that call themselves brethren fall soule upon one another not only girding at and clashing against but biting and nipping and devouring one another as if they were bent to consume and destroy one another But a most blessed thing on the other side pleasant as the holy oyle distilling from Aarons head upon his beard and garments and rejoycing the heart as the dew upon the mountains refresheth the grass when there is nothing done in the house through strife or vain glory but such an accord amongst them that all the Brethren are of one minde and judgment or if not alwayes so yet at leastwise of one heart and affection bearing the burdens and bearing with the infirmities one of another and ready upon all occasions to do good as to all men generally and without exception so especially to their Brethren that are of the same houshold of faith with them 35. Lastly we are Brethren by partnership in our Fathers estate Coparceners in the state of Grace all of us enjoying the same promises liberties and priviledges whereof we are already possessed in common and Coheirs in the state of Glory all of us having the same joy and everlasting blisse in expectancy and reversion For being the sonnes of God we are all heirs and being brethren all joynt-heirs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one and the same glorious inheritance reserved for us in the heavens which St. Iude therefore calleth the common salvation It argueth a base wrangling spirit in us having such goodly things in reversion enough for us all so as heart can wish no more to squabble and fall out for such poore trifles as the things of this world are We that have by Gods goodness competent sustenance for our journey and full sacks to open at our coming home as Iosephs brethren had when they came out of Egypt to return to their own land shall we fall out among our selves and be ready to mischief one another by the way 36. Having all these Obligations upon us and being tied together in one Brotherhood by so many bands of unity and affection I presume we cannot doubt de Iure but that it is our bounden duty thus to love the Brotherhood There remaineth now no more to be done but to look to our performances that they be right wherein the main thing we are to take heed of besides what hath been already applyed is Partiality I charge thee before God and the Lord Iesus Christ and the elect Angels that thou observe these things without preferring one before another doing nothing by Partiality It was S. Pauls charge to Timothy in another businesse but may suit very well with this also 27. Not but that we may and in most cases must make a difference between one brother and another in the measure and degree of our Love according to the different measures and degrees either of their goodness considered in themselves or of their neerness in relation to us those two considerations being as you heard the grounds of our Love So David loved Ionathan as his own soule his heart was knit to him both because he was a good man and had withall approved himself his trusty friend Yea our blessed Saviour himself shewed a more affectionate Love to Iohn then to any other of his disciples the disciple whom Iesus loved for no other known reason so much as for this that he was neer of kin to him his own mothers sisters son as is generally supposed No reasonable man among us then need make any question but that we may and ought to bear a greater love unto and consequently to be readier to do good unto caeteris paribus our Countrymen our neighbours our kindred our friends then to those that are strangers to us and stand in no such relation And so no doubt we may and ought in like manner upon that other ground of Goodness more to love and to shew kindness sooner to a sober discreet judicious peaceable humble and otherwise orderly and regular man caeteris paribus then to one that is light-headed or lazy or turbulent or proud or debauched or heretical or schismatical 38. But still that proviso or limitation which I now twice mentioned caeteris paribus must he remembred for there may such a disparity arise by emergent occasions as may render a meer stranger a heathen a notoriously vitious person a fitter object of our compassion help or relief pro hîc nunc then the most pious Christian or our dearest friend or ally In cases of great extremity where the necessities of the party importune a present succour and will admit no delay Cedat necessitudo necessitati the former considerations whether of Neerness or Goodness must be waved for the present and give way to those Necessities He is most our neighbour and brother in a case of that nature that standeth in most need of our help as our Saviour himself hath clearly resolved it in the case of the wounded traveller in the parable Luke 10. Nor doth this at all contradict what hath been already delivered concerning the preferring of the brethren before others either in the affection of love or in the offices which flow therefrom For the affection first it is clear that although some acts of compassion and charity be exercised towards a stranger yea even an enemy that hath great need of it rather then towards a friend or brother that hath either no need at all or very little in comparison of the other it doth not hinder but that the Habit or affection of love in the heart may notwithstanding at the very same time be more strongly carried towards the brother or friend then towards the enemy or stranger as every mans own reason and experience in himself can tell him And as for the outward acts and offices of love it is with them as with the offices of all other vertues and gracious habits or affections which not binding ad semper as the graces and habits themselves do are therefore variable and mutable as the circumstances by which they must be regulated vary pro hic nunc And therefore the rules given concerning them must not be punctually mathematically interpreted but prudentially and rationally and hold as we use to say in the Schools communiter but not universaliter that is to say ordinarily and in most cases where circumstances do not require it should be otherwise but not absolutely and universally so as to admit of no exception 39. This rub then thus removed out of the way it may yet be demanded where is this partiality to be found whereof we spake or what is it to have the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ with respect of persons if this putting of a difference in our love between brother and brother which we have now allowed of be not it I answer It is no partiality to make such a difference as we have hitherto allowed so long as the said difference
