Forty sermons whereof twenty one are now first publish'd, the greatest part preach'd before the King and on solemn occasions / by Richard Allestree ... ; to these is prefixt an account of the author's life.

A SERMON OF THE PREROGATIVE OF MERCY, in being the best SACRIFICE. (Book 3)

Matth. 9. 13.

Go yee and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice.

THE words are part of a reply of our Saviors to a cavilling question of the Scribes and Pharisees, who seeing him converse familiarly, accept the friendship of an invitation, sit and eat with open noted Sinners, and (which was as bad a name amongst them) Publicans, ask his Disciples why they and their Master do what they know was forbidden and unlawful? To whom having an∣swer'd, that he did converse with them only in order to their cure, (now a Physitian, that goes to visit his sick Patients, is not there∣fore blam'd for going to them because they are sick,) he further ju∣stifies himself by an account of Gods own mind and dealing set down in the Scripture, of whose meaning, if they had not taken notice hitherto, he bids them now go learn it. For God tells them by his Prophet Hosea, that he prefers acts of mercy, doing good to others, before any Ceremonies of his Worship, tho himself or∣dain'd them, whether Sacrifices or whatever others. For I will, says he, have mercy and not sacrifice. Therefore Christ did but comply with Gods own will, when he accepted of an invitation from such sinners, merely to have the better opportunity to invite them to repentance and to heaven; and in doing so did but pre∣ferr the acts of highest mercy in the world, the doing everlasting blessed good to souls, before obedience to such ritual precepts, as forbad converse with the unclean and sinful.

I need not here observe, that the negation is but comparative, and means, I will not have Sacrifice, but Mercy rather, yea I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice, where I cannot have both; or that by Sacrifice also is meant all Ceremonies of Gods Worship, altho instituted by himself, and those not taken by themselves and mere∣ly external Acts and void of the inward zeal and devotion that should spirit them, but taken in their best states; yet God will have works of Mercy rather. And that doctrine is, it seems, worth learning and attending to: for so in the text there is besides the proposition it self I will have mercy and not sacrifice, also the insinua∣tion of its usefulness in those words, go and learn what that means.

I shall not break these into other parts, but raise some Proposi∣tions for the subjects of my discourse. And

First since God compares two sorts of things here in the text, and says he will have, or is pleas'd with one and not the other, which other yet 'tis plain that he was pleas'd with and would have, for he commanded them; 'tis evident he does imply, that as these, call'd here Sacrifices, were grateful to him, as they were obedience to his precepts; so the other therefore, which he does prefer to those, they must be good and acceptable to him in themselves, not only as they are commanded. Some actions therefore have an intrin∣sic honesty, are of themselves, in their own nature morally good and well-pleasing to God, as some also are the contrary.

2^dly Of all that are so in that manner good, those of Mercy are in an especial manner such, I will have mercy.

3^dly Of all acts of mercy those are best and most well-pleasing in Gods sight, which are employ'd in reducing Sinners from their evil ways: those were such our Savior is here pleading for. And

4^thly 'Tis onely the opportunity and the design and hope of doing good to Sinners by reforming them, that can make familiar con∣verse with them excusable and lawful: I mean, where no duty of a relation do's oblige to it. Christ himself had no other plea to ju∣stify his eating with them, but that he intended it as a mercy to them, as his opportunity to call them to repentance, All these we see flow naturally from the words.

First, some actions have an intrinsic honesty, are of themselves, in their own nature morally good and well-pleasing to God, as some are the contrary. When I say they have an intrinsic honesty and are in nature good, I mean the rule of them is intrinsic and essen∣tial to the agent, is indeed his nature, and by consequence their goodness is as universal and eternal as that nature. Now it is a do∣ctrine that hath had Advocates as ancient as the great Carneades and the Sect of the Pyrrhonians, that in nature antecedent to all laws and constitutions there is no rule of unjust or just, good or evil, honest or dishonest; and that nothing of it self is one or other, but as our concerns or interests do make it to our selves, to prosecute which is the only inclination and the only rule that nature gives us: or else, as the public interests incline superior powers to prescribe them, whom it is our interest also to obey. Accordingly we find ••this saying in Thucydides, that to them that are in power 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, nothing is unreasonable that is useful. And the Athenians being stronger tell the Melii, that by rules of human reason things are just in that degree that they are necessary. And then as necessi∣ties and interests do chance to vary, good and just must change in∣to their contrary; and as different countries and persons cannot but have opposite rules and mesures of necessity and usefulness, so they must of just and honest: thus the laws of Vertue serve, like Almanacks, but for such a latitude, and a different elevation of the Pole quite alters them, and makes them good for nothing. A pleasant sort of good and honest this, which any wall or dike, that divides Provinces or Countries, can give boundaries, lines, and rules to, so as that it shall be vertue and right on one side, vice and error

