Yea let him be f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est homo non alia quà m naturali animi luce praeditus Alsted System lib. 1. pag. 49. Argum. 3. never so perfectly read in the Ethickes of Aristotle or purest moralities of the Heathen he knowes not he discernes not Pauls graces without Gods Spirit and then we need not wonder to see some unregenerate Galatians at enmity with Paul not withstanding all his excellencies And the rather if wee consider the perversnesse of mans will by nature unto any thing that is simply good To such a one grace is no care and the passion of enmity no feare For his will is wholly set to do evill And wee know that approbation and dislike do not alwayes proceed from a judgement rightly informed but sometimes from the will corrupted and misguided Yea sometimes the will is lifted unto such a pitch of peremptorie thwarting that wee will gain-say what assuredly we know t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cruciantes hating the grace that is divine and spurning at the truth because it is the truth So we see that unregeneracy is no just mete-rod of the truth it over-weenes vice it under-values vertue and t is impossible that it should give the wisedome of God its due Thus much for the information of our judgements the time now calls for some application prepare therefore your affections And first of all come hither my brethren in the Ministerie Applicat 1. come I say and see your portion and your share in the inheritance of Levi. I am I confesse the meanest and most unfit either to counsell the ancient or comfort the oppressed yet the little candle may give some light among the greater Lampes and the treble strings with their smallest notes may make some musicke in the eares of the hearers I doe but sing for company if my note bee harsh pardon it and then consider you who-ever or where-ever you are you I say to whom God hath committed the care of his Church you that speake wisedome among those that are perfect you in whom that Holy u Ruah Hakkodesh Rabbi David Kimhi in Psal Spirit of Truth shineth you who fight with beasts in the world enemies to the way of godlinesse you that live * Phil. 2.15 16. blamelesse and harmelesse the sonnes of God in the middest of a crooked and perverse generation among whom ye shine as lights in the world holding forth the word of life you who neglect no time but still are watching for the soules of your people you in whom there flowes a x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Viri celeberrimi Sea of divine eloquence in respect of others Consider I say that none of all your priviledges can secure you from enmity Be as carefull as patient as diligent as loving as loved as ever Paul was yet you y Hâc virtutis iter shall bee accounted enemies and that for telling the Truth Yet though you haue to doe with men-devills and bee smitten with the blowes of hatred stand fast and striue yee for the faith of the Gospell bee nothing z Phil. 1.27 28 terrified by your adversaries for all this for to them it is an evident token of perdition but to you of salvation and that of God Nay be not dismayed though to the disesteeme of your gifts and enmity against all your graces were an addition of ten thousand indignities though you should see those Mock-stars of grace those Ideaes of Learning those vicious livers who are crept in among us Iude 4. ungodly men turning the grace of our God into wantonnesse whose wisedome stands rather in a pretence then essence of grace whose Blacke-coates serve onely to beflout the vocation of Levi if not shame it quite though you see those accepted in the world and live at ease while good Paul wants the countenance even of his owne Galatians Alas consider their end and that is destruction consider their glory and that is shame because they mind earthly things But brethren let us a Tim. 2.1.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stir up fire stirre up those gifts and graces of Gods Spirit in us while the world accounts us enemies for telling the truth Secondly Applicat 2. what Paul that great Scholler now counted an enemy what hee that taught so many sweet Sermons among them that even travelled in birth of them for whom they would haue pulled out their owne eyes is he hated surely this tells us that unregenerate men doe thus grossely sinne against their owne knowledge Alas those Galatians could not be ignorant that Paul laboured earnestly for their good that his calling was miraculous his gifts excellent yet for all this they hate him and count him an Enemy A fearfull case my brethren when a people shall be at enmity with Gods chosen vessells whom happely they have seemed sometimes to affect and to hate them without a cause Looke to it thou whoever thou art thou hast a little Iudge within thee thine owne conscience which shall one day be awakened which shall make thee bite thine owne lips and cry out in the language of Iudas I have sinned in betraying the innocent blood Therefore lift not up your horn too high ye that have this Holy Truth in such deepe disdaine and cloath good Paul and his brethren with the robes of enemous disgrace For t is a very b Thess 1.6 righteous thing in God to render tribulation upon those that trouble us But what can hatred or enmity wrong Pauls priviledges no in no wise Grace is beyond hatred For gold may buy out hatred but nor gold nor hatred can buy Grace or Learning What need we then care we have prevailed with God and God laughes them to scorne But yet for their sakes that of infirmity doe account Paul an enemy let us use a word of exhortation And here Applic. 