never trouble thy self further Ipsum quem pro Deo habemus tanquam Deum in his quae apertè non sunt contra Deum audire debemus Ernard still Gods Vicegerents must be heard and obeyed in all things that are not manifestly contrary to the revealed will of God But the thing required is against my conscience may some say and I may not go against my conscience for any mans pleasure Judge I pray you what perversness is this when the blessed Apostle commandeth thee to obey for conscience sake that thou shouldest disobey and that for conscience sake too He chargeth thee upon thy conscience to be subject and thou pretendest thy conscience to free thee from subjection This by the way now to the point Thou sayest it is against thy conscience I say again that in the case whereof we now speak the case of doubtfulness it is not against thy conscience For doubting properly is motus indifferens in utramque partem contradictionis when the mind is held in suspence between two ways uncertain whether of both to take to When the scales hang even as I said before and in aequilibrio without any notable propension and inclination to the one side more than to the other And surely where things hang thus even if the weight of authority will not cast the scale either way we may well suppose that either the authority is made very light or else there is a great fault in the beam Known brethren the gainsaying conscience is one thing and the doubting conscience another That which is done repugnante conscientiâ the conscience of the doer flatly gainsaying it that is indeed against a mans conscience the conscience having already passed a definitive sentence the one way and no respect or circumstance whatsoever can free it from sin But that which is done dubitante conscientiâ the conscience of the doer only doubting of it and no more that is in truth no more against a mans conscience than with it the conscience as yet not having passed a definitive sentence either way and such an action may either be a sin or no sin according to those qualifications which it may receive from other respects and circumstances If the conscience have already passed a judgment upon a thing and condemned it as simply unlawful in that case it is true that a man ought not by any means to do that thing no not at the command of any Magistrate no nor although his conscience have pronounced a wrong sentence and erred in that judgment for then he should do it repugnante conscientiâ he should go directly against his own conscience which he ought not to do whatsoever come of it In such a case certainly he may not obey the Magistrate yet let him know thus much withal that he sinneth too in disobeying the Magistrate from which sin the following of the judgment of his own conscience cannot acquit him And this is that fearful per plexity whereof I spake whereinto many a man casteth himself by his own error and obstinacy that he can neither go with his conscience nor against it but he shall sin And who can help it if a man will needs cherish an error and persist in it But now if the conscience be only doubtful whether a thing be lawful or no but have not as yet passed a peremtory judgment against it yea although it rather incline to think it unlawful in that case if the Magistrate shall command it to be done the Subject with a good conscience may do it nay he cannot with a good conscience refuse to do it though it be dubitante conscientiâ But you will yet say that in doubtful cases the safer part is to be chosen So say I too and am content that rule should decide this question only let it be rightly applied Thou thinkest it safer where thou doubtest of the unlawfulness to forbear than to do as for example if thou doubtest whether it be lawful to kneel at the Communion it is safest in thy opinion therefore for thee not to kneel So should I think too if thou wert left meerly to thine own liberty But thou dost not consider how thou art caught in thine own net and how the edge of thine own weapon may be turned upon thee point-blank not to be avoided thus If authority command thee to kneel which whether it be lawful for thee to do or not thou doubtest it cannot choose but thou must needs doubt also whether thou mayest lawfully disobey or not Now then here apply thine own Rule In dubiis pars tutior and see what will come of it Judge since thou canst not but doubt in both cases whether it be not the safer of the two to obey doubtingly than to disobey doubtingly Tene certum demitte incertum is S. Gregory his rule where there is a certainty and an uncertainty let the uncertainty go and hold to that which is certain Now the general is certain that thou art to obey the Magistrate in all thing not contrary to the will of God but the particular is uncertain whether the thing now commanded thee by the Magistrate be contrary to the will of God I say uncertain to thee because thou doubtest of it Deal safely therefore and hold thee to that which is certain and obey But thou wilt yet alledge that the Apostle here condemneth the doing of any thing not only with a gainsaying but even with a doubting conscience because doubting also is contrary to faith and he that doubteth is even for that condemned if he eat Oh beware of misapplying Scripture it is a thing easily done but not so easily answered I know not any one gap that hath let in more and more dangerous errors into the Church than this that men take the words of the saâ—red Text fitted to particular occasions and to the condition of the times wherein they were written and then apply them to themselves and others as they find them without due respect had to the differences that be between those times and cases and the present Sundry things spoken in Scripture agreeably to that infancy of the Church would sort very ill with the Church in her fulness of strength and stature and sundry directions very expedient in times of persecution and when believers lived mingled with Infidels would be very unseasonably urged where the Church is in a peaceable and flourishing estate enjoying the favour and living under the protection of gracious and religious Princes Thus the Constitutions that the Apostles made concerning Deacons and Widows in those primitive times are with much importunity but very importunely withal urged by the Disciplinarians And sundry other like things I might instance in of this kind worthy the discovery but that I fear to grow tedious Briefly then the Apostles whole discourse in this Chapter and wheresoever else he toucheth upon the point of Scandals is to be understood only in that case where men
on blindfold into hell And through inner post along unto utter darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Frustrà sibi de ignorantia blandiuntur saith S. Bernard qui ut liberius peccent libenter ignorant S. Paul so speaketh of such men as if their case were desperate If any man be ignorant let him be ignorant as who say if he will needâ— be wilful at his peril be it But as many as desire to walk in the fear of God with upright and sincere hearts let them thirst after the knowledge of God and his will as the Hart after the rivers of waters let them cry after knowledge and lift up their voices for understanding let them seek it as silver and dig for it as for hid treasures let their feet tread often in Gods Courts and even wear the thresholds of his house let them delight in his holy Ordinances and rejoyce in the light of his Word depending upon the ministry thereof with unsatisfied ears and unwearied attention and feeding thereon with uncloyed appetites that so they may see and hear and learn and understand and believe and obey and increase in wisdom and in grace and in favour with God and all good men But then in the third place consider that if all ignorance will not excuse an offender though some do how canst thou hope to find any colour of excuse or extenuation that sinnest wilfully with knowledge and against the light of thine own Conscience The least sin thus committed is in some degree a Presumptuous sin and carrieth with it a contempt of God and in that regard is greater than any sin of Ignorance To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is a sin saith S. Iames Sin beyond all plea of excuse S. Paul though he were a Persecutor of the truth a Blasphemer of the Lord and injurious to the Brethren yet he obtained Mercy because he did all that ignorantly His bare ignorance was not enough to justifie him but he stood in need of Gods mercy or else he had perished in those sins for all his ignorance but yet who can tell whether ever he should have found that mercy if he had done the same things and not in ignorance Ignorance then though it do not deserve pardon yet it often findeth it because it is not joyned with open contempt of him that is able to pardon But he that sinneth against knowledge doth Ponere obicem if you will allow the Phrase and it may be allowed in this since he doth not only provoke the Iustice of God by his sin as every other sinner doth but he doth also damm up the Mercy of God by his contempt and doth his part to shut himself out for ever from all possibility of pardon unless the boundless overflowing mercy of God come in upon him with a strong tide and with an unresisted current break it self a passage through Do this then my beloved Brethren Labour to get knowledge labour to increase your knowledge labour to abound in knowledge but beware you rest not in your knowledge Rather give all diligence to add to your knowledge Temperance and Patience and Godliness and Brotherly kindness and Charity and other good graces Without these your knowledge is unprofitable nay damnable Qui apponit soientiam apponit dolorem is true in this sence also He that increaseth knowledge unless his care of obedience rise in some good proportion with it doth but lay more rods in steep for his own back and increase the number of his stripes and add to the weight and measure of his own most just condemnation Know this that although Integrity of heart may stand with some ignorances as Abimelech here pleadeth it and God alloweth it yet that mans heart is devoid of all singleness and sincerity who alloweth himself in any course he knoweth to be sinful or taketh this liberty to himself to continue and persist in any known ungodliness And thus much for our second Observation I add but a Third and that taken from the very thing which Abimelech here pleadeth viz. the integrity of his heart considered together with his present personal estate and condition I dare not say he was a Cast-away for what knoweth any man how God might after this time and even from these beginnings deal with him in the riches of his mercy But at the time when the things storied in this Chapter were done Abimelech doubtless was an unbeliever a stranger to the Covenant of God made with Abraham and so in the state of a carnal and meer natural man And yet both he pleadeth and God approveth the innocency and integrity of his heart in this business Yea I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thine heart Note hence That in an unbeliever and natural man and therefore also in a wicked person and a cast-away for as to the present state the unregenerate and the Reprobate are equally incapable of good things there may be truth and singleness and integrity of heart in some particular actions We use to teach and that truly according to the plain evidence of Scripture and the judgment of the ancient Fathers against the contrary tenet of the latter Church of Rome that all the works of unbelievers and natural men are not only stained with sin for so are the best works of the faithful too but also are really and truly sins both in their own nature because they spring from a corrupt fountain for That which is born of the flesh is flesh and it is impossible that a corrupt tree should bring forth good fruit and also in Gods estimation because he beholdeth them as out of Christ in and through whom alone he is well pleased St. Augustin's judgment concerning such mens works is well known who pronounceth of the best of them that they are but splendida peccata glorious sins and the best of them are indeed no better We may not say therefore that there was in Abimelech's heart as nor in the heart of any man a legal integrity as if his person or any of his actions were innocent and free from sin in that perfection which the Law requireth Neither yet can we say there was in his heart as nor in the heart of any unbeliever an Evangelical integrity as if his pâ—rson were accepted and for the persons sake all or any of his actions approved with God accepting them as perfect through the supply of the abundant perfections of Christ then to come That first and legal integrity supposeth the righteousness of works which no man hath this latter and Evangelical integrity the righteousness of Faith which no unbeliever hath no mans heart being either legally perfect that is in Adam or Evangelically perfect that is out of Christ. But there is a third kind of integrity of heart inferiour to both these which God here acknowledgeth in Abimelech and of
