I hate the worke of them that fall away or turne aside it shall not cleave to me BEcause such as set wicked things before their eyes commonly turn aside after their owne inventions and desires therefore our Prophet having in the former part of this verse promised not to set any wicked thing before his eyes here hee professeth to hate the worke of them that turne aside or fall away I hate It is but Stoicisme and vanity to think that all passions either may be or should be utterly rooted out of the soule They cannot beeing as naturall to the soules sensitive power as the will and unsterstanding are to the reasonable they should not in that Saint Paul censures it as a fault to be without naturall affection in that being qualified and corrected by reason they become usefull for the executing of that which reason directs they are good servans being kept under but bad commanders having gotten the mastery and lastly in that they are found even in the glorified Saints in the blessed Angels in Man before his fall in Christ as Man and are in holy Scriptures attributed to God himself It is a good conclusion of Thomas Animae paessiones malae moraliter dicendâ— non sunt sed quae contra praeter rationis iudicium sunt The passions of the mind are not to bee tearmed morally evill but in that they are either against or beside the dictate of reason And of Augustine before him Interest qualis sit volunt as hominis quiâ— siperversa est perversos habebit hos motus si autem recta est non soluminculpabiles sed etiam laudabiles erunt It availes not a little how the will of man stands affected which if it be perverse these affections will likewise bee irregular but if it bee straight they will not onely bee without fault but deserve commendation The â—ost universall the most operative and the most durable passions of the soule are Love and Haâ—red they spread farthest they pearce deepest they last longest Now as all the other passions flowe from love as their fountain so doth hatred too It may seem a strange assertion yet is it certainely a true one Cum nihil odiâ— habeatur nisi quod adversatur bono convenienti quod amatur omne odium ex amore nasci necesse est since we hate nothing but what is contrary to the good wee love it cannot bee but hatred must spring out of love Fear ariseth from some danger apprehended of losing the thing wee love grief from the sense of the loss of that wee love and hatred from the impatience of opposition against that wee love so that the more our love is the more is our fear to lose that wee love the more our griefe if wee lose it and the more our hatred to that which opposeth against it Since then our Prophets affection was such towards God that his soule thirsted for him as a dry land where no water is that his heart panted after him as the Hart brayeth after the water-brooks that his favour was better to him than life it selfe and his words sweeter than hony more pretious than thousands of gold and silver it cannot bee but his hatred should answer in proportion to that which is opposite to Gods law derogatory to his glory No mervail then that hee not only mislikes or dis-affects or approoves not but detests abhorres hates the work of them that fall away An hatred there is of malice and an hatred of zeal the one profane carnal the other holy and divine the one as a stinking and poysonsome weed shoots up every where through the field of the world the other as a pretious herbe or rare outlandish flowre comes up thinne and that but in a few mens gardens neither prospers it long without much tending and cherishing The one is sowen in our hearts by that envious man who hates the light because his deeds are evil the other planted by that good Spirit who hates all the workers of iniquity Psal. 5. 5. Of it speaks our Saviour The world hates mee because I testifie of it that the works thereof are evill And our Psalmist the type of our Saviour They that hate mee without a cause are more in number than the hairs of my head To hate those that hate us is heathenish to hate those that are harmelesse and innocent is brutish but to hate those that love us and seek our good by telling us the truth that is divelish Am I therefore your enemy because I tell you the truth saith S. Paul to the Galathians And Ahab to Eliah Hast thou found mee O mine enimy Yet this enemy of his it was that brought him at last to an outward and seeming repentance at least and consequently to the turning away of Gods wrath in his daies This kinde of hatred is one of those three bad daughters born of three good mothers Contempt beeing commonly the birth of Familiarity Idleness of Peace and Hatred of Truth But this is not of kin to the hatred our Prophet heer speaks of So far was he from hatred of the truth that I think hee loved and honoured the Propher Nathan the better while he lived for telling him the truth when others flattered him Once I am sure that afterwards he