Antiquitates christianæ, or, The history of the life and death of the holy Jesus as also the lives acts and martyrdoms of his Apostles : in two parts.

DISCOURSE II. Of the Vertue of Obedience.

1. THere are certain Excellencies either of habit or consideration, which Spiritual persons use to call General ways, being a dispersed influence into all the parts of good life, either directing the single actions to the right end, or managing them with right instruments, and adding special excellencies and formalities to them, or morally in∣viting to the repetition of them; but they are like the general medicaments in Physick, or the prime instruments in Mathematical Disciplines: such as are the consideration of the Divine presence, the Example of JESUS, right Intention; and such also is the vertue of Obedience, which perfectly unites our actions to God, and conforms us to the Divine will, which is the original of goodness, and sanctifies and makes a man an ho∣locaust to God, which contains in it eminently all other Graces, but especially those Gra∣ces whose essence consists in a conformity of a part or the whole, (such are Faith, Hu∣mility, Patience and Charity;) which gives quietness and tranquillity to the spirit, and is an Antepast of Paradise, (where their Jubilee is the perpetual joys of Obedience, and their doing is the enjoying the Divine pleasure;) which adds an excellency and lustre to pious actions, and hallows them which are indifferent, and lifts up some actions from their unhallowed nature to circumstances of good and of acceptation. If a man says his prayers or communicates out of custome, or without intuition of the Precept and divine Commandment, the act is like a Ship returning from her voyage without her venture and her burthen, as unprofitable as without stowage: But if God commands us either to eat or to abstain, to sleep or to be waking, to work or to keep a Sabbath;

these actions, which are naturally neither good nor evil, are sanctified by the Obedi∣ence, and rank'd amongst actions of the greatest excellency. And this also was it which made Abraham's offer to kill his Son, and the Israelites spoiling the Egyptians, to become acts laudable, and not unjust: they were acts of Obedience, and therefore had the same formality and essence with actions of the most spiritual Devotions. God's command is all our rule for practice, and our Obedience united to the Obedience of Jesus is all our title to acceptance.

2. But by Obedience I do not here mean the exteriour execution of the work, for so, Obedience is no Grace distinct from the acting any or all the Commandments: but besides the doing of the thing, (for that also must be presupposed) it is a sacrifice of our proper Will to God, a chusing the duty because God commands it. For beasts also carry burthens and do our commands by compulsion: and the fear of slaves and the ri∣gour of task-masters made the number of bricks to be compleated, when Israel groaned and cried to God for help. But sons that labour under the sweet paternal regiment of their Fathers, and the influence of love, they love the precept, and do the imposi∣tion, with the same purposes and compliant affections with which the Fathers made it. When Christ commanded us to renounce the World, there were some that did think it was a hard saying, and do so still; and the young rich man forsook him upon it: but Ananias and Sapphira, upon whom some violences were done by custome, or the excellent Sermons of the Apostles, sold their possessions too, but it was so against their will, that they retain'd part of it: but St. Paul did not only forsake all his secular for∣tunes, but counted all to be dross that he might gain Christ; he gave his Will, made an offertory of that, as well as of his goods, chusing the act which was enjoyned. This was the Obedience the Holy Jesus paid to his heavenly Father, so voluntary, that it was meat* 1.1 to him to do his Father's will.

3. And this was intended always by God, [My son, give me thy heart;] and parti∣cularly by the Holy Jesus, for in the saddest instance of all his Precepts, even that of suffering persecution, we are commanded to rejoyce, and to be exceeding glad. And so did those holy Martyrs in the primitive Ages, who upon just grounds, when God's glory or* 1.2 the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of the Church had interest in it, they offered themselves to Tyrants, and dared the violence of the most cruel and bowelless hang-men. And this is the best ob∣lation we can present to God. To offer Gold is a present fit to be made by young beginners* 1.3 in Religion, not by men in Christianity; yea, Crates the Theban threw his gold away, and so did Antisthenes: but to offer our Will to God, to give our selves, is the act of an Apostle, the proper act of Christians. And therefore when the Apostles made challenge of a reward for leaving all their possessions, Christ makes no reply to the instance, nor says, You who have left all, but, You who have followed me in the regeneration, shall sit upon twelve thrones, and judge the twelve Tribes of Israel: meaning, that the quitting the goods was nothing; but the obedience to Christ, that they followed Jesus in the Rege∣neration, going themselves in pursuit of him, and giving themselves to him, that was it which intitled them to a Throne.

4. And this therefore God enjoyns, that our offerings to him may be intire and com∣plete, that we pay him a holocaust, that we do his work without murmuring, and that his burthen may become easie, when it is born up by the wings of love and alacrity of spirit. For in effect this obedience of the Will is in true speaking and strict Theology nothing else but that Charity which gives excellency to Alms, and energy to Faith, and acceptance to all Graces. But I shall reduce this to particular and more minute con∣siderations.

5. First, We shall best know that our Will is in the obedience by our prompt under∣taking, by our chearful managing, by our swift execution; for all degrees of delay are degrees of immorigerousness and unwillingness. And since* 1.4 time is extrinsecal to the act, and alike to every part of it, no∣thing determines an action but the Opportunity without, and the desires and Willingress within. And therefore he who deliberates beyond his first opportunity, and exteriour deter∣mination and appointment of the act, brings fire and wood, but wants a Lamb for the sacrifice; and unless he offer up his Isaac, his beloved Will, he hath no ministery prepared for God's acceptance. He that does not repent to day, puts it to the Question whether he will repent at all or no. He that de∣fers Restitution when all the Circumstances are fitted, is not yet resolved upon the duty. And when he does it, if he does it against his will, he does but do honorary Penance with a Paper upon his hat, & a Taper in his hand; it may satisfie the Law, but not satisfie

his Conscience; it neither pleases himself, and less pleases God. A Sacrifice without a Heart was a sad and ominous presage in the superstition of the Roman Augurs, and so it is in the service of God; for what the exhibition of the work is to man, that the pre∣sentation of the Will is to God. It is but a cold Charity to a naked begger to say, God help thee, and do nothing; give him clothes, and he feels your Charity: But God, who is the searcher of the heart, his apprehension of actions relative to him is of the inward motions and addresses of the Will; and without this our exteriour services are like the paying of a piece of mony in which we have defaced the image, it is not currant.

