a beam of the house fell in a banquet and knocked a professed Atheist alone on the head there is then some ground for our censure for then the word and worke of God meet together else there can bee no certaine judgement because as it is Eccles 9.1 2. I have surely given mine heart to all this and to declare all this that the just and the wise and their workes are in the hand of God and no man knoweth either love or hatred of all that is before them All things come alike to all and the same condition is to thee just and to the wicked to the good and to the pure and to the polluted and to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath And that which is befallen another may befall thee for it is no faith but a fancy whereby any man thinketh himselfe excepted from any outward calamity having no promise for freedome Therefore should no man judge another that liveth outwardly well by ought that befalleth him for it may befall him and that in Gods justice as Proverb 24.17 18. This tels how it is warrantable to judge and censure of other men such as are wicked and prophane Vse 2 and yet cry out that any man should sit on them but themselves and of those wee meane who boast of as good and sincere a heart to God as the best though their lives be not so religious as theirs yea when they are prophane and notoriously wicked yet men must judge charitably of them because they can not see into their thoughts and know what there is there But we answer them that their lives tell us what lyes hid nay that which is within cannot be hid because their lives are such For Math. 7.18 a man need not dig into the ground to see what the root is the fruit will easily discover the tree so is it with the heart actions by good actions we may be deceived because of the disposition of the partie Math. 6. Almes and Prayers by vaine glory or want of sincerity are not good at all to the doer but evill cannot be good by good intention for that which is evill in it self cannot be made good to any for any end And so evill actions still argue an evill heart as bad fruits an evill tree And so it is a very ridiculous thing for men to brag of a sound and good heart when their lives be as they bee For Jam. 3.11 Evill words saith the Apostle corrupt good manners their own and others much more evill workes good men yea they argue the doer corrupt within for it is not the fruit makes the tree bad but it is the badnesse of the tree that maketh the bad fruit the fruit discovereth the naughtinesse of the tree For as the Adder hath a sting before he stingeth so are men wicked before they work wickednesse then is it knowne she hath a sting and they corruption for as the mouth speaketh from the abundance of the heart so the heart worketh from the abundance of the soule so that lawfull it is for me to judge a common swearer a known adulterer a manifest deceiver an usuall drunkard c. to have a corrupt heart for when the earth is broken up and a filthy stench commeth out argues it not that there was some dead corps there so when men send out cursings blasphemies swearings raylings and such like that a man should not be able to endure from whence issue these but from a dead and a rotten soule these carry about them then the grave and sepulcher of the Soule Now that which is said of the words may be applyed to the workes As a man therefore comming to a tombe though never so costly and curiously or so royally deckt yet if at some vent be apprehend a filthy savour issuing out of it he knoweth well there is not only a dead but a rotten carkasse within so when a man feeleth a filthy and unwholsome sent either of prophane speech or of dissolute life issuing from the heart which is the fountaine of both he must needs conclude neither is it against charitie to censure it that there is a soule not only dead and buried but even rotten in sinne and corruption Therefore let no man delude himselfe while he would deceive others to beare men in hand that he is sound at heart when he is unsound and corrupt in his life as if a man might beperswaded that it is a vine or figtree which he seeth hanging full of crabs and wildings Nay it must needs be otherwise therefore as Christ said Math. 12.33 Either make the tree good and his fruit good Or else make the tree evill and his fruit evill for the tree is known by his fruit If thou hate sinne shew it in thy life if thou feare God shew it by thy carefull walking in his waies and seeking to please him If thou lovest the word frequent the assembly with diligence and devotion and not carelessely and slippily If thou thinke reverently of the service of God be carefull reverently to addresse thy selfe to the performance of it Otherwise know thy practice proclaimes the want of these things and thinke not much if others judge thee by that for thy have their warrant from Christ their King By their fruits you shall know them If yee offer the blind The Lord he requires not all the substance of a man to his service but a few things and those not very costly yet he requires the choise and best in their kind and they be accounted of better then any others the best should not be deare to them nor too deare for him Men ought to offer their best things to God Doctr. and to thinke nothing too deare for him either to give to him or for him Gen. 22.2 2 Sam. 24.24 This serves to reprove all hypocrites Vse 1 such as the world the Church is full of who offer not the best but the worst unto God think those things good enough having many things too dear for him when as nothing is too good for their back bellies for their pleasures delights to serve the flesh world withall But generals touch not for particulars First the maintenance of the Ministers is the Lords portion as not to seek it feare off Mal. 3.8 for if the spoiling of them be the spoyling of him then è contra But how many have we that thinke every thing is too much that they have and any thing is good enough for them I say nothing of them who bestow all on pleasures and give nothing to the Lord portion who as they think playing better then preaching bestow much on Players but nothing on Preachers But I aime at such as account of Preaching and injoy the benefit of the ministery and yet a vaine man will bestow more on a player in a yeere then they in many on a
irasci 't is a signe of greater displeasure The master that respects his servant corrects him for a small fault if he let him alone Chrysost in Mat. ho. 17. it may be thought he doth it till great faults bee joyned to it land he may either punish more or cast him out of his house so in this Neither will I accept an offering at your hand Because he is displeased with them therefore he will not accept their offerings nor their service and prayers The person of a man must first please God before his prayers Doctrine his offerings or any worke that he doth can be pleasing or acceptable to him That is before reconciliation just sication they are unaccepted It is hence manifest because he rejecteth their offerings being displeased with their persons hereto belongs that Ge. 4.4 that Prov. 15.8 The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to the Lord but the prayer of the righteous is acceptable unto him Hence Isaiah 1.13 19. 