Hatches he sitteth quiet and holdeth the Sterne he doth not indeede as they doe but he doth farre greater and better things The Church and Common-wealth are not vnfitly compared to a mans body which consist of many partes all needefull and necessary yet all haue not the same vses and functions If the members of a mans r Halicar Roman antiquit lib. 6. Plutar. in vita Coriolani Liui. decad 1. lib. 2. body should rise and rebell against the belly if the feet should plead that they onely beare vp the waight of the whole body if the handes should affirme that they labour painefully earne their liuing and bring many other commodities if the shoulders should say that they beare all burthens or the head that it seeth and heareth the mouth that it speaketh and then if all ioyntly should turne themselues to the belly and accuse it to be without profit to remaine in the midst of the body without doing anything and sustaine no labour to the maintenance of the rest of the partes were not this a foolish conceit of reasoning and would not this tend to the ruine of the whole body In the body politicke if the people that dig and delue should complaine and conspire against the Prince and Nobles who labour by care rule by authority foresee by wisedome and manage by gouernment because they worke not with their hands would not this draw with it the destruction of the Common-wealth So is it in the Church and in the offices of the Church As the people labour by working so doe the Ministers in studying and preaching All haue not one office all haue not one vse Therefore the Apostle saith Å¿ 1 Cor. 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21. The body is not one member but many if the foote should say Because I am not the hand I am not of the body is it therefore not of the body And if the eare should say because I am not the eye I am not of the body is it therefore not of the body If the whole body were an eye where were the hearing And if the whole were hearing where were the smelling But now hath God disposed the members euery one of them in the body at his owne pleasure for if they were all one member where were the body But now are there many members yet but one body and the eye cannot say vnto the hand I haue no need of thee nor the head againe to the feete I haue no neede of you Whereby we see that the body consisteth of many members all haue their necessary vse for the preseruation of the whole and yet all haue not one and the same function So then they despise the Ministers of the Gospell and so account the Ministery of the word needlesse and vnprofitable because they work not with their hands and not labour with bodily labour are as madde and monstrous as they that would haue all the body to be an hand no mouth no head no foot For albeit the Teachers of the Church be not the hands of the body to handle the Carpenters Axe or the Shepheards Crooke or the Husbandmans Plough or the saw of the Sawyer yet he is as the eye of the body to giue light to them that sit in darkenesse and in the shaddow of death as the mouth of the bodie to speake to God and to poure out supplications before him for the people yea he is also as the belly for as the belly which receiueth all meats that nourish mans body doth send them backe againe with aduantage to the nourishment of the whole body so the Minister receiuing maintenance from the Church doth feed them againe and nourisheth them with the bread of life to the saluation of their soules He receiueth temporall things but he soweth vnto them spirituall things The Apostle saith t 1 Cor. 9 7. Who goeth a warfare any time at his owne cost Who planteth a Vineyard and eateth not the fruite thereof Or who feedeth a Flocke and eateth not of the Milke of the flocke The Souldier liueth by the receiuing of his wages the Husbandman by the fruits of his labours the Shepheard by the encrease of his flock and therefore it must not seem strange vnto vs that the Lords Souldiers should enioy their pay and that his Workemen should haue their hire Vse 3. Lastly seeing the celling of the Pastour set ouer the people is painefull it offereth good considerations and profitable Meditations both to the Pastors and to the people Touching the Ministers it serueth as a good admonition to such as purpose and intend to enter into this great calling of the Ministerie that they doe it wisely and warily that they runne not before they bee sent that they enter at the Doore and climbe not in at the Windowe that they considet what prouision and store of new and old they haue to goe through the worke Such as meane to builde u Luk. 14 28 31. doe first make great prouision and preparation The Kings of the Nations and Princes of the Earth with great aduise and consultation doe proclaime warres The Ministery is a going to Warfare it is a building of Gods House and therefore it is to bee enterprized not rashly but aduisedly not meanely stored but plentifully furnished with all manner of prouision fit for the Lordes worke Againe beeing the Souldiers of Christ and the leaders of his people they must seeke to please a Gal. 1 10. not men but their Captaine that hath chosen and called them they must take heede they doe not intangle and snare themselues in worldly matters and so hinder their worke in hand whereby they are made vnfit to serue God and his Church The order and discipline of the Warres is such that so soone as the Souldier hath enrolled and giuen his name to his Captaine he leaueth his house and other affaires which might with-draw his minde and mindeth nothing but the battell So ought we to bee wholie loosed and throughlie freed from the impediments and incumbrances of this Worlde that Christ may haue our seruice in this warfare This is that vse which the Apostle maketh of this Doctrine 2. Tim. 2. Thou therefore suffer affliction as a good Souldier of Iesus Christ b 2 Tim. 2 3 4. No Man that warreth entangleth himselfe with the affaires of this life because he would please him that hath chosen him to be a Souldier Touching the people they must know that when God sendeth such Labourers among them they must bee esteemed and accounted as the greatest defence and preseruation of a Citty and Kingdome This is confessed by Ioash the King of Israell when Elisha fell sicke of his sicknesse whereof he died c 2 Kin. 13 14. O my Father my Father the Charet of Israell and the Horsemen of the same The prayer of Moses d Exod. 17. preuailed more then the Sword of Ioshua and all the furniture of war against the Amalekites The Apostle writing
God All time is esteemed to little and to short that is spent in pleasures in Carding in Dyeing in Drunkennesse in vanitie and in all wickednesse neuer considering that we ought to number our dayes and redeeme the time because the daies are euill To Philemon our deare Friend and Fellow-labourer c. Hetherto we haue spoken of the persons writing Now wee are to proceede to the persons to whom this Epistle is written which are foure in number whereof one is chiefe and principall the other such as are ioyned to him as lesse principall The cheefe person heere named is Philemon Touching this Philemon who he was and of what calling and condition it is not agreed among all Some thinke he was in the Ministery and of some Ecclesiasticall function u Cal. in Epist. Phil. Piscat in hanc locum Rolloc annlis in Epistol Phil. because the Apostle calleth him a Fellow-labourer But the opinion and iudgement of these men is not certaine and the reason whereuppon it standeth is weake and wauering Rather he appeareth to be a Citizen of Colosse of good wealth and worship because both the Pastor of that Church was Archippus as appeareth Coloss 4 Say vnto Archippus looke to thy Ministry that thou fulfill it And many other are called by this honorable Title of Fellow-labourers who neuer had calling to preach the word as appeareth in diuers places where Paule saluteth not only priuate persons but Women who were not to teach publikely in the Church by this Name as Rom. 16. Phil. 4. 3. Iohn Now the Apostle vseth two reasons to perswade him to yeeld to his suit and earnest request the one of friendship and familiarity that was betweene them the other of his zeale and forwardnesse in furthering the Gospell as indeed it is the duty not onely of the Ministers but of all the godly to promote the doctrine of the gospell and to labour much in the Lord by their prayers workes counsels endeuours and imployments So then in regard of the neere coniunction of Christian loue and common labour in the truth and for the truth the Apostle hopeth to preuaile with him Doct. 5. A Christian friend wil performe any Christian duty to his friend From hence wee learne this Doctrine that where true Christian loue is there is a willing and ready performance of all Christian duties one to another Christian friendshippe and familiarity ought to preuaile much to intreat and obtaine duties of loue one from another and to stay vnchristian and vncharitable courses When a contention grew betweene Abraham and Lot and betweene the Heard-men of their Cattle Abraham said vnto him x Gen. 13 8. Let there be I pray thee no strife between thee and me neither between my Heard-men and thy Heard-men for we are Brethren Ionathan and Dauid a paire of sure and fast friendes entred into a couenant of peace and amity either with other y 1 Sa. 18 2 3. this loue would not suffer any euill to be pretended and plotted against each other which they did not willinglie disclose and discouer Dauid loued him as himselfe and Ionathan reuealed and bewrayed the counsell and conspiracy of his Father euen to the danger of his owne life and the losse of a kingdome He preferred the maintaining of frendship before the gaining of a kingdome The loue that was in Christ to his disciples caused him to reueale to them all things that he had from his Father z Iohn 15 15. Henceforth cal I you not seruants for the seruant knoweth not what his M. doth but I haue called you friends for all things that I haue heard of my Father haue I made known to you When Christ sitting at the table told the disciples that one of thē should betray him into the hands of Sinners Peter moued Iohn whom Iesus loued and who leaned on his breast to aske who it was of whō he spake being assured he would not deny to tell him because he loued him This the Apostle teacheth b Rom. 5 7. Doubtlesse one will scarce die for a righteous Man but for a good man it may be that one dare dye So in this Epistle that now we haue in hand verse 9. he saith For loues sake I beseech thee for my Sonne Onesimus All these seuerall places serue to point out and to proue this truth vnto vs that a friend a true Friend a true Christian friend will not deny but readily performe any Christian duty to his friend Reason 1. The Reasons are first because true Friendes are as one Soule in two Bodies They agree in one they consent in one they take such sweete counsell together and are partakers one with another in weale and woe The Heathen could say c Arist Eth. lib 8. c. 1. Cicer. lib de Amicit. that all things are common among friends and that a sure friend is as another the same It is said to this purpose that Dauid loued Ionathan as his owne Soule 1 Sam. 18. So Luke speaking of the faithfull members of the Church saith d Act. 4 32. The multitude of them that beleeued were of one heart and of one Soule neyther any of them saide that any thing of that which he possessed was his owne but they had all thinges common Seeing then that such as are ioyned in Christian friendship haue one Soule one heart one will one purpose how can they but performe all good thinges one to another Who can deny any thing to himselfe Who hateth his owne flesh or doth not nourish and cherish it by all the meanes he can How then shall not Friends that haue a Title and interest one of another demaund and obtaine any thing that is iust and equall Reason 2. Againe this is a note of true loue that it seeketh not his owne good but seeketh and desireth the good of his Brother The loue that aymeth and endeth at it selfe is nothing else but selfe-loue whereof there is great store in the World when Men respect nothing but their owne profite But true loue is so occupyed about the thing loued that in regard thereof it is oftentimes negligent about it selfe not enioying all the liberty or commodity that lawfully it may haue The Apostle e 1 Cor. 13 4 5 describing the properties of loue saith Loue suffereth long it is bountifull loue enuyeth not loue dooth not boast it it selfe it is not puffed vp it disdaineth not is seeketh not her owne thinges it not prouoked to anger it thinketh not euill Seeing then this is one of the fruites and properties of loue that it is ready to neglect it owne priuate profit and pleasure in regard of the thing loued wee cannot doubt of a carefull performance of all duties and demaundes that are required of it where it is Vse 1. Let vs see the Vses of this Doctrine First seeing Christian friendship will performe Christian duties wee learne that a Christian Friende is a sure Friend and Christian friendship
dooth more consume the inward parts wast the body impaire nature decay strength spend the vitall Spirits and cause them to be subiect to sundry infirmities sicknesses and diseases then any the strongest labour that is vsed among men For this we may obserue that the labours of the body though they bee great maintaine strength preserue the stomacke encrease the appetite and adde vigour to euery part but it is farre otherwise in the labours of the mind they weaken the naturall powers they wast the vitall Spirits and they decay the health of the body Hence it is that the Apostle giueth this precept to Timothy a Minister of the Gospell e 1 Tim. 5 23. Drinke no longer Water but vse a little Wine for thy stomackes sake and thine often infirmities declaring thereby that it often falleth out that the Ministers of the Gospell wich take paines in their callinges are feeble in body weake in strength sparing in dyet and subiect to diseases Vse 2. Secondly seeing the calling of a Minister requireth paines and labour it reprooueth those that be Idoll Shepheards dumme Dogges euill Beasts slow bellies not labourers but loyterers not worke-men but sleepers which make not the calling painefull but gainefull How many are there that enter into this waighty and worthy calling for their owne ease and to follow idlenes and pleasure How many to enrich themselues and to gather wealth The Prophet Esay f Esay 56 10 complaineth greatly of such in his time Chap. 56. 10. Their Watchmen are all blinde they haue no knowledge they are all dumbe Dogges they cannot barke they lye and sleepe and delight in sleeping Let all such consider the greatnesse and height of their excellent caling and remember the honourable Titles whereby they are called that so they may bee put in minde of their duties Let them g Pro. 27 23. be diligent according to the counsell of Salomon To know the State of their flocke and take heede to the heards for Riches remaine not alwaies nor the Crowne from generation to generation And howsoeuer many that possesse the places occupy the roomes and vsurpe the Titles of Pastors doe glory in their calling and account themselues sent of God yet so long as they loyter in the Lords Haruest and will take no paines to winne Soules to God they are but Idols h Psal 115 6 7 8. They haue eyes and see not they haue a mouth and speake not neither make they a sound with their throat they that make them are like vnto them so are all that trust in them True it is they can say somewhat for themselues and can alledge sundry reasons to maintaine their ease and idlenesse i Pro. 26 16. And the sluggard is wiser in his owne conceit then seauen men that can render a reason as appeareth in the example of the sloathfull Seruant who did hide his Maisters Talent notwithstanding if the diligence in their calling be not answerable to the dignity of their office they shall haue the reward of sluggards they shall haue the Talent and gifts which they haue receiued taken from them and the blood of those that perish through their negligence shall be required at their hands Againe it condemneth and conuinceth the senselesse opinion of vaine and vnthankfull men that cry out against the Ministers in euery place accounting their calling easie and themselues idle as liuing by the sweat of other mens browes and receiuing their meanes and maintenance without any manner of paines Albeit this obiection be indeede idle and deserue no answere and that it is in vaine to reason with the belly that hath no eares to heare nor hart to conceiue and albeit I stand in a slippery place because I should be censured to speake rather for our selues then for others and to respect more our owne gaine then the good of others yet somewhat must be said to this foolish and peeuish conceit Indeede I acknowledge freely some are vnprofitable drones that doe not gather but eate the Honny and some idle Shepheards that fleefe the sheepe but feede not the Flocke these I confesse haue their liuing come in easily who indeed deserue no liuing and because they wil not labour they should not eate and woe bee to them if in time they repent not But these men that obiect as before doe exclaime and cry out not against the abuses of the office or the slothfulnesse and negligence of men but against the calling it sefe contrary to the saying of Christ who teacheth k Math. 10. that the Labourer is worthy of his hire and the workeman of his meat and opposing themselues against the ordinance of God who hath appointed the Ministery to be maintained for as l 1 Cor. 9 13 14. they that Ministred at the Altar did liue of the Altar so God hath ordained that they which preach the Gospell should liue of the Gospell As these men are ignorant of this high ordinance of God so they seeme not to know themselues They are so blinde so brutish and blockish that they knowe not by any experience from themselues m There is a labour of the soule as well as of the body that men haue soules and that there is an immediate soule-labour farre greater then bodily labour and likewise a soule-suffering which they shall one day feele if they repent not many waies exceeding and surpassing bodily suffering or any torment that befals the body Remember with mee and consider a little though it bee in an higher degree the sorrow of the Soule that was vpon Christ in the Garden without any the least touch and visitation of the bodie whether it were painefull and laboursome or not n Luke 22 44 When it so heated and crushed him that it caused him to sweat droppes of blood that trickled downe to the ground Many diseases of the body are very painefull and hard to bee borne but the greefe and anguish and horror of the soule is a thousand times more painefull according to that which Salomon speaketh in the Prouerbs o Pro. 18 14. Chap. 18. The spirit of a Man will sustaine his infirmitie but a wounded spirit who can beare it Furthermore there is persecution p Whitae de apontif Rom. quaest 5. cap. 2. of the Soule as well as a persecution of the body and these two are distinguished and differing one from the other For when Tyrants persecute the Church and rage with fury against the Saints their faith is not shaken but Religion then flourisheth most of all as we see when Israell was in Aegipt The greatest slauery and slaughter is when mens soules are corrupted with false doctrine Lastly is the calling of a Prince of a Counsellour of a Noble-man an idle calling because they vse not bodily labour This is as if a man should say q Cicero de Senectute that the Gouernour of the Ship doth nothing in sayling because while some climbe the Masts other walke vpon the
but they blush not with brazen faces and Iron fore-heads to breake out into all prophanenesse Let these take heede y Math. 10 33 least Christ bee ashamed of them when he commeth into his kingdome If wee be ready to confesse him and to professe his truth he will acknowledge vs before his Father which is in Heauen Obiect 2. Some say it is a note of hypocrisie to performe these duties and condemne them as Hypocrites that teach their Families These are euill Seruants that out of their owne mouthes may bee iudged Let them pray to haue their stony hearts taken away and new hearts giuen vnto them z 1 Ioh. 3 20. For if their hollow and hypocriticall hearts doe condemne them God is greater then their harts and knoweth all thinges And let them take heede they sit not in iudgement vpon others least with the same measure that they mete it bee measured to them againe Let them iudge nothing before the time but reserue iudgement to the Iudge of the whole world Obiect 3. Others say it will let and hinder their Seruants worke wee must haue so much praying that we shall haue little working These men can alot and alow no time for the Lord but thinke euery houre lost that is not spent in businesse of the World and affaires of this life These are like to prophane Saule who when the Philistims pressed toward him and hee was to aske counsell of the Lord a 1 Sa. 14 19. Hee commaunded the Priest to with-draw his hand that is he saide vnto him the season serueth not to seeke vnto GOD wee cannot spend the time in calling vppon him let vs goe vnto the battell and fight against our Enemies These men are like to wretched Pharaoh when Moses called vppon him b Exod. 3 4. to let the people goe into the Wildernesse to serue and sacrifice to the Lord he is charged to make them idle and to cause them to surcease from their workes These men are like to couetous Iudas c Iohn 12 4. who when Mary annointed Christes feete complained of the wast and said Why was not this Oyntment solde for three hundred pence and giuen to the poore Wherefore our Sauiour answereth such in his reply to Martha who was much troubled and cumbred about much seruing d Luke 10 41 One thing is needfull Mary hath chosen the good part which shall not be taken away from her Nay to be instructed in true Religion and to set out a time for calling vpon the Name of God is so farre from hindring our Seruants worke that it shall further it and giue a blessing vnto it We are commaunded to meditate in the Law of the Lord day and night e Iosh 1 8. that so wee may make our way prosperous and haue good successe in the workes of our hands And the Prophet teacheth That except the Lord builde the House and watch the Citty the labour of the Builder and of the Watch-man is in vaine Obiect 4. Others say they shall bee mocked taunted and scorned by the World they shall be tearmed Precisians they shall be called Puritans But wee must not seeke to please men by running into the displeasure of God For oftentimes it falleth out through the iust iudgement of God that whilst we hunt after the pleasure and fauour of men against God wee haue the fauour neither of God nor Men. The Apostle saith of himselfe writing to the Galathians f Gal. 1 10. If I should yet please Men I were not the Seruant of Christ It was the lot of Christ it hath beene the portion of all true Christians to bee scourged by the viperous and venomous tongues of vngodlie men that care not for God nor regard any Religion We are faint Souldiers not worthy to beare the Name of Christ if wee fly out of the fielde for euerie idle word and taunt of the tongue cast out against vs. Wee must prepare our selues against greater encounters g Ephe. 6 11. and arme our selues against wordes and Swords we must buckle both with the Deuill and with Deuilish men hand to hand except we will yeild him both our bodies and Soules to our destruction Obiect 5. Some say they cannot bring the vnlearned to knowledge and that youth are stubborn they wil be youth still and we were once youths they should hardly keepe any Seruants if they should strictly tye them to this order nay they should fly the Parish rather then beare this yoake I aunswere first let vs remember that GOD giueth the knowledge of his Mysteries euen to the simple and lowly minded that feare him Secondly consider that young men are commanded h Eccle. 12 1. to remember their Creator in the daies of their youth and shall giue an account of all thinges vnto God As for their stubbornnesse the word of God is the best remedy to bend them and make them pliable vnto all goodnesse so that the Prophet saith i Psal 119 9. Wherewith shall a young Man redresse his way In taking heede thereto according to thy word But if they bee so stiffely and stubbornely minded that they will not be reclaimed and reformed their roome is better then their company If admonitions will not winne them they are to bee auoyded thy house is better without them then with them Neither are we to feare their flying away and departing to another place for if this course of instruction were taken in hand euery where the Obiection were answered and their mouths stopped For whether would they goe to escape this training vp in the principles of Religion It is certaine they could turne themselues no whither but it would meete with them in all places Obiect 6. Others obiect our Fathers did well enough without obseruing any such order I trow you will not condemne them Why should wee make ourselues wiser then they They troubled not themselues or their Children with learning of Catechismes and wee see men doe well enough prosper in the World yet busie not their heads about this I answere if they meane those forefathers and Ancestors whose steps we should follow as Adam Abraham Isaac Iacob Iosua Dauid and diuers others which were indeede our Fathers then we may bee assured out of the word of truth that these busied and bestirred themselues this way they taught their Children they instructed their families they reformed disorders they remooued the disordered If they meane our forefathers that liued in latter times when darkenesse couered the earth no maruell if they were not vrged thereunto themselues or that they vrged not others for then they liued at the dyet of the Prelats and nothing pleased the Prelats better then the ignorance of the people k Math. 15 14 they were the blinde Leaders of the blinde they could neither enter into the Kingdome of heauen themselues nor suffer those that would enter Notwithstanding we will not meddle with condemning our forefathers neither will
we iustifie them both these belong vnto God and therefore are not to be vsurped by any man We must iudge the best of them according to the rule of Charity l 1 Cor. 13 7. Which hopeth all thinges and beleeueth all thinges We know God reserued to himselfe m 1 King 19 18. 7000. in Israell in the daies of Ahab that neuer bowed the knee to Baall and he hath a few n Reuel 3 4. names yet in Sardis which haue not defiled their garments which shall walke with him in white for they are worthy We may say with the Apostle of them o Acts 17 30. The time of this ignorance God regardeth not but now he admonisheth all men euery where to repent We are not therefore to looke what they haue done but consider what by the word they should haue done and what by the same wee ought to doe And touching the thriuing and prospering of them that neglect this duty this is an Obiection fitter for Atheists then Christians to vse Christ hath taught vs that this is no rule to measure good or euill he sheweth p Math. 5 45. That the Father maketh his Sunne to shine and his raine to fall vpon the iust and vniust vpon the godly and the vngodly The Wiseman hath taught that by outward thinges we cannot q Eccle. 9 1 2 vnderstand whether we be loued or hated of God We see the wicked for the most part prosper more in the World in worldly things then the godly as we read Psal 73. 3 4 5. and Iob 21. 8. 9. Obiect 7. Lastly it is obiected that some which haue beene diligently and duely taught doe yet liue as leudly and prophanely as they that neuer knew any thing of God I answere it may be this is thy wrong and rash iudgement The world speaketh euill of those that will not follow them into all excesse of ryot But let vs grant it to be so yet heerein they play the wrangling Sophisters and Cauillers alleadging a false cause for a true For I am sure this course of learning is not the cause of the loosenesse of their liuing If grace had beene in their hearts it would bee a meanes to make them beleeue and liue better He that knoweth his Maisters will is more likely to performe it then he that knoweth it not nor careth for the knowing of it He that hath his eye-sight is more likely to walke without stumbling and falling then he that is blinde so he that is instructed in the waies of godlinesse hath better meanes to walke in the feare of God then hee that is ignorant and knoweth nothing True it is some that know their Maisters will doe it not some that haue their eyes open fall downe now and then yet none can be so voide of reason to conclude from hence that it is not necessary to know his will or to open our eyes Thus much for the remouing of the obiections and the scattering of those Mists and Clouds that stood before vs. Vse 1. Now let vs come to the Vses of this Doctrine First seeing it belongeth to the Maisters and Gouernours of Families to instruct them in godlinesse we gather that it is not enough for them to prouide for the bodies of such as are vnder them and belong vnto them in this life but they must care most especially for their soules and bodies in the life to come They then are greatly deceiued who when they haue giuen them meate and Money thinke themselues sufficiently discharged If we onely feede them and fill them to the full what doe we more to them then to our brute Beasts If we onely cloath them and pay them their wages r Math. 5 20. what doe wee more to them then the Turkes and Infidels that feare not God that know not God doe performe to their Children and Seruants If we thinke our selues discharged by prouiding for them and leauing vnto them a temporall patrimony and possession and neuer regard to make them heires and Inheritors of the Kingdome of Heauen what do we more then the Iewes or Gentiles that are ignorant of Christ and his Gospell What should it auaile vs or them to leaue them rich in the World and poore in God To lay vp for them treasures on earth and to neglect the treasures of Heauen which are the true and enduring substance True it is Fathers and Mothers are bound concerning this bodily life to make honest prouision for the sustenance of their Children and therefore all vnthrifty Dicers and Drunkards which wast and wash away their goods whose Children may well bee accounted fatherlesse and their Wiues as Widdowes haue no Å¿ 1 Tim. 5 8. spark or portion of naturall Fathers in them neuerthelesse they are charged not onelie to bring them vp in the World but to prepare them for the World to come It is a vaine and foolish imagination to dreame that wee haue done our part or discharged a Fathers and a Mothers duty when we haue nourished appartelled and brought vp our Children whereas wee haue a farre greater account to make before God for their soules They are also greatly deceiued who if they send them to the Church on the Sabbaoth day and bring them to the place of Gods worship they thinke they haue answered the charge required of them These men post ouer all their dutie to the Minister and lay the burthen to ease themselues vpon his shoulders They care not they spare not to lay load vpon anothers backe that they may not beare it or touch it with their little finger But God cannot thus be mocked or deluded or defrauded who commaunded that themselues should rehearse his Lawes and Commaundements to their Children and Housholds Indeed it is a commendable duty to see that they serue God and to accompany them vnto the house of God but this is onelie halfe if halfe our dutie or rather to do our dutie to halues we must both prouide that they may bee taught and also teach them our selues when the Minister hath planted wee must water when he hath preached wee must see how they profit and by all meanes assist him in the worke of the Lord. They are also greatly deceiued who take themselues to be discharged of their duty when they haue taught them to say the ten Commaundements the Lords Prayer and the Creede or the Articles of Faith because they say they haue done what they can and are able to performe no more If they can doe no more it is a shame for them that they will be Fathers before they can doe that which is the duty of fathers It is one thing to teach them to say them another to vnderstand them It is not enough for vs to helpe them to speake the wordes vnlesse wee labour to make them conceiue the meaning of the wordes The Commaundements of the Law and the petitions of the Lords Prayer stand not in the bare wordes but in the true meaning