6. Secondly, But besides the Willingness to do the acts of express command, the readi∣ness to do the Intimations and tacite significations of God's pleasure is the best testimony in the world that our Will is in the obedience. Thus did the Holy Jesus undertake a Nature of infirmity, and suffer a Death of shame and sorrow, and became obedient from the Circumcision even unto the death of the Cross; not staying for a Command, but because it was his Father's pleasure Mankind should be redeemed. For before the susception of it he was not a person subjicible to a Command: It was enough that he understood the inclinations and designs of his Father's Mercies. And therefore God hath furnished us with instances of uncommanded Piety to be a touchstone of our Obe∣dience. He that does but his endeavour about the express commands hath a bridle in his mouth, and is restrained by violence: but a willing spirit is like a greedy eye, de∣vours all it sees, and hopes to make some proportionable returns and compensations of duty for his infirmity, by taking in the intimations of God's pleasure. When God commands Chastity, he that undertakes a holy Coelibate hath great obedience to the command of Chastity. God bids us give Alms of our increase; he obeys this with great facility that sells all his goods, and gives them to the poor. And, provided our hasti∣ness to snatch at too much does not make us let go our duty, like the indiscreet loads of too forward persons, too big, or too inconvenient and uncombin'd, there is not in the world a greater probation of our prompt Obedience, than when we look farther than the precise Duty, swallowing that and more with our ready and hopeful purposes; nothing being so able to do miracles as Love, and yet nothing being so certainly accep∣ted as Love, though it could do nothing in productions and exteriour ministeries.

7. Thirdly, but God requires that our Obedience should have another excellency to make it a becoming present to the Divine acceptance; our Understanding must be sacri∣ficed too, and become an ingredient of our Obedience. We must also believe that whatsoever God commands is most fitting to be commanded, is most excellent in it self, and the best for us to do. The first gives our Affections and desires to God, and this also gives our Reason, and is a perfection of Obedience not communicable to the duties we owe to Man. For God only is Lord of this faculty, and, being the fountain of all wis∣dom, therefore commands our Understanding, because he alone can satisfie it. We are bound to obey humane Laws, but not bound to think the Laws we live under are the most prudent Constitutions in the World. But God's Commandments are not only a lantern to our feet, and a light unto our paths, but a rule to our Reason, and satis∣faction to our Understandings, as being the instruments of our address to God, and con∣veyances of his Grace, and manuductions to Eternity. And therefore St. John Climacus defines Obedience to be

An unexamined and unquestioned motion, a voluntary death and sepulture of the Will, a life without curiosity, a laying aside our own discretion in the midst of the riches of the most excellent understandings.

8. And certainly there is not in the world a greater strength against temptations than is deposited in an obedient Understanding, because that only can regulary produce the same affections, it admits of fewer degrees, and an infrequent alteration. But the acti∣ons proceeding from the Appetite, as it is determined by any other principle than a satis∣fied Understanding, have their heightnings and their declensions, and their changes and mutations according to a thousand accidents. Reason is more lasting than Desire, and with fewer means to be tempted; but Affections and motions of appetite, as they are procured by any thing, so may they expire by as great variety of causes. And therefore to serve God by way of Understanding is surer, and in it self, unless it be by the acciden∣tal increase of degrees, greater, than to serve him upon the motion and principle of passi∣ons and desires; though this be fuller of comfort and pleasure than the other. When Lot lived amongst the impure 〈◊〉〈◊〉, where his righteous Soul was in a continual agony, he had few exteriour incentives to a pious life, nothing to enkindle the sensible flame of burning desires toward Piety; but in the midst of all the discouragements of the world, nothing was left him but the way and precedency of a truly-informed Rea∣son and Conscience. Just so is the way of those wise souls who live in the midst of a

crooked and perverse generation: where Piety is out of countenance, where Austerity is ridiculous, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 under persecution, no Examples to lead us on; there the Under∣standing is left to be the guide, and it does the work the surest, for this makes the duty of many to be certain, regular, and chosen, constant, integral, and perpetual: but this way is like the life of an unmarried or a retired person, less of grief in it, and less of joy. But the way of serving God with the affections, and with the pleasures and entertain∣ments of desires, is the way of the more passionate and imperfect, not in a man's power to chuse or to procure; but comes by a thousand chances, meeting with a soft nature, credulous or weak, easie or ignorant, softned with fears or invited by forward desires.

9. Those that did live amidst the fervours of the primitive Charity, and were war∣med by their fires, grew inflamed by contact and vicinity to such burning and shining lights. And they therefore grew to high degrees of Piety, because then every man made judgment of his own actions by the proportions which he saw before him, and believed all descents from those greater examples to be so many degrees from the Rule: And he that lives in a College of devout persons will compare his own actions with the Devotion and customes of that Society, and not with the remisness of persons he hears of in story, but what he sees and lives with. But if we live in an Age of Indevotion, we think our selves well assoiled if we be warmer than their Ice; every thing which is above our example being eminent and conspicuous, though it be but like the light of a Gloworm or the sparkling of a Diamond, yet if it be in the midst of darkness, it is a goodly beauty. This I call the way of serving God by desires and affections: and this is altered by example, by publick manners, by external works, by the assignment of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, by designation of conventions for prayer, by periods and revolutions of times of duty, by hours and solemnities; so that a man shall owe his Piety to these chances, which although they are graces of God and instruments of Devotion, yet they are not always in our power; and therefore they are but accidental ministeries of a good life, and the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 constant or durable. But when the principle of our Piety is a conformity of our Understanding to God's Laws, when we are instructed what to do, and therefore do it because we are satisfied it is most excellent to obey God; this will support our Piety against objections, lead it on in despight of disadvantages; this chuses God with Reason, and is not determined from without: and as it is in some degree necessary for all times, so it is the greatest security against the change of Laws and Princes, and Re∣ligions and Ages: when all the incentives of affection and exteriour determinations of our Piety shall cease, and perhaps all external offices, and the daily sacrifice, and Piety it self shall fail from the face of the Land; then the obedience founded in the Understand∣ing is the only lasting strength is left us to make retreat to, and to secure our conditions. Thus from the composition of the Will and Affections with our exteriour acts of obedi∣ence to God, our Obedience is made willing, swift and chearful; but from the composi∣tion of the Understanding, our Obedience becomes strong, sincere and persevering; and this is that which S. Paul calls our reasonable service.

