for that Bread of life which came down from Heaven and feedeth our Soules unto eternal life and neither they nor it can perish If we must say for that Give us this day our daily bread shall we not much more say for this Lord evermore give us this bread But I have done Beseech we now Almighty God to guide us all with such holy discretion and wisdome in the free use of his good Creatures that keeping our selves within the due bounds of Sobriety Charity and civil Duty we may in all things glorifie God and above all things and for all things give thanks alwayes unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ. To which our Lord Jesus Christ the blessed Sonne of God together with the Father and the Holy Spirit three Persons and one onely wise gracious and everliving God be ascribed as is most due by us and his whole Church all the Kingdome the Power and the glory both now and for evermore Amen Amen THE SIXTH SERMON AD POPVLVM At S. Pauls Crosse London April 15. 1627. GEN. 20.6 And God said unto him in a dream Yea I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thine heart For I also withheld thee from sinning against me therefore suffered I thee not to touch her FOr our more profitable understanding of which words it is needfull we should have in remembrance the whole story of this present Chapter of which story these words are a part And thus it was Abraham commeth with Sarah his Wife and their family as a Stranger to sojourn among the Philistims in Gerar covenanteth with her before-hand thinking thereby to provide for his own safety because she was beautifull that they should not be to know that they were any more than Brother and Sister Abimelech King of the place heareth of their comming and of her beauty sendeth for them both enquireth whence and who they were heareth no more from them but that she was his Sister dismisseth him taketh her into his House Hereupon God plagueth him and his House with a strange Visitation threatneth him also with Death giveth him to understand that all this was for taking another mans Wife He answereth for himself GOD replyeth The Answer is in the two next former Verses the Reply in this and the next following Verse His Answer is by way of Apology he pleadeth first Ignorance and then and thence his Innocence And he said Lord wilt thou slay also a righteous Nation Said not he unto me She is my Sister and she even she her self said He is my Brother in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this That is his Plea Now God replyeth of which reply letâ—â—ng pass the remainder in the next Verse which concerneth the time to come so much of it as is contained in this Verse hath reference to what was already done and past and it meeteth right with Abimilechs Answer Something he had done and something he had not not done he had indeed taken Sarah into his House but he had not yet come near her For that which he had done in taking her he thought he had a just excuse and he pleadeth it he did not know her to be another mans Wife and therefore as to any intent of doing wrong to the Husband he was altogether Innocent But for that which he had not done in not touching her because he took her into his House with an unchaste purpose he passeth that over in silence and not so much as mentioneth it So that his Answer so far as it reached was just but because it reached not home it was not full And now Almighty God fitteth it with a Reply most convenient for such an Answer admitting his Plea so far as he alleged it for what he had done in taking Abrahams Wife having done it simply out of ignorance Yea I know thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart and withall supplying that which Abimelech had omitted for what he had not done in not touching her by assigning the true cause thereof viz. his powerfull restraint For I also with-held thee from sinning against me therefore suffered I thee not to touch her In the whole Verse we may observe First the manner of the Revelation namely by what means it pleased God to conveigh to Abimelech the knowledge of so much of his will as he thought good to acquaint him withall it was even the same whereby he had given him the first information at Verse 3. it was by a dream And God said unto him in a dream and then after the substance of the Reply whereof again the general parts are two The former an Admission of Abimelechs Plea or an Acknowledgement of the integrity of his heart so far as he alleged it in that which he had done yea I know that thou didst it in the integrity of thine heart The later an Instruction or Advertisement to Abimelech to take knowledge of Gods goodnesse unto and providence with him in that which he had not done it was God that over-held him from doing it For I also with-held thee from sinning against me therefore suffered I thee not to touch her By occasion of those first words of the Text And God said unto him in a dream if we should enter into some enquiries concerning the nature and use of divine Revelations in general and in particular of Dreams the Discourse as it would not be wholly impertinent so neither altogether unprofitable Concerning all which these several Conclusions might be easily made good First that God revealed himself and his will frequently in old times especially before the sealing of the Scripture-Canon in sundry manners as by Visions Prophecies Extacies Oracles and other supernatural means and namely and among the rest by Dreams Secondly that God imparted his Will by such kind of supernatural Revelations not only to the godly and faithfull though to them most frequently and especially but sometimes also to Hypocrites within the Church as to Saul and others yea and sometimes even to Infidells too out of the Church as to Pharaoh Balaam Nebuchadnezzer c. and here to Abimelech Thirdly that since the writings of the Prophets and Apostles were made up the Scripture-Canon sealed and the Christian Church by the preaching of the Gospel become Oecumenical dreams and other supernatural Revelations 〈◊〉 also other things of like nature as Miracles and whatsoever more immediate and extraordinary manifestations of the will and power of God have ceased to be of ordinary and familiar use so as now we ought rather to suspect delusion in them than to expect direction from them Fourthly that although God have now tyed us to his holy written word as unto a perpetual infallible Rule beyond which we may not expect and against which we may not admit any other direction as from God yet he hath no where abridged himself
will and affections to the obedience of Faith and Godlinesse So shalt thou not only be restrained from sinning against God as Abimelech here was but also be enabled as faithfull Abraham was to please God and consequently assured with all the faithfull children of Abraham to be preserved by the almighty power of God through faith unto salvation Which Grace and Faith and salvation the same Almighty God the God of Power and of Peace bestow upon us all here assembled With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours even for the same our Lord Jesus Christs sake his most dear Son and our blessed Saviour and Redeemer to which blessed Father and blessed Son with the blessed Spirit most holy blessed and glorious Trinity be ascribed by us and the whole Church all the Kingdome the power and the glory from this time forth and for ever Amen AD POPULUM The Seventh Sermon At S. Pauls Cross London 6. May 1632. 1 PET. 2.16 As free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God THere is not any thing in the world more generally desired than Liberty nor scarse any thing more generally abused Insomuch as even that blessed liberty which the eternal Son of God hath purchased for His Spouse the Church and endowed her therewithal hath in no age been free from abuses whilest some have sinfully neglected their Christian liberty to their own prejudice and othersome have as sinfully stood upon it to the prejudice of their brethren So hardly through pride and ignorance and other corruptions that abound in us do we hit upon the golden mean either in this or almost in any thing else but easily swarve into the vitious extreams on both hands declining sometimes into the defect and sometimes into the excess The Apostles therefore especially Saint Peter and Saint Paul the two chiefest planters of the Churches endeavoured early to instruct believers in the true doctrine and to direct them in the right use of their Christian liberty so often in their several Epistles as fit occasion was offered thereunto Which we may observe them to have done most frequently and fully in those two cases which being very common are therefore of the greater consequence viz. the case of Scandal and the case of Obedience And we may further observe concerning these two Apostles that S. Paul usually toucheth upon this argument of liberty as it is to be exercised in the case of Scandal but S. Peter oftner as in the Case of Obedience Whereof on S. Peters part I conceive the reason to be this That being the Apostle of the Circumcision and so having to deal most with the Iews who could not brook subjection but were of all Nations under heaven the most impatient of a forain yoke he was therefore the more careful to deliver the doctrine of Christian liberty to them in such a manner as might frame them withal to yeeld such reverence and obedience to their Governours as became them to do And therefore S. Peter beateth much upon the point of Obedience But he no where presseth it more fully than in this Chapter Wherein after the general exhortations of subduing the lusts that are in their own bosoms vers 11. and of ordering their conversation so as might be for their credit and honesty in the sight of others ver 12. when he descendeth to more particular duties he beginneth first with and insisteth most upon this duty of subjection and obedience to authority in the greatest remaining part of the Chapter The first Precept he giveth in this kinde is set down with sundry amplifications and reasons thereunto belonging in the next verses before the Text Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake And then he doth by way of Prolepsis take away an objection which he foresaw would readily be made against that and the following Exhortations from the pretext of Christian liberty in the words of the Text As free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God Conceive the words as spoken in answer to what those new converts might have objected We have been taught that the Son of God hath made us free and then we are free indeed and so not bound to subject our selves to any