work or give them a reward for what they do are partakers of their evil deeds As the adversaries of the Jews hired men to hinder the building of the temple Ezr. 4.5 They hired counsellers against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus So some men that are adversaries to these Meetings and are ashamed to appear in this odious work themselves do hire men fit for their turn to carry on this evil design Let such persons remember what a mark of displeasure the Lord left upon the Moabites for hiring Balaam to curse Israel Not only the men of that generation but their posterity was excluded for ever from coming into the Congregation of the Lord for this sin Neh. 13.1 2 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people and therein was found written that the Ammonite and Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water but hired Balaam against them that he should curse them Howbeit God turned the curse into a blessing All that clense their hearts from sin and walk according to the rule of the Word are as dear to God as the children of Israel were of old yea they are God's Israel Ps 73.1 Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God And if God were so angry with the Moabites for hiring Balaam to curse Israel that he would not suffer them to come into the Congregation of the Lord for ever Then how much more will God's anger be kindled against those that profess themselves Christians and yet hire vain persons to persecute such as are Israelites for worshipping and serving the Lord Inf. 3. Are these Informers guilty of such a great sin then let me advise such as are or hereafter may be tempted to turn Informers in the words of Solomon Prov. 1.10 11 12 13 14 15. My Son if sinners entice thee consent thou not If they say come with us let us lay wait for blood let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause We shall find all precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil Cast in thy lot among us let us all have one purse My Son walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path Let no proffer of any reward tempt you to persecute innocent men for serving God for such as lye in wait against the innocent lye in wait to destroy their own soul Prov. 1.11 18 Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause They lay wait for their own blood they lurk privily for their own souls It is mentioned by the Psalmist among the Characters of those that shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven that he must be one that will not be hired by any reward to do any hurt to an innocent man Ps 15.1 5 Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle and who shall dwell in thy holy hill He that back-biteth not with his tongue nor doth evil to his neighbour nor taketh reward against the innocent Remember our Lord Jesus when the Devil offered him all the Kingdoms of the world and all the glory of them to have committed one act of sin he rejected his proffer with disdain Matt. 4.6 7 8. As the gaining the whole world could not tempt Christ to consent to one act of false worship So no gain should tempt you to disturb the true worshippers of God that worship him in Spirit and Truth So as to hinder one act of true worship Inf. 4. Let the Friends Relations and Acquaintance of these Informers as they love their Souls pity them and pray to God for them and reprove them for their sins and plead with them to turn from their evil ways If you let them go on in their sins without reproving them you have no love for their souls but you hate them in your hearts Lev. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin upon him And if they do not or will not hearken unto you plead with God for them that he would give them repentance and pull them as fire-brands out of the fire before they fall into everlasting burnings And watch your seasons to deal with them when God shall lay affliction upon them that is a good season to be dealing with them for they that are as the deaf adder in the day of prosperity and will not hearken unto any good counsel have their ears open to instruction in a day of trouble Job 36.8 9 10. Inf. 5. If these Informers and their adherents be guilty of such great evils then it concerns those that are placed in the condition of watch-men upon Mount Zion to warn them of their sin and to warn others also that they be not partakers with them in their sins For if they dye in their sins and they have given them no warning their blood will be required at their hands Ezek. 3.17 18 Son of man I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me when I say unto the wicked Thou shalt surely dye and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life the same wicked man shall dye in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thy hand Inf. 6. Caution to those that are sufferers by these Informers Let neither the greatness of their sins nor the greatness of your sufferings who are persecuted by them provoke you to return evil to them for the evil they have done unto you Rom. 12.17 Recompence to no man evil for evil Vengeance belongs unto God and not unto us and therefore we must not go about to avenge our selves on those that injure us v. 19 Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. Our Lord Jesus hath taught us that we must love pray for and do good to the worst enemies we have in all the world even such as hate us curse us use us despitefully and persecute us Matt. 5.44 But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you These men are the rod of God and therefore look beyond the instruments to the hand of the Lord who correcteth you that he may make you partakers of his holiness and humble your selves under his mighty hand and turn to him that smiteth you and then the Lord will turn all your sufferings to your advantage And as you must not offer any violence to these men so neither should you fret nor be cast down at their prosperity
