the other And that either unto good or unto evil Of the former sort are such outward actions as being in Morall precepts indefinitely commanded are yet sometimes sinfully and ill done as giving an Alms hearing a Sermon reproving an Offender and the like Which are in themselves good and so be accounted rather than evil though some unhappy circumstance or other may make them ill Of the latter sort are such outward actions as being in Moral precepts indefinitely prohibited are yet in some cases lawfull and may be well done as swearing an oath travelling on the Sabbath day playing for money and the like Which are in themselves rather evil than good because they are ever evil unless all circumstances concur to make them good Now of these actions though the former sort carry the face of good the latter of evil yet in very truth both sorts are indifferent Understand me aright I do not mean indifferent indifferentiâ contradictionis such as may be indifferently either done or not done but indifferent onely indifferentiâ contrarietatis such as suppose the doing may be indifferently either good or evil because so they may be done as to be good and so they may be done also as to be evil But yet with this difference that those former though indifferent and in some cases evil are yet of themselves notably and eminently inclined unto good rather than evil and these later proportionably unto evil rather than good From which difference it cometh to passe that to the Question barely proposed concerning the former actions whether they be good or evil the answer is just and warrantable to say indefinitely they are good and contrarily concerning the later actions to say indefinitely they are evil Which difference well weighed to note that by the way would serve to justifie a common practice of most of us in the exercise of our Ministry against such as distaste our doctrine for it or unjustly otherwise take offence at it Ordinarily in our Sermons we indefinitely condemn as evil swearing and gaming for money and dancing and recreations upon the Sabbath day and going to Law and retaliation of injuries and Monopolies and raising of rents and taking forfeitures of Bonds c. and in our own coat Non-residency and Pluralities c. Most of which yet and many other of like nature most of us do or should know to be in some cases lawfull and therefore in the number of those indifferent things which we call Indifferentia ad unum You that are our hearers should bring so much charitable discretion with you when you heare us in the Pulpits condemn things of this nature as to understand us no otherwise than we either do or should mean and that is thus that such and such things are evill as now adaies through the corruptions of the times most men use them and such as therefore should not be adventured upon without mature and unpartiall disquisition of the uprightnesse of our affections therein and a severe triall of all circumstances whether they carry weight enough with them to give our consciences sufficient security not onely of their lawfulnesse in themselves and at large but of their particular lawfulnesse too unto us and then But this by the way Now to proceed There are divers meanes whereby things not simply evil but in themselves either equally or unequally indifferent may yet become accidentally evil Any defect or obliquity any unhappy intervening circumstance is enough to poyson a right good action and to make it stark naught I may as well hope to graspe the Sea as to comprehend all those meanes I make choice therefore to remember but a few of the chiefest such as happen oft and are very considerable Things not simply evil may accidentally become such as by sundry other meanes so especially by one of these three Conscience Scandall and Comparison First Conscience in regard of the Agent Though the thing be good yet if the Agent doe it with a condemning or but a doubting Conscience the Action becometh evill To him that esteemeth any thing to be uncleane to him it is uncleane and he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of Faith chap. 14. of this Epistle Secondly Scandall in regard of other men Though the thing be good yet if a brother stumble or be offended or be made weake by it the action becometh evill All things are pure but it is evill for that man who eateth with offence verse 20. there Thirdly Comparison in regard of other actions Though the thing be good yet if we preferre it before better things and neglect or omit them for it the action becometh evill Goe and learne what that is I will have mercy and not sacrifice Mat. 9. The stuffe thus prepared by differencing out those things which undistinguished might breed confusion our next businesse must be to lay the rule and to apply it to the severall kinds of evill as they have been differenced I foresaw we should not have time to goe thorow all that was intended and therefore we will content our selves for this time with the consideration of this Rule applyed to things simply evill In them the Rule holdeth perpetually and without exception That which is simply evill may not for any good be done We know not any greater good for there is not any greater good than the Glory of God we scarce know a lesser sinne if any sinne may be accounted little than a harmlesse officious lye Yet may not this be done no not for that Will you speake wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him Iob 13.7 If not for the glory of God then certainly not for any other inferiour end not for the saving of a life not for the conversion of a soul not for the peace of a Church and if even that were possible too not for the redemption of a world No intention of any end can warrant the choice of sinfull meanes to compasse it The Reasons are strong One is because sinne in its own nature is de numero ineligibilium and therefore as not eligible propter se for it own sake there is neither forme nor beauty in it that we should desire it so neither propter aliud with reference to any farther end Actus peccati non est ordinabilis in bonum finem is the common resolution of the Schooles In civil and popular elections if men make choice of such a person to beare any office or place among them as by the locall Charters Ordinances Statutes or other Customes which should rule them in their choice is altogether ineligible the election is de jure nulla naught and void the incapacity of the person elected making a nullity in the act of election No lesse is it in morall actions and elections if for any intended end we make choice of such meanes as by the Law of God which is our rule and must guide us are ineligible and
give place by subjection no not for an hour lest we be ensnared by our own default ere we be aware For indeed we cannot be ensnared in this kinde but meerly by our own default and therefore S. Paul often admonisheth us to take heed that none deceive spoil or beguile us as if it were in our power if we would but use requisite care thereunto to prevent it and as if it were our fault most if we did not prevent it And so in truth it is For we oftentimes betray away our own liberty when we might maintain it and so become servants unto men when we both might and ought to keep our selves free Which fault we shall be the better able to avoid when we shall know the true causes whence it springeth which are evermore one of these two an unsound head or an unsound heart Sometimes we esteem too highly of others so far as either to envassal our judgements to their opinions or to enthrall our consciences to their precepts and that is our weaknesse there the fault is in the head Sometimes we apply our selves to the wills of others with an eye to our own benefit or satisfaction in some other carnal or worldly respect and that is our fleshlinesse there the fault is in the heart This latter is the worst and therefore in the first place to be avoided The most and worser sort unconscionable men do often transgresse this way When for fear of a frown or worse displeasure or to curry favour with those they may have use of or in hope either of raising themselves to some advancement or of raising to themselves some advantage or for some other like respects they become officious instruments to others for the accomplishing of their lusts in such services as are evidently even to their own apprehensions sinful and wicked So Doeg did King Saul service in shedding the bloud of fourscore and five innocent Priests and Absalons servants murdered their masters brother upon his bare command and Pilate partly to gratifie the Iewes but especially for fear of Cesars displeasure gave sentence of death upon Iesus who in his own conscience he thought had not deserved it In such cases as these are when we are commanded by our superiours or required by our friends or any other way solicited to do that which we know we cannot do without sin we are to maintain our liberty if we cannot otherwise fairly decline the service by a flat and peremptory denial though it be to the greatest power upon earth As the three young men did to the great Nebuchadnezzar Be it known unto thee O King that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up And the ancient Christians to the heathen Emperors Da veniam Imperator tu carcerem ille gehennam And the Apostles to the whole councel of the Jewes Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken to you more than unto God judge ye Acts 4. He that will displease God to please men he is the servant of men and cannot be the servant of God But honest and conscionable men who do not easily and often fail this way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word is Rom. 16. men that are not evill are yet apt sometimes to be so far carried away with an high estimation of some men as to subject themselves wholly to their judgements or wills without ever questioning the truth of any thing they teach or the lawfulnesse of any thing they enjoyn it is a dangerous thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Iude speaketh to have mens persons in admiration though they be of never so great learning wisdome or piety because the best and wisest men that are are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subject to the like infirmities as we are both of sin and error and such as may both deceive others and be themselves deceived That honour which Pythagoras his Scholars gave to their Master in resting upon his bare authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a sufficient proof yea as a divine Oracle many judicious even among the heathen altogether misliked as too servile and prejudicial to that libertas Philosophica that freedom of judgement which was behooveful for the study of Philosophy How much more