dispute of that for from this that they have already unadvisedly entred into these battels are they become that which they are Let us leave them therefore as a sufficient example and instance of the danger of intempestive and immodest medling in Sacred disputes I see it may be well expected that I should according to my promise adde instruction for the publick Magistrate and show how far this precept in receiving the weak concerns him I must confess I intended and promised so to do butâ—â— I cannot conceive of it as a thing befitting me to step out of my study and give rules for government to Common-wealths a thing befitting men of greater experience to do Wherefore I hope you will pardon me if I keep not that promise which I shall with less offence break then observe And this I rather do because I suppose this precept to concern us especially if not only as private men and that in case of publick proceeding there is scarce room for it Private men may pass over offences at their pleasure and may be in not doing it they do worse but thus to do lies not in the power of the Magistrate who goes by laws prescribing him what he is to do Princes and men in authority do many times much abuse themselves by affecting a reputation of clemency in pardoning wrongs done to other men and giving protection to sundry offenders against those who have just cause to proceed against them It is mercy to pardon wrong done against our selves but to denie the course of Justice to him that calls for it and to protect offenders may peradventure be some inconsiderate pity but mercy it cannot be All therefore that I will presume to advise the Magistrate is A general inclinablenesse to merciful proceeding And so I conclude wishing unto them who plentifully fowe mercy plentifully to Reap it at the hand of God with an hundred fold encrease and that blessing from God the Father of mercies may be upon them all as on the sons of mercy as many as are the sands on the Sea-shore in multitude The same God grant that the words which we have heard this day c. A Sermon Preached on Easter-day at Eaton Colledge Luke 16. 25. Son remember that thou in thy life time received'st thy good things I Have heard a Proverb to this sound He that hath a debt to pay at Easter thinks the Lent but short How short this Lent hath seemed to me who stand indebted unto you for the remainder of my meditations upon these words is no mater of consequence to you peradventure it may have seemed so long that what you lately heard at Shrovetide now at Easter you may with pardon have forgotten I will therefore recal into your memories so much of my former Meditations as may serve to open unto me a convenient way to pursue the rest of those lessons which then when I last spake unto you the time and your patience would not permit me to finish But ere I do this I will take leave a little to fit my Text unto this time of Solemnity This time you know calls for a discourse concerning the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ of this you hear no sound in the words which I have read and therefore you conclude it a Text unbefitting the day Indeed if you take the Resurrection for that glorious act of his Omnipotency by which through the power of his eternal Spirit he redeems himself from the hand of the grave and triumphs over death and hell you shall in these words find nothing pertinent But if you take this Resurrection for that act by which through the power of saving grace Christ the Son of righteousnes rises in our hearts raises us from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness here in these words you may perchance finde a notable branch of it For to raise our thoughts from this earth and clay and from things beneath and such are those which here Abraham calls the good things of our life and to set them above where Christ sits at the right hand of God this is that practick resurrection which above all concerns us that other of Christ in person in regard of us is but a resurrection in speculation for to him that is dead in sin and trespasses and who places his good in the things of this life Christ is as it were not risen at all to such a one he is still in the grave and under the bands of death But to him that is risen with Christ seeks the good things that are above to him alone is Christ risen To know and believe perfectly the whole story of Christ's Resurrection what were it if we did not practice this Resurrection of our own Cogita non exacturum à te Deum quantum cognóveris sed quantum vixeris God will not reckon with thee how much thou knowest but how well thou hast lived Epictetus that great Philosopher makes this pretty parable should a shepherd saith he call his sheep to account how they had profited would he like of that sheep which brought before him his hay his grass and fodder or rather that sheep which having well digested all these exprest himself in fat in flesh and wooll Beloved you are the flock of Christ and the sheep of his hands should the great Shepherd of the flock call you before him to see how you have profited would he content himself with this that you had well cond your Catechisme that you had diligently read the Gospel and exactly knew the whole story of the resurrection would it not give him better satisfaction to finde Christ's resurrection exprest in yours and as it were digested into flesh and wooll 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To have read Chrysippus his