follow them with good Advice They must set them a good example and they must pray for them they must correct them when occasion is and unbind the bundle of Folly that is in them that so their Sons may grow up as the young Plants and their Daughters may be as the Polished corners of the Temple If there be a defect on their part in this and that the Children grow wild through want of their cultivating and care they have much to answer for And secondly If notwithstanding their care the Children shall grow bad they must rest contented they have freed their own souls and the Childrens bloud shall be upon their own heads They may plant and water but it is God that must give the encrease Grace is the gift of the Father of Spirits and not of the Father of the Flesh Thirdly It should teach Children to labour for a goodness of their own for their Parents holiness shall not make them holy nor their Faith justifie them Some have a conceit that it is goodness enough for them that their Parents were good The Jews boasted that they had Abraham to their Father Iohn 3. but St. John Baptist taketh them off from this and biddeth them bring forth fruits worthy of life And when our Lord perceived the same humour in them He denieth them to be of Abraham and saith They are of their father the devill Ioh. 8.44 John 8. Rom. 11.6 1 Cor. 7.14 Why but will some say doth not the Apostle say Rom. 11. That if the root be holy the branches are holy and 1 Cor. 7.14 The seed of the Faithfull is said to be holy I answer That holiness is to be understood only in regard of the Covenant by vertue whereof they are members of the visible Church and have right to the Sacraments and partake of the outward Priviledges These be Foederati i.e. within the Covenant God is the God of Abraham and of his seed but they be not Regenerati not thereby regenerated in the Spirit Why but yet they will say The Promise is made to you and to your children Acts 2.35 Acts 2. I answer Yes but what followeth As many as the Lord our Goal shall call So in the second Commandement He sheweth mercy unto thousands but of them that love him and keep his Commandements Let the child then labour to imitate the vertue of his Parents and have a stock of Grace of his own for else the Piety of the Parent shall be so far from profiting him that it shall adde unto his condemnation But now to make an entrance on that first particular Clause Observ 5. The strange Metamorphosis of sin He will be a wild man The Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Onager a wild Asse a man like a wild Asse or as the Chaldee A wild Asse among men the Septuagint render it only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of the field or wood a wild man This was accomplished in Ishmaels person Gen. 21.20 who dwelt in the wilderness Gen. 21. and so in his Posterity they were as wild Asses The wild Asse liveth in the wilderness is a beast of an untamed nature and unserviceable to man Iob 39.8 9.10 as we shall see him described Job 39. Therefore the Prophet likeneth rebellious Israel unto a wild Ass Jer. 2.24 Ier. 2.24 So was Ishmael in regard of his Ferity Fierceness and Savageness Whence we may see how sin un-manneth men and makes them brutish brutish in themselves and towards each other whereof there being every where too much proof already among us almost in all professions and for all brutish qualities I shall here only add this Caution Let each one know and remember that it were better to be a Beast then like a Beast Preached Ian. 5. 1641. THE SIXTEENTH SERMON GEN. 16.12 And he will be a wilde man and his hand will be against every man and every mans hand against him I Must acquaint you with one thing further Ishmael was the Son of Hagar and the Apostle maketh her a figure of the covenant of the Law given in mount Sinai and of the earthly Ierusalem As Sarah the free woman figureth that Ierusalem which is above and the Covenant of the Gospel as appeareth by the Apostle Gal. 4. Gal. 4. Now in that Ishmael is a wilde asse it argueth the wilde and fierce nature of man which by the Law cannot be tamed but is made more rebellious Man as an unbroken horse when he is curbed and kept in flings the more This is that which the Apostle saith Rom. 7.8 9 13 Observ 1. How sin is irritated and provoked by the Law yet that remaining good and holy Rom. 7. Sin taketh occasion by the commandement and vers 9. When the commandement came sin revived and vers 13. By the commandement sin became exceeding sinfull sin is irritated and provoked by the law not only because as Origen saith quae prohibentur magis desiderantur such things as are forbidden are more eagerly desired nitimur in vetitum 'T is a great piece of the corruption of our depraved nature to ambiate things most prohibited And some say Eve did not so much long for the fruit quia pomum as quia vetitum for that it was pleasant to behold as for that it was prohibited but also because when sin findeth it self universally restrained and meets with death and hell at every turn and can have no subterfuge or evasion from the rigour and inexcusableness of the Law like a river that is stopped it riseth and foameth and swelleth and thus the Law is said to strengthen sin not per se aut ex intentione legis not by it self or through its own intention but by accident irritating and provoking that strength which was in sin before though undiscerned and less operative for as the presence of an enemy doth actuate and call forth that malice which lay habitually in the heart before so the purity of the Law presenting it self to that concupiscence that lay before undiscerned doth provoke it to fiercenes and rebellions and maketh it more outragious even as a mad dog is the madder for his chayn a strange wildness and fierceness and stubbornness there is in us naturally we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and will endure no rule nay Tit. 1.10 that which should hinder us inflameth and enrageth us and oftentimes we are the worse for being reproved For the Use We must labour to be recovered Application and to be subject to the Law of God for if we will not suffer the law to be froenum it will be Flagellum if it be not our Bridle to keep us from sin it will be our Scourge to lash us for sin and so it hath been to many wild ones the conscience being awakened the terrours of the Law have brought them even to the brink of Hell that they have seen nothing but Damnation before them But I go on The