Saviours birth when they shared heaven and earth their several portions alloted us our part in peace and the good will of God but with reservation of the whole glory to him Glory be to God on high and in earth peace and towards men good will It is well and happy for us if we may enjoy our own peace and his good will full little have we deserved either of both but much rather the contrary but we were best take heed how we meddle with his glory All other things he giveth us richly to enjoy many a good gift and perfect giving He hath not with-held from us any thing that was his and useful for us no not his only begotten Son excepted the best gift that ever was given and a pledge of all the rest Yea and he will give us a kind of glory too the Lord will give grace and glory Psal. 84. and that not a light one neither nor fading away but such as neither eye nor ear nor heart of man can comprehend so massie and so durable an eternal and exceeding weight of glory But that divine infinite incomprehensible glory that belongeth to him as supream King of kings as his peculiar Prerogative and the choicest flower in his Crown of that he is most jealous in that he will brook no sharer And he hath made known to us his royal pleasure in that point Isa. 42. My glory will I not give to another 7. He will part with none you see it seemeth rather fifthly by the form of the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he looketh for some from us For what else is it to glorifie but to make one glorious by conferring some glory upon him which he had not or not in that degree before And to God how can that be done whose glory is perfect essential and infinite and to what is perfect much less to what is infinite can nothing be added What a great admirer of Virgil said of him tanta Maronis gloria ut nullius laudibus crescat nullius vituperatione minuatur was but a flaunting hyperbole far beyond the merit of the party he meant it to But the like speech would be most exquisitely true of him of whom we now speak indeed a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather than an hyperbole Whose Glory is truly such as all the creatures in the world should they joyn their whole forces together to do it could not make it either more or less than it is 8. We must therefore of necessity forsake the proper signification of the word Glorifie which is to add some glory to another either in specie or in gradu which before he had not and understand it in such a sence as that the thing meant thereby may be feasible And so to glorifie God is no more than to shew forth his glory and to manifest to our own consciences and to the world how highly we praise and esteem his glory and how earnestly we desire and as much as in us lieth endeavour it that all other men would also with us acknowledge and admire the same Sing praise to the honour of his name make his praise glorious Psal. 66. Not make his essence to be more glorious than it is in it self but make his praise to be more and more glorious in the eye and esteem of men That so his power his glory and mightiness of his Kingdom might be known unto men and that men might ascribe unto the Lord the honour due unto his name and that men might sing in the way of the Lord that great is the glory of the Lord. To endeavour by our thanksgivings confessions faith charity obedience goodworks and perseverance in all these to bring Gods true Religion and Worship into request to win a due reverence to his holy name and word to beget in others more high and honourable thoughts concerning God in all those his most eminent Attributes of Wisdom Power Iustice Mercy and the rest that is in Scripture language to glorifie God 9. One thing more from the Person of the Verb and then you have all It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God may be glorified and so leave it indefinite and uncertain by whom it should be done but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ye may glorifie him The thing to be done and they to do it One would think the glorious Angels and Saints in heaven were fitter instruments for such an employment than we poor sinful worms upon earth Very true they in heaven are fitter to do it and it is best done there but there is more need of it upon earth and if it be done here in truth and singleness of heart it is very well accepted Poor things God knoweth our best services are if God should value them but according to their weight and worth But in his mercy and that through Christ he graciously accepteth our unfeigned desires and faithful endeavours according to that truth we have be it never so little and not according to that perfection we want be it never so much Alas what is the tinkling of two little bells in a Country-steeple or the peoples running to the Towns end and crying God save the King to add any honour or greatness to the Majesty of a Potent Monarch Yet will a gracious Prince take those mean expressions of his subjects love as an honour done him because he readeth therein their hearty affections towards him and he knoweth that if they knew how to express themselves better they would So it is here It is not the thing done that is looked at so much as the heart Set that right first and then be the performance what it can be God is both pleased and honoured therewithal Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me Psal. 50. That is so he intendeth it and so I accept it 10. You have now all I would say by way of explication from these words The particulars are six First we should propose to our selves some end Therein Secondly look at God Thirdly that God may have glory and that he alone may have it Fourthly Fifthly that something be done for the advancement of his glory and Lastly that it be done by us The result from the whole six taken together is That the Glory of God ought to be the chiefest end and main scope of all our desires and endeavours In whatever we think say do or suffer in the whole course of our Lives and Actions we should refer all to this look at this as the main Whatsoever become of us and our affairs that yet God may be glorified Whether ye eat or drink saith St. Paul or whatsoever else ye do let all be done to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. He would have us not only in the performance of good works and of necessary duties to intend the Glory of God according to that of our Saviour Let your light so shine before men that they way see your good
propriam actualem existentiam Yet confesseth 't is hard to make this intelligible In his fourth Book he endeavours to declare a twofold manner of God's working ad extra the one sub ordine Praedestinationis of which Eternity is the proper measure the other sub ordine Gratiae whereof Time is the measure And that God worketh fortiter in the one though not irresistibiliter as well as suaviter in the other wherein the Free-will hath his proper working also From the Result of his whole performance I was confirmed in this Opinion That we must acknowledge the work of both Grace and Freewill in the conversion of a sinner And so likewise in all other events the Consistency of the infallibility of God's fore-knowledge at least though not with any absolute but conditional Predestination with the liberty of man's will and the contingency of inferiour causes and effects These I say we must acknowledge for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I thought it bootless for me to think of comprehending it And so came the two Acta Synodalia Dordrectana to stand in my Study only to fill up a room to this day And yet see the restless curiosity of man Not many years after to wit A. D. 1632. out cometh Dr. Twiss his Vindiciae Gratiae a large Volume purposely writ against Arminius And then notwithstanding my former resolution I must needs be medling again The respect I bore to his person and great learning and the long acquaintance I had â—ad with him in Oxford drew me to the reading of that whole Book But from the reading of it for I read it through to a syllable I went away with many and great dissatisfactions Sundry things in that Book I took notice of which brought me into a greater dislike of his Opinion than I had before But especially these three First that he bottometh very much of his Discourse upon a very erroneous Principle which yet he seemeth to be so deeply in love with that he hath repeated it I verily believe some hundreds of times in that work â—â— wit this That whatsoever is first in the intention is last in execution and è converso Which is an Error of that magnitude that I cannot but wonder how a person of such acuteness and subtilty of wit could possible be deceived with it All Logicians know there is no such universal Maxim as he buildeth upon The true Maxim is but this Finis qui primus est in Intentione est ultimus in Executione In the order of final Causes and the Means used for that end the Rule holdeth perpetually But in other things it holdeth not at all or but by chance or not as a rule and necessarily Secondly that foreseeing such Consequences would naturally and necessarily follow from his Opinion as would offend the ear of a sober Christian at the very first sound he would yet rather choose not only to admit the said harsh Consequences but professedly indeavour also to maintain them and plead hard for them in large Digressions than to recede in the least from that opinion which he had undertaken to defend Thirdly that seeing out of the sharpness of his wit a necessity of forsaking the ordinary Sublapsarian way and the Supralapsarian too as it had diversly been declared by all that had gone before him for the shunning of those Rocks which either of those ways must unavoidably cast him upon he was forc'd to seek out an untrodden Path and to frame out of his own brain a new way like a Spider's web wrought out of her own bowels hoping by that device to salve all Absurdities could be objected to wit by making the glory of God as it is indeed the chiefest so the only end of all other his Decrees and then making all those other Decrees to be but one entire co-ordinate Medium conducing to that one end and so the whole subordinate to it but not any one part thereof subordinate to any other of the same Dr. Twiss should have done well to have been more sparing in imputing the studium Paritum to others wherewith his own eyes though of eminent perspicacity were so strangely blindfolded that he could not discern how this his new Device and his old dearly beloved Principle like the Cadmean Sparti do mutually destroy the one the other This Relation of my pass'd thoughts having spun out to a far greater length than I intended I shall give a shorter accompt of what they now are concerning these points For which account I refer you to the following parts of Dr. Hammonds Book aforesaid where you may find them already printed And for another account at large of Bishop Sanderson's last Judgment concerning God's Concurrence or Non-concurrence with the Actions of Men and the positive entity of sins of commission I rèfer you to his Letters already printed by his consent in my large Appendix to my Impartial inquiry into the Nature of Sin § 68 p. 193. as far as p. 200. Sir I have rather made it my choice to transcribe all above out of the Letters of Dr. Sanderson which lie before me than venture the loss of my Originals by Post or Carrier which though not often yet sometimes fail Make use of as much or as little as you please of what I send you from himself because from his own Letters to me in the penning of his life as your own Prudence shall direct you using my name for your warranty in the account given of him as much or as little as you please too You have a performance of my promise and an obedience to your desires from North-Tidworth March 5. 1677 8 Your affectionate humble Servant Tho. Pierce THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN'S LETTER My Worthy Friend Mr. Walton IAm heartily glad that you have undertaken to write the Life of that excellent Person and both for Learning and Piety eminent Prelate Dr. Sanderson late Bishop of Lincoln because I know your ability to know and Integrity to write truth and sure I am that the life and actions of that pious and learned Prelate will afford you matter enough for his commendation and the imitation of Posterity In order to the carrying on your intended good work you desire my assistance that I would communicate to you such particular passages of his Life as were certainly known to me I confess I had the happiness to be particularly known to him for about the space of 20 years and in Oxon to enjoy his conversation and his learned and pious instructions while he was Regius Professor of Divinity there Afterwards when in the time of our late unhappy confusions he left Oxon and was retir'd into the Countrey I had the benefit of his Letters wherein with great candor and kindness he answered those doubts I propos'd and gave me that satisfaction which I neither had nor expected from some others of greater confidence but less judgment and humility Having in a Letter named two or three
