causing us never to see the second death though we must not be freed from the first for that was the speciall priviledge of Enoch and Eliah and was never granted to any other that we read Labour therfore to hold fast in your soules a firme perswasion of Gods love to you in Christ and withall a firme purpose of pleasing him in all things Let sincere truth of obedience be joyned with a firme perswasion of Gods love and the firme perswasion of Gods love be joyned with a sincere indeavour of obedience then death shall never come amisse then you are alwaies ready for it So David faith I have hoped in thy salvation and done thy Commandements So then if we would be ready for God we must doe two things Turne to him and walke with him To turne is to begin to walke with God to walke with God is to continue to turne to him O ye that have not begun to turne doe it to day turne now call to mind your former evill waies to judge your selves for them to lament them to seeke of God in Christ forgivenesse of them and power against them and labour to rest your selves upon his goodnesse in Christ for pardon and helpe and so have you made your peace then keepe your peace by a constant indeavour to please God in holinesse of life and a constant renewing of your assured perswasion of his love O happy man he that can so fit himselfe for his latter end Brethren let the mention of the deaths of so many aged persons make you carefull to prepare for death you that be young doe it because death takes away young men as well as old and you that be old doe it because you may meete with it very suddenly and must needs meete with it afore it be long Againe you see these long-liv'd men here wrestling with the corruptions of the world and their owne some a longer time and some a shorter but all in comparison of our selves a great while The longest lived man for number of dayes was Methuselah who lived nine hundred sixty nine yeares but for perfection of life Adam who lived a perfect man nine hundred and thirty yeares The shortest lived of all the Patriarkes was Noahs Father Methuselahs Sonne Lamech for he lived seven hundred seventy and seven yeares and died the yeere before the floud a little before his Father Methuselah who lived till that very yeare that the floud came and drowned all and was taken away that he might not see the floud Now why did God lengthen out the daies of the Patriarkes I answer chiefely to maintaine the knowledge of God and true religion in the world that by the long life of one godly man the truth which then was not put in writing but by word of mouth delivered from man to man might be kept more pure and undefiled Adam lived till Methuselah was two hundred forty and three yeares old Methuselah lived till Sem the Sonne of Noah was one hundred yeares lacking two so that Sem talked with him that had talked with Adam who could acquaint him with all things concerning the creatures the fall and the promised seed out of his certaine knowledge and experience he had beene made of nothing he had seene all perfections and Methuselah could tell it to Sem and Sem lived to see Isaac borne and a Father So that Isaac might speake mouth to mouth with him that had spoken with him that had spoken with Adam the first man that ever was Was not this a notable confirmation of his Faith THE FIFTH EXAMPLE OF The Old World WEe have propounded particular Examples unto you hitherto as also the Scriptures have done Now following them wee must set before your eyes the Examples of an whole multitude even of an whole World full of men and women that gave themselves to worke wickednesse before the Lord. It is called in Scripture the old World and the world of ungodly In the space of a 1656. yeares the generation of mankind was growne to that height and exorbitancie of wickednesse that the patience of God could no longer endure them Now concerning this Old World we will shew you three things 1. Their sinnes 2. The goodnesse of God to them notwithstanding their sinnes 3. The severe punishment that fell upon them at the last and so will make use of all First for their sinnes the Holy Ghost sets them out in generall and more particularly In generall the sinne of man is said to be great and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was evill and onely evill and that continually Secondly it is said that all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth So their naughtinesse was remarkeable in these two respects it was exceeding hainous and grievous in that they committed great and fowle sinnes in great abundance with great wilfullnesse and gave themselves to add sinne to sinne doing nothing but plodding and contriving wickednesse and then all men gave themselves over to the same bad course you could not finde a man that made scarce a shew of goodnesse out of Noahs house When all consent together to sell over themselves to worke iniquity and grow past shame or feare running into most grievous and notorious sinnes with greedinesse and wilfullnesse this is very offensive to Almighty God and will certainely provoke his wrath to bring upon them some fearefull and heavie punishments Divers reasons may be thought of that caused this exceeding great growth of sinne in those times 1. The long life of men for let an unsanctified man continue long and he will grow more and more sinfull the longer he continues Sinne by frequent exercise growes more and more violent and head-strong So living a great space of time they grew above measure naught 2. They had strong and able bodies together with health and ability to enjoy the things of this