and faintness of minde spoken of in the Text. 13. We now see the Malady both in the Nature and in the Cause both what it is and whence it groweth We are in the next place to consider the Part affected That the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 discovereth the Minde or the Soul That ye be not wearied and faint in your mindes or souls And this occasioneth another doubt how it should be possible that worldly tribulations which cannot reach beyond the outer-man in his possessions in his liberty in his good name in his bodily health or life should have such an operation upon his nobler part the soul as to cause a faintness there Our Apostle speaketh of resisting unto blood in the next verse as the highest suffering that can befal a man in this world And our Saviour telleth his friends Luke 12. that when their enemies have killed their bodies and from suffering so much his very best friends it seemeth are not exempted they have then done their worst they can proceed no farther they have no power at all over their souls 14. It is most true they have not And happy it is for us and one singular comfort to us that they have not Yet our own reason and every dayes experience can teach us that outward bodily afflictions and tribulations do by consequent and by way of sympathy and consent and by reason of union though not immediately and directly work even upon the soul also As we see the fancy quick and roaving when the blood is enflamed with choler the memory and apprehension dull in a Lethargy and other notable changes and effects in the faculties of the soul very easily discernable upon any sudden change or distemper in the body David often confesseth that the troubles he met withal went sometimes to the very heart and soul of him The sorrows of my heart are enlarged In the multitude of the troubles or sorrows that I have in my heart My heart is disquieted within me Why art thou so vexed O my soul and why art thou so disquieted within me c. Take but that one in Psal. 143. The enemy hath persecuted my soul c. Therefore is my spirit vexed within me and my heart within me is desolate 15. For the Soul then or Minde to be affected with such things as happen to the body is natural and such affections if not vitiated with excess or other inordinacy blameless and without sin But experience sheweth us farther too often God knoweth that persecutions afflictions and such other sad casualties as befall the body nay the very shadows thereof the bare fears of such things and apprehensions of their approach yea even many times when it is causeless may produce worse effects in the soul and be the causes of such vitious weariness and faintness of minde as the Apostle here forewarneth the Hebrews to beware of Not to speak of the Lapsi Traditores others that we read of in former times and of whom there is such frequent mention in the ancient Councels and in the writings of the Fathers of the first ages and the Histories of the Church How many have we seen even in our times who having seemed to stand fast in the profession of Truth and in the performance of the offices of Vertue and duties of Piety Allegiance and Iustice before tryal have yet when they have been hard put to it ey and sometimes not very hard neither falling away starting aside like a broken bow and by flinching at the last discovered themselves to have been but very weak Christians at the best if not rather very deep hypocrites 16. It will sufficiently answer the doubt to tell you That persecutions and all occurrences from without are not the chief causes nor indeed in true propriety of speech any causes at all but the occasions onely of the souls fainting under them Temptations they are I grant yet are they but temptations and it is not the temptation but the consenting to the temptation that induceth guilt If at any time any temptation either on the one hand or the other prevail against us S. Iames teacheth us where to lay the fault Not upon God by any means for God tempteth no man No nor upon the Devil neither let me adde that too it were a sin to bely the Devil in this for though he be a tempter and that a busie one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tempter yet that is the worst he can do he can but tempt us he cannot compel us When he hath plyed us with all his utmost strength and tried us with all the engines and artifices he can devise the will hath its natural liberty still and it is at our choise whether we will yield or no. But every man when he is tempted saith he tempted cum effectu that is his meaning so tempted as to be overcome by the temptation is tempted of his own lust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drawen away and entised Drawen away by injuries and affrightments from doing good or entised by delights and allurements to do evil It is with temptations on the left hand for such are those of which we now speak even as it is with those on the right yeeld not and good enough My son saith Solomen if sinners entise thee consent not Prov. 1. It may be said also proportionably and by the same reason My son if sinners affright thee comply not The common saying if in any other holdeth most true in the case of Temptations No man taketh harme but from himself 17. And verily in the particular we are now upon of fainting under the cross it is nothing but our own fears and the falseness of a mis-giving heart that betraieth us to the Tempter and undoeth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as he said It is not any reality in the things themselves so much that troubleth the minde as our over-deep apprehensions of them All passions of the minde if immoderate are perturbations and may bring a snare but none more or sooner then fear The fear of man bringeth a snare saith Solomon And our Saviour Let not your hearts be troubled neither fear as if fear were the greatest troubler of the heart And truly so it is No passion not Love no nor yet Anger it self though great obstructers of Reason both being so irrational as Fear is It maketh us many times do things quite otherwise then our own reason telleth us we should do It is an excellent description that a wise man hath given of it Wisdom 17. Fear saith he is nothing else but the betraying of the succours which reason offereth He that letteth go his courage forfeiteth his reason withall and what good can you reasonably expect from an unreasonable man 18. Seest thou then a man faint-hearted Suspect him I had almost said Conclude him false-hearted too It is certainly a very hard thing if at all possible for a
it nor benefit to them from it but yet by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God who most wisely and powerfully ordered all those various and vitious motions of the creature for the effectuating of his own most glorious and gracious purposes That is one Reason 10. Secondly we use to call all such things Mysteries as cannot possibly come to our knowledge unless they be some way or other revealed unto us whether they have or have not otherwise any great difficulty in them Nebuchadnezzars dream is so called a Mystery Dan. 2. And S. Paul in one place speaking of the conversion of the Iews calleth it a Mystery I would not Brethren that you should be ignorant of this Mystery Rom. 11. and in another place speaking of the change of those that should be found alive at Christs second coming calleth that a Mystery too Behold I shew you a Mystery we shall not all dye c. 1 Cor. 15. In this notion also is the Gospel a Mystery it being utterly impossible that any wit of man by the light of Nature or strength of humane discourse should have been able to have found out that way which Almighty God hath appointed for our salvation if it had not pleased him to have made it known to the world by supernatural revelation The wisest Philosophers and learnedst Rabbies nor did nor could ever have dreamt of any such thing till God revealed it to his Church by his Prophets and Apostles This mystery was hid from ages and from generations nor did any of the Princes of this world know it in any of those ages or generations as it is now made manifest to us since God revealed it to us by his spirit as our Apostle elsewhere speaketh 11. The Philosophers indeed saw a little dimly some of those truths that are more cleerly revealed to us in the Scriptures They found in all men a great proclivity to Evil and an indisposition to Good but knew nothing at all either of the true Causes or of the right remedies thereof Some apprehensions also they had of a Deity of the Creation of the world of a divine providence of the immortality of the soule of a final retribution to be awarded to all men by a divine justice according to the merit of their works and some other truths But those more high and mysterious points especially those two that of the Trinity of persons in the Godhead and that of the Incarnation of the Son of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Fathers use to call them together with those appendices of the later the Redemption of the world the Iustification of a sinner the Resurrection of the body and the beatifical Vision of God and Christ in the kingdom of Heaven not the least thought of any of these deep things of God ever came within them God not having revealed the same unto them 12. It is no thanks then to us that very children among us do believe and confess these high mysterious points whereof Plato and Aristotle and all the other grand Sophies among them were ignorant since we owe our whole knowledg herein not to our own natural sagacity or industry wherein they were beyond most of us but to divine and supernatural revelation For flesh and bloud hath not revealed them unto us but our Father which is in heaven We see what they saw not not because our eyes are better then theirs but because God hath vouchsafed to us a better light then he did to them Which being an act of special grace ought therefore to be acknowledged with special thankfulness Our Saviour hath given us the example I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Mat. 11.25 13. Truly much cause we have to bless the holy Name of God that he hath given us to be born of Christian parents and to be bred up in the bosome of the Christian Church where we have been initiated into these sacred mysteries being catechised and instructed in the doctrine of the Gospel out of the holy Scriptures even from our very childhood as Timothy was But we are wretchedly unthankful to so good a God and extremely unworthy of so great a blessing if we murmur against our Governours and clamour against the Times because every thing is not point-vise just as we would have it or as we have fancied to our selves it should be Whereas were our hearts truly thankful although things should be really and in truth even ten times worse then now they are but in their conceit only yet so long as we may enjoy the Gospel in any though never so scant a measure and with any though never so hard conditions we should account it a benefit and mercy invaluable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St Paul esteemed it the very riches of the grace of God for he writeth According to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdome and prudence having made known to us the mysterie of his will Eph. 1. If he had not made it known to us we had never known it And that is the Second Reason why a Mystery 14. There is yet a Third even because we are not able perfectly to comprehend it now it is revealed And this Reason will fetch in the Quantum too For herein especially it is that this mysterie doth so far transcend all other mysteries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great marvellous great Mysterie In the search whereof Reason finding it self at a loss is forced to give it over in the plain field and to cry out O altitudo as being unable to reach the unfathomed depth thereof We believe and know and that with fulness of assurance that all these things are so as they are revealed in the holy Scriptures because the mouth of God who is Truth it self and cannot lie hath spoken them and our own Reason upon this ground teacheth us to submit our selves and it to the obedience of Faith for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that so it is But then for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nicodemus his question How can these things be it is no more possible for our weak understandings to comprehend that then it is for the eyes of bats or owles to look stedfastly upon the body of the Sun when he shineth forth in his greatest strength The very Angels those holy and heavenly spirits have a desire saith S. Peter it is but a desire not any perfect ability and that but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither to peep a little into those incomprehensible mysteries and then cover their faces with their wings and peep again and cover again as being not able to endure the fulness of that glorious lustre that shineth therein 15. God hath revealed himself and his good pleasure towards us in his holy