〈◊〉 to believe and the Noun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faith or belief are both of them found sundry times in this Chapter yet seem not to signifie in any place thereof either the Verb the Act or the Noun the habit of this saving or justifying Faith of which we now speak But being opposed every where and namely in this last verse unto doubtfulness of judgment concerning the lawfulness of some indifferent things must therefore needs be understood of such a perswasion of judgment concerning such lawfulness as is opposite to such doubting Which kind of Faith may be found in a meer heathen man who never having heard the least syllable of the mystery of Salvation by Christ may yet be assured out of clear evidence of reason that many of the things he doth are such as he may and ought to do And as it may be found in a meer heathen man so it may be wanting in a true believer who stedfastly resting upon the blood of Christ for his eternal redemption may yet through the strength of temptation sway of passion or other distemper or subreption incident to humane frailty do some particular act or acts of the lawfulness whereof he is not sufficiently perswaded The Apostle then here speaking of such a Faith as may be both found in an unbeliever and also wanting in a true believer it appeareth that by Faith he meaneth not that justifying Faith which maketh a true believer to differ from an unbeleiver but the word must be understood in some other notion Yet thus much I may add withal in the behalf of those worthy men that have alledged this Scripture for the purpose aforesaid to excuse them from the imputation of having at least wilfully handled the Word of God deceitfully First that thing it self being true and the words also sounding so much that way might easily enduce them to conceive that to be the very meaning And common equity will not that men should be presently condemned if they should sometimes confirm a point from a place of Scripture not altogether pertinent if yet they think it to be so especially so long as the substance of what they write is according to the analogy of Faith and Godliness Secondly that albeit these words in their most proper and immediate sense will not necessarily enforce that Conclusion yet it may seem deducible there-from with the help of some topical arguments and by more remote inferences as some learned men have endeavoured to shew not altogether improbable And Thirdly that they who interpret this Text as aforesaid are neither singular nor novel therein but walk in the same path which some of the ancient Fathers have trod before them The Rhemists themselves confess it of S. Augustine to whom they might have added also S. Prosper and whose authority alone is enough to stop their mouths for ever Leo Bishop of Rome who have all cited these words for the self same purpose But we are content for the reasons already shewn to let it pass as a collection impertinent and that I suppose is the worst that can be made of it There is a second acception of the word Faith put either for the whole system of that truth which God hath been pleased to reveal to his Church in the Scriptures of the old and new Testament or some part thereof or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the assent of the mind thereunto In which signification some conceiving the words of this Text to be meant do hence infer a false and dangerous conclusion which yet they would obtrude upon the Christian Church as an undoubted principle of truth That men are bound for every particular action they do to have direction and warrant from the written word of God or else they sin in the doing of it For say they faith must be grounded upon the word of God Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God Rom. 10. Where there is no Word then there can be no Faith and then by the Apostles doctrine that which is done without the Word to warrant it must needs be sin for whatsoever is not of Faith is sin This is their opinion and thus they would infer it I know not any piece of counterfeit Doctrine that hath passed so currently in the world with so little suspicion of falshood and so little open contradiction as this hath done One chief cause whereof I conjecture to be for that it seemeth to make very much for the honour and perfection of Gods sacred Law the fulness and sufficiency whereof none in the Christian Church but Papists or Atheists will deny In which respect the very questioning of it now will perhaps seem a strange novelty to many and occasion their mis-censures But as God himself so the Holy Word of God is so full of all requisite perfection that it needeth not to beg honour from an untruth Will you speak wickedly for God Or talk deceitfully for him I hold it very needful therefoe both for the vindicating of my Text from a common abuse and for the arming of all my brethren as well of the Clergy as Laity against a common and plausible errour that neither they teach it nor these receive it briefly and clearly to shew that the aforesaid opinion in such sort as some have proposed it and many have understood it for it is capable of a good interpretation wherein it may be allowed First is utterly devoid of Truth and Secondly draweth after it many dangerous consequents and evil effects and thirdly hath no good warrant from my present Text. The Opinion is that to do any thing at all without direction from the Scripture is unlawful and sinful Which if they would understand only of the substantials of Gods worship and of the exercises of spiritual and supernatural graces the assertion were true and sound but as they extend it to all the actions of common life whatsoever whether natural or civil even so far as to the taking up of a straw so it is altogether false and indefensible I marvel what warrant they that so teach have from the Scripture for that very doctrine or where they are commanded so to believe or teach One of their chiefest refuges is the Text we now have in hand but I shall anon drive them from this shelter The other places usually alledged speak only either of Divine and Supernatural truths to be believed or else of works of grace or worship to be performed as of necessity unto Salvation which is not to the point in issue For it is freely confessed that in things of such nature the holy Scripture is and so we are to account it a most absolute and sufficient direction Upon which ground we heartily reject all humane Traditions devised and intended as supplements to the Doctrine of Faith contained in the Bible and annexed as Codicils to the Holy Testament of Christ for to supply the
having yet by reason of the universal use of his office in every Tribe something had in the whole all things considered a far greater proportion than any other Tribe had So in this Scripture the Iudge hath by so much a larger portion than any of the rest by how much it is more diffused Not concluded within the narrow bounds of any one but as the blood in the body temperately spread throughout all the parts and members thereof Which cometh to pass not so much from the immediate construction of the words though there have not wanted Expositors to fit the words to such construction as from that general inspection and if I may so speak superintendency which the Iudge or Magistrate ought to have over the carriage of all those other inferiour ones A great part of whose duty it is to observe how the rest do theirs and to find them out and check and punish them as they deserve when they transgress So that with your patience Honourable Worshipful and dearly Beloved I have allowance from my Text if the time would as well allow it to speak unto you of five things Whereof the first concerneth the Accuser the second the Witness the third the Iurer the fourth the Lawyer the fifth the Officer and every one of them the Magistrate Iudge and Iusticer But having no purpose to exceed the hour as I must needs do if I should speak to all these to any purpose whilst I speak to the first only I shall desire the rest to make application to themselves so far as it may concern them of every material passage which they may easily do and with very little change for the most part only if they be willing To our first Rule then which concerneth the Accuser and the Iudge in the first words of the Text Thou shalt not raise a false report The Original verb signifieth to take up as if we should read it Thou shalt not take up a false report And it is a word of larger comprehension than most Translators have expressed The full meaning is Thou shalt not have to do with any false report neither by raising it as the Author nor by spreading it as the Reporter nor by receiving it as an Approver But the first fault is in the Raiser and therefore our translations have done well to retain that rather in the Text yet allowing the Receiver a place in the Margent Now false reports may be raised of our brethren by unjust slanders detractions back-bitings whisperings as well out of the course of judgment as in it And the equity of this Rule reacheth even to those extrajudicial Calumnies also But for that I am not now to speak of extrajudicial Calumny so much as of that quae versatur in foro in judiciis those false suggestions and informations which are give into the Courts as more proper both to the scope of my Text and the occasion of this present meeting Conceive the words for the present as spoken especially or at leastwise as not improperly appliable to the Accuser But the Accuser taken at large for any person that impleadeth another in jure publico vel privato in causes either civil or criminal and these again either capital or penal No not the Accused or Defendant excepted who although he cannot be called in strict propriety of speech an Accuser yet if when he is justly accused he seek to defend himself by false unjust or impertinent allegations he is in our present intendment to be taken as an Accuser or as the Raiser and Taker up of a false report But when is a Report false or what is it to raise such a report and how is it done As we may conceive of falshood in a threefold notion namely as it is opposed not only unto Truth first but secondly also unto Ingenuity and thirdly unto Equity also accordingly false reports may be raised three ways The first and grossest way is when we feign and devise something of our own heads to lay against our brother without any foundation at all or ground of truth creating as it were a tale ex nihilo As it is in the Psalm They laid to my charge things that I never did and as Nehemiah sent word to Sanballat There are no such things as thou sayest but thou feignest them of thine own heart Crimen domesticum vernaculum a meer device such as was that of Iezebel's instruments against Naboth which cost him his life and that of Zibah against Mephibosheth which had almost cost him all he had This first kind of Report is false as devoid of Truth The second way which was so frequently used among the Roman Accusers that Custom had made it not only excusable but allowable and is at this day of too frequent use both in private and publick calumniations is when upon some small ground of truth we run descant at pleasure in our own informations interweaving many untruths among or preverting the speeches and actions of our adversaries to make their matters ill when they are not or otherwise aggravating them to make them seem worse than they are As tidings came to David when Ammon only was slain that Absalom had killed all the Kings sons It is an easie and a common thing by misconstruction to deprave whatsoever is most innocently done or spoken The Ammonitish Courtiers dealt so with David when he sent Ambassadors to Hanun in kindness they informed the King as if he had sent spies to discover the strength of the City and Land And the Iews enemies dealt so with those that of devotion repaired the Temple and the Wall of Ierusalem advertising the State as if their purpose had been to fortifie themselves for a Rebellion Yea and the malicious Iews dealt so with Christ himself taking hold of some words of his about the destroying and building of the Temple which he understood of the Temple of his body and so wresting them to the fabrick of the Material Temple as to make them serve to give colour to one of the strongest accusations they had against him This second kind of Report is false as devoid of ingenuity The third way is when taking advantage of the Law we prosecute the extremity thereof against our brother who perhaps hath done something contrary to the letter of the Law but not violated the intent of the Law giver or offended either against common Equity which ought to be the measure of just Laws or against the common good which is in some sort the measure of Equity In that multitude of Laws which for the repressing of disorders and for the maintenance of peace and tranquillity among men must needs be in every well-governed Common-wealth it cannot be avoided but that honest men especially if they have much dealings in the world may have sometimes just and necessary
up before the Lord against the Sun If the Land be defiled with blood it is in vain to think of any other course when God himself hath pronounced it impossible that the Land should be purged from the blood that is shed in it otherwise than by the blood of him that shed it Up then with the zeal of Phinees up for the love of God and of his people all you that are in place of authority Gird your Swords upon your thigh and with your Iavelins in your hand pursue the Idolater and the Adulterer and the Murtherer and the Oppressor and every known Offender into his Tent and nail him to the Earth that he never rise again to do more mischief Let it appear what love you bear to the State by your hatred to them and shew your pity to us by shewing none to them The destroying Angel of God attendeth upon you for his dispatch if you would but set in stoutly he would soon be gone Why should either sloth or fear or any partial or corrupt respect whatsoever make you cruel to the good in sparing the bad or why should you suffer your selves for want of courage and zeal to execute Judgment to lose either the Opportunity or the Glory of being the instruments to appease Gods wrath and to stay his plagues But for that matters appertaining to Iustice and Iudgment must pass through many hands before they come to yours and there may be so much juggling used in conveying them from hand to hand that they may be represented unto you many times in much different forms from what they were in truth and at the first That your care and zeal to execute Iustice and Iudgment faithfully according to your knowledge may not through the fault and miscarriage of other men fail of the blessed end and success that Phinees found I desire that every of them also as well as you would receive the word of Exhortation each in his place and office to set himself uprightly and unpartially as in the sight of God to advance to the utmost of his power the due course and administration of Iustice. And for this purpose by occasion of this Scripture which pointeth us to the End of these Assemblies I shall crave leave to reflect upon another which giveth us sundry particular directions conducing to that End And it is that Scripture whereinto we made some entrance the last Assizes and would have now proceeded farther had not the heavy hand of God upon us in this his grievous Visitation led me