as God made man righteous but as man hath corrupted his owne wayes By his Sense if he iudgeth he finds himselfe often deceiued for a straight sticke put into the water seemes crooked in his eyes an eccho beguiles his eares his feeling tasting smelling all of them are subiect to deception And for his Reason the best it can doe is to discourse probably of the least common accident of a Plea or a Flie and then whatsoeuer he brings may be controuerted so by another seeming reason that the Iudge who should from this base ground his determinations had need do it with caution and leaue roome to retract and reuerse his sentence Much more is man puzzeld and lost when he climes vp to higher contemplations to consider the hidden things of Nature as wee may plainely see by Gods arguments to Iob Iob. 38. 39. If then the spirit of a man cannot infallibly iudge of the things of a man of his owne soule and body or of such things as are subiected to his gouernment how shall he be thought a competent iudge to determine the things of God though we graunt him to be of as vpright a heart as David and as wise as Salomon himselfe All that man can doe is to iudge by apparance and wee see heere things may seeme otherwise then they bee Now besides the insufficiency of Man this way 1. Tim. 5. 21 we shall finde other defects in him which accompany impotencie and are vnworthy of a Iudge for in a Iudge two things must be principally auoyded preiudice and parciality now both these we shall discouer in our Iudge Man First Preiudice Man naturally abhors all things propounded by his aduersarie and the hate of the person wil not suffer him to intertaine the truth of his discourse but rather seeke arguments to oppose it his iudgement is so taken vp aforehand Thus I haue seene the sentences of the Fathers reiected for hereticall by Romane Catholiques when they haue beene found in Luther or Calvin Whitaker or Perkins Secondly Partiality Man naturally affects what either proceeded from himselfe immediately or from his neere deere honord and beloued Predecessors or some that in his eyes seemes learned wise honest religious In which regard God himselfe disputes this point with man Ezechiel 18. 2. and in the 29. verse concludes with an interrogation with an expostulation saying Yet saith the house of Israel The way of the Lord is not equal O house of Israel are not my wayes equall or are not your wayes rather vnequall And this is come into fashion againe that Man dares argue the cause with his Maker and if God do not as man will haue him subiect his actions to mans reason and aâ—e all his creatures but that according to the rule of Iustice he condemne some Reprobates he is like to be iudged the Author of sinne And I wonder he scapes censure for making fishes foules beasts I muse they finde no fault because he made not all these to be men and immortall and why he made not men Angels whilst holy David wonders at his extraordinary care loue showne towards man saying O Lord what is man that thou so regardest him or the sonne of man that thou so visitest him He wonders that any man is regarded these wonder that all men and all creatures are not alike regarded Thus man that iudgeth by apparance whose sense and reason may be deceiued and so deceiue him as he deceiues others who may bee iniquus Iudex a Iudge full of preiudice full of partiality especially in his owne case is vnfit to decide a controuersie of this nature And this therefore caused that resolute Luther to vtter that speech for which he hath beene so often and so vniustly taxed and chalenged That he preferd one Saint Paule before a thousand Ambroses Augustines Hieroms or Chrysostoms Because Saint Paul by the iudgement of all those was for the first planting of the Church guided by the infallible direction of Gods Spirit after a wonderfull and extraordinary manner and measure But all these men graunt themselues that they might erre nay that they did erre and so retracted diuerse of their former opinions desiring neither to be beleeued nor followed farther then their words and writings should bee found consonant to the verity of the written Word of God Now then all the iudgement of Man nay of all men contradicting the Word of God is of a priuate spirit such as Adam was directed by when he left the guidance of Gods Spirit of which Saint Peter speakes 2. Pâ—t 1. 19. 20. 21. If therefore a multitude of men how learned wise or holy soeuer they bee should ioyne against the Scripture their authority must not carry it for they all erre and their interpretation is priuate though their persons their places their professions be publique And one or a few men expounding with the Scripture doth not expound by a priuate spirit though his person perhaps bee priuate but by the spirit of Truth which directed the holy Pen-men of the Scripture and his opinion and interpretation is Catholique and orthodoxe whatsoeuer his person bee Cyprian vvas a publique teacher yet interpreting some Scriptures to proue rebaptization his interpretation therein vvas priuate because against the generall sense and scope of Scripture And Augustine vvas a Bishop and so a publike person at whose mouth we are to seeke wisedome yet when hee brought Scripture interpreted by himselfe contrary to the generall scope to prooue Children should receiue the Lords Supper his interpretation was worthliy reiected as of a priuate spirit All the founders of Heresies haue beene publike persons such as were Nouatus Arrius Eunomius and with these diuerse Bishops of Rome haue ioyned eyther as authors of Heresies or Sectators of such and heerein they were all led by priuate spirits Therefore Bellarmine confesseth lib. 3. cap. 3. De verbo That the Spirit of interpretation which in