Book this is not virtue To have read the Gospel to have gathered all the circumstances of the resurrection of Christ this is not Christianity to have risen as Christ hath done so to have digested the resurrection of Christ as that we have made it our own this is rightly to understand the Doctrine of the resurrection of Christ. For this cause have I refused to treat this day of that resurrection in the Doctrine of which I know you are perfect and have reflected on that in the knowledge of which I fear you are imperfect which that I might the better do I have made choice to prosecute my former meditations begun when I last spake unto you in this place For so doing I shall open unto you one of the hardest points of your Spiritual resurrection even to raise your thoughts from the things of this life and seat them with Christ above To make my way more fair to this I will take leave to put you in minde in short how I proceeded in the opening of these words when I last spake unto you out of this place You may be pleased to remember that after some instruction drawn from the first word Son
as about Moses body so about every faithful person these do contend the one to hazzard the other to deliver Yea but the Devil inspires into us evil thoughts well and cannot good Angels inspire good they are all for any thing appears by the law of their creation equal and shall we think that God did give unto the Devil an inspiring faculty to entangle which he denyed to his good Angels to free us Though good Angels could not inspire good thoughts yet God both can and doth So that for any thing yet appears we have no such cause to stand in fear of the strength of the Devil either inwardly or outwardly Thus have I examined the force of three of our principal enemies I could proceed to examine other particulars of this armie of our adversaries the world the flesh persecutions and the rest and make the like question of them as I have done of these and so conclude as Socrates did to Alcibiades If you have just cause to fear none of these why should you fear them all since that of such as these the whole knot of them consists But I must proceed to search out yet another meaning of this word of doing in my text and that briefly Thirdly therefore we may take this word of doing in its largest sense as if the Apostle had meant literally that indeed a Christian can do all things that he had such a power and command over the creature as that he could do with it what he list In which sense it is likewise true though with some limitation and here is the third degree of our Christian Omnipotency In the former parts the omnipotence of a Christian suffered no restraint it was illimited unconfin'd He is absolutely omnipotent in his patience and can suffer all things he is likewise absolutely omnipotent in battel and can conquer all his enemies But in this third signification his power seems to be streightned for how many things are there which no Christian man can do Yet is he so streightned as that his Omnipotency suffers not We are taught in the Schools though God be omnipotent yet many things may be named which he cannot do he cannot denie himself he cannot lie he cannot sin he cannot die Yet may we not conclude that therefore God is not Omnipotent for therefore is he the more omnipotent because he cannot do these things for ability to do these things is imperfection and weakness but in God we must conceive nothing but what argues perfection and strength In some degree we may apply this unto our selves in things that tend to Christian perfection every christian is omnipotent he cannot raise the dead turn water into wine speak with tongues True but if he could had he for this any further degree of perfection above other Christians Our Saviour seems to denie it For many saith he at that day shall come and say have we not cast out Devils and wrought miracles in thy name and he will answer them away I know you not Beloved our Saviour loves not to sleight any part of Christian perfection yet my meaning is not to deny unto a christian the power of doing miracles for every christian man doth every day greater miracles then yet I have spoken of But beloved in this matter of miracles we do much abuse our selves for why Seems it unto us a greater miracle that our Saviour once turn'd a little water into wine then every year in so many Vine-trees to turn that into wine in the branches which being received at the root was meer water or why was it more wonderfull for him once to feed five thousands with five Loaves then every year to feed the whole world by the strange multiplication of a few seeds cast into the ground After the same manner do we by the dayly actions of christian men For why is it a greater miracle to raise the dead then for every man to raise himself from the death of sin to the life of righteousness Why seems it more miraculous to open the eyes of him that was born blinde then for every one of us to open the eyes of his understanding which by reason of original corruption was born blinde For by the same finger by the same power of God by which the Apostles wrought these miracles doth every christian man do this and without this finger it is as impossible for us to do this as for the Apostles to do the miracles they did without the assistance of the extraordinary power of Christ. So that hitherto in nothing are we found inferiour unto the chief Apostles what if there be some things we cannot do