Masters or Governors upon earth no not to Kings but much rather bound not to do it that so we may preserve that freedom which Christ hath purchased for us and reserve our selves the more entirely for Gods service by refusing to be the servants of men This Objection the Apostle clearly taketh off in the Text with much holy wisdom truth He telleth them that being indeed set at liberty by Christ they are not therefore any more to enthral themselves to any living soul or other creature not to submit to any ordinance of man as slaves that is as if the ordinance it self did by any proper direct and immediate vertue binde the conscience But yet all this notwithstanding they might and ought to submit thereunto as the Lords freemen and in a free manner that is by a voluntary and uninforced both subjection to their power and obedience to their lawful commands They must therefore take heed they use not their liberty for an occasion to the flesh nor under so fair a title palliate an evil licentiousness making that a cloak for their irreverent and undutiful carriage towards their Superiours For albeit they be not the servants of men but of God and therefore owe no obedience to men as upon immediate tie of conscience and for their own sake but to God only yet for his sake and out of the conscience of that obedience which they owe to his command of honouring father and mother and of being subject to the higher powers they ought to give unto them such honour and obedience as of right belongeth unto them according to the eminency of their high places As free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God From which words thus paraphrased I gather three observations all concerning our Christian liberty in that branch of it especially which respecteth humane ordinances and the use of the creatures and of all indifferent things Either 1. in the existence of it As free or 2. in the exercise of it And not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness or 3. in the end of it but as the servants of Gods The first observation this We must so submit our selves to superiour authority as that we do not thereby impeach our Christian liberty As free The second this We must so maintain our liberty as that we do not under that colour either commit any sin or omit any requisite office either of charity or duty and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness The third this In the whole exercise both of the
contract my speech to the scanting of time or you if I should lengthen it to the weight of the matter And therefore I resolved here to make an end and to give place as fit it is to the businesse whereabout we meet The Total of what I have said and should say is in effect but this No pretension of a good end of a good meaning of a good event of any good whatsoever either can sufficiently warrant any sinfull action to be done or justifie it being done or sufficiently excuse the Omission of any necessary duty when it is necessary Consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things Now to God the Father Son and Holy Spirit c. AD CLERUM The Third Sermon At a Visitation at Boston Lincoln 13. March 1620. 1 COR. 12.7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall IN the first Verse of this Chapter S. Paul proposeth to himself an Argument which he prosecuteth the whole Chapter through and after a profitable digression into the praise of Charity in the next Chap. resumeth again at the 14. Chapter spending also that whole Chapter therein and it is concerning spirituall gifts Now concerning spirituall gifts brethren I would not have you ignorant c. These gracious gifts of the holy Spirit of God bestowed on them for the edification of the Church the Corinthians by making them the fuell either of their pride in despising those that were inferiour to themselves or of their envy in malicing those that excelled therein abused to the maintenance of schisme and faction and emulation in the Church For the remedying of which evils the Apostle entreth upon the Argument discoursing fully of the variety of these spirituall gifts and who is the Author of them and for what end they were given and in what manner they should be imployed omitting nothing that was needfull to be spoken anent this subject In this part of the Chapter entreating both before and after this verse of the wondrous great yet sweet and usefull variety of these spirituall gifts he sheweth that howsoever manifold they are either for kind or degree so as they may differ in the materiall and formall yet they do all agree both in the same efficient and the same finall cause In the same efficient cause which is God the Lord by his Spirit ver 4 6. Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all And in the same finall cause which is the advancement of Gods glory in the propagation of his Gospel and the edification of his Church in this ver But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall By occasion of which words we may enquire into the nature convenience and use of these gifts First their nature in themselves and in their originall what they are and whence they are the works of Gods Spirit in us the manifestation of the Spirit Secondly their conveyance unto us how we come to have them and to have property in them it is by gift It is given to every man Thirdly their use and end why they were given us and what we are to do with them they must be employed to the good of our Brethren and of the Church is given to every man to profit withall Of these briefly and in their order and with speciall reference ever to us that are of the Clergy By manifestation of the Spirit here our Apostle understandeth none other thing then he doth by the adjective word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first and by the substantive word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the last verse of the Chapter Both which put together do signifie those spiritual gifts and graces whereby God enableth men and specially Church-men to the duties of their particular Callings for the generall good Such as are those particulars which are named in the next following verses the word of Wisdome the word of Knowledge Faith the gifts of healing workings of miracles prophecy discerning of spirits divers kinds of tongues interpretation of tongues All which and all other of like nature and use because they are wrought by that one and self-same Spirit which divideth to every one severally as he will are therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spirituall gifts and here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manifestation of the Spirit The word Spirit though in Scripture it have many other significations yet in this place I conceive to be understood directly of the holy Ghost the third Person in the ever blessed Trinity For first in ver 3. that which is called the Spirit of God in the former part is in the latter part called the Holy Ghost I give you to understand that no man speaking by the spirit of God calleth Iesus accursed and that no man can say that Iesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost Again that variety of gifts which in ver 4. is said to proceed from the same Spirit is said likewise in ver 5. to proceed from the same Lord and in ver 6. to proceed from the same God and therefore such a Spirit is meant as is also Lord and God and that is onely the Holy Ghost And again in those words in ver 11. All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will the Apostle ascribeth to this Spirit the collation and distribution of such gifts according to the free power of his own will and pleasure which free power belongeth to none but God alone Who hath set the members every one in the body as it hath pleased him Which yet ought not to be so understood of the Person of the Spirit as if the Father and the Son had no part or fellowship in this business For all the Actions and operations of the Divine Persons those onely excepted which are of intrinsecall and mutuall relation are the joynt and undivided works of the whole three Persons according to the common known maxime constantly and uniformly received in the Catholike Church Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa And as to this particular concerning gifts the Scriptures are clear Wherein as they are ascribed to GOD the Holy Ghost in this Chapter so they are elsewhere ascribed to God the Father Every good gift and every perfect giving is from above from the Father of Lights Jam. 1. and elsewhere to God the Son Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ Eph. 4. Yea and it may be that for this very reason in the three verses next before my text these three words are used Spirit in ver 4. Lord in ver 5. and God in ver 6. to give us intimation that these spirituall gifts
proceed equally and undividedly from the whole three Persons from God the Father and from his Son Iesus Christ our Lord and from the eternall Spirit of them both the Holy Ghost as from one entire indivisible and coessentiall Agent But for that we are grosse of understanding and unable to conceive the distinct Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead otherwise then by apprehending some distinction of their operations and offices to-us-ward it hath pleased the wisdome of God in the holy Scriptures which being written for our sakes were to be fitted to our capacities so far to condescend to our weakness and dulness as to attribute some of those great and common works to one person and some to another after a more speciall manner than unto the rest although indeed and in truth none of the three persons had more or lesse to do than other in any of those great and common works This manner of speaking Divines use to call Appropriation By which appropriation as Power is ascribed to the Father and Wisdome to the Son so is Goodness to the Holy Ghost And therefore as the Work of Creation wherein is specially seen the mighty power of God is appropriated to the Father and the work of Redemption wherein is specially seen the wisdome of God to the Son and so the works of sanctification and the infusion of habituall graces whereby the good things of God are communicated unto us is appropriated unto the Holy Ghost And for this cause the gifts thus communicated unto us from God are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spirituall gifts and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manifestation of the Spirit We see now why spirit but then why manifestation The word as most other verballs of that form may be understood either in the active or passive signification And it is not materiall