two generals the giving to every man that which is his own and where that is requisite the ministring to them of ours The former whereof as it is so plain that it hardly admits of any proof so both the one and the other receive sufficient confirmation from our natural desire of receiving the like charity and justice from others for being as the forementioned Hooker well observeth those things which are equal must needs all have one measure if I cannot but wish to receive all justice and requisite charity from the hands of others I cannot but think it reasonable to afford it and I must either condemn my own desires and that nature from whence they flow or think other mens as necessary to be complyed with III. From what hath been said concerning the Law of Nature it is evident thirdly that this Law is unchangeable or at least must continue of force so long as our nature doth for being as was before said rooted in Nature and flowing from natural causes it must consequently have the same continuance with those causes from whence it flows Thus for example to give every man that which is his own is so a duty that it can never cease to be so as in like manner to offer violence to no man not to take away any mans life or substance Indeed it sometimes happens that there seems to be a change in this Law as in those known instances of the Israelites spoiling the Aegyptians and Abrahams sacrificing his innocent Son But if it be well considered it will be found that there is not so much a change made in the Law as in the matter about which it is conversant for God having a paramount power over the Creatures and never so parting with it as not to reserve to himself a liberty to withdraw it at pleasure whatsoever he commands to be taken away doth thereby cease to be that persons whose it was before and consequently it is no violation of that Law which commands the giving every man his own to disrobe such a person of it The like is to be said concerning Abrahams sacrificing his Son or the Magistrates putting a Malefactor to death for it being not simply murther to take away a mans life but to take it away either without commission from God or without any just motive Abrahams sacrificing his Son and the Magistrates putting a man to death is no breach of that Law which forbids murther Because the former did what he did by commission from God who is absolute Lord of the Creatures and the Magistrate puts Malefactors to death by virtue of that general Commission which impowers those that are in Authority to execute vengeance upon all that do evil By which solution all pretence is taken away of drawing those actions into example and particularly that of spoiling the Aegyptians For it being evident from the Scripture that whatsoever any man how wicked soever acquires by the ordinary course of Gods providence is truly and properly his and no diminution of that appearing but by an express command from God as the Israelites had to spoil the Aegyptians to take any thing away from such a person without that command is truly and properly to take away that which is anothers and consequently eternally sinful because that Law of which it is a transgression is eternal But here a question may not impertinently be made and I shall the rather intend it because the resolution thereof may confer somewhat to the clearing of that which follows to wit how it comes to pass that this Law of Nature hath not only been so much disobeyed but so much misunderstood by those who were under the obligation of it for flowing as I have before said from natural principles the truth whereof is evident to all and being also as was now shewn eternally obligatory to all mankind it may seem a wonder how this Law should be so strangely misunderstood as experience tells us it hath been The Romans a polite and civilized people accounting it no injury to invade the Territories of their Neighbours as the whole Heathen world strangely offending against that fundamental Law which forbids the adopting of any Creature into equal honour with the Almighty In answer to which we are first to know that though the first principles of natural knowledge carry sufficient evidence in themselves and accordingly have been with great consent acknowledged by all whence it is that no Nation almost hath been so barbarous as not to own a God and that God is to be worshipped yet the deductions from those principles which are no less a part of that Law require some care and intention in those that make them which the world generally slothful not being over forward to use it is no wonder if men have many times erred in several particulars thereof for let the truth we are to know be built upon never so certain and evident principles yea upon such as are no less evident than that the whole is greater than the part yet if we attend not to the consequences of those principles we may erre in our apprehensions about them even as he who hath a light to guide him may either stumble or wander out of his way if he do not advert to those bright rays that stream from it 2. But there is yet a more weighty cause of mens misapprehensions in those things which are the Precepts of this great Law and that is the depravedness of their wills and affections and their earnest pursuit of such things as promise them any present pleasure or advantage for finding sin to minister to these and themselves strongly enclined to obtain them the desire of so doing makes them first willing to believe that which leads to them to be no impiety and then actually to believe it none for as Minutius Felix speaks facilè credimus quae volumus we easily believe that which we desire to be our passion for any present enjoyment either wholly stifling or suppressing the dictates of right reason which should keep us from the pursuing of it 3. Lastly which S. Paul expresly affirms * Rom. 1.28 and is in truth the best account of this difficulty the Heathen world liking not to retain God in their knowledge nor those Precepts of his which this great Law contain'd it is no wonder if he gave them over not only to vile affections but also to a reprobate and brutish mind for how can it be but extremely just to withdraw the light from those who shut their eyes against it when they have it and to make that their punishment which was their own choice IV. The fourth and last thing comes now to be discussed to wit What is the usefulness of this Law A question which may seem the more necessary to be asked after the superinducing of the Law of Moses and that of Christ In answer to which I say 1. That though these later Laws should acquaint us with every thing that
and the Chaldee Paraphrast in like manner When thou shalt see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burthen and wouldst forbear to help him thou shalt let go the hatred which is in thy heart against him and shalt lend him thy assistance in the raising him up referring not so much to the kindness which he was to shew to the poor beast though that also was a duty as to that which he was to shew to the owner of it and his own enemy But that of Solomon will put this business out of question because so fully expressive of the love of an enemy that S. Paul himself thought fit to represent it to the Christian Romans when he was intreating of the same argument 'T is in the 25. of the Proverbs verses 21 and 22. If thine enemy hunger give him bread to eat and if he be thirsty give him water to drink For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head and the Lord shall reward thee 2. Having thus shewn wherein the Gospel and the Law agree and consequently wherein we are not to look for any additions let us in the next place enquire what the Gospel hath added to the Law and Prophets wherein it hath fulfilled the Law and them And here 1. I observe first that though our Saviour hath required no new vertues which the Law and the Prophets did not before enjoin yet he hath enjoined us some new instances which under the Law were left free We have one in that Sermon of our Saviour to which I have so often referred and therefore I shall begin with that 'T is in the 5. Chapter of S. Matthew and the 31. verse where he tells us that it hath been said Whosoever shall put away his wife let him give her a writing of divorcement But I say unto you That whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication causeth her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery Wherewith agreeth that of the same Jesus Mat. 19.8 9. where when the Pharisees demanded of him why if God had made the bond so close between man and wife at the first as he had then affirmed Moses did command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away his answer was that Moses for the hardness of their hearts suffered them to put away their wives but from the beginning it was not so neither should be from that time forward for whosoever shall put away his wife except it be for fornication and shall marry another committeth Adultery and whoso marrieth her which is put away committeth Adultery From which passages compared together it is manifest that Moses permitted divorces for lesser causes than fornication but that Christ would not allow of any upon a lower cause But not to insist upon this because there is some ground to believe that Moses his permission of divorce was rather such as freed them from punishment in this world than from guilt before God inasmuch as it is only said that Moses suffered them so to do because of the hardness of their hearts though on the other side it may seem strange that God should give so uncontrouled a permission to that which he himself then held as sinful and treasured up against them against the day of wrath But not I say however to insist upon that I shall proceed to the matter of Polygamy or the having of more wives than one which it is certain the Jews were not only permitted but so far dispensed withal also that they might do it without the imputation of a sin the Scripture reckoning multitude of wives to David as a blessing and a gift of God even to that David who was a man after Gods own heart 2 Sam. 12.8 Thus you see it was under the Law even with the allowance of God himself but Christ hath now determined otherwise as is manifest to go no farther from that forequoted text of S. Matthew c. 19.9 where our Saviour tells us that whosoever shall put away his wife except it be for fornication and shall marry another committeth Adultery For if it were lawful to have more wives than one his marrying another could not be imputed to him for a sin and much less for Adultery as it is in the text now quoted Let it remain therefore for an undoubted truth That though our Saviour hath required no now vertues yet he hath enjoyned us some new instances and consequently so far added to the Law 2. But beside the enjoining of new instances which yet alone would have justified our Saviours assertion he hath also exacted those vertues in a greater latitude than they will be found to have been under the Law For the evidencing whereof I will instance in the love of enemies as being one of the most eminent vertues of the Gospel And here not to content my self with that of our Saviour Mat. 5.43 44. where having premised after his manner that they had heard it had been said Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy he adds by way of opposition But I say unto you Love your enemies not I say to content my self with that I shall set before you the extent of this Precept under the Gospel and then shew how much the Law falls short of it in its injunctions I begin with the former of these even the extent of this Precept under the Gospel Which I shall not doubt to affirm first to comprehend such enemies as are of a different Religion from us as well as those who are of the same Religion with our selves that is to say the Infidel as well as the Believer the Schismatick as well as the Orthodox professor That the Schismatick is not to be excluded from this Love we have a clear evidence from our Saviour in his behaviour toward the Samaritans and in his explication of that question which was put to him by a Lawyer concerning the importance of the word Neighbour For first when his Disciples would have had him call for fire from Heaven to consume the Samaritans for refusing to give entertainment to them Luke 9.54 he both sharply reproved them for that their suggestion and told them that the son of man was not come to destroy mens lives but to save them even of those that were Separatists from the true Church the Samaritans as well as the Jews for otherwise those words of his had not touched them at all whose present zeal was against such persons only Now if Christ came not to destroy even such mens lives but to save them we cannot deem it any way acceptable to him for us to pray against them and make them the objects of our hatred The same is much more evident from our Saviours answer to that question who is the neighbour we are to love as our selves Luke 10.29 For there he doth both insinuate a Samaritan to be a neighbour and enjoin the Jew to imitate him by shewing
