I. The Common Sin of Excuses OUr first Parents having eaten the sowr Grape their own and their Childrens Teeth have been set on edge still hankering after forbidden Fruit. And as if Sin and Excuses were Twins as Esau and Jacob holding each other by the heel we still run after the Taste of the Tree of Evil to the Fig-tree to borrow some Leaves to make an Apron and think if we get into the Thicket of Excuses and can say All hid that we may say All 's well not remembring the Voice we shall hear in the Cool of the Day the Evening of our Life Adam where art thou This is a great and fore Evil which hath tainted our Nature and is the remain of that first poyson wherewith the old Serpent in Paradise infected our first parents Excuses have first shut us out of Paradise and now obstruct our way to Heaven The great Supplanter then took away our Birthright now our Blessing Excuses obstruct our way to Heaven being still a Block or Bar in our way thither Whensoever God calls to a Duty Excuses are a Block to hinder Obedience that we cannot go forward When God calls again from Sin Excuses are a Bar to hinder Repentance that we cannot go backward But all the way to Hell is thick strew'd with Excuses and under covert of them most deluded Souls as Ahab in his Disguises once run confidently and fearlesly upon their certain and unavoidable ruine Our Blâ—ssed Saviour in that Parabolical Scheme Luke 14. 16 17 18 19. doth as in a Map set down how all the Race of Mankind is tainted with this Evil. A certain man made a great Supper and bade many and sent his Servants at Supper-time to â—â—y to them that were bidden Come for all things are now ready But they all with one consent began to make Excuses The first said I have bought a piece of Ground and must needs go see it I pray thee have me excused Another said I have bought five yoke of Oxen and I go to prove them I pray thee have me excused And another said I have married a Wife therefore I cannot come I pray thee have me excused and I pray thee have me excused is the answer of them all in effect In which Scripture you may as in a Map see on the one side the kindness of God to Man on the other Mans unkindness to God and to himself In the one Gods rich Grace displaied in the other Mans vile Ingratitude described Gods care of Mans Salvation Mans carelesness What could God do more to make them happy He provides invites waits sends out again What could they do more to make themselves unhappy They put off all by evasions and shifts and subterfuges St. Matthew Mat. 22. 5. hath it They made light of it Here you may see the nature of that sin we are about to discourse of Excuses 2. The universality of this sin They all with one consent began to make Excuses as if they had laid their Heads together and resolved there would none of them go 3. The particularity yea singularity of this sin not a man of them to seek of his Excuse The first had his Excuse the second his the third a third So many men so many Excuses It is the sin of all it is the sin of every one whence this shall be our Observation upon which this Discourse shall run viz. It is the General sin of the World and of those in the Church too All and every Mans sin to slight and reject the Grace of God and to endanger their own Eternal Salvation by a company of fair and specious in shew but indeed slight vain and frivolous Excuses It is the sin of the World Wo to the World because of Excuses It is the sin of the Church Wo to the Church and to many that are called to partake of rich Gospel-grace which they reject and make void by Excuses It is the most common sin of the World Divide the World into three parts The first and best is the least of such as gladly receive the Gospel and say with Samuel Speak Lord thy Servant heareth 1 Sam. 3. 10. or with St. Paul Lord what wilt thou have me to do A little Flock of these there are but few of them 2. There is a far greater and worse number of them that in stead of accepting shew foul contempt of the Gospel which breaks out in their opposition and persecution of it as in that Parable akin to this appears Mat. 22. 6. The remnant took the servants and intreated them shamefully and slew them A Remnant but a vile and very great Remnant of prophane Persecuters and Opposers But the greatest though not the worst part is of our Excuse-makers It is not said they all with one consent came in All are not Accepters Nor all with one consent persecuted and opposâ—d but the Remnant Too great a Remnant too All are not Persecuters But all with one consent made excuse All are Excuse-makers all guilty here more or less A sin it is in which the most godly sometimes have been faulty as well as the most wicked Abraham Sarah Moses Jeremy as well as Cain Saul Judas The most ancient of sins and the first-First-fruits of the first sin When Adam and Eve had eaten that forbidden Fruit the next thing was to frame an excuse Hast thou Gen. 3. 