was able to do them good he not only gave them bread in their hunger but nourished and comforted them and was a shelter to them in a strange Land as long as he lived As we should do them all the good we can so we ought to prevent any evil that might fall upon them Saul had been very defective in his duty to David both as a Prince and a Father As a Prince he ought not only to have protected but rewarded so deserving a Subject As a Father he ought to have cherished such an obedient Son who went whither soever Saul sâ—nt him 1 Sam. 18.5 But on the contrary he not only encourages some of his Followers to kill him but endeavours to take away his life by his own hand 1 Sam. 19.1 10. Now how doth David carry it in this case He endeavours to save himself as well as he could by withdrawing and giving place to Saul's wrath And when he in pursuing after him 1 Sam. 24.6 7. 1 Sam. 26.8 9. falls into his hands more than once he doth not only not destroy him himself but withholds those that would The tenderness that was in him toward such an enraged Enemy appeared in this that his heart smote him but for cutting off the skirt of his Garment tho this was done only to shew that he was in his power and that he could have done him a mischief if he would What effect this had upon Saul may be seen in the Story When David shewed him the skirt of his Garment and spake a few words to shew his innocency he tho a King and mightily enraged against him is melted into tears 1 Sam. 24.16 17. Saul lifted up his voice and wept saying Thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evil There is nothing like to overcome the rough temper and rugged carriage of others sooner than a kind and gentle behaviour toward them When Paul came first to Thessalonica he found them or at least many among them Constat apud Graecos translatitiè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad mores ad animum accommodari Beza to be a rough and untractable people The Bereans Acts 17.11 are said to be more noble 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of better breeding and more ingenious than they who upon Paul's preaching there took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort and gatheted a Company and set all the City in an uproar ver 5. Hence it is that he saith 1 Thes 2.1 2. That at his entrance in unto them he spake the Gospel of God with much contention that is on their part For as for his own part he was otherwise disposed It was the Rule he gave to Timothy 2 Epist 2.24 The servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth This was his own practise at this time for ver 7. he says We were gentle among you as a nurse cherisheth her children As a Nurse bears with the frowardness and peevishness of Children and by all ways imaginable endeavours to quiet them and bring them to a good humour so did the Apostle with them And it is probable that those of them that did believe partly by the Apostle's Doctrine and partly by his Example were of the like disposition and carriage toward them that believed not And what the effect of this was in that place where the Gospel was so much opposed at first we may gather from what he says in his second Epistle to them Chap. 3.1 Pray for us that the word of the Lord may have a free course and be glorified even as it is with you 2. As we should do them all the good we can and prevent the evil that might hurt them so we ought to pray that God would do them the good and prevent the evil we cannot Pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you And if for such much more for such who tho they may be in some particular instances prejudicial to us have a love to and kindness for us David complains Psal 57.4 That his soul was among lions and that he did lie among them that were set on fire even the sons of men whose teeth were spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword And of these or such as these he says Psal 35.15 They did tear me and ceased not What did David now Did he rend and tear as they did No ver 13. As for me when they were sick my cloahting was sackcloth I humbled my soul with fasting and my prayer returned into mine own bosom What could he have done more for his nearest Friend or dearest Brother So he says ver 14. I behaved my self as tho he had been my friend or brother Take an instance also of what was done for Friends who in a day of temptation did not the good they should When Paul came to Rome he preacht the Gospel among them for two whole years together Acts 28.30 31. And no doubt but that he that was sure that when he came Rom. 15.29 he should come in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel was kindly received by them And we may well think that he who before he came to them did so earnestly beseech them for the Lord Jesus Christs sake and for the love of the spirit Rom. 15.30 31. to strive with him in prayers to God that he might be delivered from them that did not believe in Judea did confidently expect that they would use not only that but other good means that he might be delivered from them that did not believe at Rome But it fell out otherwise For when a day of tryal came these Romans Faith did so far fail that not a man of them stood by him when he was in that great danger to be devoured by the mouth of the Lion 2 Tim. 4.16 At my first answer no man stood with me but all men forsook me This must needs greatly affect and afflict him yet in the next words he prays that this sin might not be imputed to them I pray God it may not be laid to their charge You see this is the will of God and this hath been the Saints practise But if you find holy men as sometimes you may David and Paul uttering themselves in another manner against God's and their enemies Psal 59.13 2 Tim. 4 14 as if they desired evil to fall upon them either the evil was Temporal or Eternal 1. If the evil were Temporal they cannot be thought to desire it absolutely sub ratione mali as evil but as it had a tendency to their good Deliberata imprecatio mali sub ratione mali contra homines quae est formalis maledictio non potest non esse mala Ames Cas lib. 4. Augustine de ser D. in monte As David Psal 9.20 Put them
not have been prevented and for these to be so far exasperated as to begin to hate or more remisly to love them is for a Father to fire the Beacon of his Soul for the Landing of a Cock-boat 'T is that that exposes the Father to his Childs contempt and Gods judgement Mat. 5.22 2. When a Parents anger is too frequent too hot or too long Anger must be us'd as a Medicine only now and then and that only on a just occasion otherwise it loseth its Efficacy or hurts the Patient Again Anger when too hot vehement excessive provokes 'T is True It must be serious there must be some Life and warmth in it the Potion must be warm'd Ira sic dicta quasi hominem faciat ex se ire non esse apud se that it may operate the more vigorously towards the Reformation of offending Children but then when it swells into an excess and transport of passion it provokes Such an excess of Anger like a Ball of Wild-fire is very apt to inflame the Childs breast and to provoke him into a sinful return of wrath and strife Prov. 15.18 Lastly Anger when too long when it lies soaking in the breast is apt to putrifie If the Sun arises and sets on a man in his wrath the Text tells us who is like to be his Bedfellow Eph. 4.26 27. Anger rests in the Bosom of a fool Eccl. 7.9 And well may it provoke a Child thô criminal to see his Fathers Bosom where once he lay to be now become Anger 's Couch and Satans Pillow Thus you see that Irregular Passions in severe Parents are no little Provocations and spurs to Sin and wrath in their disobedient Children They are like those smart Cantharides or Spanish-flies the most speedy and effectual means to raise blisters 2. By an austere look grim sour louring frowning countenance when a man seems to carry revenge daggers death in his Face when a man usually looks on his Child Gen. 4.5 6. as Cain did on his Brother as one highly displeas'd that bears Ill-will and ones him a grudge and will be sure to pay it in due time When the Child observes his Ancestors Crest pourtray'd on his Fathers forehead and instead of smiles can see nothing there but cruel Lions Bears Tigers This must needs highly provoke and 't is not to be wondred at if the Child in a fright and dreadful indignation cries out roaring I do well to be angry even to the Death Better to be kill'd outright than buried alive No grave so dark so dismal as those deep furrows in my frowning constantly frowning Fathers forehead 3. By bitter hasty biting testy disdainful reproachful railing taunting menacing threatning words Words steep'd in the Venom of Asps Oh these pierce deep like the Tails of Scorpions and do highly provoke More particularly 1. Hard Words Soft Words and hard Arguments work powerfully A soft Tongue breaks the bones Prov. 25.15 or one that is stiff and hard Abigail found it true in her address to David when he was in his rough 1 Sam. 25.4 But an hard Tongue hardens the Heart A soft Answer puts away wrath but grievous words stir up anger Prov. 15.1 Ob. But what do you speak of Words which are but Wind Jam. 3.5 Sol. True but this Wind many times kindles a dreadful fire and encreases it when once kindled As Coles to burning Coles and Wood to Fire so is a contentious man to kindle strife 2. Contumacious reproachful disgraceful words These are far remote from fatherly Love and respect Aristotle in his Rhet. tells us that the grand scope drift design of contumely is that a man may rejoyce and triumph in the disgrace of Him whom he reproacheth How barbarous is it then to rejoyce in the disgrace and infamy of a Child of