discover to you the malignity of the contrary vices But because men are not overforward to apply the rule of truth to their own obliquities and by that means oftentimes miss of the knowledge of them and because too I have already given you a character of Superstition which is one of the extremes of a religious fear I will for a conclusion of my discourse set before you the malignity of carnal security which is the extreme in defect For so far are some men from trembling at the Almighty that they go on in their sins without the least regret and neither concern themselves for the judgments they behold on others nor for those which are denounced against themselves As if according to the Prophet Isay * 28.15 they had made a covenant with death and were at an agreement with hell so that though the overflowing scourge should pass thorough the Land it should not come nigh them nor disturb their peace and prosperity And here not to tell you because that is sufficiently evident that this is in effect to deny Gods Power and Justice and Truth because having himself threatned to arm his Power and Justice against them I shall propose to your consideration the great danger it betrays you to as to your spiritual or temporal estate For to begin with the former of these he that is thus fearless of Gods displeasure is not only at present in a reprobate estate but likely to be so for ever For what should move him to return who is not moved with the threats of the Almighty nor regards in the least the power of his displeasure Should the expresses of Gods love constrain him Those indeed are very forcible motives But how should they prevail with such a one when even those who have a veneration for the Almighty find it so hard to yield to them without having an eye to the terrours of the Almighty Add hereunto what the Scripture so often affirmeth that The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom For what other interpretation can we make of that than that heavenly wisdom must enter by that passion and men be brought to a sense of Gods Justice and Severity before they be affected with his love But it may be such mens estate in spirituals will not much move them and therefore I shall proceed to the consideration of their temporal one Concerning which I shall not doubt to affirm that he who is thus regardless of Gods displeasure is the most likely to fall under the stroak of it For not to tell such persons what the Psalmist hath told us that according to our fear so is Gods displeasure that is to say more or less according to our awe of him I shall desire them to consider the affront they offer to the Divine Majesty by this their disregard of him For what is it but even to dare him to exert that Power and Justice by which he would commend himself to the world He doth indeed speak gloriously of his own power and Majesty he looks big and threatens severely all those that shall but dare to oppose but as such big looks and bugbear words do not much startle the carnally secure so he will put it to the tryal whether the effects will answer them and God be as tremendous in his punishments as he seems to be in the denunciations of them Than which as there cannot be a greater affront to the Almighty who is by this means neglected and contemned so I shall leave you to judge what effect it is likely to have upon him who besides his own natural aversation of all impiety is moreover extremely jealous of his Honour PART V. Of the Passion of Love its nature and objects what the immediate expresses thereof are and what its opposite extremes all which are applied to the Love of God Among other things is censured the being over familiar with God the pretences for it detected and removed A necessary admonition concerning the proportioning of our affections to the infiniteness of those perfections upon which they are set and how that is to be done IF the passion of fear can find something in God to excite it even under the dispensation of the Gospel to be sure that of Love cannot want matter to provoke it and entertain it with complacency and delight there being in God either formally or eminently whatsoever is the object of our love For the evidencing whereof I will enquire 1. First of all into the nature of it 2. Shew what are the objects of that passion from thence proceed 3. To consider the immediate expresses of it and 4. And lastly mark out the extreams on either hand Applying all as I go to the Love of God which is that we are especially to consider 1. Now though as was observed concerning fear the nature of Love be more evident to our inward sense than can be made out by discourse yet I think it not amiss for the better explication of the present argument to give you some definition of it Which is that love is a passion whereby the Soul is disposed to joyn it self to those objects which appear to it to be grateful and pleasant Which definition I do the rather give you to take away that usual distinction of love into that of Benevolence and Concupiscency Benevolence in proper speech being rather an effect of our love to that which is the object of it than any real part of it 2. The nature of love being thus explained in the general proceed we in the next place to the objects of it which in general are such as are either good in themselves or such as are good to us Of the former sort is that love which we have for all vertuous and excellent persons how little soever we our selves may be profited by them Such as are perhaps those that live in remote parts and with whom we our selves have no commerce For though we are not likely to be benefited by them in our own persons yet because of the excellencies we hear of in them we conceive a love for them and never think of them without complacency and delight The same love we have for all beautiful objects of natures make and for all such like products of art these to whomsoever they appertain yet drawing our Soul after them and obliging it to receive them into her embraces Now concerning this love there can be no doubt but that God is the just object of it yea that he may challenge it in the highest degree imaginable as will appear if we consider either the excellencies of the divine nature or the measure wherein he is possessed of them Look upon the former and you will find them to be such as are the excellencies of the most sublime essence such as are freedom from the feculencies of matter and much more from the infirmities thereof a discerning understanding and a rightly ordered will a being which does nothing that is not becoming
Beings but is the Fountain of whatsoever is either dreadful or lovely in them hence it comes to pass that to own him for our God we are consequently to fear and love all other things with respect to the Divine Majesty from whom they derive their several Excellencies at the same time we fear or love them looking up to the Almighty and regarding them not so much for themselves as for that Majesty and Goodness which it pleas'd the Almighty to imprint upon them PART VI. How we may and ought to own God in our Bodies This done first by yielding Obedience to his Commands and particularly to such as have a more immediate aspect upon him Of which number are those concerning Invocation Praise Swearing by or Vowing to him The like effected by presenting God with external Notes of our Submission whether they be such as are performed within the Body as Bowing Kneeling and the like or such as though the Body be instrumental to yet pass from thence to other things Such as are the Building or Adorning of Temples and the setting apart certain Times for God's Worship and Service the Consecrating of certain Persons to preside in it and respecting them when they are so HAving shewn in the foregoing Discourses what Tribute is due to God from our Souls and particularly from our Vnderstandings Wills and Affections which are the several Faculties thereof it remains that we inquire 2. What Tribute is due to him from our Bodies and how we are to own him for our God in them Which is either 1. By yielding Obedience to his Commands and particularly to such as have a more immediate aspect upon him or 2. By presenting him with some external Note or Sign of our Submission The former whereof is by some call'd the Honour of the Deed the latter the Honour of the Sign I. Of the former of these there cannot be the least doubt that it is requir'd of us toward the owning him for our God For beside that the Name of God is a Name of Authority as well as Eminency and consequently implieth a necessity of Obedience in those to whom he hath that Relation God himself doth here make use of it as an Obligation to all those Commandments which we are now upon the consideration of he requiring our having no other Gods besides himself with other the Duties that follow upon the score of his being the Lord our God according as was before observ'd in his Preface to the Imposition of them But so that I may not stand upon a thing so plain doth that Lord of ours expresly require us to own him our Saviour putting by the Temptations of Satan to fall down before himself by saying It is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him yea him onely shalt thou serve Matth. 4.10 Now though what hath been said extend to all God's Commands because they all bear the stamp of his Authority yet is it especially to be understood of yielding Obedience to such Commands as have a more immediate aspect upon God these more immediately implying the owning of that Authority he hath over the Sons of Men. For the fuller declaration therefore of our own Duty in this behalf I will now set those Commands before you and shew how we own him for our God by yielding Obedience to them 1. To begin with Invocation or Praeyer one of the prime Acts of God's Worship and which therefore is of all others the most frequently and earnestly inculcated concerning which it is easie to shew how necessary it is to pay him the acknowledgment of a God For inasmuch as all Men desire the Preservation of their own Being inasmuch as that desire necessarily prompts them to look abroad for it if they think not themselves able to procure it in case any Man do not thus seek it of God it must be because he doth not believe it to come from him but either from himself or from meer Natural Causes But what other is this than to deny that God from whom every good and perfect gift cometh and to make a God either of ones self or Nature There being nothing more essential to the Divine Nature than the being the Author of all those Blessings by which the whole Creation is either maintain'd or adorn'd The same is to be said of that which is sometime reckon'd as a part of Prayer because a necessary attendant of it that is to say of giving Thanks to him for those Blessings by which we are at any time made happy He who refuseth thus to honour God in effect denying the coming of them from him because Nature it self hath taught us to make this return wheresoever we have been oblig'd If there be any thing farther to be observ'd concerning these two Acknowledgments it will fall in more pertinently when we come to entreat of The Prayer of our Lord to which therefore I shall reserve the consideration of it 2. From Prayer and Thanksgiving therefore pass we to Praise another Act of Adoration and no less frequently enjoyn'd And no wonder if we consider either the end for which the Tongue was given or its aptness to set forth the Excellencies of the Almighty For as if we consider the practice of Holy Men it may seem to have been given for nothing more than for commemorating the Excellencies of the Divine Nature so by the variety of its Expressions it is fitted to set forth all those Excellencies of which the Divine Nature is compos'd as neither wanting Words to express his Justice and Mercy and the like nor yet that which makes them more Divine the Infiniteness thereof 3. To Praising the Divine Majesty subjoyn we Swearing by him another Act of Adoration and no less expresly requir'd for so we find the Prophet Moses distinctly commanding and that too in the same Period where he prescribes his Fear and Service for thou shalt fear the Lord thy God saith he and serve him and swear by his Name Deut. 6.13 And indeed if we consider the nature of an Oath we shall not in the least doubt of the manner of our owning him for our God by it For an Oath being nothing else than the calling God to witness to the Truth of what we affirm he that swears by him doth not onely acknowledge God to be superior to himself but also to be a Witness of infallible Truth a Searcher of our Hearts and a most just and powerful Avenger of all Perjury and Falshood no one appealing to a Witness that is not of greater Authority than himself and with much less reason for the sincerity of his own Affirmations but where that sincerity may be known or any deviation from it be punish'd if he transgress it For what satisfaction could an Oath be to any Man if Men did not presume God to be an Avenger of Perjury and Falshood as well as a Discerner of the Truth And accordingly as for the most part such Clauses as this are generally
