and our wonder at him but such was our pride he gained our envy of him His Father whether because he was not resolved what calling to breed him to or for what other cause I know not after that hee had with credit proceeded Bachelour of Arts hee took him home where he abode some good time yet applying himselfe unto his studies While hee remained at home with his Father hee married the Daughter of one Master George Hunt the sonne of that tryed and prepared Martyr Iohn Hunt mentioned in the Book of Martyrs who was condemned to be burnt for Religion but was saved from the execution thereof by the death of Queene Mary This Master George Hunt was bred up in the Famous fâ—ee Schoole of the Marchant-Taylers in London and afterward by the incouragement of Master D. Humfry by occasion of a visit of that Schoole and by the furtherance of M George and Mr. Iohn Kingsmells and by the exhibitions of Bishop Pilkinton all which for their honour sake I name he was called unto and mainetained in that worthy Foundation of good Learning Magdalen Colledge in Oxford till hee was Fellow of that House where hee continued till hee had borne the offices of Deane of Arts and Deane of Divinity Afterwards by the meanes of those worthy Master Kingsmells hee was preferred to the Church of Collingborn-ducis in the County of Wiles where for the space of fifty and one yeares and five moneths he lived a sound and constant Preacher of the Word and was of an unblameable and holy life even untill the oyle of his radicall moysture was spent and the candle of his life of it selfe went out in a full and good old-age after a long and joyous expectation and longing for his blessed change which was in the eighty and third yeare and fift moneth of his age This Master George Hunt after that by importunity hee had got this his sonne in law to make tryall of his ability to preach he overperswaded him to intend the ministery And thereupon he entred himselfe into Edmund Hall in the famous Vniversity of Oxford and tooke his Degree of Master of Arts. Not long after hee entred into the Ministery and hee was presently called to be a Lecturer at Banbury which he commendably performed above the space of foure yeares and then was called to be Vicar of the same Church which office hee faithfully discharged neare thirty years till he died The abilities wherewith God had indued him for his work of the Ministery were more then ordinary For hee was of a quicke understanding of a cleare and deepe Iudgement of a most firme memory and of a lively spirit Hee was naturally eloquent a master of his words having words at will Hee had a most able body and sound lunges and till some yeares before his death he had a most strong and audible voice And according as his matter in hand and his auditory needed he was both a terrible Boanerges a sonne of Thunder and also a Barnabas a sonne of sweet consolation And which was the crowne of all God gave him an heart to seek him and to aime at the saving of the soules of all that heard him His speech and preaching was not with entising words of mans wisedome but in demonstration of the spirit and of power He was an Apollos not onely eloquent but withall mighty in the Scriptures He like some of the Ancient Fathers was as occasions fell out sometimes an every dayes Preacher He preached ordinarily in his owne Church twise each Lords-Day and catechized for above halfe an houre before evening Prayer examining and instructing the youth and once a weeke he preached the ordinary Lecture Hee was much against all such preaching as was light vaine scenicall impertinent raw and indigested His preaching was plaine but as much according to the Scripture and also to the rules of Art and of right Reason as any that ever I heard or have heard of In conference he hath told me what hee aimed at and what use he made of the Arts and what rules hee set to himselfe in the studying of his Sermons which was as followeth That he might better understand his Text hee made use of his Grammer learning in Greeke and Hebrew in which tongues the Scripture is written Also hee would use the helpe of Rhetoricke to discover to him what formes of speech in his Text was to be taken in their primary and proper signification and what was elegantly cloathed and wrapped up in tropes and figures that hee might unfold them and see their naked meaning Then well weighing and considering the context hee would by the helpe of Logicke finde out the scope of the Holy Ghost in that Scripture Hee would endeavour when he began to enter upon the preaching of any Chapter to Analise and take the Chapter into its severall branches and parts Then he would if it were a doctrinall Text note the Doctrine as it lay in the Text and so prosecute it Or if the Text consisted of illustrations or circumstances of some principall truth there prosecuted hee would then gather from some notable part or branch of his Text an apt Doctrine or Divine Truth which should so immediately follow that the Truth observed in the Text should be the argument or middle terme wherby in a simple Sillogisme he could conclude his Doctrine Next hee would seeke for apt proofes out of Scripture to confirme it Fewer or more as hee thought best which done because other arguments according to Scripture and right Reason are forcible to convince and confirme reasonable men in any truth hee would find out Reasons of his Doctrine but he aimed that they should bee strong Arguments or middle termes by which hee might likewise Sillogistially conclude his said Doctrine Then according to the nature of the Doctrine and the need and aptnesse of his Auditory hee would as from an infallible consequent of his Doctrine by way of Application confirme some profitable Truth which yet by some might happily bee questioned or else convince men of some errour or reproove some vice or exhort to some Dutie or resolve some doubt or case of conscience or comfort such as needed Consolation In all which sorts of Applications hee did make use of more or fewer of them as there might bee cause and hee would bee carefull that his Doctrine should bee the Argument or middle terme whereby hee might sillogistically conclude the maine Proposition of any of his said uses And if the reproofe or exhortation did need pressing home upon the conscience then hee would study to enlarge his Speech shewing motives to induce to such a duty and allso disswasives from such a vice taking his Arguments from dutie to God decency or shamefullnesse pleasure or paine gaine or losse And here again he would use the help of Rhetorick but all for the most part in a concealed way without all affectation And sometimes he would shew the effectuall meanes of attaining of the Grace and
two of his sonnes and staied till the third was marrigeable that could not be lesse then some 18. or 19 yeares and Pharez could not be thought to have two sonnes but that he must be some 18. or 19. yeares which make some 32. at least therefore Iudah when he married must be no more then some 18. or 19. yeares His youth therefore I say extenuates his fault but let none of your ages be blemished with such a fault as was too blameworthy even in the greenenesse of his youth Thirdly he sinned in committing as he thought whoredome with a professed harlot but it was indeede incest with his daughter in law who of purpose lay to intice him in the habit of a harlot by the way where shee knew he must goe This is a filthinesse that a man should suffer himselfe to be so farre inslaved to lust after a disguised harlot by the way as to solicit her and hire her and abuse her He was at that time a widdower and the time of mourning for his wife was past and now he made no great conscience of single whoredome but God will judge whoremongers and whoremongers shall not inherit Gods kingdome If there be any amongst you as bad as Iudah that makes little conscience of avoiding whoredome if he may doe it closely and without knowledge and hath abused his wealth to hire an object for his unlawfull lust to worke upon he must see his fault in Iudah and repent of it And you must all be exhorted to arme your selves with a resolution of flying fornication and of watching over your selves and so carefully resisting the first motions to evill that you may not be so easily drawne away and enticed And such as God hath made of a better temper then that such an object would so soone intangle them and hath not intangled them must acknowledge Gods favour in preventing them from such evills and take heed to themselves that they allow not others as bad revenge quarrelling drunkennesse deceit or the like Another fault of Iudah was that he dissembled with his daughter in Law making her beleeve shee should have his sonne Shelah if shee would stay a little till hee was growne up but never meant to performe it nor did not goe about to accomplish the marriage when the young man was growne up which caused her to thinke of a sharpe and lewd revenge even to draw him to doe that unlawfully which his sonne should have done lawfully raise up seed to his brother a custome which was then in use amongst them I know not on what ground but it seemes to be from God because he did establish it by Moses Law after You must learne to take heede of counterfeiting and deceiving making promises alone for shifts and delaies which you minde never to performe but alone to serve a present turne especially in matters of some weight This is flat lying for to speake otherwise then my meaning is to goe against the minde and to utter falsehood of set purpose as much as any other made lie can be thought to be yet nothing more common then this men for an advantage will promise and say any thing which they never meane or thinke to make good how can hee say hee is a true Israelite in whom there is so much guile How can hee say that hee speakes the truth that is in his heart yee false promising double tongued men see how you be dishonest and unjust and false men and learne to bewaile and amend this wickednesse Now promise nothing but what you fully intend and know that upon good reason you may intend to performe and when the promise is made give it seasonable accomplishment Wee must reade Stories and Scriptures to see and amend not to excuse the like faults in our selves But Iudah shew'd a fault or two more in dealing with Tamar when her big belly shewed what shee had done hee forgat his owne naughtinesse and would have had her burnt What authority he had in that place I know not whether he had made himselfe a member of that towne of Adullam and had gotten to be a Ruler but shee was accordingly brought forth to be burnt and then seeing the signes hee could not deny them and then blames himselfe and the sentence of burning grew cold because both or neither it seemes were to be burnt But before hee knew his owne guiltinesse hee was glad to have an occasion of being rid of her that his sone Shelah might scape her Loe what rash censurers wee are like to be of other mens faults and willing to have them punished in the meane time forgetting our owne as great offences Let us learne to be more moderate and to have the wisedome to looke upon our owne offences before they be brought to our mindes by such tokens as made Iudah confesse his fault Againe when Iudah had committed whoredome he goes his way never repenting but all his care is to redeeme his pledge by sending the kid which either was of lesse worth or at least not so apt to bewray him and when the woman could not be found and that his friend returned ashamed to make so infamous an inquiry hee said let her take it least wee be laughed at so the sinne did not much moove him if he might escape the reproach It is thus with most men such a sleepie conscience they have within them that if they beare out the fault with secrecy they be not grieved for it onely reproach by having the businesse knowne would make them startle and be troubled O if any be so affected he shewes that no feare of God is before his eyes Let us labour at least to have so much truth of goodnesse left in us that if we should fall into any grosse sinne though never so secretly and without knowledge of it to any yet we might be affected with sorrow in regard of the offence done to God and so fall downe before him and lament it and confesse it and repent of it before him and renew our purposes of amendment and she for pardon and helpe which till wee have done wee are not recovered out of the snare of the Divell but shall be carried into the same sinne againe and againe so often as he can present us with occasions He that can let sinne goe lightly away if no naturall evill follow from it is either destitute of all graces or hath his graces much abated and infeebled by the prevailing of corruption Hitherto of Iudahs faults now his particular good deeds First he returned at last to his Fathers house and dwelt there with his Brethren as a member of his Fathers family againe when hee made his returne I know not but that hee did it is most certaine If any have departed out of the Church and society of good men let him learne of Iudah to turne backe againe the better way and to come home to the place where God dwelleth David was grieved
and Sonne concurre in this fault A common fault it is religion is made of the by it serveth some other Mistresse It is a stalking horse for policy on both sides Wickedly doe Iacobs sonnes seeme to stand on religion for their secret ends and it was not well done of them to take a religion up for meere private ends but such is the custome of the men of this world they can embrace any ordinance for their profit and any religion O looke that you bee intire in imbracing Gods Ordinance and Gods Truth take heed that sinister ends doe not marre and destroy your seeming religiousnesse and make that you shall seeme to God not the better men but the worse Hypocrites Againe something was ill done of him we see no sharpe correction nor reproofe of his sonne for his wrong done to Dinah and that provokes the maides friends O how indulgent are Parents to their childrens crimes scarce with a word will they checke them at most but with a word for that which deserveth many blowes yea the stroake of death This indulgence of theirs often makes children bold to sinne as in Adoniah and Absalom is seene and so doth make them at length correctors of their Parents that should have corrected them Let Parents take heed to themselves that they shew not themselves to love God lesse then their children by loving their children so much as to put out or smother the hatred of sinne and let Parents at last learne to make naturall affection give place to justice You have his faults his vertues are 1. To his Sonne he is willing to satisfie him in point of marriage so farre as was fit and so should all wise Parents be If the affections of their children carry them not to matches too inconvenient they should gratifie them for feare of those mischiefes which often come by crossing them and that because nothing is more likely to procure the welfare of children then when they be matched to whom they love Unlesse their folly be such as to make too too foolish choises let Parents learne to shew themselves milde and gentle here if in any other thing Further he deales well with the Shechemites his Subjects whom he seeketh not to force but to perswade to accept circumcision In things of this nature a good Prince must not compell but allure Subjects and let them see reason rather then feele violence but his reason is taken from the profit of the people That is the wisest argument which will most prevaile with him to whom it is used and so it sped accordingly Further he dealt well with Iacob too for in all plainenesse he seekes his daughter for his sonne and is willing to yeeld to any equall conditions Plaine dealing is commendable in an Heathen how much should it be commended to us Christians Now see his prosperity He had a sonne indifferent good that at least sought his consent and shewed himselfe orderly though at the first he had beene rude It is a comfort to have a sonne not altogether rude and misgoverned that if he over-shoote himselfe in some things yet will keepe his order and reforme himselfe Be you such children O ye sonnes and daughters and be thankefull ye Parents that have such children He had also good Subjects that would be perswaded by him and such Subjects let us learne to be so that we use prudence as well as subjection But his crosse was great he was over-reacht by crafty heads and himselfe and all his Family and City butchered by bloudy hands O how could you brooke such a crosse and why will not you stand prepared to loose life goods children friends and all seeing you perceive in the Shechemites how soone all these may be lost even then when you thinke your selves secure and why doe you not thanke God for preserving you from such both craft and outrage hitherto Now I proceed to speake of some others The Adullamite Hiram is a better friend then a man indeed a good friend but a bad man His friendship appeares to be morally good in its kinde because first it was lasting secondly it was serviceable thirdly it was secret Lasting for it continued to Iudah so long till his third sonne was marrigeable and began before his marriage You cannot conceive it under some twenty yeeres standing though you should thinke that Iudah married about sixteene or seventeene yeares of age Friendship is like wine the elder the better the longer it lasteth the more it is to be praised Learne to be durable friends let not a yeare or two see you changed and estranged but be like Christ in that respect whom you love love to the end unlesse they doe even too too unfriendlily cast you off and breake the lawes of friendship And those that have beene fickle friends let them be ashamed for it is too too evident that they were false seeking themselves alone and not their friends Againe his friendship was serviceable stooping to somewhat a base office to helpe Iudah out with his whoredome as secretly and undiscernedly as might be Indeed a true friend must be serviceable to his friend not alone with his cost and labour but sometimes also with a little blemish not by helping him to sinne nor lying or so forth but by doing what may honestly and lawfully be done for the secret carrying of his faults and saving him from blame even carnall friends are forward enough this way take heed that you denie not good offices to your inward acquaintance and take no lesse heed that you gratifie them not with bad For here you see the secrecy of this Adullamite no body knew by him of that fault which he himselfe knew onely by Iudah Nothing becomes a friend better then secrecy of his friends faults and he that hath once played the blab in this kinde hath no wrong if hee be never trusted after Nay verily this may seeme a most just cause of dividing friendship therefore so farre as may be without sinne against God and against the Countrey and Superiours every friend must affect this trustinesse Surely had not Iudah found him faithfull in this kinde hee would never have ingaged himselfe so farre So was Hiram a good friend but yet he was not a good man for we finde not that he did rebuke Iudah for his fault at all which he must have done if he had beene as good a man as a friend And doe you learne to add that to other good fruits of friendship even to reprehend them for their faults though you doe not divulge them that so friendship may not be a mutuall infecting of one another but a mutuall healing So much for the Adullamite Iudahs friend now for Er and Onan Iudahs sonnes The first of them was so wicked a man that God in his justice would not let him live to staine that good family O let him be a a warning to all you children that you