a mans own Bowels This cannot but provoke That 's a thunder-clap in the ears of Testy reproachful Parents Whosoever shall say Thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell fire Mat. 5.22 Reproachful words are no less than sharp darts and keen Swords nay they carry with them no less than stings and poison so that even the wisest and best of men can hardly bear the dine of them Thus Saul to the heighth provokes his Son when he foams at the Mouth and breaks out into that nasty drivel 1 Sam. 20.30 Thou Son of the perverse rebellious Woman and why not in our English dialect Thou Son of a Whore and so lasheth his Son on his Wives back what could have been spoken more sharply to provoke 3. Menacing threatning Words and that it may be for little tripps or slips of youth nay thô there be no resolution to execute what they threaten Suppose it only Brutum Fulmen A Flash without a bolt or Bullet The very Wind and noise is enough to sink the trembling Child into a Swoon If Masters must not threaten Servants much less may Parents threaten Children Eph. 6.9 4. By rigid Actions When Parents utterly unmindful of their parental Relation bowels duty prove tyrants and use or rather abuse their Children as Servants or indeed as Slaves and vassals These should know that the great God never commission'd them to be more than tender Governours not domineering Tyrants or Egyptian Task-masters This Tyranny is exercis'd divers wayes 1. When Parents either deny to or take from their Children those things which either belong to their necessities or their just comforts in that rank and Relation in which their heavenly Father by birth hath plac'd them When they deny them that Education that Provision that Encouragement which is Just and Equal that Food Raiment Portion that becomes the Children of such a Father This is to act beneath an Infidel 1 Tim. 5.8 Nay more even beneath the Bruit beasts who by a natural instinct diligently nourish and cherish their young ones and cannot but provoke Even an Horse when too strait rein'd Favours unequally distributed highly provoke will rise up and fling When the cocker'd Idol thô a younger Brother or Sister and it may be less deserving shall be call'd to the Table Closet bosom and there treated at the heighth of Sweetness whenas the poor neglected discountenanced despised Elder must stand without and either blow his fingers or †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 employ his Hands in some base sordid servile commanded drudgery which would better become a Slave than a Son This this goes near the Heart of an ingenious and observant Child * Even a worm thus trod on would turn again This must needs create in him an enraged jealousie and envy against his Equals or Inferiours and without a vast stock of Love Humility Patience a boiling rancorous disdain and wrath against his Superiours 2. When Parents load their Children with unjust Commands This is to Ape that wretched Saul who commanded Jonathan to surprize his Innocent dearest Friend and Brother David the upright valiant David that had so well deserv'd of the whole Kingdom one
Heart such as that is such he is now if a mans chief work be about his heart to watch that to purifie that to suppress the corruptions of it to reduce it into order and keep it in ordâ—â— to bring it into an holy frame and maintain it in such a frame when he hath so much reason for it it cannot be the effect of Fancy or a meer pretence 4. Let Grace influence you in all you do even in your ordinary Civil actions do all graciously do your common work as your Duty labour in your Callings enjoy your Refreshments visit your Friends make use of your Recreations with a sense of Duty and an eye to God do all as commanded by him and with a respect to his Glory and your own Salvation in a word Interest God in all let all be done by his Grace as the ruling and directing Principle and when ye find it so powerful ye may well believe it to be real 5. Labour to out do all you ever did while in a state of Nature Think what have been the highest actions you have ever been put upon not only by Fancy or humour but by the best Reason you then had by natural Conscience or good Education or legal Convictions or any present impressions from things without and then make it your business to outdo them all labour so to act as nothing less than a settled principle of Holiness in your Hearts could ever make you act living in the Love of God delighting in his wayes rejoycing in Christ Jesus mortifying your beloved Lusts your most secret or most pleasant or most creditable or most profitable Corruptions renouncing all trust in your own Righteousness when yet you do your utmost to work Righteousness are such acts as nor meer nature nor any thing in Nature can reach unto and for any to say that Fancy can put a man upon so acting is it self the veriest Fancy 6. Keep an even Course of holy walking in the most different or contrary Conditions If you can hold on in Gods wayes when most disheartned in them Serve him never the worse for his Afflicting you walk holily when you have least of the Comfort of Holiness not only keep to God when the World is against you but you fear he is himself against you trust in him when you think he is slaying you follow him when he withdraws from you and on the other side not abuse his Goodness not grow wanton with his Smiles not presume upon his Encouragements if the taste of Gods graciousness k 1 Pet. 2.3 whet your desires after him his Comforts do not cloy you nor dull you nor make you grow more loose or slack in his wayes if when you rejoyce most in God ye rejoyce most in his work the Comfort of your Hearts purifies and spiritualizeth your Hearts so that the more ye enjoy of God the more ye do for him and so in a word all Gods dispensations help you forward in his wayes his Rods drive you on his Gifts draw you out and both further your Progress in Faith and Holiness neither his Consolations puff you up nor his Corrections cast you down so as to abate your Affections to him and care of pleasing him you can love the Lord and his Holiness and fear the Lord and his Goodness l Hos 3.5 love him when he Frowns and fear him when he Smiles this will certainly speak the reality of that holy Princiâ—â—â— which is in you nothing not real could ever have so real so great effects upon you 7. Be much in the exercise of those Graces which have least affinity with your Natures least footing in them and in mortifying those Corruptions which your Natures are most inclined to and that will evidence a real change in you and a real Principle Some Graces may be further off from your natural tempers than others be more in the exercise of them and some Corruptions may be more agreeable to them so in some Pride is in others Anger in others Fear be sure exercise your selves especially to beat them down go contrary to the stream and current of your own inclinations it must be something more than a Fancy that can either outdo the best of nature or mend its worst Mans Fancies usually have some foundation in their tempers and dispositions and therefore as their tempers are various so are their Fancies too some carry them one way some another but for the most part it is for the promoting or gratifying some natural inclination and then that which crosseth such inclinations most is most like to be something constant and fixed Fancy will hardly overcome Nature in a wrathful man and make him become meek and gentle nor make one that is dull and phlegmatick active and zealous nor a proud person humble nor a churl liberal though where Grace meets with a good disposition it makes the greater shew as suppose gracious Meekness in one who hath already a natural meekness yet the power of Grace is especially seen in its influence upon such inclinations in mens natures as are most contrary to it when it corrects them regulates them or makes men act most oppositely to them And that which thus rectifies the most crooked dispositions sweetens an harsh Nature moderates a furious one elevates a dull one whatever it be it is more than a Fancy 8. Labour to act to such an height of Holiness and walk so closely with God that ye may have some sensible Communion with him in Duties and Ordinances that you may see his Power and his Glory in his Sanctuary Psal 63.2 May tast his Graciousness 1 Pet. 2.3 David did tast sweetness in the Word Psal 19.10 and why may not you Why may not the spiritual senses of a Believer an enlightned Understanding and renewed Conscience take as real pleasure in spiritual Objects as his natural Senses may in natural ones God may beam in his Love into your Souls shed it abroad in your Hearts m Rom. 5.5 make you tast its Sweetness and feel its Power chearing up your Spirits and filling them with Joy unspeakable and glorious n 1 Pet. 1.8 the Father may come and the Son come and manifest themselves to you and take up their abode with you o Joh. 14.21 23. so that you may say in the joy of your Hearts This is the Lord and we have waited for him this is our God and he will save us p Isa And if you experience this in your selves in your conversing with God in his Ordinances find something you never found any where else and can scarce express or make others understand that have not felt the same like the white stone with the new Name which none knows but he that hath it Rev. 2.17 You will find Gods Consolations carry their own Evidence along with them and speak their own reality they have something Divine in them such a Stamp of God upon them that they will satisfie your Hearts