I shall now take for granted as having sufficiently establish'd it in the foregoing Discourse It remains therefore that I evidence the truth of the latter which will not cost me much time or pains to manifest For if we are to have an Oath in such veneration as not to use it in common Converse nor indeed where there is not a great necessity how cautious ought we to be in setting it to a Lie which this very Decalogue hath forbidden and which beside that God doth elsewhere profess to have a great abhorrence of To all which if we add that of St. Paul to Timothy 1 Tim. 1.9 10. so there will not remain any the least doubt I do not say of the unlawfulness but of the great enormity of setting the Oath of God unto a Lie because not onely affirming the Law to have been made for perjur'd Persons but reckoning them among Parricides and other such Monsters in Nature as their Crime together with those of their Associates among the things that are contrary to sound doctrine Now though this might suffice at least amongst reasonable Men to evince the unlawfulness of setting the Oath of God unto a Lie yet because as was but now intimated it is a Crime of a very high nature and yet by many Men as little scrupled as vain and unnecessary ones I think it not amiss a little to explain the Nature of it and the fatal Consequences wherewith it is attended I have before shewn and shall therefore now take it for granted that an Oath is a Religious Affirmation wherein God is invok'd as a Witness and by consequence also as a Revenger if we be found to falsifie in it From whence it will follow That whosoever swears falsly calls God to witness to a Lie Now that no Man can do without believing God to have no regard at all to Humane Affairs or that he is false and a Patron of those that are so neither the one nor the other of which can be entertain'd into our thoughts without the highest Impiety in the World Not the former because not onely denying an Article of our Faith but striking at the Root of all Religion He that cometh unto God as the Author to the Hebrews * 11.6 instructs us being not onely to believe that he is but that he is a rewarder of such as diligently seek him which implies a more than ordinary Regard But let us suppose him that swears falsely to believe God to have a regard to Humane Affairs though I am sure he that doth so will in the end give us no thanks for the Supposition yet can it not be deny'd but that he must believe God to be such as himself even a Liar and a Patron of those that are so For will any Man call those to witness to a Lie of whom he hath not a strong presumption that they are false themselves Nay will he be so unmindful of his own Interest or rather take so much pains to ruine it For if the Party whom he invites to give Testimony be no false or deceitful Person he will undoubtedly give Testimony rather against than for him and discover his falshood to the World Now forasmuch as it cannot be suppos'd any Man will be so far an Enemy to himself as to seek a Testimony which shall onely make against him he who thus calls God to witness must be presum'd to believe that God will witness for him and consequently because a Lie is that he is call'd to witness to that God is false and a Patron of those that are so But what Impiety can be greater than such a Belief or more dishonourable to the Divine Majesty who hath every where represented himself as True and Faithful who hath in several places affirm'd Lying to be one of those things to which his Power though Almighty cannot reach lastly whose Veracity is the stay of all those that trust in him of all that come unto Christ by him For let God's Veracity be destroy'd and all Trust in him must perish with it and he be accounted as vain a Confidence as any which himself decries From the Affront which false swearing offers to the Divine Majesty pass we to the Consequences thereof and the harm it doth to Humane Society which will appear if we reflect upon the several sorts of Oaths which are either Assertory or Promissory For Assertory Oaths such I mean as are brought to witness the Truth of any thing that is past or present the Author to the Hebrews tells us and we may learn it from our own Experience that they are an end of strifes between Parties at variance this being that by which all Controversies are voided and without which it is impossible they should ever be For as it is not to be presum'd they who judge between Man and Man should have cognisance of their respective Interests but from the report of others so the bare Affirmations of Men are generally too fallacious to ground a sound Decision on there being nothing more usual even for those who make some conscience of speaking Truth than to stretch it beyond its bounds to serve the Necessity or Interest of their Friends Either therefore Differences must never have an end which Religion as well as the Interest of the World forbids or they must be ended by that which the Scripture hath represented as the proper way to terminate and which all the World hath made use of to compose them Now forasmuch as the Welfare of Mankind depends upon the Composure of Differences as that again upon the Religion of an Oath he must needs be a great Enemy to Humane Society who shall subvert this surest Prop of it and call God to witness to a Lie For what were this but to bring a scandal upon those so necessary means of deciding Controversies and consequently to leave Men either to differ without hopes of accord or what was sometime in use in our Forefathers days to decide their Differences by the Sword Which as it is in it self a very unequal Umpire of Differences so serves onely to create greater and precipitate Men into that confusion which they sought to avoid by it The like is to be said of Promissory Oaths such I mean as are brought to assure Men that they who make them will perform what they promise For let these once be vitiated and disgrac'd and there can be no assurance to any Man of any thing that is yet to come For if an Oath will not hold a Man much less will a bare promise because that contains a Promise in it and beside that an Appeal to the Judge of Heaven and Earth If it be said as it may That the Laws and the Punishments annex'd may make them perform their Oaths whom the Religion of an Oath cannot I answer first That there were such Oaths made must be confirm'd by another to those to whom the execution of the Laws is committed If therefore Oaths do once become
an Oath to the suspected Party concerning that which he is suppos'd to have unjustly gotten Which whosoever shall seriously consider will not be very forward to think it unreasonable to put a Man sometimes upon the accusing of himself For as hard as it may be and contrary to his supposed Liberty it may seem much more hard and more contrary to the Liberties of us all that Men for the close carriage of their Injustice should go away with the Properties of other Men and there be no Judiciary Course to retrive it from them The Pretence of Natural Liberty will appear yet more vain if we consider that all Men are liable to have the same Oaths exacted of them For inasmuch as I have the privilege of laying an Oath upon other Men as they have upon me in any thing I am suspected of though such an Oath be prejudicial to me yet it may be compensated to me upon other Men with whom I have occasion to deal Add hereunto which is of great consideration unless a liberty to sin may be reckon'd among our Natural Liberties That as through the fear of such an Oath I may be restrain'd from unjust dealing lest I be afterwards oblig'd to make my own Mouth witness against me so I may be oblig'd by the taking of it to make confession of my Sin and make satisfaction for it to my Neighbour and the World which without the obligation of such an Oath it is probable I should never have done and thereby have shut my self out from the Pardon of the Almighty 4. It having been thus demonstrated That it is not unlawful for a Magistrate to take an Oath of the Accused Party concerning that of which he is so accus'd it remains onely that I inquire in what Cases it may be done which is the fourth thing propos'd to be discours'd of Now for that nothing I think can be said with more Reason and Judgment than is by the Reverend Person before-mentioned and that is That it be administred onely in such Cases where the Crime which it is design'd to detect do not lay a Man open to Death or loss of Limb. Not perhaps because it is utterly unlawful in such Cases for what shall we then say of the Oath wherewith the Woman suspected of Adultery was charg'd together with the Water of Jealousie she was made to drink but 1. For the Oath of God's sake which by being adminstred in such Cases is in great danger of being violated For since Life and Limb but Life especially is so dear to us that as the Devil told the Almighty a Man will part with all to preserve it there is just reason to suspect if Men were put to their Oaths in such Cases they would forswear themselves and thereby offer an affront to the Oath of God which ought as much as may be to be preserv'd inviolate There is as much reason secondly for the not administring it in the forementioned Cases because of its ineffectualness to attain the End which is design'd by it For the End of such an Oath being the discovery of that Crime which he to whom it is tendred is suspected to be guilty of it can hardly escape the imputation of a Sin to tender it there where in all probability he to whom it is so tendred will forswear himself rather than expose himself to so great a severity But as setting aside these Cases where there is danger of Life or Limb or if there be any other of equal consideration with it there appears not the least reason why an Oath should not be administred to the suspected Party so there is less exception against our Courts of Judicature where such Oaths are in use because as the Complainant has the liberty of laying an Oath upon the Defendant so the Defendant has Power to interrogate the other upon the same Sacred Tie V. I am now arriv'd at my last Particular concerning Oaths to wit the Obligation of them where first of all I shall shew that they induce an Obligation and then what that Obligation is That they induce an Obligation or Tie to the performance of something the Prophet Moses shews in the thirtieth Chapter of Numbers where we have not onely an Oath frequently stil'd by the Name of a bond but the design thereof vers 3. said to be to bind the soul with a bond The onely difficulty is to what they do oblige or bind us which is different