and this is effected by love for love casts out hate and revenge and herein thou dost thy self and not thy enemy the good But again consider if thou wert to appear before a Judge whose Son thou hast killed wouldst thou shew thy hands to that Judge all reaking in his Sons blood The case is much alike in him who prays for mercy and forgiveness from Christ the great Judge while his heart and hands are full of malice and revenge to his brother who is the image and Son of the Father which is in heaven I shall not need to adde what Christ the Judge hath determined in this case Mat. 18.33 in that Parable of the merciless fellow-servant to whom when his Lord which is God had forgiven him his debt of ten thousand talents yet he would not forgive his fellow an hundred pence Now the sentence of this merciless wretch is pronounced by the just Judge of all the world in these words O thou wicked servant I forgave thee all not a part but all thy debt and shouldest not thou have had compassion on thy fellow-servant even as I had pity on thee but sithence thou art so uncharitable hear thy unreversible doom Thou shalt be delivered to the Tormentors the Devils till thou hast paid all thy debt which thou canst never do But notwithstanding all this how many finde we profest Christians Rom. â— 4 5. who despising the riches of Gods goodness and forbearance and long-suffering after the hardness of their impenitent hearts treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and all through their hatred envy and revenge toward their brethren For have we not many too too many who not onely practise but profess their rancor to those that have offended them or to those whom without any just cause they love not and not onely profess this but have left it as apart of their last Will as David did to his Son Solomon to punish such as Joab and Shimei who had offended him We have read of Esaus malicious revengeful heart toward his brother Jacob when he said Gen. 27.41 The dayes of mourning will come and then will I slay my brother and of Saul who so long nourished a malicious thought to destroy David and that of Absolom who for two years space made fair professions eating and drinking with his brother Ammon 2 Sam. 13. whose direful soul never ceased boiling in revenge until he had killed him at a feast perhaps when he was full of wine and thereby as much as in him lay with his body destroyed his soul also S. Paul gives better counsel saying Be ye kinde one to another forgiving one another Eph. 4.32 as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you And not onely this but as a mean hereunto he premiseth Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away with all malice where you may by the way observe the generation production and growth of this hatred to our neighbour where the last in the text malice is the feed and matter of clamour and evil speaking as evil speaking and clamour arise from anger and wrath and these from a bitter sowre ill-leavened soul And why we should not be angry or malicious the Apostle gives us the reason when he saith Grieve not the holy Spirit who is the Spirit of love meekness long-suffering and hater of all those that hate their brethren A fourth reason to quench this hatred and revenge against our brethren may hence arise because God hath openly declared and given sentence against the same Observe S. Paul how large he is in one Chapter upon this Theme who bids us to Bless them that persecute us Rom. 12. Bless saith he and curse not V. 14. and not onely this not to curse but to bless which though they reach but to heart and tongue yet he goes further and extends his Counsel of Charity to the hand first negatively V. 17. Recompense to no man not therefore to thine enemy if he be a man recompense not to him evil for evil then affirmatively and positively In stead of evil do him good and which comes full home to our purpose If thine enemy hunger what V. 20. cut his throat no in no wise but feed him and why not rather cut his throat which is the roarers language To this the Apostle gives answer saying v. 19. Avenge not your selves but give place unto wrath Deut. 32.35 for it is written Vengeance is mine therefore not to be usurped by any nor to be practised but where I have given Authority And as it is my proper prerogative so I and I alone will repay saith the Lord for besides me none have that Power that Justice that Patience that Wisdome as I have except those whom I have constituted in my stead and given them part of my Spirit for the discharge of that office And this the Lord hath not onely spoken or threatned but practised and performed Cain we know was an hater and murtherer of his brother Abel and was the blood of Abel unrevenged for this because his father Adam would not or could not punish and execute Justice upon him no Gen. 9.6 but the same God that said Whoso sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed will by the hand of man revenge the cause of the murthered upon the murtherer This Cain found and said It shall come to pass for this my murthering my brother Gen. 4.14 that every one that findeth me shall slay me and so it came to pass that Lamech killed Cain for so that Text is interpreted Gen. 4.23 when Lamech saith I have slain a man and though Gods vengeance did seem in this act to sleep long for by computation Cain was the third great Grandfather to Lamech yet at last it did awake to prove that vengeance is the Lords who in his time will repay And I could be large in the proof of this assertion but I shall pass all by with that one piece of Gods just vengeance upon Amalek concerning whom God saith I remember what Amalek did to Israel 1 Sam. 15.2 how he laid wait against him which was above 300 years before this was spoken now therefore go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and spare none of them CHAP. XXV To pardon is a sign of honour and of pusillanimity to revenge THis is seen not onely in men and women but amongst the beasts also a Cur-dog is sooner provoked and follows the offender with barking and biting then a Mastiff whereas the Lyon unless very hungry or provoked seldome pursues a man to destroy him Julius Caesar that great Roman Emperor excelled more in pardoning then in conquering his enemies of whom Tully gave this high Elogy That he forgot nothing but injuries and it is written of the Lacedemonians That they desired of their gods not to be cruel to their enemies for that
have been known so overcome with the desire of having that they did not themselves desire to enjoy their wealth but have lived as Tantalus feigned by the Poets to stand in a goodly stream of water with a tree full of pleasant fruit over his head yet was ready to starve for hunger and choke for thirst and such is that wretched mans estate who in his abundance can hardly find in his heart to afford himself necessaries but in stead thereof he is well pleased to live in the middest of all his wealth as a rat imprisoned in a trap standing in a roome full of grain or as a ferrit with his lips sewed up So that to such men their wealth is of no more use then a shadow whereof they can make no more advantage then for sight to look upon And this is so far from giving joy to the possessors of wealth that when Christ pronounceth his first blessing saying Lu. 6.20 Blessed be the poor for yours is the kingdom of God then as answerable hereunto he denounceth his first woe to the rich 〈◊〉 â—4 saying Woe unto you that are rich for you have received your consâ—lâ—tâ—â—◠〈◊〉 which last words may be understood Iro◠〈…〉 by the way of a scornfull jeere unto them 〈◊〉 call it a consolation to have riches or at the most they can intend no more then woe be to you hereafter for here and only here you have that you call consolation in your wealth And this is evident from that parable uttered by Christ Luk. 16.25 where he saith under the person of Abraham to the rich man Son remember that thou in thy life time received thy good things this was thy consolation the good things of this world in this life and therefore now in hell thou art tormented where we see that as the poor Lazar that suffers here on earth shall be comforted in heaven so the rich miser that comforts himself here in his wealth shall be tormented in hell so that with these it fares as with the Hen that scratcheth hard to get her living yet dead is served to the best mans table when the hawke a bird of prey well fed and attended on once dead is cast to the dunghill And this is the evil of all evils or that may comprise all evils in it self that by the covetous desire of riches the soul is too often in jeopardy of being cast into utter darkness In the Gospels our Saviour speaking of riches and cares of the world Mat. 13. Mark 4. Luk. 8. which chook and hinder the growth of Gods seed sowed in mans heart he calls them thornes and besides the reason here assigned by our Saviour riches and worldly cares may be rightly likened to thorns 1 They grow for the most part in the worst grounds so the love of riches comes up in the most sordid and basest souls 2 They draw and suck the juice and fat of the earth from other good seeds and plants whereby they oft times to the 〈…〉 of the world seem neer sterved and so 〈…〉 it with the rich man and his poor neighbour 3 If the poor harmless sheepe shall chance to fall among these thorns the rich men he is sure to be fleeced 4 Thorns hinder and often wound the poor travailer in his journey many a man to his sad experience hath found the like in his way to heaven 5 Thorns are smooth and not discerned to prick or hurt save only by the point and end and so it fareth with riches which few men seem to be troubled with till they grow to their end of death or come to the end of judgement and then they prick and wound or as S. Paul phraseth it they pierce the soul through and round with torturing paines Now the same Lord who hath compared the cares and riches of this world to thorns committed not the purse the bag of these thorns to any of his beloved Apostles or Disciples save only to Judas that miscreant wretch because he considered what a vexation and torture they would prove unto them 2 He knew that as the prodigall mentioned in the Gospel never returned unto his father untill all his temporall goods were spent so neither could he have had any good or comfort in his disciples company so long as they had been intangled therewith as indeed he had not till they had left all and followed