doe Yes for how is a vicious person discredited and made contemptible by the vertuous life of an holy man We know straight lines helpe to shew the crooked And it is easie to guesse that Pharaohs fat Kine made the leane ones more ilfavoured A swarthy and hard featured visage loves not the company of cleare beauties Againe another reason is They judge others by themselves now they doe all their good in hypocrisie and so thereafter judge of others Saint Chrysostome hath given the rule As it is an hard thing saith he for one to suspect another to be evill who is good himselfe so it is as hard for him to suppose another to be good who is himselfe ill And we see it fulfilled in Nero who verily beleeved that all men were most fowle libidinists because himselfe was such an one 3. Wicked men manifest their enmity against the religious by carrying tales of them unto others as C ham carryed tales to his brethren of Noahs nakednesse his tongue was the trumpet to sound forth his Fathers shame Gen. 9.22 thus Doeg carryed tales to Saul of David and Abimelech 1 Sam. 22.9 10. and the Ziphins two severall times brought tydings to Saul where David had hid himselfe to the end Saul might slay him 1 Sam. 23.19 20. 26.1 And those Libertines with other suborned men against Steven to the Councell of Priests Acts 6.8 to 15. And of this burthen many amongst us are in continuall travell For how frequently doe debauched drunkards and incorrigible sinners resembling their father the Devill who both by name Revel 12.10 and by nature Job 1.7 8 9. is a continuall Accuser of the brethren carry tales to their fellowes of such as will not consorte with them Yea of their faithfull Ministers especially if hee thunders in his doctrine and lightens in his conversation as Gregory Nazianzen speakes of Basil Yea and thinke they doe as good service in it as Secretaries and espialls of Princes doe to the State when they bring in bills of Intelligence But doe they as they ought with an upright minde tell both our vertues and vices impartially as Suetonius writeth of the twelve Caesars and so leave the upshot to collection No but rather as the Jewes did by Paul Acts 24. charge us with many things as that we are pestilent fellowes movers of sedition and maintaienrs of schisme but proving nothing verse 13. And indeed how should they when every word they speak is a slander Or if otherwise they look on our infirmities they looke not on our graces on our repentance No these Flyes skip over all a mans sound parts I meane his excellencies to fasten on a scab or ulcer resembling our Prognosticators that are more diligent to make mention of foule weather then of fayre stormes and thunder they much harp upon but calme and serene dayes passe them unobserved whereas an ingenuous nature would passe over the evill where he findes more good considering we are full of faults by nature good not without our care and industry for a minde well qualified is often beholding to the industry of the owner and Vlysses as Homer relates was so applauded for the acutenesse of an ingenious mind that men spared to object unto him the deformity of his body But these contrarily for want of matter to except against will coyne it of their owne heads And that they may deliver themselves with the greater Emphasis will affirme as that Gymnosophist in Plutarch did of those Orators to Alexander That every one of them doth exceed his fellowes and sware that the matter is so cleare and manifest that all the Towne ings of him meaning the good fellowes of the towne and to speake truth the parties faults are so cleare and evident that you may see them as well in the darke as with a candle as appeares by the sequell For are there not some godly and faithful both Christians and Preachers that have beene often I say not ninety five times accused by them as Aristophanes was by the Athenians and every time found innocent Though no thankes to their accusers for they endeavour all they can to corrupt such as heare them and forestall their judgements against the good and goodnesse O that men were so wise as to heare the tale-bearer with indignation examine before they trust beleeve his reports if infallibly true with unwillingnesse acknowledge it with griefe hide our neighbours faults with honest excuses and bury them in silence for commonly it fares with the first relator as it doth with a stone throwne into the water which of it selfe makes but one circle but that one begets an hundred and so both offends and infects many others but alwayes proves himselfe to be uncharitable It were good for other men if tale-bearers would consider this but better for themselves True the wise and honest are able as so many Angels of God to discerne truth from slander though to the griefe of many good hearts no musick can be so sweet to the eares of others as to heare well of themselves ill of the religious And these as they often set the former on worke so they are resolutely opinionated in beleeving oâ— lyes as Saint Austin speakes of the Priscillianists whereby they supererogate of Satan But what is the end of these tale-bearers and informers against good men Follow them to their ends and you shall see that if ever the Lord open their eyes to see this their fact they are even in this life rewarded with the strappadoes of an humane soule rackt in conscience and tortured with the very flashes of Hell fire and not seldome forced to lay violent hands upon themselves being never well nor in their owne place till they bee in Hell Acts 1.25 4. It is their manner to perswade and give devillish counsell to others like themselves to persecute the godly as Balaam gave wicked counsell to Balack against the Children of Israel when he could not be suffered to curse them Revel 2.14 Thus the Princes and Rulers did to Zedekiah the King against Jeremiah saying
