LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.

The Seven and Twentieth SERMON. (Book 27)

GAL. I. 10.

The last part of the Verse.

For do I now perswade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the ser∣vant of Christ.

WHich words admit a double sense, but not contrary; for the one is virtually included in the other. As first; If I should yet do as I did when I was a Jew, seek to please men, and to gain repute and honour and wealth, fit my doctrine to their corrupt disposition, I should never have entred into Christs service, which setteth me up as it were in opposition to the world and the counsels of the world, and so layeth me o∣pen to scorn and hatred, to misery and poverty. Or more plainly this; If, being an Apostle of Christ, I should yet please men, attemper my doctrine to their tast and relish, whatsoever I call my self, yet certainly I shall in no degree approve my self to be the servant of Christ. And in this sense if we view the form and manner of the words, they are at the first sound but a meer supposition of S. Pauls; but if we hear them again, and well observe and consider them we shall find them to be a Satyre, and bitter reprehen∣sion of those false Apostles who did mingle and confound Christ and the Law, and of all those who shall leave the truth behind them to meet and comply with the humours of men; I say, a plain and flat redargution, but clothed in the garment and habit of a hypothetical proposition.

Nobis non licet esse tam disertis.

It is not for us Latines to be thus elegant. The Latine Poet speaketh it of himself, but indeed lasheth that too much liberty which the Greeks assumed to themselves. And If I yet pleased men, is as a finger pointing out to the false Doctours, who were pleasers of men. Again, as it is an artificial Reprehension, so if you shall please to look upon it intentively, you shall find it to be a Rule and Precept. For, as some Commentatours on Aristotle have observed, that his rule many times is contained and lieth hid in the example and instance which he bringeth, as when he gi∣veth you the instance of a Magnificent man, you shall there easily disco∣ver the face and beauty and full proportion of Magnificence; so what S. Paul, speaking of himself, laieth down as a Supposition, is indeed a Rule and Precept. And this which hath been observed of Aristotle is

the constant method of the holy Ghost: That which is brought for in∣stance is a Precept. When Joshua speaketh of himself,* 1.1 I and my houshold will serve the Lord, he draweth the character of a good Master of a fa∣mily. When Job saith, I put on righteousness, and it clothed me,* 1.2 he fit∣teth a robe for a good Magistrate: When David saith, I water my couch with my tears, he hath presented us with the most lively picture of a Pe∣nitentiary. My meat is to do the work of him that sent me,* 1.3 are the words of our Saviour in S. Johns Gospel, and, as they lie, seem to be but a bare narration, but they are a command, and speak in effect thus much unto us, that as to him it was, so to us it must be even meat and drink to do the will of our Father which is in heaven. And here, If yet I pleased men, I were not the servant of Christ, S. Paul speaketh it of himself, but it is a command given to all those who have given up their name unto Christ; and every man may make this deduction to himself. That to please men and to serve Christ are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, incompatible, and cannot stand together; That the best way to keep Christs livery on our backs, is not to be so much slaves unto men as to please them.

And then these three things are wrapt up in this Supposition; 1. our Apostles Purgation of himself, That he is no pleaser of men, 2. a sharp Reprehension of men pleasers; 3. a flat Command against it. Or thus, Here is something implied, and something plain and positive. That which is implied is, That most men are willing to be pleased. That which is plain and positive is, That there be others that will be too ready to please them. And then the parts will be three. We shall discover 1. the humour of desiring to be pleased, and the danger of it; 2. a hu∣mour which is ready to meet and answer the other, an art and readiness of pleasing others, of knowing their tast and palate, and dishing out in∣structions with such sawces as shall delight them, of making addresses to them in that shape and posture which they most love to look upon, and are ready to welcome and reward; and 3. last of all, the huge distance and inconsistency which is between these two, the pleasing of men, and the being a servant of Christ. And of these we shall speak plainly in their order.