Shall this prejudice our power It is a saying in Quintilian oportet Grammaticum quaedam ignorare It must not impeach the learning of a good Grammarian to be ignorant of some thing for there are many unnecessary quillets and quirks in Grammar of which to purchase the knowledge were but loss of labour and time Beloved in the like manner may we speak of our selves Oportet Christianum quaedam non posse it must not disparage the power of a Christian that he cannot do some things For in regard of the height and excellency of his profession these inferiour things which he cannot do they are nought else but Grammar quirks and to be ambitious to do them were but a nice minute and over-superstitious diligence And yet a christian if he list may challenge this power that he can do all things yea even such things as he cannot do Saint Austine answering a question made unto him why the gift of tongues was ceased in the Church and no man spake with that variety of languages which divers had in the Primitive times wittily tells us that every one may justly claim unto himself that miraculous gift of tongues For since the Church which is the body of Christ of which we are but members is far and wide disperst over the earth and is in sundry nations which use sundry languages every one of us may well be said to speak with divers tongues because in that which is done by the whole or by any part of it every part may claim his share Beloved how much more by this reason may every one of us lay a far directer claim to an absolute power of doing all things even in its largest extent since I say not some inferiour member but Christ who is our head hath this power truly resident in him Howsoever therefore in each member it seems to be but partial yet in our head it is at full and every one of us may assume to our selves this power of doing all things because we are subordinate members unto that head which can do all things but I must leave this and go on to the remainder of my Text. Hitherto I have spoken first of the person I. Secondly of his power can do I should by order of the words proceed in the third place unto the subject or object of this
and consent unto and confess the truth of them Which way of manifesting his will unto many other gracious priviledges which it had above that which in after ages came in place of it had this added that it brought with it unto the man to whom it was made a preservation against all doubt and hesitancy a full assurance both who the author was and how far his intent and meaning reacht We that are their ofspring ought as St. Chrysostome tell us so to have demeand our selves that it might have been with us as it was with them that we might have had no need of writing no other teacher but the spirit no other books but our hearts no other means to have been taught the things of God Nisi inspirationis divinae internam suaviorémque doctrinam ubi sine sonis sermonum sine elementis literarum eo dulciùs quo secretiùs veritas loquitur as saith Fulgentius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Isidorus Pelusiota for it is a great argument of our shame and imperfection that the holy things are written in books For as God in anger tells the Jews that he himself would not go before them asâ—â— hitherto he had done to conduct them into the promised land but would leave his Angel with them as his deputy so hath he dealt with us the unhappy posterity degenerated from the antient purity of our forefathers When himself refused to speak unto our hearts because of the hardness of them he then began to put his laws in writing Which thing for a long time amongst his own people seems not to have brought with it any sensible inconvenience For amongst all those acts of the Jews which God in his book hath registred for our instruction there is not one concerning any pretended ambiguitie or obscurity of the Text and Letter of their Law which might draw them into faction and schisme the Devil belike having other sufficient advantages on which he wrought But ever since the Gospel was committed to writing what age what monument of the Churches acts is not full of debate and strife concerning the force and meaning of those writings which the holy Ghost hath left us to be the law and rule of faith St. Paul one of the first penmen of the Holy Ghost who in Paradise heard words which it was not lawful for man to utter hath left us words in writing which it is not safe for any man to be too busie to interpret No sooner had he laid down his pen almost ere the ink was dry were there found Syllabarum aucupes such as St. Ambrose spake of qui nescire aliquid erubescunt per occasionem obscuritatis tendunt laqueos deceptionis who thought there could be no greater disparagement unto them then to seem to be ignorant of any thing and under pretence of interpreting obscure places laid gins to entrap the uncautelous who taking advantage of the obscurity of St. Pauls text made the letter of the Gospel of life and peace the most-forcible instrument of mortal quarrel and contention The growth of which the Holy Ghost by the Ministery of St. Peter hath endeavoured to cut up in the bud and to strangle in the womb in this short admonition which but now hath sounded in your eares Which the unlearned c. In which words for our more orderly proceeding we will consider First the sin it self that is here reprehended wresting of Scripture where we will briefly consider what it is and what causes and