1 Pet. 2.5 And yee as lively stones hee made a spirituall house an holy priesthood to offer up spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God by Christ Jesus Hebr. 13.16 Because all workes are made acceptable to God by faith Reas 1 as all things are made pleasing to men by the light so Chrysost and without it nothing is Hebr. 11.16 Now faith is that which makes the person accepted for by it we are justified Rom. 5.1 and made the sonnes of God Rom. 3.26 Because before they are strangers Ephe. 2.19 yea and enemyes Reas 2 Rom. 5.10 now things done by strangers are not greatly gratefull but by enemies they altogether distaste us This confuteth the Papists who make good workes the cause of our justification and reconciliation to God when Vse 1 as they can not be good so they cannot be acceptable before we be reconciled and acceptable in his sight How doe they then justifie us and reconcile us for that which must justifie and reconcile another must needs it selfe be in favor for as that is true of S. Augustine Opera non praecedunt justificandum sed sequuntur justificatum So that is as true whensoever they come they are not acceptable in themselves because they are imperfect our evill works are perfectly evill and so deserve to be cast out of favour but our good works are not perfectly good and so cannot procure favor of themselves Object If any object as some of our Papists sticke not to doe that we are justified by works because by faith for faith is a worke I anser faith is not our worke but Gods in us John 6.29 Againe Answ though having received faith we doe beleeve yet it is not faith or the worke of it that doth justifie us but the righteousnes of Jesus Christ apprehended by faith for as a hand that hath taken a treasure doth not inrich us but the treasure and it is not the mouth receiving the meat but the meat that doth nourish us so in this And being thus justified then we work and our works are acceptable because we are first accepted in Christ To stirre up every man to the tryall of his estate and himselfe whether he be indeed reconciled to God or no Vse 2 whether justified or no that if he be not he may labor and endevor to be because while he is in that condition whatsoever things he doe as they are but splendida peccata August so they are altogether unacceptable to God whether he heare or give or receive or pay a heavy condition of a servant that doe what he can yet he can not please But happily thou art desirous to know whether thou art reconciled or not Quest and if not how to come by it I answer thee Answ if thou hast true faith then shall this be like the fait 2 Kings 2.21 which healed the spring of waters and of it may be said as there This comforts God children Vse 3 who are justified in Jesus Christ and so accepted in his sight their works their sacrifice and worship liketh him howsoever they are done in imperfections and in many great weaknesses and are not so fully with their whole foule minde and heart as they should be but carry the touch of mans corruption and are not able to abide the strict and streight judgment of God yet because they proceed from them who are accepted in Christ they please him and the imperfections are pardoned in Christ and they taken for pure and holy Prov. 15.8 1 Pet. 2.5 As a little thing done of a child is more acceptable then much done by a servant VERSE XI For from the rising of the sunne unto the going downe of the same my Name is great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall bee offered unto my Name and a pure offering for my Name is great among the heathen saith the Lord of Hosts FRom the rising of the sunne Here is the second part of withdrawing Gods mercy from these Jewes And this is the removing of his worship word from Jewes to Gentiles set down by a comparison of dissimilitude betwixt Jewes and Gentiles The proposition of the Gentiles and their great care and respect of his worship verse 11. the reddition of the Jewes and their corruption and carelesnesse of his worship renewing the former expostulation verse 12 13. In this we are to consider the worship of God the circumstances of it In it we consider 1. the ground of it my name is great repeated in the beginning and ending of the verse for more certainty of the thing 2. the matter incense and oblation 3. the manner and quality of it pure opposit to the Jewes prophane and polluted service of God The circumstances 1. persons Gentiles 2. place everywhere Now for the meaning The Papists have wrested this place to establish the doctrine of their Masse but how absurdly shall appeare before we have ended with the Verse in the meane time we will search the true meaning of them as they ly in order For from the rising of the Sunne These words expresse the place some expound them in the time present and these either take them absolutely thus The Gentiles though they have no knowledge of God but by nature as much as they may learne out of the great bookes the Heavens and the Earth and the revolutions and changes of them by the rising of the Sunne and the going downe of the same yet they offer unto God oblations in their kind Thus Montanus But this cannot b e because of the quality of the sacrifice following for it is said to be pure which could not come from them in that dimme light they had Or conditionally that the Gentiles would offer a pure sacrifice if God did reveale himselfe to them as he hath to the Jewes But the words are so absolutely spoken they cannot thus be taken Others with more generall consent on all sides take them in the future tense or time to come that the time should come when
not one or two Nations of them but to all the world This overthroweth the Church of Rome Vse who limit the Church which is enlarged by God affirming that to be only the Catholique Church which is at Rome or which is subject to the Romish tyrant how then is it to all Nations are all subject to it Catholique saith August Epist 48. ex communione totius orbis how Catholique when it is but a particular Church what is Catholique but universall Now to speake thus the Romane Catholique Church is to say the particular universall Church which in any reasonable mans eare is most absurd But some times particular Churches were called Catholiques Object So they were Answ but then as August Cont. Epist Fundani cap. 4. Every Church did it and no one Church assumed this prerogative unto it selfe more then another neither was Catholique opposed to particular but to hereticall The Catholique faith was accounted the true faith and the Catholique faith opposed to Heresie and the Catholique Church to hereticall Churches And in this kinde the Church of Rome can lest challenge it to it self for it is least Catholique being in many things hereticall The Jewes corrupting and contemning the worship of God the Gentiles are called through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles God by the sinnes of man takes occasion to worke good to others Doctr. and to magnifie his mercy and goodnesse so here by the sinnes of the Jewes he bringeth good to the Gentiles and glory to his owne Name Because he may take from the wicked any just occasion of accusing his providence and government Reas 1 because he suffers sinne to be that could prevent it which indeed is a sinne in him that doth it not who is bound to it but it is not so with God The Physitian is not to be accused when he maketh his patient sick to bring him to health lesse here God not making him sinne but leting him alone to his own corruptions Because he is most wise Reas 2 good and powerfull and would so manifest himselfe by bringing light out of darknesse good out out of evill for to make good or to work good by good would nothing so manifest this To make some excellent work of pure gold is no great thing a slender Artizant and a small skill will doe it but of base lead to make pure gold is admirable Alchymie so to bring good out of good is Humanum but good out of evill Divinum Why then should any be punished for sinne Object or why should not men sinne that the goodnesse of God may be more magnified Such two objections were made to St. Paul Rom. 3.5 6 7 8. Solut. where also his answer is to the first verse 5. this is most absurd for then should God judge unjustly which no man may suppose that he which is the judge of all the world should be unjust and addeth absit which he useth often when he speaketh of things which should not once be thought and which the minde of a holy man ought to abhorre once to thinke of To the second he answereth verse 8. whose damnation is just Shewing that such an error is so farre differing from his doctrine that he condemns both it and the teachers and suggesters of it For good is not an effect of the evill that it of it selfe brings forth any such thing but that comes by the wisdome power and goodnes of God He hath given man a law that he must