10. Fourthly, To which if we add that our Obedience be universal, we have all the qualifications which make the duty to be pious and prudent. The meaning is, that we obey God in all his Sanctions, though the matter be in common account small and in∣considerable, and give no indulgence to our selves to recede from the Rule in any mat∣ter whatsoever. For the veriest minute of Obedience is worth our attention, as being by God esteemed the trial of our Obedience in a greater affair. He that is unjust in a little* 1.5 will be unjust in a greater, said our Blessed Saviour. And since to God all matter is alike, and no more accrues to him in an Hecatomb than in a piece of gumm, in an Ascetick se∣verity than in a secular life, God regards not the matter of a precept, but the Obedience, which in all instances is the same; and he that will prevaricate when the matter is 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and by consequence the temptations to it weak and impotent, and soon confu∣ted, will think he may better be excused when the temptations are violent and impor∣tunate, as it commonly happens in affairs of greater importance. He that will lie to save sixpence, will not stick at it when a thousand pound is the purchase; and possibly there is more contempt and despite done to the Divine authority, when we disobey it in such particulars wherein the Obedience is most easie, and the temptations less trouble∣some: I do not say there is more injustice or more malice in a small Disobedience than in a greater, but there is either more contempt, or more negligence and dissolution of discipline, than in the other.

11. And it is no small temptation of the Devil soliciting of us not to be curious of scruples and grains, nor to disturb our peace for lighter Disobediences; persuading us

that something must be indulged to publick manners, something to the civilities of soci∣ety, something to nature, and to the approaches of our passions, and the motions of our first desires; but that we be not over-righteous. And true it is, that sometimes such sur∣reptions and smaller undecencies are therefore pardoned and lessened almost to a nullity, because they dwell in the confines of things lawful and honest, and are not so notorious as to be separated from permissions by any publick, certain and universal cognisance, and therefore may pass upon a good man sometimes without observation. But it is a temptation when we think of neglecting them by a predetermined incuriousness, upon pretence they are small. But this must be reduced to more regular Conclusions.

12. First, Although smaller Disobediences, expressed in slight mis-becoming actions, when they come by surprise and sudden invasion, are through the mercies of God dash∣ed in the very approach, their bills of accusation are thrown out, and they are not estee∣med as competent instruments of separation from God's love; yet when a smaller sin comes by design, and is acted with knowledge and deliberation, (for then it is properly an act of Disobedience) Malitia supplet defectum aetatis, The malice of the agent height∣ens the smalness of the act, and makes up the iniquity. To drink liberally once, and something more freely than the strict rules of Christian sobriety and temperance permit, is pardoned the easier, when without deliberation and by surprise the person was abused, who intended not to transgress a minute, but by little and little was mistaken in his proportions: but if a man by design shall estimate his draughts and his good fellowship, and shall resolve upon a little intemperance, thinking, because it is not very much, it is therefore none at all, that man hath mistaken himself into a crime; and although a little wound upon the finger is very curable, yet the smallest prick upon the heart is mortal: So is a design and purpose of the smallest Disobedience in its formality as malicious and destructive, as in its matter it was pardonable and excusable.

13. Secondly, Although every lesser Disobedience, when it comes singly, destroys not the love of God; (for although it may lessen the habit, yet it takes not away its natural being, nor interrupts its accepta∣tion,* 1.6 lest all the world should in all instants of time be in a damnable condition) yet when these smaller obliquities are re∣peated, and no repentance intervenes, this repetition combines and unites the lesser till they be concentred, and by their accu∣mulation make a crime: and therefore a careless reiterating and an incurious walking in mis-becoming actions is deadly and damnable in the return, though it was not so much at the setting forth. Every idle word is to be accounted for, but we hope in much mercy; and yet he that gives himself over to immoderate * 1.7 talking will swell his account to a vast and mountainous proportion, and call all the lesser escapes into a stricter judgment. He that extends his Recreation an hour beyond the limits of Christian prudence, and the analogie of its severity and imployment, is accountable to God for that improvidence and waste of Time; but he that shall mis-spend a day, and because that sin is not scandalous like Adultery, or clamorous like Oppression, or unusual like Bestiality, or crying for revenge like detaining the portion of Orphans, shall there∣fore mis-spend another day without revocation of the first by an act of repentance and redemption of it, and then shall throw away a week, still adding to the former account upon the first stock, will at last be answerable for a habit of Idleness, and will have con∣tracted a vain and impertinent spirit. For since things which in their own kind are lawful become sinful by the degree; if the degree be heightned by intention, or become great like a heap of sand by a coacervation of the innumerable atoms of dust, the acti∣ons are as damnable as any of the natural daughters and productions of Hell, when they are entertained without scruple, and renewed without repentance, and continued with∣out dereliction.

