weeping and therefore his blood warmed with an holy zeal he starteth up forthwith maketh to the Tent where these two great Personages were and as they were in the act of their filthiness speedeth them both at once and naileth them to the place with his Javelin And the next thing we hear is God well-pleased with the zeal of his Servant and the Execution of those Malefactors is appeased towards all his people and withdraweth his hand and his plague from them And of that deliverance my Text speaketh Then stood up Phinees and executed judgment and so the Plague was stayed The Person the instrument to work this deliverance for Israel was Phinees He was the Son of Eleazar who was then High-Priest in immediate succession to his father Aaron not long before deceased and did himself afterward succeed in the High-priesthood unto Eleazar his Father A wise a godly and a zealous man employed afterward by the State of Israel in the greatest affairs both of War and Embassy But it was this Heroical Act of his in doing execution upon those two great audacious Offenders which got him the first and the greatest and the lastingest Renown Of which Act more anon when we come to it In his Person we will consider only what his Calling and Condition was and what congruity there might be between what he was and what he did He was of the Tribe of Levi and that whole Tribe was set apart for the service of the Tabernacle And he was of the Sons of Aaron and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Family and Linage of the High-Priests and the Priests Office was to offer Sacrifices and to burn Incense and to pray and make atonement for the People Neither Levite nor Priest had to intermeddle with matters of Iudicature unless in some few causes and those for the most part concerning matters either meerly or mixtly Ecclesiastical but neither to give sentence nor to do execution in matters and causes meerly Civil as by any right or virtue of his Levitical or Priestly Office The more unreasonable is the High-Priest of Rome to challenge to himself any temporal or Civil Iurisdiction as virtually annexed to his spiritual power or necessarily derived thence Templum and Praetorium the Chair and the Throne the Altar and the Bench the Sheephook and the Scepter the Keys and the Sword though they may sometimes concur upon the same person yet the Powers remain perpetually distinct and independant and such as do not of necessity infer the one the other Our Saviours Vos autem non sic hath fully decided the controversie and for ever cut off all claim of temporal Iurisdiction as by any virtue annexed to the Keys If the Bishops of Rome could have contented themselves to have enjoyed those Temporalities wherewith the bounty of Christian Emperours had endowed that See whether well or ill whether too much or no I now inquire not but if they could have been content to have holden them upon the same terms they first had them without seeking to change the old tenure and to have acknowledged them as many of their fellow-Bishops do to have issued not at all by necessary derivations from their spiritual Power but meerly and altogether from the free and voluntary indult of temporal Princes the Christian Church had not had so just cause of complaint against the unsufferable tyrannies and usurpations of the Papacy nor had the Christian world been embroyled in so many unchristian and bloody quarrels as these and former ages have brought forth Yet the Canonists and they of the Congregation of the Oâ—â—tory like downright flatterers give the Pope the Temporal Monarchy of the world absolutely and directly as adhereing inseparably to his See and as a branch of that Charter which Christ gave to Peter when he made him Head of the Church for himself and his successors for ever The Iesuites more subtil than they not daring to deny the Pope any part of that Power which any other profession of men have dared to give him and yet unable to assert such a vast power from those inconveniences which follow upon the Canonists opinion have found out a means to put into the Popes hands the exercise of as much temporal power as they bluntly and grosly give him and that to all effects and purposes as full and in as ample manner as they yet by a more learned and refined flattery as resulting from his spiritual Power not directly and per se but obliquely and indirectly and in ordine ad spiritualia The man himself though he pretend to be supreme infallible judge of all Controversies yet heareth both parties and taketh advantage of what either give him as best sorteth with his present occasions and suffereth them to fall foul each upon other these accounting them gross flatterers aud they again these wicked Politicians but dareth not for his life determine whether side is in the right lest if he should be put to make good his determination by sufficient proof both should appear to be in the wrong and he lose all which whilst they quarrel he still holdeth It is a certain thing The spiritual Power conferred in Holy Orders doth not include the Power of Temporal jurisdiction If Phinees here execute judgment upon a Prince of Isarel it is indeed a good fruit of his zeal but no proper act of his Priesthood Let it go for a non sequitur then as it is no better because Phinees a Priest or Priests son executes judgment that therefore the Priestly includeth a 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 between the Temporal and Spiritual Powers but that they may without incongruity concur and reside both together in the same Person When I find anciently that not only among the Heathens but even among Gods own people the same man might be a King and a Priest Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos as Melchisedec was both a Priest of the most high God and King of Salem When I see it consented by all that so long as the Church was Patriarchal the Priestly and the Iudicatory Power were both setled upon one and the same Person the Person of the first born when I read of Eli the Priest of the sons of Aaron judging Israel 40 years and of Samuel certainly a Levite though not as some have thought a Priest both going circuit as a Iudge itinerant in Israel and doing execution too with his own hands upon Agag and of Chenaniah and his sons Izharites and Hashabiah and his brethren Hebronites and others of the families of Levi appointed by King David to be Judges and Officers not only in all the business of the Lord but also
hominem and accidentally evil It is our Apostle's own distinction in the fourteenth verse of this Chapter Nothing unclean of it self but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean unclean to him But then we must know withal that it holdeth not the other way Mens judgments or opinions although they may make that which is good in it self to become evil to them yet they cannot make that which is evil in it self to become good either in it self or to them If a man were verily perswaded that it were evil to ask his Father blessing that mis-perswasion would make it become evil to him But if the same man should be as verily perswaded that it were good to curse his Father or to deny him relief being an unbeliever that mis-perswasion could not make either of them become good to him Some that persecuted the Apostles were perswaded they did God good service in it It was Saint Paul's case before his conversion who verily thought in himself that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Iesus But those their perswasions would not serve to justifie those their actions Saint Paul confesseth himself to have been a persecutor and blasphemer and injurious for so doing although he followed the guidance of his own Conscience therein and to have stood in need of mercy for the remission of those wicked acts though he did them ignorantly and out of Zeal to the Law The reason of which difference is that which I touched in the beginning even because any one defect is enough to render an action evil and consequently a defect in the agent may do it though the substance of the action remain still as it was good but all conditions must concur to make an action good and consequently a right intention in the Agent will not suffice thereunto so long as the substance of the action remaineth still as it was evil Thirdly that the Conscience hath this power over mens wills and actions by virtue of that unchangeable Law of God which he establisheth by an Ordinance of Nature in our first Creation that the will of every man which is the fountain whence all our actions immediately flow should conform it self to the judgment of the practick understanding or Conscience as to its proper and immediate rule and yield it self to be guided thereby So that if the understanding through Error point out a wrong way and the will follow it the fault is chiefly in the understanding for mis-guiding the will But if the understanding shew the right way and the will take a wrong then the