word sufficiently to save our souls if we will believe but not to solve all our doubts if we will dispute The Scriptures being written for our sakes it was needfull they should be fitted to our capacities and therefore the mysteries contained therein are set forth by such resemblances as we are capable of but farr short of the nature and excellency of the things themselves The best knowledge we can have of them here is but per speculum and in aenigmate 1 Cor. 13. as it were in a glass and by way of riddle darkely both God teacheth us by the Eye in his Creatures That is per speculum as it were by a glass and that but a dimme one neither wherein we may read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some of the invisible things of God but written in small and out-worne characters scarce legible by us He teacheth us also by the Eare in the preaching of his holy word but that in aenigmate altogether by riddles darke riddles That there should be three distinct persons in one essence and two distinct natures in one person That virginity should conceive Eternity be born Immortality dye and Mortality rise from death to life That there should be a finite and mortall God or an infinite and Immortall man What are all these and many other more of like intricacy but so many riddles 16. In all which that I may from the premises inferr something of Use we should but cum ratione insanire should we go about to make our Reason the measure of our Faith We may as well think to graspe the earth in our fists or to empty the sea with a pitcher as to comprehend these heavenly mysteries within our narrow understandings Puteus altus the well is deep and our buckets for want of cordage will not reach neer the bottome We have use of our Reason and they are unreasonable that would deny us the use of it in Religion as well as in other things And that not only in Agendis in matters of duty and morality wherein it is of a more necessary and constant use as the standard to regulate our judgements in most cases but even in Credendis too in such points as are more properly of Faith in matters doctrinal and dogmatical But then she must be imployed only as an handmaid to Faith and learn to know her distance Conférre and Inférre those are her proper tasks to conferr one Scripture with another and to inferr conclusions and deduce instructions thence by clear Logical discourse Let her keep within these bounds and she may do very good service But we marr all if we suffer the handmaid to bear too great a sway to grow petulant and to perke above the Mistress 17. It hath been the bane of the Church and the original of the most and the most pernicious errors and heresies in all ages that men not contenting themselves with the simplicity of beleeving have doated too much upon their own fancies and made Reason the sole standard whereby to measure both the Principles and Conclusions of Faith It is the very fundamental errour of the Socinians at this day No less absurdly then as if a man should take upon him without Mathematical instruments to take the just dimensions of the heavenly bodies and to pronounce of altitudes magnitudes distances aspects and other appearances only by the scantling of the Eye Nor less dangerously then as if a Smith it is S. Chrysostomes comparison should lay by his tongs and take the iron hot from the forge to work it upon the anvil with his bare hands Mysteries are not to be measured by Reason That is the first Instruction 18. The next is That forasmuch as there are in the mystery of Christianity so many things incomprehensible it would be safe for us for the avoiding of Errors and Contentions and consequently in order to those two most precious things Truth and Peace to contain our selves within the bounds of sobriety without wading too farr into abstruse curious and useless speculations The most necessary Truths and such as sufficed to bring our forefathers in the primitive and succeeding times to heaven are so clearly revealed in scripture and have been so universally and constantly consented unto by the Christian Church in a continued succession of times as that to doubt of them must needs argue a spirit of pride and singularity at least if not also of Strife and Contradiction But in things less evident and therefore also less necessary no man ought to â—e either too stiffe in his own private opinion or too peremptory in judging those that are otherwise minded But as every man would desire to be left to his own liberty of judgement in such things so should he be willing to leave other men to their liberty also at least so long as they keep themselves quiet without raising quarrels or disturbing the peace of the Church there-abouts 19. As for example Concerning the Entrance and Propagation of Original sin the Nature Orders and Offices of Angels The Time Place and Antecedents of the last judgement The consistency both of Gods immutable decrees with the contingency of second causes and of the efficacy of Gods grace with the freedom of Mans will c. In which and other like difficult points they that have travelled farthest which desire to satisfie their own curiosity have either dasht upon pernicious Errors or involved themselves in inextricable difficulties or by Gods mercy which is the happiest loose from such fruitless studies have been thereby brought to a deeper sense of their own ignorance and an higher admiration of the infinite majesty and wisdome of our great God who hath set his counsels so high above our reach made his wayes so impossible for us to finde out That is our second Instruction 20. There is yet another arising from the consideration of the greatness of this Mystery That therefore no man ought to take offence at the discrepancy of opinions that is in the Churches of Christ amongst Divines in matters of Religion There are men in the world who think themselves no babes neither so deeply possest with a spirit of Atheisme that though they will be of any Religion in shew to serve their turns and comply with the times yet they are resolved to be indeed of none till all men be agreed of one which yet never was nor is ever like to be A resolution no less desperate for the soul if not rather much more then it would be for the body if a man should vow he would never eat till all the Clocks in the City should strike Twelve together If we look into the large volumes that have been written by Philosophers Lawyers and Physicians we shall finde the greatest part of them spent in disputations and in the reciting and confuting of one anothers opinions And we allow them so to do without prejudice to their respective professions albeit they be conversant about things measurable by Sense or
Twenty SERMONS Formerly Preached XVI AD AVLAM III. AD MAGISTRATVM I. AD POPVLVM And now first published by ROBERT SANDERSON D. D. Professor Regius in the University of OXFORD and Chaplain in ordinary to the late Kings Majesty Jerem. VI. 16 Ask for the old Paths where is the good way and walke therein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. LONDON Printed by R. Norton for HENRY SEILE over against S. Dunstans-Church in Fleetstreet Anno Dom. 1656. THE PREFACE 1. I had thought to have given somewhat a larger account in this Preface then now I doe as well concerning the publishing of these Sermons 1. Why at all 2. Why now so late 3. Why these so many so few as concerning the Sermons themselves 1. The Truth and 2. The Choise of the Matters therein handled 3. The Manner of handling and such other things as some Readers out of curiosity expect to be satisfied in But considering with my self that there may be times wherein it may be a point of the greatest prudence to keep silence and wherein as it was wisely said of old Qui benè latuit benè vixit He liveth best that appeareth least so it may be as truly said Qui benè tacuit benè dixit He speaketh best that saith least I thought it safer to save that labour then to adventure the possibility of having offence taken upon no better security then the not having meant to give any 2. Therefore in short thus After these Sermons were preached so far was I from any forwardness to publish them that for some years they were throwen aside without any thought of printing them but rather a resolution to the contrary I could not observe any such scarcity of printed Sermons abroad as that there should be any great need of sending out more and the copying out of most of them again which was to be done ere the worke could be fitted for the Press and could not well be done by any other hand then my own could not be any such pleasing taske to me especially at these years 69. current as to tempt me to a willingness to undergoe a drudgery of so much toyle and irkesomeness Wherefore though I was often and earnestly sollicited thereunto both by the entreaties and letters of friends and some considerable offers also from such as trade in Books to quicken me on yet my consent came on very heavily and my resolutions remained uncertain Until I understood that one who having by some means or other light on a Copy of one single Sermon of mine preached at Newport in the Isle of Wight during the treaty there upon Gal. 5.22 had surreptitiously without my consent or so much as knowledge and that negligently and imperfectly enough printed it Which not knowing how to helpe for what was past nor for the future how far it might become a leading example for others to follow as ill Precedents seldome want seconds but well knowing withall that there were in several mens hands Copies also of most of the Sermons here printed I had no other way left to secure the rest from running the same Fate their fellow had done then by yielding my