appointment his lust in all likelihood it was his lust for what other cause should move him I cannot conjecture would not be contained within the bounds of lawfull matrimonie He dares adde a second wife and so bring into the world a painted whoredome a guilded adultery a pretended marriage but indeed a very breach of wedlock For our Saviour Christ telleth us that he which putteth away his wife and marrieth another commits adultery and if that be true as we must confesse for his authority sake that spake it then without all question hee that keepeth his former wife still and will needs take another to her is guilty too of committing adultery The reason is cleare and cannot be denied For if it were not adultery to have more women then one at one time then the taking of another wife upon a causelesse divorce should not deserve that odious title and if it be so poligamy must needs take the same title to it selfe This was therefore a grievous audaciousnesse in this wicked man that hee would leape over the poles as it were which God had fixed The thing was naught and his doing it first before others made it worse in him and made him guilty of their faults that after followed it upon his example For indeed it was quickly taken up and practised in the world insomuch that it continued to the time of Abraham and was practised also by him as a thing not reputed sinfull For when sinne hath gotten yeeres and examples upon its backe it doth many times cease to be counted what it is and goes under the repute of a lawfull thing though it be in it selfe even somewhat evidently unlawfull because partly the minde of man corrupted by the pleasing or profitable effects of it is willing not to thinke it sinne and the judgement is easily sweyed by the will and partly because the example of men doth worke too much to draw unto evill as an heavie thing is easily cast downeward Now to polygamie he addeth a notorious revengefullnesse Having married a couple of women it seemes he found some distempers in them and therefore to calme and over-awe them a little hee falls to breath out revenge with violent threats saying that he would kill a man in his wound or for his wound hee meanes because of wound received and a young man for his hurt or bruise he meanes because of a bruise or stripe given him yea he goes farther and adds that if Caine should be avenged seven-fold then hee seventy times seven fold If any man whosoever he were should hurt him hee should die for it yea were he never so young and lusty a fellow that should offer to smite him it should cost him his life and he would proceede to an higher degree of revenge then that which God himselfe had appointed to Caines murderer viz. hee would be revenged seventy times seven times more that maketh in all almost five hundred times as much more here is passion and pride in all extremity To revenge is to render evill for evill to revenge a thing seven times is to inflict a thing seven times more grievous upon a wrong doer then that which he did to another to revenge seventie times and seven is to lay an evill 490 times more heavie then that received The Lord of Heaven hath cause because hee hath authority to inlarge his punishing justice and to execute a threat of seven times revenge because after such a threat to commit the fault makes it seven degree more faulty as being an audacious despising of his anger and a very setting his threats at naught but for any man to exceede measure so farre in punishing though he were a lawfull Magistrate punishing the malefactor at the complaint and instance of the wronged person it were a great offence How much more then for a private man so farre to exceede all degrees in respect of a wrong done to himselfe Sure he that threatens to be revenged 400 times more then Caine conceived himselfe to be more excellent than Caine 400 times for according to the measure of the parties worth that was wronged must the revenge be increased O how proud a man was hee that durst so farre preferre himselfe above his great grand-fathers Father for so was Caine who being then alive and departed from under the governement of Adam was now the King of all the sonnes that descended from him during his life and the Priest too for Kingdomes and Priest-hoods in those first times went to the eldest of the family by succession These were chiefe Rulers in matters civill and religious He was therefore a very haughty minded man and a very passionate angry man and so a very revengefull man which springeth from pride and and passion These be his faults yet see how good and patient the Lord shewes himselfe unto such a wretch for hee had two sonnes by one wife and a sonne and daughter by the other God gave him the fruit of marriage though he were the first that so shamefully abused marriage for God doth not instantly stretch forth a punishing arme against an offender and these sonnes of his too were very active and profitable men of good parts and account as appeares by their inventions mentioned in the Text. But yet he is not left quite unpunished for his life was unquiet as appeareth by his threatning and bragging what he would doe for such kinde of threats be but boastings of the future time It is not to be doubted of but that his two wives what by the brawles which would fall out betwixt them and their children and what by the stirres that they would make with him each to have him take her part against the other made his life uncomfortable so that hee was faine to see if hee could make the matter a little better by big and violent words to keepe them in awe by feare whom duty could not order Now this is Lamech Let us make some use of his Example even to blame our selves for having committed if wee have committed the like sinnes to his that we may be drawne to repentance which he was never so happy as to performe Secondly to arme ourselves against those sinnes and to abound in the contrary vertues for so it is our duty as Bees doe honey out of weeds to gather good out of bad Examples Come hither then and let mee examine you in Gods name Is there not any amongst you that hath violated marriage worse then Lamech He did sinne by taking two wives The Lawes would punish you for following him in that and would not suffer you to keepe two women under the name of wives have not you therefore falne to flat and downe-right adultery If so repent of this enormity The Lord will not suffer the transgressors of his Covenant to beare it free if repentance doe not stay his hand Yea have not some of you beene Lamechs in making the first breach into a sinne
on This is a lawfull invention and good and comfortable Cheerefullnesse and Mirth so that it be moderate and well guided for the circumstances is a lawfull thing whether Musicke by voice or instrument whether winde instruments or other hand instruments It is a very good and lawfull thing to solace ones selfe with musicke and a warrantable recreation so that it be not abused and hee that first found it out is to be counted a benefactor to mankinde But the last named he was the most profitable inventer he that found out the art of iron worke he was an excellent Smith This was Tubal Caine thought to be the same that the Heathens called Vulcane Smiths are a necessary calling Their art is helpefull to all other Sciences both for peace and warre to them belongeth the making of all the necessariest instruments of husbandry of all sort of tooles for other trades and of armes also for the Souldier No part of mans life can be without iron worke A knife a key an hatchet a forke a saw a mattock a sythe a raking hooke a chezill a sword a speare a shield an helmet who can reckon up the things that Smiths do make for mans use This was therefore an exceeding fruitfull invention so much the more to be commended by how much it is more wearisome and laborious for it is you know a strong labour in some things and a curious in other things and much of it is much annoyed with heate about the fire And thus hath God stored the world with needfull arts by meanes of Lamechs sonnes that were it seemeth unsanctified men We must make some use of all this first to be thankefull unto God that hath imparted to some men such good wits and understandings that they were able to finde out and perfect those severall Sciences and Callings for how toylesome and uncomfortable would our lives be if we did not enjoy these helpes and comforts Even this naturall ability is from God and deserveth thankes from us Againe men must set themselves to be profitable to the world by either inventing or adding to the inventions of others in any kinde It is good to doe something for which the world may be the better and not to come into the world meerely as rats and mice onely to devoure victuals and to runne squeaking up and downe Be you followers of such if you cannot invent and perfect an art yet learne and follow some that is already invented These men were not idlesbees doe naughts O be you as good at least as these sonnes of Lamech onely labour to be so moderate in following and using all these earthly things that you be not earthly minded thereby but may become carefull of things that pertaine to the soule and to another life as well as of those that belong to this present life and to this body of clay It is good to use the world but not to love it to set our hands on worke about the things of it but not to set our hearts upon it This is a baiting place and not a place of habitation we make a journey through this world we do not dwell in the world O let our mindes and desires and wishes be in Heaven and let us doe those outward things with reference unto Heaven that by profiting men and serving God in a calling we may make our way to Heaven the easier and our wages there the greater And so much for the linage of Caine. Now we come to another off-spring of Adam If is not to be thought that he remained childlesse till the birth of Seth or that God would smite him in that newnesse of the world with so long a barrennesse or that he so long forbare society with Evah As it is said that he lived an hundred and thirty yeeres and begat Seth so it is said hee lived long after and begat sonnes and daughters therefore it is likely also that in that hundred and thirty yeeres before he begat sonnes and daughters but because the Lord intended to draw out the linage of Christ therefore he lets all the rest goe and fastens alone upon Seth of whom the promised seed was to come in a direct line Of Seth then we must speake His Birth gladded Evah and Adam too no doubt because they understood by revelation from God that he should be a godly man Therefore hee is called Seth that is he hath appointed because saith Evah God hath appointed mee another seed instead of Abel whom Caine slew Loe it is an hundred and thirty yeares after and yet shee hath not forgotten the murder of Caine. The infamy of a sinne will cleave long to a mans name and the griefe of a crosse if it be a stinging crosse indeed as this was will lie long upon the soule But why saith shee a seede instead of Abel it may be it was because shee saw little piety and goodnesse in the other sonnes and daughters none of them was like Abel in religion and godlinesse But for Seth shee understood that God would make him as good a man as Abel and therefore shee rejoyceth in him for a good Parent is little gladded in children if they proove not pious and godly children Gods children as well as his or hers wherefore those children that would glad the hearts of their Parents must see themselves to follow the waies of vertue that their aged Parents may have joy in them Now of Seth nothing is said but that he begat a Sonne at an hundred and five yeares old as the next Chapter shewes calling him Enosh that is sorrow or griefe because of the many griefes and sorrowes to which men are subject in this life Well may man have the name of sorry given to him so full of miseries is he as Iob spake long after Onely it is added that in Seths daies men began to callon the name of the Lord. It may be rendred some thinke the name of God was prophaned in calling on that is men grew then very prophane in a carelesse abusing Gods publike Service and Worship Others thus then it was begun to call on the name of the Lord that is men began more publikely and religiously and openly to call on the name of God to professe true piety more carefully in publike assemblies It notes in the former sence a growing worse of the times in the latter a growing better I am in doubt whether sence to fasten upon I thinke rather of the twaine it is a taxing of the publike profanation of God in abusing his worship because it followes immediately upon the giving of the name Enosh sorrowfull miserable mortall man as a reason of that name why did his Father call him so because Gods name then began to be prophaned in calling upon men grew more and more carelesse and remisse in Gods service and did it in so bad and negligent and indevout a fashion as it was rather a profaning then a worshipping or honouring of
his name And this seemeth the rather to be the meaning because there is little reason to thinke that Adam and Seth did not long before this apply themselves to the carefull worshipping of God in their assemblies and to take all good meanes to save themselves from the corruption of the Kaynites Or it may be rendered then it was begun to call by the name of Lord that is men began then to have that name given them of the sons of God and this I like best of all the three because in the beginning of the sixt Chapter which continues the story and the fift Chapter is but a digression put in to shew the age of the world at the floud it is said the sonnes of God saw the daughters of the sonnes of men Whereby it is apparent that to the men that professed true religion with Adam and Seth the name of the sonnes of God was given and to the rest the name of the sonnes of men The professors of the true religion were called sonnes of God that did worship the true God after the manner that God taught by Adam The other were called sonnes of men that gave themselves over to worldlinesse and vanity and prophanenesse for my part I suppose that before the floud there was no Idolatry because the Holy Ghost would not have omitted the taxing of that sinne as well as those it doth taxe if it had beene then used in the world But let us take the words to meane then it was begun to call on the name of the Lord and then it shall be added as a commendation of Seth that in his daies religion began to flourish more then ever before by his diligence joyning with his Father Adam much more respect was had to piety and greater numbers of men imbraced the profession of piety And this ought to be the care of every good man to further the progresse of true religion and to cause the name of God to be faithfully called upon of many Now of the rest of Adams seed there is a Catalogue made in the fifth Chapter of all the ancient Fathers from the first man Adam to Noah in whose daies the floud fell out by which it appeares of what standing the world was when it was growne so corrupt that the Lord could no longer endure the manners of it And in this Catalogue the Holy Ghost takes this order 1. He shewes of what age every one was when he begat his eldest sonne How many yeares he lived after the birth of that sonne 3. How old he was when he died The number of the persons are in all ten Adam Seth Enoch Cainan Mahalaleel Iared Enoch Methuselah Lamech and Noah Adam at a hundred and thirty yeares begat Seth and after lived eight hundred yeares and had more children in that time and died aged nine hundred and thirty yeares Adam was in truth the eldest man all things considered for though Methuselah out-lived him thirty nine yeares for he was nine hundred sixty nine yeares and Adam but nine hundred and thirty yet Methuselah was borne an infant Adam was made a perfect man the first day and in those times a man was but a child at thirty nine yeares for no question they would give their mindes to marriage in that newnesse of the world paucity of men and plenty of ground so soone as they were fit for it So Adams perfect estate at the first countervailed the living of forty yeares and more Seth he lived a hundred and five yeares and begat Enos and living eight hundred and seven yeares begat divers more children and ended his daies at nine hundred and two Enos lived ninety yeares and begat Cainan c. as you may reade in the story Nothing is mentioned of any one but the length of his life the time when hee had his first sonne and that hee had more sonnes Onely of Henoch it is noted that he walked with God that is lived a most holy life and that he died not at all but was translated after hee had lived three hundred sixty five yeares The Lord shortned the daies of his pilgrimage and rewarded his singular piety with taking him up to Heaven soule and body immediately without dying He was changed without any separating of his spirit from his body and in him we have an example what should have beene the course that God would have taken with all men if man had continued in the state of innocency viz. he should not have died soule and body should never have departed one from the other but after a man had proceeded in godlinesse till hee had gotten so large a measure of it as in this life hee could for though Adam were perfect habitually yet not actually I meane though hee had an ability to attaine perfect knowledge of God and the creatures yet hee had not yet actually gotten all such knowledge as hee was to get both of God and of the creatures then should he have beene translated into Heaven to see God immediately and to know him better then in this life he could be knowne Sinne entring caused death had not that come in we should have gone to Heaven without death as this Henoch did Now out of all these things written concerning these Ancients the direct parents of our Lord wee gather this that death is common to all and how long soever a man lives at last hee must leave the world and therefore we learne two things principally First to prepare for death that whensoever it befalleth wee may change for the better not for the worse and this preparation for death must be not alone a little before it comes or at the houre of its approach but in the whole course of our life by beginning early to repent and continuing daily to turne and renew our repentance that so we may get an assurance of our being taken from earth to Heaven for he that begins unfaignedly to turne to God and so continues hee shall surely be saved and for the most part shall obtaine before his departure hence an assured apprehension of his salvation Therefore hee must as Henoch did walke with God in a continuall care of obeying him and labouring to hold fast a constant perswasion of his favour and love to him in his Sonne for it is testified of Enoch that he pleased God so that what in Genesis is called a walking with God that S. Paul calls pleasing of God and also that by faith he was translated that he should not see death even by his beleeving and resting upon Gods mercy for so it is said he beleeved that God was and was a rewarder of them that diligently seeke him which finding himselfe to do he resolved that God would reward him So must each of us walke with God constantly resolve and indeavour to please God in all things and retaine in our selves an assured peaswasion that God will graciously accept and reward us in Christ with giving us life eternall and
