by their Power nor their wisest Counsellors by their Policie nor Balaam himselfe by his Sorcery could bring vpon them This damned counsell was followed but too soone and prospered but too well §. with the successe thereof both in their Sinne The daughters of Moab come into the Tents of Israel and by their blandishments put out the eyes and steale away the hearts of Gods people whom besotted once with lust it was then no hard matter to leade whither they listed and by wanton insinuations to draw them to sit with them in the Temples and to accompanie them at the a Num. 25.2 feasts and to eate with them of the sacrifices yea and to bow the knees with them to the honour of their Idols Insomuch as Israel b Psal. 106.28 ioyned themselues to Baal-peor and ate the sacrifices of that dead and abominable Idol at the least for all Idols are such if not as most haue thought a c quem Graecia Priapum dixit Hist. Scolast in Num. c. 34. alij secuti Hieronymum in c 9. Osee 1. cont Io. 12. See Vatabl. in Num. 25.3 Seldem Synt. 1. de DIs Syr. c. 5. Lael Biscioâ— 3. hor. subces 20. beastly and obscene Idoll withall That was their sinne And now may Balak saue his money §. 8. and Punishment and Balaam spare his paines there is no need of hiring or being hired to curse Whoremongers and Idolaters These are two plaguy sinnes and such as wil bring a curse vpon a people without the helpe of a Coniurer When that God who is a a Exod. 20 5. iealous God and iealous of nothing more than his b Esa. 42.8 honour shall see that people whom he had made c Deut. 7.6 choise of from among all the nations of the earth to be his owne peculiar people and betrothed to himselfe by an euerlasting d Ezek. 16.8 Couenant to e Ibid. 38. breake the Couenant of Wedlocke with him and to strumpet it with the daughters and Idols of Moab what can bee expected other than that his iealousie should be turned into furie and that his fierce wrath should f Psal. 106.29 breake-in vpon them as a deluge and ouerwhelme them with a sudden destruction His patience so farre tempted and with such an vnworthie prouocation can suffer no longer But at his command g Num. 25.4.5 Moses striketh the Rulers and at Moses his command the vnder-Rulers must strike each in their seuerall regiments those that had offended and hee himselfe also striketh with his owne hand by a plague destroying of them in one day h 1 Cor. 10.8 the other thousand Num. 25.9 it seemeth were those that were hanged vp by Moses and slaine by the Rulers three and twentie thousand §. 9. Zimri's prouocation If that plague had lasted manie dayes Israel had not lasted manie dayes But the people by their plague made sensible of their sinne humbled themselues as it should seeme the verie first day of the plague in a solemne and a Num. 25.6 generall assembly weeping and mourning both for Sinne and Plague before the doore of the Tabernacle of the Congregation And they were now in the heat of their holy sorrow and deuotions when loe b Ibid. 14. Zimri a Prince of a chiefe house in one of their Tribes in the heate of his pride and lust commeth openly in the c Ibid. 6. face of Moses and all the Congregation and bringeth his Minion with him Cosbi the daughter of one of the d Compare Num. 25.15 with Num. 31.8 fiue Kings of Midian into his Tent there to commit filthinesse with her §. 10. and his execution Doubtlesse Moses the Captaine and Eleâ—zar the Priest and all Israel that saw this shamelesse pranke of that leud couple saw it with griefe enough But Phinehes enraged with a pious indignation to see such foule affront giuen to God the Magistrate and the Congregation at such a heauie time and in such open manner for that verie sinne for which they then lay vnder Gods hand thought there was something more to be done than bare weeping and therefore his bloud warmed with an holy zeale hee a Num. 25.7.8 starteth vp forthwith maketh to the Tent where these two great personages were and as they were in the act of their filthinesse speedeth them both at once and nayâ—eth them to the place with his Iaueline And the next thing wee heare is God well pleased with the b ibid. 11. zeale of his seruant and the execution of those malefactors is appeased towards his people and withdraweth his hand and his plague from them And of that deliuerance my Text speaketh Then stood vp Phinehes and executed iudgement and so the Plague was stayed The Person the instrument to worke this deliuerance for Israel was Phinehes §. 11. The Person of Phinebes considered Hee was the sonne of Eleazar who was then High Priest in immediate succession to his father Aaron not long before deceased and did himselfe afterward succeed in the High Priesthood vnto Eleazar his Father A wise a godly and a zealous man employed afterwards by the State of Israel in the greatest affaires both of a Num. 31.6 Warre and b Ios. 22.13.31.32 Ambassy But it was this Heroicall act of his in doing execution vpon those two great audacious offenders which got him the first and the greatest and the lastingst renowne Of which Act more anon when we come to it In his Person wee will consider onely what his calling and condition was and what congruitie there might be betweene what he was and what he did He was of the Tribe of Leui and that whole Tribe was set apart for the c Num. 1. â—9 c. seruice of the Tabernacle And he was of the sonnes of Aaron and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Familie and Linage of the High Priests and the Priests office was to offer sacrifices and to burne incense and to pray and make attonement for the People Neither Leuite nor Priest had to intermeddle with matters of Iudicature vnlesse in some few causes and those for the most part concerning matters either meerely or mixtly Ecclesiasticall but neither to giue sentence nor to doe execution in matters and causes meerely Ciuill as by any right or vertue of his Leuiticall or Priestly office §. 