14. Thirdly, Although some inadvertencies of our life and lesser disobediences acci∣dentally become less hurtful, and because they are entailed upon the infirmities of a good man, and the less wary customes and circumstances of society, are also consistent with the state of Grace; yet all affection to the smallest sins becomes deadly and damnable.* 1.8 He that loves his danger shall perish in it, saith the Wise man; and every friendly enter∣tainment of an undecency invites in a greater Crime: for no man can love a small sin, but there are in the greater crimes of its kind more desirable flatteries, and more satis∣factions of sensuality than in those suckers and sprigs of sin. At first a little Disobedi∣ence is proportionable to a man's temper, and his Conscience is not fitted to the bulk of a rude Crime: but when a man hath accepted the first insinuation of delight and swal∣lowed it, that little sin is past, and needs no more to dispute for entrance; then the next

design puts in and stands in the same probability to succeed the first, and greater than the first had to make the entry. However, to love any thing that God hates is direct enmity with him; and whatsoever the Instance be, it is absolutely inconsistent with Charity, and therefore incompetent with the state of Grace. So that if the sin be small, it is not a small thing that thou hast given thy love to it; every such person perishes like a Fool, cheaply and ingloriously.

15. Fourthly, But it also concerns the niceness and prudence of Obedience to God to stand at farther distance from a Vice than we usually attend to. For many times* 1.9 Vertue and Vice differ but one degree, and the neighbourhood is so dangerous, that he who desires to secure his Obedience and Duty to God will remove farther from the dan∣ger. For there is a rule of Justice, to which if one degree more of severity be added it degenerates into Cruelty; and a little more Mercy is Remissness and want of disci∣pline, introduces licentiousness, and becomes unmercifulness as to the publick, and un∣just as to the particular. Now this Consideration is heightned, if we observe that Ver∣tue and Vice consist not in an indivisible point, but there is a latitude for either, which is not to be judged by any certain rules drawn from the nature of the thing, but to be estimated in proportion to the persons and other accidental Circumstances. He that is burthened with a great charge, for whom he is bound under a Curse and the crime of Infidelity to provide, may go farther in the acquisition, and be more provident in the use of his mony, than those persons for whom God hath made more ample provisions, and hath charged them with fewer burthens and engagements oeconomical. And yet no man can say, that just beyond such a degree of Care stands Covetousness, and thus far on this side is Carelesness, and a man may be in the confines of death before he be aware. Now the only way to secure our Obedience and duty in such cases is, to remove farther off, and not to dwell upon the confines of the enemies Countrey. My meaning is, that it is not prudent nor safe for a man to do whatsoever he lawfully may do.

16. For besides that we are often mistaken in our judgments concerning the lawful∣ness or unlawfulness of actions, he that will do all that he thinks he may lawfully do, if ever he does change his station and increase in giving himself liberty, will quickly arrive at doing things unlawful. It is good to keep a reserve of our liberty, and to re∣strain our selves within bounds narrower than the largest sense of the Commandment, that when our affections wander and enlarge themselves, (as sometime or other they will do) then they may enlarge beyond the ordinary, and yet be within the bounds of lawfulness. That of which men make a scruple and a question at first, after an ha∣bitual resolution of it stirs no more; but then their question is of something beyond it. When a man hath accustomed himself to pray seven times a day, it will a little trouble his peace if he omits one or two of those times; but if it be resolved then that he may please God with praying devoutly though but thrice every day, after he hath digested the scruples of this first question, possibly some accidents may happen that will put his Conscience and Reason to dispute whether three times be indispensably necessary: and still if he be far within the bounds of lawfulness, 'tis well; but if he be at the mar∣gent of it, his next remove may be into dissolution and unlawfulness. He that resolves to gain all that he may lawfully this year, it is odds but next year he will be tempted to gain something unlawfully. He that, because a man may be innocently angry, will never restrain his passion, in a little time will be intemperate in his anger, and mistake both his object and the degree. Thus facetiousness and urbanity entertained with an open hand will turn into jestings that are uncomely.

17. If you will be secure, remove your tent, dwell farther off. God hath given us more liberty than we may safely use; and although God is so gracious as to comply much with our infirmities, yet if we do so too, as God's goodness in in∣dulging liberty to us was to prevent our sinning, our complying with our selves will engage us in it: But if we imprison and confine our affections into a narrow∣er compass, then our 〈◊〉〈◊〉 may be imperfect, but will not easily be crimi∣nal. The dissolution of a scrupulous and strict person is not into a vice, but into a less degree of vertue: he that makes a conscience of loud Laughter, will not ea∣sily 〈◊〉〈◊〉 drawn into the wantonnesses of Balls and Revellings, and the longer and more impure Carnivalls. This is the way to secure our Obedience; and no men are so curious of their health, as they that are scrupulous of the Air they breathe in.

But now for our Obedience to Man, that hath distinct considerations, and apart.

18. First, All obedience to Man is for God's sake; for God imprinting his Authority

upon the sons of men, like the Sun reflecting upon a cloud, pro∣duces* 1.10 a Parelius, or a representation of his own glory, though in great distances and imperfection: it is the Divine Autho∣rity, though character'd upon a piece of clay, and imprinted up∣on a weak and imperfect man. And therefore obedience to our Superiours must be universal in respect of persons; to all Superiours. This precept is expresly Apostolical, Be subject to every constitution and authority of man for the Lord's sake: It is for God's* 1.11 sake, and therefore to every one, Whether it be to the King, as supreme, or to his Ministers in subordination. That's for Civil government. For Ecclesiastical this; Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit your selves; for they watch for your souls, as they that* 1.12 must give account. All upon whom any ray of the Divine Authority is imprinted, whe∣ther it be in greater or smaller Characters, are in proportion to their authority to be o∣beyed; to all upon the same ground; [for * 1.13 there is no power but of God.] So that no in∣firmity of person, no undervaluing circumstance, no exteriour accident is an excuse for* 1.14 disobedience: and to obey the Divine authority passing through the dictates of a wise, excellent and prudent Governour, but to neglect the impositions of a looser head, is to worship Christ onely upon the Mount Tabor, and in the glories of his 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and to despise him upon Mount Calvary, and in the clouds of his inglorious and humble Passion: Not onely to the good and gentle, (so * 1.15 S. Peter,) but to the harsh and rigid. And it was by Divine providence that all those many and stricter precepts of obedience to Governours in the New Testament were 〈◊〉〈◊〉 by instances of Tyrants, Persecutors, Idolaters, and Heathen Princes; and for others amongst whom there was variety of disposition, there is no variety of imposition, but all excuses are removed, and all kinds of Governours drawn into the sanction and sacredness of Authority.