fault is meerly in the will for not following the guide which God hath set over it It may be demanded secondly Whether or no in every particular thing we do an actual consideration of the lawfulness and expediency thereof be so requisite as that for want thereof we should sin in doing it The reason of the doubt is because otherwise how should it appear to be of Faith and Whatsoever is not of faith is sin I answer First that in matters of weight and worthy of consultation it is very necessary that the lawfulness and expediency of them be first diligently examined before they be enterprized And secondly that even in smaller matters the like examination is needful when there is any apparent cause of doubting But thirdly that in such small and trivial matters as it much skilleth not whether we do them or no or whether we do this rather than that and wherein no doubt ariseth to trouble us an actual consideration of their lawfulness or expediency is so far from being requisite that it would rather be troublesome and incommodious True it is that all voluntary actions are done with some deliberation more or less because it is the nature of the will to consult with the understanding in every act else it should be irrational and brutish Yet there are many things which we daily do wherein the sentence of the understanding is so quick and present because there is no difficulty in them that they seem to be and are therefore sometimes so termed actus indeliberati such as are to sit down and to rise up to pluck a flower as we walk in a Garden to ask the time of the day or the name of the next Town as we travel by the way or whether we eat of this or that dish at the Table and the like For the doing of every of which it were a ridiculous servility to be imposed upon men if they should be tyed to district examination of the lawfulness and expediency thereof There is not in them dignus vindice nodus and a man's time ought to be more precious unto him than to be trifled away in such needless and minute enquiries It is even as if we should tie a great learned man that is ready in his Latin tongue to bethink himself first of some Grammar Rule or Example for the declining and parsing of every word he were to speak before he should adventure to utter a Latin sentence But as such a man is sufficiently assured out of the habit of his learning that he speaketh congruously and with good propriety though he have no present actual reference to his Grammar Rules so here an habitual knowledge of the nature and use of indifferent things is sufficient to warrant to the Conscience the lawfulness of these common actions of life so as they may be said to be of Faith though there be no farther actual or particular disquisition used about them A very needful thing it is the whilst for Christian men to endeavour to have a right judgment concerning indifferent things without which it can scarcely be avoided but that both their Consciences will be full of distracting scruples within themselves and their conversations full of unbrotherly carriage towards others It may be demanded thirdly Since Whatsoever is not of Faith is sin What measure of Faith or what degree of Perswasion is necessary for the warranting of our actions so as less than that will not serve I answer that what is here demanded cannot positively be defined by any peremptory and immoveable rules There is most an end a Latitude in such things as these are which may be straitned or extended more or less according to the exigence of present occasions and as the different state or quality of particular business shall require There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fulness of perswasion arising from evident infallible and demonstrative proofs which is attainable for the performance of sundry duties both of civil Iustice and of Religion And where it may be attained it is to be endeavoured after though it be not of absolute necessity for we cannot make our assurances too strong The Apostle useth that word at the fifth Verse Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a metaphorical word and seemeth
for outward business over Israel and in things that concerned the service of the King when I observe in the Church-stories of all ages ever since the world had Christian Princes how Ecclesiastical persons have been employed by their Sovereigns in their weightiest consultations and affairs of State I cannot but wonder at the inconsiderate rashness of some forward ones in these days who yet think themselves and would be thought by others to be of the wisest men that suffer their tongues to run riot against the Prelacy of our Church and have studied to approve themselves eloquent in no other argument so much as in inveighing against the Courts and the Power and the Iurisdiction and the Temporalities of Bishops and other Ecclesiastical persons I speak it not to justifie the abuses of men but to maintain the lawfulness of the thing If therefore any Ecclesiastical person seek any Temporal office or power by indirect ambitious and preposterous courses if he exercises it otherwise than well insolently cruelly corruptly partially if he claim it by any other than the right title the free bounty and grace of the Supreme Magistrate let him bear his own burden I know not any honest Minister that will plead for him But since there is no incapacity in a Clergyman by reason of his spiritual Calling but he may exercise temporal Power if he be called to it by his Prince as well as he may enjoy temporal land if he be heir to it from his Father I see not but it behoveth us all if we be good Subjects and sober Christians to pray that such as have the power of Iudicature more or less in any kind or degree committed unto them may exercise that power wherewith they are entrusted with zeal and prudence and equity rather than out of envy at the preferment of a Church-man take upon us little less than to quarrel the discretion of our Soveraign Phinees though he could not challenge to execute judgment by virtue of his Priesthood yet his Priesthood disabled him not from executing judgment That for the person Followeth his Action and that twofold He stood up he executed judgment Of the former first which though I call it an Action yet is indeed a Gesture properly and not an Action But being no necessity to bind me to strict propriety of speech be it Action or Gesture or what else you will call it the cicumstance and phrase it seemeth to import some material thing may not be passed over without some consideration Then stood up Phinees Which clause may denote unto us either that extraordinary spirit whereby Phinees was moved to do judgment upon those shameless offenders or that forwardness of zeal in the heat whereof he did it or both Phinees was indeed the High-Priests son as we heard but yet a private man and no ordinary Magistrate and what had any private man to do to draw the sword of justice or but to sentence a malefactor to die Or say he had been a Magistrate he ought yet to have proceeded in a legal and judicial course to have convented the parties and when they had been convicted in a fair trial and by sufficient witness then to have adjudged them according to the Law and not to have come suddenly upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they were acting their villainy and thrust them thorow uncondemned I have elsewhere delivered it as a collection not altogether improbable from the circumstances of the original story that Phinees had warrant for this execution from the express command of Moses the supreme Magistrate and namely by virtue of that Proclamation whereby he authorised the Under-Rulers to slay every one his man that were joyned unto Baal-Peor Num. 25. 