rather to make choice of this Text as the more seasonable That other is written in Exodus 23. the Three first Verses Thou shalt not raise a false report put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause Wherein were noted five special Rules shared out among five sorts of persons the Accuser the Witness the Iurer the Pleader the Officer I will but give each of them some brief intimation of their duty from their several proper rules and conclude If thou comest hither then as a Plaintiff or other Party in a civil cause or to give voluntary Information upon a Statute or to prosecute against a Malefactor or any way in the nature of an Accuser Let neither the hope of Gain or of any other advantage to thy self not secret malice or envy against thine adversary nor thy desire to give satisfaction to any third party sway thee beyond the bounds of Truth and Equity no not a little either to devise an untruth against thy neighbour of thine own head or by an hard construction to deprave the harmless actions or speeches of others or to make them worse than they are by unjust aggravations or to take advantage of letters and syllables to entrap innocency without a fault When thou art to open thy mouth against thy brother set the first Rule of that Text as a watch before the door of thy lips Thou shalt not raise a false report If thou comest hither secondly to be used as a Witness perhaps Graecâ fide like a down-right Knight of the Post that maketh of an Oath a jest and a pastime of a Deposition or dealt withal by a bribe or suborned by thy Landlord or great Neighbour or egged on with thine own spleen or malice to swear and forswear as they shall prompt thee or to s enterchange deposition with thy friend as they use to do in Greece Hodie mihi cras tibi Swear thou for me to day I 'll swear for thee to morrow or tempted with any corrupt respect whatsoever by thy Word or Oath to strengthen a false and unrighteous report When thou comest to lay thy hand upon the book lay the second Rule in that Text to thy heart Put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness Though hand joyn in hand The false witness shall not be unpunished If thou comest hither thirdly to serve for the King upon the Grand Inquest or between party and party in any cause whatsoever like those selecti judices among the Romans whom the Praetor for the year being was to nominate and that upon Oath out of the most able and serviceable men in his judgment both for Estate Understanding and Integrity or to serve upon the Tales perhaps at thine own suit to get something toward bearing charges for thy journey or yoked with a crafty or a wilful foreman that is made before-hand and a mess of tame after men withal that dare not think of being wiser than their Leader or unwilling to stickle against a Major part whether they go right or wrong or resolved already upon the Verdict no matter what the Evidence be Consider what is the weight and religion of an Oath Remember that he sinneth not less that sinneth with company Whatsoever the rest do resolve thou to do no otherwise than as God shall put into thy heart and as the Evidence shall lead thee The third Rule in that Text must be thy rule Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil They are silly that in point either of Religion or Iustice would teach us to measure either Truth or Right by multitudes If thou comest hither fourthly as to thine Harvest to reap some fruit of thy long and expenceful study in the Laws to assist thy Client and his Cause with thy Counsel Learning and Eloquence think not because thou speakest for thy Fee that therefore thy tongue is not thine own but thou must speak what thy Client will have thee speak be it true or false neither think because thou hast the liberty of the Court and perhaps the favour of the Iudg that therefore thy tongue is thine own and thou mayest speak thy
fortunate success of his damned Plots and witty Villainies That a weak Prophet should have heart and face enough to proclaim judgment against an Oppressing King in the prime of his Jollity That a bloody Tyrant should tremble at the voice of a poor Prophet and the rest some of which we shall have occasion to take in incidentally in our passage along mark we well but this close of the Chapter in the words of my Text And it will be hard to say whether it can contain matter more Strange or more Comfortable Comfortable in that Gods mercy is so exceedingly magnified and such strong assurance given to the truly penitent of finding gracious Acceptance at the hands of their God when they find him so apprehensive of but an outward enforced semblance of Contrition from the hands of an Hypocrite Strange in that Gods mercy is here magnified even to the hazard of other his divine perfections his Holiness his Truth his Iustice. For each of these is made in some sort questionable that so his Mercy might stand clear and unquestioned A rotten hearted Hypocrite humbleth himself outwardly but repenteth not truly and God accepteth him and rewardeth him Here is Gods mercy in giving respect to one that ill deserved it but where is his Holiness the while being a God of pure Eyes that requireth Truth in the inward parts and will not behold iniquity thus to grace sin and countenance Hypocrisie A fearful judgment is denounced against Ahab's house for his Oppression but upon his humiliation the sentence at least part of it is reversed Here is Mercy still in revoking a sentence of destruction and if somewhat may be said for his Holiness too because it was but a temporal and temporary favour yet where is his Truth the while being a God that cannot lye and With whom is no variableness neither so much as the bare shadow of turning thus to say and unsay and to alter the thing that is gone out of his lips A Judgment is deserved by the Father upon his humiliation the execution is suspended during his life and lighteth upon the Son Here is yet more mercy in not striking the Guilty and if somewhat may be said for Gods Truth too because what was threatned though not presently is yet at last performed yet Where is his Iustice the while being a God that without respect of persons rendreth to every man according to his own works and will Not acquit the guilty neither condemn the innocent thus to sever the Guilt and the Punishment and to lay the Judgment which he spareth from the Father upon the Son from the more wicked Father upon the less wicked Son Thus God to magnifie the riches of his Mercy is content to put his Holiness and his Truth and his Iustice to a kind of venture That so his afflicted ones might know on what Object especially to fasten the Eyes of their souls not on his Holiness not on his Truth not on his Iustice not only nor chiefly on these but on his Mercy He seeketh more general glory in and would have us take more special knowledge of and affordeth us more singular comfort from his Mercy than any of the rest as if he desired we should esteem him unholy or untrue or unjust or any thing rather than unmerciful Yet is he neither unholy nor untrue nor unjust in any of his proceedings with the sons of men but righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works and true in all his words And in this particular of his proceedings with King Ahab at this time I hope by his blessed assistance so to acquit his Holiness and Truth and Iustice from all sinister imputations as that he may be not only magnified in his mercy but justified also in the rest and clear when he is judged as we shall be thereunto occasioned now and hereafter in the handling of this Scripture wherein are three main things considerable First the Ground or rather the Occasion of God's dealing so favourably with Ahab namely Ahab's humiliation Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me because he humbleth himself before me I will not c. Secondly the great Favour shewed to Ahab thereupon namely the suspension of a Judgment denounced I will not bring the evil in his days Thirdly the Limitation of that Favour it is but a Suspension for a time no utter removal of the Judgment But in his Son's days will I bring the evil upon his house Wherein we shall be occasioned to enquire how the first of these may stand with God's Holiness the second with his Truth the third with his Iustice. And first of Ahab's Humiliation Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me This Ahab was King of Israel that is King over those ten Tribes which revolted from Rehoboam the Son of Salomon and clave to Ieroboam the Son of Nebat Search the whole sacred story in the books of Kings and Chronicles and unless we will be so very charitable as notwithstanding many strong presumptions of his Hypocrisie to exempt Iehu the Son of Nimshi and that is but one of twenty we shall not find in the whole List and Catalogue of the Kings of Israel one good one that clave unto the Lord with an upright heart Twenty Kings of Israel and not one or but one good and yet than this Ahab of the twenty scarce one worse It is said in the sixteenth Chapter of this Book that Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him at verse 30. and at verse 33. that he did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the Kings of Israel that were before him and at verse 25. of this Chapter That there was none like unto Ahab which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord. An Oppressour he was and a Murderer and an Idolater and a Persecutor of that holy Truth which God had plentifully revealed by his Prophets and powerfully confirmed by Miracles and mercifully declared by many gracious deliverances even to him in such manner as that he could not but know it to be the Truth and therefore an Hypocrite and in all likelihood an obstinate Sinner against the Holy Ghost and a Cast-away This is Ahab this the man but what is his carriage what doth he he humbleth himself before the Lord. Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me The manner and occasion of his humbling is set down a little before at verse 27. And it came to pass when Ahab heard those words the words of Elijah the Prophet dealing plainly and roundly with him for his hateful Oppression and Murther that he rent his clothes and put Sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted and lay in Sackcloth and went softly And that is the humbling here spoken and allowed
transgress would yet have abhorred to have defiled himself knowingly by Adultery with another mans Wife although the man were but a stranger and the woman exceeding beautiful Certainly Abimelech shall one day rise up in judgment and condemn thy filthiness and injustice whosoever thou art that committest or causest another to commit Adultery Who knowing the judgment of God that they which do such things are worthy of death either dost the same things thy self or hast pleasure in them that do them or being in place and office to punish incontinent persons by easie commutations of publick penance for a private pecuniary mulct dost at once both beguilty thine own Conscience with fordid Bribery and embolden the Adulterer to commit that sin again without fear from which he hath once escaped without shame or so much as valuable loss And thus much for that first Observation The next thing we shall observe from Gods approving of Abimelech's answer and acknowledgment of the integrity of his heart is That some ignorance hath the weight of a just excuse For we noted before that Ignorance was the ground of his Plea He had indeed taken Sarah into his house who was another mans Wife but he hopeth that shall not be imputed to him as a fault because he knew not she was a married woman the parties themselves upon enquiry having informed him otherwise And therefore he appealeth to God himself the trier and judger of mens hearts whether he were not innocent in this matter and God giveth sentence with him Yea I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thine heart Where you see his ignorance is allowed for a sufficient excuse For our clearer understanding of which point that I may not wade farther into that great question so much mooted among Divines than is pertinent to this story of Abimelech and may be useful for us thence viz. Whether or no or how far Ignorance and Error may excuse or lessen sinful Actions proceeding therefrom in point of Conscience let us first lay down one general certain and fundamental ground whereupon indeed dependeth especially the resolution of almost all those difficulties that may occur in this and many other like Questions And that is this It is a condition so essential to every sin to be Voluntary that all other circumstances and respects laid aside every sin is simply and absolutely by so much greater or lesser by how much it is more or less voluntary For whereas there are in the reasonable soul three prime Faculties from whence all humane Actions flow the Understanding the Will and the sensual Appetite or Affections all of these concur indeed to every Action properly Humane yet so as the Will carrieth the greatest sway and is therefore the justest measure of the Moral goodness or badness thereof In any of the three there may be a fault all of them being depraved in the state of corrupt nature and the very truth is there is in every sin every complete sin a fault in every of the three And therefore all sins by reason of the blindness of the Understanding may be called Ignorances and by reason of the impotency of the Affections Infirmities and by reason of the perverseness of the Will Rebellions But for the most part it falleth out so that although all the three be faulty yet the obliquity of the sinful Action springeth most immediately and chiefly from the special default of some one or other of the three If the main defect be in the Understanding not apprehending that good it should or not aright the sin arising from such defect we call more properly