life 3. They had great peace in regard they all lived under a paternall governement the agedst in the family still being acknowledged the governour of the family and they had all one language and so no great cause of controversie and one religion too it is like seeing the Patriarkes lived so long that they were immediately taught of God save that they degenerated to prophanenesse and the most became of no religion and so did not warre with the contrary little partie unlesse it were with jests scoffes and contumelies Long life great strength great peace begat great wickednesse But more particularly the Lord takes notice here of their 1. Unlawfull and carnall marriages 2. Of their violence and oppression And our Saviour telleth of their great worldlinesse that did sell over themselves to temporall dealings and cared nothing for better things and S. Peter tells of their obstinacy in sinning and their not beleeving nor regarding they were disobedient whilest the long suffering of God waited in the daies of Noah Yea our Saviour
his name And this seemeth the rather to be the meaning because there is little reason to thinke that Adam and Seth did not long before this apply themselves to the carefull worshipping of God in their assemblies and to take all good meanes to save themselves from the corruption of the Kaynites Or it may be rendered then it was begun to call by the name of Lord that is men began then to have that name given them of the sons of God and this I like best of all the three because in the beginning of the sixt Chapter which continues the story and the fift Chapter is but a digression put in to shew the age of the world at the floud it is said the sonnes of God saw the daughters of the sonnes of men Whereby it is apparent that to the men that professed true religion with Adam and Seth the name of the sonnes of God was given and to the rest the name of the sonnes of men The professors of the true religion were called sonnes of God that did worship the true God after the manner that God taught by Adam The other were called sonnes of men that gave themselves over to worldlinesse and vanity and prophanenesse for my part I suppose that before the floud there was no Idolatry because the Holy Ghost would not have omitted the taxing of that sinne as well as those it doth taxe if it had beene then used in the world But let us take the words to meane then it was begun to call on the name of the Lord and then it shall be added as a commendation of Seth that in his daies religion began to flourish more then ever before by his diligence joyning with his Father Adam much more respect was had to piety and greater numbers of men imbraced the profession of piety And this ought to be the care of every good man to further the progresse of true religion and to cause the name of God to be faithfully called upon of many Now of the rest of Adams seed there is a Catalogue made in the fifth Chapter of all the ancient Fathers from the first man Adam to Noah in whose daies the floud fell out by which it appeares of what standing the world was when it was growne so corrupt that the Lord could no longer endure the manners of it And in this Catalogue the Holy Ghost takes this order 1. He shewes of what age every one was when he begat his eldest sonne How many yeares he lived after the birth of that sonne 3. How old he was when he died The number of the persons are in all ten Adam Seth Enoch Cainan Mahalaleel Iared Enoch Methuselah Lamech and Noah Adam at a hundred and thirty yeares begat Seth and after lived eight hundred yeares and had more children in that time and died aged nine hundred and thirty yeares Adam was in truth the eldest man all things considered for though Methuselah out-lived him thirty nine yeares for he was nine hundred sixty nine yeares and Adam but nine hundred and thirty yet Methuselah was borne an infant Adam was made a perfect man the first day and in those times a man was but a child at thirty nine yeares for no question they would give their mindes to marriage in that newnesse of the world paucity of men and plenty of ground so soone as they were fit for it So Adams perfect estate at the first countervailed the living of forty yeares and more Seth he lived a hundred and five yeares and begat Enos and living eight hundred and seven yeares begat divers more children and ended his daies at nine hundred and two Enos lived ninety yeares and begat Cainan c. as you may reade in the story Nothing is mentioned of any one but the length of his life the time when hee had his first sonne and that hee had more sonnes Onely of Henoch it is noted that he walked with God that is lived a most holy life and that he died not at all but was translated after hee had lived three hundred sixty five yeares The Lord shortned the daies of his pilgrimage and rewarded his singular piety with taking him up to Heaven soule and body immediately without dying He was changed without any separating of his spirit from his body and in him we have an example what should have beene the course that God would have taken with all men if man had continued in the state of innocency viz. he should not have died soule and body should never have departed one from the other but after a man had proceeded in godlinesse till hee had gotten so large a measure of it as in this life hee could for though Adam were perfect habitually yet not actually I meane though hee had an ability to attaine perfect knowledge of God and the creatures yet hee had not yet actually gotten all such knowledge as hee was to get both of God and of the creatures