5. And I since find that conjecture confirmed by the judgment of some learned men insomuch as an eminent Writer in our Church saith that by virtue of that Commission every Israelite was made a Magistrate for this execution But looking more nearly into the Text and considering that the Commission Moses there gave was first only to the Rulers and so could be no warrant for Phinees unless he were such a Ruler which appeareth not and secondly concerned only those men that were under their several governments and so was too short to reach Zimri who being himself a Prince and that of another Tribe too the Tribe of Simeon could not be under the government of Phinees who was of the Tribe of Levi how probable soever that other collection may be yet I hold it the safer resolution which is comonly given by Divines for the justification of this fact of Phinees that he had an extraordinary motion and a peculiar secret instinct of the spirit of God powerfully working in him and prompting him to this Heroical Act. Certainly God will not approve that work which himself hath not wrought But to this action of Phinees God hath given large approbation both by staying the plague thereupon and by rewarding Phinees with an everlasting Priesthood therefore and by giving express testimony of his zeal and righteousness therein as it is said in the next verse after my Text And it was accounted to him for righteousness Which words in the judgment of learned Expositors are not to be understood barely of the righteousness of Faith as it is said of Abraham that he believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness as if the zeal of Phinees in this act had been a good evidence of that faith in Gods promises whereby he was justified and his Person accepted with God though that also but they do withal import the justification of the Action at least thus far that howsoever measured by the common rules of life it might seem an unjust action and a rash attempt at the least if not an heinous murder as being done by a private man without the Warrant of authority yet was it indeed not only 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 special secret direction of Gods holy Spirit a just and a righteous action Possibly this very word of standing up importeth that extraordinary spirit For of those Worthies whom God at several times endowed with Heroical spirits to attempt some special work for the delivery of his Church the Scriptures use to speak in words and phrases much like this It is often said in the book of Iudges that God raised up such and such to judge Israel and that Deborah and Iair and others rose up to defend Israel that is The spirit of God came upon them as is said of Othoniel Iudg. 3. and by a secret but powerful instinct put them upon those brave and noble attempts they undertook and effected for the good of his Church Raised by the impulsion of that powerful Spirit which admitteth no slow debatements Phinees standeth up and feeling
with it as if it were his own personal debt so Christ becoming surety for our sins made them his own and so was punishable for them as if they had been his own personal sins Who his own self bare our sins in his own body upon the tree 1 Pet. 2. That he was punished for us who himself deserved no punishment it was because He was made sin for us who himself knew no sin So that I say in some sence the assertion may be defended universally and without exception but yet I desire rather it might be thus Christs only excepted all the Pains and Evils of men are brought upon them for their own sins These three Points then are certain and it is needful they should be well understood and remembred because nothing can be objected against Gods Iustice in the punishing of sin which may not easily be removed if we have recourse to some one or other of these Three Certainties and rightly apply them All the Three Doubts proposed in the beginning have one and the same Resolution answer one and answer all Ahab here sinneth by Oppression and yet the evil must light though not all of it for some part of it fell and was performed upon Ahab himself yet the main of it upon his Son Iehoram I will not bring the evil in his days But in his Sons days will I bring the evil upon his house It is not Iehoram's case alone it is a thing that often hath and daily doth befal many others In Gen. 9. when Noah's ungracious Son Ham had discovered his Fathers nakedness the old man no doubt by Gods special inspiration layeth the Curse not upon Ham himself but upon his son Canaan Cursed be Canaan c. And God ratified the Curse by rooting out the posterity of Canaan first out of the pleasant Land wherein they were seated and then afterwards from the face of the whole Earth Ieroboam's Idolatry cut off his Posterity from the Kingdom and the wickedness of Eli his Sons theirs from the Priesthood of Israel Gehazi with the bribe he took purchased a Leprosie in Fee simple to him and his heirs for ever The Iews for stoning the Prophets of God but most of all for Crucifying the Son of God brought blood-guiltiness not only upon themselves but upon their Children also His Blood be upon us and upon our Children The wrath of God therefore coming upon them to the utmost and the curse of God abiding upon their Posterity even unto this day wherein they still remain and God knoweth how long they shall a base and despised people scattered almost every where and every where hated Instances might be endless both in private Persons and Families and in whole Kingdoms and Countries But it is a needless labour to multiply instances in so confessed a point especially God Almighty having thus far declared himself and his pleasure herein in the Second Commandment of the Law that he will not spare in his Iealousie sometimes to visit the sins of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation There is no question then de facto but so it is the sins of the Fathers are visited upon the Children but de jure with what right and equity it is so it is as Saint Chrysostom speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a question famous and much debated The Considerations which I find given in for the resolution of this question by those that have purposely handled it are very many But multitude breedeth confusion and and therefore I propose no more but two only unto which so many of the rest as are material may be reduced and those two grounded upon the certainties already declared The former concerneth the Nature of those Punishments which are inflicted upon the Children for the Fathers sins the latter the Condition of those Children upon whom such punishments are inflicted As to the first The punishments which God bringeth usually upon the Children for the Fathers sins are only temporal and outward punishments Some have been plagued with infectious diseases as Gehazi's posterity and Ioab's also if that curse which David pronounced against him took effect as it is like it did Some have come to untimely and uncomfortable ends as David's children Ammon and Absalom and the little ones of David and Abiram and others Some have had losses and reproaches and manifold other distresses and afflictions in sundry kinds too long to rehearse And all these temporal judgments their fathers sins might bring upon them even as the Faith and Vertues and other graces of the Fathers do sometimes convey temporal blessings to their posterity So Ierusalem was saved in the Siege by Senacherib for David's sake many years after his death Esay 37. 35. And the succession of the Crown of Israel continued in the line of Iehu for four descents for the zeal that he 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 never yet any man went to Heaven for his Fathers goodness so neither to Hell for his Fathers wickedness If it be objected that for any people or person to suffer a famine of the Word of God to be deprived of the use and benefit of the sacred and saving Ordinances of God to be left in utter darkness without the least glimpse of the glorious light of the Gospel of God without which ordinarily there can be no knowledg of Christ nor means of Faith nor possibility of Salvation to be thus visited is more than a temporal punishment and yet this kind of Spiritual judgment doth sometimes light upon a Nation or People for the Unbelief and Unthankfulness and Impenitency and Contempt of their Progenitors whilest they had the light and that therefore the Children for their Parents and Posterity for their Ancestry are punished not only with Temporal but even with Spiritual judgments also If any shall thus object one of these Two Answers may satisfie them First if it should be granted the want of the Gospel to be properly a Spiritual Judgment yet it would not follow that one man were punished spiritually for the fault of another For betwixt private persons and publick societies there is this difference that in private persons every succession maketh a change so that when the Father dieth and the Son cometh after him there is not now the same person that was before but another but in Cities and Countries and Kingdoms and all publick societies succession maketh no change so that when One generation passeth and another cometh 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