according to the different sorts of Oaths which as hath been before insinuated are either Assertory or Promissory Assertory Oaths are such as are given to attest the Truth of any thing that is either past or present Now the Obligation which those induce is That what is so sworn to be agreeable to the mind of him that utters them by vertue whereof not onely all false Oaths are proscrib'd but all Oaths which pretend to assert that which we swear to with any greater degree of certainty than we our selves are perswaded of Thus for example if a Man should swear peremptorily to the truth of any thing which he is onely probably perswaded of in this case his Oath would be sinful because his Words carry a greater certainty in them than is in the Conscience of him that swears to it When therefore we give an Oath of this nature care would be taken not onely that the thing we sear to appear to us to be true but that it appear to us in that degree of assurance with which it is affirm'd by us For otherwise our Affirmation must be concluded to be false and consequently which is evidence enough of the criminalness thereof that God Almighty is call'd to witness to a Lie And though as I shall afterward shew those Oaths which we call Promissory ones by reason of the Matter about which they are conversant have a particular obligation yet they also have this common with Assertory Oaths that they oblige those who swear to take care that their Words be agreeable to their Thoughts that is to say that they do not swear to do any thing but what they have at that time an intention to perform For though the thing they swear to perform be somewhat future yet the immediate Object of their Oath is their present Resolution to perform it and consequently if they will free their Oath from Falshood at that instant to resolve upon what they swear in due time to perform To go on now to shew the Obligation that is peculiar to Promissory Oaths or such Oaths as are affixed to a Promise which if Reason it self did not teach us we might learn from the Scripture to be no other than the performing of what we so swear to For thus Num. 30.3 it is the express Commandment of the Almighty That if any man vow a vow unto the Lord or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond he shall not break his word he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his
Suffrages of those who have been eminent for their Learning or Piety in the World I begin with the Ancient Fathers both because the first in Time and because they have been most unanimously esteem'd For the judging of whose Authority and consequently of the Honour that is to be given by us to them I will first of all consider them as Witnesses of Ecclesiastical Tradition and then as delivering their own Sense in Matters of Religion If we consider them in the former notion so little doubt can be made of their Authority especially if we understand by Fathers such of them as had eminent Places in the Hierarchy of the Church as Mr. Thorndike * Socrates Hist Eccl. li. 2. c. 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. eundem lib. 2. cap. 10. Hilar in fine libr. de Synodis cum observat Thorndic lib. de ratione ac jure finiendi controversias cap. 25. pag. 489 c. hath shewn out of * Socrates Hist Eccl. li. 2. c. 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. eundem lib. 2. cap. 10. Hilar in fine libr. de Synodis cum observat Thorndic lib. de ratione ac jure finiendi controversias cap. 25. pag. 489 c. Ancient Writers that we ought to understand the Name of Fathers For living so near as they did to the Times of the Apostles by which means they had opportunity to know what things had been delivered by Christ and his Apostles and being moreover thought worthy in those purer Times to be set in the highest Places of Dignity and Authority in the Church the Prerogative of that their Rank and their nearness to the Apostles Times is in reason to oblige us to look upon them as competent Witnesses of the Tradition of the Apostles and consequently to give up our Belief to what they shall so testifie especially if we find them to have so testified with one consent or with no material difference in it Whence it is that all reasonable Men must look upon the Government of the Church by Bishops Priests and Deacons as instituted by the Apostles because with one consent so declar'd by the Ancient Fathers And though the same Authority be not to be given to them where they pretend to speak rather their own Sense than the Tradition of the Church which is the second Notion under which I promis'd to look upon them yet even there they are caeteris paribus to be preferr'd in their Opinions before those of later date both because as was before said they were of eminent account in the Church and because of the opportunity they had by their neerness to the Apostles times to know the sense both of them and of our Lord and Saviour Of the Fathers of the Church what hath been said may suffice at least as to those who are most like to be my Readers proceed we now to consider how far the judgment of Learned men in general is to prevail with us in the squaring of our own in matters of Religion In order whereunto 1. The first thing I shall represent is that whatever Authority the judgment of Learned men ought to have with us yet ought it not to be of any account against the clear and express Dictates of Reason and Scripture Because whatever their judgment is it is but the judgment of men whereas the voice of Reason and Scripture is no other than the Voice of God To which therefore there is but reason the other should yield because it is but fallible whereas Reason and Scripture is the voice of him whose property it is not to be in a capacity to be deceiv'd Again forasmuch as whatever force the judgment of Learned men may be of it is upon the presumption of the concurrency of their judgments with Reason and Scripture which they have such ability to discern the voice of Reason and Scripture must consequently be of more force it self as which gives all the force it hath to the judgment of Learned men Against the clear and express dictates of Reason and Scripture therefore the judgment of Learned men can be of no avail and consequently in that case no Honour to be given to it 2. But neither secondly is any such Honour to be given to the judgment of Learned Men where there is a strong or very probable reason against it For besides that Learned Men may be biast by Interest and other such like considerations which serve rather to corrupt than inform their judgments a reason as a Learned Man * Taylor 's Ductor Dubit l. 1. c. 4. Rule 9. observes is an intrinsecal proper and apportion'd Motive to the Conscience but humane Authority or citation of consenting Authors is but an extrinsecal accidental and presumptive Inducement and a meer suppletory in the destitution of Reason Truth as the forenamed Person observes from Socrates being not to be weighed by Witnesses but by Argument not by the Authority of Authors but by the Reasons they alledge 3. But because what the voice of Scripture or Reason is is not always apparent of it self nor yet with any great probability to be collected or at least not by men of ordinary Capacities hence there ariseth a necessity of having recourse to the judgment of the Learned and a reasonableness of things of that nature of being bound up by it For as it is but reasonable to yeild to the judgments of others where our own will not serve to extricate our selves so it is but a just respect which we owe to their Learning and indeed to God himself who is the Author of it For what other is it than a contempt of their Gifts and of God who is the Donor of them not to submit to their judgments whom God hath so well furnish'd with an ability to inform us Whence it is That though in matters of Religion men are generally more headstrong yet in matters relating to their Health or Estate there are none of Common Understanding which do not square their Opinions and Actions by the advice of those who are the Sages either of the Law or Physick But so the same Reason will oblige us to proceed in things relating to the discipline and outward oeconomy of Religion For what can be more reasonable especially in things of that nature than to square our judgments by theirs whom God hath bless'd with an ability to discern The only scruple in this Affair is what is to be done where we find Learned Men to differ Where first little doubt is to be made but we are to follow the judgments of those whom we apprehend to be in the right as to the main Thus for example Though there be as much Learning among the Papists as the Protestants in all sorts of knowledge relating to Religion yet inasmuch as I believe the latter to be in the right as to the main and the other not I think it but reasonable to defer to their judgment whom I am so well perswaded of There being
more reason to believe them to be in the right as to the particular whereof I enquire who are so in the main than those who shew their Ignorance or Prejudice in matters of the greatest weight Again If the difference be between men of the same Protestant Profession and of the same Belief in the main matters wherein we have separated from the Papists I think it but reasonable to incline to the judgment of those upon whom I can discern the clearest Testimonies of Peaceableness Humility and Obedience It being but just to presume that God who promiseth his Grace to the humble will bestow the light of his Truth there where that Grace and other such like do most prevail Lastly Forasmuch as in any difference between Learned Men there is a greater presumption of Truth where there are the most and best than among the fewer and the worse Reason would that we should pay them so much respect as to choose to opine with them rather than with others that are both fewer in number and less Learned than they All which I say not to invite you to have the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons which I know that very Faith doth forbid but that where that Faith or Reason is not apparent we should choose rather to follow the conduct of those whom God hath bless'd with an ability of discerning than our own groundless Fancies or the Fancies of those whom God hath not endu'd with the like Abilities That being but a necessary result of an humble opinion of our selves and an Honour which we owe to the abilities of those whom God hath bless'd with a more exalted Understanding To go on now to shew the Honour that is due from us to other Superiours to which I told you in my entrance upon this Commandment that the Precept is to be thought to extend Where first I shall enquire what Honour is due from us to the Aged as because by a general consent they have acquir'd to themselves the name of Fathers so also because St. Paul hath commanded us to treat them as such His Injunction to Timothy being not only that he should not rebuke an Elder or a man of Years but that he should entreat him as a Father and the elder Women as Mothers 1 Tim. 5.1 2. Now concerning these following my usual Method I will enquire 1. Upon what grounds the Honour of these Fathers is built and 2. What kind of Honours we are to afford them 1. It is the affirmation of Solomon Prov. 16.31 That the hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of Righteousness and so indeed it is because beside the Honour of its Gray Hairs it doth also connote a long continuance in Piety which is of all other things the justest ground of Honour But because as Old Age is sometime found without this attendant so the precept of rising up before it is without any such limitation as you may see Lev. 19.32 therefore it may not be amiss to enquire after such grounds as are separate from the way of Righteousness or at least as do not necessarily involve a perfect one Of which number is 1. That Wisdom which doth generally adorn it and is indeed one of the fairest Jewels of its Crown For as according to the saying of Elihu in Job it is but reasonable that Days should speak and multitude of Years teach Wisdom so experience shews that Wisdom is no where found more perfect nor any where else a more clear and solid Understanding Partly through the manifold experience they have had of those things that fall