it if you have it not yet get it if you have it labour to increase and nourish it by considering his great excellencie and great terriblenesse A third vertue Abraham had obedience that is his will was thoroughly subject to Gods will in all things so that he held this resolution within himselfe that whatsoever God bad him doe that he would doe for which God praised him saying because thou hast obeyed my voice and the Apostle saying he obeyed and went out Obedience is a resolution and indeavour to doe all that God bids because he bids Let us take some speciall acts of obedience wherein Abraham did crosse his reason and his affection and his credit and his profit and all to performe the will of God even therefore onely because God bad him whom he durst not out of feare and would not but out of love follow in all things First God gave him Commandement to leave his Countrey and Fathers house to goe out into a land which he should shew him A strong Commandement leave all thy kindred and goe into a Countrey thou knowest not whither but goe from place to place as I shall shew thee Here seemed no reason in this Commandement but Abraham obeyed it Gen. 12.1 Secondly when he came into the land of Canaan he did not build a Citie nor an house there but dwelt in tents as the Apostle noteth as a pilgrim and a stranger not having possession in it at all so much as a foot God gave him no place of abode but caused him to wander as himselfe telleth Gen. 20.13 This seemed an unhappy and unsetled life and flesh and bloud could not take content in such a kinde of living but because God injoyned Abraham so to live He submitted himselfe and did live so save that onely he bought a place to burie in as being still mindfull of his death A third heavie Commandement he received from God Gen. 17. 10. and 26. God made him to circumcise himselfe and all the males of his family and all that should after be borne when they were eight daies old and he made no question of it To circumcise was to cut off the top of the uppermost skinne of the secret part This seemed the foolishest thing in the world a matter of great reproach which would make him as it made his posterity after to seeme ridiculous to all the world It carried an appearance of much undecencie and shamefullnesse to cause all his servants to discover themselves unto him Much more might have beene alledged against this ordinance what good could it doe what was any man the better because he had wounded himselfe and put his body to that torment yet for all this Abraham disputed not objected not made no contrary allegations but presently the selfe same day tooke himselfe and his sonne Ishmael and all his servants in his house and circumcised them according to the commandement of Almighty God Yet a fourth commandement more tedious and contrary to reason and affection then all these which was of it selfe exceeding grievous in his sight as the Holy Ghost witnesseth that is the expulsion or excommunicating of his sonne Ishmael and of his mother Hagar yet when God commanded him to doe it Gen. 21.12 hee rose up the next morning betimes v. 14. and sent away both the mother and the sonne But last of all he obeyed a commandement that seemed to contradict nature and religion and Gods promise and his owne salvation and the salvation of all men and the truth and honour of God himselfe so that God was said to try him to the utmost in that commandement It was in sacrificing Isaac as the Spirit of God notâ—th Heb. 11. and Gen. 23. God bad him take Isaac and not instantly kill him in the place but goe three dayes journey and not knocke him on the head and there an end but offer him for sacrifice But what was this sonne the sonne of his old-age the sonne of his love which was so deare unto him yea the promised seede in whom it was said In Isaac shall thy seede be called and this sonne he offered after a most melting conference betwixt himselfe and Isaac his sonne all alone Here was an obedience incomparable and unparalable no man ever did the like except our Lord Jesus Christ who offered up himselfe which must needes be dearer to himselfe then Isaac was to Abraham So now marke the excellency of Abrahams obedience hee was obedient for the matter in hard and difficult things for the manner promptly and readily without gaine-saying speedily and presently without deferring and universally without excepting without picking and choosing If you be able to produce such obedience to justifie your faith that it may appeare your faith is a working faith then have you faith indeed and not in word alone but if your faith be not accompanied with an obedience of the same kind though not in the same degree whereby you are able to yeeld your selves to God resolving in all things readily and without delay or murmuring to yeeld unto him how are you obedient how have you faith such a faith as was Abrahams All therefore that say they beleeve as Abraham did but yet obey not as Abraham did yea are wilfull against Gods Commandements refusing to doe knowne duties and to leave knowne sinnes that will not circumcise the foreskin of their hearts nor leave their countrey and Fathers house nor cast out their Ishmaels nor offer up their Isaacs all such are beleevers alone in shew and not in deed Compare your selves with Abraham and if your obedience be not like his I say as before having the same ground extent and properties it is but a counterfeit faith whereof you boast and no true faith Therefore now be earnest with the living God to worke in you true subjection to him and to make you like Abraham his servant for God that wrought his heart to such flexiblenesse will and can performe the same for you Pray him to incline your hearts to his statutes beseech him to write his law in your hearts and to cause you to keepe his Commandements and judgements and doe them And if you find such an obedience though not so great yet that which hath the same ground and strives to attaine the same extent and properties then take comfort and be not afraid to call your selves sonnes and daughters of Abraham for Zacheus was the sonne of Abraham when leaving his greedinesse hee could make restitution and give to the poore Now a fourth vertue in Abraham was religiousnesse for it is said of him that hee built an Altar to God and that hee worshiped God and that he called on the name of God and that he payed tithe of all he had to Melchisedech and this is for our learning We must call upon God we must professe and practise true religion we must offer reall sacrifices on Christ the Altar we must also
his appointment shee was a good huswife and helpefull unto him in the overseeing of his great family shee was every way contentfull and pleasing unto him and a little too obsequious in being content for his sake to say she was his sister Wherefore let this first benefit be noted and let those that have it confesse it with praise and thankes to God and let those that have it not as yet learne to seeke it at Gods hands knowing his readinesse to exercise his goodnesse upon all men in all ages if they feare and obey him as well as upon Abraham in his time Secondly God gave Abraham children also First he had Ishmael by Hagar then in due time he had Isaac by Sarah the sonne of the promise the sonne of his old-age besides a godly and dutifull sonne that inherited the promises and the blessings with him and in whom the covenant of God was established Hee gave him also many other children by Keturah which had also children in his life time Children are a blessing of God chiefly if they be good and vertuous willing to be ruled by their parents These are the inheritance of God when they grow up as Olive plants round about ones table and the Psalmist saith blessed are they which have their quiver full of them they shall not be ashamed when they speake with their enemies in the gate These comfort him in their childhood and are a delight to him when they be young these are a staffe to his old-age In them his name liveth when his person is dead and they be as it were branches springing from himselfe as a roote and making his house to flourish and be greene So God blessed Abraham in the fruite of his body Let all those therefore whom God hath blessed with this blessing see Gods good hand to them and praise him for it Indeed to be a parent of many and towardly children if it lift up the heart to God and occasion our hearty thankefulnesse unto the Lord is a speciall favour Those that have it must see Gods good hand in it and those that have it not must seeke it of God and walke before him obediently that they may be capeable of it Next God gave Abraham good servants for they all hazarded themselves for and with him in the battaile fought with foure victorious Kings and helped him to redeeme his brother Lot out of captivity and submitted to be circumcised and to be taught and instructed Had they not beene loving and couragious Abraham could not have accomplished his desire for his kinsmans deliverance But especially he had one exceeding faithfull servant religious diligent discreete carefull of his businesse and one in whom he might put his trust for the well ordering of his goods and for the dispatch of any affaires committed to him You see his carriage in the 24. of Genesis He was cautelous and warie in taking of his oath and would not sweare rashly He was carefull in observing his oath after he had taken it He made use of his masters goods and the power which his master had given him over his family and goods to finish well that great worke of taking a wife for Isaac He commended the matter to God with earnest prayer He followed it thoroughly and brought it to passe effectually He made a good choice for Isaac and made hast to returne to his master and bring him backe the fruit of his journey with good successe No doubt it was a great joy of heart to Abraham when he saw Eliezer returning with so good speed from Padan-Aram and bringing backe with him so sweet and choice a Virgin for Isaac according to the earnest desire of Abraham Let all masters marke Gods dealing with them in their servants and if he please to store them with many good servants or with one or two alone of excellent parts and graces let them even praise God for it considering how great a vexation it is to be crossed with servants of a contrary disposition which will be unto him even as smoake in his eyes and as vineger to his teeth And let all that desire such a blessing take the same course that Abraham did that is labour themselves to be good masters and to command and teach their servants to feare God as Abraham did and to shew themselves loving kind and liberall to them But further Abraham had a good kinsman Lot that consented to beare him company in a holy pilgrimage and was easily wonne by his wise dealing to keepe peace and amity with him though some little breach began yet it was soone made up betwixt them and Lot and he lived in good peace and concord together No doubt this also gladded Abrahams heart and proved a speciall consolation unto him If God have given any man such a religious and godly Cousin or Kinsman let him make much of him and be a kind Kinsman as Abraham was Yea the Brother of Abraham Nahor though he continued in the land of Aram and went not out with Abraham yet was in his kind a good Kinsman too for he rejoyced to heare of Abrahams welfare and intertained his servant courteously and most readily sent his daughter to him so long a journey into a farre countrey to be a yoake-fellow to Isaac his sonne to the no small comfort of Abraham and Isaac both Herein he shewed mercy and truth to Abraham as the servant spake and did the office of a good and loving Brother If God afford such blessings to any that he hath a loving wife and courteous Brother ready to gratifie and comfort him he must observe it with thankes and those that would have the good hand of God to stirre up their Bretheren to shew them due respect must even walke upright and before God that he may reward them as he rewarded Abraham But another blessing Abraham had too he met with very faithfull friends who were confederate with him and did most carefully observe the conditions of friendship and amity for you see they did readily joyne with him and helped him in his warre against the forenamed conquering kings and were instruments by their valour to redeeme Lot and to vanquish those conquerours This is a most desirable benefit to have true and trusty friends and allies that will sticke to him in his need and hazard themselves for him and joyne with him in his good cause and not prove like unto a leg out of joynt or a broken tooth when occasion serves to imploy them and use their labour or hazard for his benefit Doe you not think that Abraham rejoyced in the fidelity and amity of his associates Doe you not thinke that he blessed God for it and did account himselfe very happy in enjoying three such noble and worthy confederates Let us encourage our selves to obey God and to forsake our country and kindred at his command for cannot he repay and repaire that losse easily by raising us up even in
yea it doth appeare often that riches are laid up for the owners thereof for hurt And these be the benefits temporall which Abraham had for himselfe a good wife good children in their kinde and one religious good servants good friends good name good favour and great wealth to which add one particular benefit a great and famous victory over foure great and conquering Kings as the Holy Ghost telleth us Gen. 14.15 he pursued them he divided himselfe against them he and his servants by night and smote them and pursued them to Hobah and brought backe all the goods and Lot his brother and his goods and the women and his people An absolute victory was obtained by Abrahams wisedome and valour God gave him the wisdome God gave him the valour God gave him the successe The Prophet Esay sets forth Gods goodnesse to Abraham in generall as a sure argument that God will shew the like mercies to his people in after times bidding them looke unto Abraham and Sarah and saying Isa 51.2 I called him I blessed him and increased him and 41.2 3. He setteth forth this very benefit in magnificall phrases saying who raised up the righteous man from the East called him to his foot gave the nations before him and made him rule over Kings gave them as dust to his sword as driven stubble to his bow hee pursued them and passed safely by the way that he had not gone with his feete God would have his people take notice of this mercy in saving Abraham and making him victorious to assure them of his like love in defending them and giving them victory over all their enemies even the whole Church and each particular member thereof He that sheltered Abraham was with him gave Kings before him shall not he declare his love as much in future ages to his people Surely he is the same for ever Let this comfort us against all those that rise up against us But what did God for others for Abrahams sake First he blessed Lot the more for Abrahams sake and as it is noted Lot that went with Abraham had heards and after when God destroyed Sodome he thought of Abraham and delivered Lot also So God for a good mans sake will blesse and helpe even his friends and well-willers and those that belong to him shall be much the better for him according to the promise that he had made saying I will blesse them that blesse thee And for Abrahams children he blessed Isaac and gave him great outward things yea gave him also grace and made him heire of the Covenant and continued the Church in his house giving him a sonne in the life time of Abraham For Abraham had Isaac at a hundred and lived 175 yeares and Isaac married at forty and had Esau and Iacob at sixty so Abraham lived to see those two sonnes about five yeares old and gave outward things to Ishmael and abundance to him that Princes came of him in likelihood during Abrahams life time and he sent away his sonnes by Keturah with great riches and you know that even after Abrahams death God honoured him still by calling him his friend in many places and for his sake did great things for his sonnes after him in many generations Thus you see how worth the while it is to serve feare and obey God what abundant blessings he grants what honour and same even after death though all Gods people have not all these outward things in like manner bestowed upon them yet they have that which is sufficient for them and those that finde their friends and children happy in outward respects must observe Gods hand to be thankfull Yea we must all take notice of Gods like dealing with many of his people whose posterity flourish when they be dead some in goodnesse as well as goods and some at least in earthly respects and leave a good name behinde them so that many yeares after their decease their names are honourably mentioned and all men count them good and faithfull servants of God The name of the righteous is had in everlasting remembrance whilst they live and when they die God shewes himselfe gratious and bountifull to them even in temporall blessings oftentimes as well as spirituall But if any want these outward benefits they must consider of themselves whether their sinnes doe not deprive them thereof For sometimes such mercies are denied to Gods people to chastize and keepe downe and roote up some vices in them David was crossed in his children to correct his fondnesse and to chastize his adultery and murder Salomons posterity was brought low to chastize his Idolatry If in outward things the Lord seeme carelesse of his people they might easily finde by searching that some evill carriage of theirs hath caused him to chastize them in this life that by being brought to repentance they might not be destroyed and perish in another world and so much for these temporall benefits Now for spirituall blessings the first was that God called him out of his Countrey and Fathers house from the Idols of his Fathers house for they served false gods there Iosh 24.2 and acquainted him with himselfe the onely true God No greater blessing can befall a man here then to be called from a false religion to the true religion so that his heart be inclined also to the practise of the true religion and that he be effectually sanctified as was Abraham Wee must looke that wee have this mercy of effectuall calling Indeed from Idols and such kinde of false gods wee are called or rather we have beene kept from following them at all but ah are we called to walke before God in holinesse and righteousnesse not alone turning from darkenesse to light from a false religion to the true but from the power of Satan unto God that is from serving the Divell in a wicked life to serve God in an holy life If we be not so called we are not sonnes of Abraham and outward blessings will doe us little good If we be then wee have cause to rejoyce before the Lord our God with exceeding great joy for he that is so called happie is he This is a mercy of mercies to be a Saint by calling one whom God hath so wrought upon by his Spirit that his outward call hath wonne him from the state of corruption to the state of grace And if any finde not himselfe so called or finde it doubtfull to himselfe whether he have beene so called yea or not let him earnestly seeke to God for it and if wee would know whether we be called yea or not compare our selves with Abrahams Call Gen. 12.1 God had said meaning before his Fathers death before he dwelt in Charran saith Steven for though because Terah was the Father the departure is ascribed to him yet God gave the call first to Abraham and he acquainted his Father with it and so his Father went out and he with