absolute consent to the publishing of them and preparing them as my leisure would serve for the Press For I had learned by this late and some former experiences that there are men of those that make hast to be rich who bear so little reverence to the Laws of common Equity and Ingenuity that they will transgress them all for the gain of three-half-pence or a piece of bread 3. But when thus resolved I came to seek up my scattered Copies which lay neglected so little did I value them some in one corner some in another of the Two and Twenty which I intended to publish viz. Nineteen Ad Aulam preached at the Court in my Attendance Ordinary and Occasional there and Three Ad Magistratum preached before some of the Reverend Iudges in their Circuits after the best search I could make I fell short Five of my whole number Those Ad Magistratum were all found and being all now published there need no farther account to be given of them The Nineteen Ad Aulam were these viz. I. on Eccl. VII 1 Whitehall 1631. II. on Prov. XVI 7 Whitehall 1632. III. on 1 Pet. II. 17 Newarke 1633. IV. 1 on Luk. XVI 8 Otelands 1636. V. on Psal. XIX 13 Belvoyr VI. 1 on Phil. IV. 11 Greenwich 1637. VII 2 on Phil. IV. 11 Otelands VIII z on Esay LII 3 Greenwich 1638. IX on Rom. XV. 5 Theobalds X. on Psal. XXXVII 11 Berwicke 1639. XI on 1 Tim. III. 16 Berwicke XII 1 on 1 Cor. X. 23 Whitehall 1640. XIII on Psal. CXIX 75 Whitehall XIV 2 on 1 Cor. X. 23 Hampton XV. on Rom. XV. 6 Whitehall 1641. XVI on Psal. XXVII 10 Woburne 1647. XVII 2 on Luk. XVI 8 Stoke Pogeys XVIII on Gal. V. 22 Newport 1648. XIX on Heb. XII 3 Newport Of these the I. II.III.IV and X. were all missing and the XVIII was before fallen into the hands of another who would not be perswaded to part with his Copy as he calleth it either to me upon entreaty perhaps to chastise me for my Ignorance who was so silly before as to think I had had some right to my own or to his fellow-Stationer upon any reasonable or rather as I am informed unreasonable terms which is done though not all out so agreeable to the old Rule Quod tibi fieri non vis yet very conformly to the old Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. Of these Six thus in hazard to be all left out in the impression Three are recovered and here presented to publick view and Three are not The First viz. that on Eccles. VII 1 I made a shift by the help of my memory to make up as neer as it would serve me to what I had so long since spoken out of an old Copy of a Sermon formerly preached upon the same Text elsewhere For I am not ashamed to profess that most of those Ad Aulam were framed upon such Texts and out of such Materials as I had formerly made use of in other places but always cast as it were into new moulds For both fit it was the difference of the Auditories in the one place and in the other should be somewhat considered and besides my first crude meditations being alwayes hastily put together could never please me so well at a second and more leisurable review as to pass without some additions defalcations and other alterations more or less The Second and Third also viz. that on Prov. XVI 7 and that on 1 Pet. II. 17 it was my good hap searching purposely among the Papers of my late worthy friend and neighbour whose memory must ever be precious with me Thomas Harrington Esq deceased there to finde together with the Copies of divers others which I wanted not transcribed with his own
hand But the Fourth and Fifth are here still wanting because I could not finde them out and so is the Eighteenth also because I could not get it in The want of which last though happening not through my default yet I have made a kinde of compensation for by adding one other Sermon of those Ad Populum in lieu of that which is so wanting to make up the number an even Score notwithstanding The Reader shall finde it in the later end of the Book carrying on every leafe by a mistake in the printing the title of The First Sermon which he may please to mend either with a dash of his pen by putting out the whole 3. words The First Sermon seeing there are no more to follow it or else with reference to the Seven Sermons Ad Populum formerly published by writing Eighth instead of First all along in the Title 5. As for the Sermons themselves the matter therein conteined the manner of handling c. I must permit all to the Readers doome Who if he be homo quadratus perfectly even and unbyassed both in his Iudgment and Affection that is to say neither prepossessed with some false Principle to forestall the one nor carried aside with partiality for or prejudice against any person or party to corrupt the other will be the better able to discern whether I have any where in these Papers exceeded the bounds of Truth and Soberness or layed my self open to the just imputation either of Flattery or Falshood There hath been a generation of men wise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for their own purposes but Malignants sure enough that laboured very much when time was to possess the world with an opinion that all Court-Chaplains were Parasites and their preaching little other then daubing I hope these Papers will appear so innocent in that behalf as to contribute somewhat towards the shame and confutation of that Slander 6. The greater fear is that as the times are all men will not be well pleased with some passages herein especially where I had occasion to speak something of our Church-Ceremonies then under command but since growen into disuse But neither ought the displeasure of men nor the change of times to cast any prejudice upon the Truth which in all variations and turnings of affairs remaineth the same it was from the beginning and hath been accustomed and therefore can think it no new thing to finde unkinde entertainment abroad especially from them whose interest it is to be or at leastwise to seem to be of a different perswasion For that the Truth is rather on my side in this point then on theirs that dissent from me there is besides other this strong presumption onwards That I continue of the same judgment I was of twenty thirty forty years agoe and profess so to doe with no great hopes of bettering my temporal condition by so professing whereas hundreds of those who now decry the Ceremonies as they do also some other things of greater importance as Popish and Antichristian did not many years since both use them themselves and by their subscriptions approve the enjoyning of them but having since in complyance with the times professed their dislike of them their portion is visibly growen fatter thereby If the face of affairs be not now the same it was when the Sermons wherein this point is most insisted on were preached what was then done is not sure in any justice now chargable upon me as a crime who never pretended to be a Prophet nor could then either foresee that the times would so soon have changed or have believed that so many men would so soon have changed with the times 7. Of the presumption aforesaid I have here made use not that the business standeth in need of such a Reserve for want of competent proof otherwise which is the case wherein the Lawyers chiefly allow it but to save the labour of doing that over again in the Preface which I conceive to be already done in the Work it selfe With what success I know not that lieth in the brest of the Reader But that I speak no otherwise then I thought and what my intentions were therein that lieth in my own brest and cannot be known to the Reader Who is therefore in charity bound to believe the best where there appeareth no pregnant probability to the contrary The discourses themselves for much of the matter directly tend to the peace both of Church and State by endeavouring to perswade to Vnity and Obedience and for the manner of handling have much in them of Plainness little I think nothing at all of Bitterness and so are of a temper fitter to instruct then to provoke And these I am sure are no Symptomes of very bad Intentions If there be no worse Construction made of them then I meant nor worse Vse I trust they neither will deserve much blame nor can do much hurt Howsoever having now adventured them abroad though having little else to commend them but Truth and Perspicuity two things which I have alwayes had in my care for whereto else serveth that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherewith God hath endued man but to speak reason and to be understood if by the good blessing of Almighty God whom I desire to serve in the spirit of my minde they may become in any little degree instrumental to his Glory the Edification of his Church and the promoting of any one soul in Faith and Holiness towards the attainment of everlasting salvation I shall have great cause of rejoycing in it as a singular evidence of his undeserved mercy towards me and an incomparably rich reward of so poor and unworthy labours Yet dare I not promise to my self any great hopes that any thing that can be spoken in an argument of this nature though with never so much strength of reason and evidence of truth should work any kindly effect upon the men of this generation when the times are nothing favourable and themselves altogether undisposed to receive it No more then the choisest Musick can affect the ear that is stopt up or the most proper Physick operate upon him that either cannot or will not take it But as the Sun when it shineth clearest in a bright day if the beams thereof be intercepted by a beam too but of another kinde lying upon the eye is to the party so blinded as if the light were not at all so I fear it is in this case Not through any incapacity in the Organ so much especially in the learneder part among them as from the interposition of an unsound Principle which they have received with so much affection that for the great complacency they have in it they are loath to have it removed And as they of the Roman party having once throughly imbibed this grand Principle that the Catholick Church and that must needs be it of Rome is infallible are thereby rendred incapable to receive any impressions