on the other: as if those principles of good and evil, which seem planted in us, and the world calls natural, were nothing else but prejudices taken in from early conversation; as dogs learn (they say) the skill of chase. And it were great pity, if this age, which so much needs the patronage of such a principle to give counte∣nance to their licentious practices, had not also found out some, that reestablish and plead for this. But I shall not give you or my self the trouble to advert to them, but shall onely briefly lay the grounds of the contrary truth, which is so plainly set down here in the text: for if God himself tho he had constituted both the acts of Mercy and the acts of Worship, so that whatsoever goodness law or constitution (tho divine) could give, both had, if yet he shall pre∣fer, and will have one much, rather then the other, 'tis because there is some difference in the things themselves. For he that sees and judges as things are, if he shall judge one better, then it is so, and that by some rule antecedent to that judgment, that is, from the nature of the thing it self, which is the reason why he judges of them diversly, and constitutes, and wills them differently. So that God supposeth, that there are some actions of themselves, and in their own nature morally good; neither is it hard to prove it. And tho, if we but view'd mans nature in it self, whether made by God or chance and atomes it matters not, we should see sufficient grounds to count his actions laudable or blame-worthy, as being morally good or bad, according as they are directed by, or deviate from that rule: yet in my first proposal of the thing, I shall make bold to take in God as the contriver of mans nature, and all other. Now when the great Creator of the Universe had made it up of in∣finite variety of beings in an excellent order, 'tis most certain that He being a most wise agent made each being for some end, which it was to attain, unless it were made in vain: but ends are not attaina∣ble but by operations suited and proportion'd to those ends. The operations of a simple element will not reach the ends of life, or sense, or reason; as in artificial things we cannot use a ball to cut, or Coulander to carry water in, and therefore as it is the business of each art to take care, that their tools and all their productions be wrought so, that their very make may fit them to work out these uses they are made for: so in Nature, Gods art, it was therefore ne∣cessary he should frame each several being so, as that the nature of it should be as it were a rule to it, to regulate the manner and the measures of its workings, that so they might tend orderly and con∣stantly towards those ends, which he design'd their operations to work out, and in their courses might comport with one anothers motions; and by doing so contribute to the ends and uses of the whole. For if the nature of each being were not such a principle, causing some to move in one way, some another, fitting this for one use, that for others: or if in their motions, or their other actings they should deviate from the rule of nature, they could nei∣ther be sayd to be those beings, neither would they make a world, but Chaos, routing always and confounding one another. But while they do observe that rule, act and are mov'd according to their nature, and by doing so fulfil their uses, and work out the ends

of their creation. So we see they are the preservation of the world, and consequently they must needs be truly, what God saw they were, when He had made them all, very good. Those of them indeed that are determin'd by their nature to one course, which they can neither err from, nor discern that they observe, not morally good; because there is no place for vertue, since there is none for choice in such determinations. But then there is a creature that hath faculties to understand and chuse, and which hath principles imprest upon him, that inable him for apprehension, judgment, and discourse of reason, and by consequence who is onely able, as to understand himself, so also to find out the nature and the uses of the rest, and therefore who alone is capable and fit to be the Lord of them, and was made so, and hath therefore ends above the ends of all the rest; whose nature also, as the others were, (there being the same reason of them all) was a law to it self, to regulate his actings, even all his apprehensions, judgings, reasonings, and his choices. Now if he also do not turn aside from the line of direction, which his being do's incline him unto, in pursuance of the aims of a nature that is rational and was made for society, his actings must be good, that is, fit for the uses, which he was design'd for, and it is not possible that they can fail his Makers ends, and consequently must be well pleasing to his great and wise and good Artificer, since so they ju∣stify the goodness of the workmanship. But yet if he neglect and violate the laws of his own being, and as he corrupts himself, so also being Lord of other creatures, if he employ them not to their own uses, but abuse them, make them serve irregular and vitiated pur∣poses, this male-administration cannot but renverse the state of things. Thus acting he not only puts himself by those ends he was made for; but defeats God of his aims in the creation of the rest, by putting them to uses that despite him meerly, stand in perfect opposition to his wisdom, holiness, and goodness, all his attributes, and work out nothing but disorder and destruction, and by conse∣quence are bad and most displeasing to their Maker, and since these (as the other good ones were) are don discernedly and with delibe∣ration and choice, they are therefore morally so. So that actions of men in themselves, and by the rules of nature, may be morally good and well pleasing in Gods sight, or the contrary.