motioners it findes in our corrupt understandings Secondly the persons guilty of this offence discipher'd unto us in two Epithets unlearned unstable Last of all the danger in the last words unto their own damnation And first of the sin it self together with some of the special causes of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They wrest They deal with Scripture as Chimicks deal with natural bodies torturing them to extract that out of them which God and nature never put in them Scripture is a rule which will not fit it self to the obliquity of our conceits but our perverse and crooked discourse must fit it self to the straightness of that rule A learned writer in the age of our fathers commenting upon Scripture spake most truly when he said that his Comments gave no light unto the text the text gave light unto his Comments Other expositions may give rules and directions for understanding their authors but Scripture gives rules to exposition it self and interprets the interpreter Wherefore when we made in Scripture non pro sententia divinarum Scripturarum as St. Austine speaks sed pro nostra ita dimicantes ut tan velimus Scripturarum esse quae nostra est When we strive to give unto it and not to receive from it the sense when we factiously contend to fasten our conceits upon God and like the Harlot in the book of Kings take our dead and putrified fancies and lay them in the bosome of Scripture as of a mother then are we guilty of this great sin of wresting of Scripture The nature of which will the better appear if we consider a little some of those motioners which drive us upon it One very potent and strong mean is the exceeding affection and love unto our own opinions and conceits For grown we are unro extremities on both hands we cannot with patience either admit of other mens opinions or endure that our own should be withstood As it was in the Lacedaemonian army almost all were Captains so in these disputes all will be leaders and we take our selves to be much discountenanced if others think not as we do So that the complaint which one makes concerning the dissention of Physicians about the diseases of our bodies is true likewise in these disputes which concern the cure of our souls hincillae circa aegros miserae sententiarum concertationes nullo idem censente ne videatur accessio alterius From hence have sprong those miserable contentions about the distemper of our souls singularity alone and that we will not seem to stand as cyphers to make up the summe of other mens opinions being cause enough to make us disagree A fault anciently amongst the Christians so apparant that it needed not an Apostolical spirit to discover it the very heathen themselves to our shame and confusion have justly judiciously and sharply taxt us for it Ammianus Marcellinus passing his censure upon Constantius the Emperour Christianam religionem absolutam simplicem saith he and they are words very well worth your marking Christianam religionem absolutam simplicem anili superstitione confudit In qua scrutanda perplexiùs quà m componenda gratiùs excitavit dissidia pluriâ—â—a quae progressa fusiùs aluit concertatione verborum dum ritum omnem ad suum trahere conatur arbitrium The Christian religion a religion of great simplicity and perfection he troubled with dotage and superstition For going about rather perplexedly to search the
grievousness greatness of this sin of bloodshed and partly to give the best counsel I can for the restraint of those conceits and errors which give way unto it I have made choice of these few words out of the Old Testament which but now I read In the New Testament there is no precept given concerning bloodshed The Apostles seem not to have thought that Christians ever should have had need of such a prohibition For what needed to forbid those to seek each others blood who are not permitted to speak over hastily one to another when therefore I had resolved with my self to speak something concerning the sin of bloodshed I was in a manner constrain'd to reflect upon the Old Testament and make choice of those words And the Land cannot be purged of blood that is shed in it but by the blood of him that shed it In which words for my more orderly proceeding I will observe these two general parts First the greatness of the sin Secondly the means to cleanse and satisfie for the guilt of it The first that is the greatness of the sin is expressed by two circumstances First by the generality extent and largness of the guilt of it and secondly by the difficulty of cleansing it The largness and compass of the guilt of this sin is noted out unto us in the word Land and the Land cannot be purged It is true in some sense of all sins Nemo sibi uni errat no man sins in private and to himself alone For as the Scripture notes of that action of Jepthte when he vowed his daughter unto God That it became a Custome in Israel so is it in all sins The error is only in one person but the example spreads far wide and thus every man that sins sins against the whole Land yea against the whole world For who can tell how far the example and infection of an evil action doth spread In other sins the infection is no larger then the disease but this sin like a plague one brings the infection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but thousands die for it yet this sin of bloud diffuses and spreads it self above all other sins For in other sins noxa sequitur caput The guilt of them