IV 3 94.370 4 373 21 246 V 12 56 VI 19 149.258 20 258 VII 37 83 VIII 1 243.268 6 264 13 245 IX 15 10 1 Cor. 9. 20 245 22 245 X 10 125 23 213 c. 29.30 227 31 256.268 33 27.170 XI 1 170 19 156 31 198 32 195 198.199 XII 25 166.335 XIII 5 245 12 180.399 XIV 33 270 2 Cor. 1. 5 210 12 370 13 159 IV 4 296 9 288 16 210 17 254 VI 14 298-9 VII 6 211 XI 12 246 13-15 187 XII 11 95 17 389 XIII 10 337 Gal. 1. 10 246 VI 1 74.324 2 245 3 400 9 321 10 60 Ephes. 1 7-9 179 I 6 258 11 403 II 2-3 295 III 2 265 IV 3 270 15 164 16 269 25 335 V 3 92 8 299 Phil. 1. 27 270 II 4 270 1.2 161 15 18 21 252 Phil. 3. 6 261 16 165 20 294 IV 6 287.413 8 8.18 11 89 c. 15 89 Col. 1. 12 297 III 14 270 1 Thes. 2 5 92 10 383 IV 3 388 6 363.388 1 Tim. 1 17 254.409 II 6 149 III 15 242 16 173 c. IV 8 286 V 3 46 17 54.93.346 VI 6 115 7 134 8 134.210 10 93.384 17 390 2 Tim. 2 13 283 19 184.297 24.25 164 26 83 IV 16.17 282 Tit. 2. 11.12 184 Heb. 4. 12 266.372 VI 17.18 405 X 32.34 320 36 158.162 XI 2 8 XII 2 312 3 311 c. 4.5 325 9 284 10 207.284 12 315 14 169 XIII 2 209 5 96.129 21 33 Iam. 1. 8 318 13 146.317 14 317 27 295.348 Iam. 2. 1 62 6 358.390 8 334-5 17 226 III 26 166.270 IV 7 413 10 413 V 11 161 15 313 1 Pet. 1. 4.5 295 â—â— 180 18 149 II 17 43 c. III 11 36 13 19 IV 12 306 17 411 V 7 287 8 307 2 Pet. 1. 5 186 16 175 19 296 II 10 27.366 III 7 45 1 Ioh. 11. 16 6 27 118 III 8 323 IV 1 186 16 283 V 18 81 Iude. 3 60 Rev. 5. 9 149 XXII 9 260 AD AULAM. The First Sermon WHITE HALL November 1631. Eccles. 7.1 A good Name is better then precious oyntment and 1. WHere the Author professeth himself a Preacher it cannot be improper to stile the treatise a Sermon This book is such a Sermon and the Preacher being a King a Royall Sermon He took a very large but withall a very barren Text. His Text the whole World with all the pleasures and profits and honours and endeavours and businesses and events that are to be found under the Sun From which so large a Text after as exact a survey thereof taken as unwearied diligence in searching joyned with incomparable wisdom in judging could do he could not yet with all his skill raise any more then this one bare and short conclusion proposed in the very entrance of his Sermon as the only doctrinal point to be insisted upon throughout Vanity of Vanities saith the Preacher Vanity of Vanities all is vanity This he proveth all along by sundry instances many in number and various for the kinde to make the induction perfect that so having fully established the main Doctrine which he therefore often inculcateth in his passage along that all things in the world are but Vanity he might the more effectually enforce the main use which he intended to inferr from it and reserveth as good Orators use to do for the close and epilogue of the whole Sermon namely that quitting the World and the Vanities thereof men should betake themselves to that which alone is free from vanity to wit the fear and service of God Heare the conclusion of the whole matter feare God and keep his Commandements for this is the whole duty of man 2. To the men of the world whose affections are set upon the world and who propose and promise to themselves much contentment and happiness from the things of this world as the main Doctrine it self is so are most of the proofs and passages of the whole Sermon very paradoxes We may not unfitly therefore call this Book Solomons Paradoxes Look no further then a few of the next following verses of this very Chapter To prefer the house of mourning before the house of feasting sorrow before laughter rebukes before praises the end of a thing when it shall be no more before the beginning of it when it is growing and coming on a soft patient suffering spirit before a stout and haughty minde and learning before riches as the Preacher here doth what are all these and other like many if we respect the common judgement of the world but so many Paradoxes The writings of Zeno and Chrysippus if we had them extant with the whole school of Stoicks would not afford us Paradoxes more or greater then this little Book of Solomon doth There are no less then two in this short verse Wherein quite oppositely to what value the world usually setteth upon them Solomon out of the depth of that wisdom wherewith God had filled his heart preferreth a good name before precious Ointment and the day of death before the day of ones birth Paradoxes both besides the common opinion but most agreeable to truth and reason both as to him that shall duly examine them both will clearly appear It will finde us work enough at this time to examine but the former only in those words A good Name is better then a precious ointment 3. Wherein before I come to the pith of the matter I cannot but take notice of an Elegancy observable in the very baâ—k and rind of the letters in the Hebrew Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The figure Paronomasia as Rhetoricians call it a neere affinity both in the letters and sound between the words whereby the two opposite Terms of the Comparison are expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Name and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ointment Such allusions and agnominations are no strangers in either of the holy tongues but of frequent use both in the Old and New Testaments Examples might be alledged many As out of the Old Testament Jer. 1.11 12. Ose. 9.15 Amos 5.5 8.2 Ezek. 7.6 And out of the New many more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 15.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Thess. 3.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 three together as it were with a breath Rom. 1.29.31 But omitting the rest I shall commend unto you but two but those very remarkable ones out of either Testament one The one in Esay 24. where the Prophet expressing the variety of Gods inevitable judgements under three several appellations The Feare the Pit and the Snare useth three several words but agreeing much with one another in letters and sound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pachadh the Fear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pachath the Pit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pach the Snare The other in Rom. 12. where the Apostle
thirsting after the Mammon of unrighteousness whereas the hunger and thirst of a through-Christian should be after Christ and the righteousness of his kingdom is a certain symptome of a mind not truly contented And so are those carking and disquieting cares likewise which our Saviour so much condemneth Mat. 6. The Apostle therefore so speaketh of Covetousness and Contentment as of things that stand in direct opposition to other Let your conversation be without covetousness saith he and be content with such things as ye have Heb. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a studious care to walk faithfully and diligently in the duties of our vocations and a moderate desire of bettering our estates by our providence in a fair way without the injuring of others and are not lawful and expedient in themselves but are also good signs of a contented mind yea and good helps withall to the attainment of a farther degree of Contentment But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a desire that will not be confined within reasonable bounds and a sollicitous anxious care whereby we create to our selves a great deal of vexation to very little purpose with taking thought for the success of our affairs are the rank weeds of an earthly minde and evident signs of the want of true Contentment 17. And so is also thirdly that pinching and penurious humor which because it is an evidence of a heart wretchedly set upon the world we commonly call miserableness and the persons so affected Misers When a man cannot find in his heart to take part of that which God sendeth for his own moderate comfort and for the convenient sustenance of his family and of those that belong to him in some measure of proportion sutably both to his estate and rank Servorum ventres modio castigat iniquo Ipse quoque esuriens For whereas the contented man that which he hath not he wanteth not because he can live without it this wretch on the contrary wanteth even that which he hath because he liveth beside it He that is truly contented with what God hath lent him for his portion can be also well content to use it as becometh him and as his occasions require because that which God intended it for when he lent it him was the use not the bare possession Not that the owner should behold it with his eyes and then neither receive farther good from it nor do farther good with it but that it should be used and employed to the glory of the giver and the comfort of the receiver and others with all thankfulnesse and sobriety and Charity 18. And do we not also fourthly too often and too evidently bewray the discontentedness of our minds by our murmuring and repining at the wayes of Gods providence in the dispensation of these outward things when at any time they fall out cross to our desires or expectations The Israelites of old were much to blame this way and the Lord often plagued them for it insomuch that the Apostle proposeth their punishment as a monitory example for all others to take warning by 1 Cor. 10. Neither murmure ye as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer In Egypt where they had meat enough they murmured for want of liberty and in the wilderness where they had liberty enough they murmured for want of meat There by reason of the hard bondage they were in under Pharaoh and his cruel officers they would have exchanged their very lives had it been possible for a little Liberty Here when they wanted either bread or water or flesh they would have exchanged their liberty again for the Onions and Garlike and fleshpots of Egypt Like wayward children that are never well full nor fasting but always wrangling so were they And as they were then so have ever since been and still are the greatest part of mankind and all for want of this holy learning Whereas he that is well versed in this Art of Contentation is ever like himself the same full and fasting alwayes quiet and alwayes thankful 19. Ey and charitable too in the dispensation of the temporals God hath bestowed upon him for the comfortable reliefe of the poor distressed members of Jesus Christ which is another good sign of a Contented mind For what should make him sparing to them who feareth no want for himself As the godly man is described in Psal. 112. His heart is fixed and established and his trust is in the Lord and thence it is that he is so cheerfully disposed to disperse abroad and to give to the poor Some boast of their Contentedness as other some do of their Religiousness and both upon much like slender grounds They because they live of their own and do no man wrong these because they frequent the house of God and the holy assemblies Good things they are both none doubteth and necessary appendices respectively of those two great vertues for certainly that man cannot be either truly Contented that doth not the one or truly Religious that neglecteth the other But yet as certain it is that no man hath either more Contentment or more Religion then he hath Charity You then that would be thought either contented or religious now if ever shew the truth of your Contentation and the power of your Religion by the works of Mercy and Compassion The times are hard by the just judgment of God upon a thankless Nation and thousands now are pinched with famine and want who were able in some measure and in their low condition to sustain themselves heretofore By this opportunity which he hath put into your hands the Lord hath put you to the test and to the triall and he now expecteth and so doth the world too that if you have either of those graces in you which you pretend to you should manifest the fruits of them by refreshing the bowels of the needy If now you draw back and do not according to your abilities and the necessities of the times seriously and seasonably bring forth out of your treasures and dispense out of your abundance and that with more then ordinary liberality somewhat for the succour of those that stand in extreme need how dwelleth the love of God in you how dare you talk of Contentedness or make semblance of Religion Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widdows in their afflictions and to keep ones self unspotted of the World The same will serve as one good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among others whereby to make trial of the truth of our Contentedness also 20. Lastly it is a good signe of Contentedness when a man that hath any while enjoyed Gods blessings with comfort can be content to part with them quietly and with patience when the Lord calleth for them back again The things we have are not properly data