Yea which will follow from the premises, and which I only toucht before, altho there were no law of a superior being, which requir'd that man should live conformable to his own nature, and to those impressions and notices, which in his making have bin stampt upon him, to direct and regulate his actings, yet his very nature, howso∣ever made or hapning, being such a rule to all his works, would have the reason of a law to him: for as with them that grant such a Superior and Creator, that very supreme being, tho he be Al∣mighty, can do all things, yet there are such things, that 'tis im∣possible for him to do, they are so bad, and all his actions are most infinitely good, not by reason of a conformity to the precepts or prohibitions of a law; for none such can be set to God, but merely as they are conformable to the most infinite perfection of his na∣ture. So abstracting from all law of a superior being, and consi∣dering

man in his own nature as a rational sociable creature, and relating to the place and station he fills in the Universe, his actions would be good or bad by disagreeing or conformity to that; and he that acts in opposition to it, is as mischeivous, yea as unnatural a thing as if one of the Elements of the world, or any cheif ingre∣dient of its making, should have chang'd its operations, and by con∣sequence not be it self, but the disorder and the pest of all the other. We seem indeed astonisht seeing heavy bodies to put off their nature and ascend, and we rack principles to find out causes: when the vi∣cious man, that acts daily against his reason, is the same constant prodigy: the man, that pours down streams of intemperance, until they mount into the throne of reason and quench the little spark that's seated there, is as unnatural a thing as a stream climbing up a wall, and every Sinner is as much a monster as a stone falling up∣wards, do's as much against his nature, reason; is indeed a greater monster. For when those other things do leave their nature, 'tis either from some violence in the efficient; if water mount, 'tis by the force of engine or some other pressure, or, as some say, from violent impulses of a final cause: 'tis for the preservation of the whole community of natures; for if it be to avoid vacuities, it is so, and it do's against its own inclination, onely for the strong con∣cern there is for the benefit of the Universe: but the wicked man, that lives against the dictates of right reason, his own nature, is urg'd to it by no violences but those of wilfulness, is pusht on by no engine but a naughty heart, nor hath he any higher ends that make impulse upon him, but he is onely passionate for unworthy ruine, violent for an unreasonable destruction.

The Heathens were so sensible of Natures obligation in man to live virtuously according to reason, that they call'd the doing so 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as if there had bin an engagement to it in his very constitution and being: and his principles and frame did promise for him he should live so: and thereforea 1.1 Arrian upon Epict, tells a man that did a thing injuriously or with passion and impetuosity, or but without consideration, or to gratify his lower appetites, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, thou hast destroy'd the man in thee in having not kept nature's word, but broke the promise, which thy very being made for thee. As if mans nature undertook as solemnly he would be virtuous, as the fire's nature does assure that it will burn.

But we who profess also to believe, that God made man in his own image, consequently must needs grant, that so far as he im∣prest on him the likeness of that nature, whose perfections, as they are most infinite and immutable, so they are a necessary and un∣changeable rule of goodness to those beings that are transcripts of his being, so far therefore he hath planted in us rules of good, which since they are deriv'd from our supreme Lord and Creator, must have the force of law to us, and are that which the Scripture calls the Law written in our hearts, whose dictates (howsoever slight∣ly vain men think of vertue, that it is but an emty name, or at the best but politic contrivance without any real grounds in nature) have yet their causes as eternal, are themselves as immutable, not onely as mans nature, but as Gods, of which mans is the draught and

image, and are justly call'd participations of those forme of good∣ness that are in God, of which they are the prints; and amongst them none more lively then the rule of Mercy, the thing that God do's prefer here, when he sais, I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice. Whence we observ'd, that amongst all those actions, which have an intrinsic honesty, and are of their own nature in themselves mo∣rally good, and well-pleasing to God, those of Mercy are in an especial manner such; the second thing I was to speak to, for I will, saith he, have Mercy.

The word here 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 signifies benignity, and by it is meant all love and kindness, the exercise of the habit of mind, that disposeth a man to do all the good he can to every man, in what condition soever. Now to prove that human nature hath implanted in it principles of universal kindness, and propensions to have friendship to, have pity on, do good to one another, I shall not urge what * 1.2 S^t Paul saith, that God made of one blood all the nations of the earth, tho certainly in that one kindred there be an obligation to the dear affections of near relatives. But if all would grant that one blood, it would, I fear, prevail not much, for now adaies nearness of kindred is not apt to make close friendships and concernes for one another, if an interest chance to interpose: however one blood, when it is divided so and scatter'd, hath not force to warm and spirit strong affections or to cement much.

