by his wanton Mistresses fals accusation was cast into prison Gen. 39.20 Susanna that honest and good soul had almost lost her life too by this murdering peece had not Gods mercy opportunely intervened to the saving of his handmaid What should I say more Our blessed Lord himself had this Cannon shot at him the peece goeth off but being foul breaketh and flyeth about their ears who first gave fire to it Luke 23.2 Mark 15.3 Matth. 27.12 There are three things amiable in the sight of God and men Concordia fratrum amicitia propinquorum vir uxor inter se convenientes Concord of brethren friendship of neighbours and a man and his wife agreeing together And now what putteth these instruments out of tune but the foul hand of Calumny Who causeth a separation of these three lovely pairs but falf tales and suggestions Nothing breaketh the peace more then this Oh what confusions what sad troubles have followed them Such turbulent spirits have been raised in one hour as could scarce be layed in many years after These bellows have kindled such a fire as no waters have been able to quench it So horrid and deplorable hath been the sad consequence of the ready reception of a slaunder as I may say of him and the author of it as Jacob of Simeon and Levi they are brethren instrumental of cruelty are in their habitations Gen. 49.5 d Simile In a storm the ship is tossed to and fro reeleth like a drunken man one while it mounts as high as heaven and then falls as low as hell the lightnings flash on their faces the proud waves beat upon them and fearful darknesse like a black mantle begirt the trembling marriners now they are at their wiâ—s end and e Acts 27.20 all hope that they shall be saved is taken away Thus is it when the fire of contention is blown up by the breath of such who go from house to house to carry tales and it kindles the more into flame when it meets with combustable matter a facil disposition an ear open to receive it When this Euroclydon once riseth unlesse the Lord whom the winds and sea obey in mercy intervene the tempest will rise so high as nothing but miserable ship wrack can be expected Hear I pray all of you whom it may concern what direction Titus hath from the Apostle Titus 3.2 To speak evil of no man to be no brawlers but gentle shewing all meeknesse unto all men This thing was so hateful to David that he thus speaks of it Psal 101.5 Whoso privily slaundereth his neighbour him will I cut off Mark but this dilewma I suppose it will nonplus the best Sophister Matth. 7.12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do you even so to them Luk. 6.31 for this is the law and the prophets Now wouldst thou have any slaunder and backbite thee No. Thou art then an unreasonable man Non compos mentis to do that unto another which thou abhorrest to have done unto thy self I should bite my tongue first before I would perpetrate a sin so unworthy so beneath a Christian I may say a man For if thy tongue be employed in this particular and runs on this errand f James 3.6 It is a sire a world of iniquity so is the tongue amongst our members that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire of hell Blush then for shame if thou beest guilty this way and say with Pharaohs Butler g Gen 41.9 I do remember my faults this day And with holy Job from a sorrowful and penitent heart sweetly warble forth as he in another sense Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Job 42.6 If this will not serve let them know they are murderers and children of the devil John 8.44 Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him When he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the father of it And if they be murderers then their sin cryeth to heaven for vengeance Among the four capitall or if you please Cardinal vices that cry this is set in the front h Clamitani ad coelum vex sangumis vox Sodomâ—rum Vox oppressorum merces detenta laborum Vix sanguinis the voice of blood Gen. 4.10 the voice o thy brothers blood cryeth unto me from the ground And not only so but they are excluded the heavenly Jerusalem no unclean thing can enter there i Revel 22.15 For without are dogs and Sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolators and in the â—ere whosoever love hâ— and maketh a lye And so leaving them to stand or fall to their own Masters I come to the people and now hear what they think of due Saviour Some say that thou art John the Baptist some Elias and oâ—hers Jeremias Second observation or one of the prophets Hence I observe That the vulgar concerning Christ and other matters of faith are often various and unsatisfied they hold and believe that which is not sound and orthodox Like the blinde man in the Gospel they discern not aright as he saw men like trees How many have we who know not what God what Christ or what faith is In this particular they are as mute as fishes and as the horse and mule that have no understanding Either they are ignorant of what true religion is or they stand in doubt of it and make a question whether there be any such thing or no. Witnesse our many sects and opinionists that swarm every where namely our blasphemous Quaker away with such a fellow from the earth Our Simpleton Seeker of a needle in a bottle of hay Our ignorant Leveller that would beget a parity among men which is impossible k Mark 14 For the poor ye have always with you Our dipping Anabaptist verberibus magis quam verbis authority must cudgel it out of him for disputes boot not What should I speak of Judaism Turcism Heathenism Atheism c. In such diversity of opinions what shall we determine Shall we bear them shall we commend them or shall we detest them l Laudare mon possumus detestari dâ—bemus ferre cogimur Dierec Annal. Praise them we cannot we ought to abhor them we are forced to suffer them Here is all our Comfort the harvest will one day day come when the wheat shall be put into the granary of Heaven and the tares cast into the fire In the interim though we live by them let us not live with them By any means avoid conversing though we cannot commercing with them altogether m 1 Cor. 5.10 for then must ye needs go out of the world But above all make not your selves one with them by marriage