Let them know therefore that they must render a greater account then of teaching them to vtter and pronounce the wordes they must cause them to vnderstand them they must sow the Seedes of Christian Religion in their hearts they must instruct them with all diligence they must exhort them with all earnestnesse they must charge them to feare God and to walk in his waies that so their children may be made Gods Children and so giue them to him againe of whom and by whose blessing at the first they receiued them Vse 2. Secondly seeing all Housholders must teach their families it is their duty first of all to reforme themselues that so their people may be reformed They that are the chiefe in the Family must looke vnto themselues and goe in and out before them by good example that so they may the better looke vnto those that are vnder them It is a Testimony of our great loue toward them and an earnest desire to win them to the truth and to embrace true godlinesse when we seek to saue their soules He that loueth the soule t Plutar. in Alcibia loueth truely for the foule is the principall part of man They therefore that are carelesse in training vp their children in religion cannot assure themselues that they bear any true loue vnto them Let them shew neuer so much comfort compassion to their bodies yet all their mercies are cruell so long as they neglect the chiefest care that ought to be in them toward their soules We may iudge thē to be more inhumaine and vnnaturall euen more then sauage beasts who not onely by neglect of teaching their Children the feare of the Lord but by corrupt example of liuing do lead them into euill and so murther their soules For how many children in stead of good education and godly instruction do heare their Fathers delight in swearing doe see them deale deceitfully and vniustly and walke in euerie euill way If wee should beholde a man killing his owne children and laying violent hands vpon his owne flesh if wee should see him destroy his posterity and shed the innocent blood of those that came out of his owne loines who would not accuse and condemne him of vnnatural murther and barbarous cruelty But there are many many thousand Fathers in the world that are the Murtherers and Butchers yea the death and destruction of their owne Issue They gaue them life but they are the causes of their death They gaue them a temporall being but they bring them to eternall condemnation They should direct them in the right way to Heauen but they leade them into the pathes of sinne and so thrust them downe to Hell with their owne handes For so long as we teach them not to honour God but to dishonour him and regard not whether they know Christ Iesus or not but are patternes and presidents vnto them of all prophanenesse wee are guilty of their blood and are worse then those that take away their naturall life and shall one day holde vp our hand at the barre of Gods Iudgement to bee arraigned for it For they onelie kill the bodie and when they haue done can do no more but we cast away and spill the Soules of our Children which is the greatest rigour the vilest murther and the extreamest crueltie in the world If therefore we would be cleere and pure from the bloud of our children let vs traine them vp in godlinesse and take heed to our selues reforming our owne waies and endeuouring to bee examples vnto them in all holinesse and true righteousnesse This is it which Ioshua u Iosh 24 15. professeth in his exhortation that he maketh to the people that they would with full purpose of heart cleaue vnto the Lord. Ioshua 24. 15. If it seeme euill vnto you to serue the Lorde chuse you this day whom you will serue whether the Gods which your Fathers serued beyond the floud or the Gods of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell but I and my house will serue the Lord. The like we see in the aunswere of Queene Ester to Mordecai when shee had exhorted to gather the Church together to Fasting and Prayer that God might be intreated to open a way for their deliuerance x Ester 4 16. she addeth I and my Maids will doe likewise A like practise we find in Dauid Psal 101. as he declareth that his eyes should bee vpon the faithfull of the Land that they may dwell with him and that such as are vpright should serue him so he professeth y Psa 101 2 3 He would walke in the vprightnesse of his heart in the middest of his house hee would set no wicked thing before his eies but hate the workes of them that fall away For well did Dauid know that if the Maister of the house were euill the Family ordinarily could not bee good and that the example of the highest it alleadged as a warrant to the lowest to follow It is great pitty that a Child should heare an euill word or see an euill deed they are so ready to imitate that which they heare and see Let vs therefore looke diligently to our selues what examples we lay before them Vse 3. Thirdly this doctrine directeth vs to haue in our priuate Familes the priuate exercises of Religion It is no small praise of the house of Philemon that he had so taught and instructed his Family that hee had the liuely Image and true representation of a Church in it discharging after a sort the duty of a Pastor within his owne walles So the Apostle Paule saluteth Aquila and Priscilla z Rom. 16 3 5 and 1 Cor. 16 19. and the Church that is in their house Euery Gouernour of an house and Maister of a Family must endeuour that his house-hold may deserue the Name of a Church He should be the speaker they the hearers he the Pastour they the flocke he the Minister they the people hee ready to instruct they ready to be instructed A priuate Family should be as a priuate schoole the Gouernour is the Maister of the Schoole euery one within his gouernment is a Scholler to learne of him This shall bee a singuler commendation vnto vs if we so order our seuerall charges and places of gouernment as that they may bee called rather Churches then priuate Families rather Schooles then Houses rather Temples of GOD then dwellings of men rather Tabernacles set vp to serue the Lord then buildings erected to serue our selues Now wee shall attaine to this praise and estimation among the faithfull if our houses doe resemble Churches by the practise of such exercises as are performed in it For the Maister is both a King and a Pastor within his owne house a King to rule and correct a Pastor to instruct and reprooue yea to remooue such as are obstinate and obdurate Let vs therefore all of vs set vp little Churches in our houses let vs vse in them prayer to God
Catechizing of our youth teaching of the ignorant reading of the Scriptures singing of Psalmes conferring one with another examining of our people a Math. 13 51 taking an account how they profite comforting them that are weak encouraging them that are willing discountenancing them that are froward and vntoward shewing gentlenesse vnto all suffering the euill and instructing them with meekenesse that are contrary minded Thus doing we shall beginne a Church in our houses we shall erect a temple and Tabernacle vnto God and giue to those that liue with vs and depend vppon vs an entrance into the Kingdome of Heauen But alasse May wee speake and write to many Maisters in our times as Paule doth in this place to Philemon May we truly call their priuate houses little Churches by reason of the exercises of Religion vsed in them Nay I would to God there were not great multitudes swarming among vs which haue such dissolute and disordered houses so farre from being Images and likenesses of a Church that they are liuely pictures of the prophane World and very representations of the Kingdome of darknesse and of the bottomlesse pit of Hell These men howsoeuer they shroude themselues vnder the names of Christians and would bee accounted faithfull men yet it is manifest that they are farre from true Christianitie and from a godly and religious minde For shall they bee esteemed sound and sincere b What the houses of the vngodly are Christians that suffer their Families to bee full of swearing lying railing roysting quarrelling contention and all other wickednesse and neuer goe about to examine them or exhort them to any goodnesse So that it is a very hell to dwell in them a very death to liue in thē a loathsome and stinking person to remaine in them yea a foule and filthy lakes to abide in them wherein all vnsauoury and vnseasoned practises are contained and continued I dare boldly auouch and constantly defend that a man were farre better to thrust his Sonne into a Pest-house or place of infection then to commit him to such Maisters of misrule and teachers of all abhominations most noysome and dangerous to Soule and Bodie where those corruptions are quickly learned which are afterward hardly forgotten and bred in the bone which are not easily remooued out of the flesh We vsually and commonly say of him that liueth in a contagious place Lorde haue mercy vpon him but much rather and farre better may wee say and pray for such as are in leud and vngodly houses Lord be mercifull vnto them and deliuer them from euill For if the plague and pestilence walke among vs and we among them they can but kill the body and make an end of this Mortall life but the contagion of sinne will bring fearefull destruction both vppon Soule and Body and will root out whole Houses and Families wast Townes and Citties and consume vtterly Countries and Kingdomes We see how by the instinct of Nature Parents haue a care to place their Children where they may be well vsed and where they may bee well prouided for that they want nothing but what folly is this to looke to the body and to haue no respect to the Soule To be curious in the least and carelesse in the principall thing To see that the backe bee cloathed and the belly filled and neuer require or inquire how the soule which is the chiefest part bee prouided for and sustained To be angry if they want food for this life and yet to seeme pleased and contented though they neuer tast of that bread and of that meat which indureth to euerlasting life It hath alwaies beene otherwise with faithfull Gouernours and Christian Parents they haue made conscience of their duties to God and their Families It is noted touching Iacob when hee was to goe to Bethell the house of God c Gen. 35 2. he sanctified and prepared his people he reformed and redressed the abuses that were crept in among them before they came to the worship of God Abraham had in his house three hundred and eighteene persons which hee had well instructed d Gen. 14 14. who were ready to aduenture their liues with him in the battell The Apostle giueth this commendation to Timothy That he had knowne the Scriptures of a Childe who are able to make him wise vnto saluation e 2 Tim. 3 15 through the faith which is in Christ Iesus His first yeares as it were the first fruits of his age were seasoned with the doctrine of Christ which was doone by a familiar and easie order of instructing him Our gouernment therefore ouer others must not be a meete ciuill gouernment as the gouernment of most men is but a religious gouernment to feede the soule as well as the bodie to prouide for the life to come as well as for this present life Vse 4. Fourthly it is required of vs to bring our seuerall Families to the publique exercises of Religion of the word and prayers that we may know how to vse and practise these aright within the Walles of our priuate houses It is not enough for vs to serue God alone by our selues and to plant true Religion in our owne hearts but wee must endeuour to bring others to God especially those that are neerest vnto vs. It is not enough for vs nor a sufficient discharge of our duties to goe to the Church our selues and to frequent the places of Gods publike worship f Math. 21 13 to come to the house of Prayer and to attend to the preaching of the word on the Lords day but wee must looke to our Children and Seruants we must haue an eye ouer them we must see that they be not absent but present and when they are present that they attend and hearken to the Ministery of the word and when as they are departed we must know what they haue profited When we send our Seruants to the Market we will see what they bring home and how they haue prouided for our bodies much more when we send them to the Market of their Soules should we require an accounts of them where they haue beene and what they haue done and how they haue heard How many are there among vs that haue a care to come to this place themselues that haue no conscience to looke to their Children whose saluation should bee as deare and as much desired as their owne Yea euen among you that are at this present in this place if diuers were asked Indeed heere you are here you sit but where are your Sons where your Daughters Where are your Man-Seruants where your Maides for whose Soules ye must giue an account what reasonable aunswere could ye make Nay how many are there to be found who if they haue their worke well done on the weeke-daies care not what they do how they behaue themselues or where they become vppon the Sabbaoth day And so they make themselues guilty and partakers of their sinnes through
Atheisme Let not such therefore flatter themselues and deceiue their owne soules let them shew their religion if they haue any or else they shew themselues to be men of no religion The third reproofe Thirdly it reprooueth such as censure and condemne others as too pure and precise by reason of their profession These men that are colde themselues and care not whether Religion go sorward or backward cannot abide that any should be more zealous and earnest then themselues because they will not runne with them into all excesse of riot therefore they rayle at them and speake all manner of euill against them They haue borrowed many opprobrious tearmes and drawne many reuiling tauntes from the enemies of the Gospell and grace of God and apply them whete they ought not to bee bestowed When the Lord had restored the Gospell vnto vs being brought out of Superstition and Idolatry that the Romanists gnashed their teeth for anger disgorged their malice with rage and were like to breake in peeces through enuy of the worke of the Lord set vp among vs they deuised against vs and our religion most bitter reproaches then was our profession called Puritanisme and our professors branded with the names of Puritans Praecisians and vnspotted Brethren which contumelies are nowe taken out of the mouths of enemies and one Brother dooth spit them in the face of another What a shame and indignity is this that we professing one faith liuing vnder one Gospell embracing one Religion and enduring the same enimies shold borrow such venomous speeches from the scornefull and despightfull Papists and cast them as Dung in the faces of our Bretheren Let vs therefore leaue these rayling and reuiling speeches and send them backe to Rome the Mother of cruelty and of all byting and bitternesse from whence they come Let vs vpbraid no man with his zeale nor hit no man in the teeth with his profession Let vs rather be mooued in loue to follow their example bee prouoked in a godly aemulation to walke in their steps And let vs all know that we must not be like the Laodiceans h Reuel 3 15. which were neither hot nor cold for if we scorne all zeale and forwardnesse in the wayes of godlinesse if we bee luke-warme professors and neither hot nor cold it shal come to passe that the Lord will spew vs out of his mouth The fourth reproofe Fourthly it reprooueth such as thinke they may bee present at the Sacrifice of the Masse and heare and see their Idolatry so they keepe their conscience to God and themselues yea some go farther and thinke they may not only be present at Idolatry in the Idols Temple but bow downe to the Idolles offer vnto them creepe vnto them and serue them with their bodies so that they abhorre such worship in their minds and serue God in their hearts But these excuses cannot serue to iustify such manner of seruing of God When God would assure Eliah that he had his people in those ruines of the Church that he was not left alone he said i 1 Kin. 19 18 He had left seuen thousand in Israell euen all knees that haue not bowed vnto Baal and euerie mouth that hath not kissed him He doth not say hee had reserued such as did not beleeue in Baal but keepe their heart to God but they are noted by this marke to bee the Lords that they gaue not to Baal the bending of the knee nor any outwarde subiection vnto him In the tentations offered to Christ our Sauiour when the Deuill onely required of him to fall downe and worship him k Math. 4 10 he answered Auoid Satan for it is written thou shalt worship the Lord and him only shalt thou serue Nebucadnezzar required nothing of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego the three Seruants of God but to bow the knee and to fall down l Dan. 3 19. to the golden Image that he should set vp and yet they did choose rather to bee cast aliue into the hot fiery furnace and to endure the extremity of the flame It is not therefore enough to worship God in heart and soule True it is he commandeth vs to m Iohn 4 24. worship him in spirit and truth but not only in spirit and truth God requireth of vs the body as well as the spirit the outward man as well as the inward the knee as well as the heart He challengeth euery part member of our body to be employed to his worship Hee that hath an eare to heare n Reuel 2 7. Must heare what the spirit saith vnto the Churches Hee that hath a o 1 Pet. 4 11. Tongue to speake must speake as the words of Gad. Hee that hath handes to lift vp p 1 Tim. 2. 8 Must lift vp pure hands without wrath and without contention Hee that hath a knee to bow q Ephes 3 14. Must bow it to the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ He that hath a mouth to open r Rom. 10 10 Must make confession with it to saluation He that hath feet must say Å¿ Psal 122 2. Our feete shall stand in thy gate O Ierusalem The cause why God claimeth and challengeth the whole body is because the body is his as well as the soule It is his by creation because he made it t Psal 100 3. and not wee our selues we are his people and the Sheepe of his pasture The Clay was his whereof we were formed so that we are his by the Law of Creation Hee feedeth and findeth vs of his owne costs and charges he cloatheth vs with his owne wooll u Psal 50 10 For all the Beasts of the field are his and the Beasts on a thousand mountaines If then we liue at his expenses we are his by another right euen the Booke of his prouidence We are made his by the freeing of vs from the thraldome of sinne from the tiranny of Satan from the bondage of corruption by paying a price a great price by giuing for vs a ransome a great ransome not of Siluer and Gold but by shedding his blood his precious blood for vs the Speare pierced his hart the Nayles pierced his hands and his feet the Thornes pierced his head Seeing therefore he suffered so much in his bodie for our bodies we are wholly his by the worke of our redemption who before were not his The Holy-Ghost likewise sanctifieth our bodies as well as our soules and maketh them a Temple to dwell in and lastly we look for saluation and glorification not onely in soule but in body x 1 Cor. 6 19 20. and therfore we must glorifie God both in our bodies and in our soules wee must offer vp our bodies an holy Sacrifice vnto him and not commit Sacriledge against him by plucking and withdrawing away any part of our bodies from him The fift reproofe Lastly it reproueth such as keepe company with open enemies to God and
Borrowers and whatsoeuer we enioy it is not ours onely but ours and the poores they haue their share and portion with vs. A Christian man though hee bee the freest man vpon the earth yet hee is a Seruant to all especially to the Church of God A Christian man is only a Free-man for he hath Christian liberty belonging â—o him a Iohn 8. 36. And he whom Christ maketh free he is free indeed He is freed b Rom. 8 1. Col. 2 16 20. Rom. 6 14. from â—he curse of the Law from the bond of perfect righteousnesse from the burden of Ceremonies from the bondage of sinne He hath a freedome in the voluntary c Luke 1 74. worship and seruice of God in the d T it 1 15. free vse of al the Creatures of God to come to the throne of grace e Rom 5 2. Ephe 3 12. with assurance to be heard for Christs sake and to enter into the Kingdome of glory after this life On the other side a wicked man is the greatest slaue and bondman that can be He is in bondage vnder sinne He is subiect to all punishments temporall and eternall He is in bondage vnder the Deuill f 2. Tim 2 26. who keepeth all impenitent sinners in his snares to do his his will He is in bondage vnder the wrath of God But to let this passe howsoeuer the faithfull are free men yet they are not onely the seruants of God but the seruants of men especially of the poore but most especially of the godly We are not to seeke our owne thinges but to referre the labours of our calling and the blessing of God vpon our labours to the common good of the Church whereof we are members This condemneth two sorts of men First such as seeke for nothing but to settle themselues and maintaine their owne estates to enrich themselues that they may liue in ease and wealth like the rich man mentioned in the Gospel these make no conscience of swearing forswearing lying dissembling oppressing and such like vnfruitfull workes of the flesh Thâ—se men may alleadge and pleade for themselues what they will but in truth they neuer yet knew what the Communion of Saintes meaneth The Apostle giueth this precept to all the Church g Phil 2. 4. Gal. 6. 2. Looke not euery man on his owne thinges but euery man also on the thinges of other men And in another place Beare yee one an others burden and so fulfill the Law of Christ So the Apostle Iames teacheth h Iam. 4. 3. that we often aske and receiue not because we aske amisse that we might consume the same vpon our pleasures Secondly it reproueth such as wast and consume the good creatures of God in riotousnes in drunkennes and in all excesse and when they are in brotherly loue and Christian compassion admonished do by and by answere what haue you to do with my spending I spend nothing but mine owne I spend none of yours Yes thou spendest that which is thy wiues thy Childrens thy families euen that which is Gods for which thou shalt giue an account at the great and dreadfull day of iudgement For when Christ shall come with thousands of his Angels to make an end of all thinges and say vnto thee i Luke 16 2 Come giue an account of thy Stewardship for thou maiest be no longer Steward wilt thou answere to the Iudge of all the world and to Christ that shall sit vpon the Throne thou hast wasted none of his goodes and abused none of his Creatures Thine owne heart and thine owne conscience as a thousand witnesses will giue in euidence against thee that thou hast taught thy tongue to lie They haue forgotten they are the Lords Stewards and shall giue an account to him as certainly of the bestowing of their substance as themselues take an account of their seruants of that portion of their goods which they haue committed vnto them Vse 3. Lastly seeing we are debters to all men but specially to the faithfull it reproueth such as shew the chiefest fruite of their loue and charity vpon the vngodly and prophane whom it were many times more charity to see punished then releeued and corrected then maintained Many there are among vs that haue no care or compassion of the poore Saintes though they see their wants and necessities yet they can shut their eyes and passe by them k Luke 10. 31. 32. as the Priest and Leuite did by him that was robbed by Theeues and lay halfe dead of his woundes But they will oftentimes be bountifull and shew their beneuolence vpon such as a great deale worse deserue it We see that our collections and distributions are made many times amisse and such as are most prophane are best prouided for Such as are idle Drones beastly Drunkards filthy Harlots and their gracelesse bastardes are more regarded and respected and haue better experience of our Almes then such poore as are godly minded heires by grace Saintes by calling and sonnes by faith This is an inuerting and ouerturning of the order that God hath set and setled to remaine among vs for this is his ordinance which he hath left with vs l Gal. 6. 10. While we haue time let vs do good vnto all men but specially to them that are of the houshold of Faith So the Apostle praieth for the Thessalonians that the Lord would encrease them and make them abound in Loue one toward another and toward all men First it must extend to such as are members of the Church and afterward to all others 1. Thes 3. 12. Loe heere is an Ordinance of God perpetually and inuiolably to be kept as a Law of the Medes and Persians which could not be altered we must do good to the distressed Saintes and poore seruants of God before others and more then to others God indeed is good to all m Psal 125. 9. and his mercy is ouer all his workes but in a speciall sort he n Psal 73. 1. is good to Israell and gratious to them that are pure of heart He saueth man and beast in body but he saueth the soules of his elect for euer He doth not onely preserue them temporally but he will glorify them eternally From hence such as are poore and haue godlines laid vp in their hearts must learne to beare the heauy burden of pouerty with patience seeing that howsoeuer they are neglected of men in the daily ministration yet they are highly respected of God and he vouchsafeth to leaue speciall direction for them aboue others to be sustained The greater our pouerty is the greater should be our piety that the more miserable we seeme to the world the more honourable we may be in the sight of God and of all good men True godlines will sweeten the bitternes of the Crosse which hath the promises of this life and of that which is to come But a poore estate ioyned with a prophane life