another another way one will have things done after this fashion another after that when one maketh and another marreth now one setteth up by and by cometh another and plucketh all down again how is it possible whilest things go thus that ever the building should be brought to any perfection or handsomness The Apostle well understood what he said when in the foregoing Chapter he joyned Peace and Edification together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us follow after the things that make for peace and things wherewith we may edifie one another Where the hearts and tongues of the builders are divided the building will either come to nothing or prove but a Babel of confusion For where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work Strife you see maketh ill work it buildeth up nothing unless it be the walls of Babel It is peace and concord that buildeth up the walls of Ierusalem which as it hath its name from Peace so hath it its beauty also and perfection from Peace And then but not before shall Ierusalem be built as a City that is at unity in it self when they that build Ierusalem are at unity first among themselves 31. Consider fourthly what heartning is given and what advantage to the enemy abroad whilest there are fractions and distractions at home Per discordias civiles externi tollunt animos said the Historian once of old Rome And it was the complaint of our country man Gildas uttered long since with much grief concerning the state of this Island then embroyled in civil warrs fortis ad civilia bella infirma ad retundenda hostium tela That by how much more her valour and strength was spent upon her self in the managing of intestine and domestick broiles the more she laid her self open to the incursions and outrages of forreign enemies The common Enemies to the truth of Religion are chiefly Atheisme and Superstition Atheisme opposing it in the forefront and Superstition on both hands If either of which at any time get ground of us as whilest we wrangle God knoweth what they may do we may thanke our own contentions for it most We may cherish causeless jealousies and frame chimera's of other matters and causes out of our fancies or fears But the very truth is there is no such scandal to enemies of all sorts as are our home-differences and chiefly those which maketh it the sadder business that are about indifferent things Alas whereto serveth all this adoe about gestures and vestures and other outward rites and formalities that for such things as these are things in their own nature indifferent and never intended to be otherwise imposed then as matters of circumstance and order men should clamour against the times desert their ministerial functions and charges fly out of their own country as out of Babylon stand at open defiance against lawfull authority and sharpen their wits and tongues and pens with so much petulancy that I say not virulency as some have done to maintain their stiffeness and obstinacy therein I say whereto serveth all this but to give scandall to the Enemies of our Church and Religion 32. Scandal first to the Atheist Who till all men be of one Religion and agreed in every point thereof too which I doubt will never be whilest the world lasteth thinketh it the best wisdom to be of none and maketh it his best pastime to jeere at all Great scandal also secondly to the Romanist Who is not a little confirmed in his opinion of the Catholikeness of the Romane faith when he heareth so many of the things which have been and still are retained in the Church of England in common with the Church of Rome as they were transmitted both to them and us in a continued line of succession from our godly and Orthodox forefathers who lived in the ages next after Christ and his Apostles to be now inveighed against and decryed as Popish and Superstitious And when he seeth men pretending to piety purity and reformation more then others not contenting themselves with those just exceptions that had been formerly taken by the Church of England and her regular children against some erroneous Doctrines and formes of worship taught and practised in the Church of Rome and endeavoured to be unduly and by her sole authority imposed upon other Churches to be so far transported with a spirit of contradiction as that they care not so as they may but run farr enough from Rome whither or how farr they run although they should run themselves as too oft they do quite beyond the bounds of Truth Allegiance common reason and even common humanity too 33. But especially and thirdly great Scandal to those of the separation Who must needs think very jollily of themselves and their own singular way when they shall find those very grounds whereon they have raised their Schisme to be so stoutly pleaded for by some who are yet content to hold a kind of communion with us Truly I could wish it were sufficiently considered by those whom it so nearly concerneth for my own part I must confess I could nevet be able to comprehend it with what satisfaction to the conscience any man can hold those principles without the maintenance whereof there can be nothing colourably pretended for inconformity in point of Ceremony and Church-government and yet not admit of such conclusions naturally issuing thence as will necessarily enforce an utter separation Vae mundo saith our Saviour Wo unto the world because of offences It is one of the great trials wherewith it is the good pleasure of God to exercise the faith and patience of his servants whilest they live on the earth that there will be divisions and offences and they must abide it But vae homini though without repentance wo to the man by whom the occasion cometh Much have they to answer for the while that cannot keep themselves quiet when they ought and might but by restless provocations trouble both themselves and others to the great prejudice and grief of their brethren but advantage and rejoycing of the common Enemy 34. Thus much for the Thing it self Like-mindedness The conditions or Qualifications follow The former whereof concerneth the Persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one toward another It noteth such an agreement as is both Universal and Mutual Universal first I doubt not but in the then Roman Church at the time when this Epistle was written the strong agreed well enough among themselves and were all a like-minded and so the weak among themselves all alike-minded too They all minded to despise these these all minded to judg them But that agreement was with those only of their own party and so a partial agreement which tended rather to the holding up of a faction then to the making up of an Union It was an universal agreement the Apostle desired and prayed for that the strong would be more compassionate to the Weak and the weak more
they do edifie they are not onely lawful but expedient too and we may do them But when they edifie not but destroy though they be lawful still yet are they not expedient and we may not do them All things are lawful but all things edifie not 23. To this edification it appeareth S. Paul had a great respect in all his actions and affairs We do all things brethren for your edifying 2 Cor. 12. And he desireth that all other men would do so too Let every man please his neighbour for his good unto edification Rom. 15.2 and that in all the actions of their lives Let all things be done to edifying 1 Cor. 14. It is the very end for which God ordained the ministery of the Gospel the edifying of the body of Christ Ephes. 4. and for which he endowed his servants with power and with gifts to enable them for the work the power which God hath given us for edification 2 Cor. 13. Whatsoever our callings are whatsoever our power or guifts if we direct them not to Edification when we use them we abuse them 24. But then what is Edification for that we are yet to learn The word is metaphorical taken from material buildings but is often used by our Apostle in his Epistles with application ever to the Church of God and the spiritual building thereof The Church is the house of the living God All Christians members of this Church are as so many stones of the building whereof the house is made up The bringing in of unbeleevers into the Church by converting them to the Christian faith is as the fetching of more stones from the quarries to be layed in the building The building it selfe and that is Edification is the well and orderly joyning together of Christian men as living stones in truth and love that they may grow together as it were into one entire frame of building to make up the house strong and comely for the masters use and honour 25. I know not how it is come to pass in these later times that in the popular and common notion of this word in the mouths and apprehensions of most men generally Edification is in a manner confined wholy to the Understanding Which is an errour perhaps not of much consequence yet an errour tho and such as hath done some hurt too For thereon is grounded that Objection which some have stood much upon though there be little cause why against instrumental musick in the service of God and some other things used in the Church that they tend not to edification but rather hinder it because there cometh no instruction nor other fruit to the understanding thereby And therefore ought such things say they to be cast out of the Church as things unlawful A conclusion by the way which will by no means follow though all the premises should be granted for it is clear both from the words and drift of the Text that Edification is put as a meet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed of Expediency but not so of lawfulness And therefore from the unserviceableness of any thing to Edification we cannot reasonably infer the unlawfulness thereof but the Inexpediency only But to let go the inconsequence that which is supposed in the premises and laid as the ground of the objection viz. that where the understanding is not benefited there is no Edification is not true The objecters should consider that whatsoever thing any way advanceth the service of God or furthereth the grouth of his Church or conduceth to the increasing of any spiritual grace or enliving of any holy affection in us or serveth to the outward exercise or but expression of any such grace or affection as joy feare thankfulness cheerfulness reverence or any other doubtless every such thing so far forth serveth more or less unto Edification 26. The building up of the people in the right knowledge of God and of his most holy truth is I confess a necessary part of the worke and no man that wisheth well to the worke will either despise it in his heart or speak contemptibly of it with his mouth yet is it not the whole work tho no nor yet the chiefest part thereof Our Apostle expressly giveth charity the preheminence before it knowledge puffeth up but charity edifieth And for once he speaketh of Edification in his Epistles with reference to knowledge I dare say he speaketh of it thrice with reference to peace and brotherly Charity or condescension The truth is that Edification he so much urgeth is the promoting and furthering of our selves and others in truth godliness