by Urim nor by prophecie shall he seek out for a woman that hath a familiar spirit and enquire of her For the Use of it Let us take heed of this If we suffer want in our estate Application let us not use unlawful means to better it As Abraham would not be enriched by the King of Sodom so much as a shoe-satchet so let us scorn to be beholding to the ways of fraud for increasing our means There is no comparison between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Peleusiota Peleusiota between Poverty and Impiety better be poor to a Proverb as Job was then that it should be said Satan hath made us rich Want we meat though I confess that is a great exigent yet let us not steal to satisfie hunger Our Lord though he was an hungred would not hearken to Satan to make bread of stones neither would he fall down and worship him to gain the whole world Have we lost our goods or are we in great want of health Shall we run to Wizards and Wise-men as they falsly call them to be helped or use Spirits and Incantations Oh no! This is to cast out the devil by Beelzebub when God hath wounded us to make Satan our physitian Are we in terrour of conscience and shall we betake our selves to drinking and swilling and unlawful kindes of sports Will this help us Is this the harp that will conjure that ill spirit Will not this be bitterness in the conclusion Will not this be as cold water taken in the height of a hot Fever which maketh the broyling drought after a while the greater Why but will some say what would you have us do when comfort and ease bloweth from no corner I answer Be dumb before the shearers and still wait upon God and remember that power and soveraignty that he hath over us how all things that he giveth us he giveth them and taketh them from us and taking but his own must he lose a friend of us Secondly It may be God keepeth us under the hatches for our future good and to do us good in the later end as Moses saith Thirdly Let us know that all the means that we can use without God may soon prove unavailable nay not onely so but pernitious both increase our sin condemnation I say finally let us use no unlawful means but wait the issue that he will give to our temptation Again observe here how quick ones wit is to the invention of that which is evil Sarah hath in a readiness that if God fail her she knoweth presently what to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Gregory Nazianzen evil is ever at hand S. Gregory Nazianzen it requireth no long study nay in this case can act ex tempore So Lots daughters being alone with him in the cave they have a sudden but a fearful invention Gen. 19. to make their father drunk Gen. 19. and to make use of him in that intemperance Rachel hath no children she hath a present invention she saith to her husband Behold my maid Bilhah go in to her Gen. 30. Gen. 30.3 When the steward is like to be discharged Luke 16.4 his wit quickly serveth him what to do that when he shall be cast out he may finde favour among the debters Were we as nimble at that which is good how happie a thing were it But there we are dullards and to seek and our wit serveth us not to light upon it It is true of us Jer. 4.22 which the Prophet speaks Jerem. 4. They are wise to do evil but to do good they have no knowledge Why but may some man say why doth she propound this that he should go in to the maid How did she know but the maid might deny such a service as this was It may be thought that she was perswaded of her servants obedience in this kinde and she might presume upon that command that she had over her being her servant Observ 4. Evil instruments are never wanting unto evil actions Instruments shall not be wanting if evil acts be to be done I confess it is a gross abuse of that dominion that God hath given to masters and mistresses over servants to engage them into sin and make them serve them in base ways to make them panders or bauds to their lust to make them oppressors of their tenants to make them lye and swear and forswear in their behalf to make them executioners of their unjust revenge And it is no less fearful on the other side when servants lose all sense of conscience towards God to shew their obedience toward their masters for they are tied onely to obey in Domino in the Lord so to serve their earthly masters as they may answer it to their Master in heaven And therefore for the Application Application Let them look to it let them obey no further then Gods Word will license them Pharaoh is full in his charge to the midwives but they obey him not Saul biddeth his guard fall upon the Priests that wore the linen Ephod but they do it not it is true that Doeg did it and Absalons servants slay Amnon because their master bids them But that great Tribunal before which these facts must be answered will not admit of this plea I did as I was commanded I told you the last day the Apostle flatly prohibiteth being servants unto men that is serving them in sinful courses and being subservient unto them in their lusts Art thou a Governour Do not require any thing of thy servant that is unlawful for thou drawest a great sin upon thy score and a wo upon thine head because by thee the offence cometh Art thou a servant and an unlawful thing is enjoyned thee Remember Saint Peters rule It is more fit to obey God then man Thy master cannot secure himself from vengeance and how can he help thee And do not tell me If thou wilt not do it another will thou oughtest to be most sollicitous for thine own soul Josh 24.15 Be of the minde of that holy man Let others chuse what God they will serve but thou wilt serve the Lord thy God Further There is an Expositor upon my Text that observeth the modesty of the phrase here used Go in unto my maid I will go in unto my wife saith Samson Judg. 15. Judg 1◠1 Isai 8.3 and David is said to have gone in unto Bachsheba And so Isai 8. He went unto the Prophetess and she conceived Amos 2. A man and his father go in unto the same maid Amos 2.7 Deut. 23.13 It is said Adam knew Eve Gen. 4. So when the Spirit speaks of the privie and unseemly part it calleth it our nakedness Gen. 9.22 and the flesh Gen. 17.13 and our shame Isai 47.3 And speaking of the necessary evacuation of the body he calleth it a sitting down and a covering of the feet Judg. 3.24 and so 1