seeke the encrease and continuance of it which is continued preserued by the same meanes that it is bred and ingenderd This it it which the Apostle Peter teacheth in his first Epistle r 1 Pet 1 23. with Chap 2 2 that being borne anew not of mortall seed but of immortall by the word of God which liueth and endureth for euer we should as new borne babes desire that sincere milke that we may grow thereby Whereby we see that he calleth the word immortall seed to regenerate vs and sincere milke to nourish vs so that we haue as well our growing vp as our first birth by it and there is a continuall vse of the preaching of the word as well to men that are called aready as to them that are to be called heereafter For the end of preaching is not onely to conuert vs but to continue vs not onely to raise vs vp but to vphold vs not onely to beget vs to the faith but to strengthen vs in the faith not onely to giue the first life to vs but to renew vs after our manifold slippes and often infirmities We are euen in the state of our regeneration as a shippe which if it lye still without vse will rot in the Hauen and if it be kept neuer so carefully it will want rigging and repayring So is it with euery one of vs in this life Å¿ Phil 3 12. we haue not attained to perfection we alwayes lacke somewhat we stand in need of renewing and repairing we must be mending that which is impayred encreasing that which is lessened restoring that which is decayed and keeping in his course that which is rightly ordered So then we must acknowledge a perpetuall necessity of the word to encrease in vs the graces of Faith and Sanctification which without vse of the meanes are subiect if not to dying yet to decreasing if not to perishing yet to diminishing if not to withering away yet to a languishing and loosing of those degrees that haue beene begun in vs. Hence it is that the Lord saith t Esay 27 3. I the Lord doe keepe it that is the Church which is the Vineyard of the Lord I will water it euery moment least any assayle it I will keepe it night and day It is not with the Ministers of the word as it is with men of other Trades who when they haue begun a worke and are departed from it though they returne not to it in a long time yet they find it in the same case u Chrisost homit 13. ad popu Antioch as they left it The Gold-smith that hath melted his siluer in the fire and cast a vessell in the mould begun to hammer it with his Tooles if he lay it aside at night the next day when he commeth to his worke he findeth it as he left it The Carpenter that hath hewed his Timber or the Mason that hath squared his stones in what sort soeuer they left their worke when they departed from it in the same they are sure to see it it is not better it is not worse but as it lay so it continueth And thus it is in all other Sciences It is not so in the Art of hearing and teaching we do not alwaies find the people as we left them we labour to haue them reformed and made zealous yet they are no sooner departed but the multitude of businesse the strength of tentations the corruptions of their nature do so beset them and besiege them round about whereby they are beguiled and ensnared that they make the worke of reformation more hard and difficult then it was before This made the Apostle Paule say of the Galathians that he trauailed in birth againe with them vntill Christ were formed in them and was affraid least he had laboured among them in vaine Gal. 4. 11. 19. This also made the Apostles consent and agree together to visit the Churches where they had preached the Gospell x Acts 14. 22. to confirme them in the truth which they had receiued For as we eate often for the restoring of the force of nature and repairing of the decaies of the body so it is our duty to heare often for the making vp of the breaches and ruines that Sinne and Sathan haue made in our soules We see by daily experience that after our repentance the renewing of our mindes we are subiect to stumble and fal into sinne and ready to lye long in it as men cast into a deep and dead sleepe if we be not awaked with the Trumpet of the Lord in our eares Dauid was by the subtilty of the enemy surprized y 2 Sam 12 7. 13. and drawne to commit two horrible sinnes Adultery and murther he lay a long space securely in them vntill he was by the Prophet Nathan roused vp and recouered Wherefore as there is a continuall vse and exercise of repentance so is there a continuall vse of the preaching of the word that we should not stand at a stay but encrease more and more vntill we come to the fulnesse of the perfect age of Christ Iesus our Lord. Vse 3. Thirdly seeing we should desire our owne profit and others it condemneth three sortes of men first such as stand at a stay secondly such as goe backward thirdly such as enuy the good and growth of others in the best thinges The first reprofe Touching the first we haue many that stand still and moue not they are cast as it were into a dead sleepe call and cry vnto them lift vp thy voice as a Trumpet they haue no eares to heare If one come to a sicke man and feele his pulses yet cannot perceiue them to beate or stirre we will say he is neere vnto death or in some extasie so is it with such as haue the word of God preached vnto them if they be not moued by it to go forward but we find them at the yeares end where they were at the beginning it is an euident signe of a spirituall lethargy and slumber and that they are in danger of death He is accounted an euill scholler that learneth not somewhat euery day but many thousands remaine in the schoole-house of Christ that are so farre from profiting euery day that they suffer whole weekes and moneths and yeares to passe ouer their heads without calling themselues to an account what they haue learned that they knew not before and wherein they yeeld obedience which they practised not before If a man should aske them whether they haue bettered their knowledge encreased their faith furthered their sanctification more this yeare then before they cannot yeeld a reckoning of any accesse is come to any of their guifts In this number are the greatest sort that liue among vs they are standers and not walkers they are sitters and not mouers where you left them this yeare you shall be sure to find them the next yeare and many yeares after They see the time of their
possesseth it it tormenteth his minde it wasteth his bodie it fretteth his minde it shortneth his dayes and it destroyeth his soule It setteth him on worke to backbite and slaunder his Neighbour and to denie him all duties of humanity So then enuy hatred and back-byting alwayes go together as three Cankers and euill sores that consume the bodie hurt the good Name lessen the guifts and repine at the goods of our Brethren And if it be euill to enuy the guifts of God our eye should not bee euill because the Lords eye is good Much more euill is it to scorne mocke and disgrace the guifts of God in his Seruants as prophane Beasts and Heathnish Atheists doo in these dayes saying you are an holy Brother you are a Saint you are a man of God This sitting downe in the seate of Scorners is woorse then dwelling in the foule and irkesome Caue of enuie and therefore let vs beware thereof Let vs praise the guiftes of GOD in whomsoeuer wee finde them whether in Friend or enemy Vse 4. Lastly seeing we should all seeke to profite our selues and others in godlynesse we must know that it is our dutie to stirre vp the guifts of God in vs that we do not burie them as in a Graue we must exercise the guifts that we haue by continuall practise Vse maketh men prompt and readie want of vse maketh men vntoward Let vs take heed we do not quench the spirite and grieue him The spirit of God is in many respectes resembled to fire which purgeth some things consumeth other things and heateth other thinges So doth the Spirit of God purge consume and warme It refineth and purifieth vs as mettall is from drosse it wasteth and consumeth sinne in vs as straw and stubble it kindleth in vs the heate of zeale and warmeth vs when we are frozen in our sinnes Now as the Spitit is compared to fire so our sins are likened to Water Water wee know will quench the Fire Sinne will quench the Spirit Let vs therefore blowe this Fire let vs kindle the Coales of it let vs stirre vppe the Brandes and put more matter to it that it die not The Priestes in the time of the Law n Leuit. 6 5. 9 24. and 10 1 were appointed to maintaine the Fire vppon the Altar day and night that it should neuer goe out because it was from Heauen and they were forbidden to offer straunge Fire So the Apostle warneth Timothy and o 2 Tim. 1 6. putteth him in remembrance that hee stirre vp the guift of GOD which is in him by the putting on of his handes Obiection But heere some man may Obiect If the Spirit it selfe may be lost then much sooner and easier the lesser guifts Answere I answer the Spirit of Faith and regeneration can neuer be quite lost for the faithfull and regenerate are begotten not of mortal but of immortall seede their knowledge is like the light of the Sun the others are like the brightnesse of the lightning and flashing in the ayre which shineth for a season and by and by vanisheth and fadeth away True it is the best gifts may decay but not die they may be weakned but not quite wasted they may be lessened but not vtterly lost They may seem to perish and be wholy gone in time of tentation as we see in Dauid Peter and many others yet euen then they remaine in them though not felt as fire couered in the ashes or as the light ouer-shaddowed with a cloud This the Apostle Iohn testifieth saying p 1 Iohn 3 9. Whosoeuer is borne of God sinneth not for his seede remayneth in him neyther can hee sinne because hee is borne of God Where hee teacheth that Faith and Loue of Holynesse are neuer lost which serueth to the comfort of the Godly not to nourish securitie of the Flesh in themselues The fellowship or communication of thy Faith Heere we see how the Apostle in the matter of his Prayer which hee vsed for Philemon intreated for the communicating and fellowship of his gifts that is that they should flow and yssue out to the good and benefit to the profit and bettering of others Doctrine 2. The guiftes which we haue receiued must tend to the good of others This teacheth vs that the guifts and blessings of God whether temporall or eternall bestowed vpon any must not lye hid or dead but be vsed and employed to the good of others and so yeelde a fellowship and communion to others Whatsoeuer good things we haue receyued we must haue them not for our selues alone but for the good of others This we are taught in the Parable of the Scribe taught of God vnto the Kingdome of Heauen q Math. 13 52 and 25 14. Luke 19 13. hee is likened to an House-holder which bringeth foorth out of his Treasure thinges both new and old His olde and new store must not be kept to himselfe but be brought forth and serue for his fellow Seruants So in the parable propounded Luke 19. this appeareth A certaine Noble-man went into a farre Countrey to receiue for himselfe a Kingdome and so to come againe and hee called his tenne Seruants and deliuered vnto them tenne peeces of Money and sayde vnto them Occupy till I come And afterwarde the first came saying Lorde thy peece hath encreased tenne peeces and the second sayde thy peece hath encreased fiue peeces The Apostle likewise sheweth that all the guifts of Wisedome Knowledge Faith Prophesying the guiftes of healing the operation of great works the discerning of spirits the diuersity of toongs the interpretation of tongues r 1 Cor. 12 7. are distributed to euery man seuerally to profit withall and for the good of the whole body And speaking of such as haue temporall thinges hee chargeth Timothy to charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded nor trust in vncertaine riches but in the liuing God who giueth vs abundantly all things to enioy that they do good and be rich in Good-workes and bee ready to distribute and communicate All blessings therefore are to bee communicated and distributed to others they ought not to be laid vp in a Napkin or be buried in the earth or be couered vnder a bushell as the manner of many men is Reason 1. The Reasons of this truth are to be sought out and considered of vs. First we are seruants vnto all to do them good and to further their saluation True it is the faithfull are most free being set at liberty by Christ from the cursse of the Lawe and from the Dominion of sinne according vnto the saying of Christ Iohn 8. If the Sonne make Å¿ Iohn 8 36. you free you shall bee free indeede Notwithstanding this freedome it is a part of their dignity to be the seruants of God and a part of their duty to bee seruants to men to seeke their good to procure their benefite to further their edification
and to finish their saluation This is it which the Apostle Paule setteth downe 1 Cor. 9 19. Though I bee free from all Men yet haue I made my selfe Seruant vnto all Men that I may winne the more Wee are brought into the World to doo good to others and to be as Candles to giue light to others rather then to our selues This made the same Apostle in another place say u 1 Cor 4 5. We preach not our selues but Christ Iesus the Lord and our selues your seruants for Iesus sake If then the Ministers be the seruants of the Church and all men Seruauntes one toward another wee must in all thinges shew our selues Seruants by seruing the necessities and seeking the good of all our Bretheren amongst whom we liue Reason 2. Secondly we are members of the same body and therefore in this respect should profit one another We see it is so in euerie part of our bodye the eye seeth not for it selfe the head inuenteth not for it selfe the hand worketh not for it selfe the foote walketh not for it selfe but they do these duties for the whole body Thus it ought to be among all the faithfull if Christ Iesus be our head we must bee affected as mutuall members one to another So the Apostle teacheth that as the x 1 Cor. 12 12 bodie is one and hath many members and all the members of the bodie which is one though they be many yet are but one bodie euen so is Christ And afterwarde If one member suffer all suffer with it if one member be had in honour all the members reioyce with it If then we had Faith to beleeue that we are neerely ioyned together one to another as members of one body we would faithfully employ our selues to the good and comfort one of another Reason 3. Thirdly we are all of vs Stewards and disposers of the manifold graces of God For God being as a great Noble-man that hath a great house ruleth all things in it by his Steward So hath God committed his goods to vs and made vs Stewards of his family to Minister in season to all in the Housholde and he will take an account how we vse them when it shal be saide to vs Giue an account of thy Stewardship for thou mayst be no longer Steward This is the reason vrged by the Apostle Peter y 1 Pet. 4 10. Let euery man as he hath receiued the guift minister the same one to another as good disposers of the manifold grace of GOD. Seeing then we are made Seruants Members and Stewards to serue one to another to helpe one another and to Minister one to another we are bound to respect the faithfull as our fellow-seruants to doo them good as our fellowe members and procure their benefite as partes of the same Family with vs. Vse 1. The Doctrine beeing thus cleared by store of witnesses and by strength of Reasons let vs not passe from it vntill we see the Vses of it First of all this teacheth vs to remember and minde the benefit and good of others and not onely to desire but to effect the same as much as we can especially their eternal good It is a good thing to doo good vnto the bodies of our Bretheren but the cheefest good is to doe good to their soules There is none of vs but haue receiued some guift and by the vse thereof may do some good God indeed with a liberall hand distributed his blessings hee hath not dealt couetously niggardly and sparingly toward vs but liberally richly bountifully He hath giuen all his goods among vs all hee hath not giuen all to euery one but he hath bestowed some to one and some to another in one measure to this man in another measure to that man But howsoeuer the number of our guifts bee small and the measure of them little yet no man hath so small a number or so little a measure but hee may gaine some glorie to God the giuer of them and doo some good to his Brethren by the vse of them We see in the Parable he that had receyued fiue Talents encreased fiue other Talents and hee that had receyued two Talents gained other two also and these are called good and faithfull Seruants The Apostle Paule writing to the Phillippians z Phil. 2 4. Looke not euerie man on his owne thinges but euerie Man also on the thinges of other men Heereby such are reprooued as are Louers of them-selues inuent for them-selues care for them-selues labour for themselues and do the duties of their calling for themselues these doo not mind or meane any good to the Church or to their poore Brethren they care for nothing but their owne aduantage Vse 2. Secondly seeing such are reproued as haue gifts and yet vse them not but hide them and so diminish them by ydlenesse want of conscience Such as vse their gifts do encrease them such as vse them not decrease and diminish them The first reproofe It is the iust iudgement of God vpon all vnconscionable persons that haue receiued gifts in a great measure neuer imploy them or bestow them to the profit of others they haue their gifts taken from them their knowledg is diminished their iudgement corrupted their memory decayed their zeale quenched their diligence abated We see this in the Ministers of the Gospell who are made able and apt to teach who are filled and furnished with gifts answereable to their calling to do good in their places when they grow sloathfull and spend their dayes without care and conscience of their duties they are infatuated of God and abhorred of men they run into grosse errors and are made ridiculous euen to children This is it which the Prophet long ago prophesied and threatned from God to fal vpon these proud prophane men a Zach 11 17 O Idoll Shepheard that leaueth the flocke the sword shall be vpon his arme and vpon his right eye his arme shall he cleane dried vp and his right eye shall bee vtterly darkned The like we may say also of the people who haue profited by the preaching of the Gospell and gathered much instruction to their great comfort when they beginne to stand at a stay and to cease the course into which they are entred all things go backward with them they becom luke-warme they haue lesse knowledge I speake of many of our professors then they had ten yea twentie yeares agoe their zeale is turned into coldnesse their forwardnesse into backwardnesse their Prayers into pleasures their earnestnesse into negligence their loue into loathing their hearing into dulnesse and deafenesse their eares aie stopped and are made hard and heauie they were wont to draw others to the exercises of Religion but nowe themselues stand in neede to be haled and pulled vnto them they were woont to light a Candle and lead the way to others now their light is put out and they remaine in darknesse themselues
subuert the truth their knowledge to ouerthrow the faith their riches to vndoo the poor their credit to crosse iustice their authority to disdain their strength to oppresse the weake their power to contemne others and euery gift to the dishonor of the giuer as the Serpent did his wilinesse to deceiue These are al like mad men armed It were better that a mad man had no armour and weapon then that he should vse or rather abuse them to the death and destruction of others so it were better these men wanted these guiftes then that they should prophane them to the dishonour of God to the hurt of others and to the bringing of a fearfull iudgement vpon their owne soules It were better to do nothing then to do euill as we say it is better to be ydle then to be ill occupied It were better to let the sword rest in the scabbard then to drawe it out to wound the innocent to let our riches corrupt and our garments be moth-eaten and our treasure be cankred then we weare them with pride wast them in drunkennesse whoredome and all wickednesse We must one day giue an account vnto God both what we haue receiued and howe wee haue bestowed that which we haue receiued If the Marchant that hath had his Factor in a strange Country wasting his goods committed to him on harlots and in riotous liuing will call him to an account how hee hath spent his time and mispent his goods shall wee not thinke that the eternall God will summon vs before the barre of his iudgement seate to giue in a reckoning an exact account what we haue done with such guifts as he hath lent vs and how we haue bestowed them The third reproofe Thirdly they are here also reproued which bar and lock vp such guifts of such as might be profitable to the Church and Common-wealth which suffer them not to imploy their guifts that desire to imploy them which doo little good themselues and yet hinder those that would do good The Dogge that lyeth in the manger will not eate the Hay himselfe nor suffer the Oxe that laboureth to eate of it So we haue lamentable experience of such men or rather Beasts as open not their own mouths but haue learned to shut the mouthes of others that would preach the gospell These are like to Amazia that proud Priest of Bethel that falsely informed the King against the true Prophet of God Amos and charged him to hold his peace a Amos 7. 10 12. hee sent to Ieroboam king of Israel saying Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel the Land is not able to beare his words And hee saide to Amos O thou the Seer flee thou away into the Land of Iudah and there eate thy Bread and prophesy there but prophesie no more at Bethel for it is the Kinges Chappell and it is the Kings Court These are like to the cruell Priests and Prophets that suffered not b Ier. 26 8. 38 6. Ieremiah to publish the word of the Lord but stopped his mouth and clapt him vp in prison and if their rage had not bin repressed and their malice restrained they woulde not haue rested till they had put him to death and brought him to destruction He was as a silly Lambe in the iawes and clawes of blood-sucking Wolues and led vnto the slaughter hee sought not anie reuenge against them but onely said c Ier. 26 14. 15 As for me bohold I am in your hands do with me as ye thinke good and right but know ye for certaine that if ye put mee to death ye shall surely bring innocent blood vpon your selues and vpon this Citty and vpon the Inhabitants thereof for of a truth the Lord hath sent me vnto you to speak all these words in your eares These are like to the d Acts 4 17. and 5 28. chiefe Priest and Pharisies who threatned and charged the Apostles that they should thenceforth speake or teach no man in Christs name but they answeared We ought rather to obey God then men And againe Whether it be right in the sight of God to obey you rather then God iudge ye These are like to that ambitious Diotrephes mentioned by the Apostle Iohn in his third Epistle e 3 Iohn 9 10 who as hee loued to haue the preheminence among them so hee pratled against the true seruants of God with malicious words and not therewith content neither hee himselfe receiueth the Brethren but forbiddeth them that woulde receiue them and thrusteth them out of the Church It is an horrible sinne to take away the preaching of Gods word from men For whatsoeuer men pretend to excuse their sinne and what Figge leaues soeuer they patch together to couer their shame they are guilty of the destruction and damnation of so many soules as by them might haue bin instructed Iudas was guilty of an hainous sinne for betraying and deliuering the body of one innocent to a temporall death but these shall be arraigned of high treason against Iesus Christ who betray many thousand soules into the hands of Satan and throw them into the iawes of death euen of eternall death Such are the bloody Papists which deny the vse of the scriptures to the people and debarre them of the meanes of getting knowledge And such are all carnall Gospellers which thinke the preaching of the Gospel to be a needlesse and superfluous thing and account the people to haue sufficient so that they haue a praying Ministry alone and the seruice read distinctly among them Let vs therefore take heede that we doo not stoppe the course of the Gospell or put out the light that would shine into our hearts but rather further with all our power the trueth that God hath set vp among vs and spread abroad his sauing health that so glory may be gained to his name The fourth reproofe Lastly it reprooueth the neglect of employing the gifts of God bestowed vpon them that is in the people Whether God haue giuen vs spiritual graces or temporall blessings we must take heede how we vse them We are readie to heare and willing to learne the faults of the Ministers yea we can speak of them our selues and talke of them all day long wee can tell that some vse not their guifts to the good of the Church others abuse them to the hurt of the Church but neuer consider how themselues employ their owne guifts or what account they shall giue to God that hath bestowed them The benefite of them is not in hauing of them but in the vsing of them not in the enioying but in the employing not in the possessing but in the practising Not to vse them is all one as if we had them not For as the couetous man wanteth as well the things that he hath as those which he hath not so doo these sluggards receiue the grace of God in vaine which haue the vse
in the house in the field in the City in body in soule in temporall things in spiritual thinges Now when God is obeyed men should reioyce and be glad and when his Lawes are broken they should be much greeued and troubled The Apostle Iohn writing to an elect Lady k 2 Iohn 4. reioyced greatly that hee found of her children walking in truth as they had receiued a cōmandement of the lord On the other side wee see Dauids l Psal 119 136 eyes did gush out with Riuers of teares because Wicked men kept not his Lawes These Reasons beeing duely waighed and rightly considered do teach vs that Gods blessings bestowed vppon our Bretheren must minister matter of ioy and great comfort vnto vs. Vse 1. Let vs now proceede to the handling of the Vses that wee may haue the benefit of this Doctrine and not suffer it to passe from vs without profit First of all seeing Gods graces vpon others must worke ioy in our selues we learn the truth of that article of our faith which al professe to beleeue but many do not vnderstand to wit the communion of Saints There is a double communion m What the munion of Saints is which we beleeue one which we haue with Christ the other which the church hath among themselues the former is the cause of the latter For Christ our head hath giuen himselfe vnto vs whereby we haue the right of adoption the imputation of his righteousnesse and a title to the kingdome of heauen From hence as from a fountaine issueth that communion which all the members both in heauen earth haue among themselues howsoeuer seuered in place one from another howsoeuer the one sort be dead the other liuing howsoeuer the one sort is triumphant the other Militant Our Brethren in heauen wish well to the Church pray for it generall desire the perfect consummation of it and craue the full and finall deliuerance of it from all troubles The Apostle bringeth them in speaking on this maner n Reuel 6 10. How long Lord holy true Doest not thou iudge and auenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth True it is they know not they see not they heare not what things are done vpon the face of the earth and therefore they cannot pray in particular for the particular conditions and persons of men On the other side we who liue vppon the earth o Phil. 3 20. haue our conuersation in heauen our minds our harts soules are there we do in our desires and affections conuerse with them we pray to be dissolued and to be with Christ Our Communion among our selues consisteth in three things first in the affection of the heart secondly in the gifts of the spirit thirdly in the vse of temporall riches The first in heart when we are so linked and coupled together that we are like affectioned one to another so that when one is greeued the rest are greeued and when one reioyceth the rest are refreshed The Euangelist describing the estate of Christes Church saith p Acts 4 32. The multitude of them that beleeued were of one heart and of one soule The Heathen wish well to their owne blood and kindred but wee must wish well to all Christians as to our selues we must not onely know heare of but feele their miseries and mourne with them that mourne we must not tell them as newes but lay them to our hearts The second branch is in the blessings of God bestowed vpon vs we must impart to our Brethren our spirituall gifts we must teach them by our example we must aduise them by our Counsell we must guide them by our admonition we must stirre them vp by our exhortation we must raise them vp by our comforts we must helpe them by our Prayers The third part of our communion q Galat. 6. 10. standeth in temporal thinges when wee are content not onely to leaue our superfluities but euen to spend our selues for the good of our fellow-members wee must be readie to feede the hungry to cloath the naked to harbour the harbourlesse which are not onely of our owne flesh but of our owne faith not onely cloathed with the same Nature but adorned with the same Name This is the communion which wee professe and beleeue and is confirmed and concluded in this place Vse 2. Secondly we learn to desire the best guifts that we may reioyce and comfort the godly For when we profit in good things we chear the harts and minds of al the faithful Euery liuing thing hath his prospering proceeding and is known to haue life in it by encreasing from one degree of perfection to another The grasse springeth the plant shouteth the corn florisheth the tree groweth If we haue any life in vs of Gods Spirit be not as grasse that is withered as plants that are dead as Corne that is blasted and as trees that are plucked vp by the roots we must go forward from one measure of grace to another from a lesser to a greater This serueth to reprooue sundry abuses and to meet with many corruptions that abide and abound among vs. First it condemneth such as delight to offend to grieue and vexe the Saints of God For if we should seeke to reioyce and comfort them and to Minister all occasion of ioy vnto them then we are not to discomfort and trouble them wee are not to worke sorrow and anguish in them The estate of these offensiue liuers is fearefull as Christ our r Math. 18 7. Sauiour declareth Woe vnto the world because of offences for it must needs be that offences shall come but woe be to that man by whom the offence commeth whosoeuer shall offend one of these little ones which beleeue in me it were better for him that a Milstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea Wee ought to giue no offence eyther to Iew or Gentile or to the Church of God for woe shall bee to them that offend their Brethren that greeue the Spirit of God and cause the enemies of our Faith to blaspheme Secondly it reprooueth such as conuerse onely with the vngodly and can be merry onely in their company The Children of God haue alwayes accounted it a great crosse and vexation to dwell with such as are leud in their course of life and are bare and barren in good things The Prophet saith ſ Psal 120 5. Woe is me that I remaine in Meshech and dwell in the Tents of Kedar It is an heape of miseries and a verie representation of Hell to be continually vexed and exceedingly greeued with their wicked conuersation Iust Lot was vexed with the t 2 Pet. 2 7 8. vncleane conuersation of the wicked for hee being righteous and dwelling among them in hearing and seeing vexed his righteous soule from day to day with their vnlawfull deedes And in what place almost now