is confined to the person that committed them God himself hath pronounced of them The Son shalt not bear the sins of the Father the soul that sinneth shall die the death But the sin of blood seems to claim an exception from this Law If by time iâ—â— be not purged like the frogs of Egypt the whole land stank of them It leaves a guilt upon the whole land in which it is committed Other sins come in like rivers and break their banks to the prejudice and wrong of private persons but this comes in like a Sea raging and threatning to overwhelm whole countreys If blood in any land do lie unrevenged every particular soul hath cause to fear least part of the penalty fall on him We read in the books of Kings that long after Sauls death God plagued the Land of Jewry with three years famine because Saul in his life time had without any just cause shed the blood of some of the Gibeonites neither the famine ceased till seaven of Sauls Nephews had died for it In this story there are many things rare and worth our observation First the Generality and extent of the guilt of Blood-shed which is the cause for which I urged it it drew a general famine on the whole Land Secondly the continuance and length of the punishment It lasted full three years and better Thirdly the time of the plague it fell long after the person offending was dead Fourthly whereas it is said in my Text. That blood is cleansed by the blood of him that shed it here the blood of him that did this sin sufficed not to purge the Land from it That desperate and woful end that besel both Saul and his Sons in that last and fatal battel upon Mount Gilboah a man might think had freed the Land from danger of blood yet we see that the blood of the Gibeonites had left so deep a stain that it could not be sponged out without the blood of seven more of Sauls off-spring So that in some cases it seems we must alter the words of my Text The Land cannot be purged of blood but by the blood of him and his posterity that shed it Saint Peter tells us that some mens sins go before them unto judgement and some mens sins follow after Beloved here is a sin that exceedes the members of this division for howsoever it goes before or after us unto Judgement Yet it hath a kinde of Ubiquity and so runs afore so follows us at the heels that it stays behinde us too and calls for vengeance long after that we are gone Blood unrevenged passes from Father to Son like an Heirlome or legacy and he that dies with blood hanging on his fingers leaves his Off-spring and his Family as pledges to answer it in his stead As an Engineer that works in a Mine lays a train or kindles a Match and leaves it behinde him which shall take hold of the powder long after he is gone so he that sheds blood if it be not be times purged as it were kindles a Match able to blow up not only a Parliament but even a whole Land where blood lies unrevenged Secondly another circumstance serving to express unto us the greatness of this sin I told you was the difficulty of cleansing it intimated in those words cannot be cleansed but by the blood of him that shed it Most of other sins have sundry ways to wash the guilt away As in the Levitical Law the woman that was unclean by reason of Childe-bearing might offer a pair of Turtle-doves or two young Pigeons so he that travels with other sins hath either a Turtle or a Pigeon he hath more ways then one to purifie him prayer unto God or true repentance or satisfaction to the party wronged or bodily affliction or temporary mulct But he that travels with the sin of Blood for him there remains no sacrifice for sin but a fearful expectation of vengeance he hath but one way of cleansing onely his blood the blood of him that shed it The second general part which we considered in these words was that one mean which is left to cleanse blood exprest in the last words the blood of him that shed it The Apostle to the Hebrews speaking of the sacrifices of the Old Testament notes that without blood there was no cleansing no forgiveness He spake it only of the blood of beasts of Bulls and Goats who therefore have their blood that they might shed it in mans service and for mans use But among all the Levitical Sacrifices there was not one to cleanse the man-slayer For the blood of the cattle upon a thousand Hills was not sufficient for this yet was that sin to be purged with blood too and
that he was no fit person to do it and he gives the reason of it Quia vir bellorum sanguinum es tu For thou art a man hast shed much blood and fought many battels Beloved the battels which David fought were called the Lords battels and therefore whatsoever he did in that kinde he had doubtless very good warrant to do and yet you see that it is an imputation to him that he shed blood though lawfully ut fundi sanguis ne juste quidem sine aliquâ injustitiâ possit so that it seems blood cannot be so justly shed but that it brings with it some stain and spot of injustice All this have I said to raise up in you as much as possibly I can a right conceit of the height and hainousness of this sin and further yet to effect this in you as in the beginning and entrance into my discourse I briefly toucht at two reasons shewing the greatness of this sin occasion'd therunto by the words of my text so will I as briefly touch at the two more tending to the same purpose one drawn from respect of the wrong which by this sin is done unto God another from the wrong done to our selves And first