19. Secondly, Not onely to all Governours, but in all things we must obey. Children, obey your Parents in all things: and Servants, obey your Masters in all things. And this* 1.16 also is upon the same ground; Do it as unto Christ; as unto the Lord, and not unto men. But then this restrains the universality of obedience, that it may run within its own cha∣nel; as unto the Lord, therefore nothing against the Divine Commandment. For if God speaks to us by man, transmitting Laws for conservation of Civil society, for 〈◊〉〈◊〉 policy, for Justice and personal advantages, for the interests of Vertue and Re∣ligion, for discountenancing of Vice, we are to receive it with the same Veneration as if God spake himself to us immediately. But because by his terrour upon Mount Sinai he gave testimony how great favour it is to speak to us by the ministration of our bre∣thren, it were a strange impudence, when we desire a proportionable and gentle instru∣ment of Divine commands, we should for this very proportion despise the Minister; like the frogs in the Apologue insulting upon their wooden King. But then if any thing come contrary to a Divine Law, know it is the voice of Jacob, of the Supplanter, not of the right Heir; and though we must obey man for God's sake, yet we must never dis∣obey God for man's sake. In all things else we finde no exception; but according as the Superiours intend the obligation, and express it by the signature of Laws, Customes, In∣terpretations, Permissions, and Dispensations, that is, so far as the Law is obligatory in general, and not dispensed with in particular, so far Obedience is a duty in all instances os acts where no sin is ingredient.

20. Thirdly, And here also the smalness and cheapness of the duty does not tolerate disobedience; for the despising the smallest Injunction is an act of as formal and direct Rebellion as when the prevarication is in a higher instance. It is here as in Divine Laws, but yet with some difference: For small things do so little cooperate to the end of humane Laws, that a smaller reason does by way of interpretation and tacite permis∣sion dispense, than can in a Divine Sanction though of the lowest offices. Because God commands duties not for the end to which they of themselves do co-operate; but to make sacred his Authority, and that we by our obedience may confess him to be Lord: But in humane Laws the Authority is made sacred not primarily for it self, but princi∣pally that the Laws made in order to the conservation of Societies may be observed. So that in the neglect of the smallest of Divine Ordinances we as directly oppose God's great purpose and intendment as in greater matters; God's dominion and authority (the* 1.17 conservation of which was his principal intention) is alike neglected: But in omitting an humane Imposition of small concernment the case is different; it is certain there is not any considerable violence done to the publick interest by a contemptible omission of a Law: the thing is not small, if the Commonwealth be not safe, and all her great ends secured; but if they be, then the Authority is inviolate, unless a direct contempt were intended, for its being was in order to that end, not for it self, as it is in the case of Di∣vine Laws, but that the publick interest be safe.

21. And therefore as great matters of humane Laws may be omitted for great rea∣sons, so may smaller matters for smaller reasons, but never without reason: for, causelesly and contemptuously are all one. But in the application of the particulars, either the Laws themselves, or Custom, or the prudence of a sincere righteous man, or of a wise and dis∣interest person, is to be the Judge. But let no man's confidence increase from the smal∣ness of the matter to a contempt of the Authority; for there are some sins whose malig∣nity is accidentally increased by the slightness of the subject matter; such are Blasphe∣my, Perjury, and the contempt of Authority. To blaspheme God for the loss of an Asper or a peny, to be forsworn in judgment for the rescuing of a few Maravides or a five∣groats fine, is a worse crime than to be perjur'd for the saving ten thousand pounds; and to despise Authority, when the obedience is so easie as the wearing of a garment or do∣ing of a posture, is a greater and more impudent contempt, than to despise Authority im∣posing a great burthen of a more considerable pressure, where humane infirmity may tempt to a disobedience, and lessen the crime. And let this caution also be inserted, that we do not at all neglect small Impositions, if there be direct and signal injunction in the par∣ticular instance. For as a great Body of Light transmitting his rays through a narrow hollowness, does by that small Pyramis represent all the parts of its magnitude and glo∣ry: so it may happen that a publick Interest, and the concernments of Authority, and the peace of a Church, and the integral obedience of the Subjects, and the conservation of a Community, may be transferred to us by an instance in its own nature inconsider∣able; such as are wearing of a Cognizance, remembring of a Word, carrying a Branch in time of War, and things of the same nature: And therefore when the hand of Au∣thority is stretced out and held forth upon a Precept, and designs the duty upon parti∣cular reason, or with actual intuition; there is not the same facility of being dispensed with, as in the neglected and unconsidered instances of other duties.