it only as the Religion of their Countrey and which was delivered to them by their forefathers And so are Christians but upon the same terms as other Nations are Mahometans or more gross Pagans as a worthy Writer some time since took notice * Pink's Trial of a Christians love to Christ How few make it their business to see things with their own eyes to believe and be sure that Jesus is the Christ the son of the living God! How far are we from the riches of the full assurance of understanding How little practical and governing is the faith of the most How little doth it import of an acknowledgment of the mystery of God viz. of the Father and of Christ How little effectual is it which it can be but in proportion to the grounds upon which it rests When the Gospel is received not as the word of man but of God it works effectually in them that so believe it 1 Thes 2.13 2. Let us endeavour the revival of these principles This is that in reference whereto we need no humane laws We need not Edicts of Princes to be our warrant for this practice loving one another and cleaving with a more grounded lively Faith to God and his Christ Here is no place for scruple of Conscience in this matter And as to this mutual love What if others will not do their parts to make it so What shall we only love them that love us and be fair to them that are fair to us salute them that salute us do not even the Publicans the same What then do we more than others as was the just expostulation of our Saviour upon this supposition Mat. 5.47 And let us endeavour the more thorough deep radication of our faith that it may be more lively and fruitful which this Apostle you see not forgetting his scope and aim further presses in the following verses testifying his joy for what he understood there was of it among these Christians Thô I be absent in the flesh yet I am with you in the Spirit joying and beholding your order and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ vers 5. And exhorting them to pursue the same course As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him stablished in the faith as ye have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving vers 6 7. And what also must we suspend the exercise and improvement of our Faith in the great Mysteries of the Gospel till all others will agree upon the same thing Let us do our own part so as we may be able to say Per me non stetit it was not my fault but Christians had been combined and entirely one with each other but they had been more thoroughly Christian and more entirely united with God in Christ that Christianity had been a more lively powerful awful amiable thing If the Christian community moulder decay be enfeebled broken dispirited ruin'd in gteat part this ruine shall not rest under my hand We shall have abundant consolation in our own souls if we can acquit our selves that as to these two things we lamented the decay and loss and endeavoured the restitution of them and therein as much as in us was of the Christian Interest Quest How ought we to bewail the Sins of the Places where we live SERMON V. 2 PET. II. 7 8. And delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy Conversation of the wicked § 1 THE Apostle vers 6. recollects the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as the Ensamples of the Punishment that should befall those impure Seducers against whom he wrote By occasion whereof he mentions Gods delivering care of Lot whose holy carriage being so contrary to the unholy Practices of the Sodomites God made his Condition happily different from theirs also for so saith the Text he delivered just Lot vexed c. § 2 In the words there are these two distinct parts 1. Gods happy Delivering of Lot delivered just Lot 2. Lots holy Severity to himself for he was not only vexed but he vexed himself he vexed his righteous soul with their unlawful deeds The Second part is the subject of my ensuing Discourse which presents us with this doctrinal Observation Doct. It is the disposition and duty of the righteous to be deeply afflicted with the sins of the Places where they live In the discussing of which divine and seasonable Truth I shall 1. Produce those obvious Scripture Examples that clearly agree with it 2. Principally shew after what manner the righteous ought to Mourn for the sins of others 3. Shew the Reasons why it is the Disposition and Duty of the Righteous to be so afflicted and mournful for the sins of others 4. Lastly I shall endeavour to Improve the whole by Application I. For the obvious Scripture Examples Our Lord Jesus shall be the § 3 first whose pattern herein amounts to a Precept Mark 3.5 Christ saith the Text was grieved for the hardness of their hearts viz. in opposing his holy and saving Doctrines David professeth that rivers of water ran down his eyes because men kept not Gods Law and that when he beheld the Transgressors he was grieved because they kept not his Word Psal 119.136.158 The next Example shall be Ezra's who hearing of the sins of the People in marrying with Heathens in token of bitter grief for it rent his garment and mantle and pluckt off the hair of his Beard and Head and sate down astonied Ezra 9.3 And Chap. 10.6 he did neither eat bread nor drink water for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carryed away To these I might add the Example of Jeremiah who Chap. 13. vers 17. tells the wicked that if they would not bear his Soul should weep in secret places for their pride and his eyes weep sore and run down with tears I shall conclude this with that expression of holy Paul Philip. 3.18 Many walk of whom I tell you weeping that they are enemies of the Cross of Christ II. The Manner how this Duty of Mourning for the Sins of others § 4 is to be performed This I shall consider in three branches 1. How we should mourn in respect of God before whom we mourn 2. How we should mourn in respect of the Wicked for whom we mourn 3. How we should mourn in respect of our selves who are the Mourners 1. For the first Branch as our Mourning respects God It is to be performed with advancing of those perfections of his that relate to those great Sins and Sinners for which and for whom we mourn And in our mourning for the Sins of others in respect of God we must advance 1. His great and unparallel'd Patience and Long-suffering extended towards those whose Sins we mourn and lament over This was evident in Nehemiah's confessing and bewailing the sins of the sinful Jewes Nehem. 9.30 At large he confesseth their sins in that Chapter but vers 30 31. he
thee and give in this as their Just and unanimous Verdict that thou art guilty of the death of Father and Children of Priests and People of the captivity of the Ark at least if not the destruction of Religion By this time I suppose your Ears and Hearts may be full if not loaden If not take the third and last and that who is but 3. DAVID who was no less unhappy in than indulgent to three of his Children Adonijah Amnon Absalom 1. Adonijah is much made of greatly Cocker'd his Fathers darling and delight from his Infancy his Father David had not displeas'd him at any time do he what he would no not in so much as saying Why hast thou done so 1 King 1.6 And well might the cocker'd youngster think since he had got the Throne of his Fathers Heart 't would not be so high a leap to usurp the Throne of his Fathers Kingdom ver 5.25 and that whilst his Father was yet living specially since his elder Brother Absalom was now dead but yet he might have remembred how that Phaeton fell nay more thô he knew that his Father according to Gods special Appointment had declared Solomon to be the Heir apparent of his Crown and Kingdom For all this David did or durst not reprove him No. His Treason is no such great matter but a light thing and to be lookt upon only as the brisk effort of a vain if not a gallant Spirit For all this yet not such a word from David as Why hast thou done so Adonijah Well if the fond Father will not the Wise Son shall and will make this vain fondling know himself especially when his subtil ambition so far discover'd it self in asking Abishag the Shunamite Davids Concubine by creeping into his Fathers Bed to make his way to his Brothers Throne This Solomon was well aware of and commands him to be put to death as a Just reward of his old practis'd and new intended Treason 1 Kin. 2.25 There 's Adonijahs exit 2. The next is Amnon guilty of Incest with his own Sister yea and this incest committed with rape 2 Sam. 13.14 Amnon a person to be anathematiz'd by the whole Congregation Deut. 27.22 and to be punisht with Death Lev. 20.17 But what doth David do in the Case The Text saith When King David heard of all these things he was very wroth ver 21. 