gave him free accesse into his bed-chamber and named him a Commissioner for the declaring of his Successor but the hatred here spoken of is of vice and superstition arising froÌ„ the love of truth and vertue without which hee that is hottest in matters of religion can bee but luke-warme and hee that walkes most upright must needs halt between two opinions This hatred then as it is commended in private men so is it necessary in Magistrate just anger being the whetstone of courage and this hatred of justice which as one truly sayes delights not so much to see men severely punished as justice duely executed that is hates the worke but loves the person therefore saith our Propher I hate the worke of them that turne aside not the persons but the work that is the object of his hatred and the second thing I am to speake of The worke As wee are not to love the vice for the mans sake so neither are wee to hate the man for the vice It is proper to God alone who as Creator hath ius vitae necis an absolute dominion over all his creatures disposing of them at his pleasure to affect or reject to love or hate them as he will his will beeing indeed the measure of right and the rule of justice Vnto Cain and his offering hee had no respect Gen. 4. 5. First hee had no respect to Caine his person and then to his work his offering and yet hee did him no wrong Iacob have I loved but Esau have I hated and the Apostle addes the children beeing yet unborne neither having done any good or evill What shall wee say then Is there unrighteousnesse with God God
of them that reproach him fall upon us It argued a righteous soule in Lot to be vexed or as the Originall hath it to be tortured or racked not so much with the opposit on as the uncleane conuersation of the Sodomites and it argueth in a Chrihian man the renewing of the image of God stampt upon him in his Creation and in a Christian Magistrat the acknowledgement of his Lieutenantship to be held from God when he shewes himselfe as forward to make lawes and draw his sword for the punishing of sacrilege as theft blasphemy as murder idolatry as treason atheism as rebellion finally when by his actions it appears that he is as zealous and carefull of the honour and service of God as of his owne either gain or glory How many have vainely spilt their blood for the defence of their mistresses beauty or their owne imaginary reputation which had they done in defence of God and religion against atheisme idolatry or blasphemy they had undoubtedly purchased both the renown and reward of Martyrdom Now as our Prophet professeth to hate the work of al those that set themselves against God and godliness so of those most specially who turn aside froÌ„ the right path in which they have somtime trode or fall away from that truth which they have formerly professed It is true that where true justifying and sanctifying grace is once throughly seated and settled in the hart it can never utterly be rooted out the degrees and measure of it may be impaired and abated but the habit cannot bee exâ—inguisht the sense and feeling of it may be interrupted but the essence being cannot be abolisht the act and exercise of it may be for a time suspended but the character remains indeleble which being once imprinted upon the soule can never afterward bee blotted out or wiped away inasmuch as Christ whom hee loves hee loves to the end Iohn 13. 1. his gifts calling being without repentance Râ— 11. 29. So then this we must hold for a sure ground Stella cadens non est stella cometa fuit A starre that falls was never indeed a star it was but a blazing Meteor There may be an outward profession of doctrine and participation of the sacraments nay more than so in regard of the understanding an inward inlightning in som measure and a taste of the powers of the world to come in regard of the affections Heb. 6 yet all this but a counterfeit blaze No marvell then if such not onely turne but turne aside not onely fall but fall away They go out from us because though for a time they were among us yet indeed and in truth they were never of us 1. Iohn 2. 19 but it had been better for them not to have knowne the way of righteousnes than after they have knowne it to turne from the holy commandement delivered unto them 2. Pet. 2. 