This onely I desire to be observed; That if death or any violent accident, imprison∣ment, loss of livelihood, or intolerable inconveniences be made accidentally consequent to the observing of a Law merely humane, the Law binds not in the particular instance. No man is bound to be a Martyr for a Ceremony, or to die rather than break a Canon, or to suffer Confiscation of goods for the pertinacious keeping of a civil Constitution. And it is not to be supposed that a Law-giver would have decreed a Rite, and bound the Lives of the subjects to it, which are of a far greater value than a Rite; not only because it were tyrannical and unreasonable, but because the evil of the Law were greater than the good of it, it were against the reason of all Laws, and destroys the privileges of Na∣ture, and it puts a man into a condition as bad as the want of all Laws; for nothing is civilly or naturally worse than Death, to which the other evils arrive in their proporti∣on. This is to be understood in particular and positive Precepts, introduced for reasons particular, that is, less than those are which combine all Societies, and which are the ce∣ment of all Bodies political; I mean Laws ritual in the Church, and accidental and e∣mergent in the State. And that which is the best sign to distinguish these Laws from o∣thers, is also the reason of the assertion. Laws decreed with a Penalty to the transgres∣sours cannot bind to an evil greater than that Penalty. If it be appointed that we use a certain form of Liturgy under the forseiture of five pound for every omission, I am bound in Conscience to obey it where I can; but I am supposed legally to be disabled, if any Tyrant-power shall threaten to kill me if I do, or make me pay an hundred pound, or any thing greater than the forfeiture of the Law. For all the civil and natural pow∣er of the Law is by its coercion, and the appendent punishment. The Law operates by rewards and punishments, by hope and fear, and it is unimaginable that the Law under a less penalty can oblige us in any case or accident to suffer a greater. For the compul∣sion of the Tyrant is greater than the coercion of the Law-giver; and the Prince think∣ing the penalty annexed to be band sufficient, intended no greater evil to the transgres∣sour than the expressed penalty; and therefore much less would he have them that obey the Law by any necessity be forced to a greater evil: for then, Disobedience should e∣scape better than 〈◊〉〈◊〉. True it is, every disobeying person that pays the penalty is not quite discharged from all his Obligation; but it is then when his disobeying is criminal upon some other stock besides the mere breach of the Law, as Contempt, Scan∣dal, or the like: for the Law binds the Conscience indirectly and by consequence; that is, in plain language, God commands us to obey humane Laws, & the penalty will not pay for the contempt, because that's a sin against God; it* 1.18 pays for the violation of the Law, because

that was all the direct transgression against Man. And then who shall make him re∣compence for suffering more than the Law requires of him? Not the Prince; for it is certain, the greatest value he set upon the Law was no bigger than the Penalty; and the Common-wealth is supposed to be sufficiently secured in her interest by the Penalty, or else the Law was weak, impotent, and unreasonable. Not God; for it is not an act of obedience to him, for he binds us no farther to obey hu∣mane Laws than the Law-giver himself intends or declares; who cannot reason∣ably be supposed so over-careful, as to bind Hay with cords of Silk and Gold, or sumptuary Laws with the threads of Life; nor a Father commanding his Child to wait on him every Meal, be thought to intend his Obligation, even though the House be ready to fall on his head, or when he is to pass a sudden or unfoordable floud before he can get to him. And that it may appear Man ought not, it is certain God himself doth not oblige us in all cases and in all circumstances to observe every of his positive Precepts. For, assembling together is a duty of God's commanding, which* 1.19 we are not to neglect: but if Death waits at the door of these Assemblies, we have the practice of the Primitive and best Christians to warrant us to serve God in Retirements, and Cells, and Wildernesses, and leave the assembling together till better opportunities. If I receive more benefit, or the Common-wealth, or the Church and Religion any greater advantage by my particular obedience in these circumstances, (which cannot easily be supposed will be) it is a great act of charity to do it, and then to suffer for it: But if it be no more, that is, if it be not expresly commanded to be done, (though with* 1.20 loss of life or confiscation) it is a good charity to save my own life, or my own estate:* 1.21 And though the other may be better, yet I am not in all cases obliged to do that which is simply the best. It is a tolerable in 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and allowed amongst the very 〈◊〉〈◊〉 permissi∣ons of Nature, that I may preserve my Life, unless it be in a very few cases, which are therefore clearly to be expressed, or else the contrary is to be presumed, as being a case most favourable. And it is considerable, that nothing is worse than Death but Dam∣nation, or something that partakes of that in some of its worst ingredients; such as is a lasting Torment, or a daily great misery in some other kind. And therefore since no humane Law can bind a man to a worse thing than Death, if Obedience brings me to death, I cannot be worse when I disobey it, and I am not so bad, if the penalty of death be not expressed. And so for other penalties in their own proportions.

This Discourse is also to be understood concerning the Laws of Peace, not of War; not onely because every disobedience in War may be punished with death, (according as the reason may chance) but also because little things may be of great and dangerous consequence. But in Peace it is observable, that there is no humane positive superindu∣ced Law but by the practice of all the world (which, because the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of the Prince is certainly included in it, is the surest interpretation) it is dispensed withall, by ordinary necessities, by reason of lesser inconveniences and common accidents: thus the not saying of our Office daily is excused by the study of Divinity, the publishing the banns of Matrimony by an ordinary incommodity, the Fasting-days of the Church by a little sickness or a journey; and therefore much rather if my Estate, and most of all if my Life be in danger with it: and to say that in these cases there is no interpretative permission to omit the particular action, is to accuse the Laws and the Law-giver, the one of unreasonableness, the other of uncharitableness.

22. Fourthly, These Considerations are upon the execution of the duty: but even towards Man our obedience must have a mixture of the Will and choice, like as our in∣junction of obedience to the Divine Command. With good will doing service (saith the A∣postle,) for it is impossible to secure the duty of inferiours but by conscience and good will; unless provision could be made against all their secret arts and concealments and escapings, which as no providence can foresee, so no diligence can cure. It is but an eye∣service whatsoever is compelled and involuntary: nothing rules a man in private but God and his own desires; and they give Laws in a Wilderness, and accuse in a Cloister, and do execution in a Closet, if there be any prevarication.