name otherwise he unworthily usurpeth to be just merciful temperate humble meek patient charitable to get the habits and to exercise the acts of these and all other holy graces and vertues Nay more the Gospel imposeth upon us some moral strictness which the Stoicks themselves or whoever else were the most rigid Masters of morality never so much as thought of Nay yet more it exalteth the Moral Law of God himself given by Moses to the people of Israel to a higher pitch then they at least as they commonly understood the Law took themselves thereby obliged unto That a man should forsake all his dearest friends yea and deny his own dearest self too for Christs sake and yet for Christs sake at the same time love his deadliest enemies That he should take up his Cross and if need were lay down his life not only for his great master but even for the meanest of his fellow-servants too That he should exult with joy and abound in hope in the midst of tribulations of persecutions of death it self Surely the Mystery that driveth at all this must needs be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the highest degree the great mystery of godliness That for the scope 27. Look now secondly at the parts and parcels the several pieces as it were whereof this mystery is made up those mentioned in this verse and the rest and you shall finde that from each of them severally but how much more then from them altogether joyntly may be deduced sundry strong motives and perswasives unto Godliness Take the material parts of this Mystery the Incarnation Nativity Circumcision Baptisme Temptation Preaching Life Death Buriall Resurrection Ascension Intercession and Second coming of Christ. Or take if I may so call them the formal parts thereof our eternal Election before the world was our Vocation by the preaching of the Gospel our Iustification by Faith in the merits of Christ our Sanctification by the Spirit of grace the stedfast promises we have and hopes of future Glory and the rest It would be too long to vouch texts for each particular but this I say of them all in general there is not one linke in either of those two golden chains which doth not straightly tye up our hands tongues and hearts from doing evil draw us up effectually unto God and Christ and strongly oblige us to shew forth the power of his grace upon our soules by expressing the power of Godliness in our lives and conversations That for the Parts 28. Thirdly Christian Religion may be called the mystery of Godliness in regard of its Conservation because Godliness is the best preserver of Christianity Rootes and Fruits and Herbs which let alone and left to themselves would soon corrupt and putrifie may being well condited with sugar by a skilful Confectioner be preserved to continue for many years and be serviceable all the while So the best and surest means to preserve Christianity in its proper integrity and power from corrupting into Atheisme or Heresie is to season it well with Grace as we do fresh meats with salt to keep them sweet and to be sure to keep the Conscience upright Holding the mysteries of Faith in a pure Conscience saith our Apostle a little after at ver 9. of this Chapter and in the first Chapter of this Epistle ver 19. Holding faith and a good Conscience which later some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrack Apostacy from the faith springeth most an end from Apostacy in manners And he that hath but a very little care how he liveth can have no very fast hold of what he beleeveth For when men grow once regardless of their Consciences good affections will soon languish and then will noysome lusts gather strength and cast up mud into the soule that the judgement cannot run clear Seldome is the head right where the heart is amiss A rotten heart will be ever and anon sending up evil thoughts into the minde as marish and fenny grounds do foggy mists into the aire that both darken and corrupt it As a mans tast when some malignant humour affecteth the organ savoureth nothing aright but deemeth sweet things bitter and sowre things pleasant So where avarice ambition malice voluptuousness vain-glory sedition or any other dominering lust hath made it self master of the heart it will so blinde and corrupt the judgement that it shall not be able to discern at any certainty good from evil or truth from falshood Wholsome therefore is S. Peters advice to add unto Faith Vertue Vertue will not only keep it in life but at such a height of vigour also that it shall not easily either degenerate into Heresie or languish into Atheisme 29. We see now 3. Reasons for which the doctrine of Christianity may be called The mystery of Godliness because it first exacteth Godliness and secondly exciteth unto Godliness and is thirdly best preserved by Godliness From these premises I shall desire for our neerer instruction to infer but two things only the one for the triall of Doctrines the other for the bettering of our lives For the first S. Iohn would not have us over forward to beleeve every spirit Every spirit doth he say Truly it is impossible we should unles we should beleeve flat contradictions Whilest one Spirit saith It is another spirit saith It is not can a man beleeve the one and not disbeleeve the other if he hear both Beleeve not every spirit then is as much in S. Iohns meaning as if he had said Be not too hasty to beleeve any spirit especially where there appeareth some just cause of suspicion but try it first whether it be a true spirit or a false Even as S. Paul biddeth us prove all things that having so done we may hold fast what upon triall proveth good and let the rest goe 30. Now holy Scripture is certainly that Lapis Lydius that Test whereby this trial is to be made Ad legem ad testimonium when we have wrangled as long as we can hitherto we must come at last But sith all Sectaries pretend to Scripture Papists Anabaptists Disciplinarians All yea the Divel himself can vouch Text to drive on a Temptation It were good therefore we knew how to make right application of Scripture for the Trial of Doctrines that we do not mistake a false one for a true one Many profitable Rules for this purpose our Apostle affordeth us in sundry places One very good one we may gather from the words immediately before the Text wherein the Church of God is said to be the pillar and ground of truth The collection thence is obvious that it would very much conduce to the guiding of our judgements aright in the examining of mens doctrines concerning either Faith or Manners wherein the letter of Scripture is obscure or the meaning doubtful to informe our selves as well as we can in credendis what the received sense and in agendis what the constant usage and