3. my brethren be warned to correct that spirit of errour of judgement misguided Let us no more be at enmity with Paul nor dislike or under-value either grace or learning or the life that is hid with God in Christ For t is a detraction from the Spirit of God But let us highly prise what God sets at so high a rate Alas with what arguments might wee perswade the affections to love Paul and his priviledges why the very Heathen who lived in Paganisme yet highly reverenced and esteemed Learning and civill demeanour Now then shall we hate in this kind what they so loved shall Nature teach them so much and shall not the sound of grace teach us as much Shame upon us if we suffer them to out-strip us But what need we looke so farre as their example Let us fasten our eyes upon Paul and with our eares listen unto his words heare him speaking an heavenly language whose proper eloquence is sufficiently tractive and able to allure it is the Truth the Truth of righteousnesse whose lovely worth may disswade us from Enmity
THE TELL-TROTH'S REQVITALL OR Truth 's Recompence As it was preached the 12th day of November 1626 at Eckington WHEREIN Are contained these three Propositions vindicating Paul from the aspersion of Enmity and laying it on the Galatiâ—ns Viz. 1 No grace of God in man can secure him from the enmity of the unregenerate 2 Sometimes a Ministers owne hearers are set in variance against him 3 The publication of the Truth is the cause of this variance By Samuel Kenrick Student in Divinity and Preacher of Gods word in the same place Veritas odium parit sed non quaerit angulos LONDON Printed by Miles Flesher for Robert Mylbourne and are to be sold at the great South doore of Pauls 1627. TO THE RIGHT WORshipfull Sir William Courten Samuel Kenrick wisheth all grace and peace and happinesse in both worlds Right Worshipfull IT were as great an injury to Custome to write and not to dedicate as t is to your love to receive a courtesie and not study a requitall Now t is the happy lot of a Scholler to play the Surgeon and partly at one clap with a paper-plaister cure both griefes I confesse I am indebted to them both and in both to you If then I seeme to presume either blame Custome or your Love Common sense sent me to Custome Custome to your Love and both challenged from me the debt of this presumption Receive then these few rude lines as your due in part of payment Honour them with your acceptance as sometimes you have graced mine Auditory with your presence I have perceived your love unto the truth I have found you a friend unto it whither then should I send the truth but to * Talmud Cholin 62.1 such a Patron Every thing by some native inclination hastens to that whereby it gaines The Dog knowes his grasse the Hart his Dittany the Pigeon her Lawrell and the Swallow her Celidon neither is the Truth ignorant of her well-wishers or insensible of her Physitians Therefore I trust however it goes forth from me in weaknesse and disgrace it will returne like her selfe in strength and honour But if you knew all you would say it were too young to make a Martyr and indeed the Presse befits not its infancy It was but conceived in the morning and brought forth ere night it began to * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thucid. hb. 1. twatle on the morrow and being a little sawcy with the sonnes of Belial met with a checke and almost dared unto martyrdome before it could get home to my study So it was neither my prefumption nor foole-hardinesse that sent it to the Printing-house if any shall so thinke he will offer injury to my simplicity nor was it simply that usuall argument of Apology the Importunity of friends but the audacious malipertness of the Adversaries of Truth that drew it as it were perforce out of mine hands Let it therefore find the burrow of your patronage and you shall encourage me hereafter unto more deliberate exercises What now remaines in the meane time but mine humble praiers to God for you Nezian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for I have no more Therefore the Lord God Almighty who is the ancient of daies and the God of Truth keepe you in the Truth and blesse both you and yours with peace and length of daies that you may stand for the peace and maintaine the strength of Truth here and afterwards be crowned like the Truth with immortall Ioyes So I rest From my house in Eckington this 12 of December 1626. Your Worships most lowly devoted in all Christian service Samuel Kenricke To my reverend and venerable Brethren the Ministers of the Gospell of Truth peace and prosperity in this world and fulnesse of glory hereafter Reverend Brethren I Bring forth my papers among you Quasi latere simul legi vellem educo Cunaeus as one that scarce knowes whether it be best to hide them or reveale them But seeing now that no other Nay would stop the mouth of necessity Durum telum necessitas but the Printing of them I am bold to desire a part of Patronage from you too for my Impe. All is little enough to shrowd it from the weather as the winde now sits Therefore bee good to it I pray you T was a quicke birth God knowes and it may die like an abortive in its nativity for ought I perceive if it misse the almes of your approbation Nor is my request without reason if you consider the nature of my subject whose nobility entreats not onely the courtesie but commands the debt of your acceptance For first it concernes you much t is the Truth and t is your profession to stand for it It s owne worth not my comment may move you to it My dull oratory hath too low areach to handle the height of it yet my poore straine what ever