1. But was that all Alas what was that but a great flash and noise without a Bullet and this Absalom that ravisht Virgins own Brother deeply resents and is resolv'd upon a Just revenge ver 22. Certainly the incestuous Son might justly have expected more than a suddain Aguish fit of hot displeasure of a Father viz. The danger of the Law the indignation of a Brother the shame and out-cry of the World 2. What a stab in the Heart a Sword in the Bowels must this needs be to Tamars Father David whose command out of Love to Amnon had cast his dearest Daughter into the Den and jaws of this Lyon ver 7. What an insolent affront must he needs construe this to be offer'd by a Son to a Father that the Father shall be made as it were a pandar of his own Daughter to his own Son 3. David that tender Father that lay upon the ground and would eat no bread for the sickness of a Child which yet was but the spawn of an Adulterous bed How vexed enraged inflamed must he needs be with the villany of His Son with the Ravishment of his Daughter both of them more deeply wounding than many deaths What revenge can he think of for so hainous a crime less than death and that in its most bloody dress 4. And yet what less than death is it to this indulgent Father to think of a due revenge Rape was by the Law of God capital Deut. 22.35 How much more when seconded with Incest Anger thô never so hot and eager is not punishment enough for so high so complicated an offence Such mild injustice is no less provoking to Heaven and perilous to a Common-wealth than the fiercest cruelty For ought I know the blood of Souls murther'd by foolish Pity cries as loud in the ears of divine Justice as the Blood of Bodies slain by cruel Severity And yet this is all we hear of from so indulgent a Father unless perhaps he makes up the rest with Sorrow and so punishes his Sons miscarriage on himself v. 37. But 5. If David perhaps out of the Consciousness to himself of his late Adultery and Murther will not punish this horrid fact his Son Absalom shall And that not so much out of any Zeal or of Justice as desire of Revenge 2 Sam. 13.28 29. See Amnon there weltring in his blood murther'd by Absaloms command when he was drunk and so for ought we Know Soul and Body sunk at once and that eternally One Act of Injustice draws on Another The injustice of indulgent David in not punishing the Rape of Tamar procures the injustice of Absalom in punishing Amnon with Murther That which the Father should have justly reveng'd and did not the Son revengeth unjustly However in all this the Lord the Supreme Judge is Righteous To reckon for those Sins which humane Partiality or Negligence had omitted and whilst he punisheth Sin with sin to punish sin with death Had David called Amnon to a severe Account for this unpardonable Villany the Revenge had not been so desperate Thus to Davids Horror fell Amnon The third and last that brings up the Rear of those Serpents that lay so warm in Davids Bosom was that great Gallant the glistring Minion of the Court 3. Absalom Absalom the Murtherer Absalom the Rebel and yet for All that Absalom the Beloved 1. Absalom the Murtherer and that of his own Brother Amnon as we have heard that for two full years had sat close brooding the deepest Revenge Having dispatcht his Brother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 away he flies to Geshur and for three years hides and shelters himself in his Grandfathers Court 2 Sam. 13.34 37. 3.3 But doth not David post his Embassadors after and demand him thence to be returned and delivered up as a Sacrifice to stop the cry of his Brothers Blood that roar'd for Vengeance At least in three years time No not a Word of that But see and be amazed at the quite contrary workings of his distemper'd Heart v. 39. The soul of King David longed or was even consumed to go forth for he was comforted concerning Amnon The three years absence seemed not so much a Banishment to the Son as a Punishment to the Father 'T is true David out of his Wisdom so inclines to favour as that he conceals it and yet so conceals it as that Joab who could see Light through the smallest chink by his piercing Eye could clearly discover it Joab reads Davids Heart in his Countenance and knows how to humour and serve him in that which he would and yet seem'd he
would not have accomplisht and by that cunning fetch of the Woman of Tekoah brings into the light that birth of desire whereof he knew David was both bigg and ashamed 2 Sam. 14.21 See here the mask of Royal Indulgence It is not David that recalls Absalom Not He he only does it to answer the humble Petition of an importunate Subject and to follow the advice of Joab a discreet Councellor The King said Behold now I have done this thing that ye desire go therefore bring the young man Absalom again But stay Another fetch Let him turn to his own House and let him not see my face v. 24. for fear the People should cry shame on this unjust Indulgence 2. Absalom the Rebel Absalom the Traitor 2 Sam. 15.10 Having prepar'd the People for a Rebellion by a wicked insinuation of his Fathers unjust Government he sets up as King in Hebron and the Conspiracy was strong His Eye is on the Metropolis His first March must be to Jerusalem To make room for the young Rebel the poor old Father must pack up and be gone v. 14. with an heavy heart weeping eye cover'd head and bare feet as it were Never did he with more Joy come up to this City than now left it with Sorrow And how could he do otherwise when the Insurrection of his dearly beloved Son drove him out from his chief City and Throne yea from the Ark of God 1. His first Prank was a sufficient Earnest of what was like to ensue An Act of the highest incestuous Uncleanness that ever the Sun saw They spread Absalom a Tent upon the top of the House and Absalom went in to his Fathers Concubines in the sight of All Israel 2 Sam. 16.2.22 23. The Practice was like the counsel v. 22. as deep as Hell it self An Act uncapable of Forgiveness Beside the usurping the Throne to violate the Bed of his Father unto his treason to adde incest is no less unnatural that the World might see that Absalom neither hoped nor cared for the reconciliation of a Father And as if the villany could not have beâ—n shameful enough in secret he sets up his Tent in the top of the House and lets all Israel be witness of his own sin and his Fathers shame Ordinary sins are for Vulgar Offenders but Absalom sins like himself eminently transcendently and doth that which may make the World at once to blush and wonder The filthiness of the Sin is not more great than the impudence of the Matter 2. His pursuit 2 Sam. 15.14 Absalom is now on his High march ready to make his onset David rallies up all the forces he could make not so much to Assault his Son as to defend himself But see his charge 2 Sam. 18.5 The King commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai his three Generals saying Fight neither against small nor great for they poor deluded Souls are come forth in the simplicity of their hearts are meerly drawn in and Know not any thing 2 Sam. 15.11 but against the Head and Ringleader of these Rebels that Son or traitor rather that came forth of my Bowels and seeks my life 2 Sam. 16.11 Is not this Davids Charge No not such a Syllable in their Commission But thus which is not to be mention'd without a blush Deal gently for my sake with the young man even with Absalom 2 Sam. 18.5 But stay what do I hear Is this the voice of David what that David that formerly was forced to employ his Arms for his defence against a tyrannous Father-in-law and is now forced to buckle them on against an unnatural Son What he that has muster'd his men commission'd his Generals marshal'd his Troops what is this his charge and word and signal for the Battel Doth he at once seem to encourage them by his eye and restrain them with his tongue Oh! David what means this ill-placed Love this unjust cruel mercy Deal gently with a traitor of all Traitors with a Son of all Sons with an Absalom The graceless murtherous incestuous traiterous Son of so good so tender a Father And all this for my sake whose Crown Kingdom Blood he hunts after For whose sake must this wretch be pursued if he must be forborn for thine He was still courteous thô hypocritically to thy followers affable to Suitors plausible to all Israel that so he might be perfectly cruel to thee Wherefore are these Arms if the sole cause of the quarrel must be the Attractive perswasive motive of Mercy Yet thou sayst Deal gently We see even in the holiest Parents on Earth corrupt Nature may be guilty of most unjust tenderness of bloody Indulgence But let 's advance a step farther 3. The Battel is joyn'd The God of Justice takes part with Justice lets Israel foolish Israel feel what it is to take part with and to bear Arms for a traiterous Usurper 2 Sam. 18.6 to 9. the Sword devours twenty thousand of them and the Wood devour'd more than the Sword Among the rest the loyal Oak singles out the Ringleader of this horrible Conspiracy and by one of his spreading Arms becomes at once his Gaol and Gibbet The Justice of God twists an Halter of his locks and no marvail if his own Hair turn'd traitor to him who durst rise up against his Father Joab is inform'd that the Beast is noos'd comes and sees him hanging makes no demurr but immediately thrust three darts through the Heart of the bloody Traitor Wâ—â—t the poor Souldier forbore to do in obedience v. 12 13. that the General doth in zeal v. 14. not fearing to preferr his Sovereigns safety before and beyond all little respects whatever as being more tender of the Life of his Prince and the peace of his People than the weak or strohg affections of a misguided Father v. 14 15. 4. Now for the Catastrophe the last Scene the Battel 's ended David hears the Trumpets sound a Retreat What news Our Care is wont to be where our Love is How fares the Army Joab Abishai Ittai my Generals how is it with them My Crown does it stand more firm and fixt or is it fallen Speak Ahimaaz say Cushi None of this in the least but to the everlasting reproach of fond Parents Is the young man Absalom safe v. 29. Ahimaaz prudently answers The Lord hath deliver'd up the men that lift up their hand against my Lord the King v. 28 29. Ahimaaz turn thou aside and stand thou here Behold here comes Cushi with a joyful heart and open mouth Tydings my Lord the King for the Lord hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee v. 32. But these are not the Tidings that David so much pants after Cushi thou must learn to distinguish betwixt the King and the Father and tell him plainly Is the young man Absalom safe v. 32. That murtherous incestuous Traitor whom thou callest the young man is dead O King And let the Enemies of my Lord the King and