whether of the two wayes we take it in this place both being true and neither improper For these spirituall gifts are the manifestation of the spirit Actively because by these the spirit manifesteth the will of God unto the Church these being the instruments and means of conveying the knowledge of salvation unto the people of God And they are the manifestation of the spirit Passively too because where any of these gifts especially in any eminent sort appeared in any person it was a manifest evidence that the Spirit of God wrought in him As we read in Acts 10. that they of the Circumcision were astonished When they saw that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost If it be demanded But how did that appear it followeth in the next verse For they heard them speak with tongues c. The spirituall Gift then is a manifestation of the Spirit as every other sensible effect is a manifestation of its proper cause We are now yet farther to know that the Gifts and graces wrought in us by the holy spirit of God are of two sorts The Scriptures sometimes distinguish them by the different terms of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 although those words are sometimes again used indifferently and promiscuously either for other They are commonly known in the Schooles and differenced by the names of Gratiae gratum facientes Gratiae gratis datae Which termes though they be not very proper for the one of them may be affirmed of the other whereas the members of every good distinction ought to be opposite yet because they have been long received and change of termes though haply for the better hath by experience been found for the most part unhappy in the event in multiplying unnecessary book-quarrells we may retain them profitably and without prejudice Those former which they call Gratum facientes are the graces of Sanctification whereby the person that hath them is enabled to do acceptable service to God in the duties of his generall Calling these latter which they call Gratis datas are the Graces of Edification whereby the person that hath them is enabled to do profitable service to the Church of God in the duties of his particular Calling Those are given Nobis Nobis both to us and from us that is chiefly for our own good these Nobis sed Nostris to us indeed but for others that is chiefly for the good of our brethren Those are given us ad salutem for the saving of our own souls these ad lucrum for the winning of other mens souls Those proceed from the speciall love of God to the Person and may therefore be called personall or speciall these proceeed from the Generall love of God to his Church or yet more generall to humane societies and may therefore be rather called Ecclesiasticall or Generall Gifts or Graces Of that first sort are Faith Hope Charity Repentance Patience Humility and all those other holy graces and fruits of the Spirit which accompany salvation Wrought by the blessed and powerful operation of the holy Spirit of God after a most effectuall but unconceivable manner regenerating and renewing and seasoning and sanctifying the hearts of his Chosen But yet these are not the Gifts so much spoken of in this Chapter and namely in my Text Every branch whereof excludeth them Of those graces of sanctification first we may have indeed probable inducements to perswade us that they are or are not in this or that man But hypocrisie may make such a semblance that we may think we see spirit in a man in whom yet there is nothing but flesh and infirmities may cast such a fogge that we can discern nothing but flesh in a man in whom yet there is spirit But the gifts here spoken of do incurre into the senses and give us evident and infallible assurance of the spirit that wrought them here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a manifestation of the spirit Again Secondly those Graces of sanctification are not communicated by distribution Alius sic alius verò sic Faith to one Charity to another Repentance to another but where they are given they are given all at once and together as it were strung upon one threed and linked into one chain But the Gifts here spoken of are distributed as it were by doal and divided severally as it pleased God shared out into severall portions and given to every man some to none all for to one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdome to another the word of Knowledge c. Thirdly those Graces of sanctification though they may and ought to be exercised to the benefit of others who by the shining of our light and the sight of our good works may be provoked to glorifie God by walking in the same paths yet that is but utilitas emergens and not finis proprius a good use made of them upon the bye but not the main proper and direct end of them for which they were chiefly given But the Gifts here spoken of were given directly
of Ecclesiasticall ceremonies and Constitutions in which case the aforesaid allegations are usually most stood upon this hath been abundantly done in our Church not onely in the learned writings of sundry private men but by the publick declaration also of authority as is to be seen at large in the preface commonly printed before the book of Common prayer concerning that argument enough to satisfie those that are peaceable and not disposed to stretch their wits to cavill at things established And thus much of the second Question touching a doubting conscience whereon I have insisted the longer because it is a point both so proper to the Text whereat so many have stumbled There remaineth but one other Question and that of far smaller difficulty What is to be done when the conscience is scrupulous I call that a scruple when a man is reasonably well perswaded of the lawfulnesse of a thing yet hath withall some jealousies and fears lest perhaps it should prove unlawfull Such scruples are most incident to men of melancholy dispositions or of timorous spirits especially if they be tender-conscienced withall and they are much encreased by the false suggestions of Satan by reading the books or hearing the Sermons or frequenting the company of men more strict precise and austere in sundry points than they need or ought to be and by sundry other means which I now mention not Of which scruples it behooveth every man first to be wary that he do not at all admit them if he can chuse or if he cannot wholly avoid them that secondly he endeavour so far as may be to eject them speedily out of his thoughts as Satans snares and things that may breed him worser inconveniencies or if he cannot be so rid of them that then thirdly he resolve to go on according to the more profitable perswasion of his mind and despise those scruples And this he may do with a good conscience not onely in things commanded him by lawfull authority but even in things indifferent and arbitrary and wherein he is left to his own liberty Much more might have been added for the farther both declaration and confirmation of these points But you see I have been forced to wrap things together that deserve a more full and distinct handling that I might hold some proportion with the time I had a purpose briefly to have comprised the summe of what I have delivered concerning a gainsaying a doubting and a scrupulous conscience in some few conclusions for your better remembrance and to have added also something by way of direction what course might be the most probably taken for the correcting of an erroneous conscience for the setling of a doubtfull conscience and for the quieting of a scrupulous conscience But it is more then time that I should give place to other business and the most and most material of those directions have been here and there occasionally touched in that which hath been delivered already in which respect I may the better spare that labour Beseech we God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ so to endue us all with the grace of his holy Spirit that in our whole conversations we may unfeignedly endeavour to preserve a good conscience and to yield all due obedience to him first and then to every Ordinance of man for his sake Now to this Father Son and blessed Spirit three persons and one eternall God be ascribed all the Kingdome the power and the glory both now and for evermore Amen FINIS AD MAGISTRATUM The First Sermon At a publick Sessions at Grantham Lincoln 11 June 1623. JOB 29. ver 14 15 16 17. 14. I put on righteousnesse and it clothed me my judgement was as a Robe and Diadem 15. I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the lame 16. I was a Father to the poor and the cause which I knew not I searched out 17. And I brake the jawes of the wicked and plucked the spoil out of his teeth WHere silence against foul and false imputations may be interpreted a Confession there the protestation of a mans own innocency is ever just and sometimes necessary When others doe us open wrong it is not now Vanity but Charity to do our selves open right and whatsoever appearance of folly or vain boasting there is in so doing they are chargeable with all that compell us thereunto and not we I am become a fool in glorying but ye have compelled me 2 Cor. 12.11 It was neither pride nor passion in Iob but such a compulsion as this that made him so often in this book proclaim his own righteousnesse Amongst whose many and grievous afflictions as it is hard to say which was the greatest so we are sure this was not the least that he was to wrestle with the unjust and bitter upbraidings of unreasonable and incompassionate men They came to visit him as friends and as friends they should have comforted him But sorry friends they were and miserable comforters indeed not comforters but tormenters and Accusers rather than Friends Seeing Gods hand heavy upon him for want of better or other proof they charge him with Hypocrisie And because they would not seem to deal all in generalities for against this generall accusation of hypocrisie it was sufficient for him as generally to plead the truth and uprightnesse of his heart they therefore go on more particularly but as falsely and as it were by way of instance to charge him with Oppression Thus Eliphaz by name taxeth him Chap. 22.6 c. Thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for naught and hast stripped the naked of their clothing Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry But as for the mighty man he had the earth and the honourable man dwelt in it Thou hast sent widowes away empty and the arms of the fatherlesse hast thou broken Being thus shamefully indeed shamelesly upbraided to his face without any desert of his by those men who if he had deserved it should least of all have done it his neighbours and familiar friends can you blame the good man if to remove such false aspersions he do with more then ordinary freedome insist upon his own integrity in this behalf And that he doth in this Chapter something largely wherein he declareth how he demeaned himself in the time of his prosperity in the administration of his Magistracy far otherwise than was laid to his charge When the ear heard me then it blessed me and when the eye saw me it gave witnesse to me Because I delivered the poor that cryed and the fatherlesse and him that had none to help him The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I caused the widowes heart to sing for joy in the next immediate verses before these And then he goeth on in the words of my Text I put on righteousnesse c. It seemeth Iob was