21. And better had it beene for the Church never to have brought forth or brought up such grace-lesse children These then it is that David as a Prophet must hate and as a Prince must punish as beeing most injurious to the truth most scandalous to the Church most dangerous to the State and most odious to God but above all he must take heed that they proove not infectious to himself Shall not cleave to mee No work of them that fall away but chiefly their worke of Apostaâ—ie and falling away That shall not cleave to mee As likenes is the cause of love and That of union so dissimilitude is the cause of hatred and That again of seperation That which wee hate we suffer not to come or at least not to abide neer us but either wee remove it from us or our selves from it nothing beeing more hatefull in it self and in the sight of God and good men than to entertain and imbrace that in our selves which wee professe wee hate in others David then having professed that hee hates the work of them that turne aside hee could do no less than promise it should not cleave to him Were their arguments never so plausible their power or number never so great their neernesse by friendship or kinred never so inward though Israel play the harlot yet let not Iudah offend though Saul turn aside and fall away yet that is no warrant for David nay rather let Sauls falling away serve to warn David The one fell away and lost his Kingdome by it but the other would not fall away though it were to the gaining of a Kingdom nay all the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them they beeing temporall but the sting which followes upon this defection and finall apostasie eternall Witnes that desperate voice of cursed Iulian who sprinkling his blood in the air cryed out Vicisti Galilaee vicisti O Galilean thou hast overcom Now the way to keepe us that this damnable work of apostasie cleave not to us is to keepe us from cleaving to the Apostates themselves or suffering them to adhere or cleave to us and withall to cleave fast to God This was Davids practice For the first Their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer nor take up their names within my lips Psalme 16. 4. So far was hee from cleaving to them or suffering them to cleave to him And for the second It is good for mee to hould fast by God Psal. 73. 27. And againe I have stuck to thy testimonies O Lord put mee not to shame Psal. 119. 31. This his utter disclaiming of the one and sticking close to the other was it that made him so bold in another Psal. Mine heart is fixed O God mine heart is fixed 57. 7 and so confident heer It shall not cleave to mee I conclude with the exhortation of the Apostle Saint Paul Take heed brethren lest at any time there bee in any of you an evill heart and unfaithfull to depart away from the living God Heb. 3. 12. And with the praier of S. Iâ—â—de verse 23. 24 Now unto him that is able to keep you that ye fall not and to present you faultlesse before tâ—e presence of his glory with ioy that is to God onely wise our Saviour bee glory and maiesty and dâ—minion and power both now and for ever Verse 4. The froward heart shall depart from me I will know none evill or I will not knowe a wicked person HEe had promised in the second verse to walk with a perfect hart and heer he promiseth A froward heart shall depart from him Now though that part of his Vow bee set before this in place yet hath this the precedency of that in order scales must first fall from S. Pauls eyes before he can see clearly and Naaman must first be cleansed of his leprosie before his flesh com again as the flesh of a young childe We must first deny our selves before we can follow Christ and the heart must first leave to bee froward before it beginne to bee upright as the distemper of the body
the fear of God and love of his children but the manner of putting them in execution is neither approoved in holie Scripture nor was in it selfe justifiable nor is to bee imitated of us it beeing no more lawfull to save a mans life by a lie than by theft both which without repentance in themselves deserve death eternall Et quomodo non perversissimè dicitur saith S. Augustine ut alter corporaliter vivat debere alterum spiritualiter mori How can it be but a perverse assertion to say That one should incur the death of the soule to free another from that of the body And not farre off in another place Quanto fortius quaÌ„to excellentius dices Nec prodam nec mentiar ut Firmus Episcopus Tagastensis How much more courage and constancy doth it shew for a man to say I will neither betray the truth nor my friend as did Firmus Bishoppe of Tagastum Firmus nomine firmior autem re Firm in name but more firm indeed The truth heerof will the better appear if we consider the greatnes of the offense the second thing which I proposed in as much as it is first directly against God himselfe secondly against the Scriptures the Oracles of GOD thirdly against nature the workmanship of God and fourthly against civill society the ordinance of God Against God it is both essentially and personally taken Against God the Father This is eternall life that they knowe thee to bee the onely true God Iohn 17. 3 Against God the Sonne I am the way the truth and the life Iohn 14. 6 Against God the holy Ghost When hee is comne who is the Spirit of truth he will lead you into all truth Iohn 16. 13. And as God is the Father of truth so is the Divell the father of Lies when hee speaketh a Lie then hee speaketh of his owne for hee is a lier and the father thereof Ioh. 8. 