12. The Spiritual Power doth not include the Temporall The more vnreasonable is the High Priest of Rome to challenge to himselfe any temporall or ciuill iurisdiction as virtually annexed to his spirituall Power or necessarily deriued thence TempluÌ„ and Praetorium the Chaire and the Throne the Altar and the Bench the Sheepehooke and the Scepter the Keyes and the Sword though they may sometimes concurre vpon the same person yet the Powers remaine perpetually distinct and independant and such as doe not of necessity inferre the one the other Our Sauiours a Luk. 22.26 Vos autem non
not any honest Minister that will pleade for him But since there is no incapacitie in a Clergy-man by reason of his spirituall Calling but he may exercise temporall Power if hee be called to it by his Prince as well as he may enioy temporall Land if he bee heire to it from his Father I see not but it behooueth vs all if we be good Subiects and sober Christians to pray that such as haue the power of Iudicature more or lesse in any kinde or degree committed vnto them may exercise that power wherewith they are entrusted with zeale and prudence and equitie rather than out of enuy at the preferment of a Church-man take vpon vs little lesse than to quarrell the discretion of our Soueraignes Phinehes though he could not challenge to execute iudgement by vertue of his Priesthood yet his Priesthood disabled him not from executing iudgement §. 14. Phinehes his fact examined That for the Person Followeth his Action and that twofold Hee stood vp Hee executed iudgement Of the former first which though I call it an Action yet is indeed a Gesture properly and not an Action But being no necessitie to binde me to strict proprietie of speech be it Action or Gesture or what else you will call it the circumstance and phrase since it seemeth to import some materiall thing may not be passed ouer without some consideration Then stood vp Phinehes Which clause may denote vnto vs eyther that extraordinary spirit whereby Phinehes was moued to doe iudgement vpon those shamelesse offenders or that forwardnesse of zeale in the heate whereof he did it or both Phinehes was indeed the High Priests sonne as we heard but yet a priuate man and no ordinarie Magistrate and what had anie priuate man to doe to draw the sword of iustice or but to sentence a malefactor to dye Or say he had been a Magistrate he ought yet to haue proceeded in a legall and iudiciall course to haue conuented the parties and when they had beene conuicted in a faire triall and by sufficient witnesse then to haue adiudged them according to the Law and not to haue come suddenly vpon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they were acting their villanie and thrust them thorow vncondemned I haue a Serm. 2. ad Cler. § 30. elsewhere deliuered it as a collection not altogether improbable from the circumstances of the originall storie that Phinehes had warrant for this execution from the expresse command of Moses the supreme Magistrate and namely by vertue of that Proclamation whereby he authorized the b Num. 25.5 vnder-Rulers to slay euerie one his men that were ioyned vnto Baal-Peor Num. 25.5 And I since finde that coniecture confirmed by the iudgement of some learned men insomuch as an eminent Writer in our Church saith that c Hall 7. Contempl 4. by vertue of that Commission euerie Israelite was made a Magistrate for this execution But looking more neerly into the Text and considering that the Commission Moses there gaue was first onely to the Rulers and so could bee no warrant for Phinehes vnlesse hee were such a Ruler which appeareth not and secondly concerned onely those men that were vnder their seuerall gouernments and so was too short to reach Zimri who being himselfe a Prince and that of another Tribe too the Tribe of d Num. 25.14 Simeon could not be vnder the gouernement of Phinehes who was of the Tribe of Leui how probable soeuer that other collection may be yet I hold it the safer resolution which is commonly giuen by Diuines for the iustification of this fact of Phinehes that he had an extraordinarie notion and a peculiar secret instinct of the Spirit of God powerfully working in him and prompting him to this Heroicall Act. §. 