and peace or any grace accompanying salvation for the common good of the whole body S. Iude speaketh of building up our selves and S. Paul of edifying one another And this should be our daily and mutual study to build up our selves and others in the knowledge of the truth and in the practise of godliness but especially to the utmost of our powers within our several sphears and in those stations wherein God hath set us to advance the common good by preserving peace and love and unity in the Church 27. The instructions corrections or admonitions we bestow upon our private brethren the good examples we set before them our bearing with their infirmities our yielding and condescending from our own power and liberty to the desires even of private and particular men is as the chipping and hewing and squaring of the several stones to make them fitter for the building But when we do withall promote the publick good of the Church and do something towards the procuring and conserving the peace and unity thereof according to our measure that is as the laying of the stones together by making them cowch close one to another and binding them with sillings and cyment to make them hold Now whatsoever we shall finde according to the present state of the times places and persons with whom we have to do to conduce to the good either of the whole Church or of any greater or lesser portion thereof or but of any single member belonging thereunto so as no prejudice or wrong be thereby done to any other that we may be sure is expedient for that time 28. To enter into particulars when and how far forth we are bound to forbear the exercise of our lawful liberty in indifferent things for our brothers sake would be endless When all is said and written in this argument that can be thought of yet still as was said much must be left to mens Discretion and Charity Discretion first will tell us in the general that as the Circumstances alter so the expediency and inexpedieny of things may alter accordingly Quaedam quae licent tempore loco mutato non licent saith Seneca There is a time for every thing saith Solomon and a season for every purpose under heaven Hit that time right and what ever we do is beautiful but
First the supposal of a duty though for the most part and by most men very slackly regarded and that is the delivering of the oppressed In the two former verses If thou faint in the day of adversity If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain Secondly the removal of the common pretensions which men usually plead by way of excuse or extenuation at least when they have failed in the former duty in the last verse If thou sayest Behold we knew it not doth not he that pondreth the heart consider it c. So that if we will speak any thing to the purpose of the Text we must of necessity speak to those two points that do there-from so readily offer themselves to our consideration to wit the necessity of the duty first and then the vanity of the excuses 3. The Duty is contained and the necessity of it gathered in and from the tenth and eleventh verses in these words If thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain Wherein the particulars considerable are First the Persons to whom the duty is to be performed as the proper object of our justice and charity Them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain They especially but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also all others that are in their condition in any kinde or degree those that are injured or oppressed or in danger to be injured or oppressed by any manner way or means Secondly an act of Charity and justice to be performed towards those that are in such a condition by such as by reason of the power and opportunities and other advantages that God hath put into their hands are in a capacity to do it which is the very duty it self viz. to look upon them in the day of their adversity and to deliver them out of the hand of their oppressours Thirdly a possibility of the neglect or non-performance of this so just and charitable a duty by those that might and therefore ought to do it expressed here by the name of forbearance If thou forbear to deliver Fourthly the true immediate cause of that neglect wheresoever it is found viz. the want of spirit and courage in the heart faint-heartedness from whatsoever former ot remoter cause that faintness may proceed whether a pusillanimous fear of the displeasure or a desire to winde himself into the favour of some great person or the expectation of a reward or a loathness to interpose in other mens affairs or meer sloth and a kinde of unwillingness of putting himself to so much trouble or what ever other reason or inducement can be supposed If thou faint in the day of adversity Lastly the censure of that neglect it is an evident demonstration à posteriori and as all other visible effects are of their more inward and secret causes a certain token and argument of a sinful weakness of minde If thou faintest c. thy strength is small 4. The result of these particulars amount in the whole to this Every man according to his place and power but especially those that being in place of magistracy and judicature are armed with publick authority for it are both in Charity and justice obliged to use the utmost of their power and to lay hold on all fit opportunities by all lawful means to help those to right that suffer wrong to stand by their poorer brethren and neighbours in the day of their calamity and distress and to set in for them throughly and stoutly in their righteous causes to protect them from injuries and to deliver them out of the hands of such as are too mighty or too crafty for them and as seek either by violence or cunning to deprive them either of their lives or livelyhoods Briefly thus and according to the language of the Text It is our duty every one of us to use our best strength to deliver the oppressed but our sin if we faint and forbear so to do And the making good and the pressing of this duty is like to be all our business at this time 5. A point of such clear and certain truth that the very Heathen Philosophers and Lawgivers have owned it as a beam of the light of Nature insomuch as even in their account he that abstaineth from doing injuries hath done but the one half of that which is required to compleat Iustice if he do not withal defend others from injuries when it is in his power so to do But of all other men our Solomon could least be ignorant of this truth Not onely for that reason because God had filled his heart with a large measure of wisdom beyond other men but even for this reason also that being born of wise and godly parents and born to a kingdom too in which high calling he should be sure to meet with occasions enough whereon to exercise all the strength he had he had this truth considering the great usefulness of it to him in the whole time of his future government early distilled into him by both his parents was seasoned thereinto from his childhood in his education His father David in Psal. 72. which he penned of purpose as a prophetical benediction and instruction for his son as appeareth by the inscription it beareth in the title of it a Psalm for Solomon beginneth the Psalm with a prayer to God both for himself and him Give the King thy judgements O God and thy righteousness unto the Kings son And then after sheweth for what end he made that prayer and what should be the effect in order to the Publick if God should be pleased to grant it Then shall he judge the people according unto right and defend the poore ver 2. He shall keep the simple folke by their right defend the children of the poor and punish the wrong doer or as it is in the last translation break in pieces the oppressour ver 4. and after at the 12. 13. and 14. verses although perhaps the passages there might principally look at Christ the true Solomon and Prince of peace a greater then Solomon and of whom Solomon was but a figure yet I beleeve they were also literally intended for Solomon himself He shall deliver the poor when he cryeth the needy also and him that hath no helper He shall be favourable to the simple and needy and shall preserve the soules of the poor He shall deliver their soules from falshood and wrong and dear shall their blood be in his sight And the like instructions to those of his father he received also from his mother Bathsheba in the prophesie which she taught him with much holy wisdom for the matter and with much tenderness of motherly affection for the manner What my Son and what the Son of my wombe and what the Sons of my vowes
protecting of the peaceable and innocent use the sword that God by his deputy hath put into your hands for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise and safety of those that do well So shall the hearts of every good man be enlarged towards you and their tongues to honour you and to bless you and to pray for you Then shall God powr out his blessings abundantly upon you and yours yea it may be upon others too upon the whole land by your means and for your sakes The Lord by his Prophet more then once hath given us some comfortable assurance of such blessed effects to follow upon such premises The words are worthy to be taken notice of If you throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour If you oppress not the stranger the fatherless and the widow and shed not innocent bloud in this place Then will I cause you to dwell in this place for ever and ever Jer. 7. And in Jer. 22. Execute ye judgment and righteousness and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressour and doe no wrong doe no violence to the stranger the fatherless nor the widow neither shed innocent blood in this place For if ye doe this thing indeed then shall enter in by the gates of this house Kings sitting upon the throne c. But if ye will not hear these words I swear by my self saith the Lord c. 32. Concerning which and other like passages frequent in the holy Prophets I see what may be readily opposed True it is will some say where these things are constantly and generally performed a national judgment may thereby be removed or a blessing procured But what are two or three of us if we should set our selves to it with all our strength able to do towards the turning away of Gods judgments if there be otherwise a general neglect of the duty in the land There is something of truth I confess in this Objection for doubtless those passages in the Prophets aim at a general reformation But yet consider first we have to deal with a wonderful gracious and merciful God slow to anger and of great kindness and such a one as will easily be induced to repent him of the evil And who can tell but he may return and repent and leave a blessing behinde him where but two or three in a whole nation doe in conscience of their duty and in compassion of the state set themselves unfainedly to doe justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with their God though the generality should be corrupt Especially since we have in the second place such excellent precedents of the riches of his grace and goodness in this kind upon record that we might not be without hope if we do our part though we were left even alone God was ready to have spared the five Cities of old Gen. 18. if there had been in them to be found but twise so many righteous men