he perished for hunger and died through want and famine True it is when they saw some men with their eyes languishing in misery and heard them with their eares pitifully complaining in their extremity they were sometimes touched with commiseration and compassion toward poore persons but they neuer called or accounted this duty of humanity a vertue but onely an humane passion or naturall affection Furthermore they neuer builded or erected any Hospitalls or houses of refreshing to lodge and nourish the poore neither had the Princes their Almoners to distribute their Almes as Christians haue When a Child was borne mishapen and euill-formed among them it was killed a Halicarnass Rom. Antiq. lib. 2. yea it was not onely allowed but commanded to stifle and strangle it that it should not be brought vp a cruelty and inhumanity against Nature and a despite and iniury done to the Creator who created them and formed them in their Mothers wombe They made account of poore men as they did of Beasts for alas as those poore wretches came into the Market place set themselues to sale as men do their Cattle so such as bought them standing there at offer proffer had full possession to do with them what they would they had power to kill their bondmen at their pleasure when and how and for what cause they thought good and were not subiect to giue any account of their death and for their so dooing They did ordinarily slay their slaues and Seruants when they became vnprofitable b Dion in Augusto vnto them and reserued such as were strong to labour and able to doo them seruice Moreouer they set vp sundrie Theaters for Combates to offer pleasure and make pastime to the Beholders and caused their poore Slaues to band themselues in two partes one against another then they brought them forth causing them furiously to set one vpon another with naked swordes and with naked bodies none of them being furnished with any defensiue Armour and the people assembled to see this most vngodly sport laughed at it and tooke no lesse pleasure to looke vppon it then wee take pleasure to see Cockes fight one with another Thus we see what the Religion of these Panims and Miscreants was barbarous beastly bloody defiled with all cruelty contrary to al pitty and piety regarding the poor no more then brute beasts and making no more account of them but for their seruice they drew from them and for the want they had of them For among all the morral precepts which they taught and deliuered we neuer read that they spake any thing that they prescribed or perswaded any thing touching the poore nor that they euer established any good pollicy to helpe them Notwithstanding it agreeth well with naturall reason that euery one do good to his like And it is a sound principle confessed among all c Lamprid. in Atexan What thou wouldest not should be done to thee do it not vnto another but we must do to another as we would he should do vnto vs. But the Religion which is called the Christian religion goeth farther and beginneth where nature leaueth vs It teacheth vs to respect the poore as our own flesh to regard them as the members of Christ to account of them as of those that beare the Image of God to releeue them as heires of the Kingdome of Heauen and to remember that the Lorde Iesus accepteth and rewardeth that which is done vnto them as doone vnto himselfe So then no man can denie but all men must confesse that the Christian Religion is in all points more excellent and perfect then all other Religions which are of Men and sauour of the Flesh Vse 2 Secondly seeing the works of mercie must be shewed to the poore Saints it reproueth those that are wearie and backward in doing good and haue no care to releeue them that liue in great pouerty and penury We see manie that are bountifull and as I may say prodigall and wastfull in pampering of themselues and feasting the Rich which haue no neede and stande not in want but are sparing and fast-handed towardes the poore These are like vnto the Rich man that was cladde in Purple d Luke 16 19 and fared deliciously euerie day but woulde not yeelde vnto poore Lazarus the Crummes and Offals that came from his Table This is a great vanitie to gaine praise and commendation from the Worlde to bee great Cheere-makers to the rich and to bee miserable to the poore and needie Indeede it is no sinne to entertaine thy rich Friendes and to Feast thy Kins-folkes e Gen. 18 26 as Abraham did Abimelech but the other to feede the poore rather then to Feast the rich ought to be more common and is approued to be more commendable But such as follow all riot and liue in all excesse are most hard-harted toward the poore For diuellish prodigality and Christian liberality cannot stande together Such as wast their goods in riotous liuing thinke it ill spent that is giuen to the poore especially that which is bestowed vpon the poore Saints We saw this in the rich Glutton who abounding in outward blessings would communicate nothing to Lazarus as full of wants as he was of sores Wee haue heereof a liuely picture set vppe to bee seene in the Sodomites f Ezek. 16 49 who exceeding in excesse of pride and fulnesse of Bread offended there-withall in contempt of the poore and weakning the hand of the ndeeie Behold the practise of all that spend and wast their wealth in drunkennesse surfetting and such like wickednesse it greeueth them more to giue a penny to good vses then to lauish and dash away a pound in following and feeding their beastly humors whereby God is dishonoured the poore are robbed their bodyes are disfigured their good Name is impaired and their soules are endaungered for euer There is no man g Obiections of miserable men against liberality that delighteth in any sinne hut hee hath pretence and excuse for his sinne The sloathfull seruant that hid his Maisters Talent and treasure committed vnto him alledged this for himself h Math. 25 44 I knew that thou wast an hard man which reapest where thou sowedst not and gatherest where thou strowedst not So the sluggard saith i Prou. 22 13. There is a Lyon without I shall be slaine in the street In like manner such as are miserable and mercilesse toward the poore members of Christ are readie to couer their shame though it be with Figge-leaues to dawbe vp their hardnesse of heart though it bee with vntempered morter and to paint their hypocrisie though it be with deceitfull and fading colours Let vs see what their Obiections are hindering their liberality and shutting their handes or rather their hearts from this compassion so often commanded of God and so much practised of the godly Obiection First they say they cannot do that which they desire they fear that they
loathsome vomit out of the stomacke who should Remember that they sit in the seat of God m 2 Chro. 19 5 19 6. and are to execute the Iudgements of God with whome is no iniquity nor respect of persons neither receiuing of reward Iehu the King of Israel executing the iudgements of the Lord against the house of Ahab according to al the word of the Lord n Hosea 1 4. is threatned himself to be punished because he did it with a cruell and bloody affection The work was good but his hart was euil the deede done was righteous but the manner of doing was corrupt he respected not the glory of God but his owne reuenge he did it not to serue God but to serue himselfe This was the cause why the Lotde visited him his house and al Israel for it and reuenged their blood thus shedde because he fayled in the manner though otherwise hee did that which is iust and right We must regard not onely what we do but in what sort and maner to what end and purpose wee doo it It is our dutie to shew Mercie and Loue to Offenders euen in punnishing of Offenders Wee must haue respect to their bodies and soules We must admonish reprooue threaten and correct in great compassion and mercy not in rage and reuenge to fly vpon them Obiection But heere the question may be asked whither a Christian man may not be angry with them with whom he dealeth being stubborne and peruerse and deale sharpely with them Answere I aunswere the Apostle giueth direction what to do in this case o Ephes 4 26. Be angry but sinne not let not the sunne go downe vppon your wrath neither giue place to the Deuill If wee breake out suddainly into any passion let vs speedily recal that affection and not suffer it long to lodge with vs. But there is a godly anger and an holy kinde of indignation there is a lawfull zeale to bee commended in the seruants of God which they are to conceiue inwardly and to vtter outwardly against sinne not against their peruersenesse So it is sayd of Christ p Marke 3 5. that hee looked round about him angerly mourning also for the hardnesse of their hearts His anger was ioyned with pitty and compassion it was not so much against the men as against their blindnesse The Church of Ephesus is commended q Reuel 2 6. that it hated the workes of the Nicolaitans which Christ also hateth It hated not the Nicolaitans themselues as they were men but the workes of the Nicolaitans Obiection Againe it may be saide that the Prophet Dauid Psal 109. and in many other places r Ps 59 109 prayed for the destruction of his enemies both their persons and posteritie So did Eliah for fire from Heauen to destroy the Captaines that came to take him Answere I answere we haue not the same spirit that they had and consequently haue not the same warrant They were Prophets and God reuealed vnto them that they were obstinate enemies so that they were enabled to iudge that their malice and wickednesse was incureable and that they would neuer repent They had an extraordinary measure of Gods spirite not onely to see their present condition but to discerne their future confusion and hence it is that they were endued with a pure zeale of Gods Glorie and not carried with an euill desire of Reuenge of Enuie of Hatered and of Emulation Againe the imprecations of the Prophets are prophesied of plagues to come but we haue no such extraordinarie instinct reuealed vnto vs to knowe what is to come wherefore wee cannot alledge their examples for our imitation we must walke in the Kings High way and follow the generall rules of the Scripture to deale mildly to put away pride and cruelty toward those that are vnder vs to banish tiranny and treading of them vnder our feet This is to be obserued of all Fathers Maisters and Gouernors remembring that in Christ we are all Brethren that by Nature we are all of one mold and making that as men we haue all one Creator This consideration wee finde to haue Å¿ Iob 32 13 14. bin in Iob toward those of his Family If I did contemne the iudgement of my Seruant and of my Maide when they did contend with me what then shall I doo when God standeth vp And when he shall visit me what shall I answere He that hath made me in the wombe hath he not made him Hath not he alone fashioned vs in the wombe This the Apostle also t Ephes 6 9. teacheth Eph. 6. Ye Maisters doo the same things vnto them putting away threatning and know that euen your Mayster also is in heauen neither is there respect of persons with him So then we are to deale with gentlenesse not with roughnesse we are rather to seeke to win others by loue then to compell them by rigor We must endeuour that al bitternesse and anger and wrath crying and euill speaking bee put away from vs we ought to be courteous one to another and tender-hearted we are not to thinke that any are priuiledged and freed from reproofe but wee must reproue meekely and modestly least whilst we go about to amend them wee make them worse It is an heauenly Counsell giuen by the Apostle u Gal. 6 1 2. Bretheren if a man be suddainly taken in any offence ye which are spirituall restore such an one with the spirit of meekenesse considering thy self least thou also be tempted Beare ye one anothers burden and so fulfill the Law of Christ Where wee see he would haue the faithfull endeuour to reforme a man with all gentlenesse when he hath done amisse We must not flatter him in his sinnes for then we encourage him and vphold him in his wickednesse nay wee betray him into the hands of the Deuill and by that meanes drown him deeper in destruction Whensoeuer therefore our Brother falleth into euill it is no loue nor charitie to cloake his euill doings or to dissemble his lewdnesse which he hath committed but we must haue a care that he may rise againe If a man bee in the myre or in a ditch we will reach him our hand to helpe him out much more ought we to haue pittie on his soule when we see it sinking into perdition Vse 2. Secondly seeing we are to winne men rather by gentlenesse and loue we must acknowledge that gteat wisedome and discretion is required in the Ministry to diuide the word of God aright and to bee able to apply himselfe to euery degree and calling of men Hence it is that the Apostle saith writing to Timothy x 1 Tim 5 1 2. Rebuke not an Elder but exhort him as a father and the younger men as bretheren the Elder-women as Mothers the younger as Sisters with all purenesse There is indeed a profitable and necessary vse both of rough and tender dealing When the people of
beseech you Brethren that ye acknowledge them that labour among you and are ouer you in the Lord and admonish you that ye haue them in singular loue for their workes sake The fift Commaundement calleth and comprehendeth all Pastours vnder the Name of Parents to teach vs to know those that haue begotten vs vnto the Lorde and to note the time the meanes and the person that hath brought that blessing vpon vs. It hath beene an old and ancient custome for men to celebrate their birth-day n Math. 14 6. as we see in Herod who vsually made a great Feast at it much more oughtest thou to make thy New-birth day wherein thou was borne againe and made the Childe of God a day of solemnity neuer to be forgotten and to reioyce therein aboue all thinges and times in the World This reprooueth those that regard not to heare them nor care to attend to their Doctrine For as God condemneth the absence of the Pastour from his owne people so he reprooueth the absence of the people from their owne Pastour Some hold of Paule some of Cephas some of Apollos and delight more in the guifts of a Straunger then in the Ministerie of him whom the Lord hath placed ouer them Obiection But may wee heare none but our owne Pastours What if they be vnapt to teach and vnable to instruct Answere I answere we may heare others and prooue many Spirits but we ought not willingly to bee absent from our owne assemblies where our presence and company is especially required I am no Patron of vnpreaching Prelats I wish them eyther reformed or remooued eyther amended or depriued If a man want foode at home he may lawfully aske Bread and take releefe abroad but when a man is plentifully stored or at least competently and conueniently prouided for at home it is a shame to take the Bread that is appointed for others Be it that other Pastours haue greater guiftes of learning of zeale of vtterance then our owne yet wee are bound to heare them to pray for them to attend vpon them as they attend vpon vs. He hath commanded euery o Prou. 5 15. Man to eate his owne Bread and to drinke the Water of his owne Cesterne contenting himselfe with his own estate not enuying the better estate of another Wee see how mercifully the Lord dealeth with those of the lower and poorer sort who haue little and the same homely prouision of fare in comparison of others that are full fed and fare deliciously euery day and are charged with many Children to bring vp yet p Deut. 8 2 Dan. 1 13 15. both they and their children are as healthfull in body and as strong in their Limbes as comely in countenance and as well graced in their outward persons as they that abound in Wealth and their Cuppes ouer-flow in all the dainties and delicacies of the World So we may be well assured that the Lord will much more prouide for our Soules and blesse that prouision that he hath appointed for vs albeit it be but meane and simple When a man is sicke in body he will preferre that Phisition which knoweth best the state of his body who is most likely to doe him most good although perhaps some other be better learned and deeper skilled Thus ought it to be with vs our owne Pastour which is the Physition of our Soules knoweth best our estate seeth whereof wee haue neede vnderstandeth the Nature of our disease and consequently is best able to restore vs to health againe He that hath more learning may profit by him that hath lesse may profit I say euen in knowledge For the Lord speaking by the mouth of his Minister whom hee hath in some measure furnished with guifts many times teacheth the wise by the simple and the great learned man by him that is inferiour to himselfe The Lord Iesus q Iohn 1 29. was oftentimes present at the Sermons of Iohn The Prophets that were extraordinarily called disdained not the Ministery of the Priestes r Hag. 2 11 12. but were content to learne the law of them This is the Lordes doing to aduance his owne glory and to humble the highest Teachers of the Church The Apostle hoped to profiâ— by the Romaines as Å¿ Rom. 1 12. they should by him Euery Congregation or Parish should consist of so many Christians as can meet at one assembly The Apostles directed by the Spirit of God were the Authours of this diuision and distinction who hauing conuerted many to the Gospell separated them and ordained them Elders not onely according to the number of their Citties t Reasons why the people should attend their owne Pastours but also according to their seuerall multitudes which are called Churches For euen as God hath distributed the Ciuill State of the World into Kingdomes Prouinces Shires Citties and other Dominions and hath ranged them into seuerall meetings so he hath diuided his Church into certaine and seuerall assemblies for the better ordering and edifying of them and therefore the distinction of particular Churches is not of humane inuention but of diuine institution Hence it may be concluded and inferred that one Pastour cannot be ouer all assemblies nor all assemblies vnder one Pastour Euery Shepheard must haue his owne Flocke and euery Flocke must know his owne Shepheard There is a neere band and mutuall coniunction betweene these two The Minister is charged with his owne people by the ordinance of God he must attend the Flock committed to his care and Cure ouer which the Lord hath made him Watch-man and Ouer-seer This is the knot that tyeth the people fast to their owne Pastour Euery one in the Ciuill State knoweth his owne Citty and to what company he and his whole house doth belong Euery Company in the Citty knoweth to what iurisdiction he belongeth So it ought to be in the Church of Christ euery particular Christian should be annexed vnto one certaine assembly and bee there enrolled as a member of that society to liue vnder the Ministery and gouernment thereof For where shall we rather hope to receiue good then vnder that Ministery which the Lord hath set ouer vs Or from whom rather shall we expect the blessing of God then from him whose labours he hath promised to blesse Hence it is that the Apostle saith u Heb. 13 17 Obey them that haue the ouer-sight of you and submit your selues for they watch for your Soules as they that must giue accounts that they may doe it with ioy and not with greefe for that is vnprofitable for you Heere he addeth many reasons as it were vpon an heape to vrge vs to this duty If they watch for our Soules we also ought to waite vpon them If that they must render an account for our Soules we must also render an account of their labours bestowed vpon vs. If they must doe it with ioy and not with greefe we are charged by our obedience
shall bee taken of vs wee shall beare the burthen not onely of our owne sinnes but of all the sinnes of the people and euerie soule belonging vnto our charge that hath perrished thorough our owne negligence shall bee laide to our charge and his blood be required at our handes and so shal becom horrible Reprobates in Hel to be tormented with euerlasting pains For euen as the holy mā speaking of this calling teacheth that a faithful messenger of God and interpreter of his wil is but as one of a thousand that though they be many that vndertake the office yet the number is few rare that make Conscience of their dutie to God and his people so on the other side few of this many shall be saued but be cast as notable diuels into hell draw with them thousands into destruction Neither is it sufficient for the Ministers discharge if he teach sildom or now and then as at euery quarter day when he commeth to reckon with them or once a month to auoide the Law but he must watch and teach and feede his flocke continually t 2 Tim. 4 1 2 And preach the word in season and out of season The greatest labor shall haue the greatest reward They u Dan. 12 3. that turne many to righteousnesse shall shine as the Stars for euer and euer Euery x 1 Cor. 3 8. man shal haue his wages according to his worke They that imployed their Maisters mony y Mat. 25 30. gained by it are accounted good faithfull seruants but the ydle and loytering seruant that would do nothing but hid his talent that was giuen vnto him was cast into vtter darknesse and rewarded according to his deserts Let vs therefore labour to haue a cleare conscience toward God and man The more paines we take the greater shal be our comfort the more diligently we sow the more plentifull shall be our haruest If we be painful in our callings and diligent in teaching the people z Co◠3 1 2. We shall not neede as some other Epistles of re-commendation vnto them or Letters of re commendation from them for they shal be our Epistle written in our harts which is vnderstood and read of all men And concerning those committed to vs to feed we see by experience that they cannot liue without food they cannot grow and prosper without a daily supply so their soules cannot liue vnto God a spirituall life vnlesse they bee often fed and plentifully nourished by the milke of Gods word When Paule tooke his leaue to depart from Ephesus he propoundeth before the Elders his owne example a Acts 20 31. Remember that by the space of three yeares I ceased not to warne euery one both night and day with teares This faithfulnesse is to be found in vs as our comfort in this life our crowne in the life to come alwaies prouing when God wil giue faith and repentance neuer to be repented of We know not the times and seasons that God hath kept in his owne hand If he touch not the heart at one time and leaue a blessing behind him he may touch it and frame it vnto obedience at another time It behooueth vs therefore to vse the meanes to sowe vnto them spirituall things and to commit the successe of our labours vnto God b 1 Cor. 3 6 7 seeing Paule planteth and Apollos watereth but it is GOD that giueth the encrease Vse 3. Thirdly seeing the word preached is the ordinary meanes of our regeneration it teacheth the people to looke to their feet when they enter into the house of God and to take heede how they heare It is not left to their owne choise whether they wil hear or not no more then it is to the Minister whether he will preach or not It is required of them that they reuerence them obey their Doctrine loue them prouide for them pray for them and in al things esteeme of them as the messengers of Christ as the Ministers of the word as the ouerseers of the Church yea it standeth them vpon to heare the word at their mouths to account of it as the meanes of their saluation It is great ignorance impiety to desire any other means to haue faith then that which he hath appointed for vs. It is the great mercy and goodnesse of God to appoint mortal men subiect to sin and al infirmities as we are at whose handes we may be fed at whose mouths we may be taught and with whom we may talke familiarly and yet by their simple Ministry may haue as good assurance of saluation in this life and of glory in the life to come as if the Lorde himselfe should speake from heauen For the word of God is as the gate of heauen and hee hath committed the Keyes thereof to his faithfull Stewardes c Math. 16 19 That whatsoeuer they binde on earth should be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer they loose on earth should be loosed in heauen True it is many foolish faithlesse men perswade themselues that they should repent and beleeue the Gospell if they might heare God himselfe speake or if one came from the dead to tell them what they should do to be saued When Caine had conceiued malice and murther in his heart and intended to kill his Brother d Gen. 4 6. the Lorde spake vnto him set his sinnes in order before him and threatned iudgment against him vnlesse he repented but did hee repent at the voice of God and turne vnto him with all his heart No he fell from euill to worse and added one sinne vnto another till he had filled vp the measure of them All the Israelites heard the Law of God in the wildernesse and saw his wonderfull workes that hee shewed among them yet they beleeued not neither ceased to murmure and rebell against him Iudas one of the twelue was reprooued of Christ for his treason so were the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisie yet none of them repented or at the least many of them repented not at his preaching vnto them wherefore it is not the hearing of the voice of God can giue vs repentance it is his changing of our hearts and renewing of vs in the inner man that casteth vs into a new mould and worketh in vs a new birth When Christ Iesus was nayled vpon the Crosse they said e Math. 27 42. He saued others but hee cannot saue himselfe if he be the King of Israell let him now come downe from the Crosse and we will beleeue in him But if he had come downe at this taunt cast out vpon him wold they or could they haue beleeued Or could Christ haue beene the true Messiah if he had discended seeing it was the end of his comming into the world that hee might suffer f Esay 53 7. Psal 22 17. 69 21. and fulfill the thinges that were foretold by the Prophets Or would they not rather
with the Kid the Lyon did eate Straw like the Bullocke Seeing then that the conuersion of a man worketh in him the loue of God and man seeing before true conuersion we hate others and other hate vs and lastly seeing after true conuersion we beginne to make conscience of hurting and harming others it followeth that such as by nature were as Beares and Buls as Aspes and Vipers as Wolues and Cockatrices as Lyons and Leopards that is fierce cruell couetous iniurious and vniust being conuerted to the Faith and gathered into the Church are made gentle milde and mercifull Vse 1. Now let vs come to the consideration of the Vses and to the application of the Doctrine to our selues First of all we see hereby that they are greatly deceiued that thinke true godlinesse to be vnprofitable and no gaine at al to returne and redowne to the practiser of it Great is the benefit of true Religion and much is the profit of our conuersion Without this a man is no better then a Beast nay worse then any Beast He liueth like a Swine hee dyeth like a Dogge he becommeth afterward a Deuill The holy man Iob describing the life and death of vngodly men saith of them q Iob. 21 14 15. They spend their daies in wealth and suddenly they go downe to the Graue They say also vnto God Depart from vs for we desire not the knowledge of thy waies Who is the Almighty that we should serue him And what profit should we haue if we should pray vnto him This is the voyce of Atheists that regard not God yea that thinke there is no God But true Religion bringeth with it the greatest profit and no gaine is comparable vnto it It maketh vs profitable to our selues and others the benefit that it bringeth to others is both to their Bodies and Soules Hence it is that the Wise man saith r Pro. 3 14 19 The Marchandize thereof is better then the Marchandize of Siluer and the gaine thereof is better then Gold it is more precious then Pearles and all things that thou canst desire are not to be compared to her Length of daies is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and glory her waies are waies of pleasure and all her pathes prosperity she is a Tree of Life to all that lay hold vpon her and blessed is he that retaineth her Howsoeuer therefore the World and the Children of this World doe repute and esteeme of godlinesse it is most certaine it is the greatest Iewell and offereth all other blessings with it Heereunto accordeth the saying of the Apostle Å¿ 1 Tim. 6 6. Godlinesse is great gaine if a man be content with that he hath And in another place t 1 Tim. 4 8. Bodily exercise profiteth little but godlinesse is profitable vnto all thinges which hath the promise of the life present and of that which is to come What can be more profitable then that which maketh a man happy and blessed who is by the fall of man and the corruption of his nature curssed and miserable And who is it that doth not desire blessednesse But godlinesse ioyned with true conuersion of a Sinner to God maketh his State and standing blessed The Psalmist witnesseth That he is u Psal 112 1. 119 1 2. 1 1 2. blessed that feareth the Lord and delighteth greatly in his Commaundements blessed are they that are vpright in their way and walke in the way of the Lord blessed are they that keepe his Testimonies and seeke him with their whole hearts blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsels of the wicked but delighteth in the law of the Lorde and exerciseth himselfe therein day and night What can be more profitable then to haue interest in Christ the treasure of al treasures and the Iewell of all Iewels to haue him our Mediator our Redeemer our Sauiour But when once we are truly conuerted wee haue gotten Christ he is become ours we haue him dwelling in vs him I say x Col. 1 18 19 and 2 9. Ephes 3 17. Iohn 17 3. in whom dwelleth the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily who is the head of the church whom to know is eternall life By him our bondage is turned into freedome our beggery into riches out thraldome into liberty our death into life Who is it then can be so simple or ignorant to affirme that profession to be without gaine and profit that bringeth Christ Iesus with it in whom all treasures are hid and had Or who can be so sottish or sencelesse to deny that when wee haue done all that we can our meanes are too slender our cost too smal our time too short and our labour too little in seeking to finde him and in digging and deluing after him For if we finde him we are sure to find al things and to want nothing that is good What thing can be more profitable then that which giueth a man iust Title to Gods blessings and a sanctified vse of his creatures The vngodly man that is not conuerted to God but peruerted in all his wayes hath no part or interest in the promises and mercies of God to warme himselfe with his wooll to feede himselfe with his meate y Psal 50 10. For all the Beasts of the Forrests are his and the beasts on a thousand Mountaines Such as are wicked persons are wrongfull Vsurpers and vniust intruders vppon the Lords goods and the portion that he hath prepared for his owne people nay they are shamefull Theeues and shamelesse Robbers that steal from the godly that which was created for them bestowed vpon them and sanctified vnto them Hence it is that the Apostle saith z Titus 1 15. Vnto the pure are all thinges pure but vnto them that are defiled and vnbeleeuing is nothing pure but euen their minds and consciences are defiled In Adam we haue lost the pure and free vse of the creatures of God in Christ Iesus the second Adam and a Heb. 1 2. heyre of al things we recouer our Title vnto them againe Now that which putteth vs in possession and bringeth the full fruition with freedome of conscience and comfort of heart of all these things must needs be holden most helpefull and profitable vnto vs in this life Last of all if wee consider the enduring and continuing of the gaine of godlinesse we shall finde the price of it to be aboue all other commodities the sweetnesse whereof may delight vs and the contentment thereof may satisfie vs and the certainty thereof may allure vs to the seeking and preferring of it before all other and to trauell and trafficke for it farre and neere What commodity canst thou name or remember that the richest Marchants bring from strange Countries which is not subiect to be lost by land and to perish by the Sea by stormes by robbers by rouers by tempestes and shipwracke so that when thou hast fetched it with the greatest