preaching to the Gentiles Matt. 10.5 6. These twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying Go not in the way of the Gentiles and into any City of the Samaritans enter ye not but go rather to the lost Sheep of the house of Israel 4. Let the Gentiles come to us and be circumcised after the manner of Moses and we will receive them and then they may hear Preaching in our Synagogues every Sabbath-day and be sure of Salvation For Salvation is of the Jews Joh. 4.22 5. The Church of the Jews hath been a glorious Church the only visible Church in the world for some thousands of years and these men preaching to the Gentiles will diminish the glory of this famous Church Their great Apostle teacheth us that their riches will be our diminution Rom. 15.12 6. Hitherto we have had but one Church and now by their preaching to the Gentiles we are like to have many more Churches erected 7. These men are cast out of the Synagogue by the general consent of the Jewish Church Joh. 9.22 The Jews bad agreed already that if any man did confess he was the Christ he should be cast out of the Synagogue And may we not forbid an excommunicate person preaching 8. Neither these men that preach nor the Gentiles that hear them do observe the Rites and Ceremonies of the Law of Moses which the Church of God hath observed ever since Moses gave them to us Act. 21.21 They are informed of thee that thou teachest all the Jews that are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses saying that they ought not to circumcise their children neither to walk after the customes The Jews might have pleaded these and several other excuses for their forbidding the Apostles preaching to the Gentiles yet none of these did keep off God's wrath from them And therefore let not the Informers shrowd themselves and seek to hide their sin under specious pretences which shall be enquired into more particularly afterward but lay to heart the greatness of their sin in hindring these Ministers from preaching the Gospel of Christ whereby men may be saved 4. Arg. They that do not receive Christ's Ministers nor hear their words shall be in a worse condition than the men of Sodom at the day of Judgment Matt. 10.14 15. And whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words when ye depart out of that house or city shake off the dust of your seel verily I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah at the day of Judgment than for that city The men of Sodom and Gomorrah will be in a very miserable condition at the day of Judgment for they were exceeding great sinners Gen. 13.13 The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly They were such sinners as that the Lord rained down fire and brimstone upon them And that fire which consumed the men of Sodom was a forerunner a declaration and testimony to the world of the eternal fire which they and other impenitent sinners should suffer in the other world Jude v. 7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire And And yet our Lord Jesus who best understood how every man's case shall go at the day of Judgment in regard he himself is the Judge of the world asserts it for an undoubted truth verily I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable at the day of Judgment for the Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah than for them that do not receive those Ministers whom he sends or do not hear the Word they Preach And if so how dreadful will the condition of these Informers and their Adherents be at the day of Judgment who do not only not receive the Ministers of Christ nor hear the Word they Preach but endeavour to suppress their preaching and will not suffer those that would hear and embrace them to attend upon their Ministery persecuting them that Preach from house to house which is a greater sin than barely not to receive the Preachers of the Word Obj. We do receive Christ's Ministers and do embrace his Gospel although we hear not these men neither suffer others to hear them but do what we can to suppress them And therefore the fore-mentioned Scripture doth not touch us 1. Though you receive the Gospel of Christ with your ears yet your opposition that you make against the Ministers shews you have not received the Gospel of Christ into your hearts For this makes the woolf lye down with the lamb and keeps the Asp and the Cockatrice from hurting the sucking child Isai 11. And makes the briar to become a mirtle-tree and the thorn a firr-tree Isai 55.11.13 2. Persecuting those that preach and hear the Gospel is a greater sin than not to receive the Ministers of Christ nor hear their words And if you be one of those that persecute the Ministers of Christ this Scripture will do more than touch you it will take hold of you and fall heavier upon you than if all the rocks and mountains were cast upon you 5 Arg. The Judgments threatned and executed upon them that by their informing against and betraying the people of God into the hands of their enemies have brought them into trouble do plainly evince the greatness of the Informers sin I pass over the remarkable Judgments that have been executed on this generation of men in our days if any one would be at the pains to make a collection of them it might be a warning to others But I shall wave these and mention only some examples out of the Scripture the truth whereof is questioned by no man that believeth the Scripture to be the Word of God Doeg turned Informer and informed against Ahimelech the Priest for entertaining David at his house and enquiring of God for him and giving him Victuals and giving him the Sword of Goliah 1 Sam. 22.9 10. And by this information he so incensed Saul that he slew those Priests that had entertained David But now mark what a grievous curse fell upon this Informer Ps 52.5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever be shall take thee away and pluck thee out of thy dwelling-place and root thee out of the land of the living That this curse is denounced against Doeg for informing against Ahimelech for entertaining David at his house is evident from the title of the Psalm A Psalm of David when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said unto him David is come to the house of Ahimelech The curse denounced against Doeg is very dreadful consisting of these branches 1. Eternal destruction and that from the hands of God God shall likewise destroy thee for ever As he had been the destruction of the Lord's Priests so God should destroy him but with a more terrible destruction they were