44. No marvell then that one of those seven things which the Lord hates and his soule abhorres is a lying tongue Pro. 6. 17. Secondly it is against the Scriptures the Oracles of God And therefore are they truely called Verbum veritatis the word of truth Eph. 1. 13 not onely because they were indited by the Author of all truth or because they contain so much supernaturall truth as is requisite for our salvation but withall because they excite us to the imbracing practising of truth Cast off lying and speake every man truth unto his neighbour Ephes. 4. 25. Ly not one to another Col. 3. 9. Lord who shall dwell in thy Tabernacle saith our Prophet Even he that speaketh the truth from his heart Psal. 15. Thirdly it is against nature the workmanship of God It is the priviledge of Mankinde above all Creatures that hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a creature capable both of reason and speech and as reason was ordained to bee the guide and directer of our speech so was our speech to be the expounder and interpreter of reason And therefore the Grammarians make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth speech to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which gives light to the notions of the understanding If then wee speak one thing and think another if wee expresse one thing with our lips and conceive another thing in our hearts it is against the end for which God created speech Fourthly and lastly it is against Civill society the ordinance of God a maine part wherof consisting in Conference in Consultation in Contracts Fractavel leviter imminuta authoritate veritatis omnia dubia remanebunt saith Saint Augustine The credit and soverainty of truth being never so little crackt or the practice of lying never so little couÌ„tenanced a man can build upon nothing but all things will bee full of doubt and distrust Rightly then saith the same good Father Nunquam errare tutius existimo quam cum in amore nimio veritatis reiectione nimia falsitatis erratur A man cannot lightly erre more safely then in too much love of truth hatred of lies Truth is a salt which serveth for the seasoning of every action and maketh it favorie both to God and man and in the 6. to the Ephes. it is compared to a girdle or a Souldiers belt whereby they knit together and close vnto their middle the upper and lower peeces of their armour And these belts as they were strong so were they set with studs being faire large There is then a double use of them one to keepe the severall peeces of armour fast and close together to hold the loynes of a man firm steddy that hee may be able to stand the surer and holde out the longer the other to cover the ioynts of the armour that they might not be seene The first use was for strength the second for ornament and thus truth is both an ornament to a Christian souldier and also an excellent meanes for strength to uphold and assure him in the day of trial Therfore wisely doth Solomon advise us To buy the truth but in no case to sell it Pro. 23. 23. The last thing which I promised is the punishment and that surely cannot but much aggravate the grievousnesse of the sinne It is both the punishment of other sinnes and other sinnes the punishment of it When God would punish Ahab for his wickedness presently the Divell offers himselfe for the execution of the service I will goe and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets 1. King 22. And those that would not beleeve and love the truth he punisheth with strong delusions that they should beleeue lies 2. Thess. 2. And as it is the punishment of other sinnes so did hee punish it with other sinnes in those Philosophers of the Gentiles who because they turned the truth of God into a lie therefore God gaue them up unto vile affections Rom. 1. 25. And the rule is general The mouth that lieth slayeth the soule Wis. 1. 11. Thou shalt destroy them that speake lies Psal. 5. 6. And Revel 22. 15 Without shall bee dogs and enchanters and whoremongers and murtherers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth or maketh lies And if God thus shutte them out of his presence not without cause doth our Prophet promise They shall not tarry in his sight It is the prayer of Salomon Prov. 30. Remoue from mee vanity and lies and his position in the 29. of the same book veâ—s 12 Of a Prince that hearkeneth to lies all his servants are wicked And if wee are to shun the practice of lies much more the doctrine of lies Teaching lies through hypocrisie 1. Tim. 4. 2. One effect whereof is the confident relation of their lying miracles and that Golden Legend compiled by a leaden braine and published by a brazen forehead I will conclude with Saint Augustines conclusion of his two Treatises de mendacio ad Consentium Aut cavenda sunt mendacia recte agendo aut confitenda sunt poenitendo non