a sin of Ignorance If the main defect be in the Affections some passion blinding or corrupting the Judgment the sin arising from such defect we call a sin of Infirmity If the main defect be in the Will with perverse resolution bent upon any evil the sin arising from such wilfulness we call a Rebellion or a sin of Presumption And certainly these sins of Presumption are the greatest of the three because the wilfullest and those of Ignorance the least because there is in them the least disorder of the Will which doth its office in some measure in following the guidance of the understanding the greater fault being rather in the understanding for misguiding it And of sins of Ignorance compared one with another that is ever the least wherein the defect is greater in the understanding and in the will less From this Principle do issue sundry material conclusions and namely amongst many other most pertinently to our purpose these two The one that all Error and Ignorance doth not always and wholly excuse from sin The other that yet some kind of Ignorance and Error doth excuse from sin sometimes wholly but very often at least in part The whole truth of both these conclusions we may see in this one action of Abimelesh in taking Sarah into his house In him there was a twofold Error and thence also a twofold Ignorance The one was an Error in universali Ignorantia Iuris as they call it concerning the nature of Fornication which being a heinous sin he took to be either none at all or a very small one The other was an error in particulari Ignorantia Facti concerning the personal condition and relation of Sarah to Abraham whose Sister he thought her to be and not Wife though she were both That former Ignorance Ignorantia Iuris in Abimelech was in some degree voluntary For Abimelech had in him the common Principles of the Law of Nature by the light whereof if he had been careful to have improved it but even so far as right reason might have led a prudent and dispassionate natural man he might have discerned in the most simple Fornication such incongruity with those Principles as might have sufficiently convinced him of the unlawfulness thereof It is presumed that all Ignorance of that which a man is bound to know and may know if he be not wanting to himself is so far forth wilful Now Abimelech was bound to know that all carnal knowledge of man and woman out of the state of Wedlock was simply unlawful and so much if he had not been wanting to himself in the use of his Naturals he might have known and therefore it was a kind of wilful ignorance in him in some degree that he did not know it And therefore further he cannot be wholly excused from sin in taking Sarah notwithstanding both that and his other ignorance for although he did not know her to be Abraham's Wife yet he knew well enough she was not his own wife and being not so to him whatsoever she was to Abraham it skilled not he should certainly not have taken her To plead Ignorance that he knew not Fornication to be a sin would little help him in this case For men must know they stand answerable unto God for their Actions not meerly according to the knowledge which they ought
coarse he should be content with it nay though he should want either or both he should be content without it We should all learn of an old experienced servant of God St. Paul what grace and long experience had taught him In whatsoever state we are to be therewith content We are to shew our Obedience to our heavenly Master yet further by submitting to his wholesom Discipline when at any time he shall see cause to give us correction Our Apostle a little after the Text would have servants to be subject even to their froward Masters and to take it patiently when they are buffeted undeservedly and without fault How much more ought we to accept the punishment of our iniquity as we have the phrase Lev. 26. and with patience to yield our backs to the whip when God who hath been so gracious a Master to us shall think fit to exercise some little severity towards us and to lay stripes upon us Especially since he never striketh us First but for our fault such is his justice nor Secondly such is his mercy but for our good And all this belongeth to that Obedience which the servant of God ought to manifest both by doing and suffering according to the will of his Master The third and last general duty is Fidelity Who is a faithful and wise servant Well done thou good and faithful servant as if the wisdom and goodness of a servant consisted in his faithfulness Now the faithfulness of a servant may be tried especially by these three things by the heartiness of his service by being tender of his Masters honour and profit and by his quickness and diligence in doing his business A notable example whereof we have in Abraham's servant Gen. 24. in all the three particulars For first being many miles distant from his Master he was no less solicitous of the business he was put in trust withal than he could have been if he had been all that while in the eye of his Master Secondly he framed himself in his speeches and actions and in his whole behaviour to such a discreet carriage as might best set forth the credit and honour of his Master Thirdly he used all possible diligence and expedition losing not any time either at first for the delivery of his message or at last for his return home after he had brought things to a good conclusion Such faithfulness would well become us in the service of God in all the aforesaid respects The first whereof is Heartiness in his service There are many servants in the world that will work hard and bustle at it lustily for a fit and so long as their Masters eye is upon them but when his back is turned can be content to go on fair and softly and fellow-like Such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle condemneth Col. 3. and elsewhere admonishing servants whatsoever they do to do it heartily and to obey their Masters not with eye-service but in singleness of heart Towards our heavenly Master true it is if we had but this eye-service it were enough because we are never out of his eye his eyes are in all corners of the earth beholding the evil and the good and his eye-lids try the children of men he is about our beds and about our paths and spieth out all our goings And therefore if we should but study to approve our selves and our actions before his sight it could not be but our services should be hearty as well as handy because our hearts are no less in his sight than our hands are We cannot content our Master nor should we content our selves with a bare and barren profession in the service of God neither with the addition of some outward performances of the work done but since our Master calleth for the heart as well as the hand and tongue and requireth truth in the inward parts no less rather much more than shew in the outward let us but joyn that inward truth of the heart unto the outward profession and performance and doubtless we shall be accepted Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart 1 Sam. 12. Secondly We must shew our faithfulness to our Master by our zeal in his behalf A faithful servant will not endure an evil word spoken of his Master behind his back but he will be ready upon every occasion to vindicate his credit and to magnifie him unto the opinion of others He will make much of those that love his Master and set the less by those that care not for him And as to his credit principally so he hath an eye also in the second place to the profit of his Master He will have a care to save his goods the best he can it will grieve his very heart to see any of them vainly wasted or imbezeled by his fellow-servants yea and it will be some grief to him if any thing under his hand do but chance to miscarry though it be without his fault See we how far every of us can apply all this to our own selves in the service of God If we have no heart to stand up in our rank and place for the maintenance of Gods truth and worship when it is discountenanced or over-born either by might or multitudes If our blood will not appear a little when cursed miscreants blast the honour of God with their unhallowed breath by blaspheming oaths fearful imprecations scurrile profanations of Scripture licentious and bitter sarcasms against the holy Ordinances of God If a profound drunkard and obscene rimer an habituated swearer a complete roarer every loose companion and professed scorner of all goodness that doth but peep out with a head be as welcome into our company and find as full and free entertainment with us as he that carrieth the face and for any thing we know hath the heart of an honest and sober Christian without either profaneness or preciseness If we grieve not for the miscarriages of those poor souls that live near us especially those that fall any way under our charge what faithfulness is there in us or what zeal for God to answer the title we usurp so often as we call our selves the servants of God Thirdly If we be his faithful servants we should let it appear by our diligence in doing his businesses No man would willingly entertain an idle servant that is good at bit and nothing else one of those the old riming verse describeth Sudant quando vorant frigescunt quando laborant such as eat till they sweat and work till they freeze O thou wicked and slothful servant saith the Master in the Parable to him that napkined up his Talent Mat. 25. they are rightly joyned wicked and slothful for it is impossible a slothful servant should be good The Poets therefore give unto Mercury who is Interpres divûm the Messenger as they feign
ween is another-gates matter than to make the face to shine This for material Oil. Then for those other outward things which for some respects I told you might be also comprehended under the name of Ointments Riches Honours and worldly Pleasures alas how poor and sorry comforts are they to a man that hath forfeited his good Name that liveth in no credit not reputation that groaneth under the contempt and reproach and infamy of every honest or but sober man Whereas he that by godly and vertuous Actions by doing Iustice and exercising Mercy and ordering himself and his affairs discreetly holdeth up his good Name and reputation hath that yet to comfort himself withal and to fill his bones as with marrow and fatness though encompassed otherwise with many outward wants and calamities Without which even life it self would be unpleasant I say not to a perfect Christian only but even to every ingenuous moral man The worthier â—ort of men among the Heathens would have chosen rather to have died the most cruel deaths than to have lived infamous under shame and disgrace And do not those words of St. Paul 1 Cor. 9. shew that he was not much otherwise minded It were better for me to dye than that any man should make my glorying void Thus a good Name is better than any precious Ointment take it as you will properly or tropically because it yieldeth more solid content and satisfaction to him that enjoyeth it than the other doth 17. Compare them thirdly in those performances whereunto they enable us Oils and Ointments by a certain penetrative faculty that they have being well chaâ—ed in do supple the joynts and strengthen the sinews very much and thereby greatly enable the body for action making it more nimble and vigorous than otherwise it would be Whence it was that among the Greeks and from their example among the Romans and in other Nations those that were to exercise Arms or other feats of Activity in their solemn Games especially Wrestlers did usually by frictions and anointings prepare and fit their bodies for those Athletick performances to do them with more agility and less weariness Insomuch as Chrysostom and other Greek Fathers almost every where use the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only when they speak of those preparatory advantages such as are prayer fasting meditation of Christs Sufferings or of the Joys of Heaven and the like wherewith Christians may fortifie and secure themselves when they are to enter the combate with their spiritual enemies but more generally to signifie any preparing or fitting of a person for any manner of action whatsoever 18. But how much more excellent then is a good name Which is of such mighty consequence advantage for the expediting of any honest enterprise that we take in hand either in our Christian course or civil life in this World It is an old saying taken up indeed in relation to another matter somewhat distant from that we are now treating of but it holdeth no less true in this than in that other respect Duo cum faciunt idem non est idem Let two men speak the same words give the same advice pursue the same business drive the same design with equal right equal means equal diligence every other thing equal yet commonly the success is strangely different if the one be well thought of and the other labour of an ill name So singular an advantage is it for the crowning of our endeavours with good success to be in a good name If there be a good opinion held of us and our names once up whether we deserve it or no whatsoever we do is well taken whatsoever we propose is readily entertained our counsels yea and rebukes too carry weight and authority with them By which means we are enabled if we have but grace to make that good use thereof to do the more good to bring the more glory to God to give better countenance to his truth and to good causes and things Whereas on the other side if we be in an ill name whether we deserve it or no all our speeches and actions are ill-interpreted no man regardeth much what we say or do our proposals are suspected our counsels and rebukes though wholsom and just scorned and kickt at so as those men we speak for that side we adhere to those causes we defend those businesses we manage shall lie under some