10 11 12 13. eaten of that Tree Adam The Woman that thou gavest me Hast thou eaten Eve The Serpent beguiled me said she Dost thou hide thy self from me Adam I saw I was naked said he again Nothing but Excuses and so sin upon sin Cain the first born of Adam when he had shed his Brothers blood thinks to put it off with an Excuse Am I my Brothers keeper But Gen. 4 9. it is wonderful to observe what ado the Prophet had with Saul after he had so grosly transgressed the Commandment to get him speak that hard word Peccavi But one while he pleads innocency he had spared the Cattel indeed some of them 1 Sam. 15. 13 15 c. but it was for Sacrifice and they were fat ones Then would he cast it upon the People then upon his Fear No owning but excusing his sin till Samuel told him downright he was rejected for his halting and disobedience Excuses are the most general and prevailing sin of the World the Peccatum in deliciis the sin that is made most of by Simple and Gentle High and Low none but cherish and harbor it The greatest Persons as Saul a King greatest Politicians as Jeroboam and the simplest Swain The Sluggard hath an excuse to spare his pains A Lion is in the way And take any Prov. 26. 13. one without his excuse and call him a very poor Man indeed What the Prophet noteth of the Idolater he that is so empoverisht Isa 4â— â—â— that he hath no Oblation yet seeketh a piece of Timber that will not rot to make an
Idol of and then applauds himself when he hath done I may say of the poorest and simplest None so poor but he seeketh to get some rotten Excuse or other of which he makes an Idol to quiet his clamorous and otherwise unsatisfied Conscience Saul had his Excuse for disobedience 1 Sam. 15. 15. After for his going to the Witch Jeroboam 1 Sam. 28. 15. 1 Kings 12. 28. an Excuse for his Calves in Dan and Bethel the Jews for stoning of Christ had an Excuse at hand Joh. 10. 33. and another for Crucifying of him We have a Law and by our Law he ought to die Joh. 19. 7. CHAP. II. The several Kinds of Excuses EXcuses are not all alike some are good some bad We meet with several holy just honourable Excuses in Scripture which are for our imitation Such was Holy Joseph's when sollicited to uncleanness by his impudent Mistris How can I do Gen. 39. 9. this great wickedness and sin against God That of David when pressed to avenge himself of his Master and Sovereign Saul God forbid that I should do this thing to my Master the Lords Annointed 1 Sam. 24. 6. and again 1 Sam. 26. 9. Such that of the three Worthies Dan. 3. 16. We are not careful to answer thee in this matter our God is able to deliver us out of thy hand and if not we neither can nor will worship thy Image Such that of the Apostles We must obey Acts 5. 29. God rather than Men. But our Discourse is professedly about bad Excuses I therefore pass those over Evil Excuses are of three sorts relating 1. To Sin 2. Duty 3. Faith We begin with such as refer to Sin and such are of two sorts 1. Such as are homebred and taken from self 2. Some extraneous and borrowed from others They are very many that relate to all these Heads I intend not an enumeration of all that were almost endless but take notice of such as are most obvious In the first place to begin with those 1. Denying the Fact that refer to Sin The first Excuse I shall take notice of is to deny the Fact Not I not I is the old Put-off Little less was that of our first Parents when questioned about the first Transgression Not I but the Woman Not I but the Serpent The like Judas his impudent Reply Is it I q. d. Who will say it is But most palpable that of Gehazi who by one Lie told in his Masters name got of Naaman two great Bags of Silver as much or more than he could carry and two Changes of Rayment and reckoned with himself what Purchases he should make of Olive-yards Vineyards c. But when he came back to his Master with another Lie in his Mouth as one Lie leads to another Thy Servant 2 Kings 5. 25. went no whither as denying the Fact he received a sad Doom The Leprosie of Naaman stick to thee and to thy Seed for ever A fit and just Brand for the Liars Forehead Had every Liar one such there would be many a foul Face to be seen in the Streets But how ordinary is it with young and old Servants and Children when done amiss to deny the fact thinking thereby to excuse and extenuate the fault which doth but aggravate it and of one fault makes two as our Divine Poet Dare to be true nothing can need a lie Herbert A fault that needs it most grows two thereby He that covereth his sin by a lie or denial Prov. 28. 3. shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy both with God and Man 2. A second sort will not tell you a downright Lie but as handsomly as they 2. Artificial Storie and fair Taâ—es can smother the Truth by an Artificial Story and think their work is done Thus did Joseph's Brethren when they had sold their Brother come home with a fair Tale having stript him of his Garment and dipt it in Blood shew'd it to their Father This we found whose Garment it is we know not Discern thou whether it be thy Sons I Gen. 37. 32. or no And thought they should never have heard more of it But not onely Murder but Lying and all Deceit will out they were afterwards brought to much shame and horror for the fact So true is that of the Wiseman A lying tongue is but Prov 12. 