it be herein though hasty yet t is liberall and free-borne which calls me Parent and you Patrons Secondly T is the honour of your spirituall valour to buckle for the Truth you have the Sword of the Spirit the Word of God you are tough and approved Souldiers in the Schoole of Christ I speake not to the silent Cattell in the Ministery Sit ye downe then in the Charets of Ammi-nadib and plead for my yongling that can scarce speake for it selfe Let the care of its credit or pitty of its weaknesse perswade you to patronize it Nay further ye are bound by the lawes of Piety Charity and Nature too unlesse you deeme me one of Levies illegitimates to astipulate to my request For in Natures Schoole strike the dog and with an inherent proclivity he runnes to his master wound the Souldier and be hastens to the army the Antiperistasis of the cold sends the heat backe againe into the fire yea * Vnumquodque magis inclinatur adid cuius est every thing by a natur all inclination hath respect unto that whereunto it chiefly belongs Now the Church is my center and receptacle you the Guardians whither then should I flye for shelter but to you if any refuse me this curtesie t is either for envy or else for enmitie But alas we are not cleane in Levies Tribe from Critickes whose best learning consists in censuring others whose best skill is to shew their owne folly And indeed t is no wonder to see some Bastard Curs when they dare not bite dare barke some cowardly Braggadochioes when they dare not fight dare cracke of their manhood and t is no injury to say There are some Ideaes of wisedome who when they dare not write dare carpe and happely prove themselves as liber all of their ignorance as of their words But I leave such unto the further doome of my silent censure nor let them thinke that my purpose was ever bent to grace them with the dedication of my lines Therefore to you my Brethren whose grave discretion Christian love have taught you to
indeed we may not mistake the times we must think them then as they are now wherein the friends of Truth are but like stars whereof Some seeme to be and are not pendulous meteors whose gloazing promiseth much yet soone dies like abortives even in the nativity Such Comets of amity and shadowes of friendship had Paul such have wee Now wee are their friends now againe their enemies Now they are with us now againe departing from us And why because they were not of us Thus their friendship comes and goes like the good dayes of an ill ague and to speake Truth t is but enmity at best Others are stars indeed but yet erraticall not stinted to a certainesituation such friends the times will now afford Now they doe indeed the offices of friends but by and by with Hyminaeus and Philetus they make shipwracke of them and shall we blame them Their nature is erraticall and fleeting But some are fixt and keepe their station so some friends are fast-ones who will not give ground to the swindge of anger or violence of Enmity Paul no doubt had some friends of each sort neither doe we blame all the Galatians for some of them Charity hath taught us a limitation of Censure So then these premises wisely considered the strangenesse of this truth is a little qualified that Paul should bee counted an enemy to these Galatians or that hee should so pathetically demand of them Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth Time prevents a larger preamble of the drift or meaning in a word which I conceive to be this b Summam hujus explicationis colligo ex Hieronimo Calvins Beza Piscatore super hanc locum Et vid. plurain Epist ad Lector I Paul a Minister of Iesus Christ perceiving you the Galatians to halt in your love Expositio to be estranged to mee as though I were become your enemy or rather indeed to be at enmity with me am bold to enquire of you my hearers whether this enmity ariseth from any other cause then for telling you the Truth revealed unto me by the Spirit of God In which plea we may observe two parties 1 Paul on the one side 2 The Galatians on the other 1 He tels the Truth 2 They hate him for it So wee see their natures are differenced by two distinct qualities Truth and Enmity Enmity is now become and indeed c Haec est conditio veritatis ut com semper inimicitiae persequantur Hier. in hunc locum Divisio 1 ever was the nearest consequent of Truth And here the children are as it were set against their owne parent Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the Truth Wherein wee may observe more plainly two parts in generall 1 An interrogation or question Am I therefore become your enemy 2 The anticipation or prevention of the answer because I tell you the Truth More particularly wee may hence collect these foure branches 1. The injury conceived enmity Am I therefore become your enemy 2 The person in whom or rather against whom it was conceived to be I Paul 3 The persons against whom or rather in whom it was conceived your enemy 4 The cause of this enmity It was the Truth for telling the Truth Looke over the Text againe and behold every part every word caries the aggravation of griefe in the face of it 1 Looke on the passion t' was no lesse then enmity t' was not so light as anger 2 Consider the person hated t' was Paul no Iudas but their owne Preacher 3 See the persons hating noe other then the Galatians His owne hearers 4 Search the cause and t is the Truth the publication of the holy Truth of righteousnesse Had it beene any other indignity then Enmity any other Preacher then Paul any other Hearers then the Galatians any other Cause then the Truth I would not so much maruell but that there should be such a