of Princes in troubling of Common-wealths in plotting and practising of Treasons in murthering of Princes and in setting all things in an vprore Thirdly the Bope vsurpeth a power to free subiects from their allegeance and their oath of obedience as appeareth by the Popes two Breeues that hee sent ouer forbidding his popish Catholickes to sweare homage and fidelitie to the King Fourthly their teachers of popish Diuinity publish and maintaine manie Treasonable positions tending to the dishonour of Princes and to the ouerthrow of Kingdomes It is well knowne to all the World what Bellarmine hath deliuered in the Controuersies of Religion that he hath published to be read and viewed of all men how basely he hath spoken of Princes and how boldly he hath diminished their authority that he might establish the Popes Temporall Soueraignety He teacheth out of his Doctours Chaire or rather from his Orators Deske o Bellar. de laic lib. 7. cap. De pontif lib. 1. c. 7. et lib. 5. cap. 8. 7. that Princes are rather Seruants then Lords subiect not onely to Popes and Cardinals but to Byshoppes and Priests that Princes haue their authority not immediatly from God nor from the Law of God but by the Law of Nations that Princes may be deposed and dethroned by their Subiects and other placed in their stead that the Pope hath Temporall power indirectly that obedience is due to the Pope for conscience sake but to Princes for pollicy sake That the cause why Christians in former time deposed not Nero the Tyrant and Iulian the Apostata and Valens the Arrian and such like was because they wanted Temporall power and if they had not wanted strength they would not haue wanted will to do it that if Princes go about to turne away the people from their base Roman and Bastard-Catholike Faith they may and ought to be depriued of their dominions Heereunto we might adde many like principles of their deuilish Diuinitie taught in their Schooles and brought into the State and practised by their Disciples out of Sanders p Sand. devisib Monarch lib. 2. cap. 4. who was himselfe an Arch-rebell and perrished in his rebellion that he had raised being not onely a beholder of it but an Actor in it Whereby we see if he had no other matter what we are to esteeme of the Roman Religion namely that it is a counterfeit Religion to be abhorred of all true Christians being the Nursery of Treasons and the Mother of all abhominations which setteth vp the Pope as the great Idoll and Arch-rebell of the World so that he vsurpeth a Supremacy ouer all Ciuill Gouernments in the Earth whereas the true Christian Religion is as contrary to this as light to darkenesse which teacheth to bee subiect to the higher powers for Conscience sake which teacheth to feare God and to honour the King which teacheth all degrees as well q Chrys hom 23. in Rom. 13. Ecclesiasticall as Ciuill to stoop downe to this ordinance of God Our Weapons are Prayers and teares our means that we vse are supplications to God and to Man But these Seducers put downe the honour of Kings and Princes and teach them that depend vpon them to take vp Fire and Sword and all other seditious practises which the God of this World teacheth the Children of rebellion so often as occasion of aduantage and hope to preuaile serueth them Vse 3. Lastly seeing the Gospell doth establish not abolish strengthen not weaken confirme not disanull the ordinances that God hath setled among Men we learne that whosoeuer is a good Christian and hath rightly embraced the Gospell is also a good obseruer of Household Gouernment and of Common-wealth Gouernment which stand with the word of God and the maintenance of peace and humaine society I say then that a faithfull and sound Christian is a good Subiect a good Father a good Maister a good Wife a good Childe a good Seruant a good Common-wealths-man The Church and Common-wealth are as louing Sisters liuing dwelling growing flourishing prospering decaying and falling together We must all consider our common and speciall calling and know that Christian duties and Personall duties must not be deuided the one from the other but bee coupled and ioyned in one man It is not sufficient for a man in common conuersation to be a Christian but he must shew himselfe to be so in his speciall calling A Magistrate must not onely be a Christian but he must bee a Christian Magistrate A Father and Maister must not onely be Christians but they must be Christian Fathers and Christian Maisters It is not enough for vs to be Christians abroad we must not content our selues to be Christians in the sight of others but we must manifest our selues to be so in the administration and gouernment of our particular Families and in the discharge of our seuerall duties toward Wife Children and Seruants This reproueth many that liue among vs who beare themselues abroad as men forward in Religion eatnest in their profession and such as would be accounted to goe before many others yet take a view of them what they are priuately in their owne houses and what duties they performe toward their Families they haue lost the reputation at home that they had abroad and shew themselues to be more carefull to seeme religious and to bee thought great Christians then to be good Christians indeede The like we may say of all Inferiours It is not enough for the Wife the Childe the Seruant the Subiect to shew themselues faithfull and religious openly in the Congregation and other places of resort but they must shew themselues right Christians in their reuerence subiection and obedience toward those Superiours that are set ouer them Euery one hath two callings generall and personall Thus we see that as euery one hath two callings one generall which is the calling of Christianity common to euery member of the the Church the other personall or particular which is the discharge of speciall duties in regard of that distinction made betweene man and man so both these callings must be ioyned together in our life as the body and soule are in one man If one of them be wanting the other is missing If they doe not meete together in one person there is onely a shew of true Christianity but the substance is absent A good Christian therefore cannot be an euill Subiect an euill Seruant If they haue Christ Iesus formed in them it will make them obey for Conscience sake Nay heereby wee see that onely such as feare God are good Subiects others cannot be For the wicked and vngodly doe prouoke God to anger against the King against the Kingdome and to procure the destruction of them both by their sinnes This is it which Salomon teacheth in the Prouerbes r Prou. 28 2. For the transgression of the Land there are many Princes thereof but by a man of vnderstanding and knowledge a Realme likewise endureth long Thus
before mine eyes cease to doe euill learn to do well All these were but as outwarde Ceremonies without substance which the Prophet Ieremy r Ier. 7 8. calleth Lying words that cannot profit Outward obseruations of religion wil deeeiue vs if we rest vpon them put our trust in them If we performe a worship to God without the heart we dishonor God we deceiue our owne soules and wee encrease our condemnation We draw neere Å¿ Esay 29 13. Math. 15 7 8 to God with our mouths and honor him with our lippes but our heart is farre from him and therefore wee worship him in vaine who is not delighted with outwarde shewes and with ydle shadowes but requireth the singlenesse of the soule and the willingnesse of the minde He looketh vpon the heart when we come before him Wee see how carefull men and weomen commonly are when they come to the place of Gods worship to haue all things in the outward man decent and cleanly they looke vppon themselues that their faces be washed their Garments brushed their linnen white that no spot no blemish no want no wrinckle may appeare in them but if wee go no farther we are but Hypocrites and dissemblers in the sight of God all our glorious shewes are no better then abhomination before him So then as the wiseman teacheth it standeth vs vpon to giue to God our harts which is the best present we can offer vnto him We are taught in the Lordes Prayer to pray vnto God t Math. 6 10. that we may do his will vpon the earth as the Angels do which are in heauen They performe the will of God readily and without any grudging they obey his commandements whensoeuer he sendeth employeth them faithfully and chearefully No one of them slacketh in his function but is diligent in the execution of that which is giuen him in charge Thus it ought to be with all of vs we must delight in Gods worship and encourage others to delight therein We must make the house of God a place of pleasure wee must make his word our meate and drinke and our continuall hearing must be a daily refreshing vnto our soules Vse 4 Lastly seeing all Christian duties must be performed of vs willingly wee are heereby guided and directed in our obedience that we are not to hinder the necessary duties of Christianity belonging vnto vs by obiecting fleshly reasons as it were laying stumbling blockes in our owne wayes to keep vs backe from a willing free and chearfull going forward in the works of our calling and in the parts of Gods worship We see when many are called to a new course of life and told of the necessity of labouring to get knowledge and hearing the worde of God they can obiect for themselues I shall loose my time neglect my businesse hinder my estate make my selfe a laughing stocke vnto others I shall misse such a bargaine I shall omit such a iourney I shall want such a meeting of Good-fellowes of Friendes and of Neighbours These are like u Mat. 22 5 6. Luk. 14 16 17 to those Guesse mentioned in the Gospell who beeing bid to the banket made their excuses and woulde not come they made light of it and went their wayes one vnto his Farme and another about his Merchandize Our Sauiour teacheth that when the word of God is preached vnto vs x Math. 13 22 the cares of this world the deceitfulnes of riches and the lusts of other things choake the word and it is made vnfruitful The world is a deceitfull baite and the glory thereof dazleth our eyes that wee cannot discerne the vanity thereof Againe when the duties of Loue and Charity ought to be extended toward those that want releefe and the fruits of mercie they are readie to obiect I shall weaken by giuing to others the means of my maintenance I shal disable my selfe I shall hinder my family and Children whom I must prouide for or else I should be worse then an Infidell and thereby giue cause to my aduersaries to reioyce and triumph ouer mee Thus euery one is wise in his owne eyes and carnall reason is apt enough to Minister fleshly obiections to slake our zeale and to hinder our course of obedience But let vs stop our eares against the songs of these enchanters which seeme to bewitch not our bodies but our soules These are nothing else but words full of distrust and doubting proceeding from Infidelity Let vs learn to rest vpon Gods prouidence by wel-dooing and looke for his blessing This is it which the Apostle remembreth where he laboureth to moue the Corinthians to releeue the distresses of the Saints y 2 Cor. 9 7 8 Giue not grudgingly or of necessitie and God is able to make all graces to abound toward you yet yee alwayes hauing all sufficiencie in all things may abound in euery good work As it is written he hath sparsed abroad and hath giuen to the poore his beneuolence remaineth for euer Such as liued in the Church in the dayes of the Apostles when there were many poore many extreamly poore z Acts 4 5 2 were moued to be liberall yea very liberall and bountifull vnto them so that they that had possessions solde them and distributed them as euery one had neede Many of them no doubt had wiues Children and were burthened with charge and family of their owne yet they accounted nothing peculiarly their owne but they had all things common they had them not only for themselues but for their brethren To conclude therefore we must beware wee be not led aside by the subtlety of Satan and the corrupt immagination of our owne Nature to bee hindered thereby from practising such duties as are required at our hands He that wil not follow the calling of God vntill the flesh minister no obiection against it shall neuer haue the commendation of obedience He shal neuer go about any good duty but we shall finde somwhat stand in the way to crosse it either our pleasure or profit or somewhat else will round vs in the eare to make vs forsake it or delay it or condemne it When the word of God reproueth any sinne in vs that seemeth sweete vnto the flesh we shall meete with a thousand tentations to perswade with vs to continue in it with greedinesse and to follow after it with all eagernesse Wherefore so soone as wee know the will of our heauenly Father let vs prepare our selues to do it and to delight in it and step ouer the rockes of offence that stand before vs to make vs fall that so God may be delighted with vs take pleasure in our obedience proceeding from the heart 15 It may be that he therefore departed for a season that thou shouldest receiue him for euer 16 Not now as a Seruant but aboue a Seruant euen as a Brother beloued especially to me how much more then vnto thee both in the flesh and in the
thine holy Sonne Iesus whom thou hast annointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israell gathered themselues together to doe whatsoeuer thine hand and thy counsell had determined before to be done So then albeit they wickedly intended nothing but to shew their hatred and testifie their enuie in the death of Christ yet God brought another matter out of their mallice and made his endlesse mercy to man appeare in his worke of Redemption God would haue him dye Caiphas would haue him dye Pilate would haue him die Iudas and the Iewes would haue him die but God for our Redemption they for other ends as Iudas for couetousnesse and the Priestes for enuy The History of Iob is a plaine and direct proofe of this point that now we haue in hand he was robbed of his goods depriued of his Seruants and Children through the rage and couetousnesse of his Enemies and by the crueltie of Sathan the p Iob 1. and 2. enemies intended heerein to satisfie their owne couetousnesse the Deuill purposed to bring the Seruant of God to dispaire neither of theÌ„ aimed at any good to Iob but God that ouer-ruleth and ouer swaieth all had another end to try his patience to make knowne his Faith to try his obedience and to giue the deuill the foile ouerthrow Thus then we see that all things whatsoeuer they be are ordered and disposed by the prouidence of God to the good of those that belong vnto him euen then when they doe not intend it Reason 1. The reasons of this Doctrine are apparant to settle our hearts and consciences therein The first is the infinite wisedome and vnsearchable power of â—od who as the Apostle teacheth q 2 Cor. 4 6. bringeth light out of darkenesse worketh by contrary means such as men count foolishnesse r 1 Cor. 1 21. as to saue men by the foolish preaching of the Gospell that is which is esteemed among the wise men of the World no better then foolishnesse When Christ would make a blind man see and restore his sight vnto him Å¿ Iohn 9 6 7. He spat on the ground and made Clay of the spittle and annointed the eyes of the Blinde with the Clay A naturall man would thinke this had beene a way and meanes iudging by humaine reason rather to make a man that seeth to be blind then a man that is blinde to see Christ was able to haue healed him with a word or to haue giuen vnto him new eyes but he chose rather to vse these weak means that in themselues had no power or strength in them Thus was Naaman the Syrian cleansed of his foule Leprosie whereas he imagined the Prophet would come t 2 Kings 5. forth vnto him lay his handes vpon him and call vpon God for him it pleased God to worke by other meanes and to cleanse him by washing seauen times in Iordan We see this in nothing plainer then in the glorious worke of our Redemption The Lord Iesus u Hebr. 2 13. By death ouercame death by humbling of himselfe beneath all x Phil. 3. he was exalted aboue all By making himselfe poore he made many rich By suffering himselfe to be condemned he hath brought vs to be iustified and saued Thus he also dealeth with his owne Children hee bringeth men to Heauen by Hell he leadeth to immortalitie by corruption he guideth them through fire and water to set them in a wealthy place He worketh not by ordinary waies by extraordinarie so often as it pleaseth him When hee would comfort he terrifieth when he would raise vp he casteth downe when he would reuiue he mortifieth when he would exalt he bringeth low when he would make a man rich he maketh him poore This it is which Hannah setteth downe in her Song of Thanks-giuing y 1 Sam. 1 6 7 8. The Lord maketh poore and maketh rich bringeth low and exalteth the Lord killeth and maketh aliue bringeth downe to the Graue and raiseth vp This also the Prophet z Esay 28 21. Esay signifieth The Lord shall stand as in Mount Perazim he shall be wrath as in the Valley of Gibeon that hee may doe his worke his strange worke and bring to passe his Act his strange Act. This is one of the workes of the strange workes one of the actes of the strange actes of God when he turneth euill into good and ordereth the wicked actions of men to the glory of his Name and the good of his Children Reason 2. Secondly it is the pleasure of God to confound the wisdome of Man that cannot attaine to great matters but by great meanes For x 1 Cor. 1 27 God hath chosen the foolish thinges of the World to confound the wise and GOD hath chosen the weake things of the World to confound the mighty things And vile thinges of the World and things which are despised hath God chosen and things which are not to bring to naught things that are that no flesh should reioyce in his presence God disposeth of all things as pleaseth him and oftentimes crosseth the deuises of men They intend one thing but God bringeth to passe another they purpose one end but he will haue another come forth to teach mans wisedome to be but foolishnesse Reason 3. Thirdly he expresseth his wonderfull loue making all things that fall out in the world to serue his Church True it is the Church of God is beset with many enemies that as wilde Boares seeke to roote it out of the Earth as the Deuill which is the Captain of this Army vnder whose Banners are gathered together the wicked world the flesh hell death sin all which multitude as a great hoast muster together to work the vtter ouerthrow thereof yet God that sitteth in heauen maketh all their endeuours and enterprises further the saluation of his Church This the Apostle teacheth y Rom. 8 28. We know that all things worke together for the best vnto them that loue God euen to them that are called of his purpose He blesseth their troubles and afflictions and worketh in them patience vnder the crosse humility in suffering and experience of his mercies and maketh them confesse that it was good for them that they haue been afflicted We see this euidently in the example of Iobs troubles and torments that he endured there were many work-men set on worke to wast his goods to destroy his Children to kill his Seruants to afflict his Body to torment his Soule all ayming at this to bring him to despaire and all these Wheeles were set to moue by the Deuill but the Lord out of their sinnes wrought his great good z Iames 1 3 4 Rom. 5 3 4. Making tryall of his Faith to bring forth patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed So then seeing God is able to work and doth work both aboue and contrary to means that men imagine seeing he
abhorre as open blasphemy This also is the opinion of all our Teachers that euer were among vs as were easie to shew u Calu. instit lib. 1. cap. 18. by infinite Testimonies out of their writings if it were necessarie Nay which is more we teach no more then the Schoole-men of their owne side the Men of their owne Religion the Doctors of their owne profession First I will declare what we hold touching Gods prouidence ordering all thinges euen sinne it selfe which is out of order and then confirme the same out of Popish Writers thereby to stop their mouthes and to aunswer the false imputations that are laid vpon vs that if they will not see what we hold yet they may vnderstand themselues or if they wil needs condemne vs let them condemne their own Prophets That which we x God worketh in sin three waies teach of Gods actions concerning sinne may be reduced and referred to these three heads First he is the Vniuersall cause of all things he sustaineth mankinde that in him he liueth and mooueth and hath his being yea he vpholdeth the beeing and moouing of all his Actions good and bad insomuch that no Man could mooue hand or foote to an Action no nor haue beeing himselfe if God sustained and supported not so that the act is of God as also the actions of all Creatures Now if they will not be ignorant but take knowledge of their doctrine y Occham qu. 5. lit K. many among them affirme full as much that God is immediatly the first cause of all thinges produced by the second causes but of things euill he is the mediate cause in that he produceth and preserueth the Creature that is the mediat cause of euill So likewise another saith z Bartol Med in â— 2. qu. 93. art 6. pag. 496. A Sinner when hee sinneth doth against the law and will of God in one sense and in another not against them He doth indeede against his signified will and against his precepts and prohibitions c. but against the will of his good pleasure he doth not nor against the effectuall ordination of God In this maner and meaning write many others a Bann 1. part qu. 49. art 2. that no sinne falleth out beside the will and intention of God Secondlie we teach that God being free to bestow where he will to restraine where he will and being bound to none doth with-hold his Grace withdraw his spirit and leaue the wicked to themselues whervpon it followeth that their minds are blinded their harts are hardned and they cannot chuse but sin But how may some man say doth God harden I answer not by inspiring euill into men not by creating any sin or corruption in their will which was not there before as he doth grace in their heart but by denying them the power of his grace which might mollifie them and by offering them sundry obiects which they conuert into occasions of sinne and by deliuering them ouer as a iust Iudge to the tentations of Sathan whereby they are ouercome and haue neither power nor will to stay themselues For when God departeth how can it be but Sathan should come in place This is not strange Doctrine among the Papistes themselues One saith b Occham 3. qu. 12. lit yy that GOD is a debter to no man and therefore he is bound neither to cause that Act nor the contrary nor yet not to cause it but the will of the Creature by Gods Law is bound not to cause the act and so consequently sinneth by doing it Lastly we teach that God doth both order or ordinate the sinne that is committed which is nothing else but a directing of it as pleaseth him that it goe not beyond his will neither otherwise then seemeth good in his wisedome Sometimes he restraineth it that it shall not passe nor proceed farther then he appointeth who giueth bounds vnto the Sea Sometimes he turneth it to another end then the person intended that practised it Both these we see euidently in Iobs tentations The Deuill desired nothing more then to destroy body and soule but God restrained his rage appointed how far he should goe and what hee should not doe and wrought Iobs greater good by his greatest mallice Sometimes also hee maketh way for sinne to passe that thereby he may punnish one sinne with another And doth not the Church of Rome teach as much Yes fully as much Bellarmine in the third Tome of his Controuersies saith as much c Bellar. de amiss grat lib. 2. cap. 13. that God not onely permitteth the wicked to do many euils neither doth he onely forsake the godly that they may be constrained to suffer the thinges done against them by the wicked but he also ouer-seeth their euill wils and ruleth and gouerneth them he boweth and bendeth them by working inuisibly in them Thus wee see that if our Aduersaries looke well into their wordes and know their owne voyce tâ—…y shall not neede to exclaime and cry out against vs that we make God the Authour of sinne seeing the same speeches in the same cause are vsed by themselues We freely confesse that God willeth nothing that is formally sinne as he willeth that which is good but he hateth it and forbiddeth it absolutely d Esay 30 21. Rom. 2 15. within vs by the light of his holy spirit e Deut. 27 26 and without vs by the light of his holie word The first entrance of sinne into the World was by the voluntarie action of mans will corrupting it selfe God inspiring or infusing no euill into it To conclude let vs know that as we all agree that euery Act is of God so wee must take a difference between the action the euil that is in the action The action it self is of God but the defect or disorder of the action is from the Instrument which beeing corrupt can it selfe bring foorth nothing but that which is corrupt If a man spurne forward a lame Horse that halteth down right in that he mooueth and goeth it commeth from the Rider but in that he halteth it is from the Horse himselfe If a man cut with an euill Knife he is the cause of the cutting but not of euill cutting but the badnesse of the Knife is the cause Or as a cunning Musition that plaieth vpon an Instrument that iarreth and is out of tune the sound is from him that playeth who obserueth due proportion of time and a right order of striking but in that it iarreth it is in the Instrument it selfe The like we must hold of Gods prouidence ouer wicked men and Angels and all their actions hee putteth no wickednesse into them but he ordereth and gouerneth that which he findeth in them and bendeth it by his infinite wisedome and power to a farre other end then the euill Instrument intended The whole cause of sin is truely and properly in Satan and in our selues Vse 2. Secondly this Doctrine