hath done all he can he is but an unprofitable servant and cannot be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable to himself and his neighbours and that his goodness though it might be pleasurable to the Saints that are on the earth yet it could not extend unto the Lord. All this he knew and yet knowing withal that God accepteth the will for the deed and the desire for the performance he doubted not to raise up his Language to that key in Psal. 116. Quid retribuam What requital shall I make What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. This thankful heart he knew God valued as a Sacrifice nay preferred before Sacrifices For having rejected them at Vers. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices c. He exacteth this at Vers. 14. of Psal 50. Offer unto God thanksgiving c. God respecteth not so much the Calves out of our stalls or the fruits from off our grounds as these Vitulos labiorum these calves of our lips as the Prophet and these Fructus labiorum these fruits of our lips as the Apostle calleth them Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name Heb. 13. More than this in his Mercy he will not desire less than this in all Reason we cannot give Thankfulness is an Act of Iustice we are unjust if we receive his good Creatures and not return him thanks for them It is not only an Act of Iustice it is an Act of Religion too and a branch of that service whereby we do God worship and honour Whoso offereth praise he honoureth me Psal. 50. ver last Now look what honour we give unto God it all redoundeth to our selves at the last with plentiful advantage Them that honour me I will honour 1 Sam. 2. Here then is the fruit of this religious act of Thanksgiving that it sanctifieth unto us the use of the good Creatures of God which is the very reason S. Paul giveth of this present speech in the next Verse Every Creature of God is good saith he here and nothing to be refused if it be received with Thanksgiving for saith he there it is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer Understand not by the Word of God there his written Word or the Scriptures as some yet give the sence not without violence to the words though the thing they say be true but more both naturally to the construction of the Words and pertinently to the drift and scope of our Apostle therein understand rather the Word of his eternal Counsel and decree and of his power and providence whereby he ordereth and commandeth his Creatures in their several kinds to afford us such service and comforts as he hath thought good Which sanctifying of the Creatures by the Word of Gods decree and providence implieth two things the one respecting the Creatures that they do their kindly Office to us the other respecting us that we reap holy comfort from them For the plainer understanding of both which instance shall be given in the Creatures appointed for our nourishment and what shall be said of them we may conceive of and apply unto every other Creature in the proper kind thereof First then the Creatures appointed for food are sanctifyed by the word of God when together with the Creatures he giveth his blessing to go along with it by his powerful word Commanding it and by that Command enabling it to feed us Which is the true meaning of that speech in Deut. 8. alledged by our Saviour against the Tempter Man liveth not by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Alas what is Bread to nourish us without his word Unless he say the word and command the Bread to do it there is no more sap or strength in Bread than in stones The power and nutritive virtue which the Bread hath it hath from his decree because the word is already gone out of his mouth that bread should strengthen mans heart As in the first Creation when the Creatures were produced in actu primo had their beings given them and natural powers and faculties bestowed on them all that was done by the word of Gods powerful decree He spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were created So in all their operations in actu secundo when they do at any time exercise those natural faculties and do those Offices for which they were created all this is still done by the same powerful word and decree of God He upholdeth all things by the word of his power As we read of bread so we often read in the Scriptures of the staff of bread God sometimes threatneth he will break the staff of bread What is that Bread indeed is the staff of our strength it is the very stay and prop of our lives if God break this staff and deny us bread we are gone But that is not all bread is our staff but what is the staff of Bread Verily the Word of God blessing our Bread and commanding it to feed us is the staff of this staff sustaining that virtue in the bread whereby it sustaineth us If God break this staff of bread if he withdraw his blessing from the bread if by his countermand he inhibit or restrain the Virtue of the Bread we are as far to seek with bread as without it If sanctified with Gods word of blessing a little pulse and water hard and homely fare shall feed Daniel as fresh and fat and fair as the Kings dainties shall his Companions a Cake and a cruse of water shall suffice Elijah nourishment enough to walk in the strength thereof forty days and nights a few barly loaves and small fishes shall multiply to the satisfying of many thousands eat while they will But if Gods Word and Blessing be wanting the Lean Kine may eat up the Fat and be as thin and hollow and ill-liking as before and we may as the Prophet Haggai speaketh eat much and not have enough drink our fills and not be filled This first degree of the Creatures Sanctification by the Word of God is a common and ordinary blessing upon the Creatures whereof as of the light and dew of Heaven the wicked partake as well as the godly and the thankless as the thankful But there is a second degree also beyond this which is proper and peculiar to the Godly And that is when God not only by the word of his Power bestoweth a blessing upon the Creature but also causeth the Echo of that word to sound in our hearts by the voice of his holy Spirit and giveth us a sensible taste of his goodness to us therein filling our
the whole course of his Ministry not to have used at any time a cloak of covetousness 1 Thess. 2. that is he did not under colour of preaching the Gospel endeavour to make a prey of them or a gain unto himself In both which places the Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a fair shew pretence or colour which we use to call a cloak It is a corruption very common among us whatsoever we are within yet we desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make a fair shew outwardly and to make bright the outside of the platter how sluttish soever the inside be We are loth to forbear those sins which we are ashamed to profess and therefore we blanch them and colour them and cloak them that we may both do the thing we desire and yet miss the shame we deserve A fault of an ancient original and of long continuance ever since Adam first patcht together a cloak of fig-leaves to cover the shame of his nakedness Since which time unless it were some desperately prophane Wretches that being void of shame as well as grace proclaim their sins as Sodom and hide them not but rather glory in them what man ever wanted some handsom cloak or other to cast over the foulest and ugliest transgressions Saul spareth Agag and the fatter cattel flat contrary to the Lords express command and the offering of sacrifice must be the cloak Iezabel by most unjust and cruel oppression murthereth Naboth to have his Vineyard and the due punishment of blasphemy must be the cloak The covetous Pharisees devour Widows houses and devotion must be the cloak So in the Church of Rome Monkery is used for a cloak of Idleness and Epicurism The seal of confession for a cloak of packing treasons and diving into the secrets of all Princes and Estates Purgatory Dirges Indulgences and Iubilees for a cloak of much rapine and avarice Seneca said truly of most men that they studied more excusare vitia quà m excutere rather sollicitous how to cloak their faults than desirous to forsake them and St. Bernard's complaint is much like it both for truth and elegancy that men did not set themselves so much colere virtutes to exercise true vertue and the power of godliness as colorare vitia to mask foul vices under the vizard of vertue and godliness Alas that our own daily experience did not too abundantly justifie the complaint in the various passages of common life not needful being so evident and being so many not possible to be now mentioned We have a clear instance in the Text and it should grieve us to see it so common in the world that the blessed liberty we have in Christ should become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cloak and that of maliciousness You see what the Cloak is see now what is Maliciousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word which is properly rendred by malice or maliciousness And as these English words and the Latin word malicia whence these are borrowed so likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek is many times used to signifie one special kind of sin which is directly opposite to brotherly love and charity and the word is usually so taken wheresoever it is either set in opposition to such charity or else ranked with other special sins of the same kind such as are anger envy hatred and the like And if we should so understand it here the sence were good for it is a very common thing in the world to offend against brotherly charity under the colour of Christian liberty and doubtless our Apostle here intendeth the remedy of that abuse also Yet I rather conceive that the word maliciousness in this place is to be taken in a larger comprehension for all manner of evil and of naughtiness according to the adequate signification of the Greek and Latin Adjectives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and malus from whence the substantive used in the Text is derived Of which maliciousness so largely taken that special maliciousness before spoken of is but a branch The Apostles full purpose then in this clause of the Text is to restrain all that abuse of Christian liberty whereby it is made a cloak for the palliating of any wicked or sinful practice in any kind whatsoever And so understood St. Peter's admonition here is parallel'd with St. Paul's elsewhere Brethren saith he you have been called unto liberty only use not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh Gal. 5. 