But he did actually spare Israel by instantly calling in a great plague which he had a little before sent amongst them for their sins upon one single act of justice done by one single man Phinehes moved with an holy zeal did but stand up and execute judgment upon two shameless offenders and the plague was staied Psal. 106. Adde hereunto that most gracious proclamation published Ier. 5. and you cannot want encouragement to do every man his own part whatsoever the rest do Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof if you can finde a man if there be any that executeth judgment that seeketh the truth and I will pardon it Or say thirdly that the sins of a nation should be grown to that ripeness that the few righteous that are in it could not any longer adjourn the judgment for as there is a time of Mercy wherein the righteousness of one or a few may reprieve a whole nation from destruction so when the appointed time of their fatal stroke is come though Noah Iob and Daniel should be in the midst of it they could prevail no farther then the delivery of their own soules yet even there those that have been faithful shall have this benefit that they shall be able to say with comfort either in the one sense or in the other Liberavi animam meam That is they shall either be preserved from being overwhelmed in the common destruction having their life given them for a prey and as a brand snatched out of the fire as Noah escaped when all the world was drowned and Lot from the deflagration of Sodom or if God suffer them to be involved in the publick calamities have this comfort to sustain their souls withall that they were not wanting to do their part toward the preventing thereof But howsoever why should any man fourthly to shift off his duty unseasonably obtrude upon us a new piece of Metaphysicks which our philosophers hitherto never owned in abstracting the general reformation from the particulars For what is the general other then the particulars together And if ever there be a general reformation wrought the particulars must make it up Do not thou then vainly talk of castles in the air and of I know not what general reformation but if thou truly desirest such a thing put to thy hand and lay the first stone in thine own particular and see what thy example can do If other particulars move with thee and so a general reformation follow in some good mediocrity thou hast whereof to rejoyce that thou hadst thy part a leading part in so good a work But if others will not come on end cheerfully so as the work do not rise to any perfection thou hast yet wherewithal to comfort thee that the fault was not thine 33. Thus have you heard sundry reasons and inducements to stir you up to the cheerful performance of the duty contained in the Text of doing justice and shewing mercy in delivering the oppressed Some in respect of God who hath given us first his express command to which our obedience and secondly his own blessed example to which our conformity is expected Some in respect of our selves because first whatsoever power we have for the present it was given us for this end that we might therewithal be helpful to others and we know not secondly in what need we may stand hereafter of like help from others Some in respect of our poore distressed brethren who deserve our pity and best furtherance considering first the grievousness of their pressures secondly the paucity of their friends but especially and thirdly the equity and righteousness of their cause when they are in danger to be spoiled by the cruelty potency and iniquity of their advrsaries Some in respect of the duty it self the fruits and effects whereof ordinarily are first honour and renown in the world secondly the blessings
heard both Nay may we not many times farther say when both tales are told that neither is good Because there is most-what in every mans tale a mixture of some falshoods with some truths whereby it may so happen sometimes that he which hath in truth the more equity on his side by the mingling in some easily discoverable falshoods in telling his tale may render his cause the more suspicious to him that heareth it to think the whole tale naught and he that hath indeed and upon the whole matter the worse cause may yet by the weaving in some evident truths or pregnant probabilities in the telling of his tale gain such credit with him that heareth it that he will be very inclinable to beleeve the whole tale to be good Or howsoever they may be both so equally false or at least both so equally doubtfull as no one that heareth them can well tell whether of both to give credit to It was so in the famous case of the two inmate harlots whereof King Solomon had the hearing The living child is mine the dead one thine saith the one No saith the other the dead child is thine and the living mine Here were presumptions on both sides for why should any woman challenge another womans child but proofs on neither for being there were none in the house but they two neither of them could produce any witnesses The case hung thus even no more evidence on the one side then on the other no lesse confidence on the one side then on the other Solomon indeed by that wisedom wherewith God had endowed him in a transcendent measure found out a means whereby to turn the scales to untie that hard knot and to discover the hidden truth But what could a Iudge or a Iury of no more then ordinary wisdom then have been able to have said or done in such a case but even to have left it as they found it And truly for any I know Ignorance must have been their best excuse 12. And as first in the Information so there may be a defect secondly in the Proofs He that hath the better cause in veritate rei may yet fail his proofs and not be able to make it judicially appear that he hath the better Cause In which case the old axiome holdeth Idem est non esse non apparere it is all one in foro externo and as to the determination of a Judge upon the Bench who is to pronounce secundùm allegata probata for a man not to have a right not to be able to make it appear in a legal way and by such evidence as is requisite in a judicial proceeding that he hath such a right Or he may be outsworn by the depositions of the witnesses produced on the behalf of the adverse part though it may be utterly false yet direct and punctuall against him and so strong enough howsoever to cast him in his suit For what Iudge but the great Judge of heaven and earth can certainly and infallibly know when two or three men swear directly to a point and agree in one whether yet they swear a falshood or no Or what should induce a mortall Iudge not to beleeve them especially if withal he see the proofs on the other side to fall short And if in such a case following the evidence in the simplicity of his heart he give away an honest mans right from him to a Knave he is not to be charged with it as a perverter of justice but hath his apologie here ready fitted for him in the Text Behold we knew it not 13 Adde hereunto in the third place the great advantage or disadvantage that may be given to a cause in the pleading by the artificiall insinuations of a powerfull Orator That same flexanimis Pitho and Suadae medulla as some of the old Heathens termed it that winning and perswasive faculty which dwelleth in the tongues of some men whereby they are able not only to work strongly upon the affections of men but to arrest their judgements also and to encline them whether way they please is an excellent endowment of nature or rather to speak more properly an excellent gift of God Which whosoever hath received is by so much the more bound to be truly thankful to him that gave it and to do him the best service he can with it by how much he is enabled thereby to gain more glory to God and to do more good to humane society then most of his brethren are And the good blessing of God be upon the heads of all those be they few or many that use their eloquence aright and employ their talent in that kinde for the advancement of justice the quelling of oppression the repressing and discountenancing of insolency and the encouraging and protecting of innocency But what shall I say then of those be they many or few that abuse the gracefulness of their elocution good speakers but to ill purposes to enchant the ears of an easie Magistrate with the charms of a fluent tongue or to cast a mist before the eyes of a weak Iury as Juglers make sport with Countrey people to make white seem black or black seem white so setting a fair varnish upon a rotten post and a smooth gloss upon a course cloth as Protagoras sometimes boasted that he could make a bad cause good when he listed By which means judgement is perverted the hands of violence and robbery strengthened the edge of the sword of justice abated great offenders acquitted gracious and vertuous men molested and injured I know not what fitter reward to wish them for their pernicious eloquence as their best deserved see then to remit them over to what David hath assigned them in Psalm 120. What reward shal be given or done unto thee O thou false tongue Even mighty and sharpe arrowes with hot burning coales I might adde to those how that somtimes by the subtilty of a cunning sly Commissioner sometimes by the wilful misprision of a corrupt or the slip of a negligent or the oversight of an ignorant Clerk and by sundry other means which in regard of their number and my inexperience I am not able to recite it may come to passe that the light of Truth may be so clouded and the beams thereof intercepted from the eyes of the most circumspect Magistrate that he cannot at all times clearly discern the Equity of those Causes that are brought before him In all which cases the only Apology that is left him is still the same as before even this Behold we knew it not 14. But when he perfectly understandeth the whole business and seeth the Equity of it so as he cannot plead Ignorance of either there may yet be thirdly place for his just excuse if he have not sufficient means wherewith to relieve and to right his wronged brother A mere private man that is not in place of authority may bemoan his poor brother in the day of