then should he have beene translated into Heaven to see God immediately and to know him better then in this life he could be knowne Sinne entring caused death had not that come in we should have gone to Heaven without death as this Henoch did Now out of all these things written concerning these Ancients the direct parents of our Lord wee gather this that death is common to all and how long soever a man lives at last hee must leave the world and therefore we learne two things principally First to prepare for death that whensoever it befalleth wee may change for the better not for the worse and this preparation for death must be not alone a little before it comes or at the houre of its approach but in the whole course of our life by beginning early to repent and continuing daily to turne and renew our repentance that so we may get an assurance of our being taken from earth to Heaven for he that begins unfaignedly to turne to God and so continues hee shall surely be saved and for the most part shall obtaine before his departure hence an assured apprehension of his salvation Therefore hee must as Henoch did walke with God in a continuall care of obeying him and labouring to hold fast a constant perswasion of his favour and love to him in his Sonne for it is testified of Enoch that he pleased God so that what in Genesis is called a walking with God that S. Paul calls pleasing of God and also that by faith he was translated that he should not see death even by his beleeving and resting upon Gods mercy for so it is said he beleeved that God was and was a rewarder of them that diligently seeke him which finding himselfe to do he resolved that God would reward him So must each of us walke with God constantly resolve and indeavour to please God in all things and retaine in our selves an assured peaswasion that God will graciously accept and reward us in Christ with giving us life eternall and
excessively to the world and put your selves in minde of a world that is to come and minde the things that are above and set your affections on them If you so performe workes of Gods Worship as that they weane you not from the world you doe them but hypocritically you have alone the forme and not the power of godlinesse Though a man use not violence yet if hee be excessively worldly the Word of God is choaked in him and will not bring forth the fruit of eternall life unto him Another sin of the old World is they abused Gods long-suffering and Noahs preaching and gat no manner of knowledge of the long threatned floud nor no care of amending their lives This is a fearefull thing to get nothing by Gods patience or by the labours of the Ministers whom he sends to teach and warne us This shewes that the Divell haâ—h blinded their eyes that sinne hath hardened the heart and that a man hath given over himselfe to the servitude of some lust this is a great wrong to Gods goodnesse and authority both and it brings severe punishments for in aggravating the sinnes of men it must needs aggravate the punishment also O brethren consider of your selves if you be not guilty of this sinne How long hath God beene striving to pull you out of your sinnes How much patience hath he shewed how much teaching have you heard and yet alas the old World got as much by Gods kindnesse to them as you doe and you no more then they Many of you know nothing of your miserable estate As little be you acquainted with the truths you are taught every day as they were with the floud that came upon them as little doth our preaching prevaile to worke you to amendment as did the preaching of Noah with them We may well comfort our selves in this that our successe is no worse then Noahs and also lament that it is no better Indeed you have not had so many yeeres preaching as the old World had but consider it with the proportion to your lives and you have more Then men used to live some seven eight or nine hundred yeeres Loe God gave them a Preacher a long time and at length determined the very yeere of the floud it shall be a hundred and twenty yeeres hence and so from yeare to yeare lesse as the yeeres went up Yee have lived and died many of you that be dead under the Ministery Indeed we cannot tell you the yeere of your death or bring you tidings of a floud of water to overflow you altogether but of a river of fire and brimstone to overflow and overwhelme you one after one wee can tell you from God and you feare this floud of brimstone no more then they did that floud of water O repent of your long impenitency and miserable unbeleefe and wilfull ignorance of Gods threats and other things that are continually taught you out of the Word And now cease to imitate this world of ungodly men but apply your selves to flie from the wrath to come and from the vengeance that must overtake all wilfull sinners I beseech you lay to heart the things you heare take notice of them beleeve them and set your selves to amend your lives and cast away all your sinnes which this old World did not but should have done be better I say be better then they were and let their wickednesse teach you some goodnesse When will it once be that you will know and beleeve the threats of God and his promises when will it once be that you will submit your selves to those that are as Noah was Preachers of righteousnesse and seeke to get the righteousnesse of faith which Noah would not have gotten himselfe if it had not beene the same that hee preached to others Now I pray you at last to exceede this generation of wicked men And these uses you must make of their wickednesse Now of Gods patience towards