15. To use liberty for an occasion to the flesh and to use liberty for a cloak of maliciousness is the very same thing and it is a very great sin For the proof whereof I shall need to use no other Arguments than the words of the Text will afford First every act of maliciousness is a sin and secondly to cloak it with a fair pretence maketh it a greater sin but then thirdly to use Christian liberty for the cloak giveth a farther addition to it and maketh it a greater sin First it is a sin to do any act of maliciousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we know are conjugata and do mutually infer each other It is a superfluous thing and such as we might well enough be without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 superfluity of maliciousness Iam. 1. Nor so only but it is an hurtful thing and of a noxious and malignant quality as leaven sowring the whole lump of our services to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the leaven of maliciousness 1 Cor. 5. It is a thing to be repented of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 repent of this thy wickedness or maliciousness saith St. Peter to Simon Magus Acts 8. It is a thing to be cast away from us and abominated as a filthy garment or polluted cloth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 laying aside or casting away all maliciousness saith the same Apostle again in the first verse of this Chapter It is evil then to do any act of maliciousness but much worse when we have so done to cloak it with a fair pretence For besides that all things howsoever cloaked and covered from the eyes of men are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do this cloaking of our sins is but a farther evidence of our hypocrisie in his sight who as he is a God of pure eyes and therefore cannot but hate all sin so is he a God that loveth a pure heart and therefore of all sins hateth hypocrisie They that by injustice and oppression devour widows houses shall certainly receive damnation for that but if withal they do it under the colour of devotion and of long prayers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall receive the greater damnation for that also But if men will need be hypocrites and must have a cloak for their maliciousness they might yet at
which perhaps all that while never came within his thoughts but merely respecteth his own occasions and conveniences In this example as in a glass let the objectors behold the lineaments and features of their own Argument Because kneeling standing bowing are commanded by the Church and the people are bound in conscience to obey the Laws of the Church therefore the Church imposeth upon the people kneeling standing and bowing as necessary to salvation If that which they object were indeed true and that the Church did impose these Rites and Ceremonies upon the people as of necessity to salvation and require to have them so accepted doubtless the imposition were so prejudicial to Christian liberty as that every faithful man were bound in conscience for the maintenance of that liberty to disobey her authority therein and to confess against the imposition But our Church hath been so far from any intention of doing that her self that by her foresaid publick declaration she hath manifested her utter dislike of it in others What should I say more Denique teipsum concute It would better become the Patriarchs of that party that thus deeply but untruly charge her to look unto their own cloaks dive into their own bosoms and survey their own positions and practice if happily they may be able to clear themselves of trenching upon Christian liberty and ensnaring the consciences of their brethren and imposing upon their Proselites their own traditions of kneel not stand not bow not like those mentioned Col. 2. of touch not taste not handle not requiring to have them accepted of the People as of necessity unto salvation If upon due examination they can acquit themselves in this matter their accounts will be the easier but if they cannot they shall find when the burden lighteth upon them that it will be no light matter to have been themselves guilty of that very crime whereof they have unjustly accused others As for consent with the Papists in their doctrine concerning the power that mens Laws have over the conscience which is the last objection it ought not to move us We are not ashamed to consent with them or any others in any truth but in this point we differ from them so far as they differ from the truth which difference I conceive to be neither so great as some men nor yet so little as other some men would make it They teach that Humane Laws especially the Ecclesiastical bind the consciences of men not only in respect of the obedience but also in respect of the things themselves commanded and that by their own direct immediate and proper virtue In which doctrine of theirs three things are to be misliked First that they give a preheminence to the Ecclesiastical Laws above the Secular in this power of binding Wee may see it in them and in these objectors how men will run into extremities beyond all reason when they give themselves to be led by corrupt respects As he said of himself and his fellow-Philosophers Scurror ego ipse mihi populo tu so it is here They of Rome carried with a wretched desire to exalt the Papacy and indeed the whole Clergy as much as they may and to avile the secular powers as much as they dare they therefore ascribe this power over the conscience to the Ecclesiastical Laws especially but do not shew themselves all out so zealous for the Secular Ours at home on the contrary out of an appetite they have to bring in a new platform of Discipline into the Church and for that purpose to present the established Government unto the eyes and the hearts of the people in as deformed a shape as they can quarrel the Ecclesiastical Laws especially for tyrannizing over the conscience but do not shew themselves so much aggrieved at the secular Whereas the very truth is whatsoever advantages the secular powers may have above the Ecclesiastical or the Ecclesiastical above the secular in other respects yet as to the poweâ—â—â— binding the Conscience all humane Laws in general are of like reason and stand upon equal terms It is to be misliked secondly in the Romish Doctrine that they subject the conscience to the things themselves also and not only tie it to the obedience whereby they assume unto themselves interpretative the power of altering the nature of the things by removing of their indifferency and inducing a necessity for so long as they remain indifferent it is certain they cannot bind And thirdly and principally it is to be misliked in them that they would have this binding power to flow from the proper and inherent virtue of the Laws themselves immediately and per-se which is in effect to equal them with the divine Law for what can that do more Whereas humane Lawâ— in things not repugnant to the Law of God do bind the conscience indeed to obedience but it is by consequent and by vertue of a former Divine Law commanding us in all lawful things to obey the superior powers But whether mediately or immediately may some say whether directly or by consequent whether by its own or by a borrowed vertue what is it material to be argued so longas the same effect will follow and that as entirely to all intents and purposes the one way as well as the other As if a debt be alike recoverable it skilleth not much whether it be due upon the original bond or upon an assignment If they may be sure to be obeyed the higher powers are satisfied Let Scholars wrangle about words and distinctions so they have the thing it is all they look after This Objection is in part true and for that reason the differences in this controversie are not altogether of so great consequence as they have seemed to some Yet they that think the difference either to be none at all or not of considerable moment judge not aright for albeit it be all one in respect of the Governors whence the Obligation of Conscience springeth so long as they are conscioâ—ably obeyed as was truly alledged Yet unto inferiors who are bound in conscience to yield obedience it is not all one but it much concerneth them to understand whence that Obligation ariseth in respect of this very point whereof we now speak of Christian liberty and for two weighty and important considerations For first If the obligation spring as they would have it from the Constitution it self by the proper and immediate vertue thereof then the conscience of the subject is tyed to obey the Constitution in the rigour of it whatsoever occasions may occur and whatsoever other inconveniences may follow thereupon so as he sinneth mortally who at any time in any case though of never so great necessity doth otherwise than the very letter of the Constitution requireth yea though it be extra casum scandali contemptûs Which were an heavy case and might prove to be of very pernicious consequence and is indeed repugnant