then must it needs be prejudicial in the judgement of Christians to that libertas Evangelica that freedome we have in Christ to give such honour to any other man but the man Christ Iesus only or to to any other writings than to those which are in truth the Oracles of God the holy Scriptures of the old and new Testament There is I confesse much reverence to be given to the writings of the godly ancient Fathers more to the Canons and decrees of general and provincial Councels and not a little to the judgement of learned sober and godly Divines of later and present times both in our own and other reformed Churches But we may not jurare in vèrba build our faith upon them as upon a sure foundation nor pin our belief upon their sleeves so as to receive for an undoubted truth whatsoever they hold and to reject as a grosse error whatsover they disallow without farther examination Saint Iohn biddeth us try the spirits before we beleeve them 1 Ioh. 4. And the Beroeans are remembred with praise for so doing Act. 17. We blame it in the Schoolmen that some adhere pertinaciously to the opinions of Thomas and others as pertinaciously to the opinions of Scotus in every point wherein they differ insomuch as it were grande piaculum a heinous thing and not to be suffered if a Dominican should dissent from Thomas or a Franciscan from Scoâ—us though but in one single controverted conclusion And we blame it jâ—stly for S. Paul blamed the lâ—ke sidings and partakings in the Church of Corinth whilest one professed himself to be of Paul another of Apollo another of Cephas as a fruit of carnality unbeseeming Christians And is it not also blame-worthy in us and a fruit of the same carnality if any of us shall affect to be accounted rigid Lutherans or perfect Calvinists or give up our judgements to be wholly guided by the writings of Luther or Calvin or of any other mortal man whatsoever Worthy instruments they were both of them of Gods glory and such as did excellent service to the Chuâ—ch in their times whereof we yet finde the benefit and we are unthankful if we do not blesse God for it and therefore it is an unsavoury thing for any man â—o gird at their names whose memories ought to be precious But yet were they not men had they received the spirit in the fulnesse of it and not by measure knew they otherwâ—se than in part or prophesied otherwise than in part might they not in many things did they not in some things mistake and erre Howsoever the Apostles
any of this done by any of our Antiâ—Ceremonian Brethren whether Presbyterian or Independent § XVIII But I have somewhat to return upon these our Brethren who thus causelesly suspect us Possibly it will not please them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I must speak it out both for the truths sake and theirs To wit that themselves are in truth though not purposely and intentionally whereof in my own thought I freely acquit them yet really and eventually the great promoters of the Roman Interest among us and that more wayes then one These three among the rest are evident First by putting to their helping hand to the pulling down of Episcopacy It is very well known to many what rejoycing that Vote brought to the Romish party How even in Rome it self they sang their Io Paeans upon the tidings thereof and said triumphantly Now the day is ours Now is the fatal blow given to the Protestant Religion in England They who by conversing much with that Nation were well acquainted with the fiery turbulent spirits of the Scottish Presbyterians knew as well how to make their advantage thereof and handled the matter with so much cunning by fomenting their discontents underhand till they had framed them and by their means some of the same party here to become the fittest instruments for the carrying on of their great design And this I verily believe was the very Master-piece of the whole plot They could not but foresee as the event hath also proved that if the old Government a main pillar in the building were once dissolved the whole fabrick would be sore shaken if not presently shattered in pieces and ruined things would presently run into confusion distractions and divisions would certainly follow And when the waters should be sufficiently troubled and mudded then would be their opportunity to cast in their nets for a draught Some who have undertaken to discover to the world the great plot the Papists had of late years for the introducing of Popery in the several parts of it might have done well to have taken some little notice of this also I wonder how they could look beside it being so visible and indeed the fundamental part of the plot Without which neither could the sparks of Errors and Heresies have been blown to that height nor that Libertinisme and some other things therewith mentioned have so soon overspread the whole face of the Land as now we finde they have done Secondly they promote the interest of Rome by opposing it with more violence then reason Which ought not to seem any strange thing to us since we see by daily experience the like to happen in other matters also Many a man when he thought most to make it sure hath quite marred a good business by over-doing it The most prudent just and in all likelihood effectual way to win upon an adversary is by yielding him as much as with safety of truth can be yielded who if he shall finde himself contradicted in that which he is sure is true as well as in that which is indeed false will by a kinde of Antiperistasis be hardned into more obstinacy then before to defend all true and false with equal fierceness It hath been observed by some and I know no reason to question the truth of the observation that in those Counties Lancashire for one where there are the most and the most rigid Presbyterians there are also the most and the most zealous Roman-Catholicks Thirdly they promote the interest of Rome and betray the Protestant Cause partly by mistaking the Question a very common fault among them but especially through the necessity of some false principle or other which having once imbibed they think themselves bound to maintain Some of them especially such as betook themselves to preaching betimes and had not the leisure and opportunity to look much into Controversies understand very little as it is impossible they should much of the true state of the Question in many controverted points and yet to shew their zeal against Popery are for ward enough to be medling therewithall in the Pulpit But with so much weakness and impertinency not seldome that they leave the Question worse then they found it and the Hearer if he brought any doubts with him to go from Sermon more dis-satisfied then he came The rest of them that have better knowledge are yet so bound up by some false Principle or other they have received that they cannot without deserting the same and that they must not do whatsoever betideth them treat to the satisfaction of a rational and ingenuous adversary Among those false Principles it shall suffice for the present to have named but this one That the Church of Rome is no true Church The disadvantages of which assertion to our Cause in the dispute about the visibility of the Church besides the falseness and uncharitableness of it their Zeal or Prejudice rather will not suffer them to consider With what out-cries was Bp. Hall good man who little dream't of any peace with Rome pursued by Burton and other Hot spurs for yielding it a Church Who had made the same concession over and over again before he was Bishop as Iunius Reynolds and our best Controversy-Writers generally do and no notice taken no noise made of it You may perceive by this one instance where the shoe wringeth § XIX In their next that they may not appear so uncharitable as to suspect their Brethren without cause they tell us upon what ground they so do viz. these two the Endeavours of Reconciliation in the Sixth and the pressing of Ceremonies in the Seventh Objection As to the former First All endeavours of Peace without loss of Truth are certainly commendable in the undertakers prove the event as it will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12. is every mans warrant for that If any particular private man have made overtures of peace in this kinde upon other termes then he ought let him answer it as he can what is that to us Admit Secondly which I fear is too true that there is little hope scarce a possibility of reconcilement if we well preserve as we are are in conscience bound the truth and purity of our religion yet ought not that fear to hinder any man fitted with abilities and opportunities for it from such Endeavours whereof whatsoever the success be otherwise these a good effects will follow 1. It will be some comfort to him within his own bosome that he hath done what was his duty to do to his utmost power And it will appear to the world where the business stuck and through whose default most the Endeavour proved â—ruitless Thirdly though there be little hope and since the Trent Councel less then before of bringing things to a perfect agreement yet methinks it should be thought worth the while Est quodum prodire tenus si non datur ultra to bring both sides to as near an agreement and reduce the