S. Peters sense is publique is often giuen to priuate men So then the Scripture must be expounded by the Scripture the darker place by the place more cleere Man must not seeke a fortification in Scripture for his opinion but he must be carefull to raise his opinion and Iudgement out of the Scripture euidently confirmed explaned by it selfe and by conference and coherence of the same with it selfe and this is publique interpretation whatsoeuer is contrary is from the spirit of priuacy Veritas docendo suadet falsitas suadendo docet All this that I haue spoken then is not totally to exclude man from determining questions and doubts in Diuinity but to shew by what rule he ought to iudge that is by no other rule then by the Scriptures for I gladly acknowledge that whereas there is an authenticke and fundamentall Iudge Christ himselfe the best interpreter of the Law being the Law-maker so he hath placed a ministeriall Iudge which is the Church which must interpret Scripture by Scripture and euer be wary not to contradict the
gift and so resolutely to rest vpon the grace of the giuer as to assure himselfe and others of this crowne Presumption is faith with them and true sauing faith is Presumption When they heate him say Rom. 8. 38. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shal be able to seperate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord they would gladly make this only a probable perswasion no certaine faith but others seeing this too grosse a dallying with the manifest scope of the Text say Saint Paule vvas assured of the certainty of his saluation of the happy end of his right way by extraordinary reuelation only But let it be so was it reuealed to him for others that beleeue too he saith so for he saith nothing shal be able to seperate vs Now then if it be reuealed to him for others let vs beleeue the reuelation and apply it with vnfained faith to our owne hearts in particular as he did to his And by the way obserue what it is that Saint Paule builds his faith vpon so that nothing can preuaile against it Is it vpon Peter that rocke Is it vpon Indulgences or Pardons of man Is it vpon personall righteousnes inherent iustice or his owne or other mens merits No It is vpon that rocke Christ Iesus it is vpon the loue and Charity of God in and through the merits of Christ Iesus our Lord which loue not death nor life nor Angell nor power nor heauen not hell can alter for Gods loue is immutable he is not as man that he should repent whom he loues he loues to the end his wayes seeme hard but the Yssues of them are the wayes of life Whereas therefore our Aduersaries accuse vs of nouel presumption for teaching a faith that may assure vs of our saluation and to elude this cleere place of Saint Paul and diuerse other the like say This was reuealed to him by extraordinary fauour Wee know and confesse that hee as a worthy instrument of Gods glory as a Master builder had many things reuealed vnto him for the edification of the Church but for this particular it was no otherwise reuealed to him then it is to euery faithfull Christian in vvhom the Spirit of God dwels as in a temple and there teacheth them to offer Sacrifice and to cry Abba Father with teares and grones that cannot be expressed Well may there bee a difference in the measure of the reuelation not in the matter reuealed Wee know saith Saint Iohn 1. Ep. 3. 14. that wee are translated from death to life c. and after verse 23. He that keepeth his commandement dwelleth in him and he in him and heereby wee know that he abideth in vs euen by that Spirit which he hath giuen vs. So the persons are wee not I not Saint Iohn alone but wee all that beleeue and loue for this faith and loue are inseperable Againe wee are translated not it is probable wee shal be but wee are vvhich makes it certaine by faith as if it were done and accomplished Lastly we know this and wee know it by the Spirit which God hath giuen vs the same Spirit that taught Saint Paule and Saint Iohn is our tutor too For other reuelations Christ himselfe hath silenced all pretences and shadowes and giuen absolute authority to the Scripture opened and interpreted by the Spirit of God to resolue all scruples in case of conscience Luk 16. 19 And this wee may see cleerely in the Parable of Diues and Lazarus where Diues after he had failed of his personall suite and could not obtaine a drop of mercy for himselfe yet requested Abraham to send one to his friends to forewarne them of the state he was in not that they might pray for him for that vvas to no purpose the tree was falne but that they might by repentance and amendment auoyde the danger themselues To whom Abraham giues this answere They haue Moses and the Prophets let them heare them so he turnes them to the Scriptures wherein the will of God is reuealed to euery man what they should shun what they should doe what they should beleeue and how they should liue And when Diues persisting in his suite saith Nay father Abraham but if one went vnto them from the dead they will repent Abraham replies definitiuely and resolutely If they heare not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead So wee see he that doubts the Scripture or beleeues any thing against it vnder pretence of reuelations from heauen or hell or Purgatory or the like fictions of Ghosts and Spirits appearing is in a wise case and may be drawne into a fooles Paradise but neuer into the true Paradise and so wander in this way which seemes right but the end thereof are the Yssues of Death To shut vp this point obserue the certainty of this iudgement as the Apostle Saint Iohn before in the 1. Ep. 3. Chap 14. verse speakes in the present Tence we know that wee are translated to note the