light of natural reason or at leastwise from some Conclusions properly directly and evidently deduced therefrom If we condemn it before this be done our judgment therein is rash and unrighteous 15. Nor is that all I told you besides the unrighteousness of it in it self that it is also of very noisom and perilous consequence many ways Sundry the evil and pernicious effects whereof I desire you to take notice of being many I shall do little more than name them howbeit they well deserve a larger discovery And first it produceth much Uncharitableness For although difference of judgment should not alienate our affections one from another yet daily experience sheweth it doth By reason of that self-love and envy and other corruptions that abound in us it is rarely seen that those men are of one heart that are of two minds St. Paul found it so with the Romans in his time whilest some condemned that as unlawful which others practised as lawful they judged one another and despised one another perpetually And I doubt not but any of us that is any-whit-like acquainted with the wretched deceitfulness of mans heart may easily conclude how hard a thing it is if at all possible not to think somewhat hardly of those men that take the liberty to do such things as we judge unlawful As for example If we shall judg all walking into the fields discoursing occasionally on the occurrency of the times dressing of meat for dinner or supper or even moderate recreations on the Lords day to be greivous prophanations of the Sabbath how can we chuse but judg those men that use them to be grievous prophaners of Gods Sabbath And if such our judgment concerning the things should after prove to be erroneous then can it not be avoided but that such our judgment also concerning the persons must needs be uncharitable 16. Secondly this mis-judging of things filleth the world with endless niceties and disputes to the great disturbance of the Churches peace which to every good man ought to be precious The multiplying of Books and Writings pro and con and pursuing of Arguments with heat and opposition doth rather lengthen than decide Controversies and instead of destroying the old begetteth new ones whiles they that are in the wrong out of obstinacy will not and they that stand for the truth out of conscience dare not may not yield and so still the War goeth on 17. And as to the publick peace of the Church so is there also thirdly by this means great prejudice done to the peace and tranquility of private mens consciences when by the peremptory Dostrines of some strict and rigid Masters the souls of many a well-meaning man are miserably disquieted with a thousand unnecessary scruples and driven sometimes into very woful perplexities Surely it can be no light matter thus to lay heavy burdens upon other mens shoulders and to cast a snare upon their consciences by making the narrow way to heaven narrower than ever God meant it 18. Fourthly hereby Christian Governours come to be robbed of a great part of that honour that is due unto them from their people both in their Affections and Subjection For when they shall see cause to exercise over us that power that God hath left them in indifferent things by commanding such or such things to be done as namely wearing of a Surplice kneeling at the Communion and the like if now we in our own thoughts have already prejudged any of the things so commanded to be unlawful it cannot be but our hearts will be sowred towards our Superiours in whom we ought to rejoyce and instead of blessing God for them as we are bound to do and that with hearty chearfulness we shall be ready to speak evil of them even with open mouth so far as we dare for fear of being shent Or if out of that fear we do it but indirectly and obliquely yet we will be sure to do it in such a manner as if we were willing to be understood with as much reflection upon authority as may be But then as for our Obedience we think our selves clearly discharged of that it being granted on all hands as it ought that Superiours commanding unlawful things are not therein to be obeyed 19. And then as ever one evil bringeth on another since it is against all reason that our Error should deprive our Superiours of that right they have to our obedience for why should any man reap or challenge benefit from his own act we do by this means fifthly exasperate those that are in authority and make the spirit of the Ruler rise against us which may hap to fall right heavy on us in the end All power we know whether Natural or Civil striveth to maintain it self at the height for the better preserving of it self the Natural from decay and the Civil from contempt When we therefore withdraw from the higher powers our due obedience what do we other than pull upon our selves their just displeasure and put into their hands the opportunity if they shall but be as ready to take it as we are to give it rather to extend their power Whereby if we suffer in the conclusion as not unlike we may a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom may we thank for it but our selves 20. Sixthly by this means we cast our selves upon such sufferings as the cause being naught we can have no sound comfort in Causa non passio we know it is the cause maketh a true Martyr or Confessor and not barely the suffering He that suffereth for the Truth and a good cause suffereth as a Christian and he need not be ashamed but may exult in the midst of his greatest sufferings chearing up his own heart and glorifying God on that behalf But he that suffereth for his Error or Disobedience or other rashness buildeth his comfort upon a sandy foundation and cannot better glorifie God and discharge a good conscience than by being ashamed of his fault and retracting it 21. Seventhly hereby we expose not our selves only which yet is something but sometimes also which is a far greater matter the whole Reformed Religion by our default to the insolent jeers of Atheists and Papists and other prophane and scornful spirits For men that have Wit enough and to spare but no more Religion than will serve to keep them out of the reach of the Laws when they see such men as pretend most to holiness to run into such extravagant opinions and practices as in the judgment of any understanding man are manifestly ridiculous they cannot hold but their Wits will be working and whilst they play upon them and make themselves sport enough therewithal it shall go hard but they will have one fling among even at the power of Religion too Even as the Stoicks of old though they stood mainly for vertue yet because they did it in such an uncouth and rigid way as seemed to be repugnant not
it and to dress it and besides the charge given us in that behalf it behoveth us much for our own good to keep them with all diligence If we husband them well the benefit will be ours he looketh for no more but his rent and that an easie rent the Glory and the Thanks the fruits wholly accure to us as Usufructuaries But if we be such ill husbands so careless and improvident as to let them sylvescere overgrow with wild and superfluous branches to hinder the thriving of the grafts whereby they become ill-liking and unfruitful we shall neither answer the trust committed to us nor be able to pay our rent we shall bring him in no glory nor do our selves any good but run behind hand continually and come to nought at last 18. It will behove us therefore if we will have our fruit in holiness and the end everlasting life to look to it betimes lest some root of bitterness springing up put us to more trouble than we are aware of for the present or can be well able to deal withal afterwards The Flesh will find us work enough to be sure it is ever and anon putting forth spurns of Avarice Ambition Envy Revenge Pride Luxury some noisom lust or other like a rotten dunghil that 's rank of weeds If we neglect them but a little out of a thought that they can do no great harm yet or that we shall have time enough to snub them hereafter we do it to our own certain disadvantage if not utter undoing we shall either never be able to overcome them or not without very much