Iob to comfort himself with it as we see he did in the day of his great distress The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I caused the widows heart to sing for joy Job 29. 28. But say these poor ones should be so charitable as very seldom they be as not to curse us when we have despised them or so unthankful as seldom they are otherwise as not to bless us when we have relieved them yet the Lord who hath given every man a charge concerning his brother and committed the distresses of the poor to our care and trust will take district knowledge how we deal with them and unpartially recompense us thereafter Doth not he consider and shalt not he render to every man according to his works the last words of the Text. If therefore you have done your duty faithfully let it never discourage you that unrighteous and unthankful men forget it They do but their kinde the comfort is that yet God will both remember it and requite it God is not unrighteous to forget your work labour of love saith the Apostle Heb. 5. He will remember it you see And then saith David Psal. 41. Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble He will requite it too He that for Gods sake helpeth his poor brother to right that suffereth wrong he doth therein at once first an act of mercy because it is done in the behalf of a distressed man and an act secondly of justice because it is done in a righteous cause and thirdly being done for the Lords sake an act of Religion also Pure religion and undefiled before God even the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction Iames 1. And is it possible that God who delighteth in the exercise of every one of them singly should suffer an act to pass unrewarded wherein there is a happy concurrence of three such excellent vertues together as are Iustice Mercy and Religion The Prophet Ieremy to reprove Iehoâ—achins tyranny and oppression upbraideth him with his good father Iosiah's care and conscience to do justice and to shew mercy after this manner Did not thy father eat and drink and do judgement and justice and then it was well with him He judged the cause of the poor and needy then it was well with him was not this to know me saith the Lord But now on the contrary He shall have judgement without mercy that sheweth no mercy He that stoppeth his ears against the cry of the poor he shall also cry himself but shall noâ— be heard c. Many other like passages there are in the Scriptures to the same effect 29. Nay moreover the general neglect of this duty pulleth down the wrath of God not only upon those particular persons that neglect it but also upon the whole nation where it is in such general sort neglected O house of David thus saith the Lord execute judgment in the morning and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressour lest my fury go out like fire and burn that none can quench it because of the evil of your doings Ier. 21. Brethren we of this nation have cause to look to it in time against whom the Lord hath of late manifested his just wrath though tempered as we must all confess with much clemency yea and his hand is stretched out against us still in the heavie plagues both of dearth and death Though the land be full of all manner of sin and lewdness and so the Lord might have a controversy with us for any of them yet I am verily perswaded there are no other kinds of sins that have overspread the face of the whole land with such an universal contagion as it were of a Leprosie as the sins of Riot and Oppression have done Which two sins are not only the provoking causes as any kind of sinnes may be in regard of the justice of God but also the sensible instrumental causes in the eye of reason and experience of much penury and mortality among us 30. Surely then as to quench the fire we use to withdraw the fewel so to turn away the heavie wrath of God from us we should all put to our helping hands each in his place and calling but especially the Minister and the Magistrate the one to cry down the other to beat down as all sins in general so especially these of Ryot and Oppression Never think it will be well with us or that it will be much better with us then now it is or that it will not be rather every day much worse with us then it is never look that disorders in the Church distempers in the State distractions in our judgments diseases in our bodies should be remedied or removed and not rather more and more encreased if we hold on as we doe in pampering every man his own flesh and despising every man his poor brother So long as we think no pleasures too much for our selves no pressures too heavy for our brethren stretch our selves along and at ease upon our couches eat of the fat and drink of the sweet without any touch of compassion in our bowels for the afflictions of others we can expect no other but that the rod of God should abide upon us either in dearths or pestilences or if they be removed for God loveth sometimes to shift his rods in greater and heavier judgments in some other kinde 31. But as to the particular of Oppression for that of Ryot and Intemperance being beside the Text I shall no farther press my humble request to those that are in place of authority and all others that have any office or attendance about the Courts is this For the love of God and of your selves and your Country Be not so indulgent to your own appetites and affections either of Ease as to reject the complaints or of Partiality as to despise the persons or of filthy lucre as to betray the cause of the fatherlesse and friendlesse Suffer not when his cause is good a simple man to be circumvented by the wilinesse or a mean man to be overpowred by the greatnesse of a crafty or mighty adversary Favour not a known Sycophant nor open your lips to speak in a cause to pervert judgment or to procure favour for a mischievous person Turn not judgment into wormwod by making him that meant no hurt an offender for a word Wrangle not in the behalf of a contentious person to the prejudice of those that desire to live quiet in the land Devise not dilatory shifts to tug men on along in a tedious course of Law to their great charge and vexation but ripen their causes with all seasonable expedition for a speedy hearing In a word doe what lieth in your power to the utmost for the curbing of Sycophants and oppressours and the