And first we need not doubt that most men desire to be pleased, and it may seem a needless labour to go about to prove it: For do but whis∣per, do but breathe, against their humour, and you have made a de∣monstration that it is so. S. Paul indeed maketh it his wonder, v. 6. I wonder that you are so soon removed. And we might well wonder at his wonder, but that his miror carrieth with it more of reproof then admirati∣on. For the consideration of this humour, this desire to be pleased, taketh off our admiration: And when we have discovered this, we cease to wonder, though we see men transplant themselves out of a goodly heritage into a barren soil, from the Gospel of Christ, which bringeth salvation, but withal trouble to the flesh, to another Gospel, which is no Gospel, but excludeth both; in a word, to see men begin in the spirit, and end in the flesh. Omnis rei displicentis etiam opinio reprobatur, saith Tertullian; The very thought of that which displeaseth us displeaseth us almost as much as the thing it self. For indeed it is nothing but thought that troubleth us; and it is not the matter or substance of Truth, but Opinion and our private Humour, which maketh Truth such a bitter pill that we cannot take it down. It was the usual speach of Alexan∣der the Great to his Master Aristotle, Doce me facilia; Leave, I pray you, your knotty and intricate discourses, and teach me those things which are easie, which the Understanding may not labour under, but such as it may receive with delight. And it is so with us in the study of that Art of arts which alone can make us both wise and happy; We love

not duros sermones, those hard and harsh lessons which discipline the flesh, and bring it into subjection, and demolish those strong holds which it hath set up, and in which it trusteth. A Parasite is more welcome to us then a Prophet. He is our Apostle who will bring familiar and beloved arguments to perswade us to that to which we have perswaded our selves already, and further our motion to that to which we are flying. We find almost the parallel in the 30 of Esai. 10. v. of those who say to the Seers, See not; and to the Prophets, Prophesie not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesie deceits, men who had rather be cosened with a pleasing lie then saved with a frowning and threatning truth, ra∣ther be wounded to death with a kiss then be rowsed with noise, rather die in a pleasant dream then be awaked to see the pit opening her mouth, and even speaking to them to fly, and save themselves from destru∣ction.

I may appeal to your eye, and tender you that which your observati∣on must needs have taken up before both at home in your selves and a∣broad in others: for he that doth but open his eyes, and look into the world, will soon conceive it as a common stage, where every man tread∣eth his measures for approbation and applause, where every man acteth his part, walketh as a Parasite to himself, and all men one to another: that is, do the same which the Israelites did after the molten calf, slay every man his brother,* 1.4 and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour, every man being a ready executioner in this kind, and eve∣ry man ready and willing to die. We will therefore in the next place search this evil humour, this desire of being pleased: And we shall be the willinger to be purged of it, if either we consider the causes from which it proceedeth, or the bitter effects which it produceth.

And first, it hath no better original then Defect, then a wilfull and negligent Fayling in those duties to which Nature and Religion have ob∣liged us, a Leanness and Emptiness of the soul, which not willing to fill it self with Righteousness, filleth it self with air, with false counsels and false attestations, with miserable comforts. In time of necessity, when we have nothing to eat,* 1.5 we fall to with the Prodigal, and fill our belly with husks. The wicked flie when none pursueth, fly from themselves to o∣thers, and from others to themselves; chide themselves, and flatter them∣selves; are troubled, and soon at rest; fly to the Rule which condem∣neth them, to absolve them, and suborn one Text to infringe and over∣throw another; as he that hath no good Title is bold on a false one. Citò nobis placemus: It is a thing soon done, and requireth no labour nor study, to be pleased. We desire it as sick men do health, as pri∣soners do liberty, as men on the rack do ease: For a troubled spirit is an ill disease; not to have our will is the worst imprisonment; and to condemn a mans self in that which he alloweth and maketh his choice,* 1.6 is to put himself upon the rack. We may see it in our civil affairs and mat∣ters of lesser allay: When any thing lyeth upon us as a burden, how willing are we to cast it off? how do we strive to pluck the sting out of every serpent that may bite us? how do we study to work out the ve∣nom out of the worst of evils? When we are poor we dream of riches, and make up that which is not with that which may be.* 1.7 When we have no house to hide our h••••ds, we build a palace in the air. When we are sick, this thought turneth our bed, That we may recover; and if the Physician cannot heal us, yet his very name is to us as a promise of health. We are unwilling to suffer, but we are willing, nay, desirous, to be eased. Basil telleth us of young men, that when they are alone or in some soli∣tary

place, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, feign unto themselves strange Chimeras, suppose themselves Lords of countreys and favourites of Kings, and (which is yet more) though they know all this to be but phansie and a lye, yet please themselves in it as if it were true indeed. We all are like Aristotle's young man, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, full of hope;* 1.8 and when there is no door of hope left, we make one. And so it falleth out in the managing of our spiritual estate, we do as the Apostle exhorteth (though not to this end) cast away every thing that presseth down, but so cast it away as to leave it heavier then before; prefer a momentary ease, which we beg or borrow or force from things without us, before that peace which nothing can bring in but that grief and serious repentance which we put off with hands and words as a thing irksome and unplea∣sing. For could we be sick, we might be well; did not we love our disease, we might shake it off: But we are sick, and will be so. There is something wanting, and a supply is our shame, being an argument of that defect which we are unwilling to acknowledge. A Physician doth but upbraid us, and Truth doth but rob us of our content; and therefore we please our selves in our disease as in health it self, and had rather lan∣guish and dye then be told we are sick.

And this, in the second place, proceedeth even from the force and power of Conscience within us, which if we will not hearken to as a friend, will turn Fury, and pursue and lash us; and, if we will not obey her dictates, will make us feel her whip. This is our Judge, and our Executioner. She whippeth the Sluggard, stoneth the Adulterer, hang∣eth and quartereth the Traytour, bloweth upon the Misers store, and maketh the lips of the Harlot bite like a cockatrice.* 1.9 Whither shall they go from her spirit and power? whither shall they flie from her presence? The Philosopher will tell us, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, they flie from themselves,* 1.10 yet carry themselves about with them whithersoever they go. Now every thing that is oppressed doth naturally desire ease, and so do we; but finding it a laborious thing to quiet the Conscience, and that it cannot be done but by yielding and bowing our backs to her whip, by running from our selves and from those sins which pleased our Sense, but enraged our Conscience, we seek out many inventions, and advance our sins against her, till they prevail, and even put her to silence. For in evil men the worst part doth the office of the better, corrupteth the records, mitiga∣teth the sentence, pronounceth life in death. The Sensual part is their Conscience, their God. It biddeth them do this, and they do it; and when it is done, it is a ready Advocate to plead for it and defend it. It conceiveth and bringeth forth the Monster, and then giveth it what name it please. It was a crying sin; it hath now lost its voice. It was Unclean∣ness; it is now Frailty. It was Treason; it is now the love of our Coun∣trey. It was Perjury; It is now Prudence. Riches commend Covetous∣ness; Honour, Treason; Pleasure, Wantonness. That which begetteth Sin, nurseth it up, till it grow up to strength to oppose it self to Consci∣ence, and degrade and put her from her office, and bring in a thousand sory excuses to take her place, in the midst of which she cannot be heard; not heard against Riches, whose Sophistry is preferred before her Demon∣strations; not heard against Beauty, which bewitcheth us, and makes us fools; not heard against Honour, which lifteth us up so high that we cannot hear her; not heard against Power, which is the greatest Parasite in the world, and calleth in a world of Parasites to bow before us and bless us in the Name of the Lord. And thus we are first pleased to sin, and then are easily pleased in it. We are in danger, and will not know it: and when the God of Israel is angry,* 1.11 we will hear what the God of E∣kron

will say. In a word, we raise a storm in our selves, & whistle it down; we wound our selves, and skin it over: we are too soon troubled, and too soon eased; & might recover, were not our remedy more fatal then our disease. Thus you see this humor of being pleased is very predominant in most men.