certainty of their translation to glory so heere Salomon saith It is the way of Death and the end thereof is so to note the certainty of the thing And this is a plaine proofe of the Spirits assistance to discerne the end and determination of a thing before the end be come when otherwise it were too late to doe it For it is too late for Diues to repent in hell when the end is come he should haue attended better to Moses and to the Prophets before and beleeued the word of God not the foolish traditions of his forefathers against the Word or the idle old-wiues tales of his foremothers besides the Word he should haue attended the admonition of the faithfull Pastor and Prophet and not to the fained Legend of his flattering Patasites trencher-fed Chaplaines The perfection of all humane judgement is to iudge by the end and issue and euen heere wee often erre too but if man goes farther of himselfe by nature it is but coniecture and presumption arising from long experience in obseruation of like circumstances as the effect leades vs to the cause but yet euen then wee cannot say it is or certainely it shall bee but it may be so it may so fall out it may be the end of Death But the Spirit of God sees the end before it comes he sees the thoughts afarre off and iudgeth and warneth men aforehand inwardly by good and holy motions outwardly by the Scriptures and he that will not beleeue the holy Spirit of God in the Scriptures it is but iustice if God giue him ouer to a reprobate minde that he should be seduced and beleeue lies who would not receiue the truth of God but was transported with respect of times persons places and other humane Motiues And heere before wee
the way Genes 45. 24. In via out per viam non pro via or propter viam such are our hot alterations not for the way but in the way And thus such as the Papist cals Lutherans and Puritans walke the one vpon the one hand and the other vpon the other the Protestant in the midst shunning both the Extreames Via Regia temperata est nec plus in se habens nec minus Hier in Esai cap. 57 Wherein whilst the other walke with most violent and obstinate auersenesse they thinke themselues only safe and become seuere and supercillious censurers of vs and all men who in the least circumstance dislike their Criticismes or in the least ceremony vary from their rigide rules But for the way it selfe all of vs agree in one with vs the whole Catholike Church both Grecians and Abissins as the learned know and as it were easie to demonstrate to the vnderstanding of the simplest if time would permit so long a discourse in defect whereof I referre them ouer to a booke called Catholique Traditions collected by a Frenchman written in English and dedicated to our late Prince Henry of blessed Memory The only materiall difference vndecided hangs betwixt vs and the Church of Rome they holding themselues to be only in the way as persons that cannot possibly erre from it and all others to be out of the way that in all points walke not step by step and hand in hand with them Like a man who vvould perswade all England there were no other way to London but through his ground that so he might exact a generall toll of the Passengers for his priuat benefite Now whilst I say wee vvith all the Catholique Church agree about the way and our only difference is vvith Rome I neither intend to affirme that either our agreement with all is so intite nor our variance from those of Rome so distant as some of ours and some of theirs would beare the world in hand Only whilst some Churches ioyne with vs in the Articles of our faith and in all the fundamentall points of Religion absolutely necessarie to saluation we dare not judge them for erring in some matters of lesser moment For what haue wee to doe to iudge another mans seruant he stands or fals to his owne Master Yet whilst I say vvee vvill not iudge I shew there is cause and feare of iudgement which they may auoyd vvho vvisely leauing ambiguous and vnnecessarie questions rest and build vpon that which is generally and vndoubtedly agreed vpon These such like I forbeare to iudge because I heare Christ say Iudge not lest you be iudged Mat. 7. 1. And I know well it is the presumptuous pride of Antichrist and an infallible note of that man of sinne who sits in the seate of God and exalts himselfe aboue all that is called God 2. Thes 2. to presse with Lucifer into Christs Office and to iudge the quicke and dead before his comming condemning all for Heretiques vvho vvalke not in his vvay I know it is the only desperate error not to see and acknowledge our error but to proceede erring with a presumptuous opinion that we cannot erre These brands therefore I leaue to him vvho only by these if there were no other might be knowne to be out of the right vvay And yet in the eyes of these men led by flesh and blood and the outward apparance how vvell doth their vvay seeme how indirect and crooked seemes ours Let vs a little behold them comparatiuely Doth it not seeme right to a man who hath but naturall reason flesh and blood to direct him to follow that faith vvhich his forefathers professed time out of minde And doth it not seeme ill to adhere to a faith vvhich they say had no being till about these hundred yeeres and vvas neuer heard of before Luther Doth it not seeme right vvhilst wee fancie God like our selues or something better like a good old King troubled vvith many imployments that wee should goe to Saints and Angels and other spirituall fauorites to intercede for vs and prefer our petitions And doth it not seeme ill that vvee vilde sinners dare presse euen to the Throne of grace it selfe and refuse to vse any other meanes to obtaine our suites then the name ayde and mediation of the Prince