agreement is not so cordiall and hearty as it ought to be But the next Crosse in Lot was worse for in the spoile of Sodome he was spoiled and taken captive by those that tooke the Sodomites captive This comming to Abrahams eares pierced him indeed that his loving Cousin who had beene brought up in his house with him and had borne him company in all his peregrination from Vr till almost that time should fall into the hands of so cruell enemies should have his cattell and goods seized upon and himselfe and wife and children made slaves and bondmen This affliction is usuall enough in the world Much misery and distresse befalls them to whom wee wish well and we suffer in their sufferings whom naturall affection doth so indeere us unto as that wee cannot but have a fellow-feeling with them in their distresses as the members of the body suffer by consent But a second evill that I had almost forgotten pinched Abraham in Lot for Lot lost all in Sodome and went and dwelt in the Mount and there lay with his two daughters and begat of each of them a sonne This was no doubt noised abroad it came to Abrahams eares and filled his heart with a great deale of griefe that such a man as he had taken Lot to be and found him to be after God had afflicted and chastened him and also shewed him mercy and delivered him should runne into so monstrous and unnaturall sinnes as to commit incest not with one of his daughters which had beene farre too much but even with both of them one after the other This I say pierced Abrahams soule to thinke of he could not but be sensible of all the bitter reproachfull taunts that the true religion of God would suffer for this crime of Lot The sinnes and crimes of those that are deare to us and the reproach that followes thence both upon themselves and sometimes upon the truth of God which they professe must needs breede much heavinesse unto good men and sometimes the providence of God so disposeth of things that the people of God shall be humbled so as Paul saith God would humble him he feared when he should finde many impenitent sinners in Corinth and it had brought anguish to his heart that the incestuous man had not alone so shamefully offended but also beene tolerated by the Church as no doubt also the heare-say of Rubens incest was a great vexation of heart to Iacob when the report of it was brought unto him Now see what Abraham suffered in his owne house in respect of his wives and children First his wife Sarah a good woman and deare to him was twice taken away from him once by the King of Egypt and after by the King of Gerar and he could not but be grieved at it so much the more because it came to passe by his owne default and sinne and because shee was so taken away as that it was likely every day that shee should have beene married to another man or at least have beene made a minister to serve his lust What an anguish was this thinke you How did this gaule his heart when he abode alone in his Tent and Sarah was not in hers when he lay alone at home and Sarah bare him not company yea when shee was perhaps in the bosome of another man to whom he had betrayed her by his cowardly feares and dissembling it scarce befalleth any of us to meete with such a crosse in his wife But secondly Sarah his wife was barren shee had no children fruitfullnesse and shee were parted as the Holy Ghost noteth This affliction hath befallen many good women and it was so much the more bitter to Abraham because he did not intend to take any other woman but that at last Sarah when her selfe was now by meanes of age past all hope did earnestly perswade him unto it To be childlesse is a crosse wherewith some are exercised but to Abraham it was a worse crosse then ordinary because the want of a childe was to him the want of salvation too for himselfe and all Nations were to be blessed in his seede So that if hee had had no sonne hee could have had no Heaven and nothing stood as a stronger objection against his being saved then his being childlesse Barrennesse with this aggravation comes not to any of us and if God had not eased this burden to Abraham by often renewing the promise of a child unto him doubtlesse it would have afflicted him sore But another crosse in Sarah upon occasion of Hagar there fell out a great jarre betwixt him and Sarah and shee that ever before had shewed her selfe a dutifull and respective wife now brake forth into much tartnesse and passion with him eagerly and wrongfully charging him to maintaine Hagar against her and to be the cause of her stubborne and contemptuous carriage This sounded harshly in Abrahams eares and this language was tedious to be so rated by Sarah it made him thinke the case strangely altered Indeed he by his wisdome calmed the tempest very soone it continued not long but it was a soure thing for the time many a man hath the same trouble for matter but more frequent and more lasting A wives passions are an husbands sufferings her anger and discontent and brawles with maides and men and children sometimes fall upon him and shee is ready causelesly to quarrell with him when she is displeased with them this crosse is so much the more tedious by how much a man doth more affect and love his wife and sometimes too it is aggravated by this that hee hath some way beene an occasion of it though unwittingly But lastly Abraham buried Sarah she died before him and he was faine to part with her unto the dust This calamity falleth upon many men to bury their wives but to many it is not a calamity they know how very quickly to make this affliction nothing by a speedy bringing in of another but to Abraham who loved Sarah and had long lived with her it must needes be matter of sorrow and so the Scripture witnesseth saying Hee rose up from before his dead whether hee had gone before to mourne and weepe for her These things he suffered in his wife Sarah Now in his Concubine Hagar first her ill carriage to Sarah was surely a griefe to Abraham when two such persons fall at oddes hee that is a common friend to both suffers in both The custome of Poligamie is weeded out of the Christian world so that men now are happier then to be vexed with the mutuall brawling of two Antagonists as I may call them but now the contentions of neere friends do fall out somewhat bitter sometimes to them that love both so well that they know not where to take part Secondly When shee was now great by him she ran away from him and Sarah and carried the fruite of his body away with her This no doubt
fell upon her The benefits shee received were two first shee was redeemed from the Captivity of the Kings that had taken her selfe Husband Daughter and whole Family prisoners in the Conquest of Sodome where they dwelt at that time and upon their deliveance neither shee nor her husband had the grace to consider of it and to remoove from Sodome and dwell againe in some better place neerer Abraham Secondly shee was delivered out of the burning of Sodome together with her Husband and Daughters saving that shee made the benefit unprofitable to her selfe by her sinning And her sinne though it seemed little in respect yet indeed was very great The matter was small the transgression was great as in great poyson fullnesse may be found in a small quantity of liquor even in a drop or lesse then a drop Shee was forbidden by the Angell that sent her forth to looke backe to Sodome and yet expressely against that charge shee did looke backe the cause of that prohibition may seeme to have beene this the Lord knowing her too eager affection to the goods shee left behinde her would have her now cast off that inordinate passion and accepting the goodnesse of God in giving her her life for a prey not so much as to turne and looke towards Sodome but trust God for goods who had now vouchsafed them life but shee belike thinking as many of us would have thought as good die as be sent away a beggar and destitute of all things could not keepe her heart constant in taking notice of the great benefit of escaping the fire but out of griefe to leave house and all after her turned backe to salute them once againe with her eye This sinne was compounded of disobedience to God speaking in the Angell and dis-esteeme of the present mercy and over-grieving the losse of her wealth Take heed you give not your selves leave to commit a thing expressely forbidden for usually much naughtinesse concurreth to produce such an act so the Lord that searcheth the heart accounteth that great which your blindnesse maketh you to esteeme nothing and so to punish it many times with some heavie punishment As it befell this woman her punishment was to be turned into a Pillar of salt The Lord instantly smote her with death and taking her soule from her body changed the body into a pillar which whether it be called a pillar of salt because it was of that matter or because of the everlasting continuance of it as an everlasting Covenant is called a covenant of salt I cannot determine The latter seemeth to mee the more probable howsoever shee is set forth to us for an example by which wee may informe our selves thus much that when God hath chastened us and by our chastisements taken pittie upon us and granted us deliverances and yet wee profit so little by both as to continue faulty in the same faults wee shall then finde his hand more heavie upon us by some exemplary blow as it is noted by David that though the Lord brought the people out of Egypt yet hee did after destroy them in the wildernesse that did not beleeve Let us feare least the Lord set us up also as Monuments of his just severity when hee findes us not reformed by former goodnesse and gentlenesse * ⎠* THE TVVELFTH EXAMPLE OF LOTS Daughters and others of that time WEE have finished the things that are recorded of Lots selfe and his Wife Next let us tell you what is recorded of his two Daughters Their names their birth their death the Lord vouchsafeth not to mention and of their life not much is written and that which is tends all to their reproach First good deeds we have none for which to commend them or in which to follow them but bad deeds too many considering how great they were Their first sinne was that they consulted together and agreed about a most abhominable sinne nay a paire of grievous crimes at once In which the first-borne did make the motion and the younger gave her consent In the consultation about it see what reason induced and what it is to which they were induced by that reason The reason is 1. Their Fathers age who being now shortly to leave the world they would not have his off-spring perish in themselves 2. The want of other men to company with them there is not a man in all the earth to come in unto us after the earth They wanted other husbands to beget children of them in lawfull matrimonie Surely their late abode in Zoar might cause them to know that the whole world was not destroyed if they meant that there was never another man left with whom they might joyne themselves they did beguile themselves too too palpably for onely Sodome and Gomorrha and Admah and Zeboim foure Cities of the plaine were consumed with fire from Heaven the rest stood in their former estate Zoar they had seene standing and left it with their Father and seeing they dwelt upon a Mountaine they could not but discerne other Cities round about for that Countrey was full of Townes and people It is like therefore that they meant none neere unto us none of our blood and kindred But why should they make doubt of marrying any other besides their owne kindred They had beene betrothed to husbands in Sodome might they not as well marrie any other Cananite as a Citizen of Sodome It is apparant that their reasons were frivolous and vaine yet upon them they build a full resolution of committing two fearefull offences for they agree together saying Come let us make our Father drinke Wine and then let us lie with him to preserve seed of him They would seeme each to other to be carried with libidinous fancies as if lust led them but that a desire of preserving seed was the motive to the villanous designe Wee see how mans nature is easily drawne by weake and poore grounds to runne into very loathsome and foule crimes Better the world should have wanted continuance and ended in their persons then have it stored with an incestuous off-spring No other meeting together of man and woman if it had beene in the way of Matrimony is simply and of it selfe unlawfull but onely that of Parents and children for there was a time when the Brother married the sister without fault as in the beginning when the world had no other persons in it but brethren and sisters but never at any time was it lawfull for the daughters to have the Father or the Mother the sonne This therefore was the most unlawfull mixture in the same kinde and of different Sexe that possibly could be Yet upon a slender pretext that they knew not how to come by any other man and so their Fathers posterity should perish they consent to accomplish it Had they not beene made more then ordinarily immodest with the conversation of impure Sodomites they would have beene restrained with shame and
married any without the liking and privity of his Father but took the right and due course gave up himselfe to his Fathers authority and direction and therefore God gave him a good Rebekah indeed a comfortable wife and vertuous woman In this therefore all children are bound also to imitate him Children must take their Parents counsell and direction in matter of marriage and not bestow themselves without their good liking and consent that they may have Gods blessing attending them in their marriage when they honour at once both God and their Parents in obeying Gods Commandement and shewing due respect unto their Parents So did even Ishmael though otherwise a wilde man for it is said of him that his Mother tooke him a wife So did Iacob afterwards His Father blessed him and sent him to Padan Aram to take him a wife of the daughters of Laban his Mothers brother And when Sampson saw a woman of Timnah that pleased him well he spake to his Father and Mother to take the Maide for him who went downe thither and made the match for him Indeed the Parents have more discretion and understanding then the children by reason of their age and experience and therefore it is for the childes good to follow their advice And to whom must the children goe for comfort and helpe in case that any crosse befall them in marriage but onely to their Parents of which comfort and helpe they deprive themselves if they venture upon marriage without them wee know that those God hath not joyned in marriage whom he doth not unite in that estate Now God hath made the Parents his Deputies in this behalfe saying unto them give your daughters in marriage and take sonnes for your daughters and againe you shall not give your daughters to them in marriage nor take their sonnes to your daughters Now how can it be said that God joyned them if their Parents whom hee hath made rulers over them in his steed do not joyne them seeing immediately hee doth joyne none in these our daies Also the children are the goods of the Parents as a part of their possession insomuch that they were also to be sold to pay their debts Wherefore as no bargaine is firme in other kindes of goods without the consent of those that have right unto those goods so neither can this covenant be good without the consent of Parents which have as much right from God in their children as in any other of their goods Wherefore those sonnes and daughters are much to be blamed who have neglected this part of their duty to their Parents and have suffered their blinde and strong passions so farre to transport them that against their Parents consent and counsell they have bestowed themselves in Matrimony and so have transgressed against the plaine commandement of God Such must heartily repent of their sinne and humble themselves before God with much sorrow for their great and wilfull disobedience Parents would not have their children thus to slight and dishonour them yea they take it grievously and are much perplexed with sorrow for their children in this case therefore children should bee much grieved themselves if they have given this occasion of griefe unto their Parents To satisfie mens owne desires and affections without regard to Gods ordinances is a notorious disobedience and bringeth the guilt of a great offence upon the