him And the leaving these Christ held so necessary towards the attainment of eternall bliss that he pronounceth it as impossible for a rich man to enter heaven Luk. 10.23 as it is for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle But lest these words might have reflected upon holy men then living and dead yet rich Christ expounds himself to speak noâ— simply of men that are rich though at 〈…〉 seemed to speak so but of men that trust in 〈◊〉 riches and for such to enter into heaven it is impossible for God will admit none thither but such as trust in him and they cannot trust in him who trust in their riches To conclude this point in a word â—ol 3.5 S. Paul in one place of his Epistles tells us that covetousness is Idolatry and the root of all evill and in another place that no idolater unclean person or sinner can enter where God is in heaven now put these two texts together and it must evidently and necessarily follow from them that the covetous cannot possibly enter heaven because he is an Idolater trusting in his riches and hath moreover with it the growth of all other sins springing from this one root But if I proceed any further in this Argument I may fear to be taken for some Scholar that is poor and given to his book or contemplation and therefore for the prosecuting this theme so far I may expect the like entertainment as our Saviour Christ had who twice and but twice for ought I read was derided and laughed at once was when he said that the maid who was really dead was but a sleep and for this say the Gospels they laughed him to scorn Mat. â— 24 and the other occasion that moved the Pharisees with others to laugh at him was when Christ had Preached against such as pretended to serve both God and Mammon and hereupon the text saith that the covetous hearing these things they derided him Luk. 1â— 14 so that although this sin of covetousness be the most large spreading ingendring and corrupting sin and therefore such as hath been most severely spoken against by Christ and his Apostles yet so common it is to the â—â—st and the most are so hardned in it that 〈…〉 to speak against it were but to be laâ—ghed at And the rather say these worldlings for that riches are the promised and granted blessings of God as in reward to the well doers and therefore for that most of the Patriarchs good Kings and holy men have been very rich they held it a
loved her not because he did not open the secrets of his heart unto her for so she said How canst thou say I love thee when thy heart is not with me and when thou tellest me not where thy great strength lieth When God purposed the destruction of Sodome Gen. 18.17 he saith I know Abraham that he will command his children and his houshold after him to keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgement Here God rests assured in Abraham's love and service to him and what followeth why this that though God intended a secret and sudden burning of Sodome yet he will not do it before he acquaints Abraham therewith and therefore saith Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do We reade the like of God to Moses Exo. 33.9.13 that when God spake face to face with Moses in the Tabernacle that there was a cloudy pillar at the Tabernacle doore so that the people might not see them And at this interview and conference betwixt God and Moses Moses saith unto God If I have found grace in thy sight shew me now thy way The Prophet saith Psa 147.19 20. the Lord shewed his word unto Jacob. And then addeth He hath not dealt so with any Nation but this his beloved And S. Paul saith Col. 1 2◠The mysterie of salvation by Christ Jesus hath been hid from ages and from generations but now is made manifest to his Saints In a word he that loveth me saith Christ John 14 21. shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and 〈…〉 my 〈◊〉 unto him And accordingly he saith unto his Disciples To you as my friends it given to know the mysterie or secrets of the Kingdome of God but unto those that are without all these things are done in parables And why in parables to these that seeing Mark 4◠11. saith Christ they may see and not perceive and hearing they may heare and not understand lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them Whence we may gather and learn that whom God loves to those he reveals his word and will so that they may see and heare and understand it to their conversion and salvation of their souls which none can deny to be an especiall argument of Gods love the fruition whereof the Lord grant unto us in Jesus Christ CHAP. XVI God seemeth to be solitary without man which is an especiall argument of his love to man THe Scriptures tell us of thousands of Angels that attend Christ and in the Gospels we finde them upon all occasions at his birth in his life and at his passion with him how then having such a company of holy Spirits ever with him and at his command can he be said to be alone if without man It is true in respect of the sweet society of Saints and Angels he cannot be truly said to be alone yet in regard that he made man to his own Image and every one loves that which is most like unto himself and that God hath said My delight is to be with the Sons of men in this respect without this his like with whom he is delighted he may well be said to be alone In the parable of the lost sheep Matth. 18.12 it is seen that the shepherd had 99. besides that which was strayed yet he left them all Suppose these to be the Saints and Angels in heaven and all to seek the one that was lost which is man The Prophet saith Psal 33.10 The Lord looked down from Heaven to behold the Sons of men and seeing them captiv'd by the Devill weltring in their filth of sin and therefore lamentably afflicted for them he came down and never rested but underwent all travell hardnesse and death that he might exalt them and bring them where himself was to have his everlasting residence in Heaven God under the Law when he saw his Israel scattered in Egypt he rested not till he brought them together and though in the wildernesse yet there he commanded them to make a Tabernacle and after that a large and glorious Temple that he might be with them and injoy as it were their company there together And Christ God in heaven that he might have the company of man he descended from heaven and as though this were too little to have the more full society of man he took his nature and was made man yea so that as it was spoken of Adam to Eve he was so married to mans nature that he might truly say He is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh More yet see Christ in his agony and torture on the Crosse and wanting the company of his Disciples and men believing in him he cries out My God! my God! Mat. 27.46 why hast thou forsaken me and as soon as the the Thief on the one hand was converted and prayed unto him Lord Luk. 23.43 remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdome he was so pleased with this that he readily granted his petition and told him This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise and so gently departed and took his new convert with him to Heaven And it is the opinion of many ancient and learned Fathers that the Saints and holy men which rose out of their graves at the time of our Saviours resurrection that they likewise as pleasing company ascended with Christ into Heaven there to be with him and as of the Chore to sing continuall Allelujahs of glory Glory to the Lamb that was and is and ever shall be S. Hierome cries out O ungrateful man to thy God who ever thou art considerest thou not the wonderful and unspeakable love of him the Lord of heaven to be thus delighted and to do and to suffer so much for thee and thinkest thou thy self best when thou art in the company of the wicked blasphemers murderers adulterers drunkards and profane persons return rather Shunamite return and run to him who is delighted with thee and is thy Saviour CHAP. XVII Charity is most eminent among all the vertues EVery vertue hath its proper opposites as liberality hath covetousnesse and prodigality to encounter whereas Charity is enemy to and opposeth not two or more but all vices And if any particular sin be more opposite to Charity then other it is the enmity to God And it being so that there is no sin that man committeth but more or lesse is tainted with this enmity hereby Charity is become a generall enemy and opposer of all sin When David had wickedly deflowred the wife of his faithfull Souldier Vriah and basely slaughtered the husband here were sins of murder adultery scandall and all these sins and enmities against his neighbour but as though these were nothing in comparison of that one sin and enmity to God Psa◠51.4 he saith Against thee alone O Lord have I sinned But although against this sin principally Charity opposeth her
forces yet no lesse doth she abhor and resist all other sins of the lower rank S. Paul when he saith Charity suffereth long 1 Cor. 13.4 what saith he lesse than that as the impatient man acts against the long suffering Charity so Charity works against all impatience and as Charity that envieth not is assaulted by the envious so Charity fighteth against envy and as Charity that vaunteth not nor is puffed up is opposed by pride so Charity labours to beat down pride And what from S. Paul I have said of those sins mentioned is alike true of those other sins instanced by S. Paul and of all other sins committed in the world And therefore not onely the Apostles but their and our Lord and Master Christ hath taught us this lesson that Charity is the fulfilling of the Law Insomuch as Rom. 13.10 so far as Charity can prevail to the killing of sin Mat. 22.40 which is the transgression of the Law she may well be called the fulfilling of the Law And so high an esteem had our Lord Christ of the great virtue and power which Charity hath in the work of our salvation that when he had largely preached of the whole duty of man and given him many precepts and expositions of the Decalogue necessary to be understood and followed by old and young learned and illiterate for the relief of mans memory and the greater incouragement to his proceeding he summes up all and tells us all the Law and all that God requires of man is nothing else but Charity that is love to God and for his sake love to thy neighbour S. Augustine addeth that as God calls himself Love who is all in all 1 John 4.8 for all things are from him