himselfe Christ Iesus Doth it not seeme right vvhilst vvee keepe the pictures of our earthly Parents and friends that wee should vvith greater reuerence and care preferre the pictures of God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost the Parent of our soules of the Virgin Mary and other Saints our celestiall friends And doth it not seeme ill that vve should not only neglect these but also cast them out of our Churches and houses breake and burne them And the more pretious account vvee haue of the persons dignity by so much the more to hold the picture perillous Doth it not seeme right to flesh and blood that man should satisfie for his owne sinnes by suffering penance affiction chastisements fastings and the like that man should merit his owne saluation by vowes pilgrimages workes of charity chastity voluntary pouerty obedience and other free-will offerings of superrogation And if heere there were any thing vnpaide is it not according to reason that after this life it should be taken out in Purgatory before wee goe to heauen And seemes it not as ill to deny flesh and blood these sensible satisfactions to teach that all proceedes out of Gods mercy that wee must doe good but not trust to it that man cannot satisfie much lesse merit that the chastisements wee suffer or the best actions wee doe are not worthy of heauen either ex condigno or ex congruo and that as there is no third way heere but a right way or a wrong way so there is after this life no third place but men presently passe either into eternall ioy or eternall paine Doth it not seeme right that since Christ is God and God is Omnipotent able to doe whatsoeuer he saith that therefore when he saith This is my body that wee should then beleeue the bread in the Sacrament to be transubstantiated into his body and the wine into his blood And doth it not seeme ill that wee who graunt this power of his should vnderstand these words spiritually sacramentally figuratiuely and mistically All these things and many more like these appeare thus to the naturall Man But apparance and seeming are no infallible notes of veritie as we shall manifest when wee come to speake of the Opposition or the publique Iudgement of verity and now will partly shew comming by order to treate of the Iudge of these controuersies vvho is heere said to bee man guided by his owne imagination and the giddy spirit of Priuacie 3. The Iudge A Mans selfe To a Man Man iudgeth of things either by his Sense or by his Reason for I speake of the naturall man that is of Nature corrupted not
part I giue the intelligent Hearer this one obseruation by the way that of all the controuersies betwixt vs and our Romane Adversaries we are not chalenged for doing any thing in the seruice of God which wee ought not to doe for wee beleeue with them all the Articles of the Creede wee pray as Christ himselfe hath taught vs wee liue at least wee teach that allmen should liue as God hath commanded vs in the Decalogue Only the exceptions they take at vs are for omissions because they say wee do not something wee ought to doe and our exceptions are against them 1. First for omitting some things which God commandeth 2. Secondly for doing something that God commandeth not after the patterne prescribed but after another manner invented 3. Thirdly for doing many things which God hath directly and expresly prohibited prohibiting in the meane time what God hath commanded Now I desire you so to obserue this passage that you may take it vp rightly and vnderstand what I meane I say therefore againe the questions and controuersies betwixt vs are not for the things wee doe but of the things that they doe As for example they dare not finde fault with vs for praying as Christ taught vs Our father c. But the question is whether or no they doe as they ought whilst they pray to Saints and Angels The question is not whether wee may pray to God without Images or no but whether wee may pray by at in to or before Images with any reference to them as they doe And so for Latin Seruice for the Communion in both kinds the questions are about the things that they do not for the things wee do so the doubt is vpon their side and such a doubt it is that the Pope would gladly haue graunted Queene Elizabeth of happy Memory liberty for her and her people to do these things as wee now doe them as witnesseth the learned B B. of Ely in his Tortura Torti and Master Camden in his Anâ—ales if the Queene would haue taken license from him or would haue subiected her Crowne to his Myter for that was the marke he shot at the gaine of his Peter pence and other spirituall trading and the glory of a Kingdome so obsequious so fruitfull so helpefull as England had beene and might bee But shee was too honorable to kisse his foote for feare or hope and too honest to receiue any courtesie from him which I adde the rather to let them see who perhaps are not altogether vvell affected toward vs nor perswaded of our truths that there is nothing practised in our Church but that which finds allowance and approbation from the modestest and learnedest of their side And therefore they may well be present at our seruice and communicate with vs in our Sacraments The Popes worde only hinders them from Communion with vs but Gods word bars vs from Communion with them without scruple of conscience vnlesse the Popes countermand bee their scar-crow although wee may not safely communicate with them for feare of manifest Idolatry knowing that howsoeuer their way seemes right in theyr eyes yet the Issues thereof are the wayes of death 3. The Publique Iudge Salomon The last point comes now to be handled concerning the true Iudge of this way which is the holy Spirit of God directing the pen of Salomon the Publique Magistrate the King and the Preacher A man and a priuate spirit of a man was the Iudge of the apparance the seeming good the beginning of this way But God is the true Iudge of the end and issue of this way Man was an impotent Iudge God an all-sufficient Iudge Man was a Iudge preiudiciall and partiall Gen. 18. 