the painful accursed death of the Cross to save lost Souls 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners And great care should be used that we do not hinder the obtaining that for which Christ shed his precious blood The greatest good we can do for any man is to further and the greatest hurt is to hinder his Salvation 5. It is recorded to the honour of Hezekiah that he was an encourager of all that did faithfully dispence the word of God 2 Chr. 30.22 Hezekiah speak comfortably to all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the Lord. And as he did incourage the Ministers of Gods word so God did wonderfully bless him 2 Chr. 31.30 Hezekiah prospered in all his works And it is recorded of Herod as one of his chief sins that he imprisoned one of Gods Ministers Luk 3.19 20. But Herod the Tetrarch being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philips wife and for all the evils which Herod had done Added this above all that he shut up John in prison Herod was guilty of many evils but this is noted as the principal as that which was above all the rest that he shut up John in prison And as it is a great sin to afflict the Ministers and servants of Christ so it is usally followed with a sore judgment Herod who stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the Church soon after dyed in a miserable manner being eaten up of Worms Act. 12.1 2 3 23. Pharaoh who oppressed Israel and would not let them go to serve the Lord in the wilderness was followed with one plague after another till he was destroyed 6. Rulers ought not to be a terrour to such as do good works but to encourage and protect them Rulers are not a terrour to good works but to the evill Wilt thou then not be affraid of the power do that which is good and thou shall have praise of the same Preaching of the Gospel whereby men may be saved and praying to God in the name of Christ are good works and therefore rulers ought not to be a terrour to any man for these works 7. We are taught and Commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ to pray to the Lord to send forth labourers into his Vineyard because the harvest is great and the labourers are but few Then said he to his disciples The harvest truly is plentious but the labourers are but few Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest To pray for labourers and when God hath sent them forth to molest and trouble them for labouring is to contradict our prayers Let the Ignorance Atheism Profaneness the growth of Errour and the small number of Preachers that are found in the Faith and of an holy conversation be considered and laid to heart and it will evidently appear that there is great need of prayer for more Labourers and of encouraging those that are sent forth and of not suppressing any that are faithful peaceable and diligent in the Work of the Lord. Obj. 1. If it be replyed These informers accuse these Ministers that they keep seditious Conventicles and are ready to give oath of it and as such we are obliged by the Law to suppress them An. 1. Rulers ought to be wise as an Angel of God to discern good from evil 2. Sam. 14 17. As an Angel of God so is my Lord the King to descern good and bad And that is no hard matter in the Noon day of the Gospel to distinguish between Religion and sedition When Job was a Ruler among his People he was diligent to search out the truth of all causes that came before him and when he found any Wicked man oppressing the righteous he was so far from rewarding him that he plucked the Spoil out of his Teeth and if he held it fast and would not let it go he break his Jaws rather than suffer him to hold his Spoils Job 29.16 17. The Cause which I knew not I searched out I break the Jaws of the wicked and pulled the Spoil out of his Teeth 2. These Ministers as was hinted before do abhor seditious Conventicles and are falsly accused by these Informers and Magistrates should be slow to believe their false accusations and not proceed to Act against them till they have searched into the truth of these informations and that for several reasons as 1. The great enmity that is in the heart of the Wicked against Righteous men which makes them eager to do them all the Mischief they can The Scripture speaks so frequently and so fully of this that I shall need to say the less Prov. 4.16 They sleep not except they have done Mischief and their Sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall Ps 37.19 32. The Wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his Teeth The Wicked watcheth the Righteous and seeketh to slay him 2. They are under a temptation of gain and the Love of Mony is the Root of all evil and therefore it is no wonder if they prove false accusers of them against whom they have a great enmity and by accusing of whom they make a great advantage 3. The rule that is given to Magistrates in the word of God is not to proceed to Punishment upon reports till they have made diligent search and have certain proof of the truth of the fact Deut. 13.13 14 15. If thou shalt hear say Then shalt thou enquire and make search and ask diligently and behold if it be truth and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought among you 3. These Ministers and those that assemble with them are oftentimes judged and sentence passed upon them for to take away their Goods before they have been heard or had their accusers Face to Face yea sometimes before they know who it is that hath accused them and this seemeth to me to be against the Light and Law of Nature which teacheth that a man ought not to be condemned till he hath had his accusers face to face and hath had Licence to answer for himself The Romans had no other Light to regulate them in their judicial proceedings but the Light of Nature yet they observed this Rule not to pass sentence upon a man till he had his accusers face to face and had liberty to answer for himself Act. 15.16 It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to dy before he that is accused hath the accusers face to face and have Liberty to answer for himself concerning the Crime laid against him If the Romans which were Heathens how much more should Christian Magistrates forbear condemning any man till he hath seen his accusers heard his accusation and been Permitted to make his own defence The name of Pilat is odious in the Christian World and will be to all generations for Condemning our Lord