by him and for him so the like in a quailfied and reverend sense we may speak of Love or Charity we say he that hath not houses nor Vineyards nor Lands yet if he hath Money he hath potentially all so may we say of Charity in respect of other graces and endowments of the soul In the place before cited S. Paul speaks that of himself 1 Cor. 13.1 which the best of men may say of themselves with the like truth that could I preach as though I spoke with the tongue of Angels yet this without Charity will make me but like an empty sound of brasse or like the bell in the sleeple that calls others to the Church and so to Heaven while it self hangs without doors Nay do I give all my goods to the poore and my body to martyrdome for the truth and have no charity these will profit me nothing Yea if I understand all the mysteries of God and have all faith saith he and have not Charity observe this he saith not of this last as of the former gifts of preaching martyrdome or goods that these without Charity profit nothing but he saith that although he hath all understanding all knowledge and all saith yet these without Charity make him not onely as a sound or which profiteth nothing but he saith that having these and not having Charity he is plainly nothing nothing as in Gods acceptance and nothing as appertaining to the Kingdome of Heaven The Prophet Isaiah tells the people that God regards not Isa 1. but abhors the sacrifices which he requires of them and that when they lift up their hands to Heaven he will hide his eyes and not see them and when they make many long and loud prayers unto him yet he will not hear them And how or why is God become so averse to his own commands and ordinances the Prophet tells us the cause is want of Charity when he saith Your hands are full of blood your works are full of evill injustice and oppression In a word I see not I hear not saith God but I abhor you and your works because both want Charity Much like this hath the same Prophet Isa 58. taxing the falshood of the Israelites who hypocritically cried out saying Have we not held our Fasts and have we not afflicted our souls yet thou O Lord seest not neither takest thou knowledge of our holy acts To whom the Lord in truth makes answer T is true I neither see nor take knowledge nor pleasure in your sounds and shews of holinesse For in or by these saith God ye exact your labours or things wherewith ye grieve others And ye fast for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickednesse and call ye this your fasting saith God no saith he the fast that I have chosen is to loose the bands of wickednesse to undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every yoak of Taxes Excize and the like these these and not praying preaching fasting with murder robbery and oppression are the works of Charity well pleasing to and required of God Without which no man by his crying Lord Lord Mat. 7.23 shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven CHAP. XVIII Our love to God is to precede all other loves SUch was the exceeding goodnesse of God to his people that he knowing the many delights and enticements of the world the flesh and the Devill to withdraw mans love from his God that he not onely wrote in the heart of man that he was to love his Creator but that he might never forget it he gives him this as a spirituall Law written in the Tables of stone Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart Deut. 6. with all thy soul and with all thy might In which words not onely the precept is exprest to love him but the reason is annexed because he is the Lord of all and thy God in speciall And that thou mayest keep this commandment it shall be in thy heart And because from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh therefore thou shalt talk of it sitting walking lying rising that thy children thereby may learne the same and thou shalt binde it on thine hand and between thine eyes and shalt write it upon the posts of thine house and on thy gates I do not remember that any law or precept was so largely and strongly injoyned as this binding heart tongue eyes and all the faculties of the soul to love God Probably some may demand wherefore the Almighty should so earnestly and desirously require our love before or more then any or all things else that are in mans power In answer whereunto I may say that man hath nothing else to present that is so much his own or that is so much worthy of Gods acceptance nor so easie and beneficiall to himself for man to give as his love And therefore that which is least painfull or chargeable and most easie and beneficiall to the giver man and which withall is most pleasing to the Receiver God God the Receiver in his infinite goodnesse hath required of man the giver onely his love If a man were in danger to lose
Texts may be understood these or such Angels as God had especially appointed as helps for them and yet not that thence it should necessarily and generally follow that every man hath and is to have his particular Angel But in this I will not be peremptory but submit my opinion to the judgment of the better learned and so from the love of God and Angels I will follow mine Author to speak of the love of man to man CHAP. XXI Of the love which man oweth to his neighbour WHen the Pharisee demanded of our Saviour Christ which was the great commandement in the law Jesus said unto him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart Mat. 22.36 c. This is the first and great commandement and the second is like unto it Thou s halt love thy neighbour as thy self on these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets whence it appeareth that the love of our Neighbour is next unto and a declaration of that former of our love to God And that it is so farre necessary that when the Pharisee only asked which was the great commandement Christ not only answered him directly to that but thought it requisite to adde what the hypocriticall Pharisee least cared for to know or practise namely what God had commanded touching his neighbour yea and S. Chrysostome addes that in some respects preachers have more cause to inforce this doctrine of love to our neighbour then that of our love to God for that all things which we see feel have and enjoy prompt and move us to this whereas there are many and severall occasions daily offered through our words bargains transactions and private interest to divert or lessen our love to our neighbour and therefore I shall set you down some reasons moving to and confirming the necessity of this duty And the first shall be that our Saviour Christ gave us this commandement which indeed is in the nature of an inestimable legacy even then when he was to depart this life and to leave the world and we usually say and hold it true that the charge or gift of a dying friend sticks and works most in the heart of the friend living and therefore Christ at the last point as it were before his passion speaks unto his disciples and in them unto us saying My time is short and I finde death approaching Joh. 13.34 before which I have one especiall remembrance to give you that you love one another and that in no ordinary way or according to the course of this world but so to love one another even as I have loved you who conversed with you kindly communicated all to you friendly and have truly laid down my life for you Therefore my last Will and Legacy to you is that as I have loved you that even so yee love one another And to strengthen yea to sweeten this gift of command Christ in the words following gives a good reason for saith he by this kind of love among you as by a cognizance or badge all men shall know that yee are my disciples and I this will prove if not in the eyes and estimation of the world yet I am sure in the hearts of all good men in the esteem of Saints and Angels and in the eyes of my heavenly Father a peece of great honour unto you to be know through your mutuall love to be my disciples The brethren of Joseph fearing that he might call to minde and revenge the injuries done unto him by his brethren Gen. 50.16 they sent a messenger unto Joseph who said unto him Thy Father did command before he dyed forgive I pray thee now the trespasse of thy brethren and their sinne which words of his dying Father when Joseph heard he wept faith the text and spake kindly unto them and not only exprest his love by words and tears but he comfortted and nourished them and their little ones and the like love with Joseph if we have any bowels toward so dear a friend our Lord and Master as Christ was we will shew for his sake who dying commanded us so to love one another as he loved us who gave his life for us And yet lest as Christ foresaw and foretold that in the last days as iniquity should increase so charity would wax cold and thereby both our love to such a dead friend and for his sake to our neighbour would grow faint and dye he therefore gives us a second reason to love our neighbours which with man may happily work more then the former because it contains in it the unspeakable benefit and reward acquired by this love to our neighbour and this benefit is no lesse then the kingdome of heaven with the full fruition of all the unutterable and unconceivable joyes with Christ for ever All which are evidently and expresly promised and annexed to this love for when God in the Law and our Saviour in the Gospel have pronounced life and the kingdome of heaven to those that keep and fulfill the law and their commands the Apostle as the Embassadour of God hath plainly pronounced and proclaimed that love is the fulfilling of all this law Rom. 13.10 indeed our Saviour himself spake no lesse and from it this our Apostle might take his Commission when he said Mat. 22.40 on love depends all the Law and the Prophets Neither doeth the reward of our love to our neighbour terminate and end in this great blessing declared but it works before it comes to that and produceth singular and infinite blessings therefore our Saviour before he commends the keeping of this commandement of love to his disciples Joh. 14.14 he prefaceth what ever yee shall aske of God in my name that will I doe then in the next words he subjoyneth as the means to obtain this wonderfull grant and blessing saying v. 15. this is to be performed if yee love me and keep my commandements that is to love one another And yet as though this were not the halfe of that blessed reward which Christ annexeth to this love he goes on saying it you love v. 16. I will give you the Comforter who may abide with you forever even the spirit of truth intimating hereby and that plainly that as by love we receive the comfort of the holy Spirit and truth so without it neither truth nor comfort will or can dwell or abide with us And which is a third reason to incite and stirre us to this love nature it selfe infuseth this love into the heart of man which in this sympathiseth with the sensitive creatures that all so love and agree together according to their severall kindes that they not only fall not out among themselves to hurt each other but feed nourish flock and herd together helping and defending each other against the assaults and hurts of other enemies to their kind And this reason of love drawn from common reason is and