25 God is an vpright Iudge for shall not the Iudge of all the world doe right But the Pope of Rome steps in heere Luk. 4. 6. chalenging to be Iudge in this case by Charter as Sathan did in the like case and to haue a Patent sealed to that end by Christ himselfe 1. Reg. 2. 27 And for feare Salomon who as King durst dispose of the Preisthood should bring euidence against him either by word or fact he hath stopt his mouth and condemned him aforehand to Hell and brought out Traian the Emperor in his roome who though he were a Pagan yet hath found so much fauour as to be preferd before Salomon In the life of Gregory the great who was a Type of Christ and the wisest Prince that euer reigned And doubtles if any other of the Prophets or Apostles should presse him with arguments he hath power to silence them and to cry vp and downe what Scripture he pleaseth to make Canonicall Apocrypha and Apocrypha Canonicall ad benè placitum For who would beleeue the Scripture but for the Church and who is the holy Catholique Church but his Holines at least who is the head thereof who rules the roast there but hee Now if any of them vrge him too farre and make against him he hath power to take order with them either by binding or loosing which iurisdiction in this case he excrciseth after a foure-fold manner 1. By pronouncing them Apocrypha 2. By eluding their genuine meaning and sence by a foraigne and forced interpretaton or exposition 3. By warranting an erronious Iranslation to be Authenticall and the only true one 4. Lastly by purging all humors that offend his humor In which regard wee see how the Auncient Fathers haue beene shaued clipt scoured washt let blood purged gelt and mutilated yea and many of the Neotericks of their owne Men and faction haue beene dieted and cast into a sweat and hardly recouered with the application of their Catholicon And all these acts of theirs iustified and defended with asmuch eagernesse and shew of zeale and truth as the honestest cause Well may wee therefore feare and flee from his censure as from a Iudge full of preiudice full of partiality because it is in his owne cause where he will not limit his Prerogatiue royall but extend it beyond all degrees of comparison Yet though he be our Aduersary let vs heare him a little and see what notes and Land-markes he giues vs to know and distinguish the true way from the false by that wee may follow them if they both seeme and bee infallible and that wee may beware of them if they only seeme right but leade to the way of death and then seeke out others that wee may cleerely see to be true Neither will the time permit nor is it needfull to bring forth all the marks of the true way which the Church of Rome hangs out The principall only I will briefly touch and point at But before wee do it I must lay downe this ground of their owne which they giue to discerne true notes by True Notes of the Church must be such as are able to constitute the absolute definition of the Church so farre that being found the Church is found and being lost
that you were sure came immediatly from heauen or Saint Peter or his successor any Man that you were assured without controuersie were his successor or any other Man or woman how holy chaste learned or religious soeuer they bee should crosse this doctrine beleeue them not nay let them be accursed saith Saint Paule Much lesse then beleeue the dotage of men their gulleries impostures fictions melancholy imaginations dreames visions and reuelations with which being deceiued themselues they seeke and indeauor to deceiue others You haue now seene the way 1. What it is 2. How it may seeme good and not bee so 3. How impotent preiudiciall and partiall a Iudge man is in his owne case 4. You haue seene the end of this faire way to bee false 5. The issue of that pretence to be death whilst life was promised 6. Lastly you haue seene the Iudgement of Gods spirit shewing you the true notes to know the false way by Submit your selues now and your senses and iudgements to the direction of Gods holy Spirit and thinke not your selues or your Predecessors wiser then Saint Paule then Salomon then God himselfe but hauing found the right way the way to life walke in it constantly and turne not backe to fables and traditions and falsehoods in which you haue too long wandred astray for howsoeuer that way may seeme right and many of our forefathers haue ignorantly vvalked in it yet the issues thereof are the vvayes of death From which the Lord of his mercy deliuer vs and direct vs to be zealous according to knowledge and from faith to clime vp to practise reforming those corruptions in our liues and manners which now by the course propounded in the beginning wee come to search and lay open in that which followes THE SECOND SERMON PREPARED FOR the Iudges and preached vpon Sunday the Assises following vpon Monday after WEe haue spoken of the speculatiue part Thammim the Theory as the way was taken for Religion now we are to speake of the practicall part as the way may be taken for the custome and trade of our liues and conversations or rather for our passage or vvalking in that Religion which wee beleeue professe to be the truth And as the Lord said by the Prophet Ieremy so may I say to you all Ier. 21. 8. Behold I haue set before you the way of life and the way of death I haue showne you that way which seemes right in the partiall eyes of man who thinkes all his owne vvayes cleane Pro. 16. 