But this I will take confidence to urge, that in the latitude of creatures none is born with so much need of mercy, as a man: none wants so many helps to be brought forth, none leaves the parent, that did bear it and should nourish it, in so weak and helpless a con∣dition, (I speak as to the generality,) 'tis merely others pity and assistance that they live: and then if mercy, others help be the most pressing and the first necessity of humane nature, the return of mercy, pitying and helping others is the first and the most pressing obligation on that nature. To go forward; as this state of infan∣cy demonstrates nature did intend him for society, since without that 'tis not onely most impossible that he can be that rational crea∣ture, ever can exert the faculties of speech and the discourse of rea∣son, which yet 'tis plain nature hath fitted him for; but also most impossible that he can be brought up to be so, when he is so, 'tis so∣ciety alone that still preserves him, and 'tis onely mutual good of∣fices that preserve society. Nam quo alio tuti sumus quam quod mu∣tuis juvamur officiis, saith Seneca l. 4. de Benef. c. 18. and mans life subsists, is furnisht and rose onely by commerce of kindnesses, by helping one another: take him single, and what is he but the prey of any beast almost? vilissimus & facillimus sanguis, the cheapest blood and easiest to be spilt. Those creatures that are born in de∣serts, and born for them, are all arm'd, but nature gave no strength to man besides the kindness and assistances of other men; take away them, by which alone it do's subsist, and the whole kind must perish. But so far you labor to take them away, as you believe not to be good, kind, merciful, and assisting is not a thing of it self ill and unnatural, which it must needs be; and the contrary most na∣tural, when as nature hath provided onely that, as instrument of its

security and preservation. So far is the accursed principle of self interest and of mans just right to do what e're he lists to others, howsoever mischeivous it be, if he conceive the doing of it useful to himself, from being any principle of nature, that the first voice of nature teacheth us the direct contrary. And whosoever he be that is, I will not say unjust to others, but not kind, friendly, and apt to do good to them; he that hath regard for onely self, and mesures all by his own inclinations and interests, is such a thing, if nature onely judg of him, as ought to have bin expos'd when he was born, and to have no pity shew'd him, when in teares and in his blood he cri'd for it; he should be still abstain'd and sepe∣rated from, as one whom Nature her self excommunicates, as one who is no part of human society, but the proper native and inhabi∣tant of the desert. But he that is unrighteous, who by worng whe∣ther of violence or fraud or but of debt makes his own satisfactions, that to serve his uses and occasions dares take, or but detain from others what is due to them, and supports his pomp and plenty with that, which of right ought to cloth and feed others; and so eats the bread and drinks the tears, and, may be, blood of Creditors; he that is so unmerciful as to be thus cruel, tho Almighty God were silent, even Nature would her self prosecute such a person with her out-cries, as we do fire, when 'tis broke out and rages, for he is all one; fire also spreads and seises all it can come near, whether mans or Gods house, to make fuel for it self and to encrease its blaze: so that the other should be lookt upon with the same dreads and ab∣horrency, for he is the same disorder in the frame of Nature, and in this the voice of Nature is the voice of God, which is our other medium to discover what is natural. Now since we have declar'd, that natural vertue is in man the imitation of God, is as it were the workings off of those forms of goodness that are in him, and the lines and rules of it are but the lineaments of his perfection, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 will be easy to evince, that the rule for mercy is a most important law of Nature, since the practice of it is so natural to God himself. Now to prove this, passing by all other methods of probation, I shall content my self with that one declaration of himself he made, when he proclaim'd himselfb 1.3 the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity transgression and sin, and that will by no means utterly cut off the guilty, (so I understand it out of Jer. 46. 28.) will not make a full end, a clear riddance of them, when I visit. God seems here to have taken flesh in his expressions e're he was incarnate, that he might have words to phrase his goodness in: and he had bowels of mercy before he was made man, and yet all this, he says, are but the back parts of his goodnes Exod. 33. v. ult. but that of it which we meet with in his dealings with the Sons of men, as we see it à posteriori, and in its effects here: but the face and glory of it was so bright and dazeling, that he tells his friend there Moses, that 'twas not possible for him to see it and live. Yet now S^t Paul saith, God hath given us the light of the knowledg of the glo∣ry of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. 4. 6. Indeed there was Di∣vinity of mercy, and more too; humanity was taken in, that God