them in giving them all outward prosperity and long deferring the execution of his wrath and sending Noah by preaching and building the Arke to draw them to repentance learne first to praise God for the like long-suffering to us and using the like meanes to bring us to repentance and to life eternall It is the same God that ruled the world at those times who ruleth us also at this time and he discovers the same vertues in his governing O how patient is God now also how great care doth he take to leade us to repentance also How many outward benefits have wee This goodnesse of God towards them that perish whereby he tooke such order and care for them that they might have escaped perdition if they would have made use of his meanes is not sufficiently heeded nor observed Might not the world then have escaped both drowning and hell too if they would have hearkened to Noah and beleeved him and followed his instructions Did any thing but their owne wilfullnesse and heedlesnesse shut them out of the Arke and out of Heaven and thrust them downe into the Deluge and into Hell Brethren God magnifies his mercies to the vessells of wrath he doth labour to bring them out of their ill estate he hath not ceased for many yeares to intice them to repentance by his long-suffering Certainely this should magnifie Gods goodnesse to us and make us to applaud him exceedingly and acknowledge the brightnesse of his Justice in their future destruction O how just was God in the drowning of these men is hee not as just in the damning of the sinner now Lord be thou praised for thy mercy and forthy justice and let the one serve to cleare the other and both to commend thee Againe I pray you now the the second time to make a good use of Gods clemencie to you He sent but one Noah to all the world who yet is said to condemne the world He sends amongst you to every towne almost one to tell you of the judgement to come and to stirre you up to repentance Now be intreated to hearken and obey and to get you to the Arke Brethren wee doe here in Gods name offer you assurance of pardon of sinne and freedome from hell and death if you will accept it O let not our preaching be in vaine Come come into the Arke come into Christ by true faith into whom you are come by Baptisme in respect of outward profession The Arke was a figure of Christ and Baptisme is as it were the Arke O labour for the true Baptisme with the Spirit that you may shunne and escape the Deluge of Gods eternall wrath and vengeance Let us not preach to you in vaine as Noah did to the old world And present to your selves the hideousnesse of that plague O how did mens hearts ake within them how did horrour take hold upon them when they saw the waters rage so furiously O now did they find that in experience which they would not beleeve by Noahs preaching
partake with your selves of any good fare which you provide for your selves These be the things commendable in Rebekkah Now I come to her faults First she used deceit and fraud to conveigh the blessing unto Iacob and sought rather to hooke it to him by a fleshly device then to compasse it by a convenient and lawfull way You shall reade the Story Gen. 27.1 and 17. She knew her husband was blinde therefore she spake to Iacob to get the blessing by a cunning device she sends for a Kid makes such a dish as was pleasing to Isaacs palate uses meanes to make his hands and neck seem rough like unto Esaus by covering them with the skins of the Kids as handsomely as shee could and so sends him in to Isaac having before emboldned him to say though falsely that he was Esau the eldest Son This was a sin in her the matter of it was fraud and fashood the aggravations of it were first she drew Iacob into the sin of lying and shifting even contrary to his own temper for the Scripture witnesseth of him that He was a plain man Secondly she was set upon it that though Iacob objected he should get a curse rather then a blessing by seeming to his Father a deceiver and a mocker yet she found a meanes to encourage him in his lying by a trick to beguile his Father well enough that he should never finde him out and so drew him to go thorough with the crafty device this was practised even against her husband also to whom it least of all becommeth a wife to use deceit and lying Only there was one mitigation and extenuation of her fault she did aime at a good end but a good intention cannot justifie unlawfull means that are used to accomplish it We have in her then a fault of craftinesse and deceit and lying There is a great difference betwixt wisdome and fraud wisdome will alwaies hold it selfe to the side of justice not alone in the thing it mainly seekes but also in the path which it chooseth to walk in to that end But fraud is as it were a rotten wisdome and cares not to follow equity and truth in the way it takes and neither many times in the end Abhorre fraud that is the carrying of a thing wilily with lying and falshood whether it be good or bad but most of all if it be bad It is a sin to do evill that good may come of it as S. Paul teacheth Rom. 3. It is a sin to lie even for Gods cause and to defend even his justice with false tales and figments As Iob admonisheth his frinds that did so and that they might not seeme to impute unrighteousnesse to God in so sore punishing of Iob they did impute hypocrisie to him that was punished It is a sin to lie even for a purpose otherwise good for we are commanded to put away lying Wherefore consider of your selves if you have not lyed and beguiled if you have not allured and encouraged others to joyne with you