follow and not doe other things upon expectation of effects for a man may be condemned for the evill whatsoever effect it brings forth by the goodnesse of God as Judas And if any man thus reason it is as if he that had been sicke of some desperate disease which when he is cured and the skill of a Physitian grown famous by it he will againe surfet to fall into the like disease that the Physitian might be more famous or as if poore men and beggers should resolve still to bee in need and to begge because that might magnifie the bounty and magnificence of the rich When we see the hatred and malice of men to profit others Vse 1 by their persecutions in word or deed so that they are made more zealous and carefull more upright and entire there is no excuse for men nor thanks to them to be given but the glory is to be given to the Lord who thus turns things makes good out of evil Persecuters unto the Martyrs saith Saint Augustine are as the hammer is to gold as the Mill to wheat as the oven to bread as the furnace to mettall profit them worke them and purge them but no thanke to them it is not out of the nature of them but from the skill of the Gold-smith the baker c. for they would consume the gold with the drosse the wheat with the chaffe and bruise them in peeces if he did not temper and moderate and use them for the good of them so it is in this Rom. 8.28 We are in the latter dayes Vse 2 wherein iniquity hath got the upper hand and sinne doth abound it is matter of griefe and trouble if we consider what they are and what of themselves they bring the wrath of God his rod and plagues yet are they or will be lesse troublesome when we consider that God can and will turne them to his owne glory and the good of his Church To converse among venomous creatures to have to doe with ranke poyson is fearefull and troublesome as they are simples and in themselves but when they are once skilfully tempered by the Art of the Apothecarie when the Physitians skill hath made a just and good composition of them then though it be not altogether toothsome yet it is not so troublesome nor hurtfull unto men So in this For imitation Vse 3 to teach us to endeavour to make good out of evill and by the sinnes of men our owne or others take occasion to glorifie God the more or to helpe and profit our selves or others by our owne sins or others under our charge to be humbled both to repentance as also to true humility and lowlinesse of mind as Paul 2 Cor. 12.7 21. In the finnes of others not to triumph over them but to blesse the mercy of God and magnifie his goodnesse that he keeps us from the like who have no lesse in us the seed of them than they have accounting our selves as much beholden to God for keeping us from those sinnes as if we had committed them and he had remitted or pardoned them to us As Augustine My Name is great Here is the ground of all the worship of God which follows being smitten with a reverence perswasion of his greatnesse and Majesty they worship and serve him The ground and foundation of all true and sincere worship of God Doctr. is the perswasion and acknowledgment of his greatnesse and the want of it cause of contempt of God and of
his people Rev. 3.14 Doctrine VERS VIII But yee are gone out of the way yee have caused many to fall by the Law yee have broken the covenant of Levi saith the Lord of hosts BVt yee are gone out of the way Or Yee have departed from that way The second part of this dissimilitude followes now in this and the next verse which containes their degenerating and so their corruption vers 8. and the iteration of the judgement vers 9. And in the 8. verse there are three corruptions these Priests be chalenged withall wherein they are most unlike to the former Priests You are gone out of that way that is from the piety and faithfulnesse of those Priests who lived in the first age and with whom I made the covenant at first They neither swarved from that rule but you have forsaken and contemned my law and followed your owne devices and sought your selves and the establishing of your dignity more then my glory and have sought how to make a gaine to your selves of my worship You have done this who have the same place enjoy the same priviledges have the same portion of tythes and offerings they had Yee have caused many to fall by the Law The second difference and diffimilitude That whereas the former Priests by their care and diligence in their places recovered and caused many to returne from their sinnes and the breaches of the Law and to walk uprightly by it They on the contrary by their defect and want in teaching and their passing over their sinnes as if they saw them not that they might purchase grace and procure commoditie to themselves As also by their wicked example they were the cause of the fall of many that is that many have sinned and were not punished as the word sometime signifies By the Law is not meant as if they did so teach and temper the Law as sometime the Priests did in giving liberty by it to sinne as to hate their enemies to lust and covet so nothing were outwardly acted but that they caused many to stumble and go contrary to the Law Yee have broken the covenant of Levi. The third difference They kept my covenant and were faithfull and I performed whatsoever I promised to them but you have broken covenant gone cleane contrary to the agreement which passed betwixt me and your predecessours in whose loynes you were and who made the covenant for you and so by your iniquities have caused me not to performe to you peace plenty and prosperity with length of dayes From the generall I observe this Men Doctrine of what sort and condition soever they be ought to imitate and follow the vertue pietie and faith of their predecessours whether they were in place nature or age And on the contrary it is a great wickednesse and shame to degenerate from their pietie and vertue to be unlike unto them Therefore reproves our Prophet these Priests To this purpose is that Heb. 6.12 and 13.7 and 12.1 inferred upon the 11. and Jam. 5.11 Hence was the commendations of Iehosaphat 1 King 22.43 and of Iosiah 2 King 22.2 On the contrary it was reproved in Iehoram 2 Chron. 21.12 and in the Jewes Joh. 8.39 Because God hath therefore written these Reason 1 he hath written not that they should be knowne as matter of story to be made for delight or speech onely but for matter of life and conversation thereby teaching us what to do in others whose memory is new and fresh that God may have his end Because it will not profit them to have descended from Reason 2 or succeeded such for as he said of Nobility what profiteth it a channell or river flowing from a pure and wholesome spring if it be corrupt and defiled Nay it will the more condemne them as we may well gather from that Matth. 12.41.42 Then are they justly reproved Vse 1 who talk of doing as their forefathers have done being neither willing nor able to examine what they did good or evill but is all one to them so they did it before them Such as our ignorant Papists be who imitate not the faith but the infidelity and errours of their fathers not their vertues and pietie but their vices and prophanenesse their liberty and licenciousnesse No man will condemne their following of that is good in them or rather that which had but the shew of goodnesse in them as their workes which were good for the outward act though not otherwise their workes of mercie and liberality their zeale fervencie and diligence in prayer though their prayers not to be imitated as a man may imitate the diligence and watchfulnesse of a thiefe but not his theft the providence of a bad Steward but not his corruption But to imitate any thing they have done without choyce of their good is that which is justly condemned For if the Apostle must not nor will not be otherwise followed then 1 Corinth 11.1 as he followes Christ If the Prophet forbid us to follow our fathers if they are condemned for following their fore-fathers as did all the Kings of Israel If that be the commendations of Iehosaphat 2 Chro. 17.3 that he walked in the first way of his father David and not that he imitated him in all things Is it approveable to follow those who are farre inferiour to him in all things Nay it is that which shall improve their sin and inhance their punishment as Isai 14.21 with 65.7 To provoke us to read the Scriptures Vse 2 where we may see the truth and patience and piety of our most holy predecessors and when wee see them to provoke our selves to imitate them and to uphold our selves in right paths by them Heb. 12.1 But yee are gone out of the way They had erred from the truth and good wayes of their predecessors The Rulers Governours Doctrine and Ministers of the Church may erre both in matter of doctrine and of Gods worship Let us look into the booke of God and we shall finde this true not in some one or two but in the greatest part of them yea all for ought we know First these things were fore-told for though the people bragged Jer. 18.18 The Law should not perish from the Priest nor counsell from the wise God threatned the farre contrary Ezek. 7.26 and Micha 3.6 That the Sunne should go downe over the Priest And see the event of this Isa 56.10 Zephan 3.4 Jerem. 