what wrong is done unto God God himself shews us in the 9. of Genesis where giving this for an everlasting law He that sheddeth mans blood by man let his blood be shed he presently addes the reason of it For in the image of God made he man we shall the better understand the force of this reason if we a little look into civil actions It is the usual manner of subjects when they rebel against the Prince to think they cannot more effectually express their hate then by disgracing breaking throwing down the statues and images erected to his honor The citizens of Antioch in a sedition against Theodosius the Emperor in one night disgracefully threw down all his statues which fact of theirs caus'd S. Chrysostom at that time preacher to that city to make those famous Sermons which from that action to this day are called his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his statues This by so much the more is counted a great offence because next unto wronging and disgracing the very person of the Prince a greater insolence cannot be offered For it expresseth with what welcome they would entertain him if they had him in their power Beloved man is the image of his maker erected by him as a Statue of his honour He then that shall despitefully handle batter and deface it how can he be counted otherwise then guilty of highest Treason against his Maker Rebellion saith Samuel to Saul is like the sin of superstition and Idolatry The sin of blood therefore equals the sin Idolatry since there cannot be a greater sin of Rebellion against God then to deface his image Idolatry through ignorance sets up a false image of God but this sin through malice defaces pulls down the true Amongst the heathen sometimes the statues of the Emperours were had in such respect that they were accounted sanctuaries and such as for offence fled unto them it was not lawful to touch Beloved such honour ought we to give unto a man that if he have offended us yet the image of God which shines in him ought to be as a sanctuary unto him to save him from our violence an admonitioner unto us that we ought not to touch him A second reason yet further shewing the hainousness of this sin is drawn from the wrong which is done to our selves All other wrongs whatsoever they be admit of some recompence Honors wealth preferments if they be taken from us they may return as they did unto Job in far greater measure and the party wronged may receive full and ample satisfaction but what recompence may be made to a man for his life When that is gone all the Kingdomes which our Saviour saw in the Mount and the glory of them are nothing worth neither is all the world all the power of men and Angels able to give the least breath to him that hath lost it Nothing under God is able to make satisfaction for such a wrong the revenge that is taken afterward upon the party that hath done the wrong cannot be counted a recompence That is done In terrorem viventium non in subsidium mortuorum It serves to deter the living from committing the like outrage but it can no way help him that is dead David at the same time committed two sins great sins Murther and Adultery the reward of either of which by Gods law is nothing else but death Yet for his Adultery he seems to make some satisfaction to the party wronged for the text notes that David took her to his wife made her his Queen and that he went in unto her comforted her all which may well be counted at least a part of recompence But for dead Vrias what means could David make to recompence to comfort him For this cause I verily suppose it is that in his penitential Psalm wherein he bewails his sin he makes no particular confession no mention of his Adultery but of the other of blood he is very sensible and expresly prayes against it Deliver me from blood guiltiness O God thou God of my salvation as if Adultery in comparison of murder were no crime at all I am sorry I should have any just occasion amongst Christian men so long to insist upon a thing so plain and shew that the sin of blood is a great and hainous sin But he that shall look into the necessities of these times shall quickly see that there is a great cause why this doctrine should be very effectually prest For many things are even publickly done which in part argue that men esteem of this sin much more sleightly then they ought Aristotle observed it of Phaleas one that took upon him to prescribe laws by which a common wealth might as he thought well be governed that he had taken order for the preventing of smaller faults but he left way enough open to greater crimes Beloved the error of our laws is not so great as that of Phaleas was yet we offend too though on the contrary and the less dangerous side for great and grievous sins are by them providently curbed but many inferiour crimes finde many times too free passage Murther though all be abominable yet there are degrees in it some is more hainous then other Gross malicious premeditated and wilful murther are by our laws so far as humane wisdome can provide sufficiently prevented but murders done in haste or besides the intent of him that did it or in point of honour and reputation these finde a little too much favour or laws in this respect are somewhat defective both in preventing that it be not done and punishing it when it is done men have thought themselves wiser then God presumed to moderate the unnecessary severity as they seem to think of his laws And hence it comes