Almighty might be able to bestow more then himself, and all that he might shew compassion on us men. It seems, O Lord, thou wilt have Mercy, yea and Sacrifice too. If thou require such an of∣fering, as the Sacrifice of thine own blood and of thine own Son, that thou mightest have mercy on us; and then let men dispute, that vindicative justice is essential to God, that sin and its punish∣ment are annext by as unchangable necessity as Gods Attributes are to his being, and that by the express exigence of his nature he no less necessarily executes it, then the fire burns: we may well be content it should be so, when this strict necessity, if such there were, did but make way for, was subservient to the ends of infinite Mercy, and by that demonstrates, that benignity, compassion and for∣giveness are much more the inclinations of his nature, and if he intended man in any thing his image, sure he did in mercy; therefore do's our Savior charge us, be yee merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful, who as he had no other reason to create the world, so 'tis most certain, that he had no other reason to redeem it. That Oeconomy was intended as the means of mercy to poor Sinners in reducing them, which is the Mercy my third observation speaks of, which was this; that of all acts of Mercy those are best and most well-pleasing in Gods sight, which are emploi'd in the conversion of Sinners: that was such, for which our Savior is here pleading, when he saith, I will have Mercy.

But here I mean not such conversions as they are emploi'd about, who compass sea and land, not so much to convert men from the evil of their waies, to the true real practice of Christianity, as to convert them to their Church: to which men would not go so fast, but that by the debauch of all good Christian discipline, there are such easy absolutions to be had, tho men be not converted from their evil waies; for it is impossible to find a Church or a Religion in the world, which men may sin so hopefully and comfortably in, as that of Rome, as it now stands. But these busy Agitators of con∣version, besides that they convert not men to Catholic Christiani∣ty, but to a name, and indeed faction, have made Catholic a word of party: if they should multiply, we should soon find, they would have Sacrifice, not Mercy. I do not mean their Host, that Sacri∣ficium incruentum, bloody Sacrifices, we know, are a main part of their doctrine and their practice, who have us'd to turn whole Na∣tions into shambles for their Church's sake, and make bonfires with burnt-offerings of their fellow Christians. But waving these Con∣versions, those the proposition speaks of, are such, as reduce Sinners from their evil doings, to the universal faithful practice of all vir∣tue and all piety.

Now of all acts of Mercy, that those, which endeavor this, are best, Nature herself would judg: since they do aim at reinstating man, the crown of all her workmanship, in the integrity and recti∣tude of Nature, which is his own true perfect state, and is therefore the most proper and best for him, as relating to that state. But God, who beyond that design'd to make man, who had faln from his own nature, to partake of the Divine Nature, as S^t Peter saith 2. Pet. 1. 4. and in order to it call'd us to glory and vertue, v. 3. can∣not

but account that kindness, which endeavors the recovery of Sinners from corruption and misery, to the state of vertue, and so on to glory, and to be partakers of his Nature, as a kindness that is in great degree Divine. And certainly, if acts of Mercy be, as we have seen, so well pleasing to God, 'tis certain, that the acts of greatest Mercy must be most well-pleasing; and it is as certain, that those Mercies are the greatest, which releive from greatest miseries, and invest with highest blessedness: but the eternal happy prepara∣tions for the Penitent, and the as infinite and immortal torments, that await the Sinner, transcend all comparison with other things. Both of them indeed were propos'd in Mercy, Hell it self was threatned merely in compassion, to affright our passage, and to make our entry inaccessible. 'Tis true it must be executed on the final impenitent, that God may be true; he is engag'd in his vera∣city to inflict it, and yet he scarce knows how to do it, or to pu∣nish: How shall I give thee up, O Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, O Israel? My heart is turn'd within me, my repentings are kindled to∣gether, Hos. 11. 8. Since thou wilt not do it, not turn, not re∣pent, sure I must, for how shall I give thee up? Yea he does it till that he be weary with repenting Jer. 15. 6. till he be in passion, so as that with oaths he does expostulatec 1.4 as I live, saith the Lord, I would not the death of the wicked,—turn ye, turn ye from your evil waies; for why will ye die: yea more he sent his Son out of his bosom to pre∣vent it. Would you know the value of that kindness, that en∣deavors to reform such Sinners, it was worth the Incarnation of the Son of God, the Word was made flesh purposely to call such to re∣pentance: so my text saith, I came to call Sinners to repentance. But to call them to it, Lord! out of thine own mouth we will challenge more from thee; for thou didst answer to this very same reproch of being a guest to one that was a Sinner, The Son of man came to seek and to save that which is lost Luke 19. 10. not to call onely, but to seek; and how, he shews you in the Parable, chap. 15. v. 4, 5. What man of you having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, un∣til he find it? and when he hath found it, he laieth it on his shoulders rejoicing.