6.13 and 23.13 But this was in Israel onely yea see it in Judah Jerem 23.14.16 and not in Prophets onely but Priests 2 Chron. 36.14 Because their knowledge be it never so great is but in part Reason 1 Vulgare illud maxima pars eorum quae scimus minima pars eorum quae ignoramus and imperfect 1 Cor. 13.9 Now they who are ignorant in part may erre in some things Ignorantia erroris mater Bernard ad â—â—â—t nisi ignorando errare non potest August Enâ—hirid Seeing aâ—â—â—en are in part ignorant then
corruption and they will be hating and despising Now he doth order and dispose of this at his good pleasure and makes it fall where he thinkes best where he would punish and for what end he purposeth not for what they intended As Salomon Prov. 16.1 The preparations of the heart are in man but the answer of the tongue is of the Lord. Meaning in the generall that God disposeth of all so in this not unfitly This may shew the folly of those who despise and set naught by the despising and reproaches Vse 1 because they come from inferiours from base and meane and weake men But these should consider that it is not from them but God and by them and are the signe of his displeasure It is not to be braved or bragged out Men may not think to acquit themselves by answering one reproach with another one contempt with another for this is but to fight against God who hath made them to despise them who if he can not make to returne with such blasts and small windes hath verily sharpe Arrowes and keene Swords hath mighty armies and great store of men of armes to subdue them To teach men when they are in such judgements Vse 2 the way how to have them removed first to have Davids thoughts they cursed because God bids them curse they reproach and contemne them because he hath so made them and then to imagine and consider that he who set them on must snap them check them He must onely charme these Adders that they sting not or he onely must cure their biting therefore must they by prayer seeke unto him for the removing of them who must take these from them so David prayed Psal 119.39 Take away my rebuke that I feare for thy judgements are good And if he a King of that magnificence and greatnesse of that power and authority could not have them removed but by seeking to God if he could not cure the biting of a dead dogge as Abishai calleth Shimei but God must doe it how then shall any other inferiour man be able to helpe himself and remove it without him Thirdly he must humble himselfe and remove his sinne which is the cause of fit for if he remove no judgement unlesse man remove the cause if he give not favour in the eyes of men unlesse they have favour in his owne eyes first If Prov. 16.7 When the waies of a man please the Lord he will make also his enemies at peace with him Then must they turne unto him and forsake that which is displeasing and doe that which is acceptable And if a reproach be as they say of words irrevocable yet will God doe him good for the others evill 2 Sam. 16.12 But yee have beene partiall in the law Their particular sinne why he would lay this judgement upon them their accepting of persons in the worke of their Ministery As it is in a Magistrate Doctrine and in him that executes judgement a great corruption to accept persons so is it in a Minister and him that must dispose of Gods mysteries As the Magistrate in distributing of justice may not respect poore or rich friend or foe high or low or any thing besides justice and equity so must not the Minister in dividing the word Therefore are they here reproved as offendors for doing so It is proved by the command to Ieremy Chap. 1.17.18 Hence is the commandement indefinite and generall to preach to all and to reprove all Ezek. 3.18 It is that Paul teacheth 2 Tim. 2.15 And that which he seemeth to reprove in Peter and Barnabas Gal. 2.14 The examples of evill and good Prophets and Ministers shew this Because as Iehosaphat sayd of judgement Reason 1 that it was the Lords and not mans and therefore perswaded the Judges to doe it without respect seeing God himselfe would doe so therefore ought they 2 Chron 19.6 7. so of this the word is the Lords therefore must they speake it as he would have them Because they ought to be faithfull disposers of Gods mysteries Reason 2 fidelity consisteth in delivering the whole and in delivering the parts to them for whom God hath appointed them To reprove all Ministers who are partiall in the law and dividing of Gods word and mysteries Vse 1 respecting persons and accepting faces they are all guilty of very grievous sin before God Amongst others the whole Cleargy of Rome are guilty of this sinne having fitted the word and disposition of those mysteries to every mans humour as not long since was shewed when as the word is contrary to every mans humour as contrary as light is to darkenesse yet with them they have fitted it making it as they speake of it a shipmans hose a nose of waxe a leaden rule So Pighius and Nicolas Cusanus a Cardinall of Rome writeth to the Bohemians Epist 2. Epist 7. This understand that the Scriptures are fitted to the time and diversly to be understood so that at one time they may be expounded according to the cōmon and customable course but change that and the sense is changed So that it is no marvaile if the custome of the Church at one time interpret the Scriptures after this manner and another time after that and according to this they so deale for time and persons and so prove partiall in the the whole One thing amongst other argues the partiallity of the high Priest of Rome which they wuold perswade us is part of the Law and Word of God that is Purgatory which they dispose in respect of persons the rich and great ones able to give much shall not long be in it they who can give lesse the longer they who are able to give nothing perpetually If he had any charity in him of which they bragge much he would free all and freely seeing they teach it is the Popes peculium but if he had but equity and justice in him he would free one as well as another and not accept persons and be thus partiall But not to trifle with them The partiallity is oftentimes too papable in the reformed Churches and the Ministers of them when in dividing the word they looke not as the Cherubimes to the Arke they to the word to speake as it would teach them which is not partiall but to those who sit before them and apply it so making it as some write of Manna that it tasted after every mans pallat and stomacke so this But they are guilty of this sinne and though as fooles and wicked persons they enjoy honour for a time yet they shall have dishonour Prov. 3.35 It is said of the Panther that he is so greedy after the excrements of a man that if they be out of his reach and naturall power he stretcheth himselfe so much that he kills himselfe in the end so may I apply it to these To perswade the Ministers of God not to be partiall Vse 2 but upright in the law To respect as just Judges will doe