upon this Christ by way of satisfaction to the Lawyers question demands of the Lawyer whom he took to be neighbour to the wounded Jew whether the Jew who passed by not helping him or the Samaritan who hated the Jew and the Lawyer as convinced in judgement and conscience readily and roundly answered The Samaritan who helped the Jew whom otherwise he hated was neighbour to the Jew and upon that verdict thus given by the Jewish Lawyer Christ inferreth this doctrine by way of exhortation Go and do likewise that is have mercy and love ' thine enemy And what Christ preached here he practised to the full for had Christ any so great enemies unto him as the Jews who notwithstanding all the good works that he did among and for them yet hated and persecuted him to his death and when they cryed loudly to the Judge Crucifie him he more fervently prayes to his Father to forgive them and when they madly wished that his blood might be upon them and their children he mildly pronounced that his blood should be shed for them and their posterity Could there be any greater signs of the Jews enmity to Christ and could there be any greater evidence of Christs love to the Jews and according to his practice he gives his law As I have loved you even so love ye your neighbour though he be your enemy Notwithstanding this so plain and evident truth there have not wanted who have urged reasons against this position as the Rabbies masters or expounders of the Mosaical Law who feign that though the Commandment of loving our neighbour was written by God in the Tables of Stone delivered unto Moses yet it was written in the heart of man to hate his enemy 2. They urge that of our Lord God to Solomon 1 Kings 3.11 saying Because thou hast not asked long life nor riches nor the life of thine enemies I have given thee a wife heart whence they would infer that revenge on our enemies is as justifiably desired as long life 3. They adde that David of whom not onely himself but God pronounced that he had walked according to his Commandments yet David used many and bitter curses and imprecations against his enemies 4. To perswade us that this is natural to man they will tell us that a childe being offended with any will soon be pleased if another will but strike and revenge him upon the person that gave him the offence 5. They urge some passages of ancient Fathers who deem this hate of enemies to have been permitted to the Jews as that of Divorce for the hardness of their hearts To the first argument I may say That such a Tradition as is alleaged by the Rabbies is not to be regarded but to be rejected as frivolous and falfe But if any adde that it should seem by the words of Christ himself that in Moses's time or at least before Christ there was such a Tradition among the the Jews as that it was permitted to them to hate their enemies for Christ saith Ye have heard that it hath been said of old Mat. 5.43 Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemie To this I may answer That the words of Christ It hath been said of old might relate to the perverse interpretation of the Scribes who argued That seeing we are to love our neighbors that is say they our friends therefore we may hate our enemies or because God commanded to make no peace with nor to spare the Canaanites but destroy them therefore we might do the like to all our enemies But to this or that old saying we need say no more then what Christ hath said Ye have heard it said of old V. 44. Thou shalt hate thine enemy but I say unto you Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you But notwithstanding this they urge That by the Law of Moses as much is implyed as the hate of our enemies for it is said Thou shalt not hate thy brother Lev. 19.17 Deut. 15.7 and ver 18. Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people from which Texts and the like they would infer That they may hate and avenge themselves on all but their brethren and the children of their own people which were the Jews onely and therefore all the rest they might hate as their accounted enemies But to this we answer That it is an implication of their own making without ground from the Text which may be proved from other Texts which command the love of our enemy and the Spirit of God doth not cannot command contradictions Now God commands If thou meet thine enemies beast straying Exod. 23.4 Prov. 25.21 thou shalt bring it back to him that is to thine enemy and Solomon which words S. Paul Rom. 12.20 urgerh to our Saviours sense If thine enemy be hungry give him bread to eat and if he be thirsty give him to drink and the Lord will reward thee Here is no sign nor tittle of hate or revenge to our enemy but quite contrary to shew him the fruits of our love in doing him good And if to any the hate of our enemies seem natural I must say It must be to such as are of a perverse corrupted Jewish disposition and not to the nature of a true Christian for can any man conceive that God who is love and is most delighted with mercy and love should infuse into the heart of man created after his own image hatred and revenge and that against his neighbour his brother who likewise bears the image of his Maker who is Love That David used imprecations against many is not to be denyed but denyed it must be that it was against them because simply his enemies but rather against them as Gods enemies not his 2. The imprecations were not against their persons directly as to the destruction of their soul or body but against them as they were sinners 3. It was for the conversion of sinners and that Gods glory might appear either by their conversion or destruction and not to the satisfying his own revenge Observe I pray with me That David in his Psalms is often said to hate but what sin not the man for so Psal 101. v. 3. I hate the work of them that turn aside Psal 119. v. 104. I hate every false way Ver. 113. I hate vain thoughts Ver. 163. I hate lying and if once as Psal 139. v. 21. he be found to hate them the persons yet observe v. 22. he is said to hate them with a perfect hatred which hate can onely be such when it is against that which God hates the sin but not the person of the man which is an imperfect hatred and against charity and such an hatred God abhorreth Hear David speak as to his rebellious Son Absolom his treacherous Cousin Joab and foul-mouth'd Shimei Psal 7.4 5. If I have rewarded evil to mine enemy let him persecute
my soul tread down my life and lay mine honour in the dust And to that of Solomon because God commended and blessed him for not desiring the blood of his enemies from hence to conclude that he might have hated or revenged himself upon his enemies is all one as to say God loves and blesseth the humble the chaste and the sober therefore a man may be proud lascivious a glutton or a drunkard But passing by what is or may be argued in desence of hate or revenge to our enemies it is easie to shew and prove that it is unnatural and against the law of God so to do and that the contrary to love them is not onely commanded and praised as natural but easie to be performed even by the Heathen The royal Prophet David saith Thy law is sweeter and more pleasant to me then honey Psa 19.10 or the honey-comb and our Saviour Christ speaking of his Law which is this to love and not hate our enemies Matth. 11.30 he calls it though a yoke and a burthen yet such as he professeth to be easie and light But we must consider to whom it is such not to the carnal worldling and meer natural man but to his disciple whom he understands to be a new creature born and begotten by the Spirit of grace and then to such a nature it is as natural to love his enemy as it is natural to the other to hate him The reason is for that as the Elements of Earth and Water though of themselves ponderous and heavy yet while they are in their own place they press not nor are burthensom So is the love of an enemy in an heart spiritual And as the armour of Saul before David was exercised in bearing arms was cumbersom unto him but after much use and practise in the war he could wield the great Sword of the Giant Goliah and say as he did to Abimelech There is none like unto that 1 Sam. 21.9 even so fareth it with him who hath practised and exercised himself in this holy duty of loving an enemy which an humble spiritual use and exercise will make not onely tolerable but joyous and delight-full May not this and much more be confirmed by the examples of Joseph who being sold treacherously by his brethren Gen. 45. wept over them feasted them and plentifully provided for them of Moses who being murmured against by his Subjects and grosly slandered by Corah Numb 16. Dathan and Abiram who endevoured to disgrace and dethrone him yet then even then he ceased not to labour with God to preserve them whom otherwise the Lord in his just anger would have consumed of David who not onely would not suffer his Soldiers to knock down that railing Shimei but forgave him and when his unnatural rebellious Son Absolom conspired not only the deposing but the killing him yet he then cryes Spare the life of the yong-man who being slain against his will he with floods of tears bewails his death and as desirous to have saved his life by the loss of his own cryes out Absolom my son my son Absolom 2 Sam. 18. would God I had dyed for thee O Absolom my son my son Now can we conceive that more love then this in Joseph Moses and David to their greatest enemies could have been shewed by any other to their dearest friends So true is this that love of an enemy in a soul purified and exercised with patience proves not onely connatural to it but