good need the very strongest of us all should remember it and take heed of despising even the very weakest This despising being hurtfull both to the strong and weak to the strong as a grievous sin and to the weak as a grievous scandall Despising first is a sin in the strong Admit thy weak brother were of so shallow understanding and judgement that he might say in strictnesse of truth what Agur said but in modesty and that with an Hyperbole too Prov. 30. that surely he were more brutish than any man and that he had not in him the understanding of a man yet the community of nature and the common condition of humanity should be sufficient to free him from thy contempt His body was formed out of the same dust his soul breathed into him by the same God as thine were and he is thy neighbour Let his weaknesse then be what it can be even for that relation of neighbour-hood as he is a man it is sin in thee to despise him He that despiseth his Neighbour sinneth Prov. 14. But that 's not all He is not onely thy Neighbour as a man but he is thy Brother too as a Christian man He hath imbraced the Gospell he believeth in the Son of God he is within the pale of the Church as well as thou though he be not so exquisitely seen in some higher mysteries nor so thorowly satisfied in some other points as thou art If it have pleased God to endow thee with a larger portion of knowledge thou oughtest to consider first that thou art bound to be so much the more thankfull to him that gave it and then secondly that it is expected thou shouldest do so much the more good with it and thirdly again that thou standest charged with so much the deeper account for it If the same God have dealt these abilities with a more sparing hand to thy brother in despising his weakness what other thing doest thou then even despise the good Spirit of God that bloweth where he listeth and giveth to every one as he listeth For though there be diversities of gifts both for substance and degree yet it is the same spirit 1 Cor. 12. And the contempt that is cast upon the meanest Christian reboundeth upwards again and in the last resolution reflecteth even upon GOD himself and upon his Christ. He that despiseth despiseth not man but GOD who hath given unto us his holy Spirit 1 Thess. 4. And when ye sinne so against the Brethren and wound their weak consciences ye sin against Christ 1 Cor. 8. Thus you see Despising is hurtfull to the despiser as a Sin it is hurtfull also as a Scandall to the despised And therefore our Saviour in Matth. 18. discoursing of not offending little ones anon varieth the word and speaketh of not despising them as if despising were an espciall and principall kind of offending or scandalizing And verily so it is especially to the Weak Nothing is more grievous to Nature scarce Death it selfe then for a man to see himself despised Ego illam anum irridere me ut sinam Satius est mihi quovis exitio interire could he say in the Comedy It is a thing that pierceth far and sinketh deep and striketh cold and lyeth heavie upon the heart flesh and blood will digest any thing with better patience The great Philosopher for this reason maketh Contempt the ground of all Discontent and sufficiently proveth it in the second of his Rhetoriques there being never any thing taken offensively but sub ratione contemptus nothing provoking to Anger but what is either truly a contempt or at leastwise so apprehended We all know how tenderly every one of us would take it but to be neglected by others to have no reckoning at all made of us to be so reputed as if we were not or not worth the looking after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Oracle said to the Megarenses And yet this is but the least degree of Contempt a privative contempt onely How tenderly then may we think a weak Christian would take it when to this privative he should find added a Positive contempt also when he should see his person and his weakness not only not compassionated but even taunted and stouted and derided and made a laughing stock and a jesting theme when he should see them strive to speak and do such things in his sight and hearing as they know will be offensive unto him of very purpose to vex and afflict and grieve his tender soul Certainly for a weak Christian newly converted to the Faith to be thus despised it were enough without Gods singular mercy and support to make him repent his late conversion and revolt from the Faith by fearefull and desperate Apostasie And he that by such despising should thus offend though but one of the least and weakest of those that believe in Christ a thousand times better had it been for him that he had never been born yea ten thousand times better that a Mill-stone had been hung about his neck and he cast into the bottome of the Sea ere he had done it Despising is a grievous sin in the despiser in the Strong and despising is a grievous scandall to the despised to the Weak Let not therefore the strong despise the Weak Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not And thus much for the former branch of Saint Pauls advice The other followeth Let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth Faults seldome go single but by couples at the least Sinfull men do with sinfull provocations as ball-players with the Ball. When the Ball is once up they labour to keep it up right so when an offence or provocation is once given it is tossed to and fro the receiver ever returning it pat upon the giver and that most times with advantage and so betwixt them they make a shift to preserve a perpetuity of sinning and of scandalizing one another It is hard to say who beginneth oftner the Strong or the Weak but whether ever beginneth he may be sure the other will follow If this judge that will despise if that despise this will judge either doth his endeavour to cry quittance with other and thinketh himself not to be at all in fault because the other was first or more This Apostle willing to redresse faults in both beginneth first with the strong and for very good reason Not that his fault simply considered in it self is greater for I take it a certain truth that to judge one that is in the right is a far greater fault considered absolutely without relation to the abilities of the persons then to despise one that is in the wrong But because the strong through the ability of his judgement ought to yield so much to the infirmity of his weak brother who through the weaknesse of his judgement is not so well able
through precipitancy prejudice or otherwise is deceived with fallacies instead of substance and mistaketh seeming inferences for necessary and naturall deductions Partly in the Will when men of corrupt minds set themselves purposely against the known truth and out of malicious wilfulnesse against the strong testimony of their own hearts slander it that so they may disgrace it and them that professe it Partly in the Affections when men overcome by carnall affections are content to cheat their own souls by giving such constructions to Gods Truth as will for requitall give largest allowance to their practices and so rather choose to crooken the Rule to their own bent than to levell themselves and their affections and lives according to the Rule Thirdly on Gods part who suffereth his own Truth to be slandered and mistaken Partly in his Iustice as a fearfull judgement upon wicked ones whereby their hard hearts become yet more hardened their most just condemnation yet more just Partly in his goodnesse as a powerfull fiery triall of true Doctors whose constancy and sincerity is the more approved with him and the more eminent with men if they flye not when the Wolf cometh but keep their standing and stoutly maintain Gods truth when it is deepliest slandered and hotliest opposed And partly in his Wisdome as a rich occasion for those whom he hath gifted for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to awaken their zeal to quicken up their industry to muster up their abilities to scour up their spirituall armour which else through dis-use might gather rust for the defence and for the rescue of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that precious truth whereof they are depositaries and wherewith he hath entrusted them These are the Grounds The Uses for instruction briefly are to teach and admonish every one of us that we be not either first so wickedly malicious as without apparent cause to raise any slander or secondly so foolishly credulous as without severe examination to believe any slander or thirdly so basely timorous as to flinch from any part of Gods truth for any slander But I must not insist This from the slander Observe fourthly how peremptorily the Apostle is in his censure against the slanderers or abusers of holy truths Whose damnation is just Some understand it with reference to the Slanderers As we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say Whose damnation is just that is their damnation is just who thus unjustly slander us Others understand it with reference to that ungodly resolution Let us do evil that good may come whose damnation is just that is their damnation is just for the evil they do who adventure to do any evil under whatsoever pretence of good to come of it Both expositions are good and I rather embrace both then prefer either I ever held it a kind of honest spiritual thrift where there are two senses given of one place both agreeable to the Analogie of Faith and Manners both so indifferently appliable to the words and scope of the place as that it is hard to say which was rather intended though there was but one intended yet to make use of both And so will we Take it the first way and the slanderer may read his doom in it Here is his wages and his portion and the meed and reward of his slander Damnation And it is a just reward He condemneth Gods truth unjustly God condemneth him justly for it whose damnation is just ◠If we be countable and we are countable at the day of Judgement for every idle word we speak though neither in it self false nor yet hurtful and prejudicial unto others what less than damnation can they expect that with much falshood for the thing it self and infinite prejudice in respect of others blaspheme God and his holy Truth But if it be done of purpose and in malice to despight the Truth and the professors thereof I scarce know whether there be a greater sin or no. Maliciously to oppose the known Truth is by most Divines accounted a principal branch of that great unpardonable sin the sin against the Holy Ghost by some the very sin it self I dare not say it is so nor yet that it is unpardonable or hath finall impenitency necessarily attending it I would be loth to interclude the hope of Repentance from any sinner or to confine Gods Mercy within any bounds Yet thus much I think I may safely say it cometh shrewdly neer the sin against the Holy Ghost and is a fair or rather a foul step toward it and leaveth very little hope of pardon That great sin against the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost it self in the Scriptures chuseth rather than by any other to expresse by this name of Blasphemy Mat. 12. And whereas our Apostle 1 Tim. 1. saith That though he were a Blasphemer yet he obtained mercy because he did it ignorantly in unbelief he leaveth it questionable but withall suspicious whether there may be any hope of Mercy for such as blaspheme maliciously and against knowledge If any mans be certainly such a mans damnation is most just But not all Slanderers of GODS truth are of that deep die not all Slanderers sinners in that high degree GOD forbid they should There are respects which much qualifie and lessen the sin But yet allow it any in the least degree and with the most favourable circumstances still the Apostles sentence standeth good Without Repentance their damnation is just Admit the Truth be dark difficult and so easily to be mistaken admit withall the man be weak and ignorant and so apt to mistake his understanding being neither distinct through incapacity to apprehend and sort things aright nor yet constant to it self through unsetlednesse and levity of judgement Certainly his misprision of the Truth is so much lesser than the others wilfull Calumny as it proceedeth lesse from the irregularity of the Will to the Iudgement And of such a man there is good hope that both in time he may see his errour and repent expresly and particularly for it and that in the mean time he doth repent for it implicitè and inclusively in his generall contrition for and confession of the massie lump of his hidden and secret and unknown sins This Charity bindeth us both to hope for the future and to think for the present and S. Pauls example and words in the place but now alledged are very comfortable to this purpose But yet still thus much is certain He that through ignorance or for want of apprehension or judgement or by reason of whatsoever other defect or motive bringeth a slander upon any divine Truth though never so perplexed with difficulties or open to cavil unless he repent for it either in the particular and that he must do if ever God open his eyes and let him see his fault or at leastwise in the generall it is still a damnable sin in