15. and iustified Certainly God will not approue that worke which himselfe hath not wrought But to this Action of Phinehes God hath giuen large approbation both by staying the plague thereupon and by rewarding Phinehes with an a Num. 2◠12.13 euerlasting Priesthood therefore and by giuing expresse testimonie of his zeale and righteousnesse therein as it is said in the next verse after my Text b Psal. 106.31 And it was accounted to him for righteousnesse Which words in the iudgement of learned Expositours are not to bee vnderstood barely of the righteousnesse of Faith as it is said of Abraham that c Gen. 15.6 applied by Saint Paul Rom. 4.3 he beleeued God and it was imputed to him for righteousnesse as if the zeale of Phinehes in this act had beene a good euidence of that faith in Gods promises whereby he was iustified and his Person accepted with God though that also but they doe withall import the iustification of the Action at least thus farre that how soeuer measured by the common rules of life it might seeme an vniust action and a rash attempt at the least if not an haynous murder as being done by a priuate man without the warrant of authoritie yet was it indeed not onely in regard of the intent a zealous action as done for the honour of God but also for the ground and warrant of it as done by the speciall secret direction of Gods holy Spirit a iust and a righteous action Possibly this very word of standing vp importeth that extraordinary spirit For of those Worthies whom God at seuerall times endowed with Heroicall spirits to attempt some speciall worke for the deliuery of his Church the Scriptures vse to speake in words and phrases much like this It is often said in the booke of Iudges that God d Iud. 3.9.15 c. 2.16.18 raised vp such and such to iudge Israel and that Deborah and Iair and others e Iud. 5.7 10.1.3 c. rose vp to defend Israel that is f Iud. 3.10 the Spirit of God came vpon them as is said of Othoniel Iudg. 3. and by a secret but powerfull instinct put them vpon those braue and noble attempts they vndertooke and effected for the good of his Church Raysed by the impulsion of that powerfull spirit which g Nescit tarda molimina spiritus Sancti gratia Ambros. 2. in Luc. 3. admitteth no slow debatements Phinehes standeth vp and feeling himselfe called not to deliberate but act without casting of scruples or fore-casting of dangers or expecting commission from men when hee had his warrant sealed within he taketh his weapon dispatcheth his errant and leaueth the euent to the prouidence of God §. 16. yet not to be imitated Let no man now vnlesse hee be able to demonstrate Phinehes spirit presume to imitate his fact Those Opera liberi spiritus as Diuines call them as they proceeded from an extraordinary spirit so they were done for speciall purposes but were neuer intended either by God that inspired them or by those Worthies that did them for ordinary or generall examples The errour is dangerous from the priuiledged examples of some few exempted ones to take
ends and Dauids children c 2 Sam. 13.29 Ammon and d 2 Sam. 18.15 Absalon and the e Num. 16.37.33 little ones of Dathan and Abiram and others Some haue had losses and reproaches and manifold other distresses and afflictions in sundry kindes too long to rehearse And all these temporall iudgements their fathers sinnes might bring vpon them euen as the faith and vertues and other graces of the fathers doe sometimes conueigh temporall blessings to their posterity So Ierusalem was saued in the siege by Sonacherib for f Esay 37.35 Dauids sake many yeares after his death Esay 37.35 And the succession of the Crowne of Israel continued in the line of g 4 King 10.30 Iehu for foure descents for the zeale that hee shewed against the worshippers of Baal and the house of Ahab So then men may fare the better and so they may fare the worse too for the vertues or vices of their Ancestors Outwardly and temporally they may but spiritually and eternally they cannot For as neuer yet any man went to heauen for his fathers goodnesse so neither to hell for his fathers wickednesse §. 13. An Obiection with the first If it be obiected that for any people or person to suffer a a Amos 8.11 famine of the word of God to bee depriued of the vse and benefit of the sacred and sauing ordinances of God to be left in vtter darkenesse without the least glimpse of the glorious light of the Gospell of God without which ordinarily there can be no knowledge of Christ nor meanes of Faith nor possibility of Saluation to be thus visited is more than a temporall punishment and yet this kinde of spirituall iudgement doth sometimes light vpon a Nation or people for the vnbeliefe and vnthankfulnesse and impenitencie and contempt of their Progenitors whilest they had the light and that therefore the Children for the Parents and Posterity for their Ancestrie are punished not only with temporall but euen with spirituall iudgements also If any shall thus obiect one of these two answers may satisfie them First if it should bee granted the want of the Gospell to be properly a spirituall iudgement yet it would not follow that one man were punished spiritually for the fault of another For betwixt priuate persons and publike societies there is this difference that in priuate persons euery succession maketh a change so that when the father dyeth and the sonne commeth after him there is not now the same person that was before but another but in Cities and Countries and Kingdomes and all publike societies succession maketh no change so that when b Eccles. 