swords grieving God and grieving them where there is a necessity of a mans calling there to come when he shall heare and see such thing is one thing but where no such things he that can take pleasure or delight in their companies may feare he is not affected or is benummed by present condition if a little pleasure or profit of his owne make him indure much disgrace to God When ye say every one that doth evill in his sight Their blasphemy was spoken herein that they said God respected and loved the wicked For men to thinke Doctrine or speake that God loveth and respecteth the wicked maketh account of them and approveth them it is a wicked and blasphemous thought and speech against God Such was this And such is that Cap. 3. Such David confessed ceazed sometime upon himselfe Psal 73.12.13 This is that which Elihu chargeth Iob withall Job 34.9 For he hath said it profiteth a man nothing that he shou'd walke with Ged Because this is to make God wicked Reason 1 for no man but a wicked man and one in that he is wicked can or will approve of the wicked or wickednesse Many men may in outward shew and in hypocrifie approve and shew liking of holinesse and piety when themselves are not good but no man can or will approve of wickednesse but he that is evill and wicked he therefore that saith God favoureth the wicked must needs chalenge him for wicked but to say the righteous God is wicked is blasphemy c. Because he makes God to doe that which he accounts abominable in others Reason 2 and hath pronounced a woe against them that should doe it which is to justifie the wicked Isai 5.20 he must needs thinke wickedly and speake blasphemously against God How then shall we excuse the Apostle from blasphemy Quest affirming Rom. 4.5 that God justifies the ungodly Well enough Answ because the meaning is not that he justifies him so long and while he is wicked as if he accounted evill good and made his workes just which were wicked for this is against the law and forbidden by him and affirmed by him he never will doe it Exod. 34.7 But they are called wicked not because they are such when he hath justified them but because they were such before for he pardons their sinnes and heales their infirmities and gives them new hearts and makes them just and righteous and so is said to justifie them It may be shadowed to our capacity A Physitian is said to heale a man not that he is sicke when he hath healed him but that he was sicke when he begunne with him So in this But that is reproved as blasphemy in these is that they said God loved the wicked when he was such and approved of him being such To convince many of sin Vse 1 of this blasphemy not in that onely which oftentimes is heard from them that they censure and condemne and cast our of the favour of God and make them to be hated of God who indeed are in his love and bookes as if he did condemne the righteous and onely because their lives and carriage is reproved by their piety and study of holinesse and condemne them as hated because they strive to come most nigh God To whom we may apply that of Tertullian Apol. adversus gentes * Quantò magis hos denotasset Anacharsis imprudentes de prudentibus judicantes quā in s musicos de musicis Tertull Apol. adversus gentes How much more would Anacharsis have noted these men of folly being unwise yet taking upon them to censure the wise then for men unskilfull in musicke to censure musitians But this is not their expressed sin here though implyed but when they make affirm men to be in the favour of God and approved of him who are wicked and evill How many confidently glory of themselves that they love God and are beloved of him when some of them are like him Deut. 29.18.19 being knowne and noted for wicked man and yet boast of his love what is this but blasphemy to say God justifieth and approveth the wicked But if they be not apparently wicked but civill hypocrites and live in no grosse sinne of the second table but are voyde of the truth of any duty but are without all goodnesse specially in respect of the first whereby they are wicked for if it be true satis est hoc mali nihil boni fecisse then is he wicked that is not good and for such an hypocrite to flatter himselfe and boast of his love to God and God to him makes him so much the more wicked for he addeth to his former sinnnes this blasphemy chalenging God that he justifies the wicked ones and that he approves and likes of him being wicked Now as they are guilty of this in respect of themselves so are they for others for men that are their friends by whom they reape profit from whom they have countenance and of whom they are honoured and advanced be what they will be how wicked or how ungodly soever yet they tell them and so flatter them as the blessed and beloved men of God To teach every man to take heed of this blaspemy Vse 2 to thinke or speake thus wickedly of God either in favour of himselfe or others If a man may not lye for Gods cause he may not belye God for himselfe or in the behalfe of others knowing himselfe guilty of some grosse sinnes adultery covetuousnesse swearing and such like and lying in them yet boast God respects and loves him he is good in his sight like a bragging Courtier that boasteth of the favour of his Prince when he never had it or is cleane cast out of it for it may cost him setting on but this surely shall Or speaking of others for sinister respects who if they doe but offend them and deprive them of the hopes they have and have settled upon them will condemne them for most wicked men and yet will for the present advance them as the onely white ones of God but it should not be thus seeing that is to blaspheme and speake wickedly of God And if it be dangerous slandering a State or a just Judge saying he justifieth the wicked how much more this But if we must be judging labour to judge righteous judgement and account men beloved that are good and them hated that are wicked He that doth evill is good in Gods sight So they judged from outward things the ease plenty prosperity which idolaters had and for that accounted them happy and beloved of God but the Prophet reproveth them as measuring God by a false rule themselves hated because of their long crosses and others beloved because of their long prosperity As they are not to be accounted hated of God Doctrine who are under the crosse and in some long affliction so are not they to be accounted beloved and accepted of God who are in prosperity and in some long
those that are deare to him If God will and must deale thus with his owne Vse 1 generall and particular let the whole Church and every member thinke of it that they be not deceived as if to them there were no feare of judgments and punishments though they feare not sinne because they are his It is such a corruption and deceit that may seize upon those who are his even truely his though usually they are deceived by the sleight of Sathan whom he hath before deceived with another perswading them they are gods when they are not for commonly none so confident as those none so bold as these blind byards but whosoever he is that is tainted with this let him know that as the Husbandman preserveth the sheepe of his pasture in a moist yeare from rotting in the heart and liver when they are a little tainted by the salt waters of the Sea so may he be recovered and preserved by those waters of the Sanctuary even by those salt waters when the streame runnes thus that he will not nor he hath not spared those who are as deare to him as the apple of his eye untoothsome happily may they be but without doubt wholesome they are let no Church then trust in lying words Jer. 7.4 if they continue in their wickednesse vers 9. and make his house a den of theeves vers 11. but let them know he sees it and goe to Shiloh vers 12. and other Churches and see what he hath done to them and the like will he doe to it vers 14. Let no particular man thinke he may sinne as presuming he is Gods for if