The Sinner he hath straid into by paths, gon away from the Shepherd of his soul, is a lost sheep; but yet when he is gon his farthest, is in mazes, knows not which way to betake himself, then this good Shepherd do's not onely call, invite to a return, or (as the Father in the Parable) run to meet him in his coming back, but goes himself to seek him, seems to mind the recovery of each single one that's lost, and contributes as carefully to his return, as if that one were all his charge, and the whole flock not dearer to him then that sheep, he leaves the ninety and nine to seek that one, and he seeks till he finds it, and then laies it on his shoulders: the wandring sheep it seems had strai'd till it was weary, and had tir'd it self with running from its Shepherd, so as that it neither could come nor be driven home; but that too is provided for, for there∣fore he is carried: that none, how far soever he hath gon away, may yet despair of coming back. This sheep had wandred to so

great a distance, and to so much weariness, that he was fain to be born back, when he was found. Yea and the burden was most ac∣ceptable, for he laid it on his shoulders rejoicing: assure thy self he will refuse no burden for thy sake, who was willing to bear the Cross for thee; be but contented to be found by him, and he will carry thee with gladness, & the joy will spread it self to Heaven also, v. 7. There is joy in heaven over one Sinner, that repenteth. The kindness, that effects this, is worth a triumph in Gods presence among all, God, Angels; it is worth a passion of the Son of God, it is fit to make a joy in Heaven, and fit to make the Lord of Heaven descend to earth, and to the grave for it. Nor yet content with having don all this himself, he gave his Spirit to ordain and qualify a state of men to agitate this onely work to the worlds end. For saith d 1.5 S^t Paul, we are Ambassadors for Christ, as tho God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christs stead, be ye reconciled to God.

I know not whether the Ambassadors are likely to prevail, in what the Son himself hath fail'd; and whether Gods beseeching us will do that, which his dying for us hath not yet bin able to ef∣fect; or whether they that come with the same Ambassy, have not reason to expect the same unkind reception: for it is no won∣der, if that Message, which did cause Christ to be crucifi'd and his Heralds martyr'd, which was so unwelcome, that they shed the blood of intire. Nations almost to extinguish it, and lay'd wast whole Regions to extirpate it, should not now be any whit more grateful: for without all doubt men love their vices now as well as ever, and indeed 'tis hard to love the men, that come to tear their bosome inclinations from their heart, whose words are corrosives and caustics, lances, sawes, and whatsoever other instruments, that serve to mortify and to cut off; men that design to sower all their satisfa∣ctions they have in the world, by throwing in the thoughts of pre∣sent guilt and after torments, whom if they beleive not, they must needs despise, and hate them for assuming so to check and censure, lay such black dooms on their actions; if they do beleive them, they must needs be tortur'd by them, feel convulsions, wracks within at their discourses, and by consequence cannot much affect them. 'Tis hard not to be enemies to them, who, tho they say they come to treat a reconciliation, are Ambassadors of war, and whose commission 'tise 1.6 to cry aloud, not spare, but lift up their voice like a trumpet to proclaime defiance, sound a charge against them, and to shew the people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. Now to be told of faults, to have ones bosome ript up, and the guilt displai'd, was hardly ever acceptable; good counsel, admonitions and reproofs never have bin welcome, and then how should they be so, whose office 'tis to bring them, and who are, as the Wise Man saith, Ordain'd to reproving. But 'tis as unhappy sure, as 'tis unreasonable to dislike the greatest kindnesses for being such; if mercy shall be thought to merit hate, because it is the highest mer∣cy, what then shall oblige? The poor man does not scorn the gar∣ment that is sent to cloth his nakedness, or the food that is bestow'd upon his croaking, clinging bowels, tho the very almes betoken and discover the necessity, he hath yet no malice to his Benefactor

therefore: but the perishing naked soul thinks, he that labors to releive her wants, upbraids her with them, and the invitations therefore to the Supper of the Lamb, the offers of the wedding gar∣ment, of the robe of Immortality provoke her. Men allow the Physi∣tian yet to tell them of those maladies, that have guilt in them, and receive prescriptions from him of such methods of severity and discipline, as few would go thro to Heaven, and all this endears the man: but he that shall attemt an application to the vice, which is the cause of all this, to remove which is the onely possible way to secure from relapses, and the certain way to health and life eter∣nal, he is judg'd a mortal enemy, as if there were nothing in the world so dear to men as their sins are, no kindnesses, but what are shew'd to those, are grateful; that were true love that would see them, let them perish everlastingly, and not speak to them to di∣rect them; as if all benefaction to the soul were injury, and the mercies, that have in them Heaven and Eternity, were meer de∣fiances.