under Consideration and partly through the advantage of their Temper Old Men having neither any of that heat which is natural to younger Persons and by which they are precipitated to act before they have sufficiently considered nor yet of those Lusts by which their judgments are either perfectly debauch'd or at least very much clouded in their perceptions Which by the way as Tully * Tullius de Senectute Nihil igitur afferunt qui in re gerenda versari senectutem negant similesque sunt ut siquis gubernatorem in navigando nihil agere dicat cum alii malos scandant alii per foros cursent alii sentinam exhauriant ille autem clavem tenent quietus sedeat in puppi observes may make amends for that weakness of body wherewith the Hoary Head is commonly attended and for which it is so oft despis'd as useless For who as the same Author * Tullius de Senectute Nihil igitur afferunt qui in re gerenda versari senectutem negant similesque sunt ut siquis gubernatorem in navigando nihil agere dicat cum alii malos scandant alii per foros cursent alii sentinam exhauriant ille autem clavem tenent quietus sedeat in puppi there speaks will say the Master of the Ship does nothing because younger Men perhaps climb the Mast run over the Decks or empty the Pump whilst in the mean time the good Old Man sits at the Helm and directs both the Ship and all that manage it And accordingly as in all Nations Men have generally made choice of the Elder sort for the managing of the most Important Affairs of State so the Custom hath so prevail'd that in all Nations almost the word Elder hath been set to denote a Counseller or a Governour and they have born the Name who have not had Years to answer it nor any thing but their Place and Wisdom As if Wisdom were so peculiar to the Ancient that Young Men must become Old to learn it and not be admitted to govern till either Time had planted Hoary Hairs upon their Head or the Elder Ones made them a Periwig of theirs 2. But beside the wisdom of the Hoary Head which yet is no contemptible ground of that Honour which we are to afford them the Hoary Head hath also to commend it the favour of God towards it above and beside what greener Ones have Those Hoary Heads betokening Gods Approbation of their Persons and Actions or at least his Compassion and Forbearance For as that Crown of theirs generally shews them to be free from those enormous Vices concerning which God hath said that they which do them shall not live out half their days Psal 55.23 So where it doth not yet at least that God hath a favour to them and desires their Conversion and Amendment In order thereunto whilst he cuts off younger Persons in the midst of their Years and Sins yet continuing them to Gray Hairs that so they may have opportunity to return And it brings to my Mind what is to be seen in a Medal of Theophylactus a Christian Emperour even a Hand betokening that of Heaven putting a Crown upon his Head For if this Crown of Glory on the Hoary Head be a mark of the favour of the Almighty it may very well have the same device because planted on the
designed killing by Private Persons to be look'd upon as Murther unless what a Man is put upon in his own necessary Defence A brief Censure of Duels THIS Commandment with those that follow rather pointing at such things as we are to avoid than at those which we are oblig'd to pursue Reason would that we should employ the main of our Endeavours in the discovery of those Sins which this and the other Commandments do forbid Having therefore in my last set before you what regard we ought to have for one anothers Persons and Lives I think it not amiss to consider by what means they may be prejudic'd as from which the present Precept aims especially to secure us In order whereunto because that seems to me to be the most natural way of procedure I will 1. First of all entreat of that which is literally and expresly forbidden and 2. When I have done so proceed to inquire Whether any other Sins are included in it and what those Sins are 1. To begin with that which is literally and expresly forbidden concerning which no doubt can be made but it is the killing of our Neighbour because however the Commandment expresseth no more than Thou shalt not kill yet this and those that follow are resolv'd by St. Paul to be comprehended in loving our Neighbour as our selves Which Resolution of his could not have truth in it if the Crimes that are forbidden had not our Neighbour for the Object of them Taking it therefore for granted that the killing of a Neighbour is the thing here forbidden I will inquire 1. Wherein the Criminalness thereof doth consist 2. What Killing is to be suppos'd to be understood And 3. And lastly What is to be thought of Self-murther and how that is reducible to this Commandment 1. Now though for the Criminalness of Murther it might be enough to alledge that it is a violation of this Commandment and which is more of one of those which were given to Noah which I have shewn to be in themselves of Universal obligation yet because I have undertaken to shew that this as well as the rest is a Violation of the Law of Reason and Nature as well as of God's Positive ones waving the consideration of the other I will betake my self to such Topicks as the Light of Nature will afford us Whereof the first that I shall assign is the particular Affront it offers to the Divine Nature For though Man as such be the immediate Object of its Injuriousness and accordingly so resolved by us yet inasmuch as Man is no other than the Image of God and acknowledg'd so to be no less by the Heathen than by our selves what is thus done to Man must be look'd upon as an Affront to God whose Image is thus defac'd in him Excellent to this purpose is that of Philo * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De spec legibus in the entrance of his Discourse upon this Commandment Murther hath indeed the name of Manslaughter because Man is the Person slain but it is in truth Sacrilege and the greatest of Sacrileges because than Man there is not any thing more Sacred or which is a more express Image of the Divine Reason and Perfection And indeed if even the Images of Emperours have had such a Veneration that it hath been look'd upon as a violation of their Majesty to draw those from them who had fled thither for Succour or which is an Instance better known to us to deface them in their Coins it is easie to suppose it ought to be look'd upon as no mean Crime to deface the Image of God in Man not onely because of the Eminency of the Person represented but of the Representation it self which is of the same nature with its Archetype But let us suppose for once that Murther reach'd no further than the Man and that as it is properly a breach of the Second Table so it had no evil Aspect at all upon the First yet even so we should find it to be criminal enough for all considering Men to stand agast at because of that Injury which it offers to Humane Society which is the Band and Cement of the World For beside that Murther robs it of one of its Members and consequently doth so far weaken it it doth by its evil Example tempt others to do the like and by its noxiousness beget a diffidency in Men towards each other Upon which what can any Man imagine but that others should be drawn to offer the like injury to it or if all cannot be prevail'd upon so far yet to avoid each others Converse and treat with Men not as their Brethren but as their Enemies Which what is it but to bring in that State of War which some though fondly have imagin'd to be the State of Nature Lastly more than which I shall not need to alledge from the Law of Reason and Nature As Murther offers a great injury to Humane Society so it offers an irreparable one to the Party murther'd there being no return from the State of Death to Life and much less if the Person have been taken away in his Sins to a possibility of obtaining Pardon from God which is a thing not to be thought of without horrour For though an Italian it may be may hug himself so much the more in it concerning one of whom it is reported that he made his Enemy abjure his God before he murther'd him that so he might at the same time destroy both Soul and Body yet none that hath the Bowels of a Man can think of it without regret that by his means Men have not onely been depriv'd of the present Life without remedy but condemn'd to an endless Torment Now though this alone might suffice to deter Men from the commission of it which is the reason I have taken no notice at all of the Consequences of Murther in the general Scheme of my Discourse yet I think it not amiss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to represent some of them also to the Consciences of those that are not yet infected with it Whereof the first that I shall assign is the clamorousness thereof in calling for vengeance upon the Murtherer For however it may be with other Sins none of which yet is without a Voice this is importunate for Vengeance and if God will not descend to Earth that will ascend to him and fill his Ears with the News of the Crime and Prayers for a Judgment on the Committer of it 'T was thus as we learn from Moses Gen. 4.10 when Cain had kill'd his Brother Abel Heaven it self was fill'd with the Outcries of the Murther and the many loud Anthems that are sung by those thousands of Angels that inhabit there were drown'd by that single Voice God himself there telling him that the voice of his brothers blood cried unto him from the ground It is true indeed For what should hinder me from making an Objection which it is so easie to assoil
it is evident from the Premises that the Adultery is the same in both by reason of their mutual Interest in and Obligation to each other so there is very little reason †Lact. lib. 6. c. 23. Servanda igitur fides ab utroque alteri est imo exemplo continentiae docenda uxor ut se castè gerat Iniquum est enim ut id exieas quod praestare ipse non possis Idem paulo post Cavendum igitur ne occasionem vicits nostrâ intemper antiâ demus sed assuescant invicem mores duoâ—â—â—n jugum paribus 〈◊〉 seront Nos ipsos in alâ—â—â—â— cogâ—â—emâ—es Nam fere in hoe 〈◊〉 summa consistâ—â— ut non 〈◊〉 dieri quicquid ipse ab alâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 non possis for the Husband to exact that Fidelity of the Wife which he himself is not careful to observe Partly because †Lact. lib. 6. c. 23. Servanda igitur fides ab utroque alteri est imo exemplo continentiae docenda uxor ut se castè gerat Iniquum est enim ut id exieas quod praestare ipse non possis Idem paulo post Cavendum igitur ne occasionem vicits nostrâ intemper antiâ demus sed assuescant invicem mores duoâ—â—â—n jugum paribus 〈◊〉 seront Nos ipsos in alâ—â—â—â— cogâ—â—emâ—es Nam fere in hoe 〈◊〉 summa consistâ—â— ut non 〈◊〉 dieri quicquid ipse ab alâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 non possis there is the same Tie upon them to each other and ought therefore to proceed by the same Measures and partly because the Husband hath generally more Reason to restrain his exorbitant Passions by From that Adultery which lies on the side of the Married Parties pass we to that which lies on the side of those by whom they are corrupted For that that also is Adultery the general use of the Word and our Saviour's Interpretation of this Commandment shews For subjoyning by way of Appendix to it that whosoever looketh upon a Woman or Wife to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart he thereby plainly shews that Adultery is no less on the part of him that doth so corrupt her than on the Wife who is corrupted by him Here onely is the difference that though both violate the Marriage-Bed yet she doth it more criminally because oblig'd by Promise to preserve it spotless which the other is not under the Obligation of The Nature of Adultery being thus unfolded and shewn wherein it doth consist proceed we in the next place to shew the Criminalness thereof which I shall do with respect to each of the Adulteries before spoken of And first of all if the Question be concerning that Adultery which lies on the side of the Married Parties so we shall find Evils enough to sowr all that Happiness which the Adulterer or Adulteress promise themselves from it For is it nothing nay is it not