think they offend not in this But as Caesar said of a wife so I say both of man and wife They must not onely be free from act but even from the suspition of evil and the Apostle wisheth them to abstain from all appearance of evil which if they do not they sin against God sin against their neighbour in giving him occasion to judge uncharitably sin against the married estate by which they are bound to study each others contentment and not willingly to do the least thing that may distaste each other S. Jerome Saint Jerome bringeth in one saying Sufficit mihi conscientia â—â—a ego habeo Deum judicem conscientia My conscience cleareth me sufficiently and I have God the judge of my conscience But saith he Aâ—di Apostolum dicentem Hear what the Apostle saith Provide things honest not onely in the sight of God but in the sight of men Conscientia Deo fama proximo Thy conscience lieth open unto God thy credit to thy neighbour which ointment if a man and woman shall not keep as free as they can from the least flye they fulfil not Gods commandment To go on If I may obtain children by her Here the Fathers and Expositors do acquit her of lust and take knowledge of her desire onely to have a childe and that not onely for the contentment of her husband but that the world might be made happie for God had promised a blessing to the world in Abrahams seed I do easily condescend unto them that she had no unclean purpose August lib. 16. de civit Dei nay I willingly with Saint Augustine excuse both her and her husband in that particular Ab uxore causâ prolis ancilla marito traditur à marito causâ prolis accipitur ab utroque non culpae luxus sed naturae fructus requiritur For issue sake the wife here giveth her handmaid and for the same cause Abraham taketh her by both of them the fruit of the womb and not the pleasure is desired But yet to justifie her or him in this action which the Fathers endeavour I cannot For Observ 2. Good intentions can no way justifie had actions Rom. 3.8 How good soever the intention be it will not justifie a bad action We know the peremptory rule of the Apostle that evil must not be done that good may come of it Rom. 3. When Lot prostituted his daughters he intended good in it and that was The preservation of the laws of hospitality and the security of his guests but he cannot be justified in it because the thing which he did was simply unlawful in it self I know what is said that Of two evils he did chuse the less he desired that they should coire secundùm naturam seeing their wicked resolution that they should keep the course of nature rather then è contra at once to violate nature and hospitality But this will not serve the turn for though in evils that be poena evils of punishment a man may chuse the less ubi homo inermis invenitur saith Saint Gregory as S. Gregory when a man unarmed is surprised by his desperate enemy it is lawful to leap down some opportunity of escape yet in those which be culpae those evils of sin neither is to be chosen And therefore they speak more truly and safely that make it an infirmity in him and cast onely this cloke over it that he did it animo perturbato out of a troubled minde suddenly and not being well advised The midwives of Egypt could not preserve the males alive but by inventing some cleanly shift whereby to delude Pharaoh and therefore they resolve upon a lye But certainly they did evil that good might come of it and therefore worthy of censure And though it be said that God built them houses Exod. 1. yet Saint Augustine will tell us Remunerata est benignitas mentis S. Augustine non iniquitas mentientis that God did there recompence the tenderness of their minde not the iniquity of their lye Saul pretended a good end in sparing the fat things of the Amalekites that therewith he might sacrifice to the Lord 1 Sam. 15. but that would not excuse him 1 Sam. 15. for he flatly transgressed Gods commandment Uzzah intended the safety of Gods Ark he stretched out his hand to stay it from falling but God interpreted this presumption and accordingly punished it for it belonged not to him so much as to touch the Ark 2 Sam. 6. 2 Sam. 6. Doubtless Saint Peter meant no harm but rather good to Christ when he took him aside and disswaded him from his passion But we see how sharply Christ rebukes him for it Certainly no intention not of the best end and the greatest good will bear a man out in the doing of that which is simply evil And the reason is because as the School speaks malum non est in numero eligibilio um evil is not in the number of things to be made choice of and therefore neither to be chosen for its own sake nor yet propter aliud bonum for any other good consequent whatsoever for actus peccati non est ordinabilis in bonum finem no act of sin is in its nature orderable to any good end In moral actions if for any intended end we make choice of such means as by the Law of God which ought to be our rule are ineligible that action cannot be justified Secondly Bonum est ex causa integra malum ex partiali Any partial or particular defect in object end manner or other circumstance is enough to make the whole action bad but to make it good there must be an universal concurrence of all requisite conditions in every of these respects To make the face deformed the want of an eye or nose is enough but to make it comely there is required the due proportion of every part For the Use of this This point may serve us to great purpose Application in the Church of Rome we know how they impose upon credulous minds with lying miracles and themselves have christned them pias fraudes i.e. holy deceits they have counterfeited Reliques and made large Legends they use equivocations and they break Covenants they plot treason Against the Church of Rome blow up Parliament houses and all this they excuse because their intent is the promoting of the Catholique cause They have forgotten or at least will not remember that a good intention will not justifie a bad action and that evill must not be done that good may come of it it is too common among us to tell untroths officious lyes as we call them S. Augustine to procure the benefit of them but this cannot be justified for Saint Augustine will tell us that nullo bonae causae obtutu no pretence or intent of any good will justifie us in doing of that which is evil and he will not have one lye for the preservation of anothers chastity