1.4 one generation passeth and another commeth after it there is not another City or Nation or People than there was before but the same If then the people of the same land should in this generation bee visited with any such spirituall iudgement as is the remoueall of their Candlesticke and the want of the Gospell for the sinnes and impieties of their Ancestors in some former generations yet this ought no more to bee accounted the punishment of one for another than it ought to be accounted the punishing of one for another to punish a man in his old age for the sinnes of his youth For as the body of a man though the primitiue moysture bee continually spending and wasting therein and that decay bee still repayred by a daily supply of new and alimentall moysture is yet truely the same Body and as a Riuer fed with a liuing spring though the water that is in the channell be continually running out and other water freshly succeeding in the place and roome thereof is truely the same Riuer so a Nation or People though one generation is euer passing away and another comming on is yet truely the same Nation or People after an hundred or a thousand yeares which it was before §. 14. and second answer thereunto Againe secondly the want of the Gospell is not properly a spirituall but rather a temporall punishment Wee call it indeed sometimes a spirituall Iudgement as wee doe the free vse of it a spirituall Blessing because the Gospell was written for and reuealed vnto the Church by the spirit of God and also because it is the holy ordinance of God and the proper instrument whereby ordinarily the spirituall life of Faith and of Grace is conueighed into our soules But yet properly and primarily those only are a Epli. 1.3 spirituall blessings which are immediately wrought in the soule by the spirit of God and can neuer be lost where they are once placed and are proper and peculiar to those that are borne againe of the spirit and all those on the contrary which may bee subiect to decay or are common to the reprobate with the elect or may turne to the hurt of the receiuer are to be esteemed temporall blessings and not spirituall And such a blessing is the outward partaking of the word and ordinances of God the want thereof therefore consequently is to be esteemed a temporall iudgement rather than spirituall So that notwithstanding this instance still the former consideration holdeth good that God sometimes visiteth the sinnes of the fathers vpon the children with outward and temporall but neuer with spirituall and eternall punishments Now if there could no more bee said to this doubt but only this it were sufficient to cleere Gods Iustice since wee haue beene already instructed that these temporall iudgements are not alwayes properly and formally the punishments of sinne §. 15. Temporall euils of children though not properly For as outward blessings are indeed no true blessings properly because Wicked men haue their portion in them as well as the Godly and they may turne and often do to the greater hurt of the soule and so become rather Punishments than Blessings so to the contrary outward punishments are no true punishments properly because the Godly haue their share in them as deepe as the Wicked and they may turne and often doe to the greater good of the soule and so become rather Blessings than Punishments If it be yet said But why then doth God threaten them as Punishments §. 16. are yet after a sort punishments to the Fathers and how if they be not so I answer First because they seeme to be punishments and are by most men so accounted for their grieuousnesse though they bee not properly such in themselues Secondly from the common euent because vt plurimùm and for the most part they proue punishments to the sufferer in case hee bee not bettered as well as grieued by them Thirdly because they are indeed a kinde of punishment though not then deserued but formerly Fourthly and most to the present purpose because not seldome the a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. in Gen. hom 29. Filij bona valetudo felicitas patrimonium pertiâ—et ad patrem Felicior futurus si saluum habuerit filium infelicioâ— si amiserit Senec. 5. de
sic hath fully decided the Controuersie and for euer cut off all claime of temporall iurisdiction as by any vertue annexed to the keyes If the Bishops of Rome could haue contented themselues to haue enioyed those Temporalties wherewith the bounty of Christian Emperours had endowed that Sea whether well or ill whether too much or no I now inquire not but if they could haue bin content to haue holden them vpon the same termes they first had them without seeking to change the old tenure and to haue acknowledged them as many of their fellow-Bishops doe to haue issued not at all by necessary deriuation from their spirituall Power but meerely and altogether from the * Nec in queÌ„quaÌ„ Presbyterum Episcopum siue Papam conuenit conctiuam in â—oc saeculo iurisdictionem sibi habeve nisi eadem sibi per humanuÌ„ legislatorem concessa fuerit in cuius potestate est hanc ab ipsis semper reuocare Marsil Patau 2. defens pacis 5. free and voluntary indult of Temporall Princes the Christian Church had not had so iust cause of complaint against the vnsufferable tyrannies and vsurpations of the Papacy nor had the Christian world beene embroyled in so many vnchristian and bloudy quarrels as these and former ages haue brought forth Yet the Canonists and they of the Congregation of