wrong offered to such a Preacher of such Hearers for such a Cause Horresco referens I tremble to tell it But t is neither our feare nor amazednesse that either helpes Paul out of the bryers or frees us of the like danger some seasonable instructions out of the Text may rather doe the feate therefore of the particulars in their order and first of the first and second 1 2 part The enmity and the person Paul against whom it was conceived And here by the way take notice that it appeares by the scope of this Scripture that this enmity was seemingly in but really against Paul It was really in but onely seemingly against the Galatians So we proceed Am I therefore become your enemy Some question may here arise QuesT Solut. what this Enmity is Wherunto I answer briefly That t is d Est vctus ira ex pluribus causis collecta diuturno tempore perseverans Aug. de diffin a grounded passion if I may so speake arising from naturall affection distempered and breaking forth into a disdainfull contempt or opposition of that which we hate And this differs First from envy for a man cannot envy himselfe yet hee may be at enmity in some sort with himselfe Secondly from anger for that is but a disposition this an e Festuca in oculo ira est trabs in oculo oaium est Aug. in Math. habit Anger is but enmity begun but enmity is anger finished Thirdly from abomination for in abomination wee proporly hate the evill but not the person But enmity against others is when we hate 1 The fault of the party offending as it is a fault Vt culpa 2 The person too for his fault Vt poena 3 We desire the evill of punishment to befall him and this is called the f Alrenethim Episcop Cathnens de-medicina anima hatred of enmity And this I take it lights here upon Paul whereby he himselfe is counted an enemy to his Galatians Divine Paul yet none of his priviledges could prevent their malice 1 Neither his calling unto the Ministery yet that was powerfull and miraculous he was called immediately of God 2 Nor his learning yet he spake wisedome among those that are perfect 3 Nor his g Vita fidesque inculpata fuit Ovid. mer. Propos 1. unblameable conversation yet that was in heaven yea he desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ This considered wee may safely conclude hence that Neither profundity in learning nor power in preaching nor unblameablenesse in conversation can secure a man from the enmity of the unregenerate Paul was hated who then can be freed he alas he was counted an enemy h Quis serme ad explicanda Pauli merita sufficiet quae lingua laudibus eius invenietur aequalis cum omnia quae sunt in omnibus bona anima una possideat c. Chrys de laudibus Pauli whose praises no tongue can expresse in whose soule Divine grace chose her habitation He who was
the pillar of the Churches Hee who travelled by i Hieron in Ep. ad Exuberap Choysost sea and land to implant the Truth among the Gentiles That earthly Angell that heavenly man who learned among the k Maxim in serm Petri Pauli Angels what he should preach among men is now hated as an enemy Alas good Paul what art thou counted an enemy Why thou wast not inferiour to the very chiefest Apostles thou hadst the care of the Churches thou labouredst more then they all thou spakest with tongues more then they all thou foughtest with beasts at Ephesus thou spakest wisedome among those that were perfect thou didst tread Satan under thy feet thou wast rapt up into the third heaven thou heardest * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words unutterable all which graces and priviledges were most amiable yet for all those thou art hated and counted an enemy But why wander I so farre abroad to fetch Pauls commendations let but the eye of reason looke home to this present Epistle yea this present Chapter and see the very Text hemd in with such reasons and arguments of love that it seemes very reasonlesse Motives that might have induced the Galatians to love Paul that these Galatians should either hate Paul or account him an enemy unto them First see his care and his feare of them vers 11. I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vaine Me thinks love should have been the recompence of so tender an heart Secondly see his patience vers 12. Brethren be as I am for I am as ye are ye have not injured me at all See him here with a patient forgetfulnesse content to passe over former discourtesies without recapitulation Thirdly see his painfulnesse among them vers 13. Yee know how through infirmity of flesh I preached unto you Alas Paul thy diligence did not deserve their enmity so the l Duplicatur dolor cum ab eo à quo non merueris venit Tantò magis iniuria est effectior quantò proximus est qui facit Seneca injury is the greater because undeserved Nay this argument may bee illustrated with a two-fold Exegesis First he was now in prison at Rome and yet he preached unto them by Epistle Secondly he was now aged a Minister of Christ of three and thirty yeares standing and within three yeares of his last end Now the m Prov. 16.31 hoary head is a crowne of glory if it bee found in the way of righteousnesse Fourthly see their former love unto him vers 14 15. They rejected him not yea ye received me as hee himselfe testifies of them as an Angell from God even as Christ Iesus But now see a cooler they count him an enemy unto them Yea further sayes he ye would have pulled forth your owne eyes and have given them to me But now the case is altered their zeale is qualified and hee accounted an Enemy Fiftly sut vay the danger of these Galatians in cleaving unto others vers 17. They zealously affect you but not well