forbid Hath not the Potâ—er power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessell to honour and another to dishonour Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made mee thus Now because we are to conforme our wills to Gods will that is his revealed will in as much as wee cannot conforme our selves to that we know not and hee reserves to himselfe we may therefore safely and justly hate those whom God hath namely and particularly expressed that hee hates but for others wee may and we ought to hate their lying their falâ—e wayes as our Prophet speakes but for the Lyers themselves and those that walke in such wayes wee have no warrant that I know to hate them There is a perfect hatred mentioned by our Prophet Psal. 139 which Saint Augustine understands to be when a man hates the manners but loves the man when hee hates the action but loves the person False witnesses did rise up against mee they layd to my charge things that I knew not saith hee Psal. 35 there is their action that hee hated neverthelesse when they were sick I put on sackcloth and humbled my selfe with fasting there 's his love to their persons 2. Sam. 15. He praies against the wicked policie of Achitophel O Lord I pray thee turn the counsel fo Achitophel into foolishnes but against Achitophel himselfe wee finde not that hee prayed howbeit David had advanced him to honour and hee now sided with those Rebels that had taken up armes against him It is to this purpose good advice of Saint Augustine Hominem Deus fecit praevaricatorem ipse se fecit ama in illo quod Deus fecit persequere in illo quod ipse sibi fecit God made man upright but they have found out many inventions to make themselves crooked Love that in him which God made but hate that in him which himselfe made And in another place Nec propter vitium oder is hominem nec ames vitium propter homineÌ„ sed oder is vitium ames hominem Many thinke they may love God and yet hate their brother but Saint Iohn is bold to put the lye upon such 1. Iohn 4. 20 If any man say I love God hates his brother he is a lyer If any man like not the phrase let him chalenge him for it Others thinke they may hate their brother and yet God love them well enough but them he tels Whosoever hateth his brother is a murtherer and yee knowe that no murtherer hath eternall life abiding in him and if not eternall life then not the love of God 1. Ioh. 3. 15. The object then of our hatred must be the worke not the man we must learne Parcere personis dicere de vitijs It is the commendation of the Angell of the Church of Ephesus Revel 2. 6. This thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicholaitans which Ialso hate not the Nicholaitans but their deeds and for those imprecations wee reade of in diverse Psalmes or else-where in holy Scripture seeming to inferre or include hatred to the persons of those against whom they be poured out they are all either Indefinite or Conditionall or Propheticall Indefinite without naming or ayming at any particular person or if they be definite naming some partilar person then are they Conditionall intending in the first place if God have so ordained it Conversion if not in the second Confusion or if they bee both definite and absolute then are they Propheticall non tam vota quam vaticinia speeches of men inspired not so much wishing what they foretell as certainely foreseeing and foretelling that which of themselves they wish not Vt in verbis quasi malâ— optantis intelligamus praedicta prophetantis saith Saint Augustine or if they with it it is either because they knowe by revelation it is the will of God or tht it makes for the glory of God And thus Moses wished his owne name to bee razed out of the book of life and Saint Paul himselfe accursed from Christ and both rather then Gods glory should be blemished by the scandalous imputation of the Gentiles in the rejection of the Iewes his chosen people To whom pertained the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the service of God and the promises This was it likewise that troubled our Prophet he was not so much moved for his owne sake as for Gods cause hee doth not so much hate the work of them that forsake him selfe as of those that forsake God not so much of those who turned aside or fell away from his friendship as from the course of a vertouous and religious life or from th service of the true and living God I hate the worke of them tâ—at fall away Whether in doctrin or in mariers whether in convesation or in opinion whether by impure life or false worship His zeale in this case an affection equally compounded of love and anger was such that it consumed him and as his owne phrase is ate him up which though it were mystically spoken of Christ yet is it literally to bee understood of David and yet withall his excessive griefe such that his eyes poured out rivers of waters because men kept not Gods lawe Thus zeale kindled a fire within him and his grief resolved him into teares to teach us that in our heate to Gods cause we forget not to be tenderly affected towards men but to joyne pittie with our earnestness and with our fervency compassion and to our compassion must be added knowledge and discretion otherwise shall wee be no better than those reprobate Iewes who had zeale but not according to knowledge and out of this perfect composition fervency compassion and discretion ariseth that perfect hatred touched before but here falling into its proper place Doe I not hate them O Lord that hate thee am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee I hate them with a perfect hatred as if they were mine enemies Psa. 139. 