his Counsels as possible may be Now since the Eternal Counsel of God which is nothing else but his secret will though it be properly the Counsel meant in the Text yet is not proper for us to meddle withall nor appointed by him to be the rule or measure of our actions we are not bound to conforme our wils and purposes thereunto nor consequently to trouble our selves thereabouts Secretum meum mihi When we are called to be of his Counsel but not before we may look into the ark of his decrees and enquire into his secret will But till then which will never be it is happiness enough for us and an unspeakable favour from him if we may be admitted to be of his Court though not of his Counsel and thereby to have some good knowledge of his revealed will That is all that belongeth to us to that therefore let us hold us as to our proper Rule and Standard As it is not fit for us to search into that Counsel of his which is lockt up in the Cabinet of his secret will so neither is it safe for us to despise that Counsel of his which is imparted to us in the treasury of his revealed will Ask we counsel at Gods mouth consult we the Oracles of his holy Word let his testimonies be our guides and counsellors and let our thoughts and purposes be conformed to the Counsels and directions given us therein and that is the most probable way to secure the success according to our own hearts desire and to make them also to stand For what more likely way can be imagined to accomplish the secret will of God then faithfully to endeavour the accomplishment of his revealed will and commit the rest to him 41. Whereunto that you may give the better credit take it upon the word of three creditable witnesses First our Solomon Prov. 16. Commit thy works unto the Lord and so shall thy thoughts be established His father David before him in Psal. 37. Commit thy way unto the Lord and put thy trust in him and he shall bring it to pass And Eliphaz the Temanite long before them both in Job 22. If thou return unto the Almighty and make thy prayer unto him c. Thou shalt also decree a thing and it shall be established and the light shall shine upon thy wayes 42. If any man unto such evidence of Reason and pregnant Testimonies shall oppose common Experience against which there is no disputing That thousands of men that have harkened to the Counsels of God in his holy word made their requests known to him by Prayer and committed their wayes to him by a holy dependance upon his good providence have yet failed in their hopes and the success of their affairs and fallen under their enemies hands All this must be confessed a truth yet no contradiction to what hath been delivered For it was not said that such thoughts and purposes shall infallibly have the desired success but that it is the most probable way for the obtaining thereof amidst the great uncertainty of all humane affairs and devices Many times there may some sinister respects and corrupt affections mingle with our best intentions or devotions or there may lurke in our hearts some secret noysome lust undiscovered and so unsubdued or there may be a leaning too much upon our own devices or other inferiour helps without casting our selves upon the providence of God so entirely as we ought some thing or other there may be in us or in our purposes or in our Prayers amiss though perhaps we perceive it not for which it may please God to suffer our hopes to perish and to render our endeavours unsuccessfull 43. But howsoever two other considerations there are that will fully answer the Objection and remove all difficulties in this point First that all temporal promises are to be understood cum exceptione crucis that is to say not absolutely according to the tenour of the words in the utmost extent but so far forth as God in his infinite wisdome shall see it expedient to deal with his servants either in Mercy or Iustice according to the present temper of their hearts and in order to their future good So that still there is a reservation of a power in him to exercise them with the cross as he shall think good In that large promise which our blessed Saviour maketh to all those that suffer loss in any kinde for his sake and the Gospels eternal life in the world to come is promised absolutely but the hundred fold now in this present life not simply but with persecutions expresly annexed Mark 10. 44. Secondly that the desires and hopes of godly men that are agreeable to Gods holy word though they may for the reasons now specified fail as to the particulars desired in these inferiour things which are of smaller importance and concern a Christian but upon the by yet in that which ought to be and in every true Christian is the main of his desires and the ultimate end that he looketh at so that he desireth all other things but respectively and in order to that to wit the glory of God and the fruition of his favour unless the fault be in himself he shall not fail his expectation 45. Hear then the sum of all and the conclusion of the whole matter Give up thy self faithfully to follow the good counsel of God in his revealed will and then give up thy desires entirely to be disposed by his wise counsel in his secret will and he shall undoubtedly give thee thy hearts desire Either in those very particulars thou cravest at his hands if he see the same expedient for thee in order to his glory and thy good or else in some other thing which is in truth much more expedient for thee then that which thou cravest and shall in the end so appear to thee although for the present thou doest not so apprehend it Aut quod volumus aut quod malumus one of both we may be sure of If we submit our wills to his both in doing and suffering doubtless we cannot finally miscarry He will consult nothing but for our good and what he hath consulted must stand FINIS THE CONTENTS Sermon I. Ad Aulam on ECCLES VII I Sect. 1. ECclesiastes the Preachers Sermon 2. or Solomons Paradoxes 3 6 The use of Rhetorical Exornations in Sermons 7 10 THE WORDS OF THE TEXT severally explained 11 12 A good Name to be preferred before the most precious Oyntments As 13 14 1 being a more peculiar blessing 15 16 2 yielding more solid content 17 18 3 enabling to worthier performances 19 22 4 being of larger extension both for Place and Time 23 25 Yet not to be preferred before a good Conscience 26 27 THE INFERENCES 1. The sin of those that rob others of their good Names 28 29 2 The folly of those that value any outward things above a good Name 30 31 3 That it
POINT II. The children of the world wiser then the Children of Light As being 19 1. More Sagacious then they 20 2. More Industrious then they 21 3. More Cunning then they 22 23 4. More United then they 24 28 with sundry Reasons thereof 29 Two Inferences thence  1. Not to be scandalized at their prosperous successes 30 31 2. But to emulate their wisdom 32 33 POINT III. The worldlings wisdom but folly 34 Proved and 35 discovered in sundry particulars Sermon XVI Ad Aulam on HEB. XII III Sect. 1-3 THe Occasion Coherence Scope 4 and Division of the Text. 5 6 The former General part Wherein 4 Particulars viz.  I. The Malady Weariness 7 12 II. The Inward Cause Faintness 13 18 III. The part affected The Soul or Minde 19 22 with the Inference thence 23 24 IV. The persons and what fear there might be of their fainting under the Cross in regard 25 1. Of the greatness of the Tryal 26 29 2. Of the natural Frailty of man 30 3. Of the neglect of watchfulness and preparation 31 32 4. Of Gods desertion 33 35 The Inference thence 36 37 A Caution concerning the lawfulness of shunning afflictions 38 43 sundry Objections to the contrary answered 44 c. A short view of the chief heads contained in the Second General Part. Sermon I. Ad Magistratum I. Ser. on PROV XXIIII X XII Sect. 1. THe Scope and 2 3 Division of the Text. 4 5 The main duty The delivering of the Oppressed proposed and proved 6 The Necessity thereof inferred from divers considerations Some respecting 7 8 I. God viz. 1 his Command  2 his Example 12 13 II. Our selves viz. 1 The power we have 14 2 the Need we may have 15 16 III. Those that are oppressed viz. 1 The greatness of their distress 17 2 the paucity of their friends 18 22 3 the Equity of their Cause 23 26 IIII. The Effects of the Duty viz. 1 Honour to the Calling 27 2 the blessing of the poor upon the Person 28 3 a reward from God for the work 29 32 4 Mercy to the Land 33 34 The Sum of all and the Conclusion Sermon II. Ad Magistratum II. Ser. on PROV XXIIII X XII Sect. 1. THe Scope and 2 5 Division of THE TEXT 6 Three Points proposed to be handled 7 I. POINT The Excuse We knew it not may be sometimes just Either through 8 I. Ignorance of the Fact When the Oppressed 9 either have not 1 the opportunity to complain 10 either have not 2 the minde to complain 11 II. Doubtfulness in point of right Through  1 uncertainty of the Evidence 12 2 defect of proofs 13 3 artifices to becloud the Truth 14 15 III. Inability to help Through 16 18 1 some defect in the Lawes 19 20 2 the iniquity of the Times 21 24 Inferences thence 1 Governours not to be rashly censured if all be not remedied 25 2 nor discouraged if they have done their part towards it 26 27 II. POINT That Excuse sometimes but pretended 28 29 Referred therefore to the judgment of the heart 30 32 III. POINT That Excuse where it causelesly pretended of no avail with God Because it can 33 1 neither escape his search 34 2 nor avoid his knowledge 35 3 nor exempt from his punishment 36 The Inference thence Sermon III. Ad Magistratum on 1 SAM XII III Sect. 1-3 THe Occasion 4 Scope and 5 7 Division of the Text. 8 I. POINT Samuels voluntary offering himself to the trial 9 13 Five probable Reasons thereof 14 15 II. POINT Samuels confidence of his own Integrity 16 18 The Inference and Application 19 21 III. POINT Samuels Justice I. In disclaiming all unjust gain II. In general 22 24 With the general Inference thence 25 26 and special application to Judicature 27 30 in the Particulars viz. 1 Fraud 31 34 2 Oppression 35 39 3 Bribery 40-41 a special property whereof is to blinde the eyes 42. c. II. In offering Restitution The First Sermon Ad Populum PROV XIX XXI Sect. 1-3 BEtween Gods wayes and Ours 4 5 Three remarkable Differences in the Text. 7 14 DIFF I. in their Names 15 17 II. in their Number 18 21 III. in their manner of Existing 22 REASONS thereof taken from 23 24 1 The Soveraignty of God 25 26 2 The Eternity of God 27 28 3 The Wisdome of God 29 30 4 The Power of God 31 INFERENCES thence 32 3 The First 34· The Second 35 37 The Third 38 39 The Fourth 40 41 The Fifth 42 An Objection 43 44 Answered The Author to the Reader BY reason of my great distance from the Press and the flow returns of Papers to and fro it could not be avoided without making more stops in the work then was meet but that many more mistakes must needs escape both the Printers and Correctors observation then would have done mine had I been neerer who am best acquainted with mine own hand and best know mine own minde Although to do them both right I must acknowledge they have used good care and diligence in doing their part The number of Sermons in the Titles of the pages and likewise the Texts are sometimes mistaken slips also there are in point of Orthography or mis-accenting here and there as Dissentions Senecdoche c. Which I desire the Reader of himself to pardon and correct Those that either do alter or might obscure the sence though the mistake seem but small as the exchange or omission but of a letter or syllable so far as in the perusal of the sheets I could observe them are here presented Pag. Line Read 2 D 7 reason both as  E 2 bark 3 E 2 this kind 5 C 8 her Empire  E 5 with 7 A 1 imitation 9 D 6 sight 11 B 4 Insomuch 16 marg si me toto laudat 17 A 8 talke theirs 22 A 4 our names 29 C 3 a Souldier  7 we would have bespeake 35 A 6 if the one 48 A 2 is more 49 B 10 manifest 50 E 1 statue's 51 C 1 representation 66 B 8 surview 74 C 1 subreptionis  E 6 implying 102 B 1 him because 116 C 10 sphere 124 B 7 are not only 131 A 2 premises 136 E 2 Mortgager 137 D 2 would greive 145 E 3 his name 147 A 8 Vir 154 E 4 embellish 169 B 8 even 176 A 1 ijsdem 182 A 8 with 187 E 5 disguising 204 A mar ni me 206 E 2 holdeth under 223 B 6 affectation 247 C 8 with all meekness and tenderness fairely 276 D 2 of the blinde 279 B 2 they are 1   298 B 2 officer 303 B 10 is of 308 B 6 is terminus  C 5 apposito 310 A 1 up 2   320 A 9 befall us in 340 C 3 these 359 A 2 would 360 C 8 for any thing  D 7 and not to be 364 D 6 the sway 368 B 1 wretches 370 C 1 greater 383 B 3 seen 1 291 marg STOKE