in lying and beguiling that else would not have done it If you have done it against those that were neare to you to whom you should have used more respect And worst of all if you have done it for a sinfull end too that is not to get what was due to you as here Iacob but what was not due by over-reaching your neighbours in bargaining and the like not to keep a man from sin as here but rather to draw him to sin as in case of unjust complaints to a superiour to make him punish when he should not punish Not to do your selves good as here Iacob but to do another a mischief as Davids false accusers to Saul and if your consciences accuse you of such fraud repent of it before God blame your selves for it seek pardon resolve to put it away for hereafter and intreate the Lord to fortifie you against all such wickednesse that so you may be pardoned else great is the danger of such wickednesse The bread of deceit shall be gravell in the belly and wealth gotten by lying shall prove but vanity tossed to and fro of them that seeke death I pray you consider how God chastised this guile in these two good persons and that though they had a good end in it For this occasioned the rage of Esau which made him threaten yea and after attempt to kill Iacob and so drove Iacob from Isaacs family and kept them from that comfortable enjoyment each of other which else they might have had for twenty years together And be you now lovers of plainnesse abhorre shifting and falshood trust God with the successe of all your affaires and trust not to your own hearts and heads he that seekes to effect his desires by honest and just meanes he puts confidence in God and not in himselfe he that useth lying and cousinage he puts not his hope in God but in his own wit and heart Shew true and well grounded confidence in God by keeping your selves within the paths of equity and truth lovely pathes faire pathes straight pathes which shall surely lead you to more happinesse and comfort at last than lying and fraud hatefull dirty and crooked paths can possibly do Learn as David saith Psal 119. To hate lying and to love Gods Law love to be guided by God who is the God of truth and hate to follow lies which are of the devill the author of lying Doe not object that you cannot possibly escape such and such mischiefe bring about such and such a good businesse unlesse you turne a little aside to a little lying I answer first trust God with successe beleeve above hope let faith guide you not naturall reason Cannot he doe that which reason will call impossible Hath not be said Rowle thy self upon God and thy waies and he shall bring it to passe Will you not rest upon him for the performance of so evident a promise And secondly I answer that the greatest evill must be suffered rather than the smallest sin committed and the attaining of the greatest benefit cannot countervaile the committing of the least sin and that man doth not truly know either God or sin or the world or himselfe that doth not yeeld to these truths So you have this fault of Rebekkahs another is that she was too much troubled at her evill daughters in law and was weary of life because of them This is a fault to make crosses too too heavy our selves to be so distempered with them so as to become weary of life because of them yea it is a fault found in those that were truly religious and godly Eliah would fain have parted with his soul because of the troubles which he met withall he desired to die saith the Story and said It is enough Now Lord take away my soule from me for I am no better than my Fathers Moses would fain have dyed too when the people murmured against him and he poures
walke with God live to him seeke him please him or else some bare naked good deeds will not suffice to prove us his children and his heires So much for the good of Laban now his evill must be observed too First to God-ward though hee had Iacob living in his house and had observed by experience that God did blesse him for his sake yet hee would not leave his false gods his Idols his Teraphim but keepe them still and made such store of them that hee tooke it very ill that Iacob should steale them away as hee conceived hee had done though falsly and therefore also hee sware by the gods of Nahor and the gods of their Fathers Hee was brought up an Idolater and continued an Idolater living and dying in the worship of false and imaginary gods which they that doe shall not inherite the kingdome of God hee had Images of these false gods Images of men it may seeme they were by their name O how naturall it is to man to erre in the conceit of a multiplicity of gods and in setting up pictures and representations of God to himselfe Great darknesse possesseth the mindes of men in the matter of Gods nature hee will take upon trust any fable in this kinde and will scarce use his own reason to examine religion but for the worshipping God in an Image though it bee a point of the greatest foppery in the world hee will count it singular wisdome and count himselfe so much devouter by how much hee is liker the blocke or picture before which hee doth his false devotions Let us blesse God that hath delivered us from conceit of fantasticall gods and from the love and liking of Images and pictures which the Lord may seeme to have in detestation because in likelihood they were occasions of inducing the damnable opinion of multitude of gods into the world And let us pray to God to bring the poore ignorant persons that run after other gods or else dote upon pictures out of such their miserable condition and to set up the truth in so