more labour and difficulty than we might have done at the first 19. In the mean time whilst these superfluous excrescencies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know not how to call them are suffered they draw away the sap to their own nourishment and so pine and starve the grafts that they never come to good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Iames we translate it wherefore laying aside perhaps it may import a little more The whole verse is well worth the further considering if we had time to insist upon it it seemeth to allude throughout to the lopping off of those suckers or superfluous branches that hinder the prospering of grafts As if he had said If you desire that the holy Word of God which is to be grafted in your hearts should bring forth fruit to the saving of your souls suffer not these filthy and naughty superfluities of fleshly lusts to hinder the growth thereof but off with them away with them and the sooner the better That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 20. I should from this Point before I had left it but that I have other things to speak to and may not insist have pressed two things more First the necessity of our Prayers It is true our endeavours are necessary God that doth our work for us will not do it without us But without the assistance of his Spirit all our endeavours are bootless and we have no reason to persume of his assistance if we think our selves too good to ask it We may not think we have done all our part toward fruit-bearing when we have planted and watered until we have earnestly solicited him to do his part too in giving the encrease and crowning our endeavours with success 21. Secondly a duty of Thankfulness If by his good blessing upon our prayers and endeavours we have been enabled to bring forth any fruit such as he will graciously accept take we heed we do not withdraw the least part of the glory of it from him to derive it upon our selves or our own endeavours Non nobis Domine non Nobis Not unto us O Lord by no means to us but to thy Name be the glory Enough it is for us that we have the comfort onward and shall have an unmeasurable reward at the last for the good we have done either of both which is infinitly more than we deserve but far be it from us to claim any share in the glory let all that be to him alone Whatsoever fruit therefore we bear or how much soever let us not be high-minded thereupon or take too much upon us For we bear not the root but the root beareth us and when we have done our utmost endeavors the fruit we bear is still the fruit of the Spirit not the fruit of our endeavours 22. I have dwelt long upon this first difference not so much because it was the first though that somtimes falleth out to be the best excuse we are able to make for such prolixities as because it is the most maâ—erial as arising from the different nature of the things spoken of whereas the three that follow are rather verbal arising but from the different manner of the Apostles expressions in respect of the words The first whereof the second of the whole four is that the evil effects proceeding from the flesh are called by the name of Works and the good effects proceeding from the Spirit are called by the name of Fruits The Quaery is Why those and these being both effects alike they are not either both alike called Works or both alike called Fruits but the one Works the othere Fruit The works of the Flesh there here the fruit of the Spirit 23. For answer whereunto I shall propose to your choice two Conjectures The one more Theological or rather Metaphysical which is almost as new to me as perhaps it will seem to you for it came not into my thoughts till I was upon it the other more moral and popular For the former take it thus Where the immediate Agent produceth a work or effect virtue propriâ by his own power and not in the virtue of a superiour Agent both the work it self produced and the efficacy of the operation whereby it is produced are to be ascribed to him alone so as it may be said properly and precisely to be his work But where the immediate Agent operateth virtute aliâ—nâ in the strength and virtue of some higher Agent without which he were not able to produce the effect tho the work done may even there also be attributed in some soâ—â— to the inferior and subordinate Agent as the immediate cause yet the efficacy whereby it was wrought cannot be so properly imputed to him but ought rather to be ascribed to that higher Agent in whose virtue he did operate 24. The Application will make it somewhat plainer In all humane actions whether good or bad the will of Man is the immediate Agent so that whether we commit a sin or do a good work inasmuch as it proceedeth from our free Wills the work is still our work howsoever But herein is the difference between good and evil actions The Will which is naturally in this depraved estate conrupt and fleshly operateth by its own power alone for the producing of a sinful action without any co-operation at all as was said already
of God or his holy Spirit and therefore the sin so produced is to be ascribed to the fleshly Will as to the sole and proper cause thereof and may therefore very rightly be said to be the work of the flesh But in the producing of any action that is spiritually good the Will operateth only as a subordinate Agent to the grace of the holy Spirit and in the power and virtue thereof and therefore altho the good work may in some sort be said to be our work because immediately produced by our Wills yet it is in truth the fruit of that Spirit and not of our Wills because it is wrought by the power of that Spirit and not by any power of our Wills Nevertheless not I but the grace of God with me 1 Cor. 15. 25. If this seem but a subtilty and satisfy not let it go the other I presume will being it is so plain and popular The word Fruit most what relateth to some Labour going before Hoc fructûs pro labore ab his fero in the Poet. So in the Scriptures Nevertheless this is the fruit of my labour The husbandman that first laboureth must be partaker of the fruit Labour first and then Fruit. That which David calleth the labour of the hands Thou shalt eat the labour of thy hands Psal. 128. Solomon calleth the fruit of the hands Give her of the fruit of her hands Prov. 31. 26. The reason is because no Man would willingly undergo any toil or labour to no end he would have something or other in his eye that might in some measure recompence his pains and that is called the fruit of his labour Tully therefore joineth proemium and fructum together as importing the same thing Who planteth a Vineyard but in hope to eat of the fruit of it Or what Husbandman would plow and sow and plant and prune and dig and dung if he did not hope to find it all answered again when he cometh to inn the Fruits Spe fructûs dura ferentes The first question in every Man's thoughts when he is importuned to any thing of labour and business is Ecquid erit pretii Will it be worth my labour What benefit shall I reap by it What will be the fruit of my pains 27. In all deliberations where two ways are offered to our choice Wisdom would that we should first weigh as advisedly and exactly as we can the labour and the fruit of the one against the other and as we find those rightly compared to be more or less to make our resolutions accordingly We are called on hard on both sides God commandeth us to serve him Satan and the World solicite us to the service of sin Promises there are or Intimations of Fruit on both sides Salvation to our Souls on the one side Satisfaction to our Lusts on the other Here then is our business and our wisdom to compare what is required and what is offered on both sides to examine on the one side first and then on the other whether the Work exceed the Fruit or the Fruit the Work 28. Now the Apostle by the very choice of his words here hath after a sort done the business and determined the Controversy to our hands In the service of sin the toil is so great that in comparison thereof the benefit is as nothing and in the Service of God the benefit so great that in comparison thereof the pains is as nothing Where the Flesh ruleth all the Work exceedeth the Fruit and therefore without ever mentioning the Fruit they are called the Works of the Flesh. But where the Spirit of God ruleth the Fruit exceedeth the Work and therefore without ever mentioning the Work it is called the Fruit of the Spirit 29. If in this passage only this different manner of speaking had been used by the Apostle it might perhaps have been taken for a casual expression unsufficient to ground any collection upon But look into Eph. 5. and you cannot doubt but it was done of choice and with this very meaning Speaking there of the Duties of Holiness even as here without any mention of work he calleth them by the name of Fruit The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth vers 9. But by and by vers 