of being restored It is a worthy saying of the Prophet to Amaziah K. of Iudah being like to loose a great sum of mony which hee had disbursed for the leuying of forren forces x 2 Chr. 25 9. The Lord is able to giue thee more then this If he see it good profitable for vs he can and wil repay it in the same kind for who looseth for Gods cause doth not get but if he do not recompence earthly things with earthly he wil assuredly bestow vpon vs such riches as are immortal immutable such a treasure as is eternal not fading but enduring for euer in the heauens A notable practise heerof we haue in Iob ch 19. in al his troubles which were exceeding great he comforted himself in this I know that my Redeemer liueth that I shal see him in the last day Somtimes he doth restore in the same kinde that which we haue left seemeth to be lost we see in the former example of Iob what a blessed end the Lord made so if we wil wait with patience and tarrie his leisure be content with his workes we shal behold the end better then the beginning Moreouer we see the merciful dealing of god toward his children from whō he withholdeth personal blessings To som he giueth strength of body swiftnes of foot quicknesse of sight readinesse of hearing aptnesse of the hand together with a due proportion comlinesse of euery part But to others he denieth these things so that we see some blind others lame crooked deafe deformed Notwithstanding God ofttimes supplyeth these wants and recompenseth these infirmities with a most plentifull measure of better that is of heauenly graces We see this in the example of the blind man mentioned by the Euangelist Iohn he wanted the sight of his bodily eies y Iohn 9 29 30 31 32. but he had a greater light shining in his hart a deeper insight into the doctrine of saluation then the chiefe of the Pharisies that were accounted the only Rabbies and maisters in Israel so that we may truly say that the blindman did see and they that thought themselues to haue their eye-sight were starke blinde For when the Pharisies said of the Messia We know not from whence this man is the blind man answered said vnto thē Doubtles this is a maruellous thing that ye know not whence he is and yet he hath opened mine eies now we know that God heareth not sinners but if any man be a worshipper of God doth his wil him heareth he c. if this man were not of God he could haue done nothing This was a worthy and open confession of the great work of God that had bin wrought vpon him wherein he saw more true and heauenly light then al his enemies who then boasted of the name of the church and cast this simple man out of the Synagogue But if we consider the poore man of the one side the proud pharisies on the other side which of them was most blind and whither of thē was a member of the true Church Surely God gaue a maruellous light of knowledge to his weake seruant that he was not ashamed to confesse Christ Iesus acording to the measure of grace giuen him whereas the blind Pharises were blind leaders of the blind saw nothing Heerupon Christ saith z Iohn 9 39 40 41. I am come vnto iudgment into this world that they which see not might see that they which see might be made blind And when the Pharises which were with him heard these things said vnto him Are we blind also He answered If ye were blind ye should not haue sin but now ye say we see therfore your sin remaineth Let vs not therfore despise such as haue infirmities or deformities of the body nor vpbraid them with them which are not in their powers to put away rather let vs take heed of the blots and blemishes of the soul to wit of sinne which maketh the greatest scab and scarre and bringeth reproach vnto the person Let vs beware of the blindnesse of the minde of the hardnesse of the heart of the wounds of the soule and of halting with God The blindnes of the mind is a sin and the punishment of sinne so that God is offended with it whereby it differeth from the blindnesse of the body which indeede is a certaine affliction but it is no transgression it is a kinde of misery but no iniquity it is a crosse but it is no sinne But the inward blindnesse of the minde is in it selfe a sinne and breach of Gods Law and maketh a man culpable of iudgement and guilty of eternall death because none is so blinded but he hath first pulled out his owne eyes and refuseth the light of the Gospell offered vnto him a Eph. 4 18. through the hardnesse of his heart Againe this ought to bee a special comfort vnto vs and to suffice to asswage all greefe conceiued for the want of earthly blessings if God haue denied vnto vs the vse of one or many of our members as of our eyes our eares our tongue our hands our feete and haue made vs blind or dumb or deafe or lame or maimed let vs not be discomforted or sink down vnder the burden but rather considering the recompence that he giueth vs another way and the supply that he maketh by spirituall graces let vs humbly giue him thankes b Mat. 5 29 30 remembring that it is better for vs that one of our members perish then the whole body should be cast into hell We see the holy man Iob hauing had great losses and dammages brought vpon him to his great hinderance and decay in earthly thinges acknowledged the hand of God in it gaue him the glory saying c Iob. 1 21. Naked cam I out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither the Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken it blessed be the name of the Lorde Hence it is that the Apostle saith Hearken my beloued Brethren hath not God chosen the poore of this world that they should be rich in faith heires of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that loue him Iames 2. If God haue made me blinde yet if hee haue giuen me the eyes of my mind to see the mystery of faith in this life and the excellency of glory reserued for me and all his Saints in the life to come I haue wherewith to comfort me aboundantly in the want of bodily sight If God haue made me lame to halt with my foot and therby want many outward pleasures that many seek and find yet if he haue vouchsafed this mercy vnto me d Gal. 2 14. to make me walk with a right foot to the truth of the Gospell I cannot want sound comfort and inward peace to my own soul God looketh not vpon the person of man he accepteth no man for his outward forme
and feature of the body but looketh vpon the grace and garnishing of the heart so that albeit we be euery way deformed yet if we be thoroughly reformed in the inner man we shall bee accepted before him a thousande times more then such as haue the greatest Ornaments of the body but haue nothing to decke and adorne the soule It may be he departed for a season Note heer how the Apostle describeth the sinne of Onesimus committed against his Maister he doth not aggrauate and exaggerate his offence with big swelling words to shew the greatnes of his sin but doth lessen it by gentle mild termes wherby he calleth it His running away he nameth a departing his absence from his Maisters house seruice the missing of him as it were an hour This the apostle speaketh c Theophyl in Philem. not so much to asswage the anger of Philemon prouoked thorough the offence of his seruant as to testify his vnfaigned repentance wherby he had buried and blotted out the wickednes which he committed by running from his Maister by robbing of him Doctrine 3. The fals and sins of our brethren that repent are not to be encreased and amplified with odious extream words We learne heereby that the fals sins of our brethren that repent are not to be increased with odious and extreame words Whensoeuer I say we see the fruits of vnfained repentance in any of our brethren that haue falne into sinne and beene ouertaken through the weaknesse of the flesh wee are to binde vp their woundes as carefull Surgeons and to comfort them with the sweet promises of the Gospel not to reuile them or raile at them or reproach them for their former falles we must not speake the most or the worst or the hardest of them but in mildnesse of spirit mollifie the greatnesse of the sinne what we can This Doctrine is made euident vnto vs by many testimonies and examples in the word of God When Ioseph saw his f Gen. 45 5 8. Brethren sad and greeued with themselues because they had solde him into Egypt hee comforteth them with the prouidence of God whose worke it was to haue him sent and sold into the hand of strangers Now then you sent me not hither but the Lord who hath made me a father vnto Pharaoh Lord of all his house and Ruler throughout all the land of Egipt This we see in the Lord himselfe toward Iob who reproued him for much weaknesse that he had shewed in the combat and tentation yet g Iob. 39 37. and 42 6. when he had repented in dust and ashes and laid his hand vpon his mouth the wrath of the Lord was kindled against his three friendes because they had not spoken of him the thing that is right like his seruant Iob. The like practise appeareth in Nathan toward Dauid whom he reprooueth first couertly and closely vnder a parable then openly and euidently he chargeth him with adultry and murther together with great vnthankfulnesse toward God that had bin so gracious to him but when he repented and humbled himselfe vnder the stroke of the two-edged sword of Gods word saying h 2 Sam. 12 13 I haue sinned against the Lord the Prophet doth no more vpbraid him with those foule and filthy sinnes of committing Whoredome and shedding of blood but said vnto him The Lorde also hath put away thy sinne thou shalt not die Thus did Christ our Sauiour deale with the woman taken in adultery euen in the verie acte brought before him by the Scribes and Pharisees he preached vnto her the Gospell vpon her repentance i Iohn 8 11. I do not condemne thee Go and sinne no more The like we see in the Apostles dealing with the incestuous Corinthian before his conuersion the Apostle chargeth him with fornication k 1 Cor. 5 1 and 2. Cor. 2 6 7. and Such fornication as is not named among the Gentiles that one shoulde haue his Fathers wife and reprooueth the whole Church that they had not put him away from among them yet when he had confessed his sinne and testified his repentance by his vnfaigned sorrow for his sinne the Apostle would haue his sinne forgiuen and his person comforted Least he should be swallowed vp with ouermuch heauinesse Likewise remembring the Corinthians what they were in the time of their ignorance Theeues Oppressors Fornicators Idolaters Drunkards Railers riotous persons by their conuersion to the Gospell and Faith in Christ they were changed to a better life and so could no longer be charged by such sins l 1 Cor. 6 11. Ye are washed ye are sanctified ye are iustified in the name of the Lord Iesus by the spirit of our God Whereby we see this truth plainly prooued vnto vs that it is our duty not to aggrauate and amplify the sins of such as haue repented them of their sinnes Reason 1. To this duty we shall be better directed and strengthned in the truth of it if we marke the reasons For first we are not to encrease in wordes the sinne of a penitent person because loue worketh softnesse and gentlenesse in vs a care of the good name of our Brother and banisheth all euill surmises suspitions from vs. Hence it is that the Apostle saith m 1 Cor. 13 4 Loue is patient When Peter exhorteth vs that aboue all things we should haue feruent loue among vs to the end he may confirm his exhortation and shew that there is nothing more profitable vnto the faithfull then to maintaine mutuall Charity hee bringeth this reason n 1 Pet. 4 8 Prou. 10 12. For Loue couereth the multitude of sins If this loue rule in our harts remaine among vs one towards another it bringeth excellent benefits and we auoid inumerable euils But if hatred beare sway men in byting and tearing one another are ready to consume one another to reproch and detract one from another to slander and defame to strike and quarrel one with another without measure or mercy Reason 2. Secondly we are not alwayes to vpbraid our Bretheren and cast them in the teeth with their former fals because wee must account it sufficient that they haue beene checked and teproued by vs or by the mouths of many witnesses The nature of God himselfe is gentle toward vs o Ps 103 9 10 that hee will not alwayes chide nor keepe his anger for euer So ought we to deale one toward another For if he doth not deale with vs after our sinnes nor reward vs according to our iniquities we should haue compassion one toward another If he know whereof we are made and remember that we are but dust we must also learne that we haue all neede to be forgiuen as there is no man but desireth to be forgiuen If then it be auaileable to our Bretherens good to haue them reproued wee ought not to proceede to reuiling of them and rayling vpon them for
are coupled together both by the sense of Nature and by the Commmaundement of God it serueth to reprooue sundry abuses and to meete with many disorders that are most rife and common among vs. The first reproofe First of all it reprooueth the blind superstition not onely of elder times but of the present daies wherein we liue and the wicked sniftes of Popish Monkes which being wise in their Generation would perswade it as meritorious to foolish and sinfull men to giue away all their Landes and possessions and meanes of maintenance from their Children and Kindred and bestow them vpon the feeding of idle Drones and vnprofitable Beastes that liue by the sweat of other mens labours to this end to say Masses for the quicke and the dead and to pray for the puling Soules that languish in Purgatorie For such as was their crueltie ouer mens bodies and their Dominion ouer their consciences and commaund ouer their goods that the poor people haue beene and at this day are besotted and bewitched by them that they are ready to giue a thousand Sacrifices of Rammes and ten t Micha 6 7. thousand Riuers of Oyle and to forgoe their first borne for their transgression euen the fruit of their body for the sinne of their Soules The spirituall consenage and deceit of the fraudulent Iesuits as greedy Cormorants is notorious and famous or rather infamous in this kinde and case whereof we speake who make hast to the sicke person that is rich as the Eagle flyeth to the Carkasse to make a prey of him u See the Quod lib. and other Bookes of the priestes for this purpose and the Priests themselues greeuing that such a fat Morcell should goe by their mouthes and so great a bootie should escape their hands haue lamentably complained of their briberie hypocrisie cruelty and iniquitie These are they that eate Mens sinnes as Bread and regard not to dam their Soules to fat their owne Bodyes and fill their owne pusres The second reproofe Againe this reprooueth the impiety and vnnaturalnesse in men that regard not their owne flesh nor haue a respect to their owne Kindred but are strangers from them vnkinde vnto them and voyde of loue toward them The Apostle prophesieth and complaineth that in the last daies shall come perrilous times x 2 Tim. 3 1 2 3. when men shall be cold in Charity and destitute of naturall affection He would be accounted a starke foole that would seeme to shew compassion to feede another and yet starue his owne body to be liberall abroad and miserable at home to see other mens miseries and to take no notice or knowledge of his owne to quench the fire kindled in another mans house and to suffer his owne to be turned downe sticke and stake and nothing left to couer his head and to giue him shielde and shelter from the wind and weather So standeth the case with all such as open their handes to those that are farre off from them and turne away their eies from such as are their flesh and bone and blood to whom God and Nature hath made them more indebted then to other men It was not so with Ioseph y Gene. 47 12. when he liued in wealth and Iacob was in want he was stored with plentie and his Father tasted of scarsitie he gaue him Corne freely and sustained his Kindred willingly The like care we see in Ruth toward Naomi the Daughter in Law toward the Mother in Law she laboured and trauailed for them both z Ruth 2 6 14 18. she gleaned and gathered after the Reapers among the sheaues and what she left when she was sufficed she reserued it and brought all home to releeue and refresh her olde Mother These examples are agreeable to the rule and these practises are aunswerable to the prccept of the Apostle requiring of Children and Nephewes to recompence the kindnesse of their Parents When Christ our Sauiour was vpon the Crosse he shewed his godlinesse toward his Mother and committed her to the Disciple whom he loued himselfe being ready to leaue the World For when a Iohn 19 26 27. he saw his Mother and Iohn standing by her hee said vnto his Mother Woman behold thy Sonne then said he to the Disciple Behold thy Mother and from that houre the Disciple tooke her home vnto him It is the dutie of Children to honour their Parents not onely by obedience but by maintenance not onely by reuerence but by recompence not onely by subiection but by thankfulnesse for the benefits that they haue receiued If they be hungry they must feede them if poore they must releeue them if in necessitie they must helpe them if weake they must Minister vnto them For if this must be performed to Strangers much more to Parents There is nothing more iust then this kinde of dutie because the light of Nature teacheth to requite one good turne for another and to doe vnto another as thou wouldst haue him doe to thee Wherefore to deny the performance of these duties is vnnaturall and inhumaine but to breake out into the contrary practises is monstrous and beastly Absalom b 2. Sam. 15 10 and 20 1. conspired against Dauid Sheba the Sonne of Bichri a man of Iemini conspired against Dauid both of them raised Israell against him and blew the Trumpet of rebellion Both the persons were wicked both their practises were deuillish both their punishments were iust and righteous But if we consider the manner of the offence by the condition of the offender and waigh the persons in a ballance by the seuerall bands whereby one was tyed aboue the other we shall easily finde that the sinne of Absalom did exceede and his fact was more odious and hatefull in the sight of God and man For Sheba indeede rose vp against his Liedge-Lord and lawfull Prince But Absalom ought to haue shewed himselfe as a Sonne as a Seruant as a Subiect and to haue acknowledged Dauid his Father his Maister his Magistrate He was the Lords annointed to them both and therefore they should haue beene afraid to lay their hands vpon him or to set themselues against him or to take away the Crowne and Kingdome from him Neuerthelesse Absaloms attempt was accompanied with a multitude of offences c Cicer. paradox 3. he wronged him that had begotten him that had nourished him that had nurtered him that had honoured and aduanced him that had giuen him life and all thinges appertaining vnto life All these bands that ought to haue beene as a strong Cord or Cable neuer to be vntwisted and as a Chaine of Iron neuer to be broken he rent in sunder as a thred of Tow is broken when it feeleth the fire and therefore as the fault was most foule so his fall was most fearefull according to the saying of the Wise-man d Pro. 17 13. Whosoeuer recompenceth euill for good euill shall not depart from his house Thus then we see
are as certaine steppes whereby we climbe vp to the society and mutuall loue of others so the moe steps and degrees there are the greater ought our loue to be To be a man created after the Image of God is one degree and challengeth loue from vs to be performed toward him To be ioyned in a Politicall or Domesticall knot to wit in the Common wealth or in the priuate Familie as the Prince and Subiect the Father and Sonne the Maister and Seruant is another and a neerer degree and ought to be the cause of farther loue But if to these naturall and ciuill respects there be added a spiritual Communion in Christ which is the best band that bindeth faster then all the rest whereby the Subiect is made his Princes brother the Child his Fathers Brother and the Seruant his Maisters Brother this requireth a more faithfull and feruent loue and a farther degree of our affection toward them On the other side if the coniunction betweene them be onely in the two former considerations there can be no true and sincere loue betweene them albeit they bee so closely tyed together no although they be Fathers and Children Husbands and Wiues Maisters and Seruants Princes and Subiects For where Christ Iesus is not there can be no singlenesse and soundnesse of the Soule whosoeuer loueth not in the Lord he cannot loue from the heart and where there is no true piety there can be nothing else but hypocrisie which is the bane and poison of true loue Hence it is that hee which hath an euill Seruant doth not in truth possesse him he hath an interest and propriety in the least part of him he may haue his handes but he cannot haue his heart So the Apostle sheweth that while Onesimus was a wicked man and an vnbeleeuer his Maister Philemon could not commodiously vse him he wandred therefore a while from his House that by changing of the place he might be turned into another and returne a new man before an vnworthy Seruant but now a profitable Seruant nay a beloued Brother made neere and after a sort equall with his Maister thorough Faith in Christ Whensoeuer therefore Kinges and Princes Fathers and Maisters being beleeuers haue vnder them and belonging vnto them such as are vnfaithfull and vnbeleeuers they cannot promise to themselues that they haue the whole rule and command ouer them This appeareth euidently in the Popish sort that beleeue the Doctrine of the Councell or rather Conuenticle of Trent if one that professeth the Gospell haue a Wife or Child or Seruant embracing that falsly named Catholike-Religion that rest vpon the deceiueable errors of the Priests and Iesuits and all of them vpon the decree and determination of the Pope he cannot make his accounts except he account amisse that he hath full power ouer them or the rule of their liues or the loue of their hearts We see it oftentimes come to passe in Subiects adhering to the Dregges of Popish superstition that notwithstanding the bands of fidelity and allegiance whereby they are obliged to their Princes they breake out into actions of open Rebellion and seeke the subuersion of King and Countrey and Religion If then a man would haue an absolute and Soueraigne commaund ouer his Inferiours and be assured to haue a whole and entire Wife that his heart may trust in her and her heart rest in him if a man would haue a dutifull Child and a faithfull Seruant to do his will and performe seruice vnto him for conscience sake he must make choise of such as haue in them the feare of God the Faith of Christ the guifts of the Spirit the loue of Religion the desire of instruction and the care of saluation If these be wanting neuer thinke their affection can be firmely setled toward thee but vpon euerie occasion it will be easilie remooued from thee It is the surest and fastest knot that Christ knitteth all other bands will quickly be broken and loosed Vse 4 Lastlie seeing the encrease of many bands meeting together doubleth and trebleth the care and loue one toward another so that where the smallest number of meanes is found there also is found the smallest loue and where the greatest number of occasions concurreth as it were on an heap there ought to bee the surest knot of friendship and amitie it should put all superiours in minde of a necessary dutie to be carefull to instruct those that belong to their seuerall charges and iurisdictions that so they may tye them with a surer knot to themselues and haue the better seruice at their handes For seeing they are neerer coupled vnto them that are vnder the reach of their authoritie or the roofe of their houses then vnto the rest of mankinde they ought to haue a greater respect vnto them and beare a dearer loue vnto them euen vnto their bodies how much more vnto their Soules But wee cannot better testifie our loue vnto them and shew our care ouer them then by making knowne vnto them the workes of the Lord and the waies of saluation If we be commaunded to l Heb. 3 13. Exhort one another while it is called to day and to stirre vp one another to good things m 1 Thes 5 14 if we must admonish them that are out of order and comfort the feeble minded how much more are wee bound in conscience to perfect it to those that depend vpon vs and are neerer vnto vs It was the first and principall care of all the godly Kings that had true Religion in their owne harts to prouide for the instruction of their subiects The Apostle writing to the Ephesians and prescribing the distinct duties of sundry persons forgetteth not the Father and the Son and as he chargeth Children m Ephe. 6 2 4 To obey their Parents in the Lord so he commaundeth Parents to bring them vp in the instruction and information of the Lord. Thus godly Maisters haue vsed all diligence to bring their Seruants to haue a desire of Religion and a loue to the exercises of pietie whereby oftentimes such a good worke hath beene wrought in them that they haue accounted their Maisters as second Fathers and as spirituall Fathers confessed themselues more bound in all dutie to them then to their naturall Parents hauing learned that to the glory of God and the saluation of their Soules by their Maisters instruction which they could neuer vnderstand by their Fathers education They haue confessed themselues to haue gained more by such a seruice then if a large portion a rich inheritance and great reuennewes had beene left vnto them And indeede this is the onely way to teach Children dutifulnesse and to frame our Seruants to obedience to plant godlinesse in them and to water that which is planted The neglect of this care in vs will make them carelesse and the making of no conscience to teach them will bring them to be vnconscionable in their places If we be dumb and open not
haue practised nor the example of the Church at Hierusalem hath warranted To this Pestilent and poysoned Sect of detestable Heretiques we may ioyne as Cozin-Germans those mischieuous and miserable Male-contents that hold in word the lawfulnesse of priuate possession but follow in practise the vnlawfulnesse of more then an Anabaptisticall communion These are they that bring discontent to see others enioy more then themselues endeuour by vnlawfull and vngodlie actions to bring in an equality of all thinges pulling downe Hedges filling vp of Ditches burning of Houses remoouing of Markes breaking downe Fences digging downe Enclosures dispaling and disparking the boundes of Landes and laying all things common as they did in the Insurrection of f In the raigne of Richard the second Wat Tyler Iacke Straw and many others which we haue seene or heard done in our daies yea many idle and disordered people hoped and looked for a commotion in the latter daies of our late Soueraigne For as Esau hating his Brother and thirsting after the murther of him thought in his mind g Gen. 27 41. The dayes of mourning for my Father will come shortlie then will I slay my Brother Iacob so these ryotus routs of Rebels intending to fish in troubled waters and minding to make a prey of the richer sort said among themselues The daies of mourning for Queen Elizabeth will come shortly then we shall haue enough then we shall make the Churâ—…es pay for all then we will want nothing that is to be had Let vs take heed of such vngratious person as begin a conspiracy and lay the foundation of an Insurrection Though they call vs to come with them and would haue vs to ioyne in league with them let vs beware we cast not in our lot among them nor walke in the way with them for their feete run to euill and their broad paths are the beaten paths of death Vse 2. Secondlie seeing euery man hath a state in his own goods it teacheth vs this duty that we ought to be content with that portion which we haue be it more or lesse be it small or great be it a simple or a worthy portion and to be by all meanes thankfull for it considering with our selues that the difference of places Lands Possessions with the properties thereof be of God and are to be acknowledged as his guift True it is men do sometimes encrease their wealth by vnlawfull meanes by robbing and wronging of others to their owne condemnation but then they want comfort and peace in the possessing of them they cannot say they eate their owne Bread they cannot esteeme God to be their helper Let vs hate such wicked shifts and renounce from our hearts all deceitfull dealing Let vs seeke for a blessing vpon our labour at his handes that is the disposer of all thinges in Heauen and Earth Let vs learne h 1 Tim. 6 6 7 8. That godlinesse is great gaine if a Man bee content with that he hath for we brought nothing into the World and it is certaine that we can carry nothing out therefore when wee haue food and rayment let vs therewith be content This is it which the Apostle teacheth Heb. 13. i Heb. 13 5 6. Let your conuersation be without couetousnesse and be content with those thinges that yee haue for hee hath saide I will not fayle thee neither forsake thee so that wee may boldly say The Lord is mine helper neyther will I feare what man can doe vnto me Wee shall neuer deale faithfully with the goods of other men nor for Conscience sake abstaine from wrong and Iniustice vntill we rest contented in our hearts with things present and depend by Faith vpon Gods prouidence knowing that hee hath by his gracious promise bounde and charged himselfe with vs and for vs in all thinges necessarie as well for our bodies as for our soules He is a mighty God and a mercifull Father that neuer fayleth nor forsaketh his Children that trust in him that call vnto him that depend vpon him If this Faith be in vs it will swallow vp many cares and consume many feares which distract and distemper vnbeleeuers in this life Let not our heart thercfore be addicted to Couetousnesse nor let vs suffer our selues to be carried away from God by the greedy and gaping desire of Riches nor seeke to augment them abound in them by vnlawful means nor possesse them with vexation of mind or with affiance in them But let vs rest in our seuerall Callings and conditions of life with contentation and a quiet Conscience not swelling in heart or disquieting our selues in vaine with longing after an higher state and standing then the Lord hath allotted and allowed vnto vs. If once our affections ouer-flowe the bankes of our present conditions so that we cannot vse with thankfulnesse that which we haue receiued we can neuer be perswaded to bee contented but wee will not stick now and then to borrow of the Law of equity shifting prouiding for our selues what wayes wee can without difference and breaking out into vnhonest and vnorderly courses without conscience Let vs therefore k Rules to be remembred to worke in vs contentation for our better instruction in this point lay vp in our hearts these few Rules followes to worke in vs contentation First that all of vs enioy more then we deserue and can iustly challenge at the hands of God If we would haue a crum of bread wee must craue it of him and say l Math. 6 11. Giue vs this day our daily bread Secondly that we oftentimes doe want outward thinges because we esteeme no more of inward graces and spirituall blessings We haue no promise of God to bestow vpon vs earthly gifts any farther then we aske by praier and seeke by faith heauenly things according to the saying of Christ m Math. 6 33. First seeke the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and all these thinges shall be ministred vnto you It is therefore Gods great iudgement vpon such gracelesse and thanklesse men as contemne these thinges that belong to a better life that oftentimes they are brought to feele the want of the transitory things of this life Thirdlie that it is a great subtiltie and pollicy of Sathan to inueigle and intangle our mindes with the desire of such benefits as we want thereby to cause vs to murmure and to mooue vs to distrust for them and to disgrace the present benefits which we enioy and so to prouoke vs to be vnthankefull The people of Israell abounded plentifully in many great blessinges in the Wildernesse and tasted liberally of Gods goodnesse yet n Exod. 14 11 and 15 23. 16 2. 17 2. when they suffered the least want of Water or Bread and had not their lusts satisfied at their owne desire they did breake out into impatiency of spirit and forgate the mighty works that he had done for them Their present want made them to