great power that men may no longer cast themselves headlong by that which themselves account religion and the right way to please God But Laban dealt very ill with Iacob First the love hee bare him was a meere worldly self-respecting love hee found hee gate well by him therefore hee desired his company But for Iacobs piety and true religion he regarded him not a jot the better So most times yea evermore the love of worldlings doth grow from the roote of worldlinesse If by some good Iacob they have attained or hope to attaine profit and advantage they are loath to part with him but unlesse such things doe commend a man to them hee may sit without doores long enough and his goodnesse with him before they will take him into house Such a carnall love to good men is none other thing than may bee seene in as bad a man as hee of whom wee entreate You must therefore learne to love a Iacob as a Iacob and in the name of a Iacob that love will demonstrate some piety to your selves And when wee perceive the kindnesse of any man to have its originall in such base ends wee must esteeme it a point of discretion not to trust at all in their loves they will soone turne enemies for gaine whom gaine maketh friends Further Laban did palpably deceive and cousin Iacob in a matter wherein deceit should least of all bee used even in point of Matrimony Iacob intended to live contentedly with his owne wife as his Father Isaac had done before him and therefore setting his affections on the younger daughter Rachel agrees to serve Laban for her seven yeares instead of dowrie which hee had not to give Laban agrees to it as I shewed you before and assembling his neighbours celebrates the marriage with a feast It must not bee doubted but that they were all made to understand which of the maides was the Bride as well as which young man was the Bridegroome But at night it may seeme the Bride was brought into the Bridegroomes Chamber vailed for modesty sake Laban perswades his eldest daughter Leah to possesse the place of her younger sister whether with or without her consent it is not expressed but most likely without and so is Iacob in the morning greatly discontented to see a stranger bedded with him instead of his owne Spouse Wherefore complaining of the wrong to his Father in Law hee is answered with a shift that the custome of that place is not to bestow the younger before the elder but if hee would serve seven yeares more for Rachel hee should have her too for Polygamy was not then reputed a sinne Iacob must needes bee content with that which hee could not helpe and is compelled to make his apprentiship longer by halfe than hee intended here was flat cousenage To winde in Iacob for seven yeares more than hee meant at first and to bestow both his daughters upon so thriving a man and so advantage himselfe more wayes than one at once this fellow feares not to breake Covenant and to beguile and defraud a man in his wife And when hee was told of it hee pretends a contrary custome If there were no such custome hee playes the lying fellow in saying wittingly that which was not for the excusing of his fault If there were such a custome hee playes the cousening companion in concealing it before and not acquainting Iacob with it when hee made the motion He should have said I would willingly give her thee but that the custome of the countrey hinders but if thou wilt have them both first the elder then the younger I am content This had beene plaine dealing but to leade Iacob on with words and then at last pull him on in this fashion to seven yeares bondage more was flat dishonesty And such is the disposition of a worldling for advantage sake that hee cares not with trickes to out-reach and beguile any with whom hee deales but wee have a better direction from Gods Word saying Let none of you defraud or over-reach another in any matter for God is an avenger of all that doe such things Hee used the like guilefull dealing after in changing his wages so many times and all proceeded from the same evill humour of covetousnesse But now see another sinne whereof Iacob makes mention to his Wives in way of perswading them to depart with him Iacob beheld Labans countenance that it was not to him at before Loe hee lookes doggedly upon him and hath a kinde of envious grudge against him not for any fault of his but alone because hee hindered his wealth in that God gave his riches to Iacob by causing most of the Ewes and shee Goates to bring forth still young of such colour as was agreed upon for Iacobs wages ver 8. If hee said the speckled shall bee thy wages all the cattell bare speckled and now
and Sonne concurre in this fault A common fault it is religion is made of the by it serveth some other Mistresse It is a stalking horse for policy on both sides Wickedly doe Iacobs sonnes seeme to stand on religion for their secret ends and it was not well done of them to take a religion up for meere private ends but such is the custome of the men of this world they can embrace any ordinance for their profit and any religion O looke that you bee intire in imbracing Gods Ordinance and Gods Truth take heed that sinister ends doe not marre and destroy your seeming religiousnesse and make that you shall seeme to God not the better men but the worse Hypocrites Againe something was ill done of him we see no sharpe correction nor reproofe of his sonne for his wrong done to Dinah and that provokes the maides friends O how indulgent are Parents to their childrens crimes scarce with a word will they checke them at most but with a word for that which deserveth many blowes