he spared not Moses Miriam David and others how him could they not have challenged more than he or is it not likely that God would have spared them as well as he Let him thinke of that to Solomon I will be his Father and he shall be my sonne if he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of Iron but my mercy shall not depart from him 2 Sam. 7.14 15. if God make it true in him it is the best he can looke for If any aske what benefit it is to be Gods I answer much every way as that God will passe by many infirmities of thine when thou servest him many sinnes of passion when they are not continued in Have you not heard of the patience of Job Againe is it no benefit to be his Fathers Heire unlesse he may be suffered to doe what he list without controlement or correction Besides even this is a benefit for if that be true Let the righteous smite me and it shall be a kindnesse Psalm 141.8 much more this when that we are chastned that we may not be condemned 1. Cor. 2.32 This may serve for comfort when affliction and punishment is befallen one who is his Vse 2 In such a condition a man is ready to faint and his heart to faile him for feare as if God had utterly cast him off but it riseth from the ignorance of this that God hath and will afflict his children and because they have not beene experienced under the hand of God A child when he is young and tender not acquainted with his Fathers threats and corrections no sooner sees his father lay hand upon rods but feares he hates him but a little use under this teacheth him there is indeed love where hatred is in show And so with them but they must learne this that their hearts may rest upon it as the Arke did stay upon the mountaine of Ararat after it had floted a long time upon the waters seeing he afflicts his owne yea more than the wicked in this life and yet still his people Israel having forgotten their late miseries and calamities the sence and feeling of them being worne cleane out of memory they returne againe to their former corruptions and sinnes and are newly threatned with other and more heavy judgments If men Doctr. many or few a County or City one or a company after they have beene delivered or freed from some calamity and judgment doe forget it passing it over without profit and returning to their sinnes and corruptions againe they are in danger of new and more fearefull judgments for he did this to the greene tree what will he doe to the dry if to the naturall Olive-tree what can the wild Olive looke for This is manifest by Esay who reproveth the people because they profited not by former judgments but remained obstinate and in their sinnes Chap. 1. ver 5. specially vers 21 22 23. How is the faithfull City become an Harlot it was full of judgment and justice lodged therein but now they are murtherers thy silver is become drosse thy wine is mixt with water thy Princes are rebellious and companions of theeves every one loveth gifts and followeth after rewards they judge not the fatherlesse neither doth the Widows cause come before them whereunto he addeth therefore saith the Lord God of Hostes the mighty one of Israel Ah I will ease me of my adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies vers 24. To this I adde Esay 12.9.17.21 inferred upon vers 13. manifest by Deut. 28.45 Jerem. 5.3 John 5.14 An example of this also the Ninevites may be comparing together the Prophecies of Jonah and Nahum Because it cannot be equall and right Reas 1 that God should goe away and give over as overcome by the obstinacy and stubbornnesse of men that were as if a Prince should give over a Rebell because he were not able to subdue him with a small company and not gather more forces it were too much indignity and dishonour So in this for God striking for sinne must not lay downe his Armes till the Rebells come in as Joab gave not over the siege of Abel till Shebaes head was given him 2 Sam. 20.22 Because it is dangerous for a people to harden them in their sinnes Reas 2 for if because sentence against an evill worke is not exeted speedily therefore the heart is fully set to doe evill Eccles 8.11 if the deferring be thus dangerous what is the removing and not renewing or doubling the judgment it hardens men Because he must doe it whether his owne or not Reas 3 if his owne that he may cure them as Physitians or Chirurgians double the dose of their medicines and use more violent meanes when they finde the body hard to worke upon the disease more setled so the Lord when he findes his owne more obstinate if not his that he may consume them and shew his power upon them that he is able to abase and destroy every one that is obstinate against him Learne then to feare before God Vse and to profit under his hand to turne unto him that smites us and to seeke the Lord of Hostes lest otherwise God be provoked to cut off from us head and tayle branch and roote in one day Esay 9.13 14. By the ministery of Malachy or by the hand of Malachy The
considered and so he is in two respects of his Creation and Election out of both we have somewhat to learne Men in regard of their Creation being so the sonnes of God Doctrine ought to honour him and doe him service and obedience thus much the Lords reasoning imports and inforceth It is manifest also by that Deut. 32.6 Doe ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy father that hath bought thee Hath he not made thee and established thee Thus much David prayed Psal 119.73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me give me understanding that I may learne thy Commandements this shews he ought to pay so much to God Because by all Lawes humane and divine of God nature Reas 1 and Nations a man owes as much as he hath received and ought to repay it as it is due and is called for Therefore owes a man all he hath unto God and ought to pay it to the service of his Creator unlesse he will be accounted a thiefe and an ungratefull man to him who hath bestowed so great things upon him for he hath received from him his being that is his body with all his senses and his soule with all the powers of it then is he debtor to pay all these Because as nothing else Reas 2 so man is not borne with all perfections he hath many things perfect but many things wanting which must be perfected afterwards Now it is a rule that he must give the complement and perfection who hath begun the worke or given the beginning Therefore it is that every effect lookes to the cause to receive from it his last perfection The Trees search for the Sunne and stretch their roots into the earth which brought them forth Fishes also will not out of the waters which bred them The Chicken no sooner out of the shell but shrowds it selfe under the feathers of the Hen and follows whithersoever she goes The little Lambe after it is borne seeketh to the Dams teate and if there be a thousand sheepe of the same wooll and colour it knows the owne damme and will follow her whithersoever she goes as if she said here I received that I have and here I seeke for that I want Then ought reasonable man not to doe lesse than unreasonable creatures but being not perfect seeke to him and serve him that made him that he may receive perfections This will serve to confute the dreame of Libertines and Valentinians Vse 1 of which not a few in our dayes who have the name of Christians but not the thing who think that the Gospell Christ being come men are not bound to obedience as before whether the Gospellbind or no that will follow after in the next point for this that men are still bound and by the Law for all the Gospell to obey appeares plainely because the Reasons are the same to us now which were then to them Receive they not now all their bodies and soules all the members and parts all the faculties and powers of them from him and as they have those beginnings must they not have the proceedings also and perfections from him If any have not let him goe out free he is bound to no such thing but if all men have then is every one bound even by the Law now in time of the Gospell as before