Text tells us what the Flatterer is and what he does and leaves us to conclude what ought be our deportment and affection toward him whether our heart sho'd be toward him that hath no Heart for us but is all Mouth or whether we sho'd Love his Flattery which designs and effects our ruine or whether we ought not to hate his flattery with perfect hatred and fly from it as from a Hellish Fiend if I may allude to that of the Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Case put into my hand and the Text assigned for the Foundation of this discourse do fairly offer an occasion to me to acquaint you with these following remarks which will as clear the Reason so justifie the choice of the Method I observe in my discourse The Text tell 's you what Flattery is what it doth and the case propos'd doth take it for Granted that Love of this Flattery is a disease if not cur'd will kill that there is some Cure may be had and hereupon enquires what is the best way of Curing this Love of being Flatter'd In complyance with both Text and Case I shall cast my discourse into this method 1. Enquire what Flattery is which we ought not love The general method of the discourse 2. Love of it is a Malady a disease of the Soul 3. Where not Cur'd it is pernicious and destroy's 4. What the best method for our Cure in this case To begin then with the first what Flattery is What Flattery is Might we guess at it by the Signification of the words used to express it we sho'd not much erre in our notion of it Solomon in the Text calls it a a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mouth that flatter's all that comes from the Flatterer is Complaisant as Softness to the Touch Sweetness to the Taste Prettiness to the Eye and Harmony to the Ear only Heartiness and Sincerity is wanting And the whole is framed in b As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes in Is Jer. Hypocrisie and designed to ensnare or c As Psal 5.12 deceive d Amadouer gallic by glozing alluring tickling delighting and lulling asleep the mind and affections of the persons flattered All that appear's is a fair semblance yet very falshood as 't is exprest e Ils faisoyent beau semblance de lour bouche Psal 78.36 and is elegantly and fully compris'd in the Character and deportment of a strange Woman †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui migrade ses parales Prov. 2.16 who Dalilah-like dandle's Sampson that she may make him think how much and ere long know how little she loved him For all these Sugared Words do cover sublimated Poyson which f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worketh Ruine It will certainly end in the fall or dangerous stumbling of the deceived So the g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Impulit depulit expulit evertit word implieth One thing more I may adde to this that the Actor in this Tragady never forgets himself and his own advantage stripping the Novice he hath coaxed and living on him whom he deceived So that the Blunt School-man spake not amiss describing Flattery to be h Peccatum quo quis supra debitum virtutis verbis vel factis in communi conversatione alicujus commodi consequendi intentione alium delectare studet Tho. Aquin. 2 a. 2 ae 9. 115. a Sin wherein any one in word or deeds for obtaining some advantage doth study to please in their ordinary converse by praises above the desert of vertue i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gr Ad. It is certainly a specious but deceitful praise laid as a train to ensnare and hurt the unwary and to profit him which laid the train Like a concealed Robber first promiseth to be a Convey and defence then perswade's the unthinking traveller to appear like himself Rich and Splendid in his richest attire which shall be the Robber's prey in convenient time and place when and where none can relieve him It is the basest counterfeit of Friendship and Justice it seem's to do you right as justice bind's but 't is with design to injure you it seem's to do it with love and Endeared affection but as the Crocodile which weep's over the Skull of the man he hath devoured If you will consult the Scripture's Psal 10.9 10. Psal 12.2 4 5. Psal 52.1 2 3 4. you will find it variously exprest but ever in a Character that includes it's Notorious falshood and mischeivous tendency while the flatterer Croucheth and Humbleth himself 't is that you might fall a prey to him as to a Lion David describeth him Psal 12. as one who speaketh Vanity with his Neighbour with flattering lips and double heart purposing by such words to prevail and the next you hear is the poor oppressed the needy sigh both are in danger Which words of the Prophet contain the definition that the Schoolman gives of Flattery and superadde the mischievous consequents of it whose Foundation is in a formed Lie whose aim is to please for an advantage by a Neighbour one we ordinarily converse with whose Good is unduly magnify'd whose vice or defects are unduly lessen'd In brief it is the greatest cheat that Wit dissimulation and Covetousness can put on mankind a false Glass that represents every thing untruly much fitter to be broken in pieces and trod under foot than to be kept by any If you will know it in its particular branches The Kinds of Flattery there is 1. A self-flattery †Luk. 18.11 I am not as other men ‖ Rev. 3.17 I am rich increas'd in substance * Hos 12.8 they shall find no iniquity in me So they flatter themselves in their own Eyes Psal 36. ver 2. 2. A Flattery from others who represent our Good or Evil very untruly by making the good seem better than it is and making the evil seem less than is it and deceiving in both for advantage As the false Prophets false Teachers Romish Priests Covetous Clergy-men Seducing Hereticks Factious Dividers Hungry Courtiers and Sneaking Parasites If you look to the qualities of Flattery The Qualities of Flattery and would range it according to these you◠find 1. Hellish Pro. 1. 2 Sam. 13.5 1. A Hellish flattery that tends to an ensnaring us in Sin such are the enticeings of Sinners such was that of Jonadah to Amnon Such was that of Satan ye shall be like God which ruin'd our Protoplasts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 3. Mat. 4. ver 6. such was that of Satan to Christ He shall give his Angels charge over thee c. 2. A Revengeful Flattery Kisses of an Enemy 2. Revengeful the Treaty of Simeon and Levi with the Shechemites and Joabs embraces of Abner or Amasa such flattery entertains you with Milk in a Lordly dish first but when you sleep there is the Nail and
because he cannot be at once in all parts of his Dominions but God is omnipresent filling Heaven and Earth If thou goest up to Heaven he is there if thou make thy Bed in Hell behold he is there if thou dwellest in the uttermost parts of the Sea there shall his Hand lead thee and his right Hand shall guide thee All things are within his reach wheresoever any thing is doing or to be done there God is who is present in every place and with every person He stands at our right hands and so may well guide them so to do will cost him no travel nor trouble In him we live and move and have our being not at a distance from him not out of him but in him 2. God can easily Govern the world because of his almighty Power he is stronger than all his Word is enough to accomplish all his will The wisest of men are foolish creatures and the strongest are weak Kingdoms and Nations have frequently proved ungovernable to potent Princes Such breaches have been made as they could not heale and such tempests have risen as they could not lay Nay that man is not found in the world who hath Power sufficient to Govern himself How often doth his will rebel against his reason Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor His judgement sees and votes for that which is good but his will chooseth what is worse his sensual appetite longs for it and that must be gratified whatever the cost be We sometimes see that wise men gracious and holy men cannot curb their own passions but they take heâ—d and hurry them into great and uncomely extravagancies But now God is of infinite Power as he hath an arm long enough to reach so strong enough to rule all things He binds the Sea with a girdle and stayes its proud waves saying hither shall ye go and no further He makes the wrath of man to praise him though it be more boisterous than the Sea and the remainder thereof he shall restrain Job hath sundry passages to this purpose worthy of our remark Job 26. take some of them thus He hangeth the world upon nothing He hath compassed the waters with bounds He divideth the Sea with his Power the Pillars of Heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof And then he closeth thus in verse 14. Lo these are part of his ways but how little a portion is heard of him and the Thunder of his Power who can understand The Power of his Thunder is great which discovered the forrest and makes the hinds to calve what then is the Thunder of his Power when God doth but whisper a rebuke into the eare of a man that maketh his beauty to consume like a moth what then can he do nay what can he nor do when he thunders from Heaven In short his Power is irresistible and his will in all things efficacious He can master all difficulties and conquer all enemies and overcome all opposition when he hath a mind to work who shall let him he askes no leave he needs no help he knows no impediment Mountains in his way become plaines his counsel shall stand and the thoughts of his heart to all generations 3. Thirdly God is fit to Govern the world upon the account of his wisdom and knowledg His eyes run too and fro through the Earth He observes all the motions and wayes of