2. And I haue showne you that way that is both right and seemes so Pro. 15. 24. euen the vvay of life vvhich leadeth to heauen And now I proceed to exhort you to walke in this vvay for it is better not to know then not to practise what wee know An honest Turke which knowes not the will of his Master is to be preferd before a prophane Christian who knowes his Masters will and doth it not Luk. 12. 47 and therefore shal be beaten vvith many stripes A vvay then in this sence of Salomon is the customary course of life which a man chiefely vseth whether it bee in vertue or in vice The whole race of mankinde naturally walke in the roade and way of sin and death But some are regenerate and called out of this way by faith and repentance others will not obay Gods word but rather choose to liue in the pleasures of sin for a season And they are sayd to be in their vvay because sin reigneth in them tramples vpon them by custome takes away the sence of conscience obdurating their hearts as a way is hardned by the feete of many passengers so as a plow cannot pierce the same Thus men haue their darling and beloued sins which is their vvay out of which you can by no meanes put them as a Hare starred before Greyhounds will haue her accustomed way and muse or die for it so these And thus a man is not sayd to be in his vvay when hee sinneth of frailty he then hath slipt out of his vvay and leaues not till he returne into his vvay by repentance but vvhen he sins by custome then he is in his vvay And a notorious sinner is not sayd to be in his vvay if now and then hee comes to Church prayes receiues the Sacraments and forebeares grosse sinnes or does some singular and solitary good for he is not well till he be out of this vvay againe and like a dog returnes to his vomite Therefore a man is iudged wise or foolish good or bad and to be in or out of his vvay by his ordinary actions not by a speciall single fact For nemo omnibus horis sapit Semel insanivimus omnes and in many things wee offend all It is therefore the generall course proceeding and perseuerance in vertue or vice that brings life or death to our wayes for the crowne of glory is at the end of this race of vertue here death is at the end of this race of vice the end there of is the issues of death Dauid committed Adultery and Murther â— King 11. grieuous slips out of Gods way but being in those sins he vvas besides himselfe out of his wit out of his way and neuer was at rest till by repentance he returned and witnessed his sorrow by that penitential Psalme Psal 51. in which he expresseth cordiall repentance and seemes to do corporall penance in the Church to this day His delight was in the Law of the Lord he vvas a man according to Gods owne heart A man and therefore might erre might slip out of the vvay but a man after Gods owne heart therefore he would walke with God as Enoch did Gen. 5. 24. and was neuer well at his heart till he vvas reconciled to God by humble and hearty repentance Ieroboam was in his way all his life 1. King 13. 33. and solde himselfe to commit sin so that it is sayd of diuerse other Kings that succeeded Ieroboam both in his seate and sinnes That they did euill in the sight of the Lord and vvalked in the vvay of Ieroboam and in his sinne vvherevvithall he made Israel to sinne Ahab vvas not in his vvay vvhen vpon the Prophets admonition he put on sackcloth and humbled himselfe before God 1. King 21 25. but he was in his way when he followed the counsell of Iezabel slue the Prophets of God and murthered Naboth for his vineyard Iehu 2. King 10 15. 16. though he slue all Ahabs children according to the word of the Lord though he would needs haue Iehonadab see his zeale which he pretended was for God in killing all the Priest of Baall and in taking the Images out of the house of Baall though he did many other things tending to reformation of Religion and the State Yet all this while he was not in his element in his way for presently he was not well till he was
vniust for his office he saith is not to Iudge but to pleade and he speakes therefore with more affection and earnestnes against the truth then for it Because a good cause will speake for it selfe but he deserues praise that maintaines an ill cause well and for this he shall be famous and get Clyants and so get wealth which is that he aymes at Againe he may take what fees he will though the Law limits his takings and cals the excesse extortion He is the expounder of the Lawe he is Lex loquens the tongue of the Law and saith That the intention of the Lawe was to limit men that they should take no lesse and it limits such as can get no more Againe other Trades must do their worke if they wil haue wages and must acknowledge the benefit they receiue and the Benefactor but heere the Master is the seruant and whereas in all other vocations there lies an Action in the Case against such as hauing taken a valuable consideration for their paines will not performe their worke He nothwithstanding his fee may speake or hold his peace as he pleaseth for though he hath two handes to take fees on both sides yet he cannot be at two Barres at once and Demosthenes we know had as much for holding his peace as AEschines for pleading The Doctrine of Restitution he likes not it is a popish point in all other things he can be content to be Catholique to be vniuersall to be for euery man To be for a man in one case against him in another though the cases resemble nay perhaps to be both for the plaintife and defendant in one case and though he cannot pleade for both because he hath but one tongue yet he may giue counsell to both for that one toungue is double and takes fees of both for that 's the end