well known how Gods dearest Saints are grieved with their untoward cogitations though they come not into the eye and observation of the world even in this respect they call themselves with S. Paul miserable men because they are sensible daily not onely of such thoughts as are injectae cast into the soul on a sudden by Satan but such also as be ascendentes as the School distinguisheth of them that ascend out of their own corrupt hearts In this respect it is that Saint Augustine crieth out S. Augustine Quando ubi innocens fui Domine When Lord or where have I been innocent But now evil words are worse then evil thoughts Pro. 30. saith Agur Prov. 30.32 If thou hast been foolish in lifting up thy self that is in choler and desire of revenge and if thou hast thought wickedly lay thine hand upon thy mouth And again actions of evil are worse then either thoughts or words and a greater signe of a wicked heart to do ill then onely to speak or think ill Isai 3.8 Isai 3. Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord. The reason is good For 1. It argueth that sin hath got a more full dominion and soveraignty over a man when it cometh into the outward man and is perfected in outward action then when it resteth in the heart There is no man can free his heart from corruption in this life Who can say his heart is clean Prov. 20.9 Prov. 20. no more then he can say of his body You will say What man is free from sin in word and deed For In many things we sin all James 3.2 But yet this is easier then the other a man may more easily keep himself from the outward action then the inward cogitation Many a man hath thoughts of lust yet keepeth himself from the act many a man hath thoughts of revenge yet doth not shed his brothers blood And therefore the Apostle adviseth that we should not let sin raign in our mortal bodies Rom. 6.12 Rom. 6. and that we should not make our members 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weapons of unrighteousness though we think evil against our purpose yet to take heed of bringing it forth into practice A second reason is When a mans corruption breaketh out into action God is more dishonoured and men are the more damn fied The man himself is onely hurt by his ill thoughts but when it breaketh out into action men are hurt If ill words corrupt good manners as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15.33 1 Cor. 15. why then surely evil actions And therefore Satan putteth on men not onely to think but to work all iniquity with greediness For the Use of this Application 1. Let our care be to stop sin in the beginning as neer as we can to dush these children of Babylon against the stones when they be young to kill the cockatrice in the egge to quench the fire while it is but a spark For it is of a growing nature and if a man give way to it non obtinebit ut desinat he shall not conquer it into a cessation Set we our selves even against evil thoughts pray against them strive against them dislike them when they rise and lament and mourn for them But do not tumble this sweet bit under thy tongue do not take delight to dwell upon ill cogitations for then the fire kindleth further by this complacencie and the next thing will be a resolution to speak or do Qui minima contemnit paulatìm decidit he that contemneth small sins by degrees falleth into great ones And Saint Augustine sheweth it S. Augustine in the example of his mother when she was a maid how she came to be overcome with a love to wine and was thereupon called by a servant in the house Meribibula that is a wine-bibber A little rent in a garment is apt to be wider and a small breach in the bank of a river will soon be wrought to a greater latitude Sin beginneth in thought and proceedeth to ill speeches and worse actions Secondly It should teach us with might and main to withstand the perfection of sin though we cannot be so happy as to be without ill motions yet let us keep us from evil practices when we have ability and opportunity for the acting of them Let us then do as David did who having in his wantonness and curiosity lusted after the water of the well of Bethlehem yet when it was brought unto him had that power over himself that he would not drink it but poured it out upon the ground So though we have lusted and coveted and had unclean thoughts and resolutions let us take heed of perfecting them for this woundeth the soul the deeper and maketh the recovery more difficult Not to have ill thoughts is as * Eccumenius one saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. inevitable and therefore though they be faulty God will be the more merciful upon our repentance but when we proceed to action and accomplish our ill thoughts and purposes voluntarium auget peccatum deliberation heightneth the sin the more of the Will in it the greater the sin and the more deliberately done the harder satisfied and when we are kept from the outward commission of sin let us not thank our selves for it is Gods grace that restraineth us I kept thee saith God to Abimelech Gen. 20. That thou shouldest not sin against me Gen. 20.6 Corruption in the soul knoweth no pause and therefore if God keep it not back a man shall not cease till he come into profundum peccatorum into the depths of sin and be with Lazarus even dead and buried in the grave of his sin the Stoicks that thought the Right and practice of vertue and refrayning of evill to be in a mans own power did err the whole Heaven for if God do not keep us we shall fall into as fearfull precepices as ever Cain or Pharoah or Ahab or Judas or Julian did But now for the fact of Sarah and Abraham a great question is implyed whether it were lawfull or no lib. 22. Contra. Manich. And there be two extreams about it Faustus the Manichee as appeareth in Saint Augustin doth make holy Abraham guilty turpis nefariae libidinis of base and flagrant lust and that being mad on issue he wallowed in uncleanness with a base Harlot he doth likewise challenge him with infidelity that God having promised him issue by Sarah he would seek a childe by another woman A great question But Saint Augustin there freeth him from both these imputations First That Abraham was not lustfull for he never thought of this way till his wife did suggest it unto him and press it upon him Secondly He was not guilty of infidelity or distrust of Gods promise saith he because though God had promised him seed yet he had not made known unto him whether he should