prejudice and be like to speed the worse for the evil opinion that is held of us We know well it should be otherwise Non quis sed quid As the Magistrate that exerciseth publick judgment should lay aside all respect of the person and look at the cause only so should we all in our private judgings of other mens speeches and actions look barely upon the truth of what they say and the goodness of what they do and accordingly esteem of both neither better nor worse more or less for whatsoever fore-conceits we may have of the person Otherwise how can we avoid the charge of having the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ the Lord of Glory with respect of persons But yet since men are corrupt and will be partial this way do we what we can and that the World and the affairs thereof are so much steered by Opinion it will be a point of godly wisdom in us so far to make use of this common corruption as not to disadvantage our selves for want of a good name and good Opinion for the doing of that good whilst we live here among men subject to such frailties which we should set our desires and bend our endeavours to do And so a good Name is better than a good Ointment in that it enableth us to better and worthier performances 19. Compare them Fourthly in their Extensions and that both for Place and Time For place first That Quality of the three before-mentioned which especially setteth a value upon Ointments advancing their price and esteem more eminently than any other consideration is their smell those being ever held most precious and of greatest delicacy that excel that way And herein is the excellency of the choicest Aromatical Ointments that they do not only please the sence if they be held near to the Organ but they do also disperse the fragrance of their scent round about them to a great distance Of the sweetest herbs and flowers the smell is not much perceived unless they be held somewhat near to the Nostril But the smell of a precious Ointment will instantly diffuse it self into every corner though of a very spacious room as you heard but now of the Spikenard poured on our Saviours feet Ioh. 12. But see how in that very thing wherein the excellency of precious Ointments consisteth a good Name still goeth beyond it It is more diffusive and spreadeth farther Of King Uzziah so long as he did well and
it is this a very good one too viz. That when we are to try the Doctrines we should duly examine them whether they be according unto Godliness yea or no. Our Saviours direction for the discovery of false Prophets Mat. 7. is to this very purpose Ex fructibus Ye shall know them by their fruits Meaneth he it trow you of the fruits of their lives in their outward Conversation Verily no not only no nor principally neither perhaps not at all For Falshood is commonly set off by Hypocrisie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the next following verse here Shews of Sanctity and Purity pretensions of Religion and Reformation is the wool that the woolf wrappeth about him when he meaneth to do most mischief with least suspicion The Old Serpent sure is never so silly as to think his Ministers the Ministers of darkness should be able to draw in a considerable party into their communion should they appear in their dismal colours therefore he putteth them into a new dress before he sendeth them abroad disguising and transforming them as if they were the Ministers of righteousness and of the light Our Saviour therefore cannot mean the fruits of their lives so much if at all as the fruits of their Doctrines that is to say the necessary consequents of their Doctrines such Conclusions as naturally and by good and evident discourse do issue from their Doctrines And so understood it is a very useful Rule even in the Affirmative taking in other requisite conditions withal but in the Negative taken even alone and by it self it holdeth infallibly If what is spoken seem to be according to Godliness it is the better to like onward and the more likely to be true yet may it possibly be false for all that and therefore it will be needful to try it farther and to make use of other Criterions withal But if what is spoken upon examination appear to have any repugnancy with Godliness in any one branch or duty thereunto belonging we may be sure the words cannot be wholsom words It can be no heavenly Doctrine that teacheth men to be Earthly Sensual or Devilish or that tendeth to make men unjust in their dealings uncharitable in their censures undutiful to their superiors or any other way superstitious licentious or prophane 32. I note it not without much rejoycing and gratulating to us of this Church There are God knoweth a-foot in the Christian World Controversies more than a good many Decads Centuries Chiliads of novel Tenents brought in in this last Age which were never believed many of them scarce ever heard of in the Ancient Church by Sectaries of all sorts Now it is our great comfort blessed be God for it that the Doctrine established in the Church of England I mean the publick Doctrine for that is it we are to hold us to passing by private Opinions I say the publick Doctrine of our Church is such as is not justly chargeable with any Impiety contrarious to any part of that Duty we owe either to God or Man Oh that our Conversations were as free from exception as our Religion is Oh that we were sufficiently careful to preserve the honour and lustre of the Truth we profess by the correspondency of our lives and actions thereunto 33. And upon this point we dare boldly joyn issue with our clamourous adversaries on either hand Papists I mean and Disciplinarians Who do both so loudly but unjustly accuse us and our Religion they as carnal and licentious these as Popish and superstitious As Elijah once said to the Baalites that God that answereth by fire let him be God so may we say to either of both and when we have said it not fear to put it to a fair trial That Church whose Dostrine Confession and Worship is most according to Godliness let that be the Church As for our Accusers if there were no more to be instanced in but that one cursed position alone wherein notwithstanding their disagreements otherwise they both consent That lawful Soveraigns may be by their Subjects resisted and Arms taken up against them for the cause of Religion it were enough to make good the Challenge against them both Which is such a notorious piece of Ungodliness as no man that either feareth God or King as he ought to do can speak of or think of without detestation and is certainly if either St. Peter or St. Paul those two great Apostles understood themselves a branch rather of that other great mystery 2 Thes. 2. the mystery of Iniquity than of the great mystery here in the Text the mystery of Godliness There is not that point in Popery besides to my understanding that maketh it savour so strongly of Antichrist as this one dangerous and desperate point of Iesuitism doth Wherein yet those men that are ever bawling against our Ceremonies and Service as Antichristian do so deeply and wretchedly symbolize with them The Lord be judge between them and us whether our Service or their Doctrine be the more Antichristian 34. I have done with the former Inference for the trial of Doctrines there is another yet behind for the bettering of our lives For sith Christianity is a mystery of Godliness it concerneth every Christian man so to take the mystery along with him that he leave not Godliness behind That is whatsoever becometh of doubtful Controversies to look well to his life and to make conscience of practising that which without all Controversie is his Duty I know Controversies must be looked into and it were well if it were done by them and by them only whose Gifts and Callings serve for it For Truths must be maintained Errors must be refuted and the Mouths of gain-sayers must be stopped All this must be done it is true but it is as true when all this is done still the shortest cut to heaven is Faith and Godliness 35. I know not how better to draw my Sermon towards a conclusion than by observing how the great Preacher concludeth his Eccles. last After he had taken a large and exact survey of all the travels that are done under the Sun and found nothing in them but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit he telleth us at length that in multitude of Books and much reading we may sooner meet with weariness than satisfaction But saith he if you will hear the end of all here it is this is the Conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole business of man upon which all his care and employment in this world should be spent So I say we may puzzle our selves in the pursuit of knowledg dive into the mysteries of all Arts and Sciences especially ingulph our selves deep in the studies of those three highest Professions of Physick Law and Divinity For Physick search into the Writings of Hippocrates Galen and the Methodists of Avicen and the Empyricks of Paracelsus and the Chymists for Law wrestle through the large bodies
of God or his holy Spirit and therefore the sin so produced is to be ascribed to the fleshly Will as to the sole and proper cause thereof and may therefore very rightly be said to be the work of the flesh But in the producing of any action that is spiritually good the Will operateth only as a subordinate Agent to the grace of the holy Spirit and in the power and virtue thereof and therefore altho the good work may in some sort be said to be our work because immediately produced by our Wills yet it is in truth the fruit of that Spirit and not of our Wills because it is wrought by the power of that Spirit and not by any power of our Wills Nevertheless not I but the grace of God with me 1 Cor. 15. 25. If this seem but a subtilty and satisfy not let it go the other I presume will being it is so plain and popular The word Fruit most what relateth to some Labour going before Hoc fructûs pro labore ab his fero in the Poet. So in the Scriptures Nevertheless this is the fruit of my labour The husbandman that first laboureth must be partaker of the fruit Labour first and then Fruit. That which David calleth the labour of the hands Thou shalt eat the labour of thy hands Psal. 128. Solomon calleth the fruit of the hands Give her of the fruit of her hands Prov. 31. 26. The reason is because no Man would willingly undergo any toil or labour to no end he would have something or other in his eye that might in some measure recompence his pains and that is called the fruit of his labour Tully therefore joineth proemium and fructum together as importing the same thing Who planteth a Vineyard but in hope to eat of the fruit of it Or what Husbandman would plow and sow and plant and prune and dig and dung if he did not hope to find it all answered again when he cometh to inn the Fruits Spe fructûs dura ferentes The first question in every Man's thoughts when he is importuned to any thing of labour and business is Ecquid erit pretii Will it be worth my labour What benefit shall I reap by it What will be the fruit of my pains 27. In all deliberations where two ways are offered to our choice Wisdom would that we should first weigh as advisedly and exactly as we can the labour and the fruit of the one against the other and as we find those rightly compared to be more or less to make our resolutions accordingly We are called on hard on both sides God commandeth us to serve him Satan and the World solicite us to the service of sin Promises there are or Intimations of Fruit on both sides Salvation to our Souls on the one side Satisfaction to our Lusts on the other Here then is our business and our wisdom to compare what is required and what is offered on both sides to examine on the one side first and then on the other whether the Work exceed the Fruit or the Fruit the Work 28. Now the Apostle by the very choice of his words here hath after a sort done the business and determined the Controversy to our hands In the service of sin the toil is so great that in comparison thereof the benefit is as nothing and in the Service of God the benefit so great that in comparison thereof the pains is as nothing Where the Flesh ruleth all the Work exceedeth the Fruit and therefore without ever mentioning the Fruit they are called the Works of the Flesh. But where the Spirit of God ruleth the Fruit exceedeth the Work and therefore without ever mentioning the Work it is called the Fruit of the Spirit 29. If in this passage only this different manner of speaking had been used by the Apostle it might perhaps have been taken for a casual expression unsufficient to ground any collection upon But look into Eph. 5. and you cannot doubt but it was done of choice and with this very meaning Speaking there of the Duties of Holiness even as here without any mention of work he calleth them by the name of Fruit The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth vers 9. But by and by vers 11. speaking of sinful actions he doth not only call them Works as he doth here but positively and expresly pronounceth them fruitless Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Works but without Fruit unfruitful works of darkness This justifieth the collection to be evident and natural and without enforcement The ways of sin are very toilsom yet withal unfruitful but in all spiritual labour there is profit The fruit will countervail the pains and recompence it abundantly We may not unfitly apply to these two his words in the Comedy In his fructus est in his opera luditur 30. The paths of sin seem indeed at the first hand and in the entrance to be very pleasant and even The Devil to draw Men in goeth before like a leveller and smootheth the way for them but when they are in he driveth them along and on they must Be the way never so dark and slippery never so crooked or craggy never so intricate and perplexed being once engaged they must go through it per saxa per ignes stick at nothing be it never so contrary to the Laws of God or Men to all natural civil or religious obligations yea even to the principles of common humanity and reason that avarice ambition revenge or any other vicious lust putteth them upon Ambulavimus vias difficiles they confess it at last when it is too late and befool themselves for it We have wearied our selves in the way of wickedness and destruction we have gone through dangerous ways c. Wisd. 5. They have wearied themselves to work iniquity saith the Prophet Ieremiah and the Prophet Habakkuk The people labour in the very fire The Greek word that signifieth wickedness cometh of another that signifieth labour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And how often in the Scriptures do we meet with such-like Phrases as those to work wickedness workers of iniquity c. St. Chrysostom's eloquence enlargeth it self and triumpheth in this argument more frequently and with greater variety of invention and amplification than in almost any other and he cleareth it often and beyond all exception both by Scripture and Reason that the life of a wicked or worldly Man is a very druggery infinitely more toilsom vexatious and unpleasant than a godly life is 31. Now if after all this droyling the fruit would tho but in a scant proportion answer the pains it were the more tolerable But there is no such matter the Sinner hath but his labour for his pains Nay I may say it were happy for him if he had but his labour for his pains and that there were not a