And if Phinehes Act also was as most think it was such as these it can no more justifie the usurpation of Magistracy Then Davids act can bloody Duels or Samsons self-murther or Moses's secret slaughter or Ehuds King-killing or Eliahs private revenge I have stood the longer upon the discovery of this sin that men might take right judgement of it and not think it either warrantable or excusable by any pretension of zeal or of whatsoever other good and that both such as have gone too far this way in their practice already for the time past may acknowledge their own over-sight and be sorry for it and others seeing their errour may for the time to come forbear such outrages and keep themselves within the due bounds of Christian sobriety and their particular Callings And thus much of the former instance in a matter of Commission I am to give you another in a matter of Omission Every Omission of a necessary duty is simply evil as a sin But affirmative duties are but sometimes necessary because they do not obligare ad semper as being many it is impossible they should And many times duties otherwise necessary in case of Superiour reason and duties cease to be necessary pro hîc nunc and then to omit them is not to do evil Among other necessary duties this is one for a Minister furnished with gifts and abilities for it to acquaint Gods people with all material needful truths as he can have convenient occasion thereunto And such conveniency supposed not to do this is simply evil Now then to make the Case and the Question The Case thus A Minister hath just opportunity to preach in a Congregation not his own where he seeth or generally heareth some errour in judgement or outragious sin in practice to be continued in with too publick allowance He hath liberty to make choice of his Text and Theme and leisure to provide in some measure for it and his conscience telleth him he cannot pro hîc nunc direct his speech with greater service to Gods Church then against those errours or sins He seeth on the other side some withdrawments his discretion may perhaps be called in question for medling where he needed not he shall possibly lose the good opinion of some with whom he hath held fair correspondence hitherto he shall preserve his own peace the better if he turn his speech another way This is the Case The Question is Whether these latter considerations and the good that may come thereby be sufficient to warrant unto him the omission of that necessary duty The rule of my Text resolveth it negatively they are not sufficient The Duty being necessary pro hîc nunc it is simply evil to omit it and therefore it may not be omitted for any other good I deny not but a Minister may with good discretion conceale many truths from his flock at least the opening and amplifying of them if they be not such as are needfull for them to know either for the establishment of Faith or practice of Life as not onely many nice School-points and Conclusions are but also many Genealogies and Levitical rites and other things even in the Scriptures themselves Nay more a Minister not onely in discretion may but is even in Conscience bound at least in the publick exercise of his Ministry to conceal some particular truths from his Auditory yea though they be such as are needful for the practice of life and for the setling of mens Consciences if they be such with all as are not fit to be publickly spoken of as are many Resolutions of Cases appertaining to the seventh Commandement Thou shalt not commit Adultery and some also appertaining to the eighth Thou shalt not steal Our men justly condemn the Popish Casuists for their too much liberty in this kind in their Writings whereby they reduce vices into an Art under colour of reproving them and convey into the minds of corrupt men Notions of such prodigious filthiness and artificiall Legier-du-main as perhaps otherwise they would never have dreamed on or thirsted after The loose writings of the unchaste Poets are but dull tutors of Lust compared with the authorized Tomes of our severe Romish Votaries There be enormous sins of this rank which a modest man would be ashamed so much as to name especially in publick Now of these onely the generalities would be touched in the publick the specialties not unfolded but in the private exercise of our Ministry nor yet that promiscuously to every one that should out of curiosity desire satisfaction in them but onely to such men and that but onely so far as they may concern in point of conscience and of practice Besides these there are other Cases many in which it may be more convenient to conceale than to teach some divine truths at some times and in some places But yet in the Case is here proposed if it be a truth questioned about which GODS people are much distracted in their opinions much mistaken by some through error in judgement much abused by sinful especially publick practice occasioning Scandals and offences among brethren likely to be overwhelmed with custome or multitude of those that think or do against it and be otherwise of material importance I take it the Omission of it upon seasonable opportunity is a grievous sin and not colourable by any pretence Beloved the Minister is not to come into the Pulpit as a Fencer upon the Stage to play his prize and to make a fair flourish against sin Here he could have it and there he could have it but hath it no where but rather as a Captain into the Field to bend his forces specially against the strongest Troops of the Enemy and to squander and break thorow the thickest ranks and to drive at the fairest It is not enough for a Prophet to cry aloud and to lift up his voice like a trumpet and to tell Iudah and Israel of sins and of transgressions at large but if he would whet them up to the battel he must give a more certain sound he must tell Iudah of her sins and Israel of her transgressions If there be in Damascus or Moab or Ammon or Tyrus or Iudah or Israel three transgressions or four more eminent than the rest it is fit they that are sent to Damascus and Moab and Ammon and Tyrus and Iudah and Israel should make them hear of those three or four more than all the rest Sins and Errours when they begin to get head and heart must be handled roughly Silence in such a case is a kind of flattery and it is almost all one when sins grow outragious to hold our peace at them and to cry Peace Peace unto them Our Apostle in Act. 20. would not have held himself sufficiently discharged from the guilt of other mens blood if he had shunned as occasion was offered to have declared unto them
proceed equally and undividedly from the whole three Persons from God the Father and from his Son Iesus Christ our Lord and from the eternall Spirit of them both the Holy Ghost as from one entire indivisible and coessentiall Agent But for that we are grosse of understanding and unable to conceive the distinct Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead otherwise then by apprehending some distinction of their operations and offices to-us-ward it hath pleased the wisdome of God in the holy Scriptures which being written for our sakes were to be fitted to our capacities so far to condescend to our weakness and dulness as to attribute some of those great and common works to one person and some to another after a more speciall manner than unto the rest although indeed and in truth none of the three persons had more or lesse to do than other in any of those great and common works This manner of speaking Divines use to call Appropriation By which appropriation as Power is ascribed to the Father and Wisdome to the Son so is Goodness to the Holy Ghost And therefore as the Work of Creation wherein is specially seen the mighty power of God is appropriated to the Father and the work of Redemption wherein is specially seen the wisdome of God to the Son and so the works of sanctification and the infusion of habituall graces whereby the good things of God are communicated unto us is appropriated unto the Holy Ghost And for this cause the gifts thus communicated unto us from God are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spirituall gifts and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manifestation of the Spirit We see now why spirit but then why manifestation The word as most other verballs of that form may be understood either in the active or passive signification And it is not materiall whether of the two wayes we take it in this place both being true and neither improper For these spirituall gifts are the manifestation of the spirit Actively because by these the spirit manifesteth the will of God unto the Church these being the instruments and means of conveying the knowledge of salvation unto the people of God And they are the manifestation of the spirit Passively too because where any of these gifts especially in any eminent sort appeared in any person it was a manifest evidence that the Spirit of God wrought in him As we read in Acts 10. that they of the Circumcision were astonished When they saw that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost If it be demanded But how did that appear it followeth in the next verse For they heard them speak with tongues c. The spirituall Gift then is a manifestation of the Spirit as every other sensible effect is a manifestation of its proper cause We are now yet farther to know that the Gifts and graces wrought in us by the holy spirit of God are of two sorts The Scriptures sometimes distinguish them by the different terms of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 although those words are sometimes again used indifferently and promiscuously either for other They are commonly known in the Schooles and