most easie and delightful Nay further if any shall say these indeed were rare examples of men extraordinarily endowed with heavenly gifts of faith love and patience and to these and such as these it was no hard matter thus to love their enemies To this let me reply and tell you that Heathens who as S. Paul speaks of them know not God yet by the light of reason and by the help of humane patience alone have come near to these most illightned and sanctified men and therefore the art of loving your enemies is not so hard a thing to the naturall man if he would give his minde to it Augustus Caesar that great Conqueror and Commander of the World being in the open streets called Tyrant by an unworthy fellow returned no more then this If I were as thou callest me thon couldst not live to call me so a second time Zino a Conspirator against Julius Caesar was pardoned by him and his estate restored and when he had fallen into the like again yet Caesar again pardoned him saying I will see which of us two shall be soonest weary thou in procuring thy own death or I in pardoning thy life I confess there are ingraffed by God in mans sensitive Soul the concupiscible and irascible faculties the one whereof is soon provoked and the other as soon desires and delights in revenge but on the other side you must know That God hath placed in the reasonable Soul the Understanding and Will so that be thy Passions as wilde horses or curst and cruel as mastiff Dogs yet these two the reasonable Spiritual Soul like the skilful Rider or the Master of the dogs can with the whistle or bridle retrain and keep them in if they will use their own power and authority over them If any ask me May I not sue my neighbour or mine enemy who hath taken or kept away my goods or may I not implead him who hath robbed me of my good name I briefly answer Yes so it be for restitution of the one or reparation of the other and without hate or revenge to his person Nay this thou art bound to do in a triple obligation the one to God for the honour of his Power and Justice in punishing violence and iniquity the second to thy self who art bound to love thy self before thy neighbour the third to thy neighbour be he in this case as in place of an enemy yet thou are bound to sue and implead him that by a moderate and lawful chastisement he may see his faults repent and do no more so and hereby thou shalt in part and as much as in thee is save his soul which is no piece of hate but a great part of love that thou shouldest bear to thy neighbour If it be yet urged that the voyce of the blood of Abel cryeth to God for vengeance Gen. 4.10 and that the Souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held cry with a loud voyce saying How long O Lord holy and true Rev. 6.9 10. dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth The general answer to the cryes of Gods Saints or holy ones living or dead to God for vengeance is That these as holy ones and Saints desire nothing against but according to his will 2. Not so much or not directly to the torture of their persons as to the destruction of their violence rapine and
he tells you no unless he be King over all Israel and when he is so is he yet satisfied He tells you no untill he hath subdued the Rebells and all his enemies and will he be then satisfied He tells you no and in a word he tells you no earthly thing can satisfie nor will his heart ever be content or at rest untill he leave all these and enjoy heaven Heare him speak his own words Ps 16. I have a goodly herilage but the Lord is the portion of my inheritance in whose presince is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore and therefore 73.24 There is none ô Lord upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee And that man may find the right way to this everlasting joy he hath left him no delights here but such as are mingled with vineger and gall and all his pathes his labour and travaile are full of stones and briers CHAP. XXX Temporall and worldly goods deserve not mans love THe ancient Heathen called these temporall goods the goods of fortune and this fortune they portrayed upon a wheele which is made to be in a continuall motion and change others have compared them as mans life so the things of this life to a shadow and this in three respects 1 For the uncertain or small continuance 2 For that these when they are at their full growth or height they vanish and are gone 3 And when all is past if we consider them aright the content or delight in them was really nothing Some upon the words of the Psalmist By the waters of Babylon we sate down and wept have compared these temporall goods and delights to those waters not only for their swift passing away and never returning but for the trouble in procuring and sorrow in losing what we delight in and therefore we may well be said when all is well weighed to hang up our harpes as all the joy we took in them and for all to sit down and weepe while we live in this Babylon of a golden captivity It may be observed that in the genealogie of our Saviour as it is exprest by S. Matthew the first of his progenitors were Abraham Isaac Jacob c. shepheards the second race were Kings David Salomon c. the third were less â—â—â—ill it came to Joseph his supposed Father and 〈◊〉 both poor Jud. 1.7 And if I should tell you of Adonibezâ—k who had 70. Kings gathering their meate under his Table who saith As I have done so God hath requited me of Dionysius the great King of Syracuse who was driven to get his bread by teaching Schoole at Corinth of Bajazet the great Turk who was drawn up and down in an iron cage and served as a block by whose shoulders Tamberlan was to mount his horse or of Bellisarius who after so many great victories and conquests was constrained to beg in the open streets Give an half-penny for Gods sake to poor Bellisarius will not these and ten thousand more the like examples make proof of this that our temporall goods are but of uncertain continuance But say that some be so happy as to enjoy them to their lives end yet longer they cannot but as they came into the world without them so without them they shall go naked and stript of them The Psalmist speaks that which we all know to be most true Though man be made rich and the glory of his house be increased Ps 49.16 17. yet when he dyeth he shall carry nothing away and his glory shall not descend after him what is his conclusion upon all this why sayth he by this we perceive that man that is in honour and understandeth and considereth it not Ps 49.20 is like the Beast that perisheth And what then have we to do but to imitate the woman in the Revelations Re. 12.1 who having a Crown on her head and being clothed with the Sun say these are as honour and wealth yet she hath the Moon the embleme of mutability and change under her feet neglecting temporary things in respect of the Stars and Sun the significators of eternall joy for therewith Goâ— is content and delighteth without any chanâ— or shadow of change his word and motto being I am the Lord Mal. 3.6 I change not Our Saviour Christ speaking of temporall goods called them not helpes Mat. 13.22 joyes or contents but the care indeed the distracting care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches so that if to the uncertainty of our keeping them we add the carefulness in getting the little good they do us with many evils that also necessarily follow them we shall soon conclude that they deserve not our love We read in the Gospel that Christ preaching to the people Luk. 12.15 thought the most proper subject to forewarn them of was the desire of wealth and worldly goods and therefore begins his Sermon in these words Beware of covetousness And to give strength and reason to this admonition he tells them of a rich man who having gained and purchased so plentifully that he wanted room wherein to lay his wealth he resolves to pull down the lesser and to build greater barnes and storehouses and this done he sets up his rest saying Soul thou hast much goods layed up for many years well and what means he to do with all Intends he them to pious and charitable uses whereby God may be glorified and the poor relieved no such maatter these never came into his thoughts but in stead thereof he sayth he will take his ease he will eate drink and be merry This is his saying but what sayth God to this Thou fool this night thy Soul shall be required of thee and then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided And here appeares that deceitfulness of riches which Christ spoke of 1 That man thinks himself 〈◊〉 in carefully gathering whereas in this he 〈◊〉 deceived for for this Christ called him 〈◊〉 2 He intended these goods to have been his solace and comfort for many years but in this he is deceived too for Christ tells him he shall not injoy them one night 3 After his death perhaps he had bequeathed them as rich men do to their children allies or friends but in this also he may be deceived for not only David said Ps 39.6 He heapeth up riches but knows not who shall injoy them but Christ sayth he knew not to whom they should come or not whose they should be to continue with him David and Christ have confirmed this truth and the best Lawyer cannot contradict it To this deceitfulness of riches touched by our Saviour 1 Tim. 6.9 S. Paul adds that they not only deceive us in our thoughts and intentions but that they pierce our Souls through with many sorrowes There is a comet called the foolish fire which appearing in the night like a burning taper leads men out of their right