preaching Christ crucified and risen againe from the dead h Acts 17 5 8 9. Insomuch that the Iewes which beleeued not moued with enuy tooke vnto them certaine vitious and Vagabond Fellowes and hauing assembled the multitude they made a tumult in the Cittie It is said that Iason receiued him and other of the Brethren into his house and offered to baile them and to be bound for them putting in good assurance that they should appeare and be forth-comming And if we require an example in the same kind and condition with this that is mentioned in this Epistle Our Sauiour expresseth the like in the Parable of him that went downe from Ierusalem to Iericho and fell among theeues who wounded him with their weapon and robbed him of his Raiment and left him in his trouble euen halfe dead i Luke 10 34 35. A certaine Samaritan as he iournied came neere vnto him and when he saw him he had compassion on him and went to him and bound vp his wounds and poured in Oyle and Wine and put him on his owne Beast and brought him to an Inne and made prouision for him and on the morrow when he departed he tooke out two pence and gaue them to the Host and said vnto him Take care of him and whatsoeuer thou spendest more when I come againe I will recompense thee This Samaritan did shew himselfe a right Neighbour both in shewing his present charity toward him and in offering himselfe to become a surety for him All these approued and allowed examples of the faithfull do sufficiently and euidently teach vs that it is in it selfe lawfull to vndertake payment for another and to become Suretie for him Reason 1. And if we require better groundes to satisfie vs in this truth let vs enter into the strength of reason to assure vs without any wauering heerein First waigh with me the example of Christ an excellent patterne and president of the practise of this an example farre beyond all exception an example that ouershadoweth and dazeleth k Heb. 12 1 2. and darkneth all that cloud of witnesses produced by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrewes he became surety for his Church vnto his father to pay the debt of our sinnes and to satisfie his iustice If then any doubt or make a question of the former examples wherein we saw how Ruben offered himselfe to become as a pledge to his father Iudah to Ioseph Iason to the Gouernour and the Samaritan to his Hoast behold a most absolute and perfect example of Christ Iesus who bound himselfe for vs his body for our bodies and his soule for our soules that our sinfull bodies might be made cleane by his body and our soules washed through his most precious bloud For the Prophet prophesieth l Isay 53 10. that he should make his soule an offering for sinne And Christ himselfe saith m Mat. 26 38. Iohn 12 27. My soule is very heauy euen vnto the death c. Thus did his loue exceed and abound toward vs that our loue might exceed and abound one toward another To this purpose the Apostle sheweth n Heb. 7 22. that Iesus is made a surety of a better Testament He stood in our places he tooke vpon him our sinnes he bare in his body the punishments due to vs he felt the wrath of God kindled against vs. Reason 2. Secondly it is a fruit of loue euen this way to releeue and helpe such as are like to suffer damage and detriment by want of outward thinges Now humane society and Christian piety requireth that one should sustaine and succour another in their necessity as we see in the former examples of Reuben Iudah Iason and the Samaritan before mentioned and remembred The life of man can hardly stand without lending and borrowing without letting and hiring without buying and selling without bargaining and trusting one of another It is a worke of mercy o Leuit. 19 18 to become surety and therefore as lawfull no doubt as to giue or lend The law of God commandeth vs to helpe our Neighboures as we are able and as they haue neede and they are to be releeued by such meanes as are in our power by giuing by forgiuing by communicating to them such things as we haue and they haue not For if we loue them and haue true Charity in vs we must not be wanting to them but be ready to profit them and do them good so farre as wee do not hurt our selues It is no vnwise sentence of a wise man p Eccle. 29 18 The wicked will not become surety and he that is of an vnthankfull mind forsaketh him that deliuered him declaring thereby that as he is a foole that is surety for euery man so is he vngodly that in no wise will be surety for any man Wee are commanded to q Exod. 23 5. helpe vp our enemies Oxe that is fallen or his Asse that is sunke downe vnder his burden how much more ought we to shew pitty and compassion to our brother himselfe vexed with the creditor terrified with the prison oppressed with his debt and dismaid and discouraged with the paiment at hand that is to be made So then whether we do consider that Christ Iesus is made our surety or that suretiship is a fruit of Christian loue one toward another in both respects we see that in it selfe it is not to be disalowed or condemned Vse 1. The vses of this Doctrine are diligently to be considered of vs. And first of all if it be lawfull and warranted to become surety one for another as we haue before plainely prooued it conuinceth and confuteth those that hold it to be euill and vnlawfull to giue their word or offer their band or tender their promise or engage themselues any way for their brethren Loue is a debt that we owe to all men r Rom. 13 8. as the Apostle testifieth Rom. 13. 8. and therefore we ought not to faile in the perfourmance thereof It is imagined and supposed by some that all or the greatest part of the controuersies betweene man and man and suites of Law betweene party and party arise from hence that things are taken vp vpon trust that there is borrowing and lending among vs and that there is crediting one of another and so would haue these quite taken away and the Names of them vtterlie abolished out of all Incorporations and Common-wealths It is reported that among the Turkes are few suites and actions commenced one against another because there is with them no bargaine or sale no buying or selling but for ready Money and for present pay But this is a plaine fallation to put that for a cause which indeede is not the cause For the corrupt conscience of men the couetous desire of Money the greedy gaping after gaine the malicious humour of reuenge the bitter roote of strife and the extreame want of loue are the true causes of
in our way The third reproofe Lastly it reproueth such as refuse to giue them sufficient maintenance and do barre them of that competent and conuenient portion that God hath allotted vnto them in his worde For if such as haue spent their strength to bring vs vnto God ought aboue all others to be regarded of vs and haue a worthy recompense of their labours surely they deserue to be checked and controlled that deale niggardly toward them who haue kept back nothing from them but reuealed vnto them the whole Counsell of God Wee see in this place what the Apostle Paule challengeth at the hands of Philemon whom he had won to the Faith he accounteth him to owe vnto him all that he had so that if he should giue vnto him all the substance of his house nay his owne life it were but due it were but a debt that he owed vnto him He that hath ransomed a prisoner out of the hands of the enemies hath iurisdiction and authority ouer him and may worthily claime whatsoeuer he hath He that hath saued the life of his enemy in battell and made him captiue is wholly at his disposing that hath taken him In like manner such as haue pulled vs out of the fire of hell out of the Iawes of death and out of the slauery of Satan the Prince of this world that ruleth in the hearts of the Children of disobedience may by a Diuine and humaine right reape our temporall things and require to be sustained and maintained by vs. Might not he be registred for a most vnthankefull person to all posterities that shall come heereafter that would suffer him to want that hath fed him that hath nourished him that hath preserued his life Who doth not cry out against Pharaoh and the Egyptians x Exod 1 8. who forgat Ioseph a great Benefactor to their whole Land that prouided much Corne in the plentiful yeares and saued the liues of many thousands by his labour and industry So likewise what a shame is it to suffer such worthy Instruments of our good to lack and suffer hunger Vndoubtedly they deserue to be forsaken of God and all good men that forsake those that are their Fathers in Christ and instructers in Christianitie Notwithstanding this blemish and reproach sticketh neerer vnto many men now liuing then the skin vppon their backes which brandeth and blotteth them as with a coale of perpetuall infamy who being brought to knowe themselues to see their owne sinnes to vnderstand their secret offences to make Conscience of their wayes to come to true repentance and to begin to set their footing in the kingdome of heauen by the blessing of God vpon the labours of his Ministers yet haue no consideration of them are not greiued nor ashamed to see them want and to liue in necessity but haue forgotten all the comfort that they haue receiued and shut vp the eyes of their compassion from them So often as I consider the former times of mens zeale and forwardnesse that being drawne to a loue of the truth became Instruments to draw on others and compare the same with the present estate of things we may seeme to liue in a continuall Winter and vnder a frozen Climate wherein appeareth nothing all the yeare long but Frosts and Ice and cold and Haile and Snowes couering the Mountaines and Valleyes without any Spring or Summer without any heate or growing or flourishing of any thing For I remember how many being touched with a terror in Conscience and feeling the burthen of their sins more heauy then Lead pressing them downe to the nethermost Hell could finde no comfort in their pleasant Companions in their delightfull pastimes and in sweet Instruments of Musicke all these were tedious and bitter and wearisom vnto the flesh one word of comfort from the mouth of the Minister was as Balsam vnto them to refresh their faint and feeble spirits by whom they were raysed vp But now liuing in peace and prosperity they are fallen asleepe they remember not the kindnesse they haue receyued and the consolation that they haue tasted and can both heare and see their misery and almost beggery that were the greatest meanes of their bringing them from the greatest misery and slauery that can be imagined For what greater bondage then the bondage of sinne of Satan and of Hell It is a great reproach to see a Christian Brother to begge his Bread or to craue releefe of others a faithfull Minister is a Christian brother and more then a Brother yea a Christian Father whose Children in the faith ought to giue him maintenance in the flesh It is truely saide by the Apostle y Gal. 6 6 7. Let him that is taught in the word make him that hath taught him partaker of all his goods Be not deceiued God is not mocked for whatsoeuer a man soweth that shall hee also reape To this purpose he speaketh in another place z 1 Tim. 5 17 18. Deut. 25 4. Math. 10 10. The elders that rule well let them be had in double honour especially they which labour in the word and Doctrine for the Scripture saith Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the Corne And The Labourer is worthy of his wages It is a great shame to the people of God that such as are conscionable in their Callinges and are as faithful Stewards distributing to them in the family such store as they haue prouided should complaine for want of maintenance and a liberall pension in temporall things The Apostle Iames teacheth a Iames 5 4. That the hyre of the Labourers which haue reaped their fields which was of them kept back by fraud cryeth and the cries of them which haue reaped are entred into the eares of the Lord of Hoasts The Ministers of God are his Labourers and labor for vs to gather vs as good Corne into the Lords Barne if then wee detaine from them the Bread that they should eat and the fleece of the woll wherewith they should be cloathed and the fruits of the earth whereby they shold be maintained This is a crying sinne and will neuer cease vntill it haue brought downe Gods iudgements vpon our selues and our substance Vse 3. Thirdly seeing the benefits brought vpon vs both vpon our bodies and soules by the meanes of the Ministry can neuer be worthily esteemed and sufficiently expressed it serueth to instruct vs in the necessarie duties of our obedience euen to testifie our loue to the truth by reuerencing and respecting them that are as the Lordes Messengers to bring the trueth vnto our doores This the Apostle commendeth vnto vs in the Thessalonians b 1 Thes 2 13 For this cause also thanke we God without ceasing that when ye perceiued the word of God which ye heard of vs ye receiued it not as the word of men but as it is indeed the word of God which also worketh in you that beleeue Where we see
heard we must performe the condition to glorifie him that hath heard vs. To disobey the Commandement is horrible Rebellion to distrust the promise is monstrous Infidelity to refuse the condition is vile ingratitude and vnthankfulnesse This promise is also laid before vs by Christ himselfe Math. 7 7 8. Aske and it shall be giuen you seeke and ye shall finde knocke and it shall bee opened vnto you for whosoeuer asketh receiueth and he that seeketh findeth to him that knocketh it shall be opened This promise of God is the shield of the faithfull it giueth them comfort and boldnesse in asking and confidence and assurance in obtaining If we had no promise there could arise in our hearts nothing but fearing and doubting nothing but terror and discoragement So then whether we consider that the prayers of the people of God are as pleasant Musicke to delight him or as a strong weapon to enforce him or as a sure building setled vpon the Rock of his promise we may safely conclude that they are very auaileable to helpe vs and others when as they proceede from an humble and faithfull heart which giueth life and quickening vnto them Vse 1 Let vs see the Vses that naturally arise from hence First it teacheth vs that if prayer be so auaileable we ought to learne what prayer is Manie there are that know the Commandement of God that he requireth this duty at their hands they see what they should doe who yet are altogether ignorant in the right manner of the doing of it They come to this worke as to an ordinary matter they performe it of custome they make it a Lippe-labour they come without feeling of the Maiesty of God or their owne wants We must therefore vnderstand that to pray is to put vp our requests to God according to his will from a contrite heart in the name of Christ Iesus with assurance to be heard The first thing required in Prayer In which description of Prayer there is offered to our considerations these fiue thinges First that it is a putting vp and powring out of our requests to God For k Rom. 10 14 how shall we call vpon him in whom wee doe not beleeue And as he only is to be beleeued in so he onely knoweth our conditions heareth our cries and seeth our necessities It is therefore our dutie to seeke vnto him in our misery and to make him a Tower of refuge to resort vnto This the Prophet Esay teacheth Chap. 17 7. At that day shall a man looke to his Maker and his eyes shall looke to the holy one of Israell Wee must acknowledge that it is not left in our owne choise to pray or not to pray we haue an expresse Commandement After this manner pray ye And againe Pray continually Let them therefore bee ashamed that make no care or Conscience to pray and such as cannot pray at all These two may well be ioyned together and are brethren in euill and Companions in wickednesse For Prayer is a guift bestowed vppon all the faithful in some measure Some haue this blessed grace in a greater degree and some in a lesse but al are indued with it in some sort none do wholly want it that want not the spirit Hence it is that we read of the l Zach. 12 10. Spirit of supplications Dauid and Daniell were often in the practise of this duty and fayled not three times a day to humble themselues in the presence of God There is no man so simple and sottish but knoweth how to aske a benefit when he wanteth it he can aske for bread when he lacketh it he can craue drinke when he is thirsty he can craue apparrell when we would be cloathed We see the practise of this in little Children they are quickly brought to do this and yet I feare mee the greatest part of men neither desire nor know how to desire any thing at the hands of God who is a liberall rewarder of all that come vnto him and call vpon him They can begge of men but they haue no knowledge to put vp any supplication to God If a Prince should set out an Edict and make a Proclamation that whosoeuer would come and make humble sute vnto him should haue such a faire Lordship or rich Manour there are few that would misse it for want of asking no man would want words all men would be eloquent enough there would be suters and suppliants great store that would make their tongues serue them ripely and readily for such a purpose Thus it is between God vs he hath published that m Ioel 2 32. Rom. 10 13. Whosoeuer shall call vpon the name of the Lorde shall be saued Let vs not now be wanting to our selues nor lose a kingdom for want of asking If we aske for grace and glory we shall obtaine That which we would doe for a temporall possession let vs not leaue vndone to obtaine an heauenly inheritance and if we would goe vnto men let vs not neglect or omit to pray vnto God The second thing required in prayer The second thing to be obserued in the right inuocation of the name of God is that it must be offered vp according to his word and will We are not left at our owne liberty and our voluntary choise how we will pray the manner prescribed allowed and accepted of God is when it is done according to his owne will He will be worshipped according to his owne appointment and not as we please This was taught vs before out of the Apostle Iohn Chap. 5 14. This is the assurance that we haue in him that if wee aske any thing according to his will he heareth vs. He doth not promise that whatsoeuer we craue we shall receiue and whatsoeuer we aske wee shall obtaine but he restraineth the promise Whatsoeuer we shall aske according to his will This therefore is the right manner of praying to pray according to his will that commandeth this duty of vs. We must craue of him such thinges as he alloweth and not lust after the things that he hateth and forbiddeth This being the rule of Prayer that is shortly set downe doth direct vs in all our supplications to seeke to know his will then to submit our selues vnto it if we would pray with fruit and profit We see among men this order obserued that such as desire to obtaine the fauor and helpe of other do frame themselues wholly vnto their will So ought it to be with vs if wee woulde haue God to respect vs and heare vs we must fashion our selues according to his pleasure otherwise we deceiue our selues if we hope for any blessing at his hands Now the will of God directing our prayers consisteth in three things First that our bodies and soules be no otherwise setled then becommeth those that are to enter talke and communication with God This the faithfull declared by lifting vp their handes by casting vp the
mee and hath embraced this present world and is departed vnto Thessalonica Lastly he reckoneth vp Luke to wit the Euangelist who came to Rome as a Companion with Paule as we read Acts 28 14. and is named in the Epistle to the Colossians Å¿ Colos 4 14. Luke the beloued Physitian greeteth you Hee was a Physitian by profession and after his conuersion he accompanied Paul in his greatest dangers Of these men heere described wee might speake much and handle their liues at large t Centu. 1. lib. 2. cap. 10. castig addit in lib. 2. centu 1. but this is doone by others and this may suffice for the Interpretation of these verses We heard in the beginning of this Epistle that Paule ioyned Timothy to him as a ioynt Writer thereof and directeth it to others besides to Philemon that they might bee meanes and Mediatours vnto him so in the winding vp of the Epistle hee hath mustered together many others by all which he setteth vppon Philemon as it were with an Army of Intercessers and Aduocates to soften and ouercome his greeued and offended minde and to encline him to mercie and compassion The time when this Epistle written Moreouer this salutation giueth vs some direction of the time when this Epistle was written Touching the which time there is some difference among the learned Some are of opinion that this Epistle was written after the second that hee wrote to Timothy and this reason is rendered because in that Epistle it appeareth that Timothy and Marke were not with him and hee willeth them to make speede to come vnto him z 2 Tim. 4 9 11. Onely Luke is with mee Take Marke and bring him with thee for hee is profitable vnto me to Minister But in this Epistle it is euident that these men were come vnto him Seeing therefore there hee sendeth for them and heere they are found to be with him it should seeme that this Epistle is Written after the other This is the Reason vrged a Illyr in argum huius Epistol by many which seemeth to be of great force to perswade But if we diligently marke it and throughly consider of it we shall finde it to be too weake to beare the waight of this conclusion For this present Epistle as also that to the Colossians was written when hee was first taken the second to Timothy when he was taken the second time For Paul hauing appealed to Caesar from the partial dealing of the High-Priests and the cruell persecution of his owne nation was brought to Rome in the beginning of Neroes raigne about the thirde or fourth yeare thereof Now it is euident and knowne to all that Nero in the fiue first yeares was one of the most milde and mercifull Princes and as in his last yeares hee exceeded all men in Tyranny and Crueltie so in his first b Sueto in Neron hee passed all his predecessors in Mercie and Gentlenesse In the beginning of his Empyre Paule pleaded his cause before him and was deliuered out of prison and let go whether he would But the rage of the enemies of the Gospell being endlesse hee was taken againe about the end of Neroes raigne who waxed madde against Christian Religion at which time hee wrote the latter Epistle to Timothy wherein he fore-telleth the approaching of his death and the time of his dissolution c 2 Tim. 4 6. I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departing is at hand Thus much touching the time when this Epistle was written Generall Obseruations pointed out in these verses Now let vs point out some generall Obseruations out of these Verses that might be enlarged and farther stood vpon if time would serue First we see the Apostle setteth down a salutation proceeding from others which teacheth that salutations are an ordinary meanes ordained of God to nourish and cherrish mutuall loue and that vnion and coniunction which the members of Christs body haue one with another who are onely in body in regard of bodily presence seuered one from another in this present life whereas in heart they are ioyned together and shall bee heereafter both in soule and body Secondly albeit the Apostle were a prisoner for the faithes sake yet God doth not leaue him alone hee hath A Fellow-prisoner ioyned with him and many Fellow-helpers added vnto him And albeit hee delighteth not himselfe in the imprisonment of another but could rather wish him deliuered as appeareth by his words to Agrippa who saide he was almost perswaded to become a Christian d Acts 26 28 29. I woulde to God that not onely thou but also all that heare mee to day were both almost and altogether such as I am except these bondes yet notwithstanding the Company of the Godly is gracious and comfortable both in prosperitie and in aduersity both in prison and out of prison Thus it is set downe by Luke Acts 16 25. when Paul was whipped and imprisoned and his feet made fast in the stockes he had Silas ioyned with him and they two spent the night in praying and praising God togither teaching admonishing themselues in Psalmes and Hymnes and spirituall songs singing with a grace in their hearts to the Lord so that the prisoners hearde them Thus we see the endlesse Mercie of God towards his afflicted and distressed Seruants hee rayseth them vp some comfort and some Comforters verifying the promise made to his Church If I depart I will send the Comforter vnto you Hee knoweth our infirmities hee seeth how readie we are to yeeld and slide back therefore as he strengthneth vs by others so he maketh vs meanes to strengthen others Thirdly hee calleth Epaphras a prisoner of Christ as hee also had called himselfe before in the beginning of this Epistle The reason is because he had preached Christ Heereby we learne that persecutions oftentimes follow the sincere preaching of the Gospell not that it is the propertie of the Gospell but the cause is the malice of such as will not embrace and receiue the Gospell and therefore they hate and persecute those that beleeue in Christ and giue entertainment to the Gospell This is it our Sauiour teacheth Mat. 10 34 35. Thinke not that I am come to send peace into the earth I came not to send peace but the sworde for I am come to set a Man at variance against his Father and the Daughter against the Mother c. and a mans enemies shall be they of his owne houshold To this purpose he speaketh in another place g Luke 12 49. I am come to put fire on the earth and what is my desire if it be already kindled The Gospell is the proper cause of peace among the godly so it is the occasion of great troble among the wicked They are therefore much deceiued that make the Gospell the cause of all diuision and hurly-burlies that are in the Worlde When any troubles arise the preaching