they would exclude you o Vt omnem amorem à me in ipso transferatis Beza super haec verba that you might affect them Why then should Paul notwithstanding all his priviledges bee counted an enemy Even because he tells the Truth But this enmity was not so individually restrained that it lighted upon Paul onely for even so it fared with Christ too who for learning was excellent and for life exquisite in all perfect and yet hated for telling the Truth Nor could the priviledge of integrity secure Iob from the enmity what if I say of his owne wife of his friends In a word see Luke 21.16 17. Ye be ye graced with what excellencies soever shall be betrayed by parents and friends c. and ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake So you see there is no excellency of grace whatsoever that is able to shelter us from the arrowes of hatred they p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. flye at randome and spare not if not soonest hit the dearest in Gods sight And that we may discerne a little more clearly the truth of this truth let us briefly take notice of these three grounds wherein as I thinke we are all agreed First that all the excellencies of grace in man as knowledge wisedome learning patience godlinesse c. are of a divine heavenly and spirituall stampe and impression granted unto man in his native-good-first estate Secondly that whatsoever we now gaine in those excellencies is a part but a scant measure of what we lost Thirdly that betweene the excellencies of these estates and the corruption of our ill-second-acquired condition there is an essentiall difference or variance These things thus provided Probation we may reason out this truth from the antipathy or difference betweene Pauls estate by grace and these unregenerate Galatians I say t is no wonder to see the gifts and graces before mentioned to be hated of unregenerate men Argum. 1. Mizald. 1. lib. arcan because of the repugnancy that is betweene their natures they cannot stand together In all things wee may perceive some native hatred and disagreement In vegetables such things as have onely the power of growing the Vine by naturall antipathy is repugnant to the Colewort so is the Oake to the Olive and the Walnut Pythagoras In sensitives there is the like difference The q Pliny lib. 10. c. 74. Aristotle lib. 9. cap. 1. de natu anim Bee is at variance with the Waspe the Spider with the Serpent the Wolfe with the Lambe the Horse with the Beare the little Birds with the Owle Yea in reasonable creatures this difference is seene One man hath a naturall dislike of another and that without cause appearing which proceeds from the opposition of their spirits and humors Now if among all these there be such a variance and inherent antipathy much rather surely betweene the graces of Gods Spirit in the regenerate and the corruptions of the wicked For if the r Rom. 8.7 wisdome of the flesh be accounted enmity with God no marvell if the wisdome of God be accounted enmity of the unregenerate Nor will it seeme dissonant from the truth Argument 2. or our judgement of the unregenerate judgment of the unregenerate how that is blinded their understanding obfuscated and their mind in a word so universally led with the spirit of errour that they cannot rightly distinguish Paul from Plato Divinitie from Morality no marvell then if they dis-esteeme yea even hate both depth of learning power of preaching and unblameablenesse of conversation If a man want his eye-sight all colours are alike unto him because hee can distinguish none and in his feeling there is no difference betweene Lead and Gold so to the understanding of an unregenerate man grace seemes no better then nature he cannot discerne the things that are of Gods Spirit because they must be spiritually discerned
the Text viz. The Cause of the Enmity for Telling the Truth which likewise craves my paines and your patience Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth or because I play the Tell-troth with you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea this is the cause of your enmity or else you have no cause at all Alas is this the cause why this of all others seemes to bee a cause without a cause What to hate a man for telling the Truth Could they have upbraided him of some capitall crime either of whoredome or drunkennesse or oppression or covetousnesse or the like the matter had beene colourable Or had any part about him received any * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apparent staine or blemish had his tongue beene cursing and swearing his lips lying and prophane his hands thievish his heart malitious or his eyes lascivious it had beene something to the purpose but to hate him for telling the Truth argues no simple ignorance in them but a sinfull-rebellious impudence And this is but one of x 2 Chron. 