lest ye propagate a mungrel and monstrous generation This was the sin of the old world when n Gen. 6.2 the Sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair they took them wives of all that they chose Modo forma placuisset Beauty alone pleas'd them as Tremel upon the Text. So the joyn bodies and hearts together and ten to one but Religion hazards a final divorce Hear what a father of the Church saith o Neque in confusione Paganorum neque in purgamentis haereticorum neque in languore schismaticorum neque in coecitate Judaeorum quaerenda est religio c. Religion is to be sought neither in the confusion of Pagans neither in the filth of Heretiques nor in the languour of Schismaticks nor in the blindnesse of the Jews but with those alone who are called Orthodox Christians Aug. lib. de verit Rel. Cap. 5. and Catholique that is to say such as are retainers of integrity and those which follow warrantable wayes But let me beloved hit the nail on the head If ever thou or I desire to finde sure footing we must do this one thing even prostrate our selves at the feet of Christ and take what drops from his mouth for God is true and all men are lyars I say let us meekly attend his sacred Word it is the only rule we must walk by This is Lucerna qua fur deprehenditur as a Father saith The light by which the thief is descried I mean the great thief of all Sathan and the little ones the wicked of the wold seduced of both sexes who deceive and are deceived like those enemies of the truth of whom S. Paul speaks that creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins led away with divers lusts ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth 2 Tim. 3 6 7. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt mindes reprobate concerning the faith verse 8. This light concerns us much then in the descrying of these thieves The Word is to a Christian as the Card and Compass is to a Marriner it makes him sail safely through the sea of this world whereas without it millions are cast away Wherefore as our Saviour admonisheth Search the Scriptures for in them you think to have everlasting life Yet beware so search them that you mistake them not for otherwise I may say again as Christ to them of old Ye do erre not knowing the Scriptures They were big words which Julius Cesar spake and me thinks somewhat hyperbolical more cry then wool though I confesse he was a fortunate and valiant man p Veni vidi vici I came sad he to the enemy and lookt upon them and conquer'd them But is is a greater task my brethren upon the first sight to conquor the sence of the Scriptures where in some places the waters are so deep that an Elephant may not only swim but drown Whosoever have the saving knowledge of the Word it is by divine dispensation q Manns in nube the good hand of Providence is upon him A man may read and hear much and all to little purpose if the Star of Gods Spirit appear not and so direct him to Christ Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures Luk. 23.45 Had not the Lord opened the heart of Lydia to give attention Pauls oratory had done her little good Act 16.14 When Philip said to the Eunuch Understandest thou what thou readest How can I said he except some man should guide me Acts 8.30 31. The men alone behinde the cloath make the pupets move And Almighty God only can and must illuminate our understandings and anoint our eyes with eye-salve that we may see Revelat 3.18 And here in the next place I pray observe how difficult a thing it is to leave a custom once taken up r Pravus usus vix aboletur Isid lib. 1. Soliloq A wicked habit is hardly left off Wash a black Moor and the signe is Labour in vain Custom in any thing is a second nature and it clings so elose to a man as if it were born with him and he sucked it from his mothers breast It is like the heart within him although it is not the first thing that liveth yet it is the last that dyeth ultimum moriens See it verefied in the Jews in my Text. Some think Christ to be John the Baptist some Elias Jeremias or one of the prophets And all out of an old custom and mistake that they could not give a right definition of him It was not the first time that Joseph swore by the life of Pharaoh when he had it so ready in his mouth The Ephraimites could not pronounce Shibboleth but say Sibboleth Judg. 12.6 Å¿ Quo semel imbut a recens servabit odorom Testa diuâ— Horat. A vessel will savour of that liquour it last received and it will taste of it a long time after As for example A common drunkard seldom turneth sober man and a desperate swearer will ever have an oath in his mouth Mark an unclean person his words will be obscene and scurrilous not a syllable cometh from him that administreth grace to the hearers A covetous muck-worm alwayes savours of earth and with Esau his smell is the smell of a field as Isaac said to Jacob taking him for Esau Gen. 27.27 Take him at his Orisons or private devotions which you shall seldom do and though he make long prayers yet with the Scribes and Pharisees it is to devour widows houses The world is ever his center and this Dor fly he never so long endeth his flight on a dunghil Take him in the Church and if his eyes be intent upon the Preacher his thoughts are retrograde and with the Devil are going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it Job 1.7 See this confirmd in our bloody Nimrods those mighty hunters before the Lord who with Caligula are Lutum sanguine maceratum a lump of clay soaked in blood they are accustomed to murther as the killing of a man is no more to them then the killing of a flea although it be a sin so hainous that it cryeth to heaven for vengeance Gen. 4.10 It is recorded of a Roman Emperour who when he was alone spent his time in pricking of flyes with his penknife insomuch when one asked who was with the Emperour answer was wittily returned Nemusca quidem Sueton. Not so much truly as a flye Caligula whom I mentioned before like an incarnate Devil brake out into these words t Vtinam populus Romanus unum cervicem haberet I could wish the people of Rome had but one neck that he might cut them of at once And the reason is Custom in sinning taketh away the sence and feeling of sin Philosophers say Elementum aquae suo loco non ponderat The