yea the stroake of death This indulgence of theirs often makes children bold to sinne as in Adoniah and Absalom is seene and so doth make them at length correctors of their Parents that should have corrected them Let Parents take heed to themselves that they shew not themselves to love God lesse then their children by loving their children so much as to put out or smother the hatred of sinne and let Parents at last learne to make naturall affection give place to justice You have his faults his vertues are 1. To his Sonne he is willing to satisfie him in point of marriage so farre as was fit and so should all wise Parents be If the affections of their children carry them not to matches too inconvenient they should gratifie them for feare of those mischiefes which often come by crossing them and that because nothing is more likely to procure the welfare of children then when they be matched to whom they love Unlesse their folly be such as to make too too foolish choises let Parents learne to shew themselves milde and gentle here if in any other thing Further he deales well with the Shechemites his Subjects whom he seeketh not to force but to perswade to accept circumcision In things of this nature a good Prince must not compell but allure Subjects and let them see reason rather then feele violence but his reason is taken from the profit of the people That is the wisest argument which will most prevaile with him to whom it is used and so it sped accordingly Further he dealt well with Iacob too for in all plainenesse he seekes his daughter for his sonne and is willing to yeeld to any equall conditions Plaine dealing is commendable in an Heathen how much should it be commended to us Christians Now see his prosperity He had a sonne indifferent good that at least sought his consent and shewed himselfe orderly though at the first he had beene rude It is a comfort to have a sonne not altogether rude and misgoverned that if he over-shoote himselfe in some things yet will keepe his order and reforme himselfe Be you such children O ye sonnes and daughters and be thankefull ye Parents that have such children He had also good Subjects that would be perswaded by him and such Subjects let us learne to be so that we use prudence as well as subjection But his crosse was great he was over-reacht by crafty heads and himselfe and all his Family and City butchered by bloudy hands O how could you brooke such a crosse and why will not you stand prepared to loose life goods children friends and all seeing you perceive in the Shechemites how soone all these may be lost even then when you thinke your selves secure and why doe you not thanke God for preserving you from such both craft and outrage hitherto Now I proceed to speake of some others The Adullamite Hiram is a better friend then a man indeed a good friend but a bad man His friendship appeares to be morally good in its kinde because first it was lasting secondly it was serviceable thirdly it was secret Lasting for it continued to Iudah so long till his third sonne was marrigeable and began before his marriage You cannot conceive it under some twenty yeeres standing though you should thinke that Iudah married about sixteene or seventeene yeares of age Friendship is like wine the elder the better the longer it lasteth the more it is to be praised Learne to be durable friends let not a yeare or two see you changed and estranged but be like Christ in that respect whom you love love to the end unlesse they doe even too too unfriendlily cast you off and breake the lawes of friendship And those that have beene fickle friends let them be ashamed for it is too too evident that they were false seeking themselves alone and not their friends Againe his friendship was serviceable stooping to somewhat a base office to helpe Iudah out with his whoredome as secretly and undiscernedly as might be Indeed a true friend must be serviceable to his friend not alone with his cost and labour but sometimes also with a little blemish not by helping him to sinne nor lying or so forth but by doing what may honestly and lawfully be done for the secret carrying of his faults and saving him from blame even carnall friends are forward enough this way take heed that you denie not good offices to your inward acquaintance and take no lesse heed that you gratifie them not with bad For here you see the secrecy of this Adullamite no body knew by him of that fault which he himselfe knew onely by Iudah Nothing becomes a friend better then secrecy of his friends faults and he that hath once played the blab in this kinde hath no wrong if hee be never trusted after Nay verily this may seeme a most just cause of dividing friendship therefore so farre as may be without sinne against God and against the Countrey and Superiours every friend must affect this trustinesse Surely had not Iudah found him faithfull in this kinde hee would never have ingaged himselfe so farre So was Hiram a good friend but yet he was not a good man for we finde not that he did rebuke Iudah for his fault at all which he must have done if he had beene as good a man as a friend And doe you learne to add that to other good fruits of friendship even to reprehend them for their faults though you doe not divulge them that so friendship may not be a mutuall infecting of one another but a mutuall healing So much for the Adullamite Iudahs friend now for Er and Onan Iudahs sonnes The first of them was so wicked a man that God in his justice would not let him live to staine that good family O let him be a a warning to all you children that you