those temporal afflictions he inflicteth For as he rewardeth those few good things that are in evil men with these temporall benefits for whom yet in his Iustice he reserveth eternall damnation as the due wages by that Iustice of their grace-lesse impenitency so he punisheth those remnants of sin that are in Godly men with these temporal afflictions for whom yet in his mercy he reserveth Eternall salvation as the due wages yet by that mercy only of their Faith and repentance and holy obedience As Abraham said to the rich glutton in the Parable Luke 16. Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented As if he had said If thou hadst any thing good in thee remember thou hast had thy reward in earth already and now there remaineth for thee nothing but the full punishment of thine ungodlinesse there in Hell but as for Lazarus he hath had the chastisement of his infirmities on earth already and now remaineth for him nothing but the full reward of his godlinesse here in Heaven Thus the meditation of this Doctrine yieldeth good Comfort against temporal afflictions Here is yet a third Comfort and that of the three the greatest unto the godly in the firm assurance of their Eternal reward It is one of the Reasons why God temporally rewardeth the unsound obedience of natural carnal and unregenerate men even to give his faithfull servants undoubted assurance that he will in no wise forget their true and sound and sincere obedience Doth God reward Ahabs temporary Humiliation and will he not much more reward thy hearty and unfeined repentance Have the Hypocrites their reward and canst thou doubt of thine This was the very ground of all that comfort wherewith the Prodigal sonne sustained his heart and hope when he thus discoursed to his own soul If all the hired servants which are in my Fathers house have bread enough and to spare surely my Father will never be so unmindfull of me who am his Son though too too unworthy of that name as to let me perish for hunger Every temporal blessing bestowed upon the wicked ought to be of the child of God entertained as a fresh assurance given him of his everlasting reward hereafter Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his Concubines and sent them away but his onely son Isaac he kept with him and gave him all that he had Right so God giveth temporal gifts to Hypocrites and Cast-awayes who are bastards and not sonnes not sonnes of the free woman not sons of promise not born after the spirit and that is their portion when they have gotten that they have gotten all they are like to have there is no more to be looked for at his hands But as for the inheritance he reserveth that for his dear Children the godly who are Born after the spirit and Heires according unto promise on these he bestoweth all that ever he hath all things are theirs for on them he bestoweth his Son the heir of all things in whom are hid all the treasures of all good things and together with whom all other things are conveyed and made over unto them as accessories and appurtenances of him and on them he bestoweth Himself who is All in all In whose presence is fulnesse of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore To which joy unspeakable and glorious O thou the Father of mercies who hast promised it unto us bring us in the end for thy dear Sonnes sake Jesus Christ who hath purchased it for us and given into our hearts the earnest of his and thy holy Spirit to seal it unto us To which blessed Son and holy Spirit together with thee O Father three persons and one only wise gracious glorious Almighty and eternal Lord God be ascribed by us and all thy faithfull people throughout the world the whole kingdome power and glory for ever and ever Amen Amen THE SECOND SERMON AD POPVLVM At Grantham L inc Febr. 27. 1620 3. Kings 21.29 because he humbleth himself before me I will not bring the evil in his dayes I Will not so farr either distrust your memories or straiten my self of time for the delivery of what I am now purposed to speak as to make any large repetition of the particulars which were observed the last time from the consideration of Ahabs person and condition who was but an Hypocrite taken joyntly with his present carriage together with the occasion and successe thereof He was humbled It was the voyce of God by his Prophet that humbled him Upon his humbling God adjourneth his punishment From all which was noted 1. that there might be even in Hypocrites an outward formal humiliation 2. the power and efficacy of the word of God able to humble an oppressing Ahab 3. the boundlesse mercy of God in not suffering the outward formal humiliation of an ungodly Hypocrite to passe altogether unrewarded All this the last time by occasion of those first clauses in the verse Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me because he humbleth himself before me I will not We are now next to consider of the great Favour which it pleased God to shew to Ahab upon his humiliation what it was and wherein it consisted It was the Removal at least for a time that is the suspension of an heavy judgement denounced against Ahab and his house most deservedly for his bloody and execrable oppression Because he humbleth himself before me I will not bring the evil in his days The Evil which God now promiseth he will not bring I will not bring the evil in his days is that which in verse 21. he hath threatned he would bring upon Ahab and upon his house Behold I will bring evil upon thee and will take away thy posterity and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall and him that is shut up and left in Israel and will make thy house like the house of Ieroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Abijah for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin A great judgement and an heavy but the greater the judgement is when it is deserved and threatned the greater the mercy is if it be afterwards forborn as some of this was But whatsoever becommeth of the judgement here we see is mercy good store God who is rich in mercy and delighted to be stiled the God of mercies and the Father of mercies abundantly manifesteth his mercy in dealing thus graciously with one that deserved it so little Here is mercy in but threatning the punishment when he might have inflicted it and more mercy in not inflicting the punishment when he had threatned it Here is mercy first in suspending the Punishment I will not bring
Secondly here is a Warning for us to take consideration of the losse of good or usefull men and to fear when they are going from us that some evil is comming towards us The Prophet complaineth of the too great and general neglect hereof in his times The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and mercifull men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come Esa. 57. When God sendeth his Angel to pluck out his righteous Loâ—s what may Sodome expect but fire and brimstone to be rained down upon them When he plucketh up the fairest and choicest flowers in his garden and croppeth off the tops of the goodliest poppies who can think other than that he meaneth to lay his garden waste and to turn it into a wild wildernesse when he undermineth the main pillars of the house taketh away the very props and buttresses of Church and Common-weal sweepeth away religious Princes wise Senatours zealous Magistrates painfull Ministers men of eminent rancks gifts or example who can be secure that either Church or Common-weal shall stand up long and not â—otter at least if not fall God in Mercy taketh such away from the evil to come we in wisdom should look for evil to come when God taketh such away Thirdly here is instruction for wordlings to make much of those few godly ones that live among them for they are the very pawns of their peace and the pledges of their security Think not yee filthy Sodomites it is for your own sakes that ye have been spared so long know to whom you are beholden This Fellow that came in to sojourn among you this stranger this Lot whom you so hate and malign and disquiet he it is that hath bayled you hitherto and given you protection Despise not Gods patience and long suffering ye prophane ones neither blesse your selves in your ungodly wayes neither say We prosper though we walk in the lusts of our hearts This and thus we have done and nothing hath been done to us God holdeth his hand and holdeth his tongue at us surely He is such a one as our selves Learn O ye despisers that if God thus forbear you it is not at all for your own sakes or because he careth not to punish evil doers no he hath a little remnant a little flock a little handfull of his own among you a few names that have given themselves unto him call upon him daily for mercy upon the land and that weep and mourn in secret and upon their beds for your abominations whom you hate and despise and persecute and defame and account as the very scumme of the people and the refuse and off-scowring of all things to whom yet you owe your preservation Surely if it were not for some godly Iehoshaphat or other whose presence God regardeth among you if it were not for some zealous Moses or other that standeth in the gap for you Gods wrath had entred in upon you long ere this as a mighty breach of water and as an overflowing deluge overwhelmed you and you had been swept away as with the Besome of destruction and devoured as stubble before the fire It is The innocent that delivereth the land and repriveth it from destruction when the sentence of desolation is pronounced against it and it is delivered by the purenesse of his hands O the goodnesse of our GOD that would have spared the five Cities of the Salt Sea if among so many thousands of beastly and filthy persons there had been found but Ten righteous ones and that was for each City but two