soules of them that have so offended All you that have married in this disorderly manner see that you doe unfaignedly repent of the sinne before God and confessing the fault before him seeke to prevent the curse that must else fall upon you and your children after you for so dishonouring your Parents And you young men and women that be not yet married see that you binde your consciences and resolve your wills to obey this commandement Follow God in your Parents and be not so rash and selfe-willed as to crosse them and follow your owne heads and passions This duty will be easie if you looke carefully to your passions at first and suffer them not to be undiscreetely fixed upon any person untill you have acquainted your Parents with your desires and crav'd their allowance and consent But if a man or maide doe inthrall themselves and intangle others by a disorderly placing of their affections then shall they make this otherwise easie duty hard and impossible to themselves Keepe your selves therefore Masters of your owne hearts and sell not away your liberty through an over-hasty yeelding of your selves to your unruly passions Suffer not your mindes to be drawne away by any meanes but pray God to keepe your hearts in order It is a sinfull love as well as a sinfull passion in any other kinde which troubles an house and makes the children contrary to their Parents and to proove the greatest crosse that may be to them to whom they ought to have beene the greatest comfort Lastly Isaac shewes his due respect unto his Father by joyning with Ishmael his brother in burying his Father for so it is said his sonnes Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machphelah This is the last office that childeren can performe and they must shew their love and duty to them in the honourable performance of this last act as to testifie their love to their Parents so to declare their faithfull hope of the resurrection from the dead For therefore are men with due solemnities committed to the bosome of the earth because they expect their glorious rising againe and they shall not utterly perish and fall as doe the bruite and unreasonable creatures Now see Isaacs carriage towards his mother There was no love lost betwixt them but as Sarah did tenderly love Isaac so did he requite her love with love againe as is manifested in his sorrowfull taking of her death though she lived with him to a great age For so it is written that after Rebekkah was brought unto him and he was married unto her Gen. 24 ult Isaac was comforted after his mothers death intimating that even untill then he was grieved for the losse of her It is a fault therefore in childeren oversoone to forget their dead mothers and to let their remembrance quickly to slip out of their mindes how much more to be weary of their over-long lives and to be glad when the time comes that they must put them into the dust in respect of some paultrey gaine of money of land that they shall possesse when the Father and mother is dead All that desire their parents death for their goods sake which they shall enjoy after them and are glad when they shall change their parents for their goods must needes be called wicked and ungratefull childeren See therefore that you children love even your mothers heartily moderately lamenting their death that you may make it appeare their life was not a burden unto you And so have we seene Isaacs goodnesse towards his parents Looke into his carriage
sanctified because they were imperfect in patience Why should we make such untrue and uncharitable and indiscreet conclusions either against our selves or others with whom we live As an extenuating of faults to make them seeme nothing and make our hearts hard under them is to be condemned so an over-aggravating of them to make our selves seem no children making our case worse then ever any mans before is likewise to be condemned Satan is author of both these follies and the effect of the latter is to drive us from God as well as of the former and all things are ill used when they tend to keepe us from comming to God and trusting in him So much of Rebekkahs good and bad now of the good and evill occurrents that befell her Her prosperity first was great for God called her from her Fathers house in which Idolatry did raigne and false worship prevailed to be a member of Abrahams house and a mother of the Messiah and a professor and practiser of Gods true religion and not alone so but gave her grace to be a godly woman an heire of the promise made to Abraham together with her husband This is the greatest of mercies here below to be called from darknesse to light from serving the devill and Idols to serve the true and living God If God have granted to any this mercy even to call them effectually to himselfe out of the darknesse of a false worship and religion to the light of a godly life How much cause hath he to blesse God and to rejoyce in this mercy above all mercies and bee freequently and heartily thankfull But if you have not yet attained it for many live in the Church that be not of it take notice of your wretched condition and now cry earnestly to God to bring you to the effectuall and saving knowledge of his truth that you also may be indeed and â—ot in bare profession of the houshold of Abraham the true Church But Rebekkah had other benefits beauty health and strength for ought we reade after marriage as before A rich and godly husband in whom she was doubly happy for her soule and state and one godly childe too whom she dearely loved and who shewed himselfe a man worthy to be loved A good husband a good state a good childe good health bee they not benefits indebting us to God in many praises and thankes and much carefull obedience Let not these mercies be strangers to your thoughts but ponder upon them to stir up your selves to thanksgiving and obedience Now for her crosses some shee suffered in her dayes as well as others First her husband fell blinde and weake and almost bedridden No doubt but she did participate with him in this affliction and it was a griefe to her to see him so imprisoned in darknesse and some trouble it must needs be though her love made it easie to give attendance upon him in that estate Likewise she could not but grieve to see her husbands affections to be so much more than they should have been for a long time upon her elder but worser son It was also a great griefe unto her to see the rudenesse and bloodinesse of her son Esau who comforted himselfe against his brother with an intention so soon as his Fathers funerals were over to dispatch him and rob him of the blessing though he could not get it to himselfe Would it not cut the heart of one of you Parents to heare that one of your sons you having but a couple in all the world should resolve to become a murderer of the other and so you stood in danger of being deprived of them both at once would not both these things grieve you Againe it was a griefe to her to have her good son as it were banished from her house and compelled to fly away in secret for his life For had he not been compelled to steale into Padan Aram in respect of Esau as to steale thence again in respect of Laban his Fathers estate was not so low that he must needs have travailed over that Iordan with a staffe and come to Labans house all alone and there have served an hard service for a wife Sure Isaac was not a prodigall he had not consumed his estate so that Abrahams grandchilde must be sent out so poorely appointed whose steward when he fetched a wife for Isaac had ten Camels well laden with rich things and many servants to attend him and so with speed returned home with his errand But feare of Esau caused him to goe speedily and secretly that no man might know it lest so he might have fallen into mischiefe by his meanes and to tarry so long till he might heare his brother was pacified Now did not this think you wound Rebekkahs heart Did she not part with a great part of her comfort when she parted with her beloved son Iacob so far so long and in such a manner But worst of all so long as she lived with her daughters shee was miserably vexed with their frowardnesse and ill conditions Indeed at length Esau tooke his journey to mount Seir where her friends dwelled and made this crosse more easie by removing his habitation with his wives and all he had but in the mean it was an anguish to her and that viz. losse of Esau too when Iacob was gone could not but minister matter of some affliction to her in minde Now let all of us be perswaded to looke for these and the like crosses that by fortifying our selves against them we may be made more patient and so beare them with lesse discontent for what are we that God should handle us with more indulgence than this so good a woman And those that lie under any such crosse in husband sons daughters daughters in law let them frame themselves to a more contented suffering because they finde that they bee no other kind of evils than those wherewith their Father hath exercised their betters in former times as he doth also for the present Hee must be an unruly childe that will roare and take on when he beareth no more than his other brethren and sisters beare before him yea and if we have escaped these particular crosses let us be thankfull to God for our freedome even from them and make the bearing of the rest more easie because we have not as we have deserved and might have had the same we have and these also for an overplus of misery THE SEVENTENTH EXAMPLE OF ESAV WEE are now to handle the example of Esau Hee was a twin Iacob being the other twin We must treate of his birth life and death First for his birth we are informed that hee was the son of Isaac and of Rebekkah the wife of Isaac daughter of Bethuel by his wife Milcah Which Bethuel was son of Nachor the brother of Abraham He was borne in the yeare of the world 2108 as some thinke and as others
moneths after his comming thither as may be demonstrated by the ages of the children by name of Ioseph the youngest who was seventeene when hee was sold into Aegypt and thirty when he stood before Pharaoh first and lived after seven yeares of plenty and then two yeares of scarcity that is thirty nine in all and then was Iacob one hundred and thirty So that Iacob was ninty and one yeares of age when he begate him and that was in the last of the fourteene yeares agreed upon for by and by upon his birth Iacob would have laboured for his owne house and Laban agrees upon wages Therefore hee was seventy and seven yeares or thereabouts when he came to Laban and being of that age it was not likely that he would live so long unmarried afore hee tooke a wife Againe betwixt Iacobs going to Padan and returning were but two yeares at the most and then was Ioseph seven yeares old for hee was borne toward the end of the fourteenth yeare and if Iacob had not married Leah till seven yeares were ended the eldest of Iacobs sonnes could be but seven yeares at most elder than hee that is fourteene yeares and Ioseph was thirty and nine yeares when Iacob came to him or thereabouts Therefore the eldest of Iacobs sonnes at that time was but forty and six and Iudah was the fourth of the same mother so he must be but forty and two or thereabouts and yet had he three sonnes marriageable before he begate Pharez and Pharez had two sonnes when they went downe to Aegypt Allow Iudah to marry at fifteene Er at fifteene and let Thamar waite but two yeares for the third sonne now Iudah was thirty and two Let Pharez marry at fifteene and have two sonnes in two yeares that is seventeene so have we forty and nine yeares and therefore seeing greater haste could not be made at least so many yeares did passe betwixt and that will come to just seven yeares more than the time will amount too if Iacob married at the end of seven yeares therefore he married the first yeare But whensoever he married in making himselfe a son in Law he made himselfe an hired servant too now how did he carry himselfe as a servant First with all diligence Secondly faithfulnesse For he followed his masters businesse painfully and constantly and ordered himselfe towards them most innocently and so made his little much through the blessing of God upon his labour and fidelity Now these duties appertaine to all servants and are required of S. Paul saying doing Service with good will and not with eye service as men pleasers but with singlenesse of heart fearing God and shewing all good faithfulnesse that the name of God be not evill spoken of And seeing God would have families maintained and a distinction of Master and Servants in the families it was requisite that he should oblige servants to these duties for upon the prosperity of families depends the welfare of Townes and Countries and so of the whole World An house in which good servants live prospers but idle and untrusty servants quickly bring it to nought God therefore that made all things for good welfare and prosperity must needs according to the rules of his own wisdome fit the means to the end and require servants in this manner to governe themselves to their Governours Now you that have been servants formerly which hath beene the state and condition of the greater number amongst you Consider what servants you have been let not your younger dayes be passed over forgetfully It is a principall part of an aged mans duty to looke backe upon his former times and to finde out the mistakes of his youth that by humbling himselfe for them he may attaine pardon from God Loe this duty now and if you can remember your selves to have been slothfull wastfull undutifull servants as far unlike to Iacob as blacke and white are unlike each to other then take time to present your selves before God and judging your selves for such injuriousnesse beg pardon and remission and resolve against the like corruptions of your present places And you who finde that God did inable you in that estate to shew your selves diligent and trusty give God the glory and rejoyce in his great goodnesse that gave you not over to the unbridlednesse of your evill natures An aged man whose youth hath been indifferently well ordered hath great cause to blesse Gods name that gave him not over to the licentiousnesse of that age And all you that be servants must pray to God that he would make you good and conscionable servants that not alone out of love to your owne reputation and a desire to thrive in the world that you may be painfull and trusty but out of a desire and intention to please God in your places and callings for S. Paul would have servants to remember that They serve the Lord Christ and To looke unto the immortall inheritance with which he will reward them as well as those that serve him in higher callings Again He discovered a great deale of patience and gentlenesse towards him for Laban was fickle and inconstant and changed his wages many times he saith ten times I suppose using by a wonted figure a certaine number for an uncertaine But Iacob devoures this wrong patiently doth not expostulate with him nor shew himselfe sharp or bitter but puts it over without words and goes not from him through discontent till God by an Angel bid him goe to his Fathers house againe So should servants shew themselves gentle to their ungentle masters that are unkinde and injurious to them and doe not use them so well as equity requireth and not be clamorous and violent against them But most servants though they receive no hard measure but alone are justly reproved and corrected for their faults are so impatient that they cannot beare it but make false and harsh complaints and are so imbittered and discontented that they straight resolve to run away and cannot bring themselves to stoope these are of a contrary spirit to Iacob Now lastly in the cloze of all when Iacob went from his Father in Law he shewed himselfe a man that though hee were sensible of injuries could yet moderate his passions and keep anger within due limits for hee chid with him indeed and was angry against him which any man may lawfully doe against him that seekes to doe him hurt but he doth not raile at him nor give him foule language only he telleth him before their common friends of his former and evill usage acknowledging Gods goodnesse in preserving him from his rage O that we could learne of him to be so farre masters of our selves that when just occasion of anger doth offer it selfe wee might then command our selves to forbeare bitter and reviling speeches and not be so transported beyond our selves as to raile sweare curse threaten and it may be worse than all this Most men when anger begins