21. David would scarce have accounted them good Subjects who should not have shewed theÌ„selves enemies to them who were enemies to him and the State but reason then if himselfe would be reputed a good Subject unto God or his Vice-gerent on earth he should proclame them his enemies who had proclaimed themselves enemies to God and religion When Croesus was assaulted in the sight of his dumbe sonne they write the force of Nature wrought so powerfully in him that it unloosed the strings of his tongue and hee cried out Homo ne perimas Croesum The truth of of the story I leave to bee defended by the Authours of it but this am I sure of that scarcely any outward action more cleares our inward grace of adoption arguing us to bee indeed the sonnes of God then when wee are truely sensible of dishonour offered to our fathers name when we imbark our selves in his quarrels and as our Psalmist speakes in another place The reproches
and for Iosephs sake upon â—otiphar and his house so the plague and curse of God sometimes pursues a whole company for one mans offense as it did all that sailed with Ionas for his rebellion and the whole host of the Israelites for Achans theft S. Iohn would not abide under the same roofe with Ebion and Cerinthus for feare it should fall down about their ears And touching Babylon hee heard a voice Goe out of her my people that yee bee not partakers of her sinnes and that yee receive not of her plagues Revel 18. 4 Like that of Moses to the Israelites in the sixteenth of NuÌ„bers verse 26 Depart I pray you from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs lest yee perish in all their sins Neither is it injustice in God if wee incourage or countenance sinners with our presence or approbation though wee partake not with them in their sinnes to wrap us in the same vengeance Verse 5. Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour him will I cut off him that hath an high look and a proud heart will I not suffer OVr Prophet having in the laâ—er part of the verse going before professed in generall that hee would not knâ—we a wicked person that is entertaine him in his family service much less admit him unto his familiaritie and friendship he comes in this verse and in the seaventh to shewe in particular what wickednes it is hee meanes and specifies foure kindes Slander Pride Deceit Lies Slander and Pride in this verse Deceit and Lies in the seaventh To these foure severall vices he threatens foure several censures to the first cutting off to the second not suffering to the thiâ—d not dwelling within his house and to the fourth not tarryiâ—g in his sight The first and worst vice is Slander and with it is joyned the greatest punishment destroying or cutting off First then of the vice which is bad enough in it selfe but is heere aggravated by two circumstances the Aâ—iunct and the Subiect the one as an Vsher makes way for it and the other as an attendant beares up the traine Slander is a Divelish Sinne but privie slander makes it worse and privie slander of a mans neighbour that is as I take it of a pretended friend worst of all And the more neerely it touches him in his liberty or his life in his goods or his good name the greater the person is to whom it is brought and upon whoÌ„ it is cast and the more confidently it is affirmed the more damnable it is I will begin with the naked vice it selfe stript out of the Circumstances Slaunder is a vice of the tongue which is but a little member yet is it as Aesop truely said the best or worst meate that comes to the market being well or ill used it becomes the instrument of great good or much mischief Being used to the glory of God and the edification of our neighbour it is the crowne and glory of a man as our Prophet calles it Psal. 30. 12 To the end my glory may sing praise to thee and not bee silent that is my tongue But on the other side being abused to the dishonour of God or the hurt of our neighbour it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of Nature This made our Prophet to pray in one place Set a vvatch O Lord before my mouth keep the doore of my lippes Psal. 141. 3. And to promise in another I will keep my mouth with a bridle or with a muzzell I will take heed to my waies that I sinne not with my tongue Psal. 39. 