men He understands what hath been is and shall be Hell is naked before him how much more Earth His eye is upon the conclave of Rome the Cabals of Princes and the closets of particular Persons Excellently doth David set forth the divine Omniscience Psal 139. Thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising and understandest my thoughts afar off Thou compassest my path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my ways there is not a word in my tongue but O Lord thou knowest it altogether thou hast beset me behind and before He knows not only what is done by man but also what is in man all his goodness and all his wickedness all his contrivances purposes and designs The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it do you ask who the answer is ready Jehovah He searcheth the heart he tryeth and possessâ—th the reins Those are dark places far removed from the eyes of all the world but Gods eyes are like a flame of fire they carry their own light with them and discover those recesses run thorow all the Labyrinths of the heart they looke into each nooke and corner of it and see what lurks there what is doing there O! what manner of Persons should we be with what diligence should we keep our hearts since God observes them with so much exactness Men may take a view of the practices of others but God sees their principles and to what they do incline them Yea He knows how to order and command the heart not only how to affright it with terrours and to allure it with kindnesses and perswade it with arguments but likewise how to change and alter and mend it by his Power He cannot only debilitate and enfeeble it when set upon evil but also how confirm and fix and fortifie it when carried out to that which is good The hearts of Kings are in the hands of the Lord and he turned them as the Rivers of Water 4. Fourthly God is fit to Govern the world upon the score of his long-suffering and forbearance Those that have the reins of Government put into their hands had need be Persons of excellent and cool Spirits for if they have a great deal of Power and but a small stock of patience they will soon put all into a flame That man who hath but a little Family to mannage will in that meet with trials and exercises enough How much more he that is set over a Kingdom and unspeakably more yet he that is to Govern the world especially considering the present State of the degenerate world and how things have been ever since Sin made an entry into it The whole world now lyeth in wickedness there is not a man in it but doth every day offer a thousand affronts to God and provokes him to his face Angelical patience would soon tire and be spent and turn into such fury as would quickly reduce all into a Chaos There is not an Angel in Heaven but if there were a commission given him he would do immediate execution and sheath the Sword of vengeance in the bowels of malefactors But now to his glory be it spoken God is infinite in patience slow to anger and of great kindness Though he be disobeyed abused grieved vexed pressed with the sins of men even as a cart is pressed that is laden with sheaves yet he spares and bears and waites How loath is he to stir up all his wrath and to pour out the Vials thereof He counts that his strange work when he goeth about it his bowels do
obstruct this work of Regeneration that either of the other Extreams have 2. Another Requisite to our eternal happiness is a progress in this way of Life by maintaining an holy and heavenly conversation God hath said let who will or dare contradict it Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. This Holiness of heart and Life consists in our fiducial dependance upon Gods Promises and in a sincere and hearty respect to all Gods Precepts in the making the Word of God our Rule and the Glory of God with the Salvation of our Souls our main and ultimate end and this in the whole course of our Lives and Conversations This is that Trade of Godliness in which we must be exercising our selves whilst we live if we design to be really happy when we die Now a middle worldly Condition considering our present Case is the most advantageous and hath the fewest hinderances for our driving on with success this Trade 1. A man under the Extream of Poverty destitute of necessary Provisions for the supply of this Life and yet suppose him a godly man Psal 37.25 such a Supposition may be made though David tells us I have been young and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his Seed begging Bread From whence some though I judge upon a mistake would conclude that extream Poverty so as to be reduced to Beggery is a Condition that God never exposes his Children to But thus to say would doubtless be a condemning of the generation of the righteous one thing which God abhors some of whom in all Ages have been brought to such great straights that they have been necessitated to beg or starve And we read of some that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.37 destitute afflicted tormented of whom yet the world was not worthy So that I rather approve of that Sence of the foregoing Text which confines it either to Davids Experience in his time or rather to lay the Emphasis of the Matter upon the Word forsaken When Paul gives us a Catalogue of his Distresses he puts in this as an alleviation of his Troubles 2 Cor. 4.9 Psal 37.24 Persecuted but not forsaken which Sence also sutes best with the Context Though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand Now supposing a Child of God under the Extream of Poverty though de jure this ought not yet de facto it does prove very prejudicial to this Trade of Godliness and this many times several ways sometimes it does necessitate them to absent themselves from those outward means and those Soul quickning Opportunities which others enjoy whereby their hearts might be kept up warm and lively for God Are there not many at this day whilst you can spare so much time as to come hither in a morning to gather up this heavenly Manna that falls at your doors who are forced poor hearts to be hard at their Labours and that to get Necessaries for themselves and Families Sometimes though that is sad I confess are they overpowered by temptations to use indirect means for the relieving their wants which upon a review make sad work in their Consciences and set them many degrees back in the way of holiness Sometimes they are so dispirited with the weight of their Burdens that they are almost totally uncapable of doing any thing in their general or particular Callings not knowing how to pray nor how to work Oh the Temptations that such poor Souls are under to Distrust to Murmuring and Repining to Unthankfulness and Discontent every of which are very prejudicial to the life of Holiness 2. Consider the other extream riches Suppose a man to be great and in the main good and godly too a rarity but withal a singular blessing to the ages and places in which they live alass how difficult is it for such to thrive in Godliness when they are under the bright rays of worldly prosperity do we not too often sind that riches prove to a godly man what the Ivy doth to the Oak which indeed may seem to adorn it and set it forth more speciously to the eye of the beholder but sucks out that sap and nourishment that should feed and nourish the tree and if not timely look'd to may endanger its life few if any have been the better for their being rich but too many have been the worse What Temptations are such daily encountering with to carnal pleasure and sensuality to sloth and fleshly ease to pride and ambition all which so far as they are indulged prove to the detriment of serious religion how apt are such to be flattered nay even by good men to be cryed up as none such in their age if they speak but now and then a few good words and shew a little countenance to religion when upon a strict view it may be they have very little if any thing at all of the power of godliness which have given occasion to that unhappy saying that a little Religion goes a great way with great men whenas in truth that which might pass for great Religion in persons of an inferior condition should be esteemed but little in those whom God hath fixt in a higher orb and so are under greater Obligations from God and in a greater capacity of bringing more honour unto God 3. Another requisite to our eternal felicity is not only a progress Finis coronat opus Mat. 10.22 Rev. 2.10 Heb. 10.38 but a perseverance in the way of Faith and holiness to the end and that against all Temptations and Oppositions from within or from without he that endureth to the end shall be saved and be thou faithful to the death and I will give thee a Crown of Life again if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him From all which you may conclude the necessity of Perseverance to salvation Now though a security from final and total Apostacy is the undoubted priviledg of Gods Elect and truly called ones 1 Pet. 1.5 such shall be kept by the power of God through Faith unto salvation yet such may and many times do in an hour of Temptation such an hour as this is in which God hath cast our lot fall fouly to the great dishonour of God and discredit of their profession to the hardening the wicked in their sin and wounding of their own souls and to the interrupting their peace and comfortable Communion with God many Christians may and do fall to the breaking of their bonds and like Eutychus who fâ—ll from the third Loft and was taken up for dead though Paul told them Acts 20.9 10. 1 Sam. 4.18 trouble not your selves for his Life is in him but they shall never fall as Ely did Of whom 't is said he fell backward to the breaking of his neck and the loss of his Life now a middle condition in