19. for a moment but the lip of truth shall be established for ever may be blamed never shamed A third sort comes and pleads Ignorance 3. Ignorance and saith he knew not that it was evil This was wicked Balaam's excuse when the Angel met him with a drawn Sword I did not know saith he that it was not thy mind that I should not go I will therefore return if it displease thee Num. 22. 35. Yes Balaam yes thou knewest well enough for the Lord had said expresly ver 12. Thou shalt not go neither curse them at all Yet go he would and curse them too though not in word yet by that more cursed and pernicious counsel that he gave the Midianites to entice the Israelites both to spiritual and bodily Fornication with their Idolatrous Feasts and then with their Daughters But though he escaped for a while he was after cut apieces Num. 31. 8 with the Sword It is true there is an Ignorance which if it be real not pretended invincible not affected doth in some sort excuse a tanto though not toto doth lessen the offence Such was Paul's who therefore found mercy upon his repentance because what he had done formerly against the Church he had done it ignorantly and in his state of 1 Tim. c. 13. unbelief yet did he never after plead his Ignorance by way of Excuse but every where laments it and the sad effects of it 4. A fourth stands up in his own defence 4 My Nature and pleads his Nature saying It is my nature and I cannot help it my nature and I must be born with my nature is to be hasty cholerick c. The godly mans grief is the wicked mans excuse Thou hast more cause to blush and be ashamed of the depravedness of thy nature and to pray to be made partaker of the Divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 3. We pitty the Child who hath casually licked Poyson who is sick swells vomits purgeth sweats c. and dies if it be not expelled but hate and kill the Toad and venomous Asp whose nature it is Shall Cain plead my nature is to be bloody Nimrod mine to be Tyrannical Pharaoh mine to be obstinate Haman mine to be haughty Nabal mine to be currish Ishmael mine to scoff Jezabel mine to be unchast and Belshazzar mine to be jovial and rant Then let the Lion Bear Tyger Wolf and Serpent plead our nature is to raven devour destroy and poyson let us alone The Thorn and Briar our nature is to prick and tear therefore let us grow in the
to him as 2. We do to them as they to us he did to me and is not this warrantable Solomon shall answer thee No saith he Say not thou I will recompence evil but wait on the Lord and he shall save thee Prov. 20. 22. And more plainly Prov. 25. 29. Say not I will do to him as he hath done to me I will render to the man according to his work We are often warned not to avenge our Rom. 12. 19. Mat. 5. 39. 1 Pet. 3. 9. selves or resist evil or return railing for railing but to overcome evil with good A divine Victory and a double Victory this is the one over thy own passion the other over thy Enemies fury By this means thou mayst heap coals of fire on his head to melt him either into repentance or self-condemnation as Saul seemed once to be when 1 Sam. 24. 16 17. 26 21. malice was repayed with mercy He lift up his Voice and wept This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the singular thing wherein our Saviour would his Followers should out-do all others And is a great degree of Perfection To be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Mat. 5. 47 48. To return good for good is Publicanish Evil for evil is Heathenish Evil for good Devilish But to return good for evil is Divine Christ like who forgave and pray'd for his Enemies God like who is kind to the unkind and to make the nearest approach and proximity to the life of the blessed yea to the Deity it self 3. Some are Strangers to us And we 3. Exâ—uses from strangers are apt to think we may do what we will to them we never saw them before and shall never buy or sell with them more But the Divine Precept strictly forbids all ill usage of Strangers in many places and requires he should enjoy the same Priviledges with themselves Ye shall not oppress Exod. 22. 21. and 23. 9. Lev. 19. 33. or vex the Stranger saith he for thou wast a Stranger in Egypt and thou knowest the heart of a Stranger Therefore put thy self in his case and do as thou wouldst be Exod 12. 48. 49. done unto One Law was both for the Home-born and the Stranger for the Forreigner and the Native The same Ephah Shekel Weight Measure Price Truth Equity Behaviour How courteous were Abraham and Lot to the Strangers that resorted to them And Philoxeny which properly signifies love of Strangers is as much pressed in the New-Testament as a duty of Christians and Ministers as most Heb. 13. 2. 1 Tim. 3. 