God that sent her and her that counselled him and her counsell that restrained him from shedding blood A fire is soonest quenched by water and anger is soonest appeased by gentlenesse Let vs plant this in the Garden of our hearts and learne to giue good speeches one to another and shew a friendly Countenance euen to them that wrong vs and abuse vs without any purpose or desire to reuenge This is a Vertue hard to be found in these daies among the sons of men they cannot speake well one of another This gentlenesse that teacheth vs to deale courteously toward each other is thinly sowne in the furrowes of our hearts Wherefore wee must know that humanity and courteous dealing are not as some immagine excluded from Christians as if nothing should be in them but rigor and austerity Indeede they are to deale roughly and rigorously with wilfull and wicked men that are offensiue and vnruly but we must be gentle meeke and lowly toward such as are willing to bee enstructed Hence then it appeareth that our common formes of salutation are commendable both practised by worde of mouth and vsed in writing standing vpon the warrant of Gods word and example of the faithfull Let vs therefore accustom our tongues to ciuility to blessing wishing al good one to another This becommeth our profession and witnesseth to all the world that we are of pure conuersation Vse 2. Secondly this Doctrine serueth for reproofe of diuers and sundry abuses that are too rife and common among vs. It seemeth a light and ridiculous thing to many to salute and to be saluted but it is of great force and auaileth much to the obtaining and getting of good will It is a point of courtesie and humanity to salute others and to pray for them Let no man say these are very small and slender matters to be spoken of and stood vpon We must acknowledge that our obedience is to be shewed euen in the least and not in the greatest matters onely And a true Christian is to bee seene and knowne when he will yeeld in the practise of lesser points and such as are not of greatest importance Wherefore seeing euerie Christian must thus behaue himselfe it reproueth diuers sorts of men First such as are so strongly possessed and rankely ouer-grown with malice and reuenge that they neither will salute such as they meet nor answer such as salute them These men are dainty of their speech and as sparing of their wordes as if euery word of their mouth were worth a wedge of Gold Hence it is that many stand vpon termes of their reputation and looke to haue others bend vnto them they say k Some pinch curtesie who shall begin to speake and salute first Why should I salute him first Or wherefore should I beginne to speake vnto him Shall I yeeld my selfe or bring my selfe vnder him to be made his Foot-stoole I will not stoope or bow downe he hath first wronged me let him therefore first seeke to be reconciled and if I should speake to him I know he will not answeare me nor looke toward me These are goodly pretences and coulourable shiftings to maintaine Hatred Displeasure and priuy Grudgings one against another and cause vs to pinch curtesie who shall beginne to deale curteously one with another But art thou resolued that thou wilt not beginne first and as it were breake the yee but wait vntill another beginne to salute thee Thou must consider that the very Publicans and Sinners do the same as our Sauiour teacheth Math. 5 46 47. l Mat. 5. 46 47. If yee loue them which loue you what reward shall yee haue Do not the Publicans euen the same And if ye be friendly to your Brethren onely what singular thing doe yee Do not euen the Publicans likewise Wilt thou not yeeld and giue place first Be constant and setled and vnmooueable in a good thing but in keeping an old grudge or a new displeasure a goodman ought not to be stubborne and obstinate to continue therein for euer Doest thou thinke it a shame and reproach to thee to change thy minde Who doth so esteeme and iudge Doth God No he accounteth it thy greatest honour to yeeld to that which he commandeth Doe the godly among whom thou liuest No thou shalt reioyce them and giue good example to other and and heape coales of fire vpon their heads whom thou hast offended and giue a sound testimony of thy vnfained loue to thy brother that hath offended thee Hath he hurt thee first and done thee wrong Be it so hee hath done euill euery man will confesse it no man will deny it no man can defend it Doe thou good to him againe for his euill and prouoke him by thy example and do that which becommeth thee without looking wherein he faileth Let vs seeke to be like our Heauenly Father who maketh his Sunne to arise vpon the euill and good and sendeth Raine on the iust and vniust It is a common thing in such as are rich and mighty to passe by the poore and neuer or seeldome vouchsafe them a word of their mouth which costeth them nothing It is a praise and commendation to be honourable yet humble A proud heart testified by a scornefull eye and a silent tongue is to be reprooued wheresoeuer and in whomsoeuer it be found On the other side it is a great encouragement to men of the lower sort when such as are great and mighty in the world doe kindly salute them and friendly speake vnto them they are greatly affected at it they are mooued to loue them and stirred vp to be cheerefull in well doing when they see they are regarded and not despised or accounted base in their eyes nor respected as their Foot-stoole Secondly such as are reprooued make an outward shew of the perfourmance of this duty but inwardly are as farre and some-times farther from the right practise of it then the former These are such as are true Christians in name but not in deed in shew but not in substance in word but not in heart These haue Charity in their lippes but enmity in their soules They speake of peace but they nourish hatred A man would iudge them to be the flower of curtesie and to haue all couplements of humanity in them and yet nowithstanding all this is but a maske and vizard to colour their hipocrisie These are a most vile and wicked kinde of men that haue sweete and sugred tongues but malicious and enuious hearts and full of venom This we see in Ioab m 2 Sam. 3 27. and 20. 9. who tooke Abner aside in the Gate to speake with him peaceably and smote him vnder the fift rib that he died and likewise he dealt with Amasa he said to him Art thou in health my Brother and tooke him by the Beard with the right hand to kisse him but with the other hand he smote him with the sword and shed out his bowels to the
as the Well-spring we haue it not of our selues we haue it from him according to that which the Euangelist Iohn setteth downe r Iohn 1 16. Of his fulnesse we haue all receiued and Grace for Grace Secondly it is called the Grace of Christ not of God the father not of God the Holie-Ghost but of Iesus Christ our Lord because hee is the meanes or as the Cunduit-pipe whereby he it is brought and conueyed vnto vs Thus the same Euangelist speaketh in the wordes following Å¿ Iohn 1 17. The Law was giuen by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Iesus Christ. He it is that is the Mediation and Propitiation for our sinnes he hath purchased the fauour of God he hath wrought reconciliation for vs so that through him we are accepted of God the Father and beloued in his beloued Ephe. 1. 6. Thirdly we must consider the Title giuen to Christ Iesus hee is called a Lord or Ruler and that in many respects First by creation in that he made vs of nothing when we had no being t Iohn 1 3. For all thinges were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made Secondly by right of Inheritance u Heb. 1 2. Psal 2 8. For he is made Heire of all thinges Thirdly by right of Dominion for he hath Dominion ouer all things and ouer vs also so that he ruleth preserueth and keepeth vs as his owne to eternall life being bought with his most preciour blood None of them can bee lost that are committed vnto him neither can any plucke them out of his hands All thinges are put vnder his feet and subiect vnto him Fourthly he is said to be our Lord he is not onely a Lord hauing right and might graunted vnto him ouer others but hee s called our Lord. First because the Father gaue him a people and chosen Generation ouer whom he should rule So then by reason of this donation appointed vnto him before all worlds he is truely called our Lord. Secondly in regard of the work of redemption which he hath wrought for vs he alone hath paid the ransom for vs and deliuered vs from the power of the Deuill so that hee hath the greatest right of possession in vs. Lastly we are thereby put in mind that we ought so to beleeue in Christ our Lord that we put our trust and confidence in him and that we rest throughly perswaded that by him we are throughly freed and deliuered from all euill It is not enough for vs or sufficient to saluation to beleeue Christ Iesus to be a Lord but we must beleeue him to be our Lord. For wee all knowe and beleeue that the Deuill is a Lord and ruleth in the hearts of the Children of disobedience he is the God of this World and a Prince that beareth great sway but wee doe neyther know nor beleeue him to be our Lord as we beleeue Christ Iesus to bee the Lord of vs all Fiftly he addeth With your Spirit He craueth this Grace to be with his Spirit whereby he meaneth as much as if he had said with you one part of man being named for the whole the more principall part being put for the whole person For man consisteth of two essentiall parts of Soule and Body True it is the Apostle Paule doth sometimes deuide man into three partes the Spirit the Soule the Body as when he prayeth for the Thessalonians x 1 Thes 5 23. That their whole Spirit and Soule and Body should be kept blamelesse vnto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. By the Spirit he vnderstandeth the mind reason or vnderstanding which else-where hee calleth the y Ephe. 4 23. Heb. 4 12. Ephe. 4. 17 18. Spirit of your mind This is nothing else but a faculty of the reasonable soule which is seen in inuention and iudgement By the the Soule he vnderstandeth the inferior faculties and powers as the will and affections both which followeth the body which is the Instrument whereby the Spirit and Soule do worke By the Spirit in this place is not meant onely the minde or onely the Soule but the whole man is to be vnderstood as it is expounded Phil. 4. 23. The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with you all And Col. 4 18. Grace be with you yet he nameth the spirit because it is the principall subiect and seat of grace Sixtly the Apostle proceedeth and saith Your spirit hee speaketh not to Philemon alone saying With thy Spirit but he enlargeth his heart and saith With your Spirit as speaking to many Whereby wee are to vnderstand those to whom this Epistle is written and deliuered to wit cheefly to Philemon whose Title it beareth and to Apphia his wife to Archippus the Minister and to the Church that was in his house to all these he wisheth the Grace of Christ Lastly he endeth with the word Amen which is as much as euen so or so be it or so it shall be Indeede it is no part of the former prayer but it betokeneth and signifieth two things First an hearty desire whereby we wish that we may be heard and that God would answere vnto our requests Secondly the certainty of our confidence and the confirmation of our Faith whereby we trust that we shall be heard It is an Hebrew worde retained by the Apostles in their Epistles and in other places wherewith we are taught to conclude our Prayers withall by Christ our Sauiour It is added to shew that we should come with boldnesse and beleeue that we shall obtaine trusting in the truth of Gods promises The postscript of the Epistle Hauing thus laide open the sense and meaning of the wordes in this last Verse it shall not be amisse to speake some-what of the wordes following which are the subscription and vnder-writing of this Epistle in these wordes Written from Rome to Philemon and sent by Onesimus a Seruant It is most likely that this Epistle was written and sent at one and the same time with that entituled to the Colossians both because the same persons are named in both the Epistles the same persons writing and the same persons sending salutations to others and both of them in the Post-script are sayde to be sent by Onesimus as it were by a Carrier only heerein resteth the difference that this Epistle was deliuered to Onesimus alone to bee carried to Philemon a priuate man but the other was conueyed by Tychicus and Onesimus to the whole Church of the Colossians whereof Philemon and his Family were but one part But touching this subscription as also others in other Epistles we must vnderstand that they were added by men and are no part of the Cannonicall Scripture which is the rule of our faith to which we must yeeld without all contention or contradiction and from which we cannot appeale without intollerable iniury to the spirit of God For howsoeuer diuers of these Post-scripts may be true yet it is very plaine and
But let vs take heede we doe not deceiue out owne heartes and flatter our selues in a bare title when the truth of the thing doth not belong vnto vs. If a poore simple Begger that hath nothing but ragges and rents to brag and boast himselfe off should foolishly perswade himsefe he were a King and Monarch of the world could this vaine opinion any whit auaile him or minister any comfort vnto him In like manner if we delight to be called Christians and yet want the annointing of Christ we are as farre from being true Christians as the former begger is from being a Prince of the earth Wherefore if wee will haue the thing with the name and the truth with the title we must bee as Kings bearing sway ouer our owne lustes and proclaiming continuall warre against the Deuill the World and the flesh We must thus raigne ouer our selues and then we shall be Kings indeed We must be carefull to haue the word dwell plentifully in vs and endeuour to instruct others We must offer vp spirituall sacrifices acceptable vnto the Father we must make prayers and supplications vnto him and resigne vp our selues our soules and bodies to his seruice A carnall Christian that liueth in the flesh is no Christian An ignorant Christian that walketh in darkenesse is no Christian Such then as are led by their owne lustes and carried away by their owne corruptions giuing themselues ouer to all loosenesse of life are not spirituall Kings but very Slaues and Bond-men nay the basest Vassals that breath vpon the earth Such as are blinde in the matters of God and haue nothing in their mindes but grosse ignorance knowing nothing of religion nor desiring to know nothing of the meanes of saluation cannot bee spirituall Prophets but sottish persons and blinde men that are not farre from falling into the pit of destruction Such as approach not to the Throne of grace with broken and contrite heartes and call not vpon God are not spirituall Priests but come neerer to the prophane Athiestes who are saide not to call vpon God and thinke it no profit to pray vnto him Fourthly let vs consider the third title giuen to the Sonne of God hee is called our Lord which teacheth vs to acknowledge him to be the Ruler and Gouernour of his Church and of euery particular member thereof And if he be the Gouernour and guide woe vnto them that will not be ruled and gouerned by him When he perswadeth vs to perfourme obedience to the morrall Law he giueth this as the reason o Exod. 20 2. I am the Lord thy God Thus doth the Prophet bring in the lord speaking vnto vs p Mal. 1 6. If I be your Lord where is my feare We must therefore conforme our willes to his will and resigne body and soule to be ordered and directed by him All men are willing to acknowledge Christ a redeemer but not a Ruler a Sauiour but not a Lord. Euery man would gladly and willingly haue a portion in Christes redemption but they regard not to perfourme him any obedience They are forward to heare of this Mediatorship but they take no delight to heare of his Lord-ship they loue not to be vnder his dominion they care not for the bearing of his yoake they desire not to yeelde subiection to his word They determine to make their lustes to be their Lordes and themselues seruants and slaues to their sinnes These are such as haue another Lorde set ouer them which ruleth in their hearts to wit the Prince of darknesse and the God of this world his workes they do his lusts they fulfill and to him they obey These are those enemies mentioned by Christ Luke 19 27. that will not that he should raigne ouer them who in the end shall be brought and slaine before him Wherefore if euer we looke to finde Christ our Sauiour let vs first make him our Gouernour if wee would haue him be our iustification let him become also our sanctification if we would haue him ease vs of our burthen and refresh vs of our wearinesse we must take his yoake vppon vs and suffer our neckes to be acquainted with it Fiftly obserue that the Grace heere asked for Philemon and others to whom the Apostle wrote is called the grace of Iesus Christ to teach vs that Gods graces and benefits come vpon vs thorough him and as nothing was made without him that was made so nothing is giuen without him that is giuen If then we would haue right and interest in any of the blessinges of God we must labour to be in Christ and to haue assurance that wee are in Christ If we touch and tast any of them and yet be not ingrafted into him we are Vsurpers and no better then Theeues and Robbers wee haue no more right and Title to any of the Creatures or Graces of God then the Theefe hath to the true mans purse Christ Iesus is heire of all things and we by him For if p Rom. 8 17. we be sonnes then are we heyres euen the heires of God and heyres annexed with Christ as for the vngodly they are Bastards and not sonnes and the Bastard cannot inherit hee is barred from claiming any interest in the inheritance True it is such as are out of Christ doe many times abound in earthly blessings and they enioy Houses and Landes and Temporall possessions and they can shew their Writings and Conueyances and Leases Deeds and Euidences how they holde their inheritances from men yet notwithstanding all these in the middest of them they are miserable and that for three causes Wicked mens case euen in earthly things is most miserable First because albeit they may haue many thinges yet they can haue right to nothing and they lay hold on such things as doe not belong vnto them God made the world and all things therein for his own sonnes not for the base borne for his Seruants not the Deuils slaues They are like the Moth which breedeth in another mans Garment but is soone shaken out the Moth hath no right to be there and therefore is brushed off or picked out and cast away This is the comparison q Iob 27 16 17 18. of the Holy-Ghost teaching that all vnregenerate persons are Intruders and can lay no lawfull claime by the Law of God to the thinges they possesse and therefore the Land-lord of the world may and will thrust them out at his pleasure Secondly as their right is nothing so they want the right vse of them If they had right vnto them yet had no comfortable vse of them it were a great iudgement but these men haue neither The Apostle teacheth r Titus 1 15. that Vnto the pure are all things pure but vnto them that are defiled and vnbeleeuing it nothing pure but euen their Minds and Consciences are defiled There is no peace to the wicked in the midst of ioy they are in heauinesse in the midst of life
in his Incest he chargeth them to cast him out from among them but when he heard of his sorrow for sin and of his repentance from dead works c 2 Cor. 2 8. he exhorteth them to confirme their loue toward him more and more We see this offered vnto vs in the example of God and his elect Angelles When we haue sinned against the Lord and fallen into horrible offences whereby he is dishonoured and our Consciences wounded hee sendeth meanes to turne vs from our sinnes and is ready to forgiue vs when we repent he neuer vpbraideth vs with our iniquities that wee haue forsaken but accepteth of vs as wee stand in the state of regeneration This serueth to reproue two sortes of men First such as are so vncharitable and malicious that they neuer forget the falles of their Bretheren but euer remember them and reproach them for them If any of the faithfull haue sodainely falne into any sinne it shall alwayes bee laide to their charge and hit in their teeth and spread abroad from one to another and bee made farre greater then it is Wherein see the peeuishnesse and partialitie of wicked men who loue their owne and beare with a boulster vp one another in wickednesse If the vngodlie that make a continuall practise of sinne and haue their whole delight therein doe runne out of one euill into another without touch of conscience without shame of men without feare of God without turning of the heart by repentaunce they shall finde those that will defend them iustifie them speake well of them as if they had committed no sinne But if any that are true Beleeuers haue beene ouer-taken by the suggestion of the Deuill and the corruption of the flesh one fall of theirs shall neuer be forgotten it shall alwaies be kept on foote it shall runne in the mindes and mouths of prophane men as if it had not beene forgiuen them whereas a thousand enormities of lewd and vngodly men are passed ouer and neuer spoken off The World loueth her owne and speaketh well of her owne euen of such as God abhorreth As for the Godly that desire to please God it cannot abide them all their actions are narrowly pryed and searched into and neuer were they so much hated as in these our daies Seeing then we haue to doe with such sharp sighted Eagels that behold all and more then all that we doe who like deceitfull Worke-men are ready to stretch them vpon the tender-hookes and like slubbering Surgions spare not to make the wound wider then it is whereas they ought to seeke to cure and heale it let vs looke more earnestly into our owne waies and know that we haue a thousand eyes fixed vpon vs and a thousand mouths that will be opened against vs and ten thousand eares that are prepared to listen to any slanders and surmises that shall be reported of vs. Thus shall we take profit and reape a benefit euen by our enemies Thus we see how they are reprooued that vpbraide men with their sinnes which they haue repented off and doe not acknowledge the change that is wrought in them not by Men but by God He that is truely conuerted is made a new man and hath a new work begun in him so that his olde workes are renounced and no man abhorreth them more then himselfe no man is greeued for them so much as himselfe If then we truely loue our Bretheren especiallie whom we see to be sorry for their sinnes past we will thinke of them with all Charitie we will speake to them with all gentlenesse we will haue no euill suspicion of them wee will not hinder their good Name so that when they are euill spoken off by others we will endeuour to excuse them to burie their faultes and to saue their credit True it is wee must not allow of wickednesse d Esay 5 20. nor call euill good but such as haue offended vs we must beare with them and deale with them by admonitions exhortations reproofes threatnings labouring thereby to heale them to giue a remedy vnto them Now if such be worthy reproofe and reprehension that remember the offences of their Neighbours which before they haue practised and now haue renounced how much more are they to be condemned that mocke and deride such as haue vnblameable infirmities and are blinde or deafe or lame or any way blemished in their bodies The Wise-man teacheth in the Booke of the Prouerbs e Prou. 17 5. That he which mocketh the poore reproacheth him that made him So it may be truely saide that whosoeuer reproacheth his Brother for his blindenesse or lamenesse or deafenesse or deformitie reproacheth God that hath made him so And who knoweth what hangeth ouer his owne head Or what iudgement may fall vpon himselfe or his The little Children that came out of Beth-ell mocked the Prophet and said vnto him f 2 King 2 23 24. Come vp thou Bald-head come vp thou Bald-head Where we see they scoffed at him for his infirmitie but what followed He turned about and looked on them and curssed them in the name of the Lord and two Beares came out of the Forrest and tare in peeces two and fortie Children of them A greeuous iudgment fell vpon them notwithstanding the tendernesse of their age and they are made an example vnto vs to teach vs to beware that we make not a mocke at the miseries of others It is our dutie rather to pittie them and shew compassion toward them to defend them not to offend them to comfort them in their affliction not to lay an heauier burthen vpon them This is a notable comfort vnto all Parents when they haue Children borne vnto them any way blemished and deformed that they doe not therefore cease to loue them that they ought not to be ashamed of them that they should not neglect the education of them but rather be the more carefull to traine them vp in the feare of God which shall more beautifie them then their blindenesse or lamenesse shall bee able to blemish them For it may be that God will giue vnto vs more comfort by them then by all the rest that haue the ornaments of Nature And if we thinke them to bee greater sinners then other men because they suffer such things and haue those infirmities we are deceiued When the Disciples asked Christ concerning the blinde man g Iohn 9 2 3. Who did sinne this Man or his Parents that he was borne blinde Iesus answered Neither hath this man sinned nor his Parents but that the workes of God should be shewed on him So then these wants that appeare in many as the blindnesse of the eies the lamenesse of the foot the deafenesse of the eare the baldnesse of the head the maymednesse of the hand the stuttering of the tongue the crookednesse of the body the deformitie of the face or other defects of nature are not in themselues sins but infirmities without blame or blot
which are not to be charged vpon those that haue them If we be carefull to eschew the blemishes of the Soule that make vs vgly Monsters and misshapen Creatures in the sight of God we are blessed happy as for outward deformities they shall all be done away when this Mortall shall put on immortality and this corruption put on incorruption so that we shall bee made like vnto Christ our Sauiour in glory Vse 2 Secondly seeing the faults of Brethren repenting are not to be exaggerated and encreased with odious Names but rather couered with the cloake of Charitie as Sem and Iapheth did the nakednesse of their Father It teacheth vs to reioyce at their conuersion to foster and cherrish good thinges in them that are Prosolites and Conuerts to the Faith The Scribes and Pharisies h Math. 23 15. Would compasse Sea and Land to make one of their Sect and profession they spared no labour to win them vnto them How much more then ought wee to endeuour to encourage all that be comming on and to kindle good thinges appearing in them Our Sauiour teacheth i Luke 15 10. That there is ioy in the presence of the Angels of God for one Sinner that conuerteth Thus it ought to be with the members of the Church when they see the encrease thereof nothing should so reioyce them as when an accesse is made and added thereunto If the body had long lacked the vse of one part and should see the same restored vnto it would not the rest of the members much reioyce Yes no doubt So when we see one of the Sheepe of Christ that hath wandered farre from the Sheepe-fold brought home and following the true Shepheard we cannot but receiue great consolation by it It is a true saying that there are many Wolues within and many Sheepe without Some there are that lurk in the bosome of the Church which depart out of it and are found to be indeede no better then Wolues Others are for a time out of the Church and are as sauage and cruell Wolues who in the end are gathered home and are in the number of the Sheepe of Christ Such a one was Saint Paule who was a Persecuter such were many that were the Crucifiers of Christ yet were the Sheepe and Lambes that belong vnto Christ When these ioyne themselues to the Church and are conuerted vnto the Faith their former life led in ignorance and blidnesse must be forgotten and we are to reioyce at their conuersion Did any of the Church euer reproach Paule with his blasphemy against God with his oppression of the Saints and breathing out threatnings against the Disciples of Christ when once he became a beleeuer Did any tell Peter in scorne and contempt that he was a denyer of his Maister a Swearer and cursser that he knew him not after that he had testified the truth of his repentance by the bitternesse of his teares for his weakenesse that he had shewed Did any obiect to Noah his drunkennesse or to Lot his Incest or to Salomon his Idolatry No man laid any of these things vnto their charge neither were they hated for them Hence it is that the Prophet Daniell hauing denounced a great iudgement to be accomplished against Nabuchadnezzar for his cruelty and oppression saith vnto him k Dan. 4 24. O King let my counsell be acceptable vnto thee and breake off thy sinnes by righteousnesse and thine iniquities by mercy toward the poore Loe let there be an healing of thine error Where he sheweth that howsoeuer hee greeuously sinned and prouoked God to wrath yet if he could repent of his former waies all his wounds should be healed and the iudgements of God should be reuersed and reuoked This serueth to reprooue those that regard not the repentance of those that haue sinned nor esteeme of them any whit the better These were the Nouatians l Magdeb. Centur 3. cap. 5. that gloried of a kind of purity and perfection in themselues and denyed Saluation to those that denyed Christ in persecution and to such as fell into sinne after Baptisme yea albeit they did repent But God delighteth not in the death of a Sinner but that hee should liue It is our duty m Cyprian epist 2. lib. 4. to raise vp them that are fallen and to heale the broken-hearted after the example of Christ who will not breake the bruised Reede nor quench the smoaking Flaxe And if we be commaunded to leaue ninetie and nine in the Wildernesse seeking that which is lost and bearing it home vpon our shoulders how much are they to be reprooued that keep them from the Sheep-fold that are come vnto it and barre the doore against them that desire to enter The Apostle saith n 1 Cor. 9 22. That to the weake he became as weake that he might winne the weake and he was made all thinges to all Men that he might by all meanes saue some The Lord Iesus calleth the Church of Ephesus o Reuel 2 5. to repentance To remember from whence they were fallen and to do their first workes Now hee would neuer haue exhorted them to repentance except there had beene pardon and forgiuenesse for the Penitent If any should say to the Husbandman follow thy businesse till thy ground plough thy fieldes sow thy Corne but thou shalt see no encrease thou shalt gather in no haruest thou shalt haue no fruit of thy labour doe we thinke that by this meanes he could be encouraged or stirred vp to labour Or if the Maister of a Ship should bid the Marriners in a tempest and storme to looke to their Tacklings and euery one to work with his hands in his place wherin he was set and withall should tell them when they had done all that they should neither saue the Ship nor the liues of such as were in the Ship it were a cold comfort or rather a certaine discomfort In like manner what should it auaile to exhort and excite any to repentance and to call vpon them to turne vnto God when in the meane season we barre them from saluation and hedge vp the way that leadeth vnto eternall life that they cannot enter into it albeit they do repent and returne vnto him So then there is greater mildnesse and moderation required of vs we must labor to suppresse hatred and malice toward our Brethren If any be sudainly ouertaken p Gala. 6 1 2. by the snares of Satan and the subtilty of sinne let vs restore them with the spirit of lenity considering our selues least we also bee tempted Let vs not bee glad at their fals nor triumph at the victorie which Satan seemeth to haue gotten but rather mourne for them and helpe them out of their danger We are commanded in the Law when wee see the Asse of our enemy to couch downe vnder his burden q Exod. 23 5. not to cease or falle to lift him vp how much more ought we to support