But how irksom however such conversations are, as by admoni∣tions, or whatever other methods aim at the recovery of Sinners, they are the onely conversations with them that can be justified. For, which is the fourth and last thing that I am to speak to,

'Tis onely the opportunity and the design and hope of doing good to Sinners, by reforming them, that can make familiar con∣verse with them excusable and lawful; I mean where the duty of a Relation does not oblige to it.

And first, I will not give my self the trouble to find out a law of God among the Jews forbidding to converse at all with Heathens, and by consequence with open Sinners, which might give occasion to this question of the Pharisees, since S^t Peter tells Cornelius Acts 10. 28. Ye know, that it is an unlawful thing for a man, that is a Jew, to keep company, or come unto one of an other Nation: and our Sa∣vior, when he would prescribe the distance, which his censures were to make men keep, from any refractory Sinner, words it, let him be unto thee as an Heathen or a Publican, as supposing they were not to company with those; and in the Text he also reckons the obser∣vance of that distance from all Sinners as a duty, calls it Sacrifice, and justifies his doing otherwise by this plea onely, that he came to them to call them to repentance. But if a command be call'd for, we have several, 1 Cor. 5. 11. Now I have written to you, not to company, if any man, that is call'd a brother, i. e. professeth himself a Christian, be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one no not to eat, and the like: 2 Thess. c. 3. v. 14. If any man obey not our word, note that man, and have no company with him; adding v. 15. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. The Converse is therefore lawful onely, as an opportunity of admonition. For

Secondly, if it be lawful otherwise, I might ask, for whom? not for the Clergy-man most certainly, whose calling it is to admonish, and he is false and trecherous to his office, as well as his company, if he do not, who is set God's Watchman, to give notice of ap∣proching dangers, & who is responsible for every soul that perisheth

for want of warning; nor the Magistrate, who if he see vice, by his office is as much oblig'd to punish it, as the Clergy-man to preach against it. He also is the Minister of God to execute wrath, as the other is to denounce it, whose easiness is much more baneful then the others silence, and makes all those faults, which by not punish∣ing it does encourage, and by that is more unmerciful to the com∣munity then arbitrary tyranny, and is guilty of that blood it does forbear to shed; and as not for these, so not for any one, since re∣proofs and admonitions have bin the duty of every person from the beginnings of Religion Lev. 19. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suf∣fer sin upon him. Silence then in Gods esteem is enmity, not to re∣prove perfect hatred; and indeed to labor to preserve a man from perishing eternally does look like kindness: but if this kindness be too sower, and sullen for this present age that will not bear corre∣ption, and in opposition to Gods judgment calls that hatred, looks upon it as a provocation and affront, and answers it with a defy, and with the retributions of a mortal injury; yet there are com∣mands

Thirdly, which God hath made as fences merely to secure our virtue, charging both in general of Sinners: My son, walk not thou in the way with them, refrain thy foot from their path Prov. 1. 15. and also in particular of almost every sin: Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man thou shalt not go; least thou learn his waies, and get a snare to thy soul, Prov. 22. 24, 25. and look not upon the wine when it sparkles: and sit not by a woman &c. so that merely to converse with these sollicitations to sin is the breach of commands, which commands if they should be onely methods of security, not rules of express duty, yet not to observe them is to slight the onely Antidote Gods wisdom could prescribe against contagion, and that man, that do's so, do's assume to guard himself, and so devests himself of the protection of Gods Grace and Holy Spirit; and then, if he fall, he is not onely guilty of the fault that he commits, but of wilful contemtuous refusal of the means of preservation from it, of design indeed to make the sin unavoidably to himself: for such familiarities express, that he desires to be engag'd in the necessity of sinning. For he that does invite the danger, and converse, and play with the temtation, can have no other ends, but to be ensnar'd and taken.