23. Fifthly, But obedience to humane Laws goes no farther, we are not bound to o∣bey with a direct and particular act of Understanding, as in all Divine Sanctions: for so long as our Superiours are fallible, though it be highly necessary we conform our wills to their innocent Laws, yet it is not a duty we should think the Laws most prudent or convenient because all Laws are not so; but it may concern the interest of humility and self-denial to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 subject to an inconvenient, so it be not a sinful, Command: for so we must chuse an affliction when God offers it, and give God thanks for it, and yet we may cry under the smart of it, and call to God for ease and remedy. And yet it

were well if inferiours would not be too busie in disputing the prudence of their Gover∣nours, and the convenience of their Constitutions: Whether they be sins or no in the execution, and to our particulars, we are concern'd to look to; I say, as to our particu∣lars; for an action may be a sin in the Prince commanding it, and yet innocent in the person executing: as in the case of unjust Wars, in which the Subject, who cannot, ought not to be a Judge, yet must be a Minister; and it is notorious in the case of exe∣cuting an unjust sentence, in which* 1.22 not the Executioner, but the Judge is only the unjust person; and he that serves his Prince in an unjust War is but the executioner of an unjust sentence: But what-ever goes farther, does but undervalue the person, slight the Government, and unloose the golden cords of Discipline. For we are not intrust∣ed in providing for degrees, so we secure the kind and condition of our actions. And since God having derived rays and beams of Majesty, and transmitted it in parts upon several states of men, hath fixed humane authority and dominion in the golden candle∣stick of Understanding, he that shall question the prudence of his Governour, or the* 1.23 wisdom of his Sanction, does unclasp the golden rings that tie the purple upon the Prince's shoulder; he tempts himself with a reason to disobey, and extinguish the light of Majesty by overturning the candlestick, and hiding the opinion of his wisdom and un∣derstanding. And let me say this; He that is confident of his own understanding and reasonable powers, (and who is more than he that thinks himself wiser than the Laws?) needs no other Devil in the neighbourhood, no tempter but himself to pride and vanity, which are the natural parents of Disobedience.

24. But a man's Disobedience never seems so reasonable as when the Subject is for∣bidden* 1.24 to do an act of Piety, commanded indeed in the general, but uncommanded in certain circumstances. And forward Piety and assiduous Devotion, a great and un∣discreet Mortifier, is often tempted to think no Authority can restrain the fervours and distempers of zeal in such holy Exercises; and yet it is very often as necessary to restrain the indiscretions of a forward person, as to excite the remissness of the cold and frozen. Such persons were the Sarabaites spoken of by 〈◊〉〈◊〉, who were greater labourers and* 1.25 stricter mortifiers than the Religious in Families and Colledges; and yet they endured no Superiour, nor Laws. But such customs as these are Humiliation without Humili∣ty, humbling the body and exalting the spirit, or indeed Sacrifices and no Obedience. It was an argument of the great wisdom of the Fathers of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉: when they heard* 1.26 of the prodigious Severities exercised by 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Stylites upon himself, they sent one of the Religious to him, with power to enquire what was his manner of living, and what warrant he had for such a rigorous undertaking, giving in charge to command him to give it over, and to live in a community with them, and according to the common institution of those Religious families. The Messenger did so, and immediately 〈◊〉〈◊〉 removed his foot from his Pillar, with a purpose to descend; but the other according to his Commission called to him to stay, telling him his station and severity was from God. And he that in so great a Piety was humble and obedient, did not undertake that Strictness out of singularity, nor did it transport him to vanity; for that he had re∣ceived from the Fathers to make judgment of the man, and of his institution: where∣as if upon pretence of the great Holiness of that course he had refused the command, the spirit of the person was to be declared caitive and imprudent, and the man 〈◊〉〈◊〉 from his troublesom and ostentous vanity.

25. Our Fasts, our Prayers, our Watchings, our Intentions of duty, our frequent Communions, and all exteriour acts of Religion, are to be guided by our Superiour, if he sees cause to restrain or asswage any 〈◊〉〈◊〉. For a wound may heal too fast, and then the tumour of the flesh is proud, not healthful; and so may the indiscretions of Religion swell to vanity, when we think they grow towards perfection: but when we can indure the causticks and correctives of our Spiritual Guides in those things in which we are most apt to please our selves, then our Obedience is regular and humble, and in other things there is less of danger. There is a story told of a very Religious* 1.27 person, whose spirit in the ecstasie of Devotion was transported to the clarity of a Vision, and he seemed to converse personally with the Holy Jesus, feeling from such enter∣course great spiritual delights and huge satisfactions: in the midst of these joys the Bell call'd to Prayers, and he, used to the strictness and well instructed in the necessi∣ties of Obedience, went to the Church, and having finished his Devotions, return∣ed, and found the Vision in the same posture of glories and entertainment; which also said to him, Because thou hast left me, thou hast found me; for if thou 〈◊〉〈◊〉 not left me, I had presently left thee. What-ever the story be, I am sure it is a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Pa∣rable; for the way to increase spiritual comforts is, to be strict in the offices of humble

Obedience; and we never lose any thing of our joy by laying it aside to attend a Duty: and Plutarch reports more honour of Agesilaus's prudence and modesty, than of his gal∣lantry and military fortune;* 1.28 for he was more honourable by obeying the Decree of the Spartan Senate recalling him from the midst of his Triumphs, than he could have been by finishing the War with prosperous success and disobedience.