priviledge is it and this is a mercy promised to all Saints For so saith our Saviour If my mords abide in you and you abide in me aske what you will and you shall have it And againe S. Iohn telleth us This is our confidence that whatsoever we aske according to his will he heareth us Therefore let us keepe our interest into this mercy by not having respect to sinne in our hearts and by constant endeavour to walke holily before the Lord. And if we have found and doe finde God favourable to us in this kinde so that we lose not our prayers which wee make unto him let us then comfort our selves in this benefit and be carefull to yeeld as obedient an eare to his word as hee doth yeeld a patient eare to our supplications And now of Iacobs temporall benefits First he was blessed with a large estate in the world according to his profession being a Shepheard his flocks did thrive he had cattell and servants in abundance God blessed him in Labans house and made all the stronger cattell to bring forth just such kinde of young as Laban had consented to give him for his wages so that he could not but see a Divine hand taking Labans goods and giving them to him as himselfe noteth Riches are do great matter but when God giveth them as tokens of his love and tender respect they are desirable Let those that enjoy them be sure that they come to them from God as fruits of his goodnesse or else the worst men may be wealthier than the best And let those that are upright with Iacob learne to trust God with their estate and to know that what shall be good for them shall be seasonably provided for them Secondly God delivered him out of all adversity as himselfe saith on his death-bed The Angel that redeemed me from all evill His three greatest dangers were first from Esau both when hee went unto Padan Aram and when hee returned at the former time God brought him safe to Padan and so restrained the minde of Esau that then hee put off the thought of killing him to his Fathers death and at the later time God so melted him that hee shewed himselfe exceeding kinde and fell upon his neck and kissed him instead of killing him which hee had intended and therefore hee tels Esau that hee had seene his face as the face of GOD. Laban pursued him too with a purpose to strip him of all and to send him empty home and he had power in his hand to doe it as himselfe saith but God appeared to him and rebuked him that he durst not handle him amisse The Inhabitants of the Countrey were much insenced against him in respect of that outragious murder and rapine committed upon the Sichemites and by his Sons in so much that Iacob feared much that they would pursue him and cut him off but God cast a feare into their hearts so that they did not offer any violence unto him as is noted by the Story These three great deliverances God vouchsafed Iacob O let us learne to turne to God and to walke before him in truth and then we shall have God ready to help us in all our necessities and at that time and in those exigents to provide for us meanes of escape by his providence when our owne wit and strength faileth as we finde him dealing with Iacob What could he doe against Esau Laban or the Inhabitants of the Countrey Let us cleave to God that hee may be out Buckler also and our strong Tower and Rocke of defence and if we have found so much favour with God as to rescue us out of such dangers as seemed unpreventable let not us attribute the deliverances to any other secondary causes but even see God in them ascribe them to him and learne thence to feare honour and praise him Those deliverances are indeed profitable that are cords of kindnesse to tie us nearer to God Hee that improveth not such benefits to that end loseth the most desirable fruit of them Further Iacob had a large off-spring of children twelve sons and one daughter this is a favour to give a man store of children of these sons all had wealth enough Ioseph was very religious in his youth and Benjamin civill and orderly at least and at the end all of them turned home and became godly men O happinesse to have so many children some good betime all holy at last all prosperous in outward things and one much advanced Another mercy of God was the providing of Ioseph as a man before to maintaine him and his family in Aegypt and bringing him to see Ioseph and enjoy his preferment for seventeen yeares together where he lived in as great a fulnesse of prosperity and concluded his dayes as happily as ever man did living in Iosephs bosome as it were seeing all his children godly and prosperous and feeling no considerable adversity having Iosephs oath also to bury him in Canaan This is a singular favour of God to make ones old age prosperous and to cause his eyes to see so much happinesse as he can wish when now he is ready to leave the world Marke the righteous man in the Psalme it is said The end of that man is peace Study righteousnesse that you may inherite this blessing and never threaten your selves how miserable you shall be hereafter God can provide wayes that you know not to make you safe and comfortable beyond your thoughts O be faithfull with him and trust in him and feare nothing So much for Iacobs life Now for his death It was a most seasonable death after a large time of life a most peaceable death in the midst of his Sonnes a most religious death blessing them and confirming their faith with his last words a most comfortable death so soone as he had ended his blessing he pulled up his legs and gave up the Ghost and then he had also an honourable embalming and buriall as at large is set downe in the Story Who would not wish such a death And yet more after death he hath an honourable name on earth and liveth in eternall glory in heaven Now let us imitate Iacobs vertues and labour to be upright and then notwithstanding many sins we shall have at last eternall happinesse and so much happinesse in this world also as is needfull for us Now we will shew you what calamities he suffered for the people of God must looke to suffer much tribulation in this world as it is foretold them both because their owne need requireth it to make and keep them good and cause them to grow in goodnesse as also because the Lord sees it fit thus to magnifie his power justice wisdome and goodnesse in sustaining and delivering them His chastisements then were these First that his Father did not love him so well as his brother but did manifestly prefer hunting Esau before
him in his affections and afforded him no great signes of love but this was somewhat mitigaed because God inclined his mothers heart to him who at least in this matter was better than her husband Now if it be the lot of any childe to be neglected of his Parents and to have irreligious brethren preferred before him let him beare it patiently it was Iacobs lot and let him not be discouraged from good wayes for at last God may change his Parents hearts unto him It could not but grieve Iacob that his Father should so disaffect him as to give away the blessing from him But let children to whom it befalleth beare the crosse quietly for it is easie with God to make all end well Another crosse that befell him in his Fathers house was this his brother Esau was bitter against him and resolved to kill him A miserable calamity to be hated of his owne brother and to have his own brother yea a twin borne at the same time to hate him so sharply as to intend his death You must looke for such a crosse and beare it if it come and blesse God if he have pleased to keep you from suffering it so that your brothers and kindred agree well with you and rather shew you kindnesse A third crosse was his flight into Padan Aram and being benighted in the way in a solitary and desert place all alone which yet was mitigated by the goodnesse of God appearing to him in a dreame To be driven out of one Countrey and forced to hard and solitary travell and to meet with such kinde of accidents as benighting and the like be calamities we must even prepare for them that we may beare them without discouragement as seeing God in them and considering that he is with us when we want other company Now in Labans house he met with great crosses 1. His Father deceived him in his wife substituting Leah in Rachels stead then which how could a man more beguile another for by that meanes hee was compelled to adde seven yeares service more Againe he sought to deceive him in his wages and changed it many times being angry that God gave him so large and plentifull a recompence then he grumbled at him and looked discurteously upon him as also did his sons And last of all he pursued him with an intention to take all from him and there falsly accuseth him of stealing his gods See here from his Father in Law and Vncle most unjust and discurteous usage you that have found at least with your nearest friends just and kinde dealing acknowledge Gods goodnesse in it The contrary would tast very sowre let this drive you to most hearty and humble thanksgiving It should be confessed a very great mercy to escape very great crosses and if you pehaps meet with the same crosses be quiet for did not Iacob beare them and why not you Wee must not thinke never man was so used as I am and by that counterfeit aggravation flatter our selves in our impatiency and make our selves beleeve wee have cause to be disturbed but rather informe our selues of that which fell to other of Gods Saints and so bring our passions to a reasonable calmnesse But in his journey he was like to fall into a great danger for his brother Esau came against him with foure hundred souldiers intending to kill him and that affrighted him exceeding much but you see what end God made Learne to stand alwaies ready for death and yet alwaies confident in God though you see not how to escape the same but now see his crosses in his children First Reuben deflowred his Concubine Dinah his daughter was deflowred His sonnes used fraud and deceit to couzen the Sichemites and then most barbarous cruelty in killing all the men and spoiling the women children and goods and when he reproved them for it they made him a surly answer Shall they abuse our sister as a Whore Then Rachel dyed in childbed or travell then Ioseph was sold into Aegypt but as he thought slaine even Ioseph his most beloved and towardly son After Iudah went from him and his two sons were naught and himselfe defiled his daughter in Law and had two sons by her A great griefe and disgrace to Iacob Then Simeon was detained in Aegypt and Benjamin must needs travell downe to the great feare and doubt of the old man and this was the last of his crosses save that he lived in a grievous famine for two yeares till he came downe to Aegypt So have I briefly run over Iacobs miseries but they lay hard and heavy upon him Of all which you must make these uses First be thankfull for escaping the like prepare for them hereafter beare those that doe come patiently And take heed of provoking God for he is not a fond Father but Will scourge every son whom he receiveth For the first you have heard how many miseries this godly man was exercised withall Let me propound one question unto you Thinke you that your selves have more wit than he had or more goodnesse or more of both I presume I may make answer for you that you will not be so over conceited of your selves as to affirme either of these things Now if you be neither wiser nor godlier than he how commeth it that you have so long lived in the world and yet have not met with divers of those crosses that followed him No nor any in all your lives so pinching or grievous Sure if it be not to be attributed to your understanding and piety as it is not if you doe indeed acknowledge your selves to be not superiour or rather not equall unto Iacob therein who yet did meete with them then must you ascribe the same to the wisdome and goodnesse of God that hath disposed of things so by his wakefull providence as that such miseries have not way-laid you and seized upon you Therefore you must learne to be humbly thankfull to him and praise his holy name acknowledge his bountifulnesse graciousnesse and tendernesse that hath spared you from such smarting stroakes as these that fetched blood and teares as it were from good Iacob so holy a man If we be preserved from crosses that other men feele wee begin to lift up our selves to commend and prefer our selves above them that are heavier laden and to flatter our selves as if we were more loved of God than they then our ease is our bane and it shewes that we have not grace to make a good use of ease but if we confesse that we have deserved as much and more and had as little ability to shun them only God tendering our weaknesse hath used us with more clemency and so make this clemency an argument of praising him and of being more carefull to please him who would not strike us though he had both provocation from us and ability in himselfe this is an holy use of the absence of the
were borne or when they died seeing both their comming into the world and their departure out of it do perish for they come to nothing and both come in and go out as it were in an evill time But we have something to say of his parentage and life For his Parentage we learne Gen. 22.26 and 24.29 that he was the sonne of one Bethuel who was the sonne of Nachor the brother of Abraham who did not leave his Countrey and Fathers house with Abraham when he travelled at Gods Commandement into the land of Canaan but abode still in Padan Aram the land of his Nativity and there continued to follow strange gods and commit Idolatry of which all the world and by name the countrey was then full So hee was the Idolatrous son of an Idolatrous Father and Grandfather which did as most men doe take up the religion of his forefathers without more adoe not looking whether hee served God aright but counted it sufficient to serve God as his Progenitors had done before not at all considering whether it were the true God or the false whom they served or whether it were true or false worship which they performed Now in his life wee must consider his deeds good and bad and the things that befell him good and bad First then for his good deeds for even a bad man may have some civill vertues found in his life out of a common worke of Gods Spirit who will not suffer men to be so farre over-runne with vices but that for the preservation of humane societies they shall have some shadows of vertues seene in them These good deeds of his looke partly to men and partly to God His good deeds to men-ward are first to Abrahams servant Secondly to Rebekkah his sister Thirdly to Iacob his kinsman Fourthly to his Daughters and Grandchildren First let us consider his carriage to Abrahams servant Eliezer of Damascus who was sent by his master Abraham to fetch a wife for his son Isaac out of Padan Aram because he would not match him with the cursed seed of the Canaanites The first thing commendable in him is that hee vouchsafeth curteous entertainment unto him for when the servant meeting with Rebekkah had found great kindnesse from her in watering his Camels as well as giving himselfe drinke out of her pitcher and that hee had rewarded her with precious gifts Gen. 24.22 viz. with a golden eare-ring of halfe a shekel weight and two golden bracelets of ten shekels weight for her hands and that shee had invited him to her Fathers house and comming home had told Laban her brother of the man who hee was and what hee had bestowed upon her presently Laban goes forth to the man ver 31. and invites him to the house with very kinde words saying Come in thou blessed of the Lord wherefore standest thou without for I have prepared the house and roome for thy Camels and so bringing him home they ungirded the Camels and hee gave him straw and provender for them and water to wash his feete and the feete of those that were with him and then set meate before him that hee might eate Loe here an example of curteous hospitality hee gave him good and loving words and provided and ministred to him all things necessary for his cattell and companions and himselfe Thus should men use kinde and liberall hospitality towards such friends as upon occasion doe repaire unto their houses and this is a kinde of vertue which may bee found in men that are destitute of all true grace and piety For even nature it selfe teacheth men to shew love and humanity to men that are of the same nature with themselves because they looke to finde the like gentlenesse themselves from others upon like occasions Here is one thing in Laban worthy praise and imitation another is that hee gives him an honest and good answer when hee had declared unto them his errand For the man refusing to eate till hee had related his businesse unto them being very faithfull to his master and diligent in the matter committed to his trust up and told them all that had fallen out why hee came thither and how hee had by a speciall providence of God met with Rebekkah at the fountaine of water requested to know their minde and what hee must trust unto in this matter and from Bethuel the maides Father and Laban of whom wee are speaking her Brother hee received this just and discreete answer That the thing proceeded from God and they were able to say neither good nor bad unto him that is not to crosse his motion by any allegation one way or other concluding that Rebekkah was before him and that hee might with their good consent take her and goe that shee might bee his Masters sons wife as God had spoken ver 50 51. of the same Chapter In this passage you see a great deale of honest plainnesse seeing God had directed him by his speciall hand to this maiden they would bee no hinderance unto him but would give their willing consent to the marriage It is a good thing for men to consent unto honest and good motions chiefly when they see God himselfe by his good providence going before them and as it were leading the way unto them A third good thing in Laban was that hee doth speedily dismisse the man and hindered not his present returne unto his Master with a wife for his son For so it is written ver 59. that when hee rising betimes in the morning was earnest to returne that very day and that they at first required ten dayes stay for Rebekkah but hee requesting them not to hinder his expedition seeing God had prospered him they called the Damsell and asked her consent viz. Whether shee was willing to goe with the man and finding her very forward they sent her away without further lingring It is a good thing when wee have entertained any one in our house and his desire is as his occasions shall require to make haste home to further him by all meanes and not to stop his proceedings with delayes For many times such deferring proves very unpleasing and sometimes dangerous to the party to whom wee would seeme to shew love and good will as wee see it did in case of the Levite whose Father in Laws importunity caused him to stay a day or two beyond his desire in the later end of the Story of Iudges Thus hath Labans carriage beene good to this servant of Abrahams We must follow the goodnesse of all men even Idolaters and Heathens Now consider how hee behaved himselfe to his sister to whom he discovers good affection and love by a curteous dismissing of her ver 60. They blessed her and said thou art our sister bee thou the mother of thousands of millions and let thy seed possesse the gates of them which hate them that is prevaile mightily against all their enemies and conquer them