Now judg of your selves, I pray you, whether he that do's re∣quire to pluck out the right eye, if it offend, and cut off the right hand and foot, that with such torment to our selves we should be∣reave our selves of those so useful organs, whether for the ornament or the necessities of our being, if we find that we shall be betrai'd by them, and who requires it on this penalty, that otherwise we shall be cast with both ours eies, and hands, and feet into Hell fire; whe∣ther he be likely to excuse the conversation with those objects, that engage our eies, and poyson our souls thro them; or else will allow me, by thrusting my self thus into temtations, to lay violent hands upon sin and destruction, who commands me to cut off my hand rather then touch vice. Or else will he give me leave to run into

the snare, who bids me cut my foot off rather then be taken; sure he suppos'd we would be willing of our selves to divorce and tear our selves from the allurements and occasions, who thought it un∣necessary to prescribe such easy remedies as to avoid them, and re∣quires of us, that when the allurements shall surprize, or force themselves upon our senses, we tear out the organ rather then yeild and be overcome. Or he thought at least, that altho the compa∣nions of my vices are grown dearer to me then mine own eies, their converse more useful and more necessary to my satisfaction then my hand or foot is to me, yet to pluck out, cut off, and cast all from me.

But were I proof against temtation, and perfectly secure from the contagion of such conversation, yet 'tis

Fourthly, less excusable in respect to Gods concern then any other. To sit and see vertue not onely violated and deflour'd with loose unclean discourses, but like Thamar then thrust out of doors, despis'd, Religion scoft, and turn'd in ridicule; all that is Holy laugh'd at and profan'd, and Gods Lawes vilifi'd, his Word burlesqu'd and droll'd upon, his Name blasphem'd and himself raill'd, curst, renounc't, yea and deni'd a being; and hearing this, I do not say to find delight and entertainment in this sort of com∣pany; for none, but those that are of reprobate minds, can do that possibly, take pleasure in that which hath nothing in the world to recommend it, but the boldness of the villany: but to sit patient without any least sense of resentment, as one that had not any least concern for God Almighty's honor or his being, is ingratitude to such a bulk and brutishness of guilt, as is beyond the power and art of aggravation, or indeed expression. It was not onely death by Gods Law to dishonor or blaspheme his Name, but at the hearing it, tho but in repetition by a Witness, all the Jews that were in hearing were oblig'd to rent their garments, as their Laws assure us in their Talmud. Yea we find the Courtiers in Isaiah 36. 22. coming with their cloths rent to King Hezekiah, to report the words of Rabshakeh an Alien, who but in a message from his own King had spoken sleightly of their God; and the High Preist, whom it was forbid to in most cases, in such did it. And one would think that it should rent our hearts, of which the other was but a Symbolic Ceremony, and implied that duty. To hear one slight tho but by inadvertency a person, whom some one or other of the company hath the least relation, or but any little obligation to, re∣quires that person by the laws of honor indispensably to call for re∣paration. To touch the reputation of a Mistress, or what's worse, and own'd to be so, ought, they say, to be no otherwise then fatally resented: and these are accounted such just causes of mens indigna∣tion, that a man that's unconcern'd, will take it for a glory to be se∣cond in them, and he that never had the honor to be drunk in the man's company, will venture to be kill'd and to be damn'd for him in such a quarrel: Therefore every man, unless he do design to quarrel purposely, does think himself bound to forbear offences of such kind in company, where any one's oblig'd in honor, or by rules that men have set it, to take notice of it. Now tho it were

prodigious insolence to urge in parallel to this, that it should seem that God Almighty is not thought so much a friend to any, none have such relation to him, nor on any account have reason to be so concern'd for him, or for his honor, that men should forbear him in their company: yet it seems dreadful after such plenties of his blessings, Miracles of kindness in stupendous rescues and delive∣rances; where, to pass by all those Mercies that concern Eternity, his temporal preservations have contested with our provocations, and overcom them, and so often that they have out numbred all our hours, and all other numbers, but our sins: that these endear∣ments should not yet be able to oblige us so far, as to move us, when we hear his Laws or his Religion, or his Word and Name, or him∣self dishonor'd, to desire them to forbear that God, that hath bin so kind to us; or if that be judg'd unmannerly by the Sword-men, yet at leastwise by uneasiness and by withdrawing to assure them, that we cannot bear the hearing it. God did once say in a severe threatning determination,f 1.7 Those that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteem'd. Go ye and learn, what that means; consider, I say, and the Lord give you understanding in all things.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Lib. 2. c. 9.
• * 1.2

  Acts 17. 26.
• b 1.3

  Exod. 34. 6, 7.
• c 1.4

  Ezech. 33. 11.
• d 1.5

  2 Cor. 5: 20.
• e 1.6

  Isaiah 58. 1.
• f 1.7

  1 Sam. 2. 30.