2. others As therefore it were an unworthy thing to lay a stumbling-block before the Blind though he can never see it an unhumane thing to curse the Deaf because he cannot hear it So a most unchristian thing to deal injuriously with the Stranger because he may never discern it Thus have I done with Excuses taken from other men CHAP. IV. Excuses taken from God and from Satan NEither are Men content to fetch Excuses Excuses taken from God from themselves or others but they will open their mouths against Heaven Some have been so bold as to challenge God seeking any starting hole to creep out at as we have too many instances whereof some follow 1. Such as go about to excuse themselves 1. From his Providence and fault Gods Providence The first Excuse that ever was made seemed to glance this way The woman thou gavest me gave it me and so I did eat q. d. Hadst thou not given me that woman I had never offended But God gave her to be a help not a snare to the man Thus the Drunkard faulteth the Wine and therein God's Providence Had not the Wine such fragrancy delicacy of taste and that intoxicating quality I had not been overcome And the riotous Gallant had I not had such an Estate fallen to me I had never been so luxurious Thus must all be cast upon God and every man innocent But God gave the Woman to be an inciter to Good not an enticer to Evil It was thy own fault Adam not thy Makers Thy own intemperance Drunkard not the Vine Grape or Wine that is in fault And thou riotous person It is thy wicked abuse of thy State not the State it self which is to be condemned that was given for better Uses But how ill is God dealt withall in the mean time when his own favours are turned against him to his dishonour Suppose now a Prince should advance a Servant or a Son to the highest degrees of Honour and Dignity and should as some of the Roman Emperors have done and once a King of England did give him a Partnership in the Empire If this Servant Henry 11. or Son should afterwards lift up the heel against his Soveraign and break out into Rebellion and then should say You should never have raised me to this height of Honour but have kept me lower we would think he pleaded fair for his deprivation and destruction How justly may the Lord say Shall I not be avenged on such a Jer. 5. 7 8. Nation as this When I fed them to the full they assembled themselves by troops in Harlots houses And in another place When I gave them Corn and Wine and Oyl and multiplyed their Silver and Gold they bestowed it all on Baal spent it all on their Lusts Therefore he threatens to return and take all away again as fast as he gave it them Hosea 2. 8 9. 2. Some fly higher and pick a quarrel 2. From Gods Decrees at Gods Decrees as if they would charge all their Sin and Condemnation upon God themselves being either innocent or inevitably destined thereunto For thus are such black-mouthed persons represented cavilling Ezek. 33. 10. If our Sins and our Transgressions be upon as and wepine away in them how can we then live q. d. It is no fault of ours if we perish God Almighty might have helpt all this iâ— he had pleased But who art thou O man that thus disputest with Rom. 9. 30. God Yet let us reason the case together and see where the fault is in God or thy self First Thou wilt confess it was free for the Soveraign Creator to make his Creatures of what form and for what use he pleased as some Rational others Bruits Plants c. Nor have any of them cause to say why hast thou made me thus not us Men Angels us Bruits Men and Women 2. That God creating Man should endue him with such excellent faculties of understanding to discern Good and Evil of Liberty of will to make Election of his own acts thou wilt not say this was evil yet 3. To prescribe to man thus formed holy Precepts commanding Good forbidding Evil nor can this be called Evil but most Just that God's Soveraignty might be owned in the World and Man's Subjection exercised 4. To hedge Man in by Promises and Threats of Rewards and Punishments to
Non deserit nisi deserentes The shame sprang from Aug. thy self Prov. 22. 14. The mouth of the strange woman saith Solomon is a deep Pit but mark what follows he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein There not Satan but God owes and pays the shame But more plainly Eccles 7. 26. where you see the cause and what went before Whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her God will preserve his Josephs but the Sinner the old prophane irreligious Sinner shall be taken by her So likewise ye may read Rom. 1. 26. That the Gentiles who smothered the natural light of their own Reason and sinned against Conscience not liking to retain God in their knowledge but became vain in their imaginations how God left them and as they went on farther and farther in a way of sin God went on in punishing First verse 24. God gave them up to uncleanness c. verse 26. God gave them up to vile affections and then they fell into unnatural and prodigious lusts And last verse 28. God gave them quite and clean over to a Reprobate mind and then he paid them home their shame with a witness for then were they filled with all and all manner of unrighteousness verse 29 30 c. 2. Excuses taken from Satan Some again Excuses taken from Satan are apt to take Excuses from Satan casting their sin upon him and because he