persons nay that would have pardoned Ierusalem if in all the streets and broad places thereof replenished with a world of Idolaters and Swearers and Adulterers and Oppressours there had been found but one single man that executed judgement and sought the truth from his heart But O the madness of the men of this foolish world withall who seek to doe them most mischief of all others who of all others seek to doe them most good thirsting most after their destruction who are the chiefest instruments of their preservation On foolish and mad world if thou hadst but wit enough yet yet to hugge and to make much of that little flock the hostages of thy peace and the earnest of thy tranquillity if thou wouldst but Know even thou at least in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace Thou art yet happy that God hath a remnant in thee and if thou knewest how to make use of this happinesse at least in this thy day by honouring their persons by procuring their safety and welfare by following their examples by praying for their continuance thou mightest be still and more and ever happy But if these things that belong unto thy peace be now hidden from thine eyes if these men that prolong thy peace and prorogue thy destruction be now despised in thy heart in this day of thy peace God is just thou knowest not how soon they may be taken from thee and though he do not bring the evil upon thee in their days when they are gone thou knowest not how soon vengeance may overtake thee and Then shall he tear thee in pieces and there shall be none left to deliver thee I have now done Beseech we God the Father of mercies for his dear son Iesus Christ his sake to shed his Holy Spirit into our hearts that by his good blessing upon us that which hath been presently delivered agreeably to his holy truth and word may take root downwards in our hearts and bring forth fruit upwards in our lives and conversations and so to assist us ever with his grace that we may with humble confidence lay hold on his mercies with cheerfull reverence tremble at his judgements by unfeigned repentance turn from us what he hath threatned and by unwearied Obedience assure unto us what he hath promised To which Holy Father Sonne and Spirit three persons and c. THE THIRD SERMON AD POPVLVM At Grantham Linc. Iun. 19. 1621 3 Kings 21.29 I will not bring the evil in his dayes but in his sons dayes will I bring the evil upon his house I Come now this third time to entreat of this Scripture and by Gods help to finish it Of the three parts whereof heretofore propounded viz. 1. Ahabs Humiliation 2. The suspension of his judgement for his time 3. And the Devolution of it upon Iehoram the two former having been already handled the last only now remaineth to be considered of In the prosecution whereof as heretofore we have cleared GOD'S Holiness and Truth so we shall be now occasioned to clear his Iustice from such imputions as might seem to lie upon it from this Act. And that in three respects accordingly as Iehoram who standeth here punishable for Ahabs sin may be considered in a threefold
Glory and judgement As it is not safe for us then to encroach upon GODS Royalties in either of the other two Glory or Vengeance so neither in this of Judgement Dominus judicabit The Lord himself will judge his people Heb. 10. It is flat Usurpation in us to judge and therefore we must not judge Secondly it is rashnesse in us A Judge must understand the truth both for matter of fact and for point of Law and he must be sure he is in the right for both before he proceed to sentence or else he will give rash judgement How then dare any of us undertake to sit as Iudges upon other mens Consciences wherewith we are so little acquainted that we are indeed but too much unacquainted with our own We are not able to search the depth of our own wicked and deceitfull hearts and to ransack throughly the many secret windings and turnings therein how much lesse then are we able to fadome the bottomes of other mens hearts with any certainty to pronounce of them either good or evil We must then leave the judgements of other mens spirits and hearts and reines to him that is the Father of spirits and alone searcheth the hearts and reines before whose eyes all things are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word is most Emphaticall Hebrewes 4. Wherefore our Apostles precept elsewhere is good to this purpose 1 Cor. 4. Iudge nothing before the time untill the LORD come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darknesse and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts Unlesse we be able to bring these hidden things to light and to make manifest these counsels it is rashnessi in us to judge and therefore we must not judge Thirdly this judging is uncharitable Charity is not easily suspicious but upon just cause much lesse then censorious and peremptory Indeed when we are to judge of Things it is wisdome to judge of them secundùm quod sunt as neer as we can to judge of them just as they are without any sway or partiall inclination either to the right hand or to the left But when we are to judge of Men and their Actions it is not altogether so there the rule of Charity must take place Dubia in meliorem partem sunt interpretanda Unlesse we see manifest cause to the contrary we ought ever to interpret what is done by others with as much favour as may be To erre thus is better than to hit right the other way because this course is safe and secureth us as from injuring others so from endangering our selves whereas in judging ill though right we are still unjust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the event onely and not our choyce freeing us from wrong judgement True Charity is ingenious it thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13. How far then are they from Charity that are ever suspicious and think nothing well For us let it be our care to maintain Charity and to avoid as far as humane frailty will give leave even sinister suspicions of our brethrens actions or if through frailty we cannot that yet let us not from light suspicions fall into uncharitable censures let us at leastwise suspend our definitive judgement and not determine too peremptorily against such as do not in every respect just as we do or as we would have them do or as we think they should do It is uncharitable for us to judge and therefore we must not judge Lastly there is Scandall in judging Possibly he that is judged may have that strength of Faith and Charity that though rash and uncharitable censures lie thick in his way he can lightly skip over all those stumbling-blocks and scape a fall Saint Paul had such a measure of strength With me it is a very small thing saith he that I should be judged of you or of humane judgement 1 Cor. 4. If our judging light upon such an object it is indeed no scandall to him but that 's no thanks to us We are to esteem things by their natures not events and therefore we give a scandall if we judge notwithstanding he that is judged take it not as a scandall For that judging is in it self a scandall is clear from ver 13. of this Chapter Let us not therefore saith S. Paul judge one another any more but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way And thus we see four main Reasons against this judging of our brethren 1. We have no right to judge and so our judging is usurpation 2. We may erre in our judgements and so our judging is rashnesse 3. We take things the worst way when we judge and so our judging is uncharitable 4. We offer occasion of offence by our judging and so our judging is scandalous Let not him therefore that eateth not judge him that eateth And so I have done with my Text in the general use of it wherein we have seen the two faults of despising and of judging our brethren laid open and the uglinesse of both discovered I now descend to make such Application as I promised both of the case and rules unto some differences and to some offences given and taken in our Church in point of Ceremony The Case ruled in my Text was of eating and not eating the Differences which some maintain in our Church are many in the particular as of kneeling and not kneeling wearing and not wearing crossing and not crossing c. But all these and most of the rest of them may be comprehended in grosse under the terms of conforming and not conforming Let us first compare the Cases that having found wherein they agree or disagree we may thereby judge how far S. Pauls advice in my Text ought to rule us for not despising for not judging one another There are four speciall things wherein if we compare this our Case with the Apostles in every of the four we shall find some agreement and some disparity also 1. The nature of the matter 2. The abilities of the persons 3. Their severall practise about the things and 4. Their mutuall carriage one towards another And first let us consider how the two Cases agree in each of these First the matter whereabout the eater and the not-eater differed in the case of the Romans was in the nature of it indifferent so it is between the conformer and not conformer in our Case As there fish and flesh and herbs were meerly indifferent such as might be eaten or not eaten without sin so here Cap and Surplis Crosse and Ring and the rest are things meerly indifferent such as in regard of their own nature may be used or not used without sin as being neither expresly commanded nor expresly forbidden in the Word of God Secondly the Persons agree For as there so here also some are strong in faith some weak