In the third place, as it proceedeth from the power and force of Con∣science, which will speak it she may be heard, and doth speak even when she is not heard, so it doth from the lustre and glory of Piety and Holiness, which spreadeth her beams and darteth her light in the very face of them who have proscribed her, sent her a bill of divorce, and put her away. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, For Goodness is equally venerable to all men. Not onely good men speak well of her, but her enemies praise her in the gates. Who is so evil that he is willing to go under that name? How angry will a Strumpet be if you call her so? Call a Pharisee a Hypo∣crite, and he will thrust you out of the Synagogue. Though I bow down before an image, yet I am not an Idolater; though I break the bonds of peace, yet I am not factious; though I never have e∣nough, yet I am not covetous; I am not evil, though I do those things for which we justly call men so. Our rule here is quite contrary to that known and received axiome of the world, Malo me divitem esse quàm haberi. In the managing of our worldly affairs we had rather be rich then be accounted so, but in the course of our Religion we are rich e∣nough, we are good enough, if we have but the name that we are so; we are good enough, if none dare call us evil. And thus it is both in the errours of our Understanding and of our Will. In the one we think it better to pretend to knowledge, and rest our selves in that, then to be taught to alter our mind.* 1.12 Malumus didicisse quàm discere: That we know something already is our glory, but to submit our selves to instruction is an argument of imperfection; and therefore we account it a punishment to be taught. And this is the reason why so few have retracted their errours, and why most have stoutly defended them, even a Loathness to seem to have erred; which mightily reigneth in most men, but espe∣cially in all pretenders unto knowledge; Nature it self having an∣nexed a shame unto these two, above all other things which naturally befal us, Lust and Ignorance. For, as the Italian proverb is, A learned fool will be a fool ever. And so it is in the errours of the Will. In the practick errours of our life we would not know our selves, nor have o∣thers know,* 1.13 that we have done any thing amiss. He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. When the knowledge of the Truth inci∣teth us to follow after it, and the force of Custome draweth us back, we are as it were at war and divided in our selves; our motion is unquiet, as the bounding of a heady steed with the bit in his mouth. We are in our own way, and impatient of a check; and we hate those counsellers which are willing to be eyes to us, and lead us out of danger. Tell a Here∣tick he is so, he will anathematize you. Tell a Schismatick he is so, he will fly from you as from the plague. Tell a Persecuter he is so, and he will rage more, and make it good upon your self; deny it, and yet make it too manifest that he is so. For the Will of man loveth the channel which it hath chosen, and would run on smoothly and evenly without interruption: But when it meeteth with any stop or bank, it beginneth to rage and fome, and cast up mire and dirt in their faces who do attempt to stop its course. Volumus errare, we will erre; and he is an enemy that telleth us the truth. Volumus peccare, we will sin; but he that telleth the Sinner, Thou art the man, shall not be received as a Prophet, but be defied as an adversary. Sin is of a monstrous appearance; who can stand before it; and therefore we either cloud and hide it with an excuse, or

dress it up in the mantle of Virtue, in the habit and beauty of Holiness; as Pompey, to commend the theatre which he built, called it a Temple. And these are the causes which beget and nurse up this evil humour in us, this Desire to be pleased, this Unwillingness to be troubled, though it be to be pluckt out of the fire; 1. a Defect in our selves, which when we cannot fill up with righteousness, we do with the shadow of it; 2. the power of Conscience, which when we cannot quiet, we slumber and cast into a deep sleep; and 3. the glory and beauty of Goodness, which forceth from us, though not a complacency, yet an approbation; and maketh them lay claim unto her who have violently thrust her out of doors. He that loveth to erre loveth not to be told so; he that is not righteous will Justifie himself, and the worst of men desire to bear up their head and esteem with the best.

Let us now see the danger of this humour, and the bitter effects it doth produce. And first, this Desire to be pleased placeth us out of all hope of succour, leaveth us like an army besieged when the enemy hath cut off all relief. It is a curse it self, and carrieth a train of curses with it. It maketh us blind to our selves, and not fit to make use of other mens eyes. It maketh our rain powder and dust,* 1.14 corrupteth all that counsel and instruction which as moisture should make us fruitful. It maketh us like to to the Idoles of the Heathen, to have eyes, and see not, to have ears,* 1.15 and not to hear; living dead men, such as those to whom the Pythagore∣ans set up a sepulcral pillar, such as Plato saith do 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, sleep in hell; men made up of contradictions; in health, and therefore desperately sick; strong, and therefore weak; and never more fools then when they are most wise. Plus quàm oportet sapiunt, & plùs quàm dici potest desipiunt, saith Bernard; They are wiser then they should be, and more deceived then we can express. Look on the Galatians in this Epi∣stle, and you shall see how this humour did bewitch them, and what fools it made them. They had received the spirit by the hearing of faith;* 1.16 but this spirit did shake and trouble them, frowned upon that which they too much inclined to, and therefore they turn the ear from S. Paul, and open it to let in the poyson of asps, which the lips of those false Apostles car∣ried under them; and for no other reason but because they did 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, make a fair shew in the flesh,* 1.17 make them