135 c. Ieroboams trickes he hated Abijah for his good counsell and these Galatians count Paul an enemy unto them for telling the Truth So we see here the Proverbe verified the lovely y Veritas odium parit sed tamen non est odiosa Calvip in Galat. Propos 3. Truth brings forth hatred and z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. de vita Mos lib. 3. The publication of the pure word of truth sets faithfull Ministers and corrupt hearers at variance Hence proceed those broiles hence this enmity hence this dissention But blush and be ashamed at this yee Galatians that the revelation of Truth should breed such deepe dislike in you Alas with what straine of words or matter might Paul study to please you If you looke for plainnesse of speech why see him stooping to the capacity of the meanest becomming all things to all men If you looke for eloquence from him why see it so mixt with his Divinity that t is hard to judge wherein he most excells But none of these disturbes you t is the matter that occasions your hatred the telling of the Truth Many in our dayes though they love the truth after a sort yet thorow a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Talm. in Masor opinions doe dislike it if it appeare plain or eloquent but these foolish Galatians and they were b Bonos quis nisi stultissimus oderit Boet. lib. 1. de Cons fooles indeed hate Paul for very telling the Truth But what if Paul had come among them with his mouth full of lies and told them a smooth tale of their secure estate though they did live after the flesh yet surely they would scarce have beleeved him and will they hate him for telling the Truth O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth Can neither Lyes nor Truths please you Surely those though pleasant yet seeme doubtfull if not miserable and these though certaine yet seeme irkesome if not damnable Those tickle the eare but suspend the conscience these suspend the understanding but wound the conscience therefore neither these nor those can gaine their acceptance Yet if Paul would have runne to the same excesse ofriot with them and have prophesied of strong drinke hee might happely have beene a Prophet d Micah 2.11 for their turne have gotten a spirt of love from some of them but let him tell the Truth and hee is accounted an enemy for it Which truth Probation our Saviours words put out of all question or doubt e Mat. 10.34 Thinke ye that I am come to send peace on earth I come not to bring peace but a sword to set a man at variance against his father the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in law against her mother in law And this was verified in Christ himselfe Ioh. 8.40 Ye seeke to kill a man that hath told you the truth And f vers 45. because I tell you the truth ye beleeve me not but rather hate me But t is no more wonder to see the Dogs barke at the Moone then to see a good Minister hated for telling the Truth and the truth of this truth shall seeme the rather to bee a truth if wee regard these demonstrations First Arg. 1. there is a palpable disagreement betweene truth and falshood grace and corruption the one is light the other darknesse the publication then of the one must needs make the Antithesis of the other God and Belial cannot stand together and is it any newes to see the disagreeing qualities of fire and water each hissing at other nor for mine own part doe I ever marvell to see good men and bad wise men and fooles knaves and honest men to fall at oddes when I respect the contrarietie of their natures Especially Argum. 2. if I consider the nature of the Truth how searching and working it is what a powerfull operation it hath to divide like a g Heb. 4.12 two-edged sword betweene the bone and the marrow The letter h Iudg 12.6 Shibboleth Sibboleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schin could never make a more perspicuous difference betweene the Gileadite and the Ephraimite then the Truth does betweene good Ministers and corrupt hearers Truth is both an eye to see and a glass to convay the object unto the sight But as the Optickes have many crotchets and deceiving fractions to beguile the corporall eye so hath Hypocrisie many formes of godlinesse to deceive and bleare the mentall yet Truth does execute its office so squarely that it will not suffer us to make i Anaxagoras dreamed that there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make quidlibet ex qualibet Any thing of any thing but it soone distinguishes the good from the bad the right from the wrong Our colourable sinnes can now finde no burrow of shelter or evasion but Truth doth anatomize all the k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spinam dorsi scindere ita ut intima pateant Argum. 3. secrets of the heart and make them naked and bare-fac'd no marvell then if it breed dissention enmity and variance Thirdly Truth takes away freedome and custome in sin l August Greg. it proves the one to be slavery the other an old errour it disturbs a man of his sweet naps in iniquity it removes him from the bed of vanity it suffers him not to sin so quietly as otherwise he would it stings him by the conscience amidst his pleasures that he cannot walke on his iourney to Hell-wards contentedly enough no marvell them if it bee the occasion of strife and enmity Wake a man out of a sound sleepe and straight way he fumes spur a gaul'd-backe Iade and presently she winces so let the Truth speake the Idiome of her owne Dialect unto the conscience of a corrupt hearer that is fast asleepe in his sin and be sure
her language shall bee counted opprobrious and her requitall shall bee enmity The truth whereof bids us not wonder to see the Truth opposed by corruption Applicat 1. looke not that the publication of it should bring peace or rocke us asleepe with a Lullaby in the Cradle of security for the m Sermo non est sapiens qui non pungit Hier. in Ecclesiast Truth is of a pricking nature it ever carries a sword in its hand and makes a division betweene light and darknesse grace and corruption It s owne nature by the strength of its owne activity strikes home unto the conscience unbowells the ward-rope of transgression like a n Praedicantium verba scintillae rectè appellatae sunt quia eos quos in corde tetigerint incendunt Greg. in Ezech. Hom. 3. flame makes the spirit to burne within a man shewes him the right way informes him of the wrong curbs him of