so many Mock-Graces and specious counter feits that carry a semblance of spiritual fruit but are not the things they seem to be And on the other side inordinate love of our selves partly and partly want of Charity towards our brethren have so disposed us to a capacity of being deceived that it is no wonder if in passing our judgments especially where our selves are concerned we be very much and very often mistaken It might rather be a wonder if we should not be sometimes mistaken 44. As most Errors claim to be a little akin to some Truths so most Vices challenge a kind of affinity to some Vertue Not so much from any proper intrinsecal true resemblance they have with such vertues as by reason of the common opposition they both have to one and the same contrary Vice As Prodigality hath some overly likeness with Liberality and so may hap to be mistaken for it for no other cause but this only that they are both contrary to Covetousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle truly fallacy and deception for the most part arise from the appearance of some likeness oâ— similitude when things that are like but not the same are taken to be the same because they are like They that have given us marks of sincerity for the trial of our Graces have not been able to give us any certain Rules or infallible Characters whereby to try the sincerity of those Marks so as to remove all doubtings and possibility of erring 45. Whence I supose I may safely infer that the certainty of a Man's present standing in grace but much more then of his eternal future salvation although I doubt not but by the mercy of God it may be attainable in this life and that without extraordinary revelation in such a measure as may sustain the soul of an honest Christian with comfort is not yet either so absolutely necessary nor so void of fears and doubtings as some perhaps have imagined 46. Not so necessary but that a Man may be saved without it Many a good soul no doubt there is in the world that out of the experience of the falseness of his own heart and the fear of self-deceit and the sense of his own unworthiness could never yet attain to be so well persuaded of the sincerity of his own Repentance Faith and Obedience as to think that God would approve of it and accept it The censure were very hard and a great violation it would be of Charity I am sure and I think of Truth also to pronounce such a Man to be out of the State of Salvation or to call such his dis-persuasion by the name of Despair and under that name to condemn it There is a common but a great mistake in this matter Despair is far another manner of thing than many take it for When a Man thinketh himself so incapable of God's pardon that he groweth thereupon regardless of all duties and neither careth what he doth nor what shall become of him when he is once come to this resolution Over shoes over boots I know God will never forgive me and therefore I will never trouble my self to seek his favour in vain this is to run a deseperate course indeed this is properly the sin of Despair But when the fear that God hath not yet pardoned him prompteth him to better resolutions and exciteth him to a greater care of repentance and newness of life and maketh him more diligent in the performance of all holy duties that so he may be the more capable of pardon it is so far from being any way prejudical to his eternal salvation that it is the readiest way to secure it 47. But where the greatest certainty is that can be attained to in this life by ordinary means it is not ordinarily unless perhaps to some few persons at the very hour of death so perfect as to exclude all doubtings The fruits of the Spirit where they are true and sincere being but imperfect in this life and the truth and sincerity of them being not always so manifest but that a Man may sometimes be deceived in his judgment concerning the same it can hardly be what between the one and the other the imperfection of the thing and the difficulty of judging but that the Assurance which is wholly grounded thereupon and can therefore have no more strength than they can give it must be subject to Fears Iealonsies and Doubtings 48. I speak not this to shake any Man's comfort God forbid but to stir up every Man's care to abound and increase so much the more in all godliness and in the fruits of the Spirit by giving all diligence by walking in the Spirit and subduing the Lusts of the Flesh to make his Calling and Election sure Sure in it self that he fail not of Salvation in the end and sure to him also as far as he can that his comfort may be the greater and sounder in the mean time Now the God of all Grace and Glory send the Spirit of his Son plentifully into our Hearts that we may abound in the Fruits of godly living to the praise of his Grace our present comfort in this Life and the eternal salvation of our Souls in the Day of our Lord Iesus Christ. AD MAGISTRATUM The First Sermon At the Assizes at Lincoln in the Year 1690 at the Request of Sir DANIEL Dâ—IGNâ— Knight then High Sheriff of that Coâ—â—â—y Prov. 24. 10 12. 10. If thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small 11. If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be sâ—ain 12. If thou sayest Behold we know it not doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it and he that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it and shall not he render to every man according to his works 1. AS in most other things so in the performance of that duty which this Text aimeth at we are neither careful before-hand such is the uncharitableness of our incompassionate hearts to do well nor yet willing afterwards through the pride of our Spirits to acknowledg we have done ill The holy Spirit of God therefore hath directed Solomon in this Scripture wherein he would incite us to the performance of the duty to frame his words in such sort as to meet with us in both these corruptions and to let us see that as the duty is necessary and may not be neglected so the neglect is damnable and cannot be excused In the handling whereof I shall not need to bestow much labour either in searching into the contexture of the words or examining the differences of translations Because the sentence as in the rest of this Book for the most part hath a compleat sence within it self without any necessary either dependence upon any thing going before or reference to any thing coming after and the differences that are in the translations are neither many in number nor
God of admirable Wisdom by whom are weighed not only the actions but also the spirits of Men and their very hearts pondered neither is there any thing that may escape his Enquiry Trust not therefore to vain excuses for certainly thy heart shall be throughly sifted and thy pretensions narrowly looked into when he taketh the matter into his consideration Doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it The next step is for Deprehension or Conviction and that grounded upon his knowledg or Omniscience And he that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it As if he had said Thou mayest by colourable pretences delude Men who are strangers to thy soul and cannot discern the thoughts and intents of the heart But there is no dissembling before him unto whose eyes all things are naked and open nor is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight He that made thy soul at the first and hath ever since kept it and still keepeth it observing every motion and inclinatinon of it he perfectly knoweth all that is in it and if there be any hidden guile in any secret corner of it tho obscured from Man's search by never so many windings and labyrinths yet he will undoubtedly find it out He that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it 3. The last step is for Retribution and that grounded upon his justice And shall not he render to every Man according to his Works As if he had said If mortal Man was to decide the Matter thou mightest have some hope that time and other means that might be used might frame him to thine own bent either to connive at a gross fault or to admit of a slender excuse But God is a most righteous Iudg not to be wrought upon by any artifice to do iniquity or to accept the persons of Men. According therefore as thy works are so without all question shall thy doom be Shall not the Iudg of all the World do right And shall not he render to every Man according to his Works 6. Thus you see the Text opened and therewithal opened a large field of matter if we should beat out every particular But that we may keep within some reasonable bounds and within the time we will hold us to these three principal points or conclusions First That the several excuses before mentioned as supposed to be pointed at in the Text may be sometimes pleaded justly and reasonably and in such case are to be admitted and allowed Secondly That they may be also all of them and are God knoweth too often pretended where there is no just cause for it Thirdly That where they are causlesly pretended tho they may blear the eyes of Men yet will they be of little avail in the sight of God Of each of these in the order as I have now proposed them and first of the first If thou sayest Behold we know it not 7. Questionless if that Allegation could never be just Solomon would wholly and absolutely have rejected it Which since he hath not done but referred it to judgment we may conclude there are times and cases wherein it will be allowed as a good and sufficient plea if it shall be said Behold we knew it not We esteem it the Fool 's Buckler and it is no better as it is many times used to say Non putâram Yet may a right honest and wise Man without the least blemish to his reputation be sometimes driven to take up the very same buckler and to use his own just defence When he is charged with it as his crime that his brother hath been oppressed and he hath not delivered him be he a private Man or be he a publick Minister of Justice it will sufficiently acquit him both in the Judgment of God and of his own heart and of all reasonable Men if he can say bonâ fide as it is in the Text Behold I knew it not The truth whereof I shall endeavour to make appear to you in each of the three forementioned respects First Men may want due information for matter of Fact or secondly Their judgments may be in suspence for point of right or Thirdly Where they perfectly comprehend both the whole business and the equity of it there may lie such rubs in the way as all the power and skill they have will not be able to avoid so that tho the cause be good they cannot tell for their lives which way to do good in it In any of which cases may they not well say Behold we knew it not 8. First They may want information for matter of Fact Not to speak of things farther off which therefore less concern us of those things that are done amongst them that live under us or near us how many passages are there that never come to our knowledg Much talk there is indeed in all our meetings and much bold censuring of the actions of those that are above us at every table Yet much of this we take up but upon trust and the credit of flying reports which are ever full of uncertainty and not seldom of malice and so we run descant upon a false ground But as for the affairs of them that are below us whereon especially the Duty of the Text is to be exercised other than what we chance to hear of obiter and by imperfect or partial relations very little thereof is brought to our ears by way of just complaint or according to pure truth And of all Men the greatest are sure evermore to know the least It is one of the unhappinesses of Princes and Magistrates and all that are in high place that whereas all their speeches and actions are upon the publick Stage exposed to the view and censure of the very meanest as a Beacon on the top of a hill open to every eye and bleak to every wind themselves on the contrary can have very little true information of those abuses and disorders in their Inferiors which it properly belongeth to them both to punish and reform If in private Families which being of a narrow compass are therefore easily looked into the Masters commonly be the last that shall hear of what is amiss therein Dedecus ille domus sciet ultimus how much more then is it improbable in a great Township in a spacious County in a vast Kingdom but that manifold â—usances and injuries should escape the knowledg of the most vigilant and conscionable Governors When both Court and City and the whole Empire rang of wanton Livia's impudent lasciviousness and Messalina's audacious courtings of Silius the Emperors themselves Augustus Father to the one and Claudius Husband to the other heard nothing of either till the news was stale every where else Principes omnia facilius quam sua cognoscunt saith the Historian concerning the one and the Satyrist concerning the other Dum res Nota urbi populo contigat Caesaris aures And no doubt but many pious and