it an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth a wound for a wound sic juvat ire per umbras they think they shall have more content in their death by this means yet such wrath worketh not the righteousness of God and they shall finde when they come before him that must judge all that they have wronged their souls in taking revenge But now I must tell you that some Expositors make this an Imprecation as if she desired God to judge him for her carriage in this business and to punish him for fomenting and nourishing the handmaid in her malapertness and insolency for so she conceived it And thus the Septuagint render it as if it were a prayer for vengeance But now I must tell you that some Expositours make this an imprecation as if she desired God to judg him for her carriage in this business and to punish him for fomenting and nourishing the handmaid in her malepertness and insolency for so she conceived it And thus the Septuagint rendreth it as if it were a prayer for vengeance Imprecations are fearful Observ 4. The impiety and danger of rash oaths and impreâ—ations for they grow usually out of Passion and distemper and that impotency that is in people to brook injuries and subdue their tumultuous thoughts As we see in those Israelites who when they conceived Moses his motion to Pharaoh for their dimission to prove the means of their vexation they break out into an imprecation Exod. 5. Exod. 5.21 The Lord look upon you and judg in that you have made us abhorred of Pharaoh and his servants and have put a sword into their hands to slay us The mother of Micah was in such a rage for the silver that was taken from her that she cursed Judg. 17. Judg. 17.2 1 Sam. 17.43 Thus the uncircumcised Philistins in their pride and disdain and rage cursed David 1 Sam. 17. Thus Shimei cursed him also out of a rancorous spirit 2 Sam. 16.5 And Jeremy saith the people cursed him Jerem. 5. Why but will some say Jer. 15.10 we finde the holy servants of God in Scripture to have used imprecations against others It is true but the Fathers will tell us First that they are not so much curses as prophesies Secondly that they did it not in their own cause but in Gods and not ex livore invidiae but ex Zelo justitiae they did it not out of any gaul of envy but meerly out of zeal of justice Thirdly that they were led by an extraordinary spirit and by that spirit they also discovered those whom they cursed to be incorrigible Why but will some say again do not ministers use curses against drunkards and blasphemers and other gross sinners yes but they do declarativè only declaring what shall come upon them if they repent not but they have no quarrel of their own and they do it or should do it as out of faithfulness so with compassion that any should deserve that heavy doom For the Use then of this It should teach us to take heed of imprecations Application and that we may avoyd those the better we should labour to subdue our Passion of anger for it is that which bringeth forth direful curses it discovereth it self not only in looks and gestures but in dreadful curses Where can a man goe that his soul shall not be vexed with the hideous execrations of men that they send out against their brethren the Plague the Pox We have not the less of both those at this time Cursings and imprecations horrid sins for this wicked practice Yea they desire the confusion of others and whom do they spare not servants not children not wives not the brute creatures no not their own souls how commonly do people wish God to forsake them to judg them to damn them In the fear of God let us take heed of these imprecations if God should not be more merciful to our brethren and us then we are to them and ourselves what should become of us And let us bridle our anger the Apostle quickly addeth after that be angry and sin not neither give place to the divel Eph. 4.26 27. Eph. 4.26 as if that were a door that he entred by as soon as any and when he getteth in how doth he put on people to cast out words of death deadly curses which are unfit for the mouth of any man much more of a christian who is called to be an heir of blessing 1 Pet. 3.9 1 Pet. 3. and seemeth to desire to be accounted the childe of God which cannot be if he be given to cursing Mat. 5.45 He pretendeth to bless God with his tongue and will he curse his brother with the same tongue Doth a Fountain send forth sweet and bitter waters Jam. 3.11 Jam. 3. Oh bless and curse not saith the Apostle Rom. 12.14 Yea though they be thine enemies If you do delight in cursing you may have enough of it for your curses against others may return upon your own head it may come into your own bowels like water Psal 109.18 and like oyl into your bones Psal 109. And God oweth you yet more because you have loved to curse and not to bless at that great day of account you shall hear that dreadful sentence Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels Observ 5. Against light and frivolous attesting God and irrevereut usurpation of his name Again here is one thing further as there was want of charity to her husband in this her wish so there may seem also to be some defect of piety towards God for being only suspitious and having not yet examined the truth of things nay out of a long experience of her husbands respect to her having reason to think the best to call upon God to judg him or to be judg may argue want of reverence of that dreadful Majesty of God they must be severe occasions and of which we are well assured that must make us appeal to God and call him to be a witness unto and revenger of Every light Passion or suspition must not make us summon him as it were and engage him to our quarrel There is a too frequent use amongst us a rude and ungodly familiarity not only with the Name of God foisting it up and down in common communication and oathes so the very Jews with their superstition shall rise up in judgment against us They held it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not expressible and would not utter it and we prophane and sully it with common use but also with God himself and upon every trivial occasion we call him to witness and we call him to judg and revenge and to be the executioner of our wrath we will have him to judg where we distaste and lay on those judgments that we have wished upon our brethren nay we will be judges Isa 43.24 and he must be