if they have just cause to contend with them Brethren should wish all prosperity and welfare to their sisters and brethren and to their children after them even that they may grow strong and mighty in the world for carnall men having but a carnall minde and affection can wish no better but carnall benefits unto their friends and kindred and these they ought to wish heartily and to procure also so far as opportunity shall be offered But now it is time that we shew Labans good carriage to Iacob the son of this his sister a long time after First hee doth lovingly entertaine him also when hee came unto him but even in a poore and naked fashion nothing so richly provided nor attended as the forenamed servant was in the former narration Iacob came all alone and with nothing almost but his staffe in his hand but yet when hee had faithfully reported to him both who hee was and what occasion drove him in such manner out of his Fathers house hee receiveth him with all curtesie For it is noted Gen. 29.12 13 14. That when Rachel had heard of Iacobs mouth who he was and had acquainted her Father with his comming hee hearing this tidings of his sisters sonne ranne to meete him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house and when Iacob had certified him of his matters hee answered him lovingly saying Surely thou art my bone and my flesh that is bee not troubled for these things I acknowledge thee to bee my kinsman and I will carry my selfe towards thee accordingly Loe how a man voide of true religion may yet have good naturall affection to his kinsman and that though he finde him in somewhat a poore case and destitute of things needfull And doubtlesse it is a vertue and deserveth praise to stand so disposed unto ones kinsmen or kinswomen that are as Laban could say Our bone and flesh Nearenesse of blood requires some speciall love and respect to those to whom nature hath so nearely united to us Every man promiseth himselfe kindnesse from such persons and therefore the common phrase of the world hath entitled them friends by a kinde of excellency because they should be forward to performe all loving and friendly offices Another vertue in Laban is that of his owne accord hee doth offer wages or recompence unto him for his worke for perceiving him to be of an industrious disposition that knew not how to passe his time idlely though in a strange place and withall skilfull and understanding in matters of such nature as Labans calling stood upon viz. in Cattell hee sayes thus unto him ver 15. Because thou art my brother that is kinsman Shouldest thou serve mee for nought that is that were an unreasonable thing indeed and therefore tell me what shall thy wages be Loe he would not deale so unjustly with his kinsman as to take his labour and service for nothing but is willing to give him such convenient satisfaction as he should demand This is such a point of righteousnesse and equity as even nature it selfe doth teach and a meere naturall man not too much over run with worldlinesse of minde may practise towards others For seeing every man must make himselfe the measure of his dealing with his neighbour and that it cannot but seeme unrighteous to any man if he bee driven to worke for nothing surely he cannot but conclude that himselfe also is bound to recompence the labour and service of another And this justice was so well knowne to Laban and hee had so much goodnesse remaining in him afterwards too that hee continues to exercise it after Iacob had finished his fourteene yeares service and was now to make a new bargaine as you shall reade Chap. 30. ver 25. and 35. For when Iacob requested his good will to returne home because hee knew how faithfully hee had served hee acknowledges his painfulnesse and trustinesse and his good successe too and therefore requests him to tarry with him and makes him this offer saying Appoint mee thy wages and I will give it and when Iacob made a reasonable motion that for the clearing of his innocency and preventing of all mistakings hee might have for his wages the speckled and spotted amongst the Goates and the browne amongst the Sheepe that should after bee yeaned hee meaneth he agrees to the condition and so Iacob was willing to serve him on these termes Here you see justice in Laban hee is willing to give his servant due wages for his worke This point of equity is written in nature and little goodnesse is left in him that doth not know and follow it So you have Labans just dealing with Iacob Now looke into a third thing commendable in him and that is when Iacob offers to serve him seven yeares for his younger daughter Rachel Chap. 29. ver 18 19. He consents to the motion saying It is better that I give her to thee than to another man and so bids him abide with him that is I will give her thee on this condition and not only so but hee puts upon him the elder daughter and so makes him his son in Law in both of them That which was faulty in this passage we shall speake of anon when we come to mention his faults but this was a good thing in him that he liked so well of Iacobs carriage that he was willing to bestow his daughters upon him It is a matter both of prudence and honesty too to like so well of the vertue and good qualities of an honest and good man as to be willing for these things sake other matters not too too much gain-saying to make choice of him for a son in Law The qualities of a man are principally to bee regarded in the choice of a sonne in Law and yet hee is not truly discreete and wise that doth not looke unto this thing in the choice of an husband for his daughter A person painfull diligent thrifty and of good carriage and sufficiencies is rather to bee taken than one destitute of these qualities though hee bee farre more high and rich It is the husbands selfe that will make the Wives life either most miserable or most happy and Laban did well in making such a choice and never shall he repent the match that findeth these things in him with whom hee matcheth but without these things in the person the state and quality of the man in other respects cannot hinder but that a little time will make both Father and daughter too unwish the bargaine they have made How let us see what was good in Laban in the very cloze of all with Iacob as you have it Chap. 31.44 ad finem He layes by all anger and discontent and considering the nearenesse that was betwixt them hee made the motion of entring into covenant with Iacob and so they solemnly ratifie the covenant by setting up an heape of stones and feasting upon the heape and eating
this caused the falling out See here the guise of a carnall and earthly minded man hee will become an enemy and beare a grudge to any that hinders him in his gaine though it bee without any wrong or injustice It was not any injury though it were a damage to Laban that still the greater number and better cattell were Iacobs but because hee sees it so therefore hee beares an ill affection to Iacob as Saul hated David because hee saw that God had intended to turne the kingdome unto him Nature will shew that this is a fault for why should I hate a man because God prospers him but desire of gain will so blinde the eyes that hee which is led with it will not avoide this fault nor will take notice likely that it is a fault you must observe it in Laban and informe your selves how unreasonable a thing it is and the sonnes of Laban too did joyne with him in the same fault for they also muttered against him in this respect And now I proceed to his next fault hee pursued Iacob with an hostile minde intending either to bring him backe againe and then hee must have served him on poore and hard termes or else to have sent him empty enough away and accordingly provided himselfe of company in so much that himselfe saith It was in his power to have done Iacob hurt but that God forbade him and Iacob upbraides him with it Indeed God needed not to have appeared to him for the forbidding of such a thing if hee had not seene what would else have beene the issue A very great sinne this was in his purpose though God hindered the execution wee must marke his sinne hee followed Iacob in anger meaning to have stript him of all A wicked thing it is upon occasion of something that looketh like a fault to attempt such a businesse for the worst that hee could alleadge was Iacobs stealing away without giving him warning or leave and this in Iacob was no fault at all because God commanded him so to doe neither had it beene a fault though God had not bidden it for it seemes their agreement was but from yeare to yeare or for a lesse space of time in that Laban changed the wages so oft and therefore the time prefixed being fulfilled Iacob was at his liberty and might goe without asking his leave or making him privy to his purpose But Laban is glad to have an advantage of such a pretence and resolves Is hee gone without my liking and knowledge Well I will teach him better manners towards his Master and Father in Law I will fetch him backe with a witnesse and so strengthening himselfe with company hee makes after him with a revengefull meaning and overtaking him begins to quarrell chargeth him to have done foolishly in conveighing himselfe away with his two daughters and their children so privately This is a wickednesse to intend to hurt a man to spoile him of his estate and to send him empty away taking the advantage of something by him done which may seeme to have beene done somewhat indiscreetly and faultily onely or chiefly out of envy and covetousnesse to get ones goods and to bee revenged of him No man is so blinde but hee would blame this in another and therefore must needs sinne against his knowledge if he doe it himselfe The last fault of Laban is that hee falsly chargeth Iacob with stealing his Idols and meerely upon surmises they were gone at that time when Iacob went and therefore his conclusion was Iacob must needes have them yea hee was so peremptory that Iacobs deniall would not satisfie though hee denied so strongly as to offer the offender to death if hee could finde them but hee rifles and searcheth all his goods for them imagining perhaps that some body else might have stollen them without Iacobs privity which was true indeed But here by the way I must taxe Iacob for a little too much confidence in his offer had Laban found the Idols hee would not have consented to the death of Rachel nor to the taking of her from him It is good to bee moderate in our speeches and not over-confident but Laban is the subject of our speech now hee did falsly charge Iacob with theft upon a surmise of his owne This is a sinne which no man can brooke from another without blaming him for it therefore hee hath light enough if hee could use the light to discover it in himselfe Too easily to beleeve and too earnestly to affirme against another that hee hath committed such a sinne because wee have some probabilities to alleadge against him is a sinne against our brother and an injurious defiling of his name against whom wee ought not to raise up an ill report Neither without just or sure proofe nor yet in publike manner as Laban did if wee might reforme it privately So Laban failed both in the manner and manner of his accusation the matter it was false the manner it was over-publike when it should and might have beene private though it had beene true Now I pray you let us search our selves to see if wee bee not guilty of the same faults with Laban and learne with griefe and shame to confesse that our selves who have farre more and better meanes have yet beene as palpably faulty as this Idolater as unjust as worldly as envious as apt to follow surmises and so in the rest and let us greatly abhorre our selves that better helpes have prevailed no more with us and now let us resolve to put away these faults and seeing we have given our names to Christ and enjoy the Word Name and Sacraments of Christ let us abhorre to runne into those evils which being blame-worthy enough in an Heathen are ten times more loathsome in a Christian So much of his deedes good and bad Now the things that befell him are some good and some bad at least as hee accounted it Good hee had a good sonne in law for his daughters through Gods disposing more then his owne seeking who married them on termes easie enough for him Indeed hee liked him for his good husbandry a thing within his element but hee was a godly husband too which wee should learne to prize as a great mercy and should bee able to discerne it an happinesse it is to have daughters bestowed on thriving and godly yoakefellowes Pray for it use meanes for it be thankfull for it Also hee had a state rich enough hee was a wealthy man in the place where hee lived Surely God that casts these things on such persons accounts them not excellent and if he deny them to his servants doth it not out of unwillingnesse or want of meanes but alone because hee knowes it better for their soules to bee destitute of them than to abound wherefore they must learne contentment in their absence And those that have them must take heed they over-prize them not and suffer not themselves by having them
to be made as Laban was worldly minded Now for crosses Wee reade little of Labans affliction it may bee it was a griefe to him that his daughters and grand-children went so farre from him but such a crosse even a naturall wise man may make easie to himselfe by considerations of reason that the good of their children so requires and that their comfort in their children stands not so much in seeing them as in their well-doing Onely Laban did make Iacobs prosperity a crosse to himselfe in suffering his minde to bee alienated from Iacob because Iacob did thrive a great deale faster than himselfe and to his hinderance which cannot bee done without a great deale of vexation It is an ill disease to bee sicke of another mans prosperity take heed you suffer not covetousnesse or other distempers to bring such sicknesse upon you With farre lesse vexation may a man lose halfe hee hath than beare the torment which such estrangement of heart will bring with it And now for Labans death we heare nothing of it onely hee lived and dyed so farre as wee see like a carnall man and he had no grace in him but after a little time here spent in earth prosperously enough at last so far as we can see he perished eternally for no footsteps of faith and true piety appeare in him O my brethren take heed that you doe not carry your selves so foolishly as to live in a meere worldly fashion scraping together a great heap of muck and dung on which the much deceived world doth falsely bestow the name of goods and then with the rich glutton and him that said Soule eate and drinke and be merry for thou hast much riches laid up in store for many yeares have your soule taken away and carried into the place and state of eternall death for our Saviour hath said that So is every one which is rich in the world and is not in GOD. * ⎠* THE TWO AND TWENTIETH EXAMPLE OF IACOBS Children AFter Iacobs Wives and Father in Law wee will proceed to his children which were twelve sons and one daughter Concerning his sons they were sixe of Leah Reuben Simeon Levi Iudah Issachar Zebulun two of Bilhah Dan and Nephthali two of Zilpah Gad and Asher two of Rachel Ioseph borne in Padan Aram and Benjamin borne in the Land of Canaan The daughter was Dinah of Leah of the birth and names of each of these the Scripture takes speciall notice Reuben signifies Behold a son for his mother tooke it as a great favour of God whereby he would mitigate her sorrow yea and help to remove it too by winning her husbands love to her the want whereof was her greatest trouble as you shall finde Simeon signifies the hearing of God because she said God heard that she was hated and hath given me this son too It was a good thing in Leah to give her sons such names as might minde her of Gods goodnesse in considering her affliction and when shee saith that God saw first and then heard her affliction the last speech is a proofe that she made her moane and complaint to God and so this mercy came to her as a fruit of her prayers The next son is called Levi for said she Now my husband will be united to me or cleave to me for the word Levi signifieth as much as cleaving She was earnestly desirous of her husbands love and would as it were minde him of her hopes and desires that he would recompence her paines of bringing him three sons with the increase of his affection A wife is not good if she be not very covetous of her husbands love some probably say that he meaning Iacob hearing Leahs word to comfort her called him Levi and the originall seemes to leade us to that opinion for the former word translated called is of the feminine gender and is plainly referred to the woman spoken of before but the latter is of the masculine and so may very likely note the husband of whom she had immediatly spoken And if so it was well done of Iacob at last to speak some word of comfort to his drooping wife and to let her see that the riches of three sons had made him forget that great wrong she did him of obtruding her selfe upon him against his will and without his knowledge which shee ought not to have done though at her Fathers command The fourth son is Iehudah in short Iudah as much as praise of the Lord or the Lord be or is praised to expresse her thankefulnesse for she said Now I will praise the Lord which hath caused mine husbands affections somewhat more to incline unto me by making me a mother of foure sons For so it may seeme they did and that also maybe justly accounted one cause of her sisters envy because shee saw Iacob begin to love her more heartily than before These foure were borne one after another yeare by yeare without long intermission then she ceased bearing till Iacob had foure children by the two handmaids then she had two more sons Issachar the fifth sonne signifying there is a reward for giving her maide to her husband but in this she was much mistaken God is not wont to give rewards for our bad deeds and though it was of ignorance yet it was a sin in her to give her maid to her husband therefore we must take heed of imitating her in conceiting that God is well pleased with our faults Such is the blindnesse of our mindes that we are apt to run into such errours The last son was Zebulun signifying dwelling because God had given her so goodly a dowry as six sons she now begins to hope not alone that her husband will love her more but so much now as to affoord her more of his company and dwell with her which it seemes before he accustomed not to doe but with Rachel For love is never satisfied unlesse it enjoy the presence and company of the person loved these are Leahs sins envy at her maide Rachel so far plaid the foolish woman that she gave her handmaiden Bilhah to be her husbands Concubine and she had two sons which Rachel would needes take as her owne rather than those that her owne sister brought forth and the first she called Dan which signifies He hath judged for saith she God hath judged me and hath heard my cause and hath given me a son She bewrayes a distempered passion and would needes interest God into her folly as if now God in great favour seeing how shee was wronged had come to right her Fond Rachel no body wronged her but her selfe by entertaining the bone-rotting vice of envy into her bosome and yet she will needes take this as a righting of her wrong from above for so the word judging signifies so foolish we be that we will count our selves either to be wronged by men when we have received none at