1. Which one lesson Pambus a famous professour in the Primitive Church plying hard nineteen whole yeares together as himselfe witnesseth in the fourth booke and eighteenth chapter of Socrates Ecclesiasticall story yet could hee not learne it so perfectly as to take forth a new which the Author imputeth not so much to the dulnesse of the scholler as to the difficulty of the lesson in as much as if there be any man that offends not in word the same is a perfect man and able to bridle the whole bodie For every kind of beasts of birds and of serpents and things in the Sea iâ— tamed and hath been tamed of mankinde but the tongue can no man tame It is an unruly evil ful of deadly poyson Iam. 3. The vices of this member are Blaspheming Swearing Cursing Dissembling Reviling and those two named heer in my Psalme Slandering and Lying but of the two Slander named in my Text is the worse in as much as it includes a Lie it is a lie cum additamento a lie and somewhat else And againe a lie though it be in it selfe alwayes naught yet doth it not alwayes tend to harme but slander doth it being as the School hath rightly defined it denigratio alienae famae the smutting of a mans good name As flatterie daubs white upon black so slander sprinkles black upon white it is a false report whether it be by speaking or by writing and libelling wounding a man in his good name false either by denying disguising lesning concealing misconstruing things of good report or else in forging increasing aggravating or uncharitable spreading things of bad report which though they bee true yet if I spread them not knowing them to be true to mee t is sinne nay though I knowe them to be true and blase them abroad not for any loue to the truth nor for respect to justice nor for the bettering of the hearer or the delinquent but onely to disgrace the one and incense the other I cannot avoide the imputation of a slanderer Secondly it is said to be a wounding instrument and that justly â—t being compared by our Prophet sometimes to keene and cutting razors sometime to sharp and pearcing arrowes sometime to naked drawen swords sometime to the poyson of Asps and Addeâ—s sometime to speares and the teeth of wilde beasts and sometimes againe to hot burning coales by Iob to a scourge Thou shalâ— hide mee from the scourge of the toâ—gâ—e 5. 21. And yet none of these commonly make such a wound but a cunning Surgeon will cure them without any great signe whereas the rule of the Slaunderer is Calumniare aâ—dacter semper aliquid hâ—ret Lay on loade boldly somwhat will alwaies stick by it Many that heard the slander shall never heare the truth all men by their â—aturall corruption being more apt both to beleeve and to publish the one than the other The stroke of the rod maketh marks in the flesh Ecclus. 28. 17 but the stroke of the tongue breaketh the bones Besides those other instruments wound coÌ„monly but one at one stroke whereas a slanderous tongue strikes wounds no lesse than three at a blowe The first and worst blow hee gives his owne soule infecting it with slander and making his conscience guilty of a lie The second lights on the soule of him to whom he brings the false tales for as
be true that the better sort be directed by love yet the greater sort are corrected by feare A man that stands by and sees one that is wounded seared or launced is therby made more carefull of his owne health and in like manner the beholding a malefactor to be brought to deserved punishment makes men more wary how they runne into the like courses It was a true saying in the generall of the Proconsull to Cyprian at his martyrdome though ill applyed to him in particular In sanguine tuo caeteri discent disciplinam In thy blood the rest will learne discipline Secondly the cutting off of the wicked causeth the good to leade a more quiet and peaceable life in godliness and honesty who if they should be permitted to live and enjoy their liberty wee should neither meet quietly in our assemblies nor dwell quietly in our houses nor walke quietly in our streets nor travaile quietly in our wayes nor labour quietly in our fields In better tearmes stands that State where nothing then where all things are lawful and it is no lesse cruelty to spare all than to spare none For he that spares one bad thereby injuries many good which gave occasion to the Proverbe Foolish pitie marres the Citie and to the saying of Domitius that hee had rather seeme cruell in punishing than dissolute in sparing Many saith Saint Augustine call that cruelty when for love of disciplin the fault committed is revenged by the punishment of the offender whereas the Sentence of him that punisheth satisfieth the lawe and redoundeth to the good not onely of them that are present but even of them that are yet unborne So that severity used in this case Vtilitate publica rependitur is payed home and recompensed with publike benefit Yea but though hee be a malefactor say some yet is hee a personable man