John saith 1 John 5.20 This is the true God and eternal life And Rom. 9.5 Who is over all God blessed for ever Amen Secondly As our Saviour is true God so likewise he is true man of the substance of his Mother born in the world This is manifest by his own words vers 13. Whom do men say that I the Son of man am To this purpose he hath the plain Epithete of Man given him Luke 23.47 Now when the Centurion saw what was done he glorified God saying Certainly this was a righteous man And the Apostle 1. Tim. 2.5 For there is one God and one Mediatour between God and men the man Christ Jesus Wherefore he is called the son of Mary Matth. 1.16 The seed of the woman Gen. 3.15 The seed of Abraham Heb. 2.16 Born of a woman Gal. 4.4 Yet notwithstanding though he be God and man he is not two but one Christ According to Athanasius his Creed One not by Conversion of the Godhead into flesh but by taking the manhood into God one altogether not by confusion of Substance but by unity of Person For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man so God and man is one Christ To this purpose the Apostle saith there is one Lord Jesus Christ 1. Cor. 8.6 And one Mediatour between God and men 1. Tim. 2.5 Thus we see he is but one Christ In the next place we have his office expressed in the word Christ Thou art Christ c. which word signifieth anointed For whereas Kings Priests and Prophets were usually anointed in the Old Testament upon their inauguration Exod. 29.7.1 Sam. 16.13 Hence they are called the Lords anointed Esay 48.1 So likewise was Christ anointed not with any external oil but with the Holy Ghost into a Kingly Prophetick and Priestly office Psal 45.8 John 3.34 Acts 10.38 First he was anointed a Prophet to make known the will of his heavenly Father concerning our redemption John 1.10 No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him And in the next place that he might appoint us the Ministry of the-Word and the use of the Sacraments that by these as by instruments he might work effectually in his Church as Mark 16 15.16 Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Secondly he was anointed a Priest that he might offer himself on the Cross for us and by the sacrifice of his own body redeem us from our most sad and deplorable condition in the loins of our first parents and that he might ever intercede for us to his Father For by one offering he hath perfected for even them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 and chap. 9.24 For Christ is not ascended into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us And Rom. 8.34 Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Thirdly he was anointed a King that he might rule and govern us by the Scepter of his power that is that he might preserve and defend us both from our corporal and spiritual enemies to wit the Devil Sin Death Hell and this wicked World Wherefore the Prophet thus speaketh Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Zion shout O daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee he is just and having salvation c. Zach. 9.9 And the Evangelist Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Matth. 25.34 From this Confession of Peter we may learn what is the duty of every Christian man even this freely to give an account of his faith According to that of the Apostle But sanctiste the Lord God in your hearts and be ready alwayes to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meeknesse and fear I Pet. 3.15 And to take off all excuse in this particular our Saviour himself saith Whosoever therefore shall confesse me before men him will I confesse also before my Father which is in heaven Matth. 10.32 Holy David maketh it a fruit of faith Psalm 116.10 I believed therefore have spoken a Veritas credenda laquenda The truth saith Prosper is to be believed and spoken Confession is of a high consequence and concerns Christains more then they think of This I believe wrings many a professor by the nose and toucheth as we say their câ—ppy hold How many have we that dare not confesse the truth openly for fear of men These are cowardly Christians who when they should fight betake them to their heels Some will make a fair flourish for a time they will take up the Cudgels with much seeming Confidence but when any cometh to play with them they presently lay them down Such a one was S. Peter Hear his high words Though all should be offended because of thee yet will I never be offended And further Though I should die with thee yet will I not deny thee Matth. 26.33.35 but look upon him a while after and then quantum mutatus ab illo one would not take him to be the same man How are the chariot wheels of his resolution taken off so that he drives heavily Mark him I pray I know not what thou sayest and again with and oath in his mouth I do not know the man And to make him superlative he falls more basely begins to curse and to swear saying I know not the man vers 70.72.74 Who would have taken Spira otherwise then a Chrisitian once but miserable man when he was urged to subscribe or else lose all and incurre the Popes displeasure straightwayes makes shipwrack of faith and a good conscience and after this by God his divine justice dieth in horrible despair Is not this an Epidemical disease What Thrasonian brags will our mungrel professours make in times of peace and prosperity Who better Christians now then they whilst this calm lasts it is a hard matter to finde out the true Mother a base hypocriticall Pharisee can scarce be discerned from a Nathaneel a true Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile but let one storm arise let the Sabeans take away their oxen and their asses or the Chaldeans fall upon their camels or let a prison be threatned them the least gust of adversity blow upon them and as Sathan falsly said of Job it may truly be said of them they will curse God to his face Most sad experience we have had of this in all ages and the Apostacy of our times is a sufficient test and proof of it Confesse we then the truth