in the disfigured windowes and walls of this Church Pictures and Statua's and Images and for their sakes the windows and walls wherein they stood have been heretofore and of late pulled down and broken in pieces and defaced without the Command or so much as leave of those who have power to reform things amiss in that kind Charity bindeth us to think the best of those that have done it that is that they did it out of a forward though mis-governed zeal intending therein Gods glory in the farther suppression of Idolatry by taking away these as they supposed likely occasions of it Now in such a case as this the Question is whether the intention of such an end can justifie such a deed And the fact of Phinehes Nu. 25. who for a much like end for the staying of the people from Idolatry executed vengeance upon Zimri and Cosbi being but a private man and no Magistrate seemeth to make for it But my Text ruleth it otherwise If it be evil it is not to be done no not for the preventing of Idolatry I pass by some considerations otherwise of good moment as namely first whether Statua's and Pictures may not be permitted in Christian Churches for the adorning of Gods House and for civil and historical uses not onely lawfully and decently but even profitably I must confess I never heard substantiall reason given why they might not at the least so long as there is no apparent danger of superstition And secondly whether things either in their first erection or by succeeding abuse superstitious may not be profitably continued if the Superstition be abolished Otherwise not Pictures onely and Crosses and Images but most of our Hospitals and Schools and Colledges and Churches too must down and so the hatred of Idolatry should but usher in licentious Sacriledge contrary to that passage of our Apostle in the next Chapter before this Thou that abhorrest Idols committest thou Sacriledge And thirdly whether these forward ones have not bewrayed somewhat their own self-guiltiness in this Act at least for the manner of it in doing it secretly and in the dark A man should not dare to do that which he would not willingly either be seen when it is doing or own being done To pass by these consider no more but this one thing onely into what dangerous and unsufferable absurdities a man might run if he should but follow these mens grounds Erranti nullus terminus Errour knoweth no stay and a false Principle once received multiplieth into a thousand absurd conclusions It is good for men to go upon sure grounds else they may run and wander in infinitum A little errour at the first if there be way given to it will increase beyond belief As a small spark may fire a large City and a cloud no bigger than a mans hand in short space over-spread the face of the whole Heavens For grant for the suppression of Idolatry in case the Magistrate will not do his office that it is lawful for a private man to take upon him to reform what he thinketh amiss and to do the part and office of a Magistrate which must needs have been their ground if they had any for this action there can be no sufficient cause given why by the same reason and upon the same grounds a private man may not take upon him to establish Laws raise Powers administer Iustice execute Malefactors or do any other thing the Magistrate should do in case the Magistrate slack to do his duty in any of the premises Which if it were once granted as granted it must be if these mens fact be justifiable every wise man seeth the end could be no other but vast Anarchy and confusion both in Church and Common-weale whereupon must unavoidably follow the speedy subversion both of Religion and State If things be amiss and the Magistrate help it not private men may lament it and as occasion serveth and their condition and calling permitteth soberly and discreetly put the Magistrate in mind of it But they may not make themselves Magistrates to reform it And as to the act of Phinehes though I rather think he did yet what if he did not well in so doing It is a thing we are not certain of and we must have certainer grounds for what we do then uncertain examples Secondly what if Phinehes had the Magistrates authority to enable him to that attempt It is not altogether improbable to my apprehension from the fifth verse of the Chapter where the story is laid down Num. 25.5 especially parallel'd with another Story of much like circumstances Exod. 32.27 that as there the Levites so here Phinehes drew the Sword in execution of the express command of Moses the supreme Magistrate If neither thus nor so yet Thirdly which cutteth off all plea and is the most common answer ordinarily given by Divines to this and the like instances drawn from some singular actions of Gods worthies Men of Heroical spirits gifts such as were David Samson Ehud Moses Elias and some others especially at such times as they were employed in some special service for the good of Gods Church were exempt from the common rules of life and did many things as we are to presume not without the secret motion and direction of Gods holy and powerfull Spirit which were therefore good in them that secret direction being to them loco specialis mandati like that to Abraham for sacrificing his Son but not safe or lawfull for us to imitate Opera liberi spiritûs say Divines non sunt exigenda ad regulas communes nec trahenda in exemplum vitae The extraordinary Heroical acts of Gods Worthies are not to be measured by the common rules of life nor to become exemplary unto others Of which nature was David's single combat with Goliah and Samsons pulling down the house upon himself and the Philistines And Moses slaying the Egypan and Ehuds stabbing of King Eglon and Eliahs calling down for fire from Heaven upon the Captains and their fifties and divers others recorded in the Scripture Of which last fact we have our blessed SAVIOURS judgement in Luc. 9. that it was done by the extraordinary and peculiar instinct of GODS Spirit but it is not to be imitated by others without particular certain assurance of the like instinct Where when the Disciples would have called down for fire from Heaven upon the Samaritans and alledged Elias for their precedent Lord wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them as Elias did His answer was with a kind of indignation as both his gesture and speeches shew Nescitis cujus spiritûs estis You know not what manner of spirit you are of Elias was indued with an extraordinary spirit in the freedome whereof he did what he then did but it is not for you or others to propose his example unlesse you can demonstrate his spirit
consideration for men of all sorts whether they be of greater or of meaner gifts And first all of us generally may hence take two profitable directions the one if we have any usefull gifts whom to thank for them the other if we want any needfull gifts where to seek for them Whatsoever manifestation of the spirit thou hast it is given thee and to whom can thy thanks for it be due but to the giver Sacrifice not to thine own nets either of Nature or Endeavour as if these Abilities were the manifestations of thine own spirit but enlarge thy heart to magnifie the goodness and bounty of him who is Pater spiritum the Father of the spirits of all flesh and hath wrought those graces in thee by communicating his spirit unto thee If thou shinest as a star in the firmament of the Church whether of a greater or lesser magnitude as one star differeth from another in glory remember thou shinest but by a borrowed light from him who is Pater luminum the Father and Fountain of all lights as the Sun in the firmament from whom descendeth every good gift and every perfect giving Whatsoever Grace thou hast it is given thee therefore be thankfull to the giver But if thou wantest any grace or measure of grace which seemeth needfull for thee in that station and calling wherein God hath set thee herein is a second direction for thee where to seek it even from his hands who alone can give it If any man lack wisdome saith S. Iames let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and it shall be given him A large and liberall promise but yet a promise most certain and full of comfortable assurance provided it be understood aright viz. with these two necessary Limitations if God shall see it expedient and if he pray for it as he ought Thou mayest pray with an humble and upright affection and put to thy best endeavours withall and yet not obtain the gift thou prayest for because being a common Grace and not of absolute necessity for salvation it may be in the wisdome of GOD who best knoweth what is best and when not expedient for thee or not for his Church at that time and in that manner or measure Necessary Graces such as are those of sanctification pray for them absolutely thou shalt absolutely receive them there needeth no conditionall clause of Expediency in thy prayers for them because they can never be inexpedient But these may and thefore as thou oughtest not to pray for them but with all subjection of thy desires to his most holy and most wise appointments so thou oughtest to take a denyall from him not onely contentedly but even thankfully as a gracious fruit of his love unto thee and a certain sign of the inexpediency of the thing desired But if it be expedient it will not yet come for asking unlesse it be asked aright But let him pray in Faith saith Saint Iames Who so doth not let not that man think to receive any thing of the Lord. Now that man onely prayeth in Faith who looketh to receive the thing he prayeth for upon such termes as God hath promised to give it for Faith ever looketh to the promise And God hath not made us any promise of the End other then conditionall viz. upon our conscionable use of the appointed meanes And the meanes which he hath ordained both for the obtaining and the improving of spirituall gifts are study and industry and diligent meditation We must not now look as in the infancy of the Church to have the teats put into our mouthes and to receive spirituall graces by immediate infusion That Manna as one saith was for the Wildernesse But now the Church is possessed of the Land and grown to yeares of better strength we must plow and sow and eate of the fruit of the Land in the sweat of our faces and now he that will not labour he may thank himself if he have not to eate He prayeth but with an overly desire and not from the deep of his heart that will not bend his endeavours withall to obtain what he desireth or rather indeed he prayeth not at all You may call it wishing and woulding and we have proverbs against wishers and woulders rather then Praying Salomon accounteth the idle mans prayer no better and it thriveth accordingly with him The soul of the sluggard lusteth and hath nothing Prov. 13. To make all sure then here is your course Wrestle with GOD by your fervent prayers and wrestle with him too by your faithfull endeavours and he will not for his goodnesse sake and for his promise sake he cannot dismisse you without a blessing But omit either and the other is lost labour Prayer without study is presumption and study without prayer Atheisme the one bootlesse the other fruitlesse You take your books in vain into your hand if you turn them over and never look higher and you take Gods Name in vain within your lips if you cry Da Domine and never stir farther The Ship is then like to be steered with best certainty and successe when there is Oculus ad coelum manus ad clavum when the Pilot is carefull of both to have his eye upon the Compasse and his hand at the Stern Remember these abilities you pray or study for are the gifts of GOD and as not to be had ordinarily without labour for God is a God of order and worketh not ordinarily but by ordinary meanes so not to be had meerly for the labour for then should it not be so much a gift as a purchase It was Simon Magus his errour to think that the gift of God might be purchased with money and it hath a spice of his sin and so may go for a kind of Simony for a man to think these spirituall gifts of God may be purchased with labour You may rise up early and go to bed late and study hard and read much and devour the fat and the marrow of the best Authors and when you have all done unlesse God give a blessing unto your endeavours be as thin and meagre in regard of true and usefull learning as Pharaohs leane Kine were after they had eaten the fat ones It is God that both ministreth seed to the sower and multiplieth the seed sowen the Principall and the Increase are both his If then we expect any gift or the increase of any gift from him neither of which we can have without him let us not be behinde either with our best endeavours to use the meanes he hath appointed or with our faithfull prayers to crave his blessing upon those meanes These Instructions are generall and concern us all whatsoever our gifts be I must now turn my speech more particularly to you to whom God hath vouchsafed the manifestation of his Spirit in a larger proportion then unto many of your brethren giving unto