is so bad think they may lay all their dirt at his Door Thus was the first sin parted between God and Satan The woman that thou gavest me said the man There 's for God The Serpent beguiled me said the woman There 's for Satan There 's nothing but excuse upon excuse and sin upon sin Yet did not this avoid the just Sentence against both for it was their own voluntary act Satan might perswade did not compel One saith the Devil as a sly Serpent deceived me another as a roaring Lion affrighted me a third as a fell Dragon cast a flood of temptations out of his mouth and over-whelmed me a fourth as a restless Friend he dogged and haunted me I could never be quiet for him All this excuseth not the sin is thy own sollicite and entice he may compel he cannot Thy will he hath no power over but by thy own consent The faithful Commander betrusted by his Prince with keeping a Fort thinks it not enough to hold no Correspondence with the Enemy but when he assaults him with his Batteries he manfully repels him makes up his Breaches prevents his Underminings seeks to Countermine him prevents his nearer Approaches Sallies out against him spends all his Darts and Ammunition against him endures all Extremities and when he fears and wants Supplies sends to his Prince and is relieved So it is with us not enough to say I was tempted enticed assaulted winnowed buffeted dogged but we should take the whole armor of God make resistance watch pray take the shield of Faith cry out and send to Heaven for assistance as Hezekiah with him is an Arm of Flesh but with us is the Lord of Hosts to fight our Battels and with him it is all one to save with strength or with them that have no might as Asa said 2 Chron. 14. 11. Help us O Lord our God for we rest on thee Help us against this Enemy And in thy Name we go out against him Resist the Devil saith St. James and St. Peter Jam. 4. 7. 1 Pet. 5. 9. Eph. 6. and he will fly from you Resist him manfully stedfast in the Faith and all his fiery Darts are blunted The Devil craves thy own help to destroy thee Those for the most part simple and sorry Creatures Witches and Sorcerers the Devil never leaves them till he gains their consent and a compact signed and sealed as their own act and deed then and not till then though they have been ignorant and lewd before doth he reckon himself sure of them And as these Witches have confessed they could have no power over some till they had gotten something of theirs So it is with their Master The Devil is call'd by many names in Scripture a Tempter Deceiver Accuser an Enemy Lyer Murderer c. no where a Compeller Preserve thy Will free and pure and he slinks It is not in his power to work in thee to will and to do what he will at his pleasure that is God's peculiar Prerogative Phil. 2. 13. As learned Zanchy De potentia daemonum in animas speaking of the power of the Devil upon mens Souls saith The Devil hath great power may have power over the Air Water over mens Bodies Goods Cattle States as in Jobs case may abuse our Senses Phancy work upon our Affections sollicit and assault the Will But this can he neither bend nor bow without our consent That is only in the power of God to do CHAP. V. Excuses taken from other things WE have done with Excuses as to 3. Excuses taken from other things sin taken from our selves and other persons We come now to speak of such as are taken from other things of which there are so many Reader that I do not promise thee to enumerate all but such as are most common and obvious And first Ignorance is a great and common 1. Ignorance pretence and were it really so it might pass for a just defence As when Abimelech was charged to be in a Confederacy with David against Saul he 1 Sam. 22. 15. avowed he was altogether ignorant of any such thing it was or should have been accepted as a clear purgation But ignorance is oft made a Cloak to carelesness and wretched neglect of duty belonging to our places Thus Solomon takes it for granted some do If thou forbearest saith he to Prov. 24. 11 12. deliver them that are drawn to death and sayst Behold we knew it not Doth not he that pondereth the heart consider and shall not he render to every man according to his works q. d. This is a poor shift a meer put-off Conscience is not so acquitted Thou mayst pretend thou wast not there hadst other business or some indisposition of Body but thou shouldst have been there If Nicodemus had not opened his mouth on Christ's behalf when he was traduced John 7. 51. And Joseph of Arimathea had not entered his Dissent at the Council-Table Luke 23. 51. when he was condemned The one had never been worthy of the name of a Disciple nor the other of an honourable Counsellour Mark 15. 43. Thy duty is if thou art betrusted with an Office to wait on thy Office Rom. 12. 7. 2. And now we have spoken of an Office 2. Their Place and Office there are some ready to plead their Place and Office for excuse that must bear them out Thus did Naaman plead When the King goeth into the house of Rimmon and 2 Kings 5. 18. leaneth on my hand for that is my place at Court and