of all His wayes seeme good and right for can he walke wrong who hath the Law the rule of Equity in his hand and whose office it is to guide others right in the way Yes doubtlesse the end shewes that Malè parta malè dilabuntur the issues of all are the wayes of death and destruction Next looke vpon the Marchant as it were the Generall and all Mechanicks as vnder-Officers of commerce the end of their Professions is or should be by commutatiue Iustice to supply the necessities of each other and so of the State But see how they propound priuate gaine to themselues as the only maine end and scope of all their labours And vnder this couer what one can cheate or coosen his neighbor of either by sophisticated wares or false waights and measures or by any other close deuise or conveyance he thinkes it tolerable nay laudable a part of his trade a mistery as he cals it of his profession without which he could not be a good husband or thought fit to deale in the world or set vp for himselfe Thus perhaps he will be curious in the duties of the first Table which touch not the corruptions of his profession but for workes of mercy commanded in the second Table he knowes not what they meane or perhaps they are superstitious and popish workes though he heare God himselfe say Hos 6. 6. I will haue mercy and not sacrifice He will not sweare perhaps for that is too open a sin for his purpose in this point perhaps he will be an Anabaptist but if lyes will sell his euill-conditioned commodities he will let none lye by him nor no man lye beyond him He will not breake the Sabaoth no not to eate no not to feed others not to doe good he is a strict Sabbatarian a Iew in opinion but that day or any other he will not sticke to coosen his credulous brother and aswell may you trust a Iew as trust him Thus he growes rich and treasures vp wrath for himselfe and in his whole dealing shewes himselfe a wrong Marchant but a right Iudas who wil gaine by the fayned shew of godlinesse or by any other course His way seemes right to himselfe though the end thereof be the Yssues of death Viae Puplicae vel Pretoriae In the third place wee haue Publique wayes common roads the Kings high-way which resembles publique iudgement publique authority and the Common Lawes of the Land For because all men thinke their owne wayes good bee they wayes of priuacie or wayes of neighborhood therefore God hath appointed Kings and Iudges to bee life-tenants and Deputies in his steade to defend weake truth from strong falsehood and oppression and to decide euery controversie accordin to the right rule of reason and Equity contained and expressed in the Lawes where they gouerne Otherwise vndoubtedly if euery man might be his owne Iudge the Thiefe the Murtherer all would be quit and the Iudge and Iewry should smart for it the Plaintife and Defendant all vvould be sauers and the Lawyer should pay for all who now is like to get all To auoyd therefore this confusion God hath set Caesar to arbitrate indifferently betwixt party and party and giuen him a Lawe and direct rule how to doe it and that he might do this freely without partiality without feare or any other thing that might mis-leade his iudgement God hath set him aboue all exempted him from all other Iudge but himselfe and the Lawes which are his rule and iudge Now to the end he might be fully and compleately furnished God puts an other spirit into him as wee see in Moses and after in the 70. Assistants and in Saule Dauid Salomon and others who were extraordinarily indued from aboue with Graces fitting their imployments and this Spirit vvhilst it continues vvith them doth neuer contradict the publique voice that is the Lawe of the State but ioynes with it and speakes the same language from whence perhaps that common speech arose that the voice of the people is the voice of God if it bee ioyned vvith the voice of the King and this voice is to be heard and obayed for conscience sake being heere opposed to the Spirit of priuacie which will rule though vvithout reason and the more weake it is is for that the more vvilfull Now this Spirit of priuacie whose vvisedome consists in vvilfulnes may be in a publique Person when for his owne or peoples sinne he hath lost the publike spirit vvherewith God indues Princes So the publique spirit departed from Saule 1. Sam. 16. 14. and a priuate mad spirit possessed him 1. Sam. 18. vvhich made him hate Dauid for louing him and being loued of God to giue him his daughter vpon purpose to ensnare and betray him to deale falsely vvith him in all his faire pretences and lastly to crosse and contradict his owne religious Law for the extirpation of vvitches by consulting vvith them Salomon vvas in the like case vvhilst by the vncleane sinne of Adultery he fell into the snare of Idolatry he crost his people and forgat his owne vvritings vvhere he saith
Pro. 28. 15 As a roaring Lyon and a ranging Beare so is a wicked Ruler ouer the poore people Yet he thought himselfe then also perhaps as vvise as before because he found himselfe as vvitty and forgot vvhat he had vvritten That into a malicious soule wisedome shall not enter nor dwell in the body that is subiect unto sinne Sap. 1. 4. 5. 6. 