a Crime of a very high nature to violate the Institution of the Divine Majesty and make a Separation there where he hath enjoyn'd a strict and indissoluble dissoluble Unity Is it nothing to violate that Faith which they have given each to other and without the observation whereof not onely the Peace of Families but even Humane Society could not subsist Is it nothing to rob each other of that Society which both the Divine Institution and their own Compact have given them an undoubted Interest in and which is so inseparably theirs that they cannot even with consent transfer the Right thereof unto another Is it nothing where all the tenderness imaginable is due yea such a one as a Man naturally hath for his own Flesh is it nothing there I say to give the highest occasion of grief and distaste and fill each other with those discontents which do not onely destroy the Peace of the injur'd Party but prompt them to Malice and Revenge Is it nothing in stead of that Honour which they are oblig'd to exhibit to each other to repay one another with Reproach and make their Partner as well as themselves the scorn of their Rival and all contumelious Persons Is it nothing on the Mans part to derive his Estate from his Wife and legitimate issue toward the maintaining of a strange Woman and the Product of her Lust as on the Womans part to bring a Bastard-brood to inherit the Estate of the Legitimate and not onely so but bring those Legitimate ones into the same suspicion of Bastardy and rob them of their Honour as well as of their Substance Lastly is it nothing to turn that which was design'd by God as a Figure of the Mystical Union that is between Christ and his Church into the unhallow'd Rites of Venus and not onely profane the Divine Institution of Marriage but that much better Union which it was design'd to represent But if any or all of these be something as undoubtedly they are yea Crimes of a high Nature I will leave you to guess how foul that Falshood is which is the unhappy Parent of them all The Adultery of the Married Parties being thus dispatch'd pass we to that of those by whom they are corrupted which as it is equally criminal where they themselves are under the same Band of Marriage so doth not fall much short of it where they are free from it For beside that they give occasion to all those Evils which we have affirm'd to be the Consequents of the Falshood of the Married Parties they are not themselves without a share of almost all those Impieties which they tempt the Married Parties to If we inquire concerning the Divine Institution of Marriage it is no less violated by them than by the other because separating between those whom God hath made one if concerning the injur'd Party they are in a great measure the Authors of his Sufferings because invading his Bed and bringing his Person into reproach in fine because robbing his Children of their Subsistence and which is more oftentimes of their Father's Love and Care as well as of the Honour of their Birth Lastly If we inquire concerning that Sacred Mystery which Marriage was design'd to represent their Impurity offers an affront to it and at the same time they sollicite the Married Party to profane it they profane it themselves by abusing them to Lust and Intemperance All which whosoever shall consider will find Adultery to have somewhat more than the breach of one Commandment to make it odious as being in truth an Affront to God and to Humane Nature to the greatest Mystery of our Religion and the chiefest Band of Humane Society Aud accordingly as among the Heathen * Sharrock Judicia seu legum censurae de variis incontinentiae speciebus c. 1. art 2. Adultery hath been sometime time punished with Death and that too with such Circumstances as were more terrible than Death it self as moreover Liberty hath been given to the injur'd Party ‖ Agelli Noct. Attic. li. c. 10. c. 23. to
whose Education and Birth seems not well to correspond to those meaner Labours to which the greater part of Mankind are oblig'd it seems but reasonable to allot them such a Labour as is suitable to that better State in which the Almighty hath plac'd them Lastly Forasmuch as though both the Curse and Precept of Labour be laid upon all Mankind yet it is in the power of God to release it forasmuch as those Persons to whom God hath given more liberal Fortunes are in reason to be look'd upon as in part releas'd because without those Necessities for the redress whereof Labour was principally enjoyn'd it seems but reasonable to infer that they are neither oblig'd to the same degree of Labour with Persons of meaner Fortune nor to the same Species or Kind And more than this if those whom the old Saxon Tongue stiles ydlemen but our present Dialect by a Name more suitable to their Quality did not challenge I know not what any reasonable Man could oppose against their way of living or endeavour to reduce them to the Condition of meaner Persons consideration being always to be had of the Condition of the Persons in order to the adjustment of the Obligations that lie upon them It is a known Observation and therefore I shall not fear to have the truth of it call'd in Question That among the Turks Persons * Busbeq Tursic Epist of the Noblest Quality and most ingenuous Education are yet brought up to some Manual Art in which they ever after employ some portion of their Time the Great Turk himself amidst his most important Affairs yet allotting some portion of his Time to the intending of it I do not pretend to lay this Burthen upon any ingenious Person and much less to represent him as unuseful in the World who should not think fit to follow their example but certainly it must be a great reproach to those who are far better instructed so far to forget either the Design of their Being or Descent from Adam as to think themselves privileg'd to live in ease and spend that Patrimony in Sloth and Luxury which their Renowned Ancestors acquir'd either by their Wits or by their Swords It may be enough to such that they are freed from all servile Labours that they have an Education and Parts answerable to those glorious Heroes from whom they derive both their Fortunes and their Blood And certainly where they are well employ'd as they will be no less useful to the World so neither less acceptable to God than the sweat of the others brows But because Scripture no less than Reason would be inquir'd into there where the Obligation whose Relaxation we seek hath its principal Foundation in it therefore it may not be amiss that I say not in some measure necessary to inquire whether the Scripture affords any ground for the qualifying of that severer Precept which God laid upon Mankind for its disobedience Now that it doth will sufficiently appear from that Question which St. Paul put concerning himself and Barnabas 1 Cor. 9.6 For demanding as he does whether he and Barnabas onely had not power to forbear working as well as other Apostles and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas for so the Word onely and the connexion of that Demand with the former Words oblige us to supply it he both supposeth that other of the Apostles and the brethren of the Lord and Cephas abstain'd from Manual Labours and that it was alike in his power to do so if he pleas'd to make use of it that so he might the better intend that more noble Work of the Conversion of Souls And indeed as the Labour of the Brain whereby that is to be done is no less useful to Humane Society nor which makes it approach nearer to that Curse upon which it is founded less wearisom to the flesh if we may give credit to Solomon * Eccl. 12.12 who was more than ordinarily exercis'd in it so they who would reduce us to that toilsom estate of St. Paul and others who stuck not to addict themselves even to the meanest Artifices must also bring back again into the World those miraculous Gifts and Graces whereby St. Paul and other such like Persons were enabled to discharge their several Provinces the Work of converting Souls as it is now to be managed requiring all that Labour and Industry which the Necessities of the World will suffer us to afford it The same is to be said and upon the strength of the forementioned Demand concerning all those whose Brains are employ'd in the management of State-affairs or are any other way useful to the conservation of Mens Persons or Estates For St. Paul pleading his Exemption from Bodily Labour from his diligence in his Apostleship and the good he thereby did to those Persons who were under his inspection to which he thought it but just that at least a Maintenance should be allow'd insinuating moreover in the ninth and tenth Verses by his comparing his Labour to the oxes treading out the corn and to plowing and reaping that it was not unfitly stil'd a Labour and such a Labour which privileg'd him to partake of carnal Things no less than that which is attended with Sweat and Toil he thereby gave us sufficiently to understand that as the Labours of the Mind are no less properly such than those which are exercised by the Hands so where they are conducible to the Benefit of Humane Kind they give a Man the same Privilege to the enjoyment of this Worlds Goods and consequently satisfie the intent of the Commandment 4. Being now according to my proposed Method to inquire about what things this Labour of ours is to be conversant I shall propose first such Directions as concern the Labours of Men in general and then those which relate to the Labours of particular Persons As to the former of these we shall need no other Instruction than that which St. Paul gives in the fore-quoted place to the Ephesians to wit that it be about those things that are good By which I mean first such things as have no moral obliquity in them nor are instrumental to them Of the former sort in particular is the Trade of Harlots who prostitute their Bodies to furnish themselves with a Support the Arts of Witches and Wizzards who inquire into things secret and such as are not onely knowable to God alone but * See Deut. 29.29 challeng'd to himself Of the latter all those which are instrumental to Uncleanness or to any other Sin whatsoever such as are to the former the Trade of Bauds and Panders to Drunkenness the keeping of Houses not for the covenience of Travellers or the moderate refreshment of others but to invite and cherish intemperance in fine to Idolatry the making of those Images which are to be the Object of it Whence it is that the Fathers inveigh so much against it and as I have before shewn †Explicat