Gods reason stands thus now if I be a father if I have made thee and created thee honour me if thou haddest that thou hast else-where I challenge it not if thou canst have any thing from others without me to perfect thy defects and supply thy wants I challenge no such thing but if not then give me my honour Know thus much that the Law requires honour to God as a Father in regard of Creation which if it be a continuall worke of God for all times and to all men then it follows that now as then To teach men Vse 2 and every one if there be no other reason that this requires of all obedience and honour to God because they are his he their father that made them For if a man build the house whose turne must it serve but the Lords that built it if he plant a Vineyard who shall gather the Grapes but he that planted it If a father beget a sonne whom shall he rather serve and honour than his father which begat him And if this then how much more to him that is the Father of Fathers and of all things in earth and Heaven It is heard from many men when they reprove others for some dishonouring of God and often but as they thinke It is not for your profession doth it become a man of that zeale you make shew of professing so greatly as you doe If they speake it that they are more bound it is true but if that they themselves are not bound and more than they can performe it is false for wherein have they dishonoured God by the profession that thy Creation binds not thee to doe or from doing Set faith and repentance aside things invisible not commanded in the Law what is it thou art not bound to either for piety or honesty and that by the Creation for the Law holds fast there and Creation onely binds to all such duties For even as the Heathen man saith Aristotle A man can never returne so much to his father as he ought how can he to God who hath given us more than all the fathers in the world And if to dishonour a father be a vile crime in a sonne what is it to sinne and rebell against God who is father so many wayes Let every man then bethink himselfe of this and see in himselfe how many things he hath to move him to honour God though he never looke without himselfe body soule all the faculties and powers and parts of both because his hands made them And if the Axe may not boast it selfe against him that heweth with it Isa 10.15 how may it against him that made it How may man dishonour his Creator if not the Axe against the hewer how the heart against the master Shall those hands made by him those eyes enlightened by him that tongue made and made speaking by him dishonour provoke and revile with oaths and blasphemies if they doe know that as all things are possible with him and like easie to him he can destroy them as easily as he made them in a word both Oh then let those hands worke the workes of God let those feet walke the paths of God those eyes delight in the wayes of God and that tongue speake the praises of God and that whose man honour him that hath made it for thus he calls If I be a Father where is my honour if I have made you where is the service you doe me Amongst men a Chapman of credit payes as much as hee received and he would scorne not to be accounted a good pay master and yet such deale
and not made of the substance of the man as her body was And from this I would gather this generall The souls of men are not propagated with the seede and substance of the body from the souls of their parents Doctrine as their bodies from their seede but they are created of God of nothing and joyned to the body So much this insinuates And that Gen. 2.23 he saith not soule of my soule but bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh apparantly that he knew it not if it were that her soule was propagated from his soule as the body was If it had beene so and he had knowne it certainely it had been more fit to have expressed the conjunction of marriage to have said this is now flesh of my flesh and soule of my soule then as he did To this we adde Eccles 12.7 Dust returnes to the earth as it was and the spirit returnes to God that gave it And Isaiah 42.5 and 57.16 The souls which I have made Zach. 12.1 The Lord formeth the spirit of man within him Heb. 12.9 God is the father of spirits Where the Apostle maketh the opposition not denying God to be the Author of our bodies as of the soules but that by the parents this immediately else should there be no opposition Because Adams soule was not made of the substance of his body Reason 1 or whereof his body was made but of nothing therefore Eves for though it is not said of her that he breathed into her the breath of life as of Adam Therefore saith Tertullian and some others she had both from him But August in 10 lib. sup Genes saith that this concludeth the contrary for if God had created her soule after another manner then Adams the Scripture would not have been silent in it no more then it is in the new manner of the creation of her body Therefore that which was spoken of the man must be understood of the woman and if of her then of others for there is no new manner of creation of man Because if it were propagated Reason 2 it must either receive matter from the body or soule of the parents not from the body because they differ in nature that corporall this spirituall not from the soule for then should it be subject to mutation and change to augmentation and diminution and so to corruption but the soule is immortall and not subject to corruption as no spirit is This serves to confute their opinion Vse 1 who thinke that the soule is propagated and not created comes from God by the parents and not from the power of God immediately It would be too too tedious not so profitable to make answer to all the reasons they bring which are of a contrary opinion yet not to passe over some common ones which are tossed up and downe of the common sort of men who have entered into this question It is an usuall objection with them that which troubled St. August in lib. 10. sup Genes That is God doe now create soules how should that be true that in the seventh day he rested from all his workes i. the workes of creation as it is generally taken how then should he create souls To answer I demand whether that Christ his soule was propagated from his Mother or created If they say it was propagated they must needs say it was tainted with sinne originall If they say it was created which the learned affirm S. August and others because it could not betainted with sinne then have they answered for us that soules are now created And the meaning of God ceasing from his worke is that which the learned give that after the sixt day he crated no new kinde of creatures or things though he doe still make particulars of kindes Secondly they say man begets a man and the mother brings forth a man of body and soule like themselves But admit this they beget and bring forth onely one part and not the whole then they beget and bring forth not like themselves In answer and demand did not God make Eve of Adam It will not be denyed yet did he make but her body and created her soule And if that speech be true why not this though but the body onely is propagated Againe I demand brought not Mary forth our Saviour Christ a true and perfect man and like her It is granted yet was his soule created of God and not propagated confessed of all Then so in this And the reason is given because in the body which is traduced and propagated from the parents by vertue of the seed there are qualities and conditions found by which it is made capable of a reasonable soule and so because of that the soule it selfe is said to be propagated from the patents And thus the schoole probably disputeth Thirdly they say if God create all soules then his which is begotten by adultery and so is the author of sinne or else a co-worker or a worker with the adulterers I answer first a difference is to be put betwixt the action and the evill of it God who workes in the action is free from the evill as in the betraying of Christ and murdering all move in