given to every man to profit withall Surely then those men first of all run a course strangely exorbitant who instead of employing them to the profit bend those gifts they have received whether spirituall or temporall to the ruine and destruction of their brethren Instead of winning souls to Heaven with busie and cursed diligence compassing Sea and Land to draw Proselytes to the Devil and instead of raising up seed to their elder brother Christ seeking to make their brethren if it were possible ten times more the children of hell then themselves Abusing their Power to oppression their wealth to luxury their strength to drunkennesse their wit to Scoffing Atheism Prophanenesse their learning to the maintenance of Heresie Idolatry Schism Novelty If there be a fearfull woe due to those that use not their gifts profitably what woes may we think shall overtake them that so ungraciously abuse them But to leave these wretches be perswaded in the second place all you whom God hath made Stewards over his houshold and blessed your basket and your store to bring forth of your treasures things both new and old manifest the spirit God hath given you so as may be most for the profit of your brethren The spirit of God when he gave you wisdome and knowledge intended not so much the wisdome and the knowledge themselves as the manifestation of them or as it is in the next verse the Word of Wisdome and the Word of Knowledge as Christ also promised his Apostles to give them Os sapientiam A mouth and wisdom Alas what is wisdom without a mouth but as a pot of treasure hid in the ground which no man is the better for Wisdom that is hid and a treasure that is not seen what profit is in them both O then do not knit up your Masters talent in a Napkin smother not his light under a bushell pinch not his servants of their due provision pot not up the Manna you have gathered till it stink and the worms consume it but above all squander not away your rich portions by riotous living Let not either sloth or envy or pride or pretended modesty or any other thing hinder you from labouring to discharge faithfully that trust and duty which God expecteth which the necessity of the Church challengeth which the measure of your gifts promiseth which the condition of your calling exacteth from you Remember the manifestation of the Spirit was given you to profit withall Thirdly since the end of all gifts is to profit aim most at those gifts that will profit most and endeavour so to frame those you have in the exercise of them as they may be likeliest to bring profit to those that shall partake them Covet earnestly the best gifts saith my Apostle at the last verse of this Chapter and you have his Comment upon that Text in the first verse of the fourteenth Chapter Covet spirituall gifts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but rather that ye may prophecy And by propecying he meaneth the Instruction of the Church and people of God in the needfull doctrines of faith towards God Repentance from dead works and new and holy Obedience It is one Stratagem of the Arch-enemy of mankind and when we know his wiles we may the better be able to defeat him by busying men of great and useful parts in by-matters and things of lesser consequence to divert them from following that unum necessarium that which should be the main in all our endeavours the beating down of sin the planting of Faith and the reformation of manners Controversies I confesse are necessary the Tongues necessary Histories necessary Philosophy and The Arts necessary other Knowledge of all sorts necessary in the Church for Truth must be maintained Scripture-phrases opened Heresie confuted the mouths of Adversaries stopped Schisms and Novelties suppressed But when all is done Positive and Practique Divinity is it must bring us to Heaven that is it must poise our judgements settle our consciences direct our lives mortifie our corruptions encrease our graces strengthen our comforts save our souls Hoc opus hoc studium there is no study to this none so well worth the labour as this none that can bring so much profit to others nor therefore so much glory to God nor therefore so much comfort to our own hearts as this This is a faithfull saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly saith S. Paul to Titus that they which have believed in God might be carefull to maintain good works these things are good and profitable unto men You cannot do more good unto the Church of God you cannot more profit the people of God by your gifts then by pressing effectually these two great points Faith and good works These are good and profitable unto men I might here adde other Inferences from this point as namely since the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one of us chiefly for this end that we may profit the people with it that therefore fourthly in our preaching we should rather seek to profit our hearers though perhaps with sharp and unwelcome reproofs then to please them by flattering them in evil and that fifthly we should more desire to bring profit unto them then to gain applause unto our selves and sundry other more besides these But I will neither adde any more nor prosecute these any farther at this time but give place to other businesse God the Father of Lights and of Spirits endow every one of us in our Places and Callings with a competent measure of such Graces as in his wisdome and goodnesse he shall see needfull and expedient for us and so direct our hearts and tongues and endeavours in the exercise and manifestation thereof that by his good blessing upon our labours we may be enabled to advance his Glory propagate his Truth benefit his Church discharge a good Conscience in the mean time and at the last make our account with comfort at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. To whom c. FINIS AD CLERUM The Fourth Sermon At a Metropoliticall Visitation at Grantham Lincoln 22. August 1634. ROM 14.23 For whatsoever is not of Faith is sin ONE remarkable difference among many other between Good and Evil is this that there must be a concurrence of all requisite conditions to make a thing good whereas to make a thing evil a single defect in any one condition alone will suffice Bonum ex causa integra malum ex partiali If we propose not to our selves a right end or if we pitch not upon proper and convenient means for the attaining of that end or if we pursue not these means in a due manner or if we observe not exactly every materiall circumstance in the whole pursuit if we fail but in any one point the action though it should be in every other respect such as it ought to be by that one defect
directly and per se but obliquely and indirectly and in ordine ad spiritualia The Man himself though he pretend to be supreme infallible judge of all Controversies yet heareth both parties and taketh advantage of what either give him as best sorteth with his present occasions and suffereth them to fall foul each upon other these accounting them grosse flatterers and they again these wicked â—oliticians but dareth not for his life determine whether side is in the right lest if he should be put to make good his determination by sufficient proof both should appeare to be in the wrong and he lose all which whilest they quarrell he still holdeth It is a certain thing The spirituall Power conferred in Holy Orders doth not include the Power of Temporall jurisdiction If Phinehes here execute judgement upon a Prince of Israel it is indeed a good fruit of his zeal but no proper act of his Priesthood Let it go for a non sequitur then as it is no better because Phinehes a Priest or Priests sonne executed judgement that therefore the Priestly includeth a Iudicatory Power Yet from such an act done by such a Person at least thus much will follow that the Priesthood doth not exclude the exercise of Iudicature and that there is no such repugnancy and inconsistency between the Temporall and Spirituall Powers but that they may without incongruity concurre and reside both together in the same person When I find anciently that not onely among the Heathens but even among Gods own people the same man might be a King and a Priest Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos as Melchisedec was both a Priest of the most High God and King of Salem when I see it consented by all that so long as the Church was Patriarchall the Priestly and the Iudicatory Power were both setled upon one and the same Person the Person of the first-born when I read of Eli the Priest of the sonnes of Aaron judging Israel 40. yeares and of Samuel certainly a Levite though not as some have thought a Priest both going circuit as a Iudge itinerant in Israel and doing execution too with his own hands upon Agag and of Chenaniah and his sonnes Izharites and Hashabiah and his brethren Hebronites and others of the families of Levi appointed by King David to be Judges and Officers not onely in all the businesse over the Lord but also for outward businesse over Israel and in things that concerned the service of the King when I observe in the Church-stories of all ages ever since the world had Christian Princes how Ecclesiasticall persons have been imployed by their Soveraigns in their weightiest consultations and affairs of State I cannot but wonder at the inconsiderate rashnesse of