otherwise yet have nothing but the Law of Charity to oblige us to the relief of them Again though all necessitous ones are fit objects of Charity and consequently where our faculties will permit to be relieved by us yet Reason as well as Charity oblige that where our Faculties will not permit the extending of it to all we give the preference to those persons whose necessities are the most pressing For if the necessities of men make them fit Objects of Charity those persons must be looked upon as the fittest Objects and consequently they to be preferred who labour under the most pressing ones And more than this as I shall not need to say concerning that order which is to be observed by the charitable person in giving so I shall therefore proceed to enquire after what manner and proportion we are to do it the next things in order to be considered For the resolution of the latter whereof as being the most important Query the first thing I shall offer is That it be generally according to our ability and not either above or below it not only Tully * De Officiis lib. 2. so advising where he requires the referring of our bounty to our Faculties but he whose judgment is more considerable even S. Paul he enjoining the Corinthians 1 Cor. 16.2 that every one should lay by him in store for the supply of the necessitous according as God had prospered him By virtue of which Rule as the Charity of wealthier persons must be concluded to be in a greater proportion than those of meaner ones so that the Charity of both the one and the other ought not either to fall below or exceed it he who offends in the defect being unjust to the necessitous to whom as I have before shewn God hath made our Charity due as he who offends in the excess unto himself But because through that self-love which prevails in the most of us men will be apt enough to think they give according to their ability when in truth they do nothing less I will propose to your consideration in the second place what measures God prescribed the Jews in the exercise of this great Duty of Charity which was that beside the Tithe payable every year to the Priest as you may see Deut. 14.22 they should every third year * See Hammond's Serm. on Deut. 26.12 13. and Seldens History of Tithes c. 2. sect 3. as it is in the 29. v. of that Chapter set apart another Tithe for the poor which being resolved into a yearly rate will amount to the Thirtieth part of our yearly income For though this Law do induce no direct Obligation upon us as being a part of the Jewish Polity yet inasmuch as Charity is no less required of us than of the Jews and our Saviour professeth not to have come to destroy but rather to fulfil the Law and the Prophets we cannot in reason deem our selves obliged to set apart less for the poor than the Thirtieth part of our yearly income Lastly as consideration ought generally to be had of our ability and of those measures which God hath given us to judge both of that and our own duty by so I see not how we can sometime avoid the giving even beyond our ability if we mean thereby an ability to provide for our selves according to that state and condition wherein God hath placed us and not an ability to serve our own necessities For as we find that S. Paul who doth generally refer men to their ability yet mentions it with commendation that the Corinthians whom he wrote to gave not only according to their ability but above it 2 Cor. 8.3 so I see not how we can avoid the abating of our own enjoyments where the necessities of those that are about us cannot be otherwise in any tolerable measure supplyed he who gave the Earth for the support of all consequently obliging those who are possessed of it to communicate thereof to the necessitous and therefore also where the support of those is not otherwise to be procur'd to abate of those Enjoyments which the place we hold in the World might otherwise warrant the enjoyment of One only thing remains relating to the liberality of giving and that is the manner after which we are to do it concerning which I say first That it ought not to be with that superciliousness and contempt of the poor wherewith it is too often attended Not only their descent from the same common Parent forbidding it but the particular regard which God professeth to have to all necessitous persons and that relation wherein our Saviour hath own'd them For what place can there be for superciliousness where those to whom we give are not only of our own blood and the same common stock but under the particular care of and relation to God and Christ and that too in such a proportion that what is done or not done unto them he interpreteth as either done or not done unto himself But neither secondly are we to give with grudging and repining as it is but too frequent with those who are not otherwise peccant as because God to whom we are obliged for being in a capacity of giving professeth to love * 2 Cor. 9.7 a chearful giver and should not therefore be so ill requited as to find a grudging one so because as hath been often said but can never be too much repeated that Charity is no more than is due to the poor from us For what place can there be for grudging where that which we are to give is but the right of those to whom we are required to impart it Thirdly as we ought to discard from our giving all superciliousness and grudging so also all slowness in the doing of it not only Solomon so requiring where he forbids us to say to the necessitous person Go and come again and to morrow I will give when we have it by us but also the design and end of Charity the deferring of a benefit making it of little use to him that craves it and sometimes also of none at all I will conclude this head and my discourse concerning the Liberality of giving with admonishing in the fourth place that it be done secretly and so as our Saviour speaks that the left hand may not know what our right hand doth lest that which was intended for a benefit to our Neighbour prove an exprobration to him either of his necessities or obligation to us and to our selves a temptation to pride and vanity Which as it is enough to sowre the most excellent Charity and make it disgustful both to God and Man so hath this farther inconvenience attending it that whilst it seeks the praise of Men it debars the charitable person of the praise and reward of God he who forbids us to do our Alms before men to be seen of them Mat. 6.1 assigning for the Reason of it that so doing we shall have no
that account which they have from the Witnesses of the manner of the Fact as from the Judge of the nature of the Law other things as the same Learned Man observes being more rightly seann'd by a simple and uncorrupt mind than by craft which is but too often the instrument of another's lust Of the Duty of the former Judges I will not say much because they do not stand so much in need of an Instructor nor am I so proper for it though they did It shall suffice me therefore briefly to admonish or rather pray that inasmuch as the design of their place is to administer Justice they would do what in them lyes to discover where the Right is and not spare any pains or patience to investigate it That they would not receive Informations beforehand to forestall their judgments and much less suffer them to be blinded by the intercession of Friends the sollicitations of great Persons or the receiving of Rewards That they would restrain both the Litigants and their several Advocates from personal aspersions and such as serve rather to hide than discover the truth of the thing in question That they would examine such Witnesses as shew themselves crasty and reserv'd with all dexterity and accuracy and help out and incourage such whom bashfulness and the awe of so great a presence deters that they would bear with the impertinences of those of the meaner sort and who know not how to tell a story without interlacing things of little concernment to it lastly that they would carefully and faithfully recapitulate the whole matter and with all uprightness and perspicuity deliver the sense of that Law which respects it So doing they shall not only fulfill their own parts but help the Jury in a great measure to satisfie theirs Who as they are in Reason and Law to receive the sense of the Law from the Judge and the knowledge of the Fact from the Depositions of the respective Witnesses so shall at least free their own Souls if without favour or hatred or any such corrupt affection they shall set themselves to consider of all that hath been proposed and impartially deliver their own sense For though even thus they may sometime happen to erre in Judgment yet they shall not offend because governing themselves by the best light which the Evidence that hath been given and the Dictates of their own Judgments have afforded them These two things only seem necessary to be added for the better explicating the Duty of these and all other Judges 1. That they ought to pass sentence according to the proofs that are made before them whatsoever jealousie or private knowledge they themselves may have of the falshood of the thing attested to 2. That in doubtful cases and where the truth doth not appear they ought to incline to such determinations as are favourable to the accused party 1. Now though the former of these Assertions be generally allowed of even when the Person who ought to pass sentence hath a strong suspicion of the falseness of the Witnesses for the Reasons before given of the use and necessity of them in Judgment yet as there hath not been the like accord where as it may sometime happen he who is to pass sentence knows the contrary to what hath been deposed so it may seem but necessary for that Reason to enquire whether a Judge in that case ought to pass sentence according to what hath been attested For the resolution whereof the first thing I shall offer is That if he do pass sentence at all he ought to pass sentence according to what hath been deposed yea though his own private knowledge do contradict it For beside that a Judge as such exerciseth a Publick Authority and is therefore in Reason to guide himself in it by a Publick Knowledge and such as comes to him as a Judge and not as a Private Person otherwise he who takes Cognizance and he who passeth Sentence shall not be the same beside that a Judge by the nature of his Office and the Oath which is laid upon him is indefinitely obliged to square his Judgments by the Laws and Manners of the place which do every where make it necessary to proceed according to what is made out to him in Judgment That he ought so to proceed may be abundantly evidenced from the force of those proofs which the Testimony of Witnesses gives for those making the thing prov'd to be look'd upon as Truth even in the opinion of * Joh. 8.17 God himself it is but reason that a Judge who is obliged to judge according to truth should pronounce agreeably to them and consequently not according to his own Private Knowledge Neither will it avail to say which is one of the things that is usually objected that so doing he shall act against his own conscience For beside that there is a difference between acting against a Man's Knowledge and acting against his Conscience the former importing only a speculative Knowledge which induceth no obligation of it self the latter connoting a practical one there is no necessity at all that the Judge of whom we speak should act against his own Conscience For the force of Conscience arising from the perswasion of the Judgment that such or such a thing ought to be done or omitted by us he who can settle it in his mind that he ought to proceed secundùm allegata probata as there is no doubt every Judge ought to do may take the course before spoken of without any reproach from his own Conscience As little am I moved with what is further objected against this Assertion that Positive Laws and particularly those of men ought to yield to the Law of Nature which requires of us for instance the absolving of an innocent person whatsoever Testimony may be made against him For beside that it is the voice of Nature no less than of Positive Laws that in the mouth of two or three Witnesses every word shall be established there being otherwise no end of Contentions if what such suggest may not be admitted to determine them neither is he to be reputed as innocent in foro humano who shall have such Allegations attested against him and shall not be able to wipe them off I conclude therefore That whatsoever a Judges Private Knowledge may inform him he ought if he pass Sentence to guide himself by what appears to him in Judgment But neither secondly shall I stick to affirm that he both may and ought to pass Sentence if the Prince shall oblige him to it As because there is really no iniquity on his part so to do inasmuch as he only condemns him whom the Law pronounceth nocent so because it is a greater inconvenience than the condemning of an innocent Person to detrect the Commands of him by whom he is constituted a Judge He who so doth beside the scandal of his Example opening a way for himself and others to avoid the passing of a