differenced by the names of Gratiae gratum facientes Gratiae gratis datae Which termes though they be not very proper for the one of them may be affirmed of the other whereas the members of every good distinction ought to be opposite yet because they have been long received and change of termes though haply for the better hath by experience been found for the most part unhappy in the event in multiplying unnecessary book-quarrells we may retain them profitably and without prejudice Those former which they call Gratum facientes are the graces of Sanctification whereby the person that hath them is enabled to do acceptable service to God in the duties of his generall Calling these latter which they call Gratis datas are the Graces of Edification whereby the person that hath them is enabled to do profitable service to the Church of God in the duties of his particular Calling Those are given Nobis Nobis both to us and from us that is chiefly for our own good these Nobis sed Nostris to us indeed but for others that is chiefly for the good of our brethren Those are given us ad salutem for the saving of our own souls these ad lucrum for the winning of other mens souls Those proceed from the speciall love of God to the Person and may therefore be called personall or speciall these proceeed from the Generall love of God to his Church or yet more generall to humane societies and may therefore be rather called Ecclesiasticall or Generall Gifts or Graces Of that first sort are Faith Hope Charity Repentance Patience Humility and all those other holy graces and fruits of the Spirit which accompany salvation Wrought by the blessed and powerful operation of the holy Spirit of God after a most effectuall but unconceivable manner regenerating and renewing and seasoning and sanctifying the hearts of his Chosen But yet these are not the Gifts so much spoken of in this Chapter and namely in my Text Every branch whereof excludeth them Of those graces of sanctification first we may have indeed probable inducements to perswade us that they are or are not in this or that man But hypocrisie may make such a semblance that we may think we see spirit in a man in whom yet there is nothing but flesh and infirmities may cast such a fogge that we can discern nothing but flesh in a man in whom yet there is spirit But the gifts here spoken of do incurre into the senses and give us evident and infallible assurance of the spirit that wrought them here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a manifestation of the spirit Again Secondly those Graces of sanctification are not communicated by distribution Alius sic alius verò sic Faith to one Charity to another Repentance to another but where they are given they are given all at once and together as it were strung upon one threed and linked into one chain But the Gifts here spoken of are distributed as it were by doal and divided severally as it pleased God shared out into severall portions and given to every man some to none all for to one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdome to another the word of Knowledge c. Thirdly those Graces of sanctification though they may and ought to be exercised to the benefit of others who by the shining of our light and the sight of our good works may be provoked to glorifie God by walking in the same paths yet that is but utilitas emergens and not finis proprius a good use made of them upon the bye but not the main proper and direct end of them for which they were chiefly given But the Gifts here spoken of were given directly
multiply disputes without end but by direct and full evidence either of Scripture-text or Reason which for any thing I know was never yet done neither as I verily believe will ever be done But if it cannot be shown that these things are forbidden without any more adoe the use of them is by that sufficiently warranted He that will not allow of this doctrine besides that he cherisheth an errour which will hardly suffer him to have a quiet Conscience I yet see not how he can reconcile his opinion with those sundry passages of our Apostle Every creature of God is good To the pure all things are pure I know nothing is of it self unclean All things are lawfull c. From which passages we may with much safety conclude that it is lawfull for us to do all those things concerning which there can be nothing brought of moment to prove them unlawfull Upon which ground alone if we do them we do them upon such a perswasion of faith as is sufficient Provided that we have not neglected to inform our judgements the best we could for the time past and that we are ever ready withall to yield our selves to better information whensoever it shall be tendred unto us for the time to come It may be demanded fourthly Suppose a man would fain do something of the lawfulnesse whereof he is not in his conscience sufficiently resolved whether he may in any case do it notwithstanding the reluctancy of his Conscience yea or no As they write of Cyrus that to make passage for his Army he cut the great river Gyndes into many smaller chanels which in one entire stream was not passable so to make a clear and distinct answer to this great question I must divide it into some lesser ones For there are sundry things considerable in it whether we respect the conscience or the Person of the doer or the Action to be done As namely and especially in respect of the conscience whether the reluctancy thereof proceed from a setled and stedfast resolution or from some doubtfulnesse onely or but from some scruple And in respect of the person whether he be sui juris his own Master and have power to dispose of himself at his own choice in the things questioned or he be under the command and at the appointment of another And in respect of the Action or thing to be done whether it be a necessary thing or an unlawfull thing or a thing indifferent and arbitrary Any of which circumstances may quite alter the case and so beget new questions But I shall reduce all to three questions whereof the first shall concern a resolved Conscience the second a doubtfull conscience and the third a scrupulous conscience The First Question then is if the Conscience be firmly resolved that the thing proposed to be done is unlawfull whether it may then be done or no Whereunto I answer in these two conclusions The first conclusion If the Conscience be firmly so resolved and that upon a true ground that is to say if the thing be indeed unlawfull and judged so to be it may not in any case or for any respect in the world be done There cannot be imagined a higher contempt of God than for a man to despise the power of his own conscience which is the highest soveraignty under heaven as being Gods most immediate deputy for the ordering of his life and waies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a heathen man could say Wofull is the estate of those men unlesse they repent who for filthy lucre or vain pleasure or spitefull malice or tottering honour or lazy ease or any other reigning lust dare lye or sweare or cheat or oppresse or commit filthinesse or steal or kill or slander or flatter or betray or do any thing that may advance their base ends nothing at all regarding the secret whisperings or murmurings no nor yet the lowd roarings and bellowings of their own consciences there against Stat contra ratio secretam gannit in aurem It doth so but yet they turn a deaf eare to it and despise it Wonder not if when they out of the terrours of their troubled consciences shall houle and roare in the eares of the Almighty for mercy or for some mitigation at least of their torment he then turn a deafe eare against them and despise them To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin James 4. sin not to be excused by any plea or colour But how much more inexcusably then is it sinne to him that knoweth the evill he should not do and yet will do it There is not a proner way to Hell than to sinne against Conscience Happy is he which condemneth not himself in that which he alloweth but most wretched is he that alloweth himself to the practise of that which in his judgement he cannot but condemne Neither maketh it any difference at all here whether a man be otherwise sui juris or not For although there be a great respect due to the higher powers in doubtfull cases as I shall touch anon yet where the thing required is simply unlawfull and understood so to be inferiours must absolutely resolve to disobey whatsoever come of it Gods faithfull servants have ever been most resolute in such exigents We are not carefull to answer thee in this matter belike in a matter of another nature they would have taken care to have given the King a more satisfactory at least a more respective answer but in this matter Be known to thee O King that we will not serve thy gods Da veniam Imperator c. You know whose answers they were If we be sure God hath forbidden it we sinne against our own consciences if we do it at the command of any mortall man whosoever or upon any worldly inducement whatsoever That is the first Conclusion The second is this If a man be in his conscience fully perswaded that a thing is evil and unlawfull which yet in truth is not so but lawfull the thing by him so judged unlawfull cannot by him be done without sin Even an erroneous conscience bindeth thus far that a man cannot go against it and be guiltlesse because his practise should then run crosse to his judgement and so the thing done could not be of Faith For if his reason judge it to be evil and yet he will do it it argueth manifestly that he hath a will to do evil and so becometh a transgressour of that generall Law which bindeth all men to eschew all evil Yet in this case we must admit of some difference according to the different nature of the things and the different condition of the persons For if the things so judged unlawfull be in their own nature not necessary but indifferent so as they may either be done or left undone without sin and the person withall be sui juris in respect of such