us and to be imitated rather then to tread in the steps of Tamar the harlot or the strumpet in the Proverbs Prov 7 4. Read and consider what Esther speaks and did when she resorted to the Lord God to put up her prayers to him and to receive his gratious answer where you shall find that she did not then as our women now do deck or trim her self as though she were going to the King or to allure him but the text saith when she resorted unto the Lord Esther 14 2. she put away her glorious apparell and put on the garments of anguish and mourning and in stead of pretious ornaments she covered her bead with ashes a sign of humiliation with the Jews and she humbled not prided or trimmed her self greatly and thus attired the text saith she began to pray unto the Lord God and toward he close of her prayer she saith Thou knowest ô Lord that I abhor the sign of my high estate or pride as a menstruous ragg And this was a woman whom God raised and used as an instrumentall means of the Jews deliverance from their utter destruction intended them by that blood-sucking Haman the Agagite But may some say If this be a sin how comes it to pass that it is become so generall and common this comes to pass 1 because the sensitive part or soul in man hath got the mastery over his reasonable part 2 Because we look not up and set our affections on heaven as we ought but we mind most the vanities below 3. We living betwixt heaven and hell draw most to that which is neerest us which is not heaven but hell 4 A strumpet told Socrates that she drew more after her with her apparell and wantonness then he did with his wise precepts and eloquence to which Socrates as granting the thing and giving a reason for it saith Thou leadest them down the hill and the descent is easie to sin and hell but I draw them up and this is hard and therefore few follow me And a 5th reason is because we put the day of account and the evil day of death and judgement far from us and this may be the cause why the younger sort are more addicted to this sinfull vanity then the Elder although many old ones offend herein Ezek. 12 27. as though they were younger for when the Prophet threatens the Israelites with speedy destruction uless they repent then they answer the days are prolonged and the times are far off and such or worse though Christians S. Peter had to do with who scoffingly said 2 Pet. 3 4. Where is the promise of Christs comming to judgement for all things continue as they were from the beginning v 11 But these the Prophet answers Thus saith the Lord God There shall none of my words be prolonged any more and so S. Peter doth answer these Know that the day of the Lord will come as a theef in the night V. 10. therefore what manner of persons saith he ought ye to be in all holy conversation looking for and hasting unto the comming of the day of God And yet think not that all will be well with you till then remember that when the Israelites had dedicated their jewels to the dressing up their calf god Exod. 32 25. that Aaron made them and so shewed them naked to their shame and this God haâ—â— done to many in our days and to our knowledge and why fear we not the like may befall us remember what follows that apparell decking and trimming of the Israelites in stead of sweets there shall be a stink in stead of well-set hair baldness and burning in stead of beauty But if all this seems but spoken in a parable then hear God by his Prophet speaking plain and home zeph 182 I will visit and punish all such none excepted as are clothed with strange apparell and I think none can be so frontless as to deny that our land yearly is full of new and strange apparell and that worn mostly by such as the Prophet speaks of Hab. â— 19 They are idols not men or women which are covered with gold and silver for there is no breath of life in them or there is not that life in the soul which God breathed into them for they are as Christ compared the Pharisees Mat. 83. like Sepulchres or coffins which oft times have a rich herse-cloth or goodly ornaments set upon them whereas within them so in the gloriously apparelled bodies of these living men there is little more then rottenness diseases and filthyness Not withstanding all this the Preacher now may say as the others did Ecclus 10.15 There is an evill and an error which I have seen which proceedeth from the Rulers folly is set in great height and I have seen servants upon horses Prov. 19. â—0 that is as Salomon expresseth it in his Proverbs Servants in royall robes ruling and reigning over Princes Prov. 10. â—2 while the Princes meanly attired walk as servants upon the earth This the Preacher hath seen and he calls it both an error and an evill and is it not an error and an evill to see trades-mens wives decked and mincing like the women in the Prophet Isaiah Is 3. and Ladies or gentlewomen in their apparell to exceed Queen Esther Lay the words to heart which the Lord God hath spoken by his Prophet Zep. 1.3 and in anger I will visit and punish all such as are clothed with strange apparell CHAP. XXXVII Of Favourites to Princes and People and of Generals and Conquerors in war MAny towring and ambitious Spirits have made it the end of their study and endeavour to become the favourites of Princes or People in authority or to be Generals and Conquerors in war that thereby they might attain to power honour and wealth though the success hath seldome answered their expectations but have been rewarded according to their just merit with dishonouoable and shamefull ends In holy writ we read but of two eminent favourites Joseph in AEgypt and Haman in Persia of whom we find that as the first came to that height by his piety to God fidelity to the Prince and an honest care for the publick so he continued that place of trust and honour to his dying day which was for eighty years and as his death was lamented generally by all so he was as honorably interred whereas Haman through his power and greatness of favour growing proud bloody and destructive climbs the gallows which he had prepared for innocent Mordecai In the first time of the Roman Emperors few were there of them but had their favourites who they for the most part gained their places by ill means and held them by worse as by injustice rapine and blood so few of them but came to ends well suiting with their rise and actions Seiavus favourite to Tiberius declared by that Emperor his collegue and companion of his
that all things considered as premised I would not wish the man to marry that woman that is confident of her wit beauty or birth nor the woman to match with him that presumes on his wisdome honour or power for where these are overvalued in either man or woman each is apt to undervalue the other to contempt or discontent In a word the durable contractor in marriage is the harmonious consent of soul manners and love and this will make and continue the mariage happy always provided that as in purchasing land or lending your money you look well to get good security and the best is the honesty of the person with whom we deal and good sureties that will see all performed as it is agreed Now the first part of this security in marriage is the grace and virtue of the espoused man or woman of which the wise Salomon speaks Prov. 18.22 He that findeth a good wise findeth a good thing which good thing is her inward goodness and this as in the words following is the favour of the Lord. And of all the virtues in a woman most to be desired Prov. 19.14 prudence and discretion are the chief for this will keepe her chast and modest this will teach her reverence to her husband and to give every one their due both within and without dores And this prudence saith the wise man here is the gift of the Lord. therefore let the wise sell all as the Merchant in the Gospel to purchase this pearle For without this jewell wealth beauty and such like are as I before cited but as a ring of gold in a Swines snout The other part of the security for a good wife or husband rests on the Surety and this is he that is the only best match-maker God the Lord. Therefore be sure before and at the consummating the mariage to invite and get Christ as he was at Cana to the wedding and then be as sure that if all the vessels be filled up to the brimme with water which in Scripture signifies afflictiton and sorrow yet this guest Christ will miraculously turn them all into wine that makes the heart merry which is consolation Which great change is instrumentally wrought by that great Mystery Ephes 5. v. 31. as S. Paul calls it where the conjunction is such that t is said the man shall be joyned the Greek is as much as he shall be glewed to her so that they two shall be as it were made into or be but one flesh and this is a great mystery or secret that as Christ and his Church so man and his wife shall of two be made one The Philosophers went further in their expressions when they said man and wife are not only one flesh 1 Cor. 7.4 so that each hath power over the others body but that they are but as one soul and but one fortune common to them both one fortune in good and bad insomuch that the Civill law holds that if the husband prove bankrupt and be cast into prison the wife may be sold if she be worth it to pay and release her husband and as it was in the primitive Christian Church Acts â— so here especially between husband and wife all things are to be common and this is partly signified on the mans part who is the chief proprietor when in our leiturgie the husband tells her with all my worldly goods I thee endow where we must note that although the Apostle and our Church speake it only of the man that he shall be so joyned to the woman and he shall endow her with all yet this is as truly and more necessarily intended to be true of the woman who is as it were a subject to her Lord her husband But expresly charged on the husband to take away all scruple from Jew and Gentile who gave themselves a greater liberty and indulgence herein then Christ doth But yet the greatest spirituall mystery in this mariage is that between the man and his wife who shall be but one soul that is though two in substance to animate two bodies yet but one in affection and desire or but one to desire and dislike to will and to nill the same things so that what the Holy Ghost spoke and made good of the Apostles Acts. 2. Râ—m 12. v. 10.15 16. that they were of one minde and what the Apostle commands Christians to be kindly affectionate one to the other in love and to rejoyce and weepe together and to be of one minde each to other this and more if more can be is here required in this conjunction and mutuall love betwixt man and wife and this completes the great mystery spoken of S. Paul in marriage which mystery though it held good and true from the beginning of the creation in the law and gospel and so is to continue as long as there shall be man and wife on earth yet as at the beginning that Envious one so he is called in the Gospel the Devil seduced our firsts parents so soon after the Sun-shine of the Gospel and to this day afresh he works both on man and wife infusing into them foul and dangerous doctrines which S. Paul therefore called doctrines of Devils For in the Apostles times be taught Simon Magus Acts 10. and in and by him he taught all Simons scholars therefore called Simoniani that women