by Jehoshaphat and so did Peter by those he preached unto It is true that people are to be told of their sin and not to be spared for the affliction that is upon them nay that is the fittest time to use reproof and if they have some sense of their fault yet they are to be reproved that they may be brought to a greater measure of humiliation but yet it must be done in love a man must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set in joynt the part that is dislocated with an easie hand without bitterness and foul terms in the spirit of meekness that they may see their shame is not intended but their amendment Nihil tam spiritualem medicum probat quà m alieni morbi tractatio S. Augustine saith Saint Augustine Nothing so proves a man a spiritual physitian as the gentle curing of anothers maladie If a man be not his arts-master he may prove corrosor in stead of correptor a consumer in lieu of a chastiser and he may make a new wound in stead of healing the old or else make the old worse And for the Use of it Application Too many such there be in the world who having no pity of the afflictions that people lie under nor yet of that sense that they have of their fault flie out in such terms even Shimei's language Thou murderer Thou man of blood Thou son of Belial They are so sharp that they set the soul further off from God that they should draw neerer to him It was the gross fault of Jobs friends that they had no regard to the heavie load that was upon him nor yet to the acknowledgement of his righteous dealing but rated him as one that had been an hypocrite all his days and that he was justly made exemplary We must not do as the sons of Jacob did by the Sichemites fall upon them when they are sore and slay them right out but like the good Samaritan they must finding the man wounded pour in wine and oil and help to cure him Certainly the severest Reprehension must be ministred in love and affection But to come to the Questions which are two Whence comest thou Whither goest thou But first we must know Observ 5. Ingenuous acknowledgement often preventeth still mitigateth punishment that the Angel moveth not the one or the other as being ignorant of either Non ignorando quarit sed ut responsionem eliciat to draw from her an ingenuous answer and confession And this course hath been often used God himself saith to Adam Where art thou It is not so much interrogatio as increpatio not so much an interrogation as an objurgation saith Saint Ambrose S. Ambrose a reproof of him He seemeth to be ignorant that he may bring him to an acknowledgement of his sin Where art thou was not so much saith that Father In quo loco in what place as In quo statu in what condition Quo te perduxerunt peccata whither have thy sins led thee Quod Deus fugis quem ante querebas that now thou fleest God whom thou didst seek before And so he dealt with Cain he asketh him Where is Abel thy brother Ignorantiam simulat ut confessionem ut geat saith the Father he dissembleth his knowledge that he might bring him to confession So Elisha questioneth Gehazi Whence he came not but that he knew where he had been and what he had done but he would have had from him an acknowledgement of his fact and the foulness of it 2 Kings 5. 2 Kings 5. So Peter questions with Ananias and Sapphira whether they sold the land for so much not that he knew it not but that he would have it from their own mouth that they had done it and offended in doing of it and so their acknowledgement might have prevented their punishment The Use that I will make of it is but this That seeing God knoweth perfectly what we have done Application we should be free and full in the confession of our faults for hereby we acknowledge God to be omniscient And therefore when Joshua would have Achan confess fully he saith unto him Josh 7. Josh 7.20 My son's give glory unto God and namely the glory of his omniscience Thou seest already that the depth of his knowledge is greater then the depth of thy deceitful heart confess thy sin therefore unto God even the whole circumstance of the matter A malefactor would not conceal any thing from the Judge if he were certain the Judge knew all 2. Hereby a man sheweth his dislike of his own evil and that he favours it not while he doth not conceal it but reveal and discover it fully 3. Hereby a man disposeth himself to the pardon and remission of his fault for if we confess it is just with God to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 Joh. 1.19 1 Joh. 1. But on the other side Solomon saith Prov. 28.13 He that covereth his sin shall not prosper And we shall see that Job disclaims the covering of his transgressions as Adam Job 31.33 and hiding his iniquity in his bosom Job 31. The Lazar to stir compassion in those that pass by layeth out his sores to the full So should men confess their sin and make it as sinful as may be Annescis quid sit contrahere peccatum ubi speras remedium saith Saint Ambrose S. Ambrose Dost thou not know what it is to contract sin where thou dost hope a remedy 4. Lastly it is but a fruitless thing for a man that hath to deal with an All-seeing God to seek to hide his sin for he knows it and can set all a mans sins in order before him Or to tell them in gross as Nebuchad-nezzar told his dream I dreamed so to say I have sinned is vain for he perfectly understandeth each particular But I shall have occasion to speak more of this upon the last clause The Questions But now for the first Question Whence comest thou It is not barely an enquiry from whence she came but withal a secret intimation of the happiness she had deprived her self of by coming from the place where she was as if he had said unto her What folly was in thee to leave Abrahams family Wert thou not there beloved of Abraham though thy Mistress were a little sharp his affection was able to make a compensation and through his mediation thou mightst have been preserved from all ill usage for after-times Hast thou not left the comfort of thy soul For thou wert in that family which was the Church of God and where thou didst enjoy the Ordinances of God which did serve to build thee up unto salvation Thou hast even as Cain banished thy self from the face of God for there he is where his Worship is truely exercised Again Art thou not come from the society of godly persons which is a special contentment to a good soul And further Though thou