cast by But by that all these be discarded and thrown out of the bunch possibly the whole lump will be neer spent and there will be little or no choyce left Indeed if we should look for absolute perfection there would be absolutely no choyce at all There is none that doth good no not one We must not be so dainty in our choyce then as to find one in every respect such as hath been charactred We live not in Republica Platonis but in faece seculi and it is well if we can find one in some good mediocrity so qualified Amid the common corruptions of mankind he is to be accounted a tolerably good man that is not intolerably bad and among so many infirmities and defects as I have now reckoned we may well voyce him for a Magistrate not that is free from them all but that hath the fewest and least And we make a happy choyce if from among those we have to chuse of we take such a one as is likely to prove in some reasonable mediocrity zealous of justice sensible of the wrongs of poor men carefull to search out the truth of causes and resolute to execute what he knoweth is just That for Direction I am next to infer from the four duties in my Text a just reproof withall a complaint of the common iniquity of these times wherein men in the Magistracy and in offices of Iustice are generally so faulty and delinquent in some or all of these duties And first as for zeal to justice alas that there were not too much cause to complain It is grief to speak it and yet we all see it and know it there is grown among us of this Land within the space of not many years a generall and sensible declination in our zeal both to Religion and Iustice the two main pillars and supporters of Church and State And it seemeth to be with us in these regards as with decaying Merchants almost become desperate who when Creditors call fast upon them being hopelesse of paying all grow carelesse of all and pay none so abuses and disorders encrease so fast among us that hopeless to reform all our Magistrates begin to neglect all and in a manner reform nothing How few are there of them that sit in the seat of justice whose consciences can prompt them a comfortable answer to that Question of David Psal. 58. Are your minds set upon righteousnesse O ye congregation Rather are they not almost all of Gallio's temper Act. 18. who though there were a foul outrage committed even under his nose and in the sight of the Bench yet the Text saith he cared for none of those things as if they had their names given them by an Antiphrasis like Diogenes his man Manes à manendo because he would be now and then running away so these Iustices à justitia because they neither do nor care to do Iustice. Peradventure here and there one or two in a whole side of a Countrey to be found that make a conscience of their duty more then the rest and are forward to do the best good they can Gods blessing rest upon their heads for it But what cometh of it The rest glad of their forwardnesse make onely this use of it to themselves even to slip their own necks out of the yoke and leave all the burden upon them and so at length even tire out them too by making common packhorses of them A little it may be is done by the rest for fashion but to little purpose sometimes more to shew their Iusticeship then to do justice and a little more it may be is wrung from them by importunity as the poor widow in the parable by her clamorousnesse wrung a piece of justice with much ado from the Iudge that neither feared God nor regarded man Alas Beloved if all were right within if there were generally that zeal that should be in Magistrates good Laws would not thus languish as they do for want of execution there would not be that insolency of Popish Recusants that license of Rogues and wanderers that prouling of Officers that enhaunsing of fees that delay of suits that countenancing of abuses those carkases of depopulated towns infinite other mischiefs which are the sins shall I say or the plagues it is hard to say whether more they are indeed both the sins and the plagues of this land And as for Compassion to the distressed is there not now just cause if ever to complain If in these hard times wherein nothing aboundeth but poverty and sin when the greater ones of the earth should most of all enlarge their bowels and reach out the hand to relieve the extreme necessity of thousands that are ready to starve if I say in these times great men yea and men of justice are as throng as ever in pulling down houses and setting up hedges in unpeopling towns and creating beggars in racking the backs and grinding the faces of the poor how dwelleth the love of GOD how dwelleth the spirit of compassion in these men Are these eyes to the blind feet to the lame and fathers to the poor as Iob was I know your hearts cannot but rise in detestation of these things at the very mentioning of them But what would you say if as it was said to Ezekiel so I should bid you turn again and behold yet greater and yet greater abominations of the lamentable oppressions of the poor by them and their instruments who stand bound in all conscience and in regard of their places to protect them from the injuries and oppressions of others But I forbear to do that and chuse rather out of one passage in the Prophet Amos to give you some short intimation both of the faults and of the reason of my forbearance It is in Amos 5. v. 12 13. I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins they afflict the just they take a bribe and they turne aside the poor in the gate from their right Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time for it is an evil time And as for searching out the truth in mens causes which is the third Duty First those Sycophants deserve a rebuke who by false accusations and cunningly devised tales 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of purpose involve the truth of things to set a faire colour upon a bad matter or to take away the righteousnesse of the innocent from him And yet how many are there such as these in most of our Courts of justice Informing and promoting and pettifogging make-bates Now it were a lamentable thing if these men should be known and yet suffered but what if countenanced and encouraged and underhand maintained by the Magistrates of those Courts of purpose to bring Moulter to their own Mills Secondly since Magistrates must be content for they are but men and cannot be every where at once in many things to see with other mens eyes and
remembers me there are others whom this prohibition concerneth besides you or rather above you whose case it must be not to receive a false report A thing so weighty and withall so pertinent to the generall argument of this Scripture thâ—t some Translations have passed it in the Text. And the Original word comprehendeth it For albeit the Raiser indeed be the first taker up yet the Receiver taketh it up too at the second hand As it is commonly said of stollen goods There would be no thieves if there were no receivers and therefore some Laws have made the Receiver equal thief with the Stealer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so certainly there would be fewer false reports raised in judgement if they were more sparingly received And therefore in this case also the Receiver must goe pari passu with the Raiser who if he give way or countenance to a false report when he may refuse or hinder it by being an Accessary maketh himself a Party and becometh guilty of the same sins the same wrongs the same mischiefs with the first offender the false Accuser David as he inveigeth against Doeg in the Psalm for telling so he elsewhere expostulateth with Saul for hearing unjust reports of him The Raiser and Receiver are both possessed with the same evil spirit they have the same Devil the same Familiar onely here is the difference The Raiser hath this Familiar in his tongue the Receiver in his eare Whosoever then sitteth in the place of Magistracy and publick judicature in foro externo or is by vertue of his calling otherwise invested with any jurisdiction or power to hear and examine the accusations of others I know not how he shall be able to discharge himself in foro interno from a kind of Champerty if my ignorance make me not abuse the word or at leastwise from misprision of Calumny and unjust accusations if he be not reasonably carefull of three things First let him beware how he taketh private informations Men are partiall and will not tell their own tales but with favour and unto advantage And it is so with most men the first tale possesseth them so as they hear the next with prejudice than which there is not a sorer enemy to right and indifferent judgement A point so material that some Expositors make it a thing principally intended in this first branch of my Text Ut non audiatur una pars sine alia saith Lyra. Suiters will be impudent to forestall the publick hearing by private informations even to the Iudge himself if the accesse be easie or at leastwise which indeed maketh lesse noyse but is nothing less pernicious to his servant or favourite that hath his ear if he have any such noted servant or favourite He therefore that would resolve not to receive a false report and be sure to hold his resolution let him resolve so far as he can avoid it to receive no report in private for a thousand to one that is a false one or where he cannot well avoid it to be ready to receive the information of the adverse part withall either both or neither but indeed rather neither to keep himself by all means equal entire for a publick hearing Thus much he may assure himself there is no man offereth to possesse him with a cause before-hand be it right be it wrong who doth not either think him unjust or would have him so Secondly let him have the conscience first and then the patience too and yet if he have the conscience certainly he will have the patience to make search into the truth of things and not be dainty of his pains herein though matters be intricate and the labour like to be long and irksome to find out if it be possible the bottome of a business and where indeed the fault lieth first or most It was a great over-sight in a good King for David to give away Mephibosheths living from him to his Accuser and that upon the bare credit of his accusation It had been more for his honour to have done as Iob did before him to have searched out the cause he knew not and as his son Solomon did after him in the cause of the two Mothers Solomon well knew what he hath also taught us Prov. 25. that it was the honour of Kings to search out a matter God as he hath vouchsafed Princes and Magistrates his own name so he hath vouchsafed them his own example in this point An example in the story of the Law Gen. 18. where he did not presently give judgement against Sodome upon the cry of their sins that was come up before him but he would go down first and see whether they had done altogether according to that cry and if not that he might know it An example also in the Gospel-story Luc. 16. under the parable of the rich man whos 's first work when his Steward was accused to him for embezeling his goods was not to turn him out of doors but to examine his accounts What through Malice Obsequiousness Coverture and Covetousness counterfeit reports are daily raised and there is much cunning used by those that raise them much odde shuffling and packing and combining to give them the colour and face of perfect truth As then a plain Countrey-man that would not willingly be cousened in his pay to take a slip for a currant piece or brasse for silver leisurely turneth over every piece he receiveth and if he suspect any one more than the rest vieweth it and ringeth it and smelleth to it and bendeth it and rubbeth it so making up of all his senses as it were one naturall touchstone whereby to try it such jealousie should the Magistrate use and such industry especially where there appeareth cause of suspicion by all means to sift and to bolt out the truth if he would not be cheated with a false report instead of a true Thirdly let him take heed he do not give countenance or encouragement more then right and reason requireth to contentious persons known Sycophants and common Informers If there should be no Accusers to make complaints Offenders would be no offenders for want of due Correction and Laws would be no Laws for want of due Execution Informers then are necessary in a Common-wealth as Dogs are about your houses and yards If any man mislike the comparison let him know it is Cicero's simily and not mine It is not amisse saith that great and wise Oratour there should be some store of Dogs about the house where many goods are laid up to be safe kept and many false knaves haunt to do mischief to guard those and to watch these the better But if those Dogs should make at the throat of every man that cometh neer the house at honest mens hours and upon honest mens businesse it is but needful they of the house should sometimes