as well as those that are real if they be so apprehended There is no observing man but may see what mischief hath come heretofore and doth come every day by such There always have been and still are some who beings weak or malicious do go about telling stories of this and that Man or Party and by leaving out or putting into their tale some circumstances or by setting an Emphasis upon a word innocently spoken do raise in others the highest Passions which hurry them away to speak and do things very sinful and unjust 1 Sam. 22. If Doeg had fairly represented the matter of Abimelech to Saul there would have been found such Circumstances in the Cafe as might probably have excused him in Saul's own judgment and have kept him from that barbarous Act of slaying so many innocent souls If David upon hearing what Ziba had told him of Mephibosheth had staid a while and heard what he could have said for himself he would not so soon have forgot the passing love of Jonathan his Father nor the Oath he made to him 2 Sâ—m 1.26 1 Sam. 20.15 not to cut off kindness from his house for ever But being then in such Circumstances as made him credulous upon a feigned story without more ado he presently gave away all that belonged to poor Mephibosheth to that false Man And how many that are or would easily be made very good Friends are separated or kept at a distance at this day by such means as these he is a stranger to the World that doth not see 2. If the evil be real yet be not overcome by it It may be it is not so great as it is apprehended But if it be it may be the Author of it did not think it would prove so offensive and hard to be born as you find it to be and then it would be a greater evil in you to return that to another which you find so hard to be born your self Christians should be more ready to receive one injury after another than to return one for another This I take to be the meaning of Christ When he says Mat. 5.39 Whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek turn to him the other also Julian the Apostate did blasphemously object against Christ that he did not observe his own Laws because when he was smitten by one of the Offenders with the palm of his hand he did not turn the other cheek but did expostulate with him that did it in these words If I have spoken evil bear witness of the evil but if well why smitest thou me John 18.23 But Christ is the best Interpreter of his own Laws and by his practise hath told us what his meaning was in this He was so far from avenging himself by word or deed that he was ready and prepared to suffer farther at their hands so as not only to be smitten again but to be crucified And in this he is proposed to us as an Example 1 Pet. 2.21 22. Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth Who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously Object Will not such as are injurious grow more insolent and go from bad to worse if they be not dealt withal in their own kind Ans 1. If any have humanity or ingenuity in them they will be ashamed by your forbearing of them if they be void of these they will be more irritated and provoked by rendring evil for their evil and consequently you are like to endure more from them 2. If they should go from bad to worse yet you may not avenge your selves This were to take upon you to be Judges in your own Case God hath set up the Ordinance of Magistracy for this purpose Rom. 13.4 He is a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil Therefore in greater injuries you are to make application to him for a Compensation as Paul appealed to Caesar Acts 25.11 3. Altho a private person may not avenge himself yet in case he be assaulted by another that would take away his life if no Magistrate be at hand he may stand upon his own defence by the Law of Nature which Christ came not to destroy Provided 2 Sam. 3.33 34. that he endeavour to avoid his Adversary by flying if he may But if he press so hard upon him that he cannot he may defend himself wherein he should be as willing to save the others life as to preserve his own 4. God himself when other means sail doth often appear to vindicate the wrongs of such as suffer with meekness and patience He will not stand by as one unconcerned especially if his Name be interested in the matter When Rabshakeh came against Jerusalem he made a railing Oration to the People threatning what be would do but they answer him not a word for the King had said Answer him not Isa 36.21 A while after Hezekiah himself receives a Letter stuft with the like railing matter he reads it but turns from the Messenger and goes to the House of God and spreading the Letter before the Lord leaves the matter with him Isa 37.14 Then the Angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians One hundred and fourscore and five thousand ver 36. God commanded Jeremiah to put a Yoke upon his neck as a sign That the Jews should be brought under the Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar Jer. 27.2 12. Hananiah a false Prophet comes and takes the Yoke off his neck Jer. 28.10 and breaks it before his face What doth the good Prophet do the while Doth he strive with him about the Yoke that he might not break it Or doth he use any undecent words when be had done it No 't is said ver 11. Jeremiah went his way but God sent him to Haraniah with this Message That for his Rebellion he should die that Year which accordingly came to pass in the seventh Month ver 17. Christians that would keep a due Decorum in their words and actions when they are injured should look well to their hearts and keep them with diligence for all sinful Miscarriages begin there When the heart is disordered by corrupt Affections the tongue and other Members will hardly be kept many good order Corfelle livoris amarum per linguae instrumentum spargere nisi amara non potest Bernardus Therefore the Apostle willing the Colossians to put off the evil of the tongue Blasphemy which is evil-speaking bids them first put off the evils of the heart anger and malice chap. 3.8 Whether the heart be inditing a good or a bad matter the tongue will be as the pen of a ready-writer If Choler be suffered to boil to a height in the heart the scum will be like to run over at the mouth If the heart be
2. which of them may be uncovered without shame seeing that some as the hands the face the feet may be naked without sin to our selves or offence to others To which I answer 1. That the use of the parts and their destinated ends are to be well considered in this case The use of the Face is chiefly to distinguish 1. the Sex the Male from the Female 2. the Individuals one person from another the use of the hands is that they may be instruments for work business and all manual operations 2. That to cover or muffle up those parts ordinarily whose ends and use requires to be uncovered is to cross Gods end and design and by consequence sinful 3. That to uncover those parts promiscuously and expose them ordinarily to open view for which there can be no such good ends and uses assigned is sinful For the general Law of God must always take place where the special use of a particular part requires not the contrary 4. And therefore all Apparel or fashions of Apparel which expose those parts to view of which exposing God and Nature have assigned no use is sinful 'T is true I confess our first Parents in that hasty provision which they made against their shame took care only for Aprons but God who had adequate conceptions of their wants and what was necessary to supply them of the Rule of Decency and what would fully answer it provided for them coats that so the whole body except as before excepted might be cover'd and its shame concealed § 2. Another end of Apparel was to defend the body 1. from the ordinary injuries of unseasonable seasons 2. the common inconveniencies of labour and travel 3. the emergent accidents that might befall them in their Pilgrimage For the Fall of Man had introduced excessive heats and colds They were driven out of Paradise to wander and work in a Wilderness now overgrown with briars thorns and thistles the early Fruits of the late Curse and Cloaths were assigned them in this exegency for a kind of defensive Armour Hence we read 1 Sam. 17.38 That Saul armed David with his own armour and he arm'd him with a coat of mail In the Hebrew it is Saul cloath'd David with his cloaths and he cloath'd him with a coat of mail And the word there used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of near cognation with that in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence therefore 1. Whatever modes of Apparel comply not with this gracious end of God in defending our bodies from those inconveniences are sinfully worn and used 2. That it is a horrid cruelty to our frail bodies to expose them to those injuries against which God has provided a remedy to gratifie pride or to humour any Vanity And however our Gallants hope to keep themselves warm and to shelter their sin under the skreen of their own foolish Proverb Pride feels no cold yet God has oftentimes made their sin to become their punishment whilst by an obstinate striving with the inconveniences of an ill-contrived Mode they have hazarded if not lost their Healths if not their Lives by a ridiculous Complement to some new fashion But how they will stand before the righteous Judgment-Seat of God when he shall arraign and try them as Guilty of Self-Murder in the great day of scrutiny they may do well timely to advise upon and consider § 3. To these I may add That when God made Man his first suit of Apparel he took measure of him by that