some forward ones in these daies who yet think themselves and would be thought by others to be of the wisest men that suffer their tongues to runne riot against the Prelacy of our Church and have studied to approve themselves eloquent in no other argument so much as in inveighing against the Courts and the Power and the Iurisdiction and the Temporalties of Bishops and other Ecclesiasticall persons I speak it not to justifie the abuses of men but to maintain the lawfulnesse of the thing If therefore any Ecclesiasticall person seek any Temporall office or power by indirect ambitious and preposterous courses if he exercise it otherwise then well insolently cruelly corruptly partially if he claim it by any other then the right title the free bounty and grace of the supreme Magistrate let him bear his own burden I know not any honest Minister that will plead for him But since there is no incapacity in a Clergy-man by reason of his spirituall Calling but he may exercise temporall Power if he be called to it by his Prince as well as he may enjoy temporall Land if he be heire to it from his Father I see not but it behoveh us all if we be good Subjects and sober Christians to pray that such as have the power of Iudicature more or lesse in any kind or degree committed unto them may exercise that power wherewith they are entrusted with zeal and prudence and equity rather than out of envy at the preferment of a Church-man take upon us little lesse than to quarrel the discretion of our Soveraignes Phinehes though he could not challenge to execute judgement by vertue of his Priesthood yet his priesthood disabled him not from executing judgement That for the Person Followeth his Action and that twofold He stood up He executed judgement Of the former first which though I call it an Action yet is indeed a Gesture properly and not an Action But being no necessity to bind me to strict propriety of speech be it Action or Gesture or what else you will call it the circumstance and phrase since it seemeth to import some materiall thing may not be passed over without some consideration Then stood up Phinehes Which clause may denote unto us either that extraordinary spirit whereby Phinehes was moved to do judgement upon those shamelesse offenders or that forwardnesse of zeal in the heat whereof he did it or both Phinehes was indeed the High Priests sonne as we heard but yet a private man and no ordinary Magistrate and what had any private man to do to draw the sword of justice or but to sentence a malefactor to dye Or say he had been a Magistrate he ought yet to have proceeded in a legall and judiciall course to have convented the parties and when they had been convicted in a fair triall and by sufficient witnesse then to have adjudged them according to the Law and not to have come suddenly upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they were acting their villany and thrust them thorow uncondemned I have elsewhere delivered it as a collection not altogether improbable from the circumstances of the originall story that Phinehes had warrant for this execution from the expresse command of Moses the supreme Magistrate and namely by vertue of that Proclamation whereby he authorized the Under-Rulers to slay every one his men that were joyned unto Baal-Peor Num. 25.5 And I since find that conjecture confirmed by the judgement of some learned men insomuch as an eminent Writer in our Church saith that By vertue of that Commission every Israelite was made a Magistrate for this execution But looking more neerly into the Text and considering that the Commission Moses there gave was first onely to the Rulers and so could be no warrant for Phinehes unlesse he were such a Ruler which appeareth not and secondly concerned onely those men that were under their severall governments and so was too short to reach Zimri who being himself a Prince and that of another Tribe too the Tribe of Simeon could not be under the government of Phinehes who was of the Tribe of Levi how probable soever
that all his Threatnings are to be understood with such clauses and conditions and reservations it is needlesse to repeat them in every particular As amongst Christian men who acknowledge Gods providence to rule in all things and to dispose of all actions and events it is needlesse in every speech de futuro contingenti to expresse this clause if God will we will go to such or such a place or do such or such a thing if God will because we readily conceive it as a clause which either is or should be understood in every such speech as St. Iames requireth And so in many promises amongst men this clause though not expressed is yet allowed of course and to common intendment understood Rebus sic stantibus things standing and continuing as now they are so as if a man make a promise absolutely without expressing that or any other like clause of Limitation or Exception if in the interim some such unexpected accident befall as maketh that either he cannot or may not do what he promised we may not in right reason charge such a man with breach of promise if he perform not all he promised because the foresaid clause though not expressed is yet presumed to have been intended by the promiser And that Gods Threatnings as de jure they ought to be by us when we hear them so de facto they were understood by him when he made them with a secret clause of reservation and exception in case of Repentance appeareth by the usual practice of many upon such threatnings and the use they made of them The Ninevites when Ionah preached destruction within forty dayes without any expresse clause of Repentance yet understood it so else had it been in vain for them to have repented at all out of an hope of preventing the judgement by their repentance as their speeches shew they did For who can tell say they if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not The like may be said of Abimelech Hezekiah and others and of Ahab in this place Again as it is sometimes needless so it is alwayes bootlesse to expresse this clause of repentance in the threatnings of God The expressing of it can do little good secure ones will repent never the sooner for it but it may do much harm secure ones may thereby put themselves in fairer hope of forbearance and so linger their repentance till it be too late Beloved it is admirable to observe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods gracious courses which he useth for the calling of men to repentance In this particularity whereof we now speak see how his Mercy and truth are met together and do most lovingly embrace each other Where he spareth in the end it is most certain he ever meant to spare from the beginning but that his everlasting purpose is part of his secret counsel and unrevealed will which as we cannot learn so we may not seek to know till the event declare it Now to bring this his secret purpose about he must work those men to repentance whom he hath thus everlastingly purposed to spare else his justice should become questionable in finally sparing the impenitent Amongst other meanes to work men to repentance this is one to threaten them with such judgements as their sins have deserved which threatning the more terrible it is the more likely it is to be effectual and the more peremptory it is the more terrible it is So then God to bring those men to Repentance whom he meaneth to spare in his word and by his messengers denounceth against them such judgements as their sinnes have deserved and as his Iustice without their Repentance would bring upon them denounceth them I say absolutely and in a peremptory form without any expresse clause of reservation or exception the more to terrifie and affright them and to cast them down to the deeper acknowledgement of his Iustice and their own unworthinesse which are yet to be understood conditionally and interpreted with reservation and exception of Repentance You have heard evidence enough to acquit Gods Truth and do by this time I doubt not perceive how as in all other things so in the revoking of his threatnings Gods Mercy and his Truth go hand in hand together Let us now see what profitable Inferences may be raised hence for our use The summe of all we have said is but this Gods threatnings are terrible but yet conditional and if he spare to execute them when we are humbled by them it is a glorious illustration of his Mercy but without the least impeachment of his truth Here is something for the Distressed something for the Secure something for All to learn First for the Distressed Consider this and take comfort all you that mourn in Sion and groan under the weight of Gods heavy displeasure and the fearfull expectation of those bitter curses and judgements which he hath threatned against sinne Why do you spend your strength and spirit in gazing with broad eyes altogether on Gods Iustice or Truth take them off a little and refresh them by fastening them another while upon his mercy Consider not only what he threatneth but consider withall why he threatneth it is that you may repent and withall how he threatneth it is unlesse you repent He threatneth to cast down indeed but unto humiliation not into despair He shooteth out his arrowes even bitter words but as Ionathans arrowes for warning not for destruction Think not he aimeth so much at thy punishment when he threatneth alas if that were the thing he sought he could lay on load enough without words No it is thy amendment he aimeth at and seeketh therein and therefore holdeth not his tongue that if thou wilt take it for a warning he may hold his hand If the Father do but threaten the Child when the Rod lyeth by him it is very likely he meaneth not to correct him for that time but only to make him the more carefull to obey and the more fearfull to offend for the time to come Canst thou gather hope from the chiding of thy earthly father and wilt thou find no comfort in the chidings and threatnings of thy heavenly Father whose bowels of tender compassion to us-ward are so much larger than any earthly Parents can be by how much himself the Father of spirits is greater than those fathers of our flesh Yea but who am I will some disconsolate soul say that I should make Gods threatnings void or what my repentance that it should cancell the Oracles of truth or reverse the sentence of the eternal Judge Poor distressed soul that thus disputest against thine own peace but seest not the while the unfathomed depth of Gods Mercy and the wonderfull dispensations of his Truth Know that his threatnings are not made void or of none effect when thou by thy repentance stayest the execution of them yea rather