11. speaking of sinful actions he doth not only call them Works as he doth here but positively and expresly pronounceth them fruitless Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Works but without Fruit unfruitful works of darkness This justifieth the collection to be evident and natural and without enforcement The ways of sin are very toilsom yet withal unfruitful but in all spiritual labour there is profit The fruit will countervail the pains and recompence it abundantly We may not unfitly apply to these two his words in the Comedy In his fructus est in his opera luditur 30. The paths of sin seem indeed at the first hand and in the entrance to be very pleasant and even The Devil to draw Men in goeth before like a leveller and smootheth the way for them but when they are in he driveth them along and on they must Be the way never so dark and slippery never so crooked or craggy never so intricate and perplexed being once engaged they must go through it per saxa per ignes stick at nothing be it never so contrary to the Laws of God or Men to all natural civil or religious obligations yea even to the principles of common humanity and reason that avarice ambition revenge or any other vicious lust putteth them upon Ambulavimus vias difficiles they confess it at last when it is too late and befool themselves for it We have wearied our selves in the way of wickedness and destruction we have gone through dangerous ways c. Wisd. 5. They have wearied themselves to work iniquity saith the Prophet Ieremiah and the Prophet Habakkuk The people labour in the very fire The Greek word that signifieth wickedness cometh of another that signifieth labour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And how often in the Scriptures do we meet with such-like Phrases as those to work wickedness workers of iniquity c. St. Chrysostom's eloquence enlargeth it self and triumpheth in this argument more frequently and with greater variety of invention and amplification than in almost any other and he cleareth it often and beyond all exception both by Scripture and Reason that the life of a wicked or worldly Man is a very druggery infinitely more toilsom vexatious and unpleasant than a godly life is 31. Now if after all this droyling the fruit would tho but in a scant proportion answer the pains it were the more tolerable But there is no such matter the Sinner hath but his labour for his pains Nay I may say it were happy for him if he had but his labour for his pains and that there were not a
and punisheth it wheresoever he findeth it with severe chastisements in his own dearest servants and children but with fiery vengeance and fury poured out upon his Adversaries Where he enjoineth a duty he looketh for obedience and therefore where the duty is unperformed the disobedience is sure to be punished let the offender pretend and alledge never so largely to excuse it Quid verba audiam factacum videam It is the work he looketh at in all his retributions and where the work is not done vain words will not ward off the blows that are to be inflicted for the neglect nor any whit lessen them either in their number or weight Will they not rather provoke the Lord in his just indignation to lay on both more and heavier strokes For where a Duty is ill neglected and the neglect ill excused the Offender deserveth to be doubly punished once for the omission of the Duty and once more for the vanity of the Excuse 36. Let me beseech you therefore dearly beloved brethren for the love of God and your own safety to deal clearly and impartially betwixt God and your own Souls in this Affair without shuffling or dawbing and to make straight paths to your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way Remember that they that trust to lying vanities and false pretences are no better forsake their own mercy And that feigned excuses are but as a staff of Reed a very weak stay for a heavy body to trust to for support which will not only crack under the weight but the sharp splinters thereof will also run up into the hand of him that leaneth upon it You see what God looketh at It is the heart that he pondereth and the Soul that he observeth and the work that he recompenseth Look therefore that your hearts be true and your souls upright and your works perfect that you may never stand in need of such poor and beggarly shifts as forged pretences are nor be driven to fly for refuge to that which will nothing at all profit you in the day of wrath and of trial Let your desires be unfeigned and your endeavours faithful to the utmost of your power to do Iustice and to shew Mercy to your Brethren and to discharge a good Conscience in the performance of all those duties that lie upon you by virtue either of your general Callings as Christians or of your particular Vocations whatever they be with all diligence and godly wisdom that you may be able to stand before the Iudgment-seat of the great God with comfort and out of an humble and well-grounded confidence of his gracious acceptance of your imperfect but sincere desires and endeavours in Christ not fear to put your selves upon the trial each of you in the words of holy David Psal. 139. Try me O God and seek the ground of my heart prove me and examine my thoughts Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me and lead me in the way everlasting in the way that leadeth to everlasting life Which great Mercy the Lord of his infinite goodness vouchsafe unto us all for his dear Son's sake Iesus Christ our blessed Saviour To whom c. AD MAGISTRATUM The Third Sermon At the Assizes at Notingham in the Year 1634. at the Request of ROBERT MELLISH Esq then High-Sheriff of that County 1 Sam. 12. 3. Behold here I am witness against me before the Lord and before his Anointed Whose Oxe have I taken or whose Ass have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith And I will restore it you 1. ABold and just challenge of an old Iudg made before all the People upon his resignal of the Government into the hands of a new King Samuel was the Man Who having continued whilst Eli lived in the Service of the Tabernacle as a Levite and a private Man was after his death to undergo a new business in the exercise of Publick Iudicature For that phanatical Opinion which hath possessed some in these later times That no Ecclesiastical Person might lawfully exercise any Secular Power was in those days unheard of in the World Eli though a a Priest was a Iudg also and so was Samuel though a Levite after him And we find not that either the People made any question at all or that themselves made any scruple at all of the lawfulness of those concurrent Powers Samuel was now as it is collected by those that have travelled in the Chronology aged about five and thirty Years and so in his full strength when he was first Iudg Which so long as it continued in any measure he little respected his own case in comparison of the common Good but took his yearly Circuits about the Country keeping Courts in the most convenient places abroad besides his constant sittings at Rama where his dwelling was for the hearing and determining of Causes to the great ease of all and content no doubt of the most or best 2. But by that he had spent about 30 years more in his Countries Service he could not but find such decays in his Body as would call upon him in his now declining Age to provide for some ease under that great burden of Years and Business Which that he might so do as that yet the publick Service should not be neglected he thought good to joyn his two Sons in commission with him He therefore maketh them Iudges in Israel in hope that they would frame themselves by his example to judg the people with such-like diligence and uprightness as himself had done But the young Men as they had far other aims than the good old Father had so they took quite other ways than he did Their care was not to advance Iustice but to fill their own Coffers which made them soon to turn aside after lucre to take bribes and to pervert judgment This fell out right for the Elders of Israel who now had by their miscarriage a fair opportunity opened to move at length for that they had long thirsted after viz. the change of the Government They gather themselves therefore together that the cry might be the fuller and to Ramah they come to Samuel with many complaints and alledgments in their mouths But the short of the business was a King they must have and a King they will have or they will not rest satisfied It troubled Samuel not a little both to hear of the misdemeanour of his sons of whom he had hoped better and to see the wilfulness of a discontented people bent upon an Innovation Yet he would consult with God before he would give them their answer And then he answereth them not by peremptorily denying them the thing they so much desired but by earnestly dissuading them from so inordinate a desire But they persisting obstinately in their first resolution by