so conceal is no way pertinent to it that which appears to us to be inconsiderable being oftentimes of moment if it be judged of by more competent understandings 3. From the concealing of a Truth pass we to the transposing of it the third thing affirmed by us to be forbidden by the Commandment and not without cause if we consider how much greater affinity it hath with that falshood which it expresly condemns for falshood as was before said consisting in the disagreement of our words with the nature of the thing we speak of or at least with our apprehension of it he who shall give in an account of any Fact in any other order than he knows the fact to have been committed shall be as guilty of falshood as he who adds fictions of his own and it may be too no less prejudicial to his Neighbour It may seem ludicrous but it was a sad truth of a noble English Gentleman sent Ambassadour into Foreign Parts and with him an honourable Espy under the notion of a Companion By whom he was accused at his return to have spoken such and such things and at such and such times The Gentleman pleaded ingeniously for himself that it might be he had spoken some of those things or it might be all those things but never any of them in that order nor in that sense I have said he several suits of Apparel of Purple Cloath of Green Velvet of White and Black Sattin If one should put my two Purple Sleeves to my Green Velvet Doublet and make my Hose the one of White Sattin the other of Black and then swear that it was my Apparel they who did not know me would think me a strange man I cannot tell how this Plea fitted the Person of whom we speak because as his charge so his name is altogether unknown to me having borrowed the forementioned story in the generality wherein I have delivered it from Bishop Bramhal * Replication to the Bishop of Chalcedon touching Schism pag. 46 but certainly the Plea was reasonable in it self and extremely pertinent to the case we speak of For it being notorious to all men that the good or evil of any action depends much upon the circumstances wherewith it is clad he that shall go about in his testimony to confound the order wherein they came may make as unseemly an alteration as he who should so piece together the parts of different coloured Garments 4. Lastly As it is unlawful by this Commandment to conceal or transpose any truth as well as to utter that which is contrary to it so it must be looked upon as alike forbidden by it to affirm that which we deem to be so with any greater degree of assurance than we our selves are perswaded of it As because by so doing we shall fall into the crime of falshood inasmuch as the words we make use of exceed the measure of our own perswasions in the disagreement wherewith I have shewn falshood to consist so because by this means we may bring that condemnation upon our Neighbour which otherwise neither would nor ought to be inflicted on him confident asseverations leaving no place for presumptions of the accused's innocency which are of force under fainter ones A familiar instance will clear my meaning and shew the necessity of this caution For suppose we what doth not infrequently happen that a company of honest men are set upon in the Road by Robbers and one of them in the fray murder'd by them And suppose we also which is alike common that though the Robbers escape for the present yet some one or more persons are taken upon suspicion for them In this case I say it will concern those who were present at the fact not to affirm those suspected persons to be the men with any greater degree of assurance than they themselves are perswaded of in their own bosomes For as by too confident an asseveration they may bring condemnation upon a person who it may be is no way worthy of it so they will undoubtedly cut off from the accused party that which is the birthright of all men living who are not convicted of any Crime even the alledging for himself the former orderliness of his life and other such like presumptions of his innocency For though these may be of force where they who are produced as Witnesses do only attest their own suspicion of those being the criminal parties yet they are of no force nor ought to be where the Witnesses shall swear peremptorily that they know them to be the men that set upon them By which means as it hath sometime happened that persons wholly innocent have undergone an unjust sentence so they who consider how hainous a thing it is to take away the life of an Innocent will beware by their example how they affirm any thing in Judgment with any greater degree of assurance than they themselves are perswaded of in their own bosoms II. Having thus given an account of the Falsities and other Errours which the Commandment we have now before us cautions Witnesses against my proposed method obliges me to enquire what Falsities are comprised under them whether in or out of Judicial Proceedings The ground of which Question is that latitude which I have often shewn the Commandments we have now before us ought to be construed in For inasmuch as the Decalogue was intended as an Abstract of the whole Duty of Man or at least of so much of it as concerns the regulation of our Manners inasmuch as all the foregoing Precepts have been shewn to extend to the commanding or forbidding of several other things beside what they particularly express it is but reasonable to think that what we are now in the Explication of is of the same comprehensive nature and extends to the forbidding of other Falsities beside those of Witnesses which what they are I come now to declare In order whereunto 1. The first thing that I shall offer is That little doubt can be made but all other Falsities in Judicial Proceedings are alike condemned with those of Witnesses Partly because it is usual in the Decalogue to set one particular Species to denote all that are of the same Genus and partly because other Falsities in Judgment are alike prejudicial to our Neighbour with those that are expresly forbidden But from hence it will follow 1. That it is alike forbidden to the Plaintiff by it to raise a false Report or mix untrue Reports with true these as they are alike Falsities and prejudicial ones so giving occasion shall I say or rather producing those Falsities which the Commandment doth expresly condemn For were it not for false Accusers false Witnesses could have no place as being only abettors of what the other raise Now forasmuch as in Reason that is to be looked upon as forbidden by a Commandment which is if I may so speak the Cause of what it doth if False Witnesses be forbidden by it False Accusations
which to repine or murmur were as manifest a violation of the Duty of Contentment as to do so when we have Food and Rayment For contentedness as I shall afterwards shew having for the ground of its Obligation the Will of that God who is the framer of our Fortunes if it be his Will as certainly the cases before spoken of are no obscure indications of it that we should acquiesce in no Fortune as well as in a small one there is no doubt that alike ought to be the Object of it and we to acquiesce or rest in it There is but little difficulty and therefore I shall not insist on the Explication of it as to what I have before said concerning low and high being alike the Object of Contentment there being no Truth of which we have a greater Experience than what is said to have fallen from the mouth of Epicurus * Vid. Aelian Vari hist l. 4. c. 13. that to whom little is not enough nothing how great soever is so Men's Desires for the most part enlarging with their Fortunes and creating to them those wants which God and Nature never made Lastly As contentedness is an acquiescency of the Mind and an acquiescency in that portion of outward things we are possessed of so such an acquiescency in it as ariseth from and includeth in it a firm belief of that portion 's being sufficient for us This as it is the natural importance of those Phrases whereby we have shewn the New Testament to express it so being essential to contentedness it being impossible for the Will to quiet it self in that which the Understanding doth not apprehend to be sufficient The Will may indeed by the impossibility of attaining more be beaten off from desiring it it may be taken off from any perfect and efficacious volitions of it but as some velleities will ever remain and what naturally flows from them a repining at our portion so it may rather be said to be quieted or to speak more properly to be mortified by than to quiet it self in it 2. Of the nature of Contentment I have discoursed hitherto proceed we in the next place to the grounds of its obligation Amongst which I reckon first the Will of Almighty God declared by the disposition of his Providence For inasmuch as God and not we our selves is the framer of our Fortunes inasmuch as it is he that maketh poor as well as maketh rich it is but a just compliance with his Will by whose disposition the several Conditions of Men are shaped to acquiesce in it whatsoever it is and bring our Minds to an approbation of it Excellent to this purpose is that of Epictetus in his Enchiridion or at least may be easily adapted to it Remember saith he * c. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that thou art the Actor of a part in a Play and such an one as it pleaseth thy great Master to impose upon thee If it be a short one that thou art the Actor of a short if a long one of a long If he will have thee to act the part of a poor man remember that thou do handsomly discharge it if a Lame Man a Ruler or a Private Person that thou accordingly behave thy self To thee it belongs to represent as thou oughtest the person which is given thee to act to another to make choice of it It is true indeed if we were or might be chusers of our own Fortunes if as we are willing enough to be so we were actually exempted from subjection to any superiour Power so I could not with the same reasonableness press upon you the being contented with that portion of outward things which ye are possessed of For why should I be contented with a mean and despicable Fortune when there is no restraint upon me from prosecuting a better But when we are not our own but his by whom we were created and redeemed when our Will is no less his servant than any of our other Faculties or Powers how unreasonable must it be not to acquiesce in his and that portion of outward things which he allots us Especially if we add in the second place which may pass for another ground of our obligation to it that God doth both know better than we our selves what condition is fittest for us and Permittes ipsis expendere numinibus quid Conveniat nobis rebúsque sit utile nostris Nam pro jucundis aptissima quaeque dabunt dii Charior est illis homo quà m sibi Juv. Sat. 10. v. 347. c. because he is also a merciful Father will be sure to allot us that which is Discontentedness in this case being not only undutifulness but ingratitude and a resisting of his love as well as of his Authority Add hereunto thirdly which may pass for another ground of our obligation the sufficiency of that portion which it hath pleased the Divine Majesty to assign us For what can be more reasonable especially when God imposeth it on us than to be contented with that which is sufficient The only difficulty is how to make it appear that all allotments of the Divine Providence are such especially when many of them are attended with great necessities and such as press upon the most importunate as well as most reasonable desires of Nature But as Mens Fortunes do more often become insufficient by the exorbitancies of their desires than by the disproportionableness thereof to just and moderate ones so those which are insufficient in themselves may become sufficient through the Divine Grace yea undoubtedly shall to all those that truly love and fear him For God having distinctly promised that together with the temptation whatsoever it is he will make a way for us to escape that we may be able to bear it he hath thereby obliged himself where he affords not the ordinary means of support to furnish out an extraordinary and supernatural one Less than that in the failure of ordinary means sufficing not to bear the temptation but being more than sufficient for it where it is afforded not only the infinity of God and his creating out of nothing the ordinary supports of Humane life so perswading but the assurance he hath given us of an eternal life after this where Food and Rayment and other such like means of our support shall neither be wanted nor desired 3. From the grounds of our obligation to Contentment pass we to the means whereby it may be acquired the third thing proposed to be discoursed of I do not mean to mention all which were too large a task and may with more Reason be expected from such as entreat de industriâ of that Argument but to select such of them as seem to me to be most efficacious to produce that Contentment which I inculcate In the number of which I reckon first A sober use of abundance at all times and sometimes a voluntary abstinence For were Men careful as they ought to keep themselves