7. For the holy Spirit of discipline will flie deceite and remooue from thoughts that are without vnderstanding and will not abide when vnrighteousnes commeth in For wisedome is a louing Spirit and will not acquit a blasphemer of his words for God is witnesse of his reines and a true beholder of his heart and a hearer of his tongue Wherefore for this vvhen he recouered his former publique spirit he cryed peccaui and miserere vvith his father David and vvrote that booke called Ecclesiastes to bemone and manifest his owne fall and forewarne other Princes to beware of the spirit of priuacie that they may hedge in their royall wayes vvith these conscionable restrictions vvhereby they may be obayed for conscience sake by their subiects 1. First Salomon or Caesar must not rule vvithout a Lawe nor by his absolute power make any but see to the execution of those that are made It inclines therefore too much towards tyranny for a Magistrate to exercise an absolute authority vvithout limit and the Superiour who rules vvithout a Lawe or against Lawe vvalkes in no way himselfe but balks his owne high-way for a way is fenced but the champian fields are for the wild-goose-chase and corners and holes for sinister actions When as publique persons should do publique actions in publique Gen. 23. 10. in the Gates of the City in the Kings high-way Deut. 22. 15 in the eye of all For chamber-workes are suspicious and carry a shew of priuacy and parciality And so it is sayd by Liuy that Tarquinius made the name of a King odious at Rome because he ruled all Domesticu consilijs by chamber-Councell as Rehoboam in Israel and Lewes the 11 in Fraunce Thus Kings though they bee in some sort aboue the Law because they are dispeusers of it are not yet without a Lawe because they must rule themselues and others by it And thus much the crowne that a King weares testifieth which is a type of the loue and acknowledgement and consent of the people in his gouernement and lets him see that there is a verge a hoope a compasse for the heades of Kings aswell as of subiects and that wee come to manifest in the second consideration 2. Secondly Gods Lawe is Caesars verge which Caesar must neither transgresse nor suffer to bee transgrest Where God hath set no Lawe there Caesars Lawe I meane the Lawe of the Land which is the hedge to this high-way of the King must stand And this must agree with the equity of the Lawe of God from vvhence it originally takes life and strength For as where it agrees with Gods Lawe wee must obay it for conscience sake so where it contradicts or crosseth the Lawe of God the Apostle Peter giues a generall rule It is there better to obay God then man Act. 4. 19. To cleere this Thou sayest thy conscience tels thee the Religion commanded by the King or some ceremony vsed in the Church according to the Lawes established is not agreeable but contrary to the truth If thou canst manifest this by the word of God then thy Conscience tels thee right and thou art not to doe what is commanded by man though he speakes humane Lawe but yet thou art to suffer vvhat is inioyned by him so speaking with the Law or so doeing as Executor of the Lawe and both these wayes thou obayest God and Caesar too God actiuely doing vvhat he vvils and Caesar passiuely submitting thy will to Gods holy ordinance and obaying the Magistrate for conscience sake But if thy conscience tels thee this or that and cannot proue what it tels thee but by shifts and shadowes then it is not truly thy conscience at least no true but a lying conscience that so misleads thee nay rather it is thy phantasie thy imagination thy peeuish preiudiciall and froward conceit And thou art bound to resist and breake thine owne crooked and peruerse vvill aud to subiect it to the will of God who hath subiected thee to Caesar For Conscientia non est contra scientiam sed cum scientia Conscience is ioyned with knowledge that 's the ground otherwise thou setst vp an Idol in thy owne heart and worshippest it vvhilst thou obayest an erring and ignorant conscience For an Idol saith Saint Paule is nothing in the world and such is thy conscience a bug-beare a Scar-crow a Chimera of thine owne melancholly imagination or maleuolent invention And howsoeuer it may seeme right to thy selfe thy Sectators or Sect masters the Yssues thereof are the wayes of death 3. Thirdly as the Lawes of God must guide our consciences in our rellgious duties so the positiue Lawes of the Kingdome must be the high-way wherein euery one must vvalke in actiue obedience And Kings and Iudges are the dispensers and disposers of these Lawes according to reason Neither shall they need in the execution to satisfie euery priuate curious and contentious head which pretending conscience vvill disobey or to satisfie euery delinquent with arguments for then his worke were infinite but strictly and directly to open the booke and to execute the Lawe of the Land and euery liege-man is to acquiesse therein For the Iudge is or ought truly to bee Lex loquens and doth but tell vs the Lawe and shew vs the high-way in which wee must walke and if wee list not to walke in it wee must be content to suffer for our willfull folly or walke out of the vvay out of the reach of the Lawe And there is great reason for this for God hath set Kings as his Deputies to execute Iustice and Iudgement he expects it at their hands and where any euill fals out for lacke of execution the fault is the Magistrates if there be Law to preuent it of him shall the soule be required which perisheth for lacke of gouernment as the soule shal be required at the Pastors hands which perisheth for lacke of instruction in the truth Great reason is it therefore he should haue power ouer such as he must answere so strictly for that he may punish them or compell them to come in or keepe them for drawing others out of his folde So wee see Iudg. 17. Micha sets vp an Idol contrary to Gods Lawe he will haue a parlor-worship a religion by himselfe The reason of this error of knowledge and conscience is giuen there Then there was no King in Israel but euery man did what seemed good in his owne eyes So the King is to see to Religion and if Idolatry increaseth or sects or schismes arise it is counted the Kings fault if there bee a King the fault