him and worke by him but the evill is of themselves Secondly it is answered by some that there must be put a difference betwixt the action of an adulterer and his will The action simply and of it selfe is not evill but of things indifferent or naturally good the will is evill God workes in the action but approves not his will S. Hierom and S. August Epist 28. ad August set it out by this similitude The earth hath this goodnesse from God in it selfe that what seede soever men cast into it it keepes it and nourisheth it and it brings forth fruit whether the seede be lawfully taken out of a mans owne store and garner or it be stollen neither for thy theft or corruption refuseth it to take to nourish and to returne with fruit Yet will none for this accuse the goodnesse of the ground nor God who hath made it fruitfull for this purpose so God who is goodnesse it selfe if any goe in unto a woman whether lawfully or unlawfully doth not cease according to his decree and first ordering of things to worke with a man in framing the birth and creating the soule yet approves he no more his adultery then the others theft but condemnes and will punish them both Lastly by this reason a man may deny God to have any finger in the framing of the body as that he should not create the soule Fourthly they say if soules be thus created then how should they be infected with originall sinne Is it because it is joyned with the body but how should that be when as a corporall substance can have no power over a spirituall and how should God be free from sinne but be Author of it when he joyneth a pure soule with a sinnefull and corrupt body
and man requires all to be done and nothing omitted that may glorifie and honour him and be helpfull and profitable to them for so it is said to be bountifull that is helpfull 1. Cor. 13.4 But specially if we consider Peccatum est cum vel non est charitas quae esse debet vel minor est quam debet August de perfect justitiae Cit. coelest Ra. 15. that every man must love God above himselfe and man as himselfe now to omit any thing that is good for himselfe is a breach of charity to himselfe then so of these Sin is an action but the omission is onely a privation that is an omitting of that which ought to be done how can it then be a sin and they sin who omit it There is an action in sinnes of omission thus It is a sin of omission not to love his neighbour not to come to the congregation to heare the word and receive the sacrament in these there is an action for sometimes they are done upon purpose and deliberation and so he that offends will not love his neighbour will not go to the assembly and here is a plaine action of his will but sometimes they are omitted because a man thinkes not of them not of any purpose or contempt now here though there be not an action of the same kinde yet there is an action repugnant to the law he thinks not of the assembly because he would walke or take his recreation and these actions are repugnant to that good worke and sometimes the action is not at the same time but went a little before As a man gives himselfe to excesse and drunkennesse overnight and after cannot rise in the morning to be present there here is an action though not at the same time and of the same kinde yet that which is the cause of that omission All sinne is not an action it is onely true of sinne of commission which is some positive act done which the will should not consent to do sin of omission is but a privation of good As the Schoole and Basil Malum boni privatio est caelitas ex oculorum perditione provenit serm quod D. non est author peccati Facere cordis cogitare est quia corporis est cogitata proficere Chrysost ser de levium criminum periculis Then many men if they wil look upon their reckonings Vse 1 are guilty of a multitude of sinnes more then ever they thought themselves to be seeing they have onely accounted sinnes of commission to be theirs and never of omission Many have thought they were bound to avoid the evill yet not to do the good and so account their sinnes Many who account it a sinne to have other Gods have never accounted it a sin not to know the true God to believe him and feare him not to pray unto him which they did only in respect of their own necessities never of any duty to him nor of avoiding of sin so in the rest of the commandments These must know that they have to account with God for these if they have already for the other nay he never accounted nor repented of any one who doth not for these for he can have no true conscience of sin that hath not right science knowledge of these for sins who if they reckon not againe with God bring not true repentance must not looke to have peace but a controversie with God And if Judg. 5.23 Meroz was cursed not for fighting against Gods people but not assisting them in the battell against the mighty If Moses was punished with deprivation of the possession or fortage of the Land of Canaan not for dishonouring of God but not sanctifying him in the presence of the children of Israel Num. 20.12 If the rich man was cast into the torments of Hel not for taking away food from Lazarus but because he did not relieve his wants Luke 16. How shall they escape the curse inherit the Kingdome the spirituall Canaan how not be tormented in Hel Then let not men thinke much Vse 2 if they be censured as men who have gone astray from their birth while all their piety and honesty is but a negative piety and a negative honesty and not an affirmative but in little and slender sort here is all they can say for themselves they are not Idolaters and open prophane persons scoffers of piety they are not swearers they are no adulterers theeves or oppressors But in the mean time they are not zealous for his worship nor conscionable professors nor such as hunger after righteousnesse nor such as feare the dreadfull and great name of the Lord nor love of mercy and the like They may be judged as wicked men and as those who are in the displeasure of God As Tertul. nusquam nunquam excusatur quod Deus damnat So it cannot be but sinne which God is displeased withall Return unto me In this exhortation following the reproofe there may be noted from the Coherence two points First the patience of God towards sinners waiting for their returne Secondly that none is so desperately sinfull but there is hope he may returne and be converted And I will return unto you Here is the promise annexed to the former exhortation to draw them to hearken to it and obey it a promise of remooving or mitigating of their calamities and plagues and first in the generall observe they must performe and do their parts else he will not do his God is not bound Doctr. 1 to give man any thing he hath promised or covenanted unlesse he performe his covenant and conditions Vide Cap. 2.4 I sent this commandment that my Covenant might stand Againe if they repent he will returne remove or mitigate their plagues and punishments Repentance is the most certaine means Doctr. 2 and soveraigne medicine to mitigate and remoove to prevent and keep away judgements and plagues of God from the persons of men or the things that belong unto them Manifest as here so by that 2. Chro. 7.13.14 If I shut the Heaven that there be no raine or if I command the Grashopper to devoure the Land or if I send pestilence among my people If my people among whom my name is called upon doe humble themselves and pray and seeke my presence and turne from their wicked waies then will I heare in heaven and be mercifull to their sinne and will heale their Land Jer. 18.7.8 I will speake suddenly against a nation or against a kingdome to plucke it up and to roote it out and to destroy it But if this nation against whom I have pronounced turne from their wickednesse I will repent of the plague that I thought to bring upon them And 26.3 If so be they will hear ken and turne every man from his evill way that I may repent me of the plague which I have determined to bring upon them because of the wickednesse of their workes Luke 13.3.5 We have examples David