may be used promiscuously and without difference or respect had to Gods precept relating to man and wife after which filthy sect succeeded the Saturninians followers of Saturninus who profest and practised the like then followed the Nicolaitans Rev. 2. who used each others wife in commune then came the Gnosticks living among and glanced at by the Apostles after these the Adamites who both male and female read prayed and administred the Sacraments all naked Soon after the Apostolicks called by themselves Eucratites or Abstinents who admitted none into their assemblies who had wives After these were the Manichees called also Catharists the Eunomians Priscillianists Jovinianists and the Paternians who holding that the lower parts of man and woman were â—â—de by the Devil indulged to themselves all licence of uncleanness in those parts These and some more though professors of Christ grosly and filthily erred either in the prohibition of marriage or in the allowance of a beastly usage or gross community of women wives or single persons insomuch that I cannot say that there have been so many severall sects or heresies since the Apostles times erring so grosly about any one subject as these named about marriage and fleshliness such and so great a power the Devil hath over man tempting him in his weakest and most sensuall part of the flesh which in the most is so predominant that some Divines think that this was that which S. Paul meant by the thorn in the flesh and for that cause he bewayled his estate in those words Wretched man that I am 2 Cor. 12.7 who
shall deliver me from this body of sin or sin say some in the body About the year 1533 arose in Germany one John Becold better known by the name of John of Leyden a tayler but a pestilent Anabaptist who bewitched the people by bis false visions dreams and prophesies to follow him He taught and caused the Ministers publikely and commonly to preach it that a man is not bound to one wife but that he may have as many as be desired and he swore by the holy Bible that this doctrin was revealed to him from heaven He and his disciples being asked how they could defend so foul and gross a tenet answered 1 That Christians must give up what they loved best which women held to be their bodies 2 That for Christs sake they are to undergoe any infamy 3 That Publicans and harlots shall enter into the kingdome of heaven 4. Which was the opinion and argument of the Câ—pocâ—atian hereticks that as all Christians should be as one spirit so they ought to be as one body each to other And this lying with others besides their wives to colour the sin they called spirituall mariages as though there could be any thing spirituall in this so foul corporall beastliness The ground of these most wicked doctrines in many of these recited hereticks was and is that most wicked tenet now defended by the Antinomians 1 Tim. 1.9 and Adamiticall Ranters so called of our times viz. Be or beleeve in Christ and sin if you can for being and beleeving in Christ justifieth and to or against the Just there is no law I might tell you that such doctrines and such doings cannot be the fruits of faith or justification and therefore they neither rightly beleeving nor being truly justified are condemned by the sentence of Gods word Exo. 20.14 which saith thou shalt not commit adultery and no unclean person shall inherite the Kingdome of heaven Eph. 5.5 But recitare as S. Hierom speaks est consutare to rehearse these damnable doctrines is to condemn them in the judgement of all good Christians I leave them therefore and shall touch upon the duties of man and wife each to other and in this I shall follow the Apostles S. Paul and S. Peters method who both begin with the duties of wives as though these should provoke the husband to his or as though the wife could not so justly expect the husbands duty which is love unless she first performe hers which is subjection And I find the Apostles insisting urging and inculcating this lesson wives obey 1 Cor. 14 34. Eph. 5 24. Col. 3.18 1 Pet. 3.5 wives reverence wives sear wives submit and wives be subject to your husbands Yea it was Gods sentence from the beginning and given to all women even to the greatest and to the best Thy desire shall be subject to thy husband Gen. 3.16 and he shall rule over thee And where God commands there should be no dispute but simple obedience And yet God considering womans backwardness to this duty is content to subject his command to reason and therefore by his Apostle S. Paul he gives one reason for this subjection of the wife when he saith Adam was not deceived but the woman 1 Tim. 2.14 and therefore fit it is she should be subject to the guidance of her head the wiser a second reason may be collected from S. Paul 1 Cor. 11.9 v. 10. that the man was not made for the woman but the woman was made for the man and for this cause the woman ought to be covered which was a sign of subjection A third reason is given by the same Apostle Ephes 5. Ephes 5 21 22. where having given the precept Wives submit your selves to your own husbands as unto the Lord for saith he the husband it the head of the wise even as Christ is the head of the Church S. Paul commands wives not only to submit and be subject but he saith the wise must reverence the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there implyes a reverence proceeding from fear v. 33 yet no servile base fear but a loving or a fear to give him offence because she loves him as she is commanded Tit. 2.4 And this kind of reverence fear or subjection arising from and coupled with the mutuall love of the husband to the wife and the wife to the husband makes it such a subjection as S. Paul speakes of though in another case 2 Cor. 3.17 saith where that the Spirit of the Lord is I say where love in the Lord is there is Liberty And such as Christ speaks when he saith Mat. 11.30 my yoke I may say the wives yoke thus fastned is easie and the burden she beares by such her subjection is light for love makes all easie and light And yet that wives may not grumble or dispute against their subjection as too unjust servile or hard let them know that their subjection to their husbands is but as to the Lord Eph. 5.22 which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to the Lord means not that the wife must be a subject to her husband as to the Lord God but it teacheth that she is to be subject to her husband according to the Lords command Gen. 3.16 or according to and so far as the husband shall command agreeable to and not repugnant to the word and will of the Lord. For if the husband usurpe a power or command contrary to the Lords word Act. 5.29 the wives answer and obedience is that of S. Peter We ought to obey God rather then men And a subjection to the husband if such as God commands or such as is suitable to the will of the Lord should be willingly entertained and imbraced by every good woman who desires to be a wife and yet to make this subjection more readily to be imbraced let the wives know that the words which the Apostles use when they call for this submission or subjection in wives signifies to be under their husbands will and power according to just and comely order and not simply to the husbands unlawfull or unlimited will which orderly subjection of the wife according to order is that Politicall or Oeconomicall disposure by which the wife according to Gods ordinance and appointment is to be inferior or under her husband so that he as the head is to rule and she as the body is to obey her husband And that wives erre not or come not short in the performance of this duty the Apostle hath been very carefull to set down the qualifications and necessary concomitants of this subjection when he bids the woman submit Eph. 5.22 which teacheth her it should be spontaneous and voluntary and not a forced subjection 2. That it must not be a carnall worldly but an holy submission for as to or as in the Lord. 3. It must not be a partiall lame subjection in some things which the wife likes and
not in others which pleaseth her not but it must be perfect and totall in all the husbands just and lawfull requirings therefore v. 24. as the Church is subject to Christ so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing 4. It must not be a false eye-pleasing or counterfeit subjection before her husbands face only or in his hearing but as that of Sarah who called him her Lord 1 Pet. 3.6 and that as it is exprest to testifie her sincere and hearty subjection it is said Gen. 18.12 within her self or to her self in her heart she calls him Lord. And all this ought to be as fully performed by every wife as it is clearly exprest by the Apostle for it is not only the Apostle but the Lord that commands this subjection and obedience and therefore not the husband only but the Lord God is disobeyed when the wife submits not in all as required and exprest to her own husband I may I must adde that when S. Paul commands wives to submit to their husbands Eph. 5.22 as to the Lord it implies that by this submission with love fear reverence and obedience she should confide in depend and rely on him and on no other earthly creature before or comparatively to him for he is her head And certainly when all this is required by S. Paul 1 Cor. 7. â—3 â— Pet. 3.1 and by S. Peter of evill and unbeleeving wives much more ought the Christian good wives yeeld to this doctrine and be subject to their husbands and this as in Gods most holy word so in our sacred Leiturgie is required of the wife that as the husband must love comfort and give honour to his wife so she must love honour I and which is no where required of the husband she must serve and obey him And yet lest any husband should force the words too far he must remember that though the wife must be as the vine on the side and not on the top of the house so she must not be set in the Cellar or Cole-hole this is not her seat but on the side of the house And as she was not taken out of the head of man to rule or to be a ruler so she was not made out of the foot to be scorned abased or to be trod upon but out of the side as to be cherished and made much of as being in domesticall affairs in the Kitchen Parlor and bed-chamber coequall as taken out of the side of her husband and set with him on the side of the house S. Paul gives some additionall qualities requisite in a wife Tit. 2. as that she must be chast purely chast the word implies so much