all or righted of God when his Majesty meaneth no such matter O ignorant and self-deceiving and self-conceited creatures that we be let us beg more wisdome and unpartialnesse to our selves at Gods hand The second son of Bilhah is Nephthali which signifies wrastling because saith she I have wrastled with great wrastlings with my sister and have prevailed Certainly she playes the unwise woman here too and makes too bold with Gods name in saying With wrastlings of God and doth her sister great injury Poore Leah used no meanes to keepe her from fruitfulnesse she neither did keepe her husband from her nor any other thing by which to hinder her from being a mother therefore her wrastlings were only conceited wrastlings and shee proved that envy will cause one to thinke hee is opposed when indeed he is not let us take heed of dreaming that we bee wrastled withall and prevaile when in very deed it is neither so nor so The two sons of Zilpah are next borne the first Gad which signifies a troupe whereby Leah shewes that her desires or hopes were yet raised to looke for a many more children as indeed shee had three after this by Iacob of her owne body and one more whom her imitation of her sisters weaknesse made her to account her owne too The next son is called Asher for now saith she The daughters will count me happy and the name signifies happinesse sure for ought that I can judge no body ever applauded Leahs happinesse in this matter yea she would rather have been judged happy if she could have counted it happinesse enough to have borne sons her selfe and not followed her sisters folly in giving her maide to Iacob Wherein yet she is lesse excusable than her sister who might seeme to have more reason for her fact because shee her selfe was childlesse But you may see what fond things wee bee many times to count that a great matter of happinesse and take great content in it which of it selfe verily is nothing for our good But the children of Rachel come at last Ioseph which signifies hee will adde or give mee another son here Rachel begins to shew some goodnesse some faith the receiving of one benefit upon her prayers makes her hope that God will give her another Then followes Benjamin called by her Benoni The son of my sorrow and Iacob not willing to have a sonne of so ill and ominous a name yet comes to the name as neare as he can saying hee shall bee called Benjamin as much as if hee had said One whom I will love as my right hand and never suffer to depart from me for his mothers sake that bare him And these bee all Iacobs sonnes His daughter was Dinah Leahs seventh childe the word signifies judgement and why shee was so named because the Scripture affirmes not I will not trouble you with my conjectures In speaking of them we will begin with the maiden of whom wee have nothing at all noted that good is Some thinke she was Iobs wife whose life they cast into the time of Iacob I have nothing to alleadge either for or against this opinion It is a conjecture take it as you see good but it is probable that Iob might live about this time but of that no more till we come to speake of Iob. Now we goe on with Dinah of whom we reade as I said nothing but evill Gen. 34.1 Shee would needes walke into the City of Shechem when Iacob lived thereabouts forsooth To see the daughters of the Countrey whether they were faire maidens what garments they wore of what carriage what garbes and fashion they had A folly to which many of you maides be too subject you let your eyes looke over wistly upon the daughters If you did alone take up your selves in contemplating the fashions at the Market or as you walke in the streets or the like yet it were a spending of time worse than you need to spend it sure it is not good to goe abroad idlely when there is nothing to doe but gaze here and there when the minde hath no imployment or businesse to set it selfe about A gazing eye shewes in empty heart and tempts the devill to come thither one tempting to fill the heart with evill fancies that is empty of God I pray you Virgins take warning by Dinah be not you gadding abroad hither and thither to see and bee seene alone Dinahs successe may give you cause of fearing your selves in such occasions But especially let me exhort you to teach your eyes more piety than to bestow themselves in looking abroad to see fashions then when you come to the house of God there to doe service unto God Then I say doe not shew your selves so disregardfull of God so very hypocrites such persons as let their hearts wander for that wanders if the eye wander when the body approacheth him When you should be marking what is read or what is prayed or what is sung or what is preached A wandring eye at Church is a very bad thing and is the devils instrument to steale away all you heare and to make you unprofitable hearers I feare that this is the truest cause why many of you learne just nothing and cannot answer what you heare your eye carried away your mindes that they could not attend by the eare to what was spoken Maidens let me propound Dinahs example to you and warne you to take heed of being desirous to goe abroad to see fashions But a second thing is a young man saw her and tooke her and lay with her and humbled her you see what hurt followed here Shee went to see the daughters but one of the sons saw her and worse than that lusted after her and tooke her and abused her body whether by solicitation and enticement or by force and strength or whether by a mixture of both partly striving and partly soliciting I cannot say the words are such as may carry the sence of soliciting as well as of ravishing but we are willing to take things at the best for poore Dinah and because the Scripture useth these phrases to describe a Rape Deut. 22.28 29. calling it a humbling her as here we will in charity thinke that the same misery befell her in the City for it was the Kings sonne who might easily bring her to such a roome in an house as might cause that her crying voice might not be heard or she might be loath to cry knowing what hee was and that she was a stranger But if it were so I am fearefull that her more light carriage than was fit gave occasion to the young man of such fancies and imboldened him to offer such a kinde of violence as he thought would not be resisted Let maides take heed least their wanton eye and over-light countenance and promising lookes doe not enflame the beholder and offer such violence to their corruption as it were to make
them offer violence to them and take heed much more that they be not allured to such an evill as nothing but the violence of the doer can free them from the imputation of a grievous sin if they suffer Let their care be to keepe themselves out of places inconvenient what did Dinah with this young man in so secret a place as might encourage him to offer force Sure he would not have forced her in the midst of the streetes he was not so debausht and brutish as to compell her in an house before many Nay scarce any man so lewd that hee will attempt such a thing but when no person is present If she were ravished yet she was somewhat guilty of her owne rape because shee would be enticed to goe into an house with a stranger Had shee beene of his long acquaintance had hee beene a suitor to her before with the good consent and allowance of both Parents had she beene allowed to set her minde upon him so as to intend to become his wife then it had not beene so blame-worthy to have so farre trusted her selfe with him But when her businesse was nothing but to see and be seene to suffer her selfe to be led by a stranger into such a place as might give him opportunity to do her violence was a signe that her carriage was scarce modest not at all discreet For to excuse her by her age seemeth no just excuse seeing it appeareth by the young mans suit for her afterwards that shee was now marriageable Now therefore let her example make you maidens civill and sober and modest in your carriage and so prudent discreet and bashfull as not to venture your selves into the company of young men at such places and times as may produce as bad inconveniences to you as this that befell Dinah And so much for this daughter for after this we heare no more of her but that her brethren tooke her out of Hamors house after they had committed the execrable murder whereof we shall have cause to speake after Now come we to the sonnes and first I will handle the things that were common to them all viz. their sinnes their good deeds their miseries their benefits First it is common to them all save Ioseph and Benjamin that they were men of no goodnesse nor conscience They had a good Father and Grandfather and they professed a good religion but their conversation was naught and scandalous so that Ioseph being young could not in his conscience choose but acquaint his Father with their evill deeds O this is a grievous thing that children which have godly education by godly Parents and have knowledge of the true God and are members of the true Church should be yet of manifest ill behaviour should runne into palpable and grosse naughtinesse openly to the torment of their Parents hearts and disgrace of true religion Be not some of you youthes whose Parents though they must not be compared to Iacob yet are such as have feared God and affoorded you the best helpes they could to vertue and piety as lewd and sinfull in your carriage as Iacobs sonnes Yes yes some of you are as guilty of evill demeanour as these youthes though you have the same furtherances to goodnesse Now for the living Gods sake whose name you take upon you for your owne soules sake which else will one day rue this naughtinesse and rudenesse and for your Parents and friends sake that are ashamed and vexed with your ill report be intreated at length to consider how great a wickednesse it is to live naughtily when God hath vouchsafed you so many meanes to make you good and turne you from your evill wayes and frame you to such a conversation as will beseeme and comfort your selves and your Parents O let not a Iacobs sonne be a drunkard a gamester a wanton a night-walker and ill company keeper a quarreller let not such nettles grow upon a garden learne to shunne what was loathsome in the sons of Iacob But secondly they were all guilty of beguiling Hamor and the Sichemites with purposed fraud and guile yea and with pretending conscience and respect of religion You know the story it selfe Shechem after he had defloured Iacobs daughter continued yet to bee strongly enamoured of her and sued for her to her Father and Brethren offering any dowry They would seeme to be hindered from granting the suit by religion They were circumcised of the true religion a religion sleighted and neglected in Canaan and it was not a safe thing in conscience and would be a reproach to them to make marriages with persons uncircumcised but if they would embrace their religion and testifie it by being circumcised then they would willingly condescend Now all this talke of circumcision tended but to bring the Sichemites to such a case that they might the better accomplish revenge O miserable fault to cover hatred with deceitfull words A Potsheard covered with silver drosse To speake one thing and meane the contrary to pretend a good purpose to cover a bad and the more easily to effect it by covering Here was a mixture of impiety in making religion a cloake to revenge and of fraud in harbouring and intending and yet disguizing revenge So dealt Absalom with his Father David and the shame of such shall breake forth in the Congregation hee is a foole though hee thinkes himselfe wise Now I beseech you take heed of deceit and guile the deceitfull shall not live out halfe his dayes To hate and yet dissemble with his lips laying up deceit within him is a loathsome thing It is a part of the description of an unsanctified man With their tongues they have used deceit Nature teacheth men to blame this sin in others therefore nature gives light enough to discover it in ones selfe Shame it therefore and hate it It is bad to have used this fraud for covetousnesse or ambition sake to get wealth or honour by over-reaching others but it is worst of all when it is joyned with revenge and with bloodinesse that a man make himselfe a bloody and deceitfull man It is naught when only good will is pretended but when religion is made the cloake of cruelty and villany this is to abuse the noblest thing in the world by making it a drudge to the basest Now if any of your consciences be guilty of abusing pretences of religion for the compassing of revenge of goods of lust of any other villanous end he hath sinned the sin of Iacobs sons Let him be induced to repent and let us all be induced to abhor so great a wickednesse he that doth compasse any unlawfull end by deceit makes the sin twice as grievous as else it would be He shews that he commits it with almost a full consent of will he makes his reason a slave to his appetite and serves sin willingly most willingly and deliberately Let us love true plaine and just dealing and abhorre cousenage and
incest Laban The Scripture saith nothing of his birth or death His Parentage His life His civill vertues 1. He vouchsafe curteous entertainment unto Eliezer 2. He gave him an honest and good answer Neither by faire meanes nor by soule 3. He speedily dismissed him 4. Was loving to his sister made a feast to his neighbours and friends Gen. 29.21 22. 5. He lovingly entertained Iacob when he came unto him 6. Of his own accord he offered Iacob wages for his worke 7. He was willing to bestow his daughters upon him 8 He quickly laid downe his anger and made a covenant with him 9. He sheweth himselfe loving and kind to his daughters and grandchildren 10. He made a feast at the marriage of his daughter 11. He tooke notice of Gods blessing as the cause of his prosperity 12. He forbore what God forbad His faults 1. He was an Idolater 2. He loved Iacob in a worldly manner 3. He cousened Iacob 4. He looked doggedly upon him because he hindred his wealth though without any wrong 5. He pursued Iacob with an hostile minde 6. He falsely chargeth Iacob with stealing his Idols 3. His benefits 1. He had a good son in law 2. He was rich 4. His crosses 1. His daughters and grand children went far from him 2. He was troubled at Iacobs prosperity His death Iacobs children Reuben what it signifies Gen. 29.3 Simeon what it signifies Levi what it signifies Iudah what it signifies Gen. 30.18 Issachar what it signifies Zebulun what it signifies Dan what it signifies Nephthali what it signifies Gad what it signifies Asher what it signifies Ioseph what it signifies Benjamin what it signifies Dinah what it signifies Who she was No good thing is spoken of her Her faults 1. She went into the City to see the daughters of the countrey 2. A young man saw her and lay with her The sonnes Their common faults 1. All of them were bad except Ioseph and Benjamin Gen. 37.2 2. They all beguiled Hamor â—he Sichemite Gen. 35. Deceit is a great sin Prov. 6.10 18. 26.26 Rom. 3. 3. They all consented to the murder of the Sichemites 4. They hated their brother Ioseph 5. They lied cousened their old Father The use of all Their common goodnes 1. They all strove to comfort their Father in his great sadnesse 2. They were dutifull to him in going down to Egypt and not taking Benjamin with them 3. Their benefits 1. They had a godly Father and themselves were pillers of the true Church 2 God saved them all from a great danger 3. They had store of riches 4. Ioseph nourished them in the famine Their crosses 1. In danger from Esau when children 2. In danger at Shechem 3. Felt a famine and were roughly handled by Ioseph Reuben 1. His faults Gen. 35.22 1. He committed incest with his Fathers Concubine Incest is a great sin 1 Cor. 5. 2. His vertues 1. He wisely disswaded his Brethren from killing of Ioseph 2. He was fully minded to restore Ioseph to his Father againe 3 He grieved to see his hopes disappointed and Ioseph taken out of the pit 4 He sought to remove his Father from his stiffenes in refusing to send Benjamin into Aegypt His crosses His Father minded him of his incest on his death-bed 3. His benefits hee had divers sons Simeon and Levi their sinne double 1. The murder of the Sichemites Murder is a great sinne 2. They shewed no repentance when their Father told them of their fault Their punishment They lost part of the birth-right Levies death Iudah His faults 1. He left his Fathers house 2. He was led by his eye in marriage 3. He committed incest with his daughter in law Heb 13 4. 1 Cor. 6.9 4. He dissembled with his daughter in Law 5. He forgat his owne naughtinesse would have had Tamar burnt 6. Repented not of his whoredome but sought to redeeme his pledge His vertues 1. He returned at last to his Fathers house 2. He was somewhat humbled for his sinne 3. He carried himselfe well to his Father Gen. 43. 4. He faithfully kept promise with his Father 5. He did couragiously beare an evill accident His crosses 1. He had two very wicked sonnes His daughter in Law drew him to incest when he intended fornication onely 3. His sinne brake forth to his shame His benefits 1. He had very good naturall parts 2. Hee had a part of the birth-right setled upon him Potipher and his wife Shechem His faults 1. Hee looked lustfully on Dinah Gen. 34. Job 31.1 Mat. 5 29. 2. He enticed or forced her to naughtines or both 1 Cor. 6.18 2. What was good in him 1. He continued to affect her when hee had defloured her Deut. 22.28 29. 2. He acquaints his Father with his love to her and in treates him to speake to her Father for him 3. He stood not over-much upon matter of portion 4. He would have all things agreed upon before marriage 5. He was constant in his love to the end What betrothing is 3. His benefits He was his Fathers heire who was a great man His crosses 1 He prooved an occasion of the overthrow of his Father and his whole family and the Citie Hamor His faults 1. He was willing to be circumcized for a by end 2. He did not reproove nor correct his son for the wrong done to Dinah His vertues 1. He is willing to satisfie his sonne in point of marriage so farre as was fit 2. He deales well with his Subiects perswading them to be circumcised 3. Hee dealt well with Iacob plainely seeking his daughter and yeelding to equall conditions 3 His prosperity 1 His sonne was indifferently good 2. His Subiects were good 4. His crosse Himselfe and all his Family and City were murthered Hiram Hee was a good morall friend His friendship was 1. Lasting 2. Serviceable 3. Secret Yet he was a bad man Er and Onan the first was so wicked that God cut him off Onan was also wicked and cut off by God in his youth Tamar a very bad woman The Midianitish Merchants Gen. 37.25 Merchandize is commendable Pro. 23.4 Buying and selling of men the originall of it The iustice of it Potiphar Potiphar a great man His faults Chap. 39.6 1. Hee gave himselfe wholy over to his ease having a good steward James 5.1 2. He beleeved his wives cunning slander against his servant His good deeds 1. He observed his servants faithfulnesse and good successe nd loved and rewarded him for it Deut. 15.1 14. Prov. 27.18 Col. 4.1 Gal. 3.28 2. He did not take away Iosephs life in a rage His benefits Hee had an honourable office His crosses He had a lewd woman to his wife Potiphars wife No good in her Her faults 1. Shee was an adulterous woman 2. Impudent and earnest in her filthinesse 3. Most malicious Pharaohs Butler and Baker 1. Their good deeds 1. They bare their imprisonment patiently and cheerefully Gen. 40.7 2. They despised not Iosephs youth or meane