his sweet sin opens an Handwriting against him whose character are steeped in blood and heavinesse neither does it reade the sinner a lecture in a private Kennell as if it durst not shew its face save onely in a o Veritas non quaerit angulos corner but speakes to the nose of the proudest Vassaile that carries about him a body of sinne This will make the Drunkard quake in his seate the Whoremonger tremble on the bed of vanity the swearer the lyar the Sabbath breaker to mourn for their profanenesse No sinne is exempt from the reach of Truth This controules the brazen-faced sinnes of the land this rips up the sinne that is unseene private omissions sleighty perfomances of holy duties outward conformities lip-services neutralities worldly correspondencies T is like unto the lightning nimble and active runnes thorow all created bodies examines the weakest p Infringit solido pierces the strongest pursues all to their very lurking places q Consequitur quodcunque petit findes whatsoever and whomsoever it seekes for as the Hypocrite the Apostate and the covetous worldling This like the lightning wounds and never touches breakes a mans bones yea his conscience and never scareth his skinne like a noysome smell onely with the sent soone casts downe a queasie stomacke This is that our fine mouths cannot r Offendit omne quod nolumus Hier. super bunc versum endure to taste this it is that our sore gummes cannot endure to be rubbed withall and because wicked men out of an over-reaching apprehensivenesse doe conceive this to be an enemy unto them they would faine have the mouth of it stopped the preachers of it to be doomed unto a perpetuall silence So the Truth is now become like an hurtfull Serpent generally invading a whole country everie wicked mans club of malice is out against it as against an enemy But oh that ever the Truth which is the onely meanes of love should bee now the cause of such enmity that ever this should set good Paul and his Galatians at variance oh but the Truth is ſ Veritas dulcis est amara quandò dulcis est parcit quandò amara curat Aug. ad Christian Applic. 2. sweet and sowre as various in operation as the Sunne which dissolves some things as Wax but exsiccates or dryes up others as Clay So the Truth dryes up the humour of enmity in some in others it dilates and spreades it abroad Such is the qualitie of the Truth such the portion And why should we be dismayed we who in the Ministery suffer for the Truth O let the dignity of the cause make us put up the indignity of the crosse with an honourable scorne so shall the Truth grow strong with a t Vireseit vulnere virtus wound Consider we that t is the cause and not the quarrell that makes a Martyr t is not suffering but so suffering or suffering for the Truth that helpes us to heaven u Simul ista mundi rector Deus posuit odium atque regnum Odia qui nimiùm timet regnare nescit Seneca Our kingdome must be gotten with such violence as this Let this then comfort us that we suffer in a good cause for the truth and the crowne of our conquest is kept with God Therefore for this holy truth let me resolve to dye to lose my life my liberty were I worth thousands lands and livings all Oh this holy truth let me embrace it ever and let the world count me an enemy unto them and bee at variance with me whiles he that * Sedens in coelis ridet sits in the heavens laughes them to scorne and bids x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Talmud a sorrow to them as many as maliciously have evill will at Sion Thirdly let us intreat wicked men to receive a friendly admonition that they be better advised hereafter then to make the publication of the pure word of truth the occasion of contention to be a stumbling blocke and a rocke of offence variance to count Preachers enemies for telling the truth But alas our times and people are grown emulous to be superlative in this enmity for we exceed the Papists a degree they counted this truth to bee a matter of y Eckius Pighius Hosier Gretser debate so doe we they accounted it to be but Inken Divinity but we repute it Inken enmity and so beflout the sincerity of it with the scumme of Puritanisme in the lowest degree of our disdainfull teene This is growne now the usuall z Doctor Airy on 3 of Phil. vers 9. companion of a Christian Profession yet hypocrisie hath learned to spin a finer threed of Enmity against the truth then a grosse hatred and this is a secret dislike of the way of truth yet an outward comparting with it and this is a damnable a Gravissimum inimicitiae genus esse corde adversarios linguae simulare devotos Cass sup Psal 54. neutralitie as it were betweene enmity and amity Such Ambo dexters have wee in the Church such Antickes in the way of truth that are not wholly for God nor wholly for the devill Some affinity they have with the truth in the name of Christianitie like the b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jdol◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deus Hebrew words for God and Idolls yet they are but like Ephraim as cakes on the hearth not turned shuffling and cutting with the truth as the Sun in Hezechiahs time yet never more certaine then in their enmity of the truth But draw hither c Isay 57.4 all ye enemies of the truth ye sons of the sorceresse the seed of the adulterer and whore against whom doe yee sport your selves against whom doe yee make a wide mouth and draw out the tongue Are yee not children of transgression and a seed of falshood doe ye not spurne at the Lord and deride his truth But now for a good in the side and a motive in the heart that might stirre up the affection to the