and that she must be devout holy and not phantastick or humorous in her habite or dress of attire Beauty in wives oft-times is a great enemy to those two and therefore though beauty be not to be despised or neglected being it is the gift of God so great care is to be had that this beauty prevail not over or against their pure chastity and decently holy attire for beauty oft-times and in too many begetteth pride pride costly dresses costly dresses gadding to be seen not at home to please the husband so much as to be seen abroad and this gadding is oft-times the mother of temptation temptation of being seduced to evill and lust for as many beasts are hunted taken and destroyed for their fair skins so it fareth with women Bathsheba's words to her Salomon are worth the fair womans remembrance and consideration Prov. 31 30. Favour is deceitfull and beauty is vain but the woman that feareth the Lord shall be praised let the fear of the Lord be in her esteem her chief beauty and then the beauty of her body shall not suffer prejudice but be as a gracefull outward ornament according to our proverbiall word gratior est virtus veniens è corpore pulchro more amiable is virtue which proceeds from a fair body and this may serve as a watch and guard over the wives beauty And for her habit and attire 1 Pet. 3.3 S. Peter gives good instructions and saving caveats when he saith Let not her adorning be that outward plaiting the hair and wearing of gold and pulting on costly apparell in which precept the Apostle simply condemnes not the wearing of costly rich apparell or the most comely dressing but the excesse herein which discovers the vanity and disease of a soul distempered with pride profusions superfluity inconstancy the too too much redundant and luxuriant humours to call them no worse which abound in women and the old adage hath a good reason in it ex veste hominem by a mans or womans attire or dressing you may give a great guesse what their soul is I would all great as good women Esther 14.16 would remember the words of Esther Lord thou knowest my necessity that I am to goe so richly attired for I abhor the sign of my high estate wherein I shew my self before the King and that I abhor it as a menstruous rag And if any tell me that such attire and dressings are not in themselves simply evill but things indifferent I must tell them that though the dressing and attire be such yet such attire and dressing mostly proceeds from a mind tainted with pride excesse affectation or desire to satisfie lust and these are not things indifferent but evill and such as the root is such will the fruit be and if the root be only fit for hell fire I know not how such fruit should reach or carry the body up to heaven S. Peter therefore having taxed the excesse in outward apparell he proceeds to teach women wherein their comely dressing should consist 1 Pet. 3. â— 3 4. which saith he should be inward in the adorning the hidden man of the heart for wise Cato hath told us long since that they who spend too much cost or time in adorning the body generally neglect the adorning of the soul the ornaments whereof S. Peter in the same place tells women should be of a meek and quiet spirit and this saith the Apostle is of great price in the sight of God and closely he implies the reason hereof when he addes that this ornament of the soul is not not like the beauty of a flower or a beasts skin which soon fadeth or is destroyed but it is saith he incorruptible it cannot be spoiled or vanish but will remain in esteem and honour with God and man for ever And S. Paul as he gives counsell to women from the same spirit so t is very near unto S. Peter in the expression of it when he saith 1 Tiâ— 2.9 v. 10. women must adorn themselves in modest apparell with shamefastnesse and sobriety not with plaited hair or gold or pearles or costly array but that which becometh women professing godlinesse with good works I must not say that here the Apostle forbids the
calling which is agreeable to the first foundation and building up of the world Where at first no sooner was the stage of the world reared but that our first father Adam was set to acting that is to speak plainly Adam was set to dress the garden and not only the children of Adam who were heires of the world spent their time in tilling and sowing the earth or in keeping and feeding sheep but the Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob though Lords of great possessions and masters of many servants and powerfull to fight with and conquer Kings yet these witness the holy writ lived not as our Gentlemen do but as the Apostle counsells and commands us they lived and exercised themselves in honest callings for they knew that as of idleness comes no goodness so he that lives idly to eate drink and play must be sure as the Apostle speaks that the judgement of God is according to truth Row 2.2.5 against them which commit such things and therefore that they do hereby treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and the just judgement of God who will render to every man according to his deeds The Greeks as I am taught have a word which signifies to play the Stork whereby they understand that the love of parents to their children should beget in children a reddition and retribution of their duty to their Parents for it is storied of the Stork that as the old one hath been loving and tender to feed defend and cherish their young so the young will feed defend and carry the old when it is unable to help it self Now Christ himself Mat. 6.26 though in another case bids us behold the fowles of the aire and accordingly the Spirit of God by his pen-men grounds instructions to children in their duty to parents as S. Paul doth when he saith Children obey your Parents in the Lord Ephes 6.1 2. for this is right and again Honour thy father and mother which is the first commandement with promise and he adds a reason to his counsell on the childs behalf That it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long and happy on the earth The Parents of Tobiah called their son implying what children should be to their parents the light of their eyes to guide and direct them Tob. 5.17.10.5 and the staff of their hand in going in and out to defend them and we have a story of a godly Christian Daughter to this purpose who in part rob'd her child that with the milk of her breasts she might nourish her father imprisoned and almost sterved by the merciless Tyrant Nor doth the Childs duty here end Eph. 6.1 but goes on to what S. Paul taught that children must obey their parents in the Lord that is in all just and lawfull things what ever they command so it be not repugnant to the word or law of the Lord which the same Apostle in an other Epistle commands saying Col. 3.20 Children obey your parents in all things that is as before in the Lord for this is well pleasing to the Lord for obeying them in all things in the Lord in so doing the children obey the Lord which commands this obedience And what the sin or punishment of disobedience is Prov. 30 17. the wise man in part hath told us when he saith The eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to obey his mother the ravens those birds which of all others are least regarded as I told you by the old ones shall pick out and the Eagles shall devour them but the Apostle saying Obey and honour thy father and mother that thy days may be long and happy on earth implies no less then that he who doth not obey and honour them shall have but few or evill days while they live here besides the evill which shall follow after Our blessed Saviour hath pronounced the same plainly and fully saying God commanded Mat. 15.4 Honour thy father and mother and he that doth contrary let him die the death Prov 30.11 And yet such ungodly children have been found of whom the wiseman speaks there is a generation that curseth their father and such saith the Prophet are those who dishonour their parents Mie 7.6 and such was the accursed Cham Ge. 9.22 who proclaimed the nakedness of his father yea monsters of men have there been whom I am ashamed to name Nero who in an inhuman manner ripped up that womb of his mother where himself lay but I will tell you of the sons of Sâ—nacherth 2 King 15.37 who fearing that their father would kill them in hope to prosper thereby as Abraham did in sacrificing his son slew their father Against which sin of paricide or killing parents the wise law-giver Solon provided no law because he thought no man could be so desperately wicked as to kill and destroy him that under God gave him life yet the Romans in detestation of this so unnaturall a sin decreed a death unheard of untill their times which was that such a parent-slayer should be closed up in a leathern sachell together with a viper art ape and a cock and so to be cast into the river to be gnawed upon to be drowned and to be sterved to death When God promised Abraham to be his exceeding great reward he replyed to Godand said Lord God wherein wilt thou reward me or what wilt thou give me seeing I am childless wherein he implyed all temporall goods and blessings were as nothing to him without an heire and then the word of the Lord came unto him saying thou shalt have an heire come forth of thine own bowells Hezekiah likewise when the Prophet told him he should dye wept that he should dye childless And barrenness or want of children is in holy writ often called a reproach yea and pronounced by God as a punishment but on the contrary a great blessing to have children Insomuch that David repining as it were at the prosperity of the wicked he reckons this as one of their greatest Psal 17 24. That they are full of children and that they leave their substance to their babes and in another psalme Ps 115.14 God will bless them that fear him and will increase them more and more them and their children and again Loe children are an heritage of the Lord Ps 127.3.5 and the fruit of the womb is his reward for they are as arrowes in the band of a mighty man and therefore happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them for they shall be able to speak with their enemies in the gate that is in the gate where the Judges sate where their children shall stand up to plead for their father and in the field they shall be as arrowes to defend him against his enemies It is storied that when Croesus was ready to be slain that his son who till that time was dumbe and never could