saith Thy servant went no whither Thus Ananias and Sapphira denied that which they had done Secondly if people cannot deny they will justifie their evil acts Saul will not a good while be beaten off but that he hath obeyed the voice of the Lord. And Jonah when God challenged him for being angry he saith he doth well to be angry yea to the death And the sons of Jacob in stead of confessing their fault say they have done nothing but that which was fitting for the rescue of the honour of their family Thirdly if they cannot justifie it they will excuse and extenuate it and so like the unjust steward set down fifty for an hundred And they will lessen the fault sometimes by the good intention as Saul would his sparing the Amalekites goods by his purpose of a sacrifice Sometimes by the examples of others they can tell how Abraham lyed and Noah was excessive and David failed and Peter denied and they have but done the like Nay they can say though they have done thus and thus yet they are not so bad as others God I thank thee I am not as other men are nor at this publican Luke 18. Luke 18.11 Fourthly if this will not do they will translate the fault from themselves upon the corruption of nature and say as Saint Paul Rom. 7. It is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me Alas he speaketh of infirmities that are mental 2. He maintained a fight against the flesh whereas these men would put off foul and gross sins to the flesh and such as they no way oppose how can they when they are all flesh Sometimes they translate their sin upon the Times and places where they live But Saint Paul would have men redeem the time because the days are evil and there have been some godly men in the worst places Sometimes upon occasions that offer themselves whereas there is no trial of vertue but by such occasions Sometimes upon Satan whereas though he can suadere he cannot cogere S. Augustine though he can tempt he cannot compel saith Saint Augustine non extorquet consensum sed petit he cannot enforce consent of us but begs it Sometime upon God himself The woman that thou gavest me saith Adam But let no man say saith Saint James when he is tempted that he is tempted of God for he is drawn away by his own concupiscence Sometime upon their brethren and their importunity so Aaron would cast his fault upon the tumultuousness of the people and the Fathers say as much for him Tumultuantibus populi clamoribus cessit that he gave way to the impetuous clamours of the people But that is a fig-leaf too narrow to cover his nakedness And so Saul said he feared the people and obeyed their voice And Pilate thought to cast all upon the violence of the people or the perswasions or the commands of others I might be much larger in this way Tertullian By all this see how true that of Tertullian is Quod malum est nolumus esse nostrum that what is evil we would not have to be ours we are content to act sin but we are loath to own it But how vain all this is and how fruitless considering we have to deal in confession with the All-seeing God who searcheth the hearts and reins and knows us better then we do our selves let any man judge In the second place therefore if we will confess our sins as we must do let us deal ingenuously let us not hide or palliate them Some people have diseases about them that they are loath to reveal but Plus memores pudoris quà m salutis saith the Father they are more mindful of their shame then of their health And so people in the acknowledgement of their sin will not speak out Do they think thus to conceal it or do they think God will shame them for their open dealing Oh no! While we deal apertly he is willing to cover and cast a mantle over them We may conceal our transgressions but it will not be from his knowledge but to our own woful prejudice Here further we may observe the notable effect of affliction Observ 3. The notable and good effects of well-improved affliction When God is pleased to awaken the conscience thereby then there is a free acknowledgement and serious humiliation This we see in Josephs brethren we know of what an unnatural act they were guilty their conscience troubled them not for it for a long time but at last being in a great perplexity in Egypt and questioned for no less then treason their conscience awaketh and they reflect with grief upon that foul fact of theirs Gen. 42.21 Gen. 42. And thus it was with Manasseh when he came to be in fetters then he awaked and humbled himself in the presence of God Job 36.8 9. Elihu saith Job 36. If they be bound in fetters and tied with the cords of affliction then will he shew them their work and their sin because they have been proved In the glass of affliction a man seeth himself fully yea those errours that lay dormant in prosperity will come then within his view as Job saith that in his trouble he did possess the sins of his youth his loose olims came then to his remembrance And so much we may gather from that speech of the Sareptan widow to Elisha Why art thou come to call my sins to remembrance and to slay my son 1 Kings 17. 1 Kings 17.18 Then doth God set our sins in order before us and make that register Conscience to produce many a forgotten sin And thus it was with the Prodigal his affliction made him see his errour and whipped him home unto his fathers house Before I was afflicted saith David I went wrong but now I have learned thy statutes And therefore it is most sure that vexatio dat intellectum affliction teacheth understanding Schola Crucis schola Lucis the cross is the school of light And Saint Gregory saith sweetly Oculos quos culpa claudit poena aperit S. Gregory punishment openeth those eyes which sin shutteth It is like the clay and spittle that Christ applied to the eyes of the blinde man by which he recovered his sight For the Use of this First it must teach us to justifie God in his proceedings when Application in stead of smiling he frowns upon us in stead of prospering us he doth afflict us It is true he doth not afflict willingly Lam. 3.33 nay in his peoples affliction he is afflicted Isai 63.9 he delighteth in mercy Micah 7.18 and the execution of judgement is opus alienum his strange work Isai 28.21 But there is a necessity of it Jer. 9.7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts I will melt them and try them for how should I do for the daughter of my people As if he should say How should I save them how should I keep them from perishing everlastingly