before him but so did not I because of the fear of God Neh. 5. What did not Nehemiah bear rule over the people yes that he did there is nothing surer His meaning then must be so did not I that is I did not suffer my servants so to do as they did theirs implying that when the servants of the former governours oppressed the people it was their Masters doing at leastwise their Masters suffering Even their servants bare rule over the people but so did not I because of the fear of God The Magistrate therefore that would speedily smoke away these Gnats that swarm about the Courts of justice and will be offering at his ear to buzze false reports thereinto he shall do well to begin his reformation at home and if he have a servant that heareth not well deservedly to pack him away out of hand and to get an honester in his room Say he be of never so serviceable qualities and useful abilities otherwise so as the Master might almost as well spare his right eye or his right hand as forgo his service yet in this case he must not spare him Our Saviours speech is peremptory Erue Abscinde Projice if either eye or hand cause or tempt thee to offend pull out that eye cut off that hand cast them both from thee with indignation rather want both then suffer corruption in either Davids resolution was excellent in Psal. 101. and worthy thy imitation Who so privily slandereth his neighbour him will I destroy whoso hath a proud look and high stomach I will not suffer him Mine eyes look to such as be faithfull in the Land that they may dwell with me whoso leadeth a godly life he shall be my servant There shall no deceitfull person dwell in my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight He that will thus resolve and thus do it may be presumed he will not knowingly give either way to a false report or countenance to the reporter And so much for our first Rule Thou shalt not raise a false report My first purpose I confess was to have spoken also to the Witness to the Iurer to the Pleader to the Officer from the other four Rules in my text as punctually particularly as to the Accuser from this first for I therefore made choice of a Text that taketh them all in that I might speak to them all alike But if I should enlarge my self upon the rest as I have done in this my meditations would swell to the proportion rather of a Treatise then a Sermon and what patience were able to sit them out Therefore I must not do it And indeed if what I have spoken to this first point were duly considered and conscionably practised I should the lesse need to do it For it is the Accuser that layeth the first stone the rest do but build upon his foundation And if there were no false reports raised or received there would be the lesse use of and the lesse work for false and suborned Witnesses ignorant or packt Iuries crafty and slie Pleaders cogging and extorting Officers But unto these I have no more to say at this time but onely to desire each of them to lay that portion of my Text to their hearts which in the first division was allotted them as their proper share and withall to make application mutatis mutandis unto themselves of whatsoever hath been presently spoken to the Accuser and to the Magistrate from this first rule Whereof for the better furtherance of their Application and relief of all our memories the summe in brief is thus First concerning the Accuser and that is every party in a cause or tryall he must take heed he do not raise a false report which is done first by forging a meer untruth and secondly by perverting or aggravating a truth and thirdly by taking advantage of strict Law against Equity Any of which who ever doth he first committeth a haynous sin himself and secondly grievously wrongeth his neighbour and thirdly bringeth a great deal of mischief to the Common-weal All which evils are best avoyded first by considering how we would others should deal with us and resolving so to deal with them and secondly by avoyding as all other inducements and occasions so especially those four things which ordinarily engage men in unjust quarrels Malice Obsequiousness Coverture and Greediness Next concerning the Iudge or Magistrate he must take heed he do not receive a false report Which he shall hardly avoid unless he beware first of taking private informations secondly of passing over causes slightly without mature disquisition and thirdly of countenancing Accusers more than is meet For whose discountenancing and deterring he may consider whether or no these five may not be good helps so far as it lyeth in his power and the Laws will permit first to reject informations tendred without Oath secondly to give such interpretations as may stand with Equity as wel as Law thirdly to chastise Informers that use partiality or collusion fourthly to allow the wronged party a liberal satisfaction from his adversary fifthly to carry a sharp eye and a strait hand over his own Servants Followers and Officers Now what remaineth but that the several premises earnestly recommended to the godly consideration and conscionable practice of every one of you whom they may concern and all your persons and affairs both in the present weighty businesses and ever hereafter to the good guidance and providence of Almighty God we should humbly beseech him of his gracious goodnesse to give a blessing to that which hath been spoken agreeably to his word that it may bring forth in us the fruits of Godliness Charity and Iustice to the glory of his grace the good of our brethren and the comfort of our own souls even for his blessed Son's sake our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ. To whom with c. AD MAGISTRATUM The Third Sermon At the Assises at Lincolne 4. Aug. 1625. at the request of the High Sheriffe aforesaid WILLIAM LISTER Esquire PSALME 106.30 Then stood up Phinehes and executed judgement and the plague was stayed THe abridgement is short which some have made of the whole Book of Psalmes but into two words Hosannah and Hallelujah most of the Psalmes spending themselves as in their proper arguments either in Supplication praying unto God for his blessings and that is Hosannah or in Thanksgiving blessing God for his goodnesse and that is Hallelujah This Psalme is of the later sort The word Hallelujah both prefixed in the title and repeated in the close of it sufficiently giveth it to be a Psalm of Thanksgiving as are also the three next before it and the next after it All which five Psalmes together as they agree in the same general argument the magnifying of Gods holy name so they differ every one from other in choyce of those speciall and topicall arguments whereby the praises of God are set forth
thine owne spleene or malice to sweare and forsweare as these shall prompt thee or to enterchange deposition with thy friend as they used to doe in Greece Hodie mihi cras tibi sweare thou for me to day I le sweare for thee to morrow or tempted with any corrupt respect whatsoever by thy word or oath to strengthen a false and unrighteous report When thou comest to lay thy hand upon the booke lay the second Rule in that Text to thy heart Put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witnesse Though hand joyne in hand The false witnesse shall not be unpunished If thou comest hither thirdly to serve for the King upon the Grand Inquest or between party and party in any cause whatsoever like those selecti judices among the Romans whom the Praetor for the yeare being was to nominate and that upon oath out of the most able and serviceable men in his judgement both for estate understanding and integrity or to serve upon the Tales perhaps at thine own suit to get something toward bearing charges for thy journey or yoaked with a crafty or a wilfull foreman that is made before-hand and a messe of tame after-men withall that dare not thinke of being wiser than their leader or unwilling to stickle against a major part whether they goe right or wrong or resolved already upon the Verdict no matter what the Evidence be Consider what is the weight and religion of an Oath Remember that he sinneth not lesse that sinneth with company Whatsover the rest doe resolve thou to doe no otherwise then as God shall put into thy heart and as the evidence shall leade thee The third Rule in that Text must be thy rule Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evill They are silly that in point either of Religion or Iustice would teach us to measure either Truth or Right by multitudes If thou comest hither fourthly as to thine harvest to reape some fruit of thy long and expencefull study in the Lawes and to assist thy Client and his cause with thy Counsell Learning and Eloquence thinke not because thou speakest for thy Fee that therefore thy tongue is not thine owne but thou must speake what thy Client will have thee speake be it true or false neither thinke because thou hast the liberty of the Court and perhaps the favour of the Iudge that therefore thy tongue is thine owne and thou mayest speake thy pleasure to the prejudice of the Adversaries person or cause Seeke not preposterously to win the name of a good Lawyer by wresting and perverting good Lawes or the opinion of