26. Our Obedience, being guided by these Rules, is urged to us by the consignation of Divine Precepts and the loud voice of thunder, even seal'd by a signet of God's right* 1.29 hand, the signature of greatest Judgments. For God did with greater severity punish the Rebellion of Korah and his company, than the express Murmurs against himself, nay, than the high crime of Idolatry: for this Crime God visited them with a sword; but for Disobedience and Mutiny against their Superiours, God made the Earth to swallow some of them, and fire from Heaven to consume the rest; to shew that Rebel∣lion is to be punished by the conspiration of Heaven and Earth, as it is hateful and con∣tradictory both to God and Man. And it is not amiss to observe, that obedience to Man, being it is for God's sake, and yet to a person clothed with the circumstances and the same infirmities with our selves, is a greater instance of Humility, than to obey God immediately, whose Authority is Divine, whose Presence is terrible, whose Power is infinite, and not at all depressed by exterior disadvantages or lessening appearances: just as it is both greater Faith and greater Charity to relieve a poor Saint for Jesus sake, than to give any thing to Christ himself, if he should appear in all the robes of Glory and im∣mediate address. For it is to God and to Christ, and wholly for their sakes, and to them that the Obedience is done, or the Charity expressed; but themselves are persons whose awfulness, majesty and veneration, would rather force than invite Obedience or Alms. But when God and his Holy Son stand behind the cloud, and send their Servants to take the Homage or the Charity, it is the same as if it were done to them, but receives the advantage of acceptation by the accidental adherencies of Faith and Humility to the se∣veral actions respectively. When a King comes to Rebels in person, it strikes terrour and veneration into them, who are too apt to neglect and despise the person of his Mi∣nisters, whom they look upon as their fellow-subjects, and consider not in the exaltation of a deputed Majesty. Charles the Fifth found a happy experience of it at Gaunt in Flan∣ders, whose Rebellion he appeased by his presence, which he could hardly have done by his Army. But if the King's Authority be as much rever'd in his Deputy as it is sa∣cred in his own Person, it is the greater Humility and more confident Obedience. And as it is certain that he is the most humble that submits to his inferiours; so in the same proportion, the lower and meaner the instrument upon which God's authority is born, the higher is the Grace that teaches us to stoop so low. I do not say that a sin against hu∣mane Laws is greater than a prevarication against a Divine Commandment; as the instances may be, the distance is next to infinite, and to touch the earth with our foot within the Octaves of Easter, or to tast flesh upon days of Abstinence, (even in those pla∣ces and to those persons where they did or do oblige) have no consideration, if they be laid in balance against the crimes of Adultery, or Blasphemy, or Oppression: because these Crimes cannot stand with the reputation and sacredness of Divine Authority; but those others may in most instances very well consist with the ends of Government, which are severally provided for in the diversity of Sanctions respectively. But if we make our instances to other purposes, we find, that to mutiny in an Army, or to keep private As∣semblies in a Monarchy, are worse than a single thought or morose delectation in a fancy of impurity; because those others destroy Government more than these destroy Charity of God or Obedience. But then though the instances may vary the Conclusion, yet the formal reason is alike, and Disobedience to Man is a disobedience against God; for God's Authority, and not Man's, is imprinted upon the Superiour; and it is like sacred fire in an earthen Censer, as holy as if it were kindled with the fanning of a Cherub's wing, or placed just under the Propitiatory upon a golden Altar; and it is but a gross conceit which cannot distinguish Religion from its Porter, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 from the Beast that carri∣ed it: so that in all Disobedience to Men, in proportion to the greatness of the matter, or the malice of the person, or his contradiction to the ends of Government and combi∣nations of Society, we may use the words by which the Prophet upbraided Israel, 〈◊〉〈◊〉* 1.30 it not enough that you are grievous unto men, but will you grieve my God also? It is a con∣tempt of the Divinity, and the affront is transmitted to God himself, when we de∣spise the Power which God hath ordained, and all power of every lawful Superiour is such; the Spirit of God being witness in the highest* 1.31 measure, Rebellion is as the sin of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and stub∣bornness as Idolatry.* 1.32 It is spoken of Rebellion against

God, and all Rebellion is so, for,* 1.33 He that despiscth you, de∣spiseth me, saith the Blessed Jesus; that's menace enough in the instance of Spiritual regiment. And, You are gathered together against the Lord, saith Moses to the rebellious Princes in the conspiracy of Dathan; that's for the Temporal. And to encourage this Duty, I shall use no other words than those of Achilles in Homer,* 1.34 They that obey in this world are better than they that command in Hell.

Notes

• * 1.1

  John 4. 34.
• * 1.2

  S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. episs. ad 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Hispan.
• * 1.3

  Idem in 19. Matth, 28.
• * 1.4

  Fidelis 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 moras, fugit 〈◊〉〈◊〉, ignorat tarditatem, 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, parat oculos visui, aures 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 voci, ma∣nus 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 pedes: 〈◊〉〈◊〉 se colligit, 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 colligat voluntatem. S. Bernard. Serm. de Obedient. Et barbaris 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ser∣vilis, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 exsequi Regium. Tacit. l. 6. Annal.
• * 1.5

  Luke 16. 10.
• * 1.6

  〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 parva, tamen 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, si collecta 〈◊〉〈◊〉 nos 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 nos 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 grande peccatum, S. Aug. l. 50. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 50. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 lib. de Poenit. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 venialla si 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 nostrum 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, ut à 〈◊〉〈◊〉 sponsi 〈◊〉〈◊〉 nos 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.7

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.8

  〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉 quod non 〈◊〉〈◊〉 crimi∣nale dum 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 25. sect. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 S. August.
• * 1.9

  〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉 libidi∣num 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. Horat. Od. 18. l. 1.
• * 1.10

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. ad 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1.
• * 1.11

  1 Pet. 13. 2.
• * 1.12

  Heb. 13. 7.
• * 1.13

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 in 〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉 ipsos imperium 〈…〉〈…〉. l. 3. Od. 1.
• * 1.14

  Rom. 13. 1.
• * 1.15

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.16

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3. 20, 22. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 6. 5, 7.
• * 1.17

  〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 l. x.
• * 1.18

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 pro 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 os hominis liberi 〈…〉〈…〉 assium 〈◊〉〈◊〉, & 〈◊〉〈◊〉 percusserat, jussit 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 25 asses, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 pro 〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Tab. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. A. Gel. l. 20. c. 1.
• * 1.19

  Heb, 10. 25.
• * 1.20

  Vide Par. 2.
• * 1.21

  Dise. 10, 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 11.
• * 1.22

  Is 〈…〉〈…〉. l. 130.
• * 1.23

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.24

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 in to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 est quod bonum 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. Sen. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 23.
• * 1.25

  Collat. 18. c. 17.
• * 1.26

  〈…〉〈…〉. l. 1. c. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. & 7. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. & 〈◊〉〈◊〉. ad. A. D. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.27

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 4. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 20. & S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉. S 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 35. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉. S. B 〈◊〉〈◊〉 D 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 & 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. c. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.28

  〈…〉〈…〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.29

  A. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. l. 9. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 13.
• * 1.30

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 7. 13.
• * 1.31

  1 Sam. 15. 23.
• * 1.32

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.33

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.34

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.