he feeleth in his soul. A third Cause is oftentimes in the Application of the Instrument to the Object For although Gods Word in the general be Powerful and the Conscience of it self be of a stirring Nature yet then ordinarily doth the word of God work most powerfully upon the Consciences of obstinate sinners when it is throughly and closely applied to some special corruption whereunto the party cannot plead Not guilty when the sin and the judgment are both so driven home that the guilty offender can neither avoid the evidence of the one nor the fear of the other A plain instance whereof we have in this present history of King Ahab When Eliah first came to him in the Vineyard he was pert enough Hast thou fond me O mine Enemy But by that the Prophet had done with him told him of the sin which was notorious Hast thou killed and taken possession foretold him of the judgment which was heavy I will bring evil upon thee and will take away thy Posterity c. the man was not the man Eliah left him in far other tune than he found him in The Prophets words wrought sore upon him and his Conscience wrought sore within him both together wrought him to the humiliation we now speak of It came to pass when he heard these words that he rent his cloaths c. If you desire another Instance turn to Acts 24. 25. where there is a right good one and full to this purpose There we read that Felix the Roman Deputy in Iury trembled when Paul reasoned of justice and of temperance and of the judgment to come What was that thing may we think in St. Paul's reasoning which especially made Felix to tremble It is commonly taken to be the Doctrine of the last judgment which is indeed a terrible doctrine and able if it be throughly apprehended to make the stoutest of the sons of men to tremble But I take it that is not all The very thing that made Felix tremble seemeth rather to be that Paul's discourse fell upon those special vices wherein he was notably faulty and then clapt in close with judgment upon them For Felix was noted of much cruelty and injustice in the administration of the affairs of Iury howsoever Tertullus like a smooth Orator to curry favour with him and to do Paul a displeasure did flatteringly commend his government and he was noted also of incontinency both otherwise and especially in marrying Drusilla who was another mans wife Tacitus speaking of him in the fifth of his History painteth him out thus Per omnem libidinem jus regium servili ingenio exercuit And for such a man as governed with cruelty and rapine and lived in unchast wedlock to hear one reason powerfully of Iustice and of Chastity for so much the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there used properly importeth and of Iudgment it is no wonder if it make him tremble Do thou consider this and tremble whosoever thou art that in thy thoughts despisest the holy word of God accounting of it but as of some humane invention to keep fools in awe withal and thou also whosoever thou art that undervaluest this precious treasure for the meanness or other infirmities of the earthen vessel wherein it is conveyed Tell me dost thou not herein struggle against the testimony and evidence of thine own heart Doth not thine own Conscience and Experience tell thee that this Sword of the Spirit hath a keen edge and biteth and pierceth where it goeth Hath it not sometimes galled and rubbed and lanced end cut thee to the very bone and entred even to the dividing asunder of the joynts and of the marrow Hath it not sometimes as it were by subtle and serpentine insinuations strangly wound it self through those many crooked and Labyrinthian turnings that are in thine heart into the very inmost corner and centre thereof and there ripped up thy bowels and thy reins and raked out the filth and corruption that lurked within thee and set thy secretest thoughts in order before thy face in such sort as that thou hast been strucken with astonishment and horror at the discovery Though perhaps it have not yet softned and melted thy stony and obdurate heart yet didst thou never perceive it hammering about it with sore strokes and knocks as if it would break and shiver it into a thousand pieces Doubtless thou hast and if thou wouldest deny it thy conscience is able to give thy tongue the lye and to convince thee to thy face And if thou hast why then dost thou not readily acknowledge the voice of God in it having felt in it that lively power and efficacy which it is not possible any device of the wit of man should have Take heed then how thou dost traduce or despise or but undervalue that upon any seeming pretence whatsoever for which thou hast such a strong witness in thine own heart from the experience of the unresisted power of it that it is indeed the word of God and not the breath of sinful man Felix trembled at it Ahab was humbled by it the one an Atheist the other an Hypocrite thou art worse than either Atheist or Hypocrite if it work not at least as much upon thee Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself at the voice of the Prophet From Ahab's Humiliation and the Occasion thereof pass we now to consider in the last place the Success of it Ahab is humbled at the Prophets denouncing of judgment against him and God hence taketh occasion to be so gracious to Ahab as though not wholly to remove yet to suspend and adjourn the judgment for a time Seest thou how Ahab is humbled before me because he humbleth himself before me I will not bring the evil in his days c. And here must Gods Holiness be brought unto a trial before the Bar of carnal reason if by any means it can justifie it self God hateth the works of Hypocrites he loatheth even sacrifices without mercy his soul cannot away with the Oblations and new Moons and solemn Feasts of men that have their hands full of blood no not though they make many Prayers and tender them with behaviour of greatest devotion stretching out their hands towards heaven and afflicting their souls with fasting and hanging down their heads as Bulrushes with pensiveness but even their best sacrifices and confessions and Prayers and humiliations are an abomination unto him so far from appeasing his wrath against other sins as that they provoke his yet farther displeasure against themselves Such is the Holiness of our God and such the purity of his nature with which holiness and purity how can it stand to accept and reward as here he seemeth to do the counterfeit humiliation of such a wretched Hypocrite as now we suppose Ahab to be For the clearing of this difficulty First let it be granted which I take
to be a certain truth and for any thing I know never gain-said by any that Ahab not only before and after but even in the act and at the instant of this humiliation was an hypocrite Let it be granted secondly which is the thing urged in the doubt that this humiliation of his being performed but in hypocrisie was not acceptable to God as a good work but abominable before him as a foul sin But yet withal it must be granted thirdly that although Ahab did not well in not being humbled with an upright heart yet he had done much worse if he had not been humbled at all And that therefore there was though no true spiritual goodness yet some outward moral goodness in Ahab's humiliation at least so far forth as a thing less evil may in comparison of a worse thing be termed good And then are we to know fourthly that it may stand with Gods holiness as it doth with his goodness and justice to reward outward good things with outward good things and moral and temporary graces with worldly and temporal blessings as here he rewardeth Ahab's temporary and external humiliation with an outward temporal favour viz. the adjourning of an outward temporal judgment That which hence we would observe is That God rewardeth sometimes common graces with common favours temporary obedience with temporal beneficence This is proved unto us first from the general course of Gods justice and his promise grounded upon that justice to reward every man according to his works To which justice of his and to which promise of his it is agreeable as to recompense Spiritual good things with Eternal so to recompense Moral good thing with Temporal rewards 2. From special express warrant of Scripture In Matth. 6. Christ saith of Hypocrites more than once that they have their reward As in the doing of their seeming good works they aim especially at the vain praise and commendation of men so they have the full reward of those works in the vain praise and commendation of men Though they have no right unto nor reason to look for a reward hereafter in heaven yet they have their reward such as it is and all they are like to have here upon earth 3. From particular examples of such as have been temporally rewarded for temporal graces To omit Heathens as Aristides Cyrus c. for Iustice Bias Diogenes c. for contempt of the world Codrus Regulus c. for love of their Country and zeal to the common good and sundry others for other good things whose moral vertues are herein amply rewarded if there were nothing else but this that their names and memories have been preserved in Histories and renowned throughout the world in all succeeding generations I say to omit these Heathens we have examples in Scripture of Ahab here Iehu of the Ninevites of others elsewhere who for their temporary obedience zeal repentance and the like were rewarded partly by temporal blessings upon themselves and their posterity partly by the removal or adjournal of temporal punishments which otherwise had speedily overtaken them Fourthly from the greater to the less God sometimes temporally rewardeth the services of such men as are but bruta instrumenta brute instruments of his will and providence such as are employed by him for the bringing about of his most holy and secret purposes Citra rationem finis aut eorum quae ad finem in the doing of such things as they do without the least mixture in their own purpose and intent of any respect at all to God or his ends but meerly for the satisfying of their own corrupt lusts and the atchieving of their own private ends A notable example whereof we have in Gods dealing with Nebuchadnezzar in Ezek. 29 where the word of the Lord cometh to Ezekiel saying Son of man Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon caused his Army to serve a great service against Tyrus every head was made bald and every shoulder was peeled yet had he no wages nor his Army for Tyrus for the service that he had served against it Therefore thus saith the Lord God behold I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and he shall take her multitude and it shall be wages for his Army I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against Tyrus beccause they wrought for me saith the Lord God In which place we see Egypt is given to Nebuchadnezzar as a reward for the service he did against Tyrus because therein though he neither intended any such thing nor so much as knew it yet he was the instrument to work Gods purpose upon and against Tyrus And then how much more will God reward temporally the service and obedience of such as purposely and knowingly endeavour an outward conformity unto the holy will and pleasure of God though with strong and predominant mixture of their own corrupt appetites and ends therewith Now the Reasons why God should thus outwardly reward the outward works of Hypocrites are First the manifestation of his own Goodness that we might know how willing he is to cherish the least spark of any goodness in any man be it natural or moral or whatever other goodness it be that he might thereby encourage us so to labour the improvement of those good things in us as to make our selves capable of greater rewards Secondly his Iustice and equity in measuring unto sinners and hypocrites exactly according to the measure they mete unto him They serve him with graces which are not true graces indeed he rewardeth them with blessings which are not indeed true blessings Somewhat they must do to God and therefore they afford him a little temporary obedience and there is all the service he shall have from them Somewhat God will do for them and in requital alloweth them a little temporary favour and there is all the reward they must look for from him Here is Quid pro Quo. They give God the outward work but without any hearty affection to him God giveth them the outward benefit but without any hearty affection to them For want of which hearty affection on both sides it cometh to pass that neither is the outward work truly acceptable to him nor the outward benefit truly profitable to them A third reason of Gods thus graciously dealing even with Hypocrites may be assigned with reference to his own dear Children and chosen for whose good especially next under his own glory all the passages of his divine providence both upon them and others are disposed in such sort as they are as for whose comfort this manner of proceeding maketh very much and sundry ways as I shall by and by touch in the Inferences from this Observation whereunto I now come because it is time I should draw towards a Conclusion And first by what hath been already said a way is opened