if I should not correct them Now for a season if need be saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.6 you are in heaviness through many temptations As if he should say You should not be in heaviness no not for that short season if there were not need but the dross will not be purged out without this fire the rust gotten off without this file nor the vitious humours purged out without this sharp dose you would not be sanctified here or saved hereafter without this And therefore David saith that God of his exceeding goodness caused him to be troubled And Saint Paul saith that when we are judged we are chastised of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world Secondly it should teach us to examine whether the affliction that God sends upon us have this effect in us whether our conscieences are awaked in this storm as Jonahs was whether it bring our sins to minde whether it makes us search and try our ways Lam. 3. as it is Lam. 3. and maketh us sift our selves as it is Eph. 2. and bethink our selves of former errours that we may purge them out by humiliation We have not the first degree of profiting by affliction unless we see our sin Yea we should labour to finde out the Achan the main cause of our trouble and beg of God to shew wherefore he woundeth us and with Job Job 10.2 And 13.23 Chap. 10. to shew us our rebellion and our sin A fearful thing it is when a man shall be in their case that Jeremiah speaks of Jer. 10.6 Ezek. 16.43 Chap. 10.6 No man said What have I done and of those Ezek. 16. I have brought thy way upon thine own head yet hast thou not consideration of thine abominations A man to be afflicted and to have no sense of sin to have his heart in him as Nabals like a stone no consideration of the cause most woful But now come to the next verse which containeth the direction that the Angel gives to Hagar to return to her mistress and to humble her self under her hand And here first we may observe the goodness of God toward this woman that whereas she was hastening to her own wo and in the high-way to ruine her soul by going into idolatrous Egypt God keepeth her from this precipice and suffereth her to go no further Observ 4. 'T is a mercy of the first magnitude Gods restraining 〈◊〉 from evil It is a great mercy of God to be restrained from evil I kept thee saith God to Abimelech that thou shouldst not sin against me Gen. 20.6 God kept the sons of Jacob from shedding of the blood of Joseph by that perswasion of Reuben God kept David from perfecting his resolution against the house of Nabal he had committed a fearful sin if in his rage and fury he had acted what he had intended And when he had Saul in the cave and that all opportunity did smile upon him yea invite him to take revenge upon his well-known adversary that sought his life God kept him from imbruing his hands in the blood of the Lords Anointed How many have we known that when they have been bound upon this and that designe something hath intervened that hath taken them off and kept them from doing that which they purposed which was Gods care and providence over them to prevent their sin and not to suffer them to be so bad as they would have been For the Use of this Application Let us every of us account it a mercy and bless God for his restraining grace we have the seed of all sin in us yet there are some sins that we never felt the least inclination unto as Luther saith he never knew that he had the least motion to covetousness and therefore when one thought fit for the stopping of his mouth he should be tempted with gold it was answered by another Germana illa bestia non curat aurum that that same German beast cared not for gold So many a man is never so much as tempted to theft or sodomy or murder this is Gods mercy that he should thus keep them down and cast them as it were into a sleep as he did Saul and those that were about him 1 Sam. 26. 1 Sam. 26. It is not that we are naturally better then others that every lust doth not bubble up in us we must acknowledge it is Gods mercy that keepeth them down and consider who it is that maketh us to differ as the Apostle speaketh in another case 1 Cor. 4. 1 Cor. 4.7 Secondly we have had motions and temptations to this and that sin that others have fallen into but they have not prevailed with us to the commission of them And what hath been the cause that we have not hatched these Cockatrice-eggs and that they have not come to a fiery flying serpent Certainly God hath restrained us he could easily have given us up to our own hearts lusts as it is Psal 81. Psal 81.12 and have said to our corruptions as he did to the deceiving spirit that went to Ahab Go and prevail 1 Kings 22. but he hath kept us it is his goodness and we must acknowledge it with all thankfulness When we hear men engaged in these foul sins of Idolatry and Murder and Blasphemy and Oppression we must pity them and thank God for preserving us who else should be as bad as the worst It was a pious minde in Saint Augustine he would praise God pro peccatis quae fecit and quae non fecit both for the sins he had committed and had not committed for the remission of the former and the prevention of the later I observe sometimes that people being resolved upon this and that wickedness and being prevented of the perfecting of it by the failing of some instrument or opportunity or some sickness or inability in themselves that they chase and fret Oh that their eyes were but opened to see what a mercy this is that they murmure at how good a friend God is to them while they are their own enemies They would ruine their souls and God will not suffer them That holy Father could say Utiliter vincitur cui peccandi licentia eripitur He is happily conquered that is restrained from sin yea though God stop his way with thorns and by some heavie-armed affliction on him for by this means though the body suffer yet the soul may be saved On the other side it is the greatest judgement that God can lay upon a man on this side hell to let him thrive in sin when he saith as to Ephraim in Hosea Hos 4.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him alone let him go on to make up the measure of his iniquity let him that is filthy be filthy still I will not stop or stay him Thus God in his judgement doth by many a man as by Pharaoh and his army make them fair way even into