the Oratory like down-right flatterers giue the Pope the Temporall Monarchy of the world absolutely and b Papa iure diuino est directe dominus Orbis Pesant de immunit Eccles. page 45. idem desendunt Baronius Bosii duo Zecchus Careâ—ius alii directly as adhering inseparable to his Sea and as a branch of that Charter which Christ gaue to Peter when he made him Head of the Church for himselfe and his successors for euer The Iesuites more subtle than they not daring to deny the Pope any part of that Power which any other profession of men haue dared to giue him and yet vnable to assert such a vast power from these inconueniences which follow vpon the Canonists opinion haue found out a meanes to put into the Popes hands the exercise of as much temporall Power as they bluntly and grosly giue him and that to all effects and purposes as full in as ample manner as they yet by a more learned and refined flattery as resulting from his spirituall Power not directly per se but c See Bellarm. 5. de Rom. Pontif. 6. obliquely and indirectly and in ordine ad spiritualia The Man himself though he pretend to be supreme infallible iudge of all Controuersies yet heareth both parties taketh aduantage of what either giue him as best sorteth with his present occasions and suffereth them to fall foule each vpon other these accounting them grosse flatterers and they againe these d aduersus impios politicos Carer de potest in titulo libri wicked Politicians but dareth not for his life determine whether side is in the right lest if hee should be put to make good his determination by sufficient proofe both should appeare to be in the wrong and he lose all which whilest they quarrell he still holdeth It is a certaine thing The spirituall Power conferred in Holy Orders doth not include the Power of Temporal iurisdiction If Phinehes here execute iudgement vpon a Prince of Israel it is indeede a good fruite of his zeale but no proper act of his Priesthood §. 13. nor yet exclude it Let it goe for a non sequitur then as it is no better because Phinehes a Priest or Priests sonne executed iudgement that therefore the Priestly includeth Iudicatory Power Yet from such an Act done by such a Person at least thus much will follow that the Priesthood doth not exclude the exercise of Iudicature and that there is no such repugnancy and inconsistency betweene the Temporall and Spirituall Power but that they may without incongruitie concurre and reside both together in the same Person When I finde anciently that not onely among the a ac Regis quidem haec munia esset iussit primum vt sacrorum sacrificiorum principatum baberet Dyonis Halicar lib. 2. See also Cic. 1. de diuin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de Aegyptiis Plutarch lib. de Is. Osir. Heathens but euen among Gods owne people the same man might be a King and a Priest b Virgil. 3. Aeneid Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos as Melchisedec was both a c Gen. 14.18 Priest of the most High God and King of Salem when I see it consented by all that so long as the Church was Patriarchall the Priestly and the Iudicatorie Power were both settled vpon one and the same person the Person of the d Sacerdotium fuit annexum primogeniturae vsque ad legem datam per Mosen Lyran. in Gen 14.18 See also Lyran. in Numb 3.12 8.16 c. first-borne when I reade of Elie the Priest of the sonnes of Aaron e 1. Sam. 4.18 iudging Israel 40. yeeres and of Samuel certainely a Leuite though not as f Aug. 17. de ciuit 4. in Psal. 98. Sulpit Seuer lib. 1. Hist. sacrae some haue thought g Leuita Samuel non Sacerdos non Pontifex fuit Hieron lib. 1. contra Iouin v. Drus. not ad Sulpit. Hist. p. 154 a Priest both going circuite as a h 1. Sam. 7.16 Iudge itinerant in Israel and doing execution too with his owne hands vpon i 1. Sam. 15.33 Agag and of k 1. Chro. 26.29 32. Chenaniah and his sonnes Izharites and Hashabiah and his brethren Hebronites and others of the families of Leui appointed by King Dauid to be Iudges and Officers not only in all the businesse of the Lord but also for l In omni negotio diuino humano Vatab. in 1. Parab 26. outward businesse ouer Israel and in things that concerned the seruice of the King when I obserue in the Church-stories of all ages euer since the world had Christian Princes how Ecclesiasticall persons haue been employed by their soueraignes in their waightiest consultations and affaires of State I cannot but wonder at the inconsiderate rashnesse of some forward ones in these dayes who yet thinke themselues would be thought by others to be of the wisest men that suffer their tongues to runne riot against the Prelacy of our Church and haue studied to approue themselues eloquent in no other argument so much as in inueighing against the Courts the Power and the Iurisdiction and the Temporalties of Bishops and other Ecclesiasticall persons I speake it not to iustifie the abuses of men but to maintaine the lawfulnesse of the thing If therefore any Ecclesiasticall person seek any Temporal office or Power by indirect ambitious and preposterous courses if hee exercise it otherwise than well insolently cruelly corruptly partially if hee claime it by any other than the right title the free bounty and grace of the supreme Magistrate let him beare his owne burden I know