the Sea Mark 9.42 That he will destroy them for ever and roote them out of the Land of the living whose tongues imagine mischiefe and are like a sharpe Razor that cutteth deceitfully loving to speake evill more than good Psalm 52.2 to 5. That hee will confound such as persecute his Children and destroy them with a double destruction Ier. 17.18 Yea that he will render unto there enemies seaven fold into their bosome their reproach wherewith they have reproached the Lord Psalm 79.12 In fine that he will rayne upon them snares of fire and brimstone with stormes and tempests Psalme 11.6 and after all cast them into a furnace of fire where shall bee wayling and gnashing of teeth for evermore when the just whom they now despise shall shine as the Sunne in the Kingdome of their Father They durst not doe as they doe to the godly Yea if they did beleeve but that one place 2 King 2.24 Where God caused two and fortie little Children to be devoured of wild Beares onely for nick-naming Elisha they durst not nick-name the religious as they doe But alasse they are so farre from beleeving what God threatens in His Word against these sinnes that they blesse themselves in their hearts saying wee shall have peace we shall speed as well as the best although wee walke according to the stubbornnesse of our owne wills so adding drunkennesse to thirst Deut. 29.19 Yea they preferre their condition before other mens who are so abstemious and make Conscience of their wayes even thinking that their God deceiveth them with needlesse feares and scruples as oncâ— Rabshakeb would have perswaded the Jewes touching their trust and confidence 2 King 18.22 25 30 32 33 35. Yea how i' st possible that any wicked man should beleeve what is written of God in the Scripture especially touching his justice and severity in punishing sinne with eternall destruction of body and soule For did they really and indeed beleeve God when he saith that his curse shall never depart from the house of the swearer Zac. 5. They durst not sweare yea and forsweare as they doe much lesse durst they take a pride in oathing of it resembling Ballio the baud in Plautus who was not ashamed but even proud of Carting Yea which is worse reprove a swearer and he will sweare the more to spite you Which were not possible if believing God they did not what in them lyes give themselves over to the Devill Againe did they believe that neither fornicators nor Idolaters nor adulterers nor thieves nor murtherers nor drunkards nor swearers nor raylours nor lyers nor covetous persons nor extortioners nor unbeleevers nor no unrighteous men shall inherit the Kingdome of Heaven but shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Revel 21 8. they durst not continue in the practice of these sinnes without feare or remorse or care of amendment Did they beleeve that except their righteousnesse doe exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees they shall in no case enter into the kingdome of Heaven Matth. 5.20 And that without holinesse no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12 14. with many the like it were impossible they should live as they doe Yea if they did in good earnest beleeve that there is either God or Devill Heaven or Hell or that they have immortall soules which shall everlastingly live in blisse or woe and receive according to that they have done in their bodies whether it bee good or evill 2 Cor. 5.10 they could not but live thereafter and make it their principall care how to be saved But alasse they beleeve what they see and feele and know they beleeve the Lawes oâ— the Land that there are places and kindes of punishment here below and that they have bodyes to suffer temporall smart if they transgresse and this makes them abstaine from murther felony and the like but they beleeve not things invisible and to come for if they did they would as well yea much more feare him that hath power to cast both body and soule into bell as they doe the temporall Magistrate that hath onely power to kill the body They would thinke it a very hard bargaine to win the whole world and lose there owne soules Luk 9.25 But alasse if visible powers were not more feared than the invisible GOD and the halter more than Hell naturall men being like beasts that are more sensible of the flash of Powder than of the Bullet the World would bee over-runne with outrage Whereas now even the worst of the Serpents Seede by reason of Authority are kept in a meane betweene Devills and Christians so living like beasts because they thinke they shall dye like beasts without any answer for ought they have either acted or left undone True they doe not alwayes nor at any time altogether think there is no GOD or judgment to come Not alwayes for though at present they thinke their villany is unseene because it is unpunished according to that in the Psalmes The wicked thinketh there is no GOD and the reason followes his wayes alway prosper Psalme 10.4 5. yet none as Plato speakes are so confirmâ—d in Atheisme but some great danger will make them flye to the ayde of a Divine power Extremity of distresse will send the prophanest to God as the drowning man stretcheth out his hand to that bough which hee contemned whiles hee stood safe on shore Even Sardanapalus who for all his bould denying of God at every hearing of thunder was wont to hide his head in a hole Yea in their greatest jollity even the most secure heart in the world hath some flashes of feare that seaze on them like an Arrest of Treason for conscience cannot but somtimes look out of it selfe and see what it would not At least on their death beds they would give all the world to bee sure what the Scripture speakes of Hell were not true though all their life they supposed it but a fable How oft doe those ruffians that deny God at the Tap-house preach him at the Gallowes and confesse that in sobriety of spirit which they oppugned in wantonnesse And not seldome are the most lethargized consciences so awakened ere they go to hell that Spira-like they depart desolate desperate in into hellish horrors Prosperity doth so tympanize mens soules and entranse them from themselves that they forget they hada Maker Who is God saith Pharaoh There is no God saith Nabuchadnezar What God can deliver out of my hand saith Rabshakeh I am God sayes Alexander But Nabuchadnezar found there was a God Pharaoh found what that God was Rabshakeh found to his cost that there was an Almighty God able to deliver in the Valleys as well as on the hills Alexander found hee was not as he supposed and confest that he knew himselfe mortall by two things viz. Sleepe and Lust And so it shall fare with these in the end They