love of the truth But what must we beg favourites for the truth Cannot its owne worth speake for it Oh that its excellency could be seene with our corporall eyes then with a silent oratorie d Mirabilem amorem excitaeret sui would it perswade our affections to embrace it Alas the knowne ale needs no signe-post and the e Vendibile vinum non eget bederâ vendible wine no Ivy bush and shall the truth need more enticing arguments then its owne worth First then consider its dignity t is borne of God of an immortall stampe t is the rule of our beleeving our f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doctrine our g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 law Secondly the majesty of it h Deus est veritas sine fallaecia Hugo de anima God is truth if then we bee at enmity with the truth wee are at enmity with God love the truth and love God hate the truth and hate God himselfe And now I pray you doth it boot a Child to fight with a Giant or an earth-worme to contend with the Almighty Me thinkes when I see a man at enmity with the truth I see the i Olaus Magnus Episc Vps l. de ritibus Gent. lib. 3. Gothi with their Ioviall mallets thumping their brazen fabricke to fright away the thunder for when it thunders they imagine some strange god is comming in battellagainst them So wicked men when they heare the truth once they beginne to muster their forces as against an enemy to out-face it if they may But alas t is the God of k Tantam potentiam veritas semper habuit ut nullis machinis aut cuiusquam hominis ingenio aut arte subverti potuerit licet in causa nullum patronum c. Cicero truth who speakes from heaven whose power is uncontroulable Thirdly survey thy owne weaknesse and truths strength for thy owne state consider that in the midst of thy fury thou hast but a curtaild horne like a curst Cow thy heart haply may be full of hatred but thy hatred not full of power so thou art lesse noysome to the truth but no lesse hurtfull to thy selfe And as for the power of truth it was once determined in the l Esdr 3. triall of wir what was the strongest one answered A King for his command stretches farre and neare Another said Wine for it overcomes the strongest braine A third said Women for they bewitch the deepest wit but in short it was concluded that Truth was stronger then all all the rest decay but this continues t is still durable t is permanent though it be m Talis est veritatis status ut etiam multis impugnantibus suscitetur crescat Chrys trodden downe yet it still increaseth Why then wilt thou bee an enemy to the truth why wilt thou hate it nay why wilt thou not love it Fourthly if none of these will nove thee to love the truth let the blessings with it and the curses without it command thy affections to imbrace it with it there is life without it death with it there is certaine peace without it assured discord with it there are outward blessings and inward without it there are temporall plagues and eternall But why stand I here to trifle with n Pauperis est numerare pecus Arithmetique either these with it or those without it scorne to bee bounded with a stinted calculation In a word then have the truth and have God and heaven and all o Veritas sola liberat sola salvat sola lavat Bern. blessings but bee without the truth without the love of the truth and have the devill and hell and all curses Now therefore let Solomons exhortation take footing in thy affection p Prov. 23.23 Buy the truth and sell it not buy it with thy love sell it not with thy hatred buy it at any rate thou canst not give the worth of it sell it for no price thou canst never againe match so precious a Pearle And if by this time the love of the truth be wrought and habituated in thee thou shalt know it by these signes and symptomes First if thou lovest the truth indeed thou then lovest the whole truth the love of the truth must be an universall love of the whole and of the parts t is not a branch of truth that must onely be in thy acceptance but even a reproofe in season must be as welcome as a promise is at all times gratefull Secondly if thou lovest the truth thou lovest it in all persons thou doest not mistake the identity of the truth but dost highly prize it in robes or in rags in rich or in poore neither reiecting it in the one for poverty nor overweening the measure of it in the other for plenty Lastly if the love of the truth be in thee it then dilates and spreads it selfe in thee for it is like the blood that runnes through every veine or like the Soule which is in every part Thou must goe up in this love of Truth from strength to strength as it were from q Mibbeth midrasha lebeth midrasha Targ. Schoole to Schoole r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 3.13 stretching forth all thy powers towards perfection forgetting all that is behind receiving Paul now againe as an Angell of God and no more hating him for telling the truth Oh happy State thus to be made happy with the love of the truth Blessed Symptomes on whose browes soever they doe light if wee can spy them out on our owne faces they will testifie unto our consciences that we are Gods and God is ours If we have them let us ſ Conjunge funem suni lineam lineae Rch. Mos increase them if we have them not let us labour for them and neither hardly think or t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian lightly esteeme of good Paul or Gods Ministers for telling the truth So shall we live in the unity of the Spirit and dye invironed with the bonds of peace Which God grant of his tender mercy through Iesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