Employment which he had cut out for him Man's assigned work was labour not to eat the bread of idleness but first to earn it in the sweat of his face which tho at first it was a Curse is by Grace converted into a Blessing And accordingly God so adapted and accommodated his cloaths to his body that they might not hinder readiness expedition industry diligence and perseverance in the works of his particular Calling Hence these things will be exceeding plain 1. That God having appointed Man to labour cannot be supposed to have made any provision for or given the least indulgence to idleness Intervals for rest to redintegrate the decay'd Spirits cessation for a season from hard labour God allows and Nature requires but exemption from a particular Calling or any dispensation for sloth in that Calling we find none 2. That God having suited cloathing in all its forms and shapes so to the body that they prejudice him not in the works of his particular Calling whatever fashions of Apparel do incommode him therein and render him unfit or less fit to discharge the duties of it are so far sinfully used 3. That therefore they who by unmerciful lacing girding bracing pinching themselves in uneasie garments can scarce breathe less eat and least of all labour do apparently offend against this end of God and it is but just that they who will not or create an impotency that they cannot work should not eat nor long breathe in the earth whereof they are unprofitable burdens Plato calls the Body the Prison of the Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and some have made the cloaths the Prison of the body wherein they are so cloyster'd so immured in the Cage and Little-ease of a pinching fashion that the body is made an unprofitable servant to the soul and both of them to God In the declining times of the Roman Commonwealth this vanity began to obtain and is smartly noted by the Comaedian as the folly of Mothers Quas matres student Demissis humeris esse vincto pectore ut graciles litent Tâ—rent eunuch Si quae est habitior paulò pugilem esse ajunt deducant cibum Jametsibona est Natura reddunt curaturâ Junceas But thus has Pride brought many to their Coffins who after an uneasie life spun out in more pain with doing nothing than they had found in labour after a few tedious days worn out in Asthma's Catarrhs Consumptions and Ptisicks could never get freedom from the confinement of their cloaths till their souls had procured a Gaol-delivery from their bodies However they cannot justly complain of Providence who gave them their option and left them to their own desires Rather to be out of the world than out of the fashion § 4. There is yet another end of Apparel viz. The adorning of the body And in this all our wanton Fashionists take sanctuary Out of which that I may force them or so far as is sober and moderate indulge them I shall first premise a few Observations and then lay down some Conclusions 1 Let these few things be premised 1. That Ornamentals strictly taken as distinct from useful garments do not come under the same appointment of God with necessary cloathing For 1. It is ordinarily sinful to wear no Apparel but not so to wear no such Ornaments 2. The necessity of Nature requires the one but no necessity or end of Nature requires the other Gods
Days of great Tribulation verse 21. shall be shortned And in Rehoboams time God would not utterly Destroy them but grant them some Deliverance 2 Chron. 12.7 Partly because they humbled themselve and withal verse 12. In Judah things went well or as the Margin reads it Yet in Judah there were good things they were not yet Universally corrupted though they had much declined there was still a stock of Old Saints left that did sincerely cleave to God So Isa 10.23 when God makes a Consumption determined in the midst of a Land yet a Remnant shall be left Verse 22. And the Consumption Decreed shall overflow with Righteousness And Amos 9.8 when God destroys the Sinful Kingdom yet he will not utterly destroy the House of Jacob. And Verse 9. though he Sift the House of Israel yet not the least Grain shall fall to the Earth 4. Sometimes God removes Judgments from off a People for the sake of the Godly So at least in part for the sake of Hezekiah and Isaiah and the rest of the Faithful in Jerusalem God delivered the Land from Senacherib with the Destruction of his Army and himself soon after when he had taken all the Fenced Cities of Judah Isa 36.1 compared with Chap. 37.4 15.36 38. Only it is worth our Observing here That God hath in such Cases a respect to his Saints whether Dead or Alive or yet unborn so in Delivering Judah out of the hand of Senacherib he had respect not only to the Righteous of a Nation then in Being as Hezekiah and Isaiah c. but to David though long since Dead having promised a Kingdom to be continued to his Posterity he would make good his word nay to those that were yet to come Verse 31 32. The Remnant that is escaped of the House of Judah shall again take Root downward and bear Fruit upward For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a Remnant this Remnant were not only they that were then Living and escaped Senacheribs Fury but many that were yet to come all that escaped the present Danger were not Godly but yet Godly Ones were to be Born of them And is it not great Truth that in all the Deliverances of that Nation as God had a special regard to Christ that was to proceed from them according to the Flesh so likewise to the Elect he had from Eternity given to Christ and which were to be in their several Generations and Successions a Seed to serve him Psal 22.30 Other Instances might here be brought but I shall meet with them under another Head 4. The stock of the Tree is that for the sake of which the Tree is dress'd and water'd and look'd after Men take care of the Trees so long as there is Life in the stock they do not only not grub it up but prune it and bestow upon it what Cost and Labour is fit for it Many a Blessing both Temporal and Spiritual comes upon a Nation for the sake of the Religious in the midst of it Who watcheth or waters a Vineyard when all the Vines are Dead When the stem of the Vine is Alive though many Branches be withered they may lay open the Root and Dung it and all the Labour they bestow upon it is for the sake of the Life they see in the Body of it That God keeps his Vineyard and waters it every Moment Isa 27.3 It is because he sees Life in the Plants though there be little Fruit on the Branches 1. Temporal good things We find him sometimes bestowing upon others for the sake of the Godly that are with them as he Blessed Laban though an Idolater for Jacob's sake Gen. 30.20 And Potiphar for Josephs Chap. 39.5 Peace and Plenty he may afford to a People that his own Servants may have their share of it for their Encouragement in Holiness So Jerem. 29.7 that Babylon had so long Peace before its Downfal it was that Gods People in it might have Peace 2. Spiritual God gives the means of Grace his Oracles and Ordinances and the offers of Salvation to a People especially for the sake of those that belong to him It is no small Mercy to have an External Call an offer of Christ to be brought into a Salvable Condition if Men neglect their Opportunities forsake their own Mercys lose the Benefit of them it is their own Fault the Privilege is not less in it self Now where God hath none to call Effectually he doth not use to send the Gospel the Apostle Paul was forbidden by the Holy-Ghost to Preach the Word in Asia Acts 16.6 and when he would have gone into Bithynnia the Spirit suffered him not Vers 7. and why was it But because God had not any People there who were as yet to be called by his Grace But he is sent into Macedonia Verse 10. because there God had work for him several that were presently to be Converted by his Ministry Had not God had a Seed among the Macedonians they might have still continued in the same Darkness that the others were in So likewise God continued Paul so long at Corinth and tells him that no Man should set on him to hurt him because he had much People in that City Acts 18.10 Quest If it be ask'd Why doth God shew such respect to others for the sake of the Godly Not to mention other Reasons here I will give but Two Ans 1. In respect of the Godly which are to be gathered in he doth it that they may be gathered Many Saints may be in the Loins of Wicked Men as hath been said and should God cut off the Parents the Children would never have a Being or should he not continue the means of Grace to them how should those that come of them be Converted And therefore he keeps off such Evils from the Parents as might prevent either the Birth or the Conversion of such as are to be Born of them and bestows upon them such Blessings and Privileges as may promote and further it He spares and dresses the Tree for the sake of the Fruit he intends it shall bring forth Ans 2. In relation to those that are already called God shews kindness to others for their sakes that there may be time and opportunity for all the Work he hath determined to do either in or by them 1. In them A People may be spared that they may be spared among them and share in their Deliverance and the means of Grace may be continued to the Body of a People till God hath wrought all that Grace in the hearts of his Children which he hath designed for them Should they fall with others or should the means of Grace be taken away they should want them and what were lacking in their Graces would not be made up God therefore usually continues the Gospel to a People so long as there are any among them to be called in or built up and when he takes it away from a Nation it is a sign it hath