the best Counsellour by giving the worst and the shrewdest Counsell Count it not as Protagoras did the glory of thy profession by subtilty of wit and volubility of tongue to make the worse cause the better but like a good man as well as good Oratour use the power of thy tongue and wit to shame impudence and protect innocency to crush oppressours and succour the afflicted to advance Justice and Equity and to help them to right that suffer wrong Let it be as a ruled case to thee in all thy pleadings not to speak in any cause to wrest judgement If lastly thou art in any place or office of service or trust or command or attendance about the Courts rejoyce not as if it were now in thy power to doe a friend a courtesie or a foe a spite Doe not shew a cast of thy office for the promise or hope of a reward in helping a great offender out of the Bryars Compell not men that have been long weather-beaten in the Maine and are now arrived at the Haven of their businesse to wither for their pasports untill they have offered some sacrifice to that great Diana Expedition Let no feare or hope or bribe or letter or envie or favour no not charity it self and compassion to the poverty or distressednesse of any make you partiall for the Person to disregard the Cause If you would be charitable to the poore give them from your owne but doe not carve them from anothers trencher To relieve a poor man in his wants is the proper office of Charity but Iustice must have no eyes to see nor bowells to yearne at the wants of any man Be he rich or poore that bringeth his cause hither Currat lex Let him finde such as he bringeth Let him have as his cause deserveth The last of those Rules must be thine Thou shalt not countenance no not a poor man in his cause If any of these to whom I have now spoken Accusers Witnesses Iurers Pleaders Officers shall transgresse these rules to the perverting of Iustice our refuge must be next under God to you that are the Magistrates of Justice and sit upon the Bench of Judicature At your gravity and authority we must take sanctuary against them that pursue us wrongfully as at the hornes of the Altar It is your Duty or if it be as to most men it is a more pleasing thing to be remembred of their Power ' thâ—â— of their Duty it is in your power if not to reforme all the abuses and corruptions of these persons yet to curbe their open insolencies and to contain them at least within modest bounds Nay since I have begun to magnifie your power let me speak it with all the due reverence to God and the King there is no power so great over which in a qualified sense you have not a greater power It is in your power to beare up the pillars of the State when the land is even dissolved and the pillars thereof grown weake for that is done by judging the Congregation according to right Psal. 75. In yours to make this yet flourishing Country and Kingdome glorious or despicable for righteousnesse exalteth a Nation but sinne is a reproch to any people Prov. 14. In yours to settle the Throne upon the King and to entaile it by a kinde of perpetuity unto the right heire for many succeeding generations for The Throne is established by justice Prov. 16. In yours to discharge Gods punishing Angel who now destroyeth us with a grievous destruction and by unsheathing your Sword to make him sheath his as here in my Text Phinehes stood up and executed judgement and the plague ceased In yours though you be but Gods on Earth and in these Courts mortall and petty Gods yet to send prohibitions into the Court of Heaven and there to stop the judgements of the great and Eternall GOD before they come forth yea and when the decree is gone forth to stay execution In a word as it was said to Ieremy but in another sense you are Set over Nations and over Kingdomes to root out and to destroy to build and to plant Onely then be intreated to use that power God hath given you unto edification and not unto destruction And now I have done my
And the reason of the difference is evident because those former Laws are rather Divine than humane the substance of them being divine and but the sanction only humane and so binde by their immediate vertue and in respect of the things themselves therein commanded which the later being meerly humane both for substance and sanction do not The consideration of which difference and the reason of it will abundantly discover the vanity of the fourth allegation also wherein it was objected that the things enjoyned by the Ecclesiastical Lawes are imposed upon men as of necessity to salvation Which is most untrue Remember once again that obedience is one thing and the things commanded another Obedience to lawful authority is a duty commanded by God himself and in his Law and so is a part of that holinesse without which no man shall see God but the things themselves commanded by lawful authority are neither in truth necessary to salvation nor do they that are in authority impose them as such Only they are the object and that but by accident neither and contingently not necessarily about which that obedience is conversant and wherein it is to be exercised An example or two will make it plain We know every man is bound in conscience to imploy himself in the works of his particular calling with faithfulnesse and diligence and that faithfulnesse and diligence is a branch of that holinesse and righteousnesse which is necessary unto salvation Were it not now a very fond thing and ridiculous for a man from hence to conclude that therefore drawing of wine or making of shooes were necessary to salvation because these are the proper imployment of the Vintners and Shoomakers calling which they in conscience are bound to follow nor may without sin neglect them Again if a Master command his servant to go to the market to sell his corn and to buy in provision for his house or to wear a livery of such or such a colour and fashion in this case who can reasonably deny but that the servant is bound in conscience to do the very things his master biddeth him to do to go to sâ—ll to buy to wear and yet is there any man so forsaken of common sense as thence to conclude that going to market selling of corn buying of meat wearing a blue coat are necessary to salvation or that the Master imposeth those things upon the servant as of necessity unto salvation The obligation of the servants conscience to do the things commanded ariseth from the force of that divine Law which bindeth servants to obey their masters in lawful things The master in the things he so commandeth hath no particular actual respect to the conscience of his servant which perhaps all that while never came within his thoughts but meerly respecteth his own occasions and conveniences In this example as in a glasse let the Objectors behold the lineaments and feature of their own argument Because kneeling standing bowing are commanded by the Church and the people are bound in conscience to obey the Lawes of the Church therefore the Church imposeth upon the people kneeling standing and bowing as necessary to salvation If that which they object were indeed true and that the Church did impose these rites and ceremonies upon the people as of necessity to salvation and require to have them so accepted doubtlesse the imposition were so prejudicial to Christian liberty as that every faithful man were bound in conscience for the maintenance of that liberty to disobey her authority therein and to confesse against the imposition But our Church hath been so far from any intention of doing that her self that by her foresaid publick declaration she hath manifested her utter dislike of it in others What should I say more Denique te ipsum concute It would better become the Patriarchs of that party that thus deeply but untruly charge her to look unto their own cloaks dive into their own bosoms and survey their own positions and practise if happily they may be able to clear themselves of trenching upon Christian liberty and ensnaring the consciences of their brethren and imposing upon their Proselytes their own traditions of kneel not stand not bow not like those mentioned Col. 2. of touch not taste not handle not requiring to have them accepted of the people even as of necessity unto salvation If upon due examination they can acquit themselves in this matter their accounts will be the easier but if they cannot they shall finde when the burden lighteth upon them that it will be no light matter to have been themselves guilty of that very crime whereof they have unjustly accused others As for consent with the Papists in their doctrine concerning the power that mens lawes have over the conscience which is the last objection it ought not to move us We are not ashamed to consent with them or any others in any truth But in this point we differ from them so far as they differ from the truth which difference I conceive to be neither so great as some men nor yet so little as other some men would make it They teach that Humane lawes especially the Ecclesiastical binde the consciences of men not only in respect of the obedience but also in respect of the things themselves commanded and that by their own direct immediate and proper vertue In which doctrine of theirs 3. things are to be misliked First that they give a preheminence to the Ecclesiastical lawes above the Secular in this power of binding We may see it in them and in these objectors how men will run into extremities beyond all reason when they give themselves to be led by corrupt respects As he said of himself and his fellow-Philosophers Scurror ego ipse mihi populo tu so it is here They of Rome carried with a wretched desire to exalt the Papacy and indeed the whole Clergy as much as they may and to avile the secular powers as much as they dare they therefore ascribe this power over the conscience to the Ecclesiastical lawes especially but do not shew themselves all out so zealous for the secular Ours at home on the contrary out of an appetite they have to bring in a new platform of discipline into the Church and for that purpose to present the established government unto the eyes and the hearts of the people in as deformed a shape as they can quarrel the Ecclesiastical lawes especially for tyrannizing over the consciscience but do not shew themselves so much agrieved at the secular Whereas the very truth is whatsoever advantages the secular powers may have above the Ecclesiastical or the Ecclesiastical above the secular in other respects yet as to the power of binding the conscience all humane lawes in general are of like reason and stand upon equal termes It is to be misliked secondly in the Romish doctrine that they subject the conscience to the things themselves also and not only tye