of an excellent wit and good parentage and is it not pitie to cast away such a man To which may justy be replyed Is it not more pitie that a proper man should undoe a profitable man that a witty man should hurt an honest man that hee who hath good parentage should spoile him that hath good vertues to serve the Common-wealth To cut off such a wicked person then by the stroake of justice is not to castaway a man but to preserve mankinde and better it is Vt unus pereat quam ut unitas that one single person should suffer than a whol Society Truncatur artus Vt liceat reliquis securum viuere mâ—bris Thirdly as by sparing wicked and wilfull transgressors the wrath of God is provoked and his judgements pulled downe vpon a Nation So by cutting them off as by an acceptable sacrifice his wrath is appeased and his favour procured If blood were shed in the Land and the murtherer not put to death the whol Land was thereby defiled and made lyable to Gods displeasure Num. 35. 33. When Achan had stoln the consecrated thing the wrath of the Lord was so kindled against all the Hoast of Israel that they could not stand but were discomfited before their enemies but as soone as Achan with those that belonged unto him were stoned to death the Lord turned from his fierce wrath against Israel so that wheras before their enemies chased and smote them now they atchieved many great and famous victories Ios. 7. So long as the murther committed by Saul upon the Gibeonites was unpunished there was sent a grievous famine upon the Land of Israell three yeares together but as soon as Sauls seaven sonnes were hanged at the motion of the Gibeonites God was appeased with the Land Two notable examples to this purpose we have recorded by Plutarch the one in the life of Romulus the other of Camillus When Romulus K. of Rome Tatius K. of the Sabines after cruell war had made their coÌ„position to governe the Romans Sabines joyntly there fell a strange kinde of plague and famine in the Cities of Rome and Laurentum for two murthers committed by the Romans and Laurentines the one by the kinsmen of Tatius upon certaine Embassadours of Laurentum which murder Tatius neglected to punish and the other by the friends of the saide Embassadours upon Tatius in revenge of the injustice done by his kinsmen and suffered by him Whereupon it being noted that the plague and famine increased strongly in both Cities and a common opinion conceived that it was a punishment of God upon them for those murthers committed and not punished they resolved to doe justice upon the offenders which being once done the plague ceased presently in both places The same Author likewise ascribeth the Sack of Rome by the Gaules to the just judgement of God upon the Romans for two injustices done by them the first was the unjust banishment of Camillus the second the refusall to punish certain Ambassadors of their own who beeing sent to treate peaceably with the Gaules on the behalfe of the Clusians committed acts of hostility against them contrary to the lawe of armes And when the Gaules sent to Rome to demand reparation of the injury the Romans not onely refused to give them satisfaction but also made made their Ambassadours who had done the injurie Generals of an Army to assist the Clusians against them notwithstanding that the Foeciales officers ordained by Numa Pompilius to determine of the lawfull causes of Peace and Warre made great instance to the Senate that the Ambassadours might be punished lest the penalty of their fault might otherwise fall upon the Common-wealth as indeede it did For the Gaules giving battel to the Ambassadors overthrew them and prosecuting their victory spoyled and sacked Rome it selfe under the conduct command of Brennus their chief Leader and as some write a Brittain Wherein I wish to bee noted how grievous a sinne it is in the opinion of the very Paynims themselves and how dangerous to the Common-wealth to neglect and omit the punishment of notorious malefactors whereby the offences of particular men are made the sinnes of the whole State and draw the wrath and punishment of God upon the same And as upon the whole State so chiefly upon his person and posterity to whose place and office it belongs to see justice done It is a true saying Iudex damnatur cum nocens absâ—luitur the Iudge is condemned when the guilty is absolved and Qui non vetat peccare cum potest iubet He that doth not restrain a man when it is his duty and it lies in his power doth command him to sinne He that saith to the wicked thou art righteous him shall the people curse Prov. 24. 24. And in another place Hee that justifieth the wicked is an abomination to the Lord 17. 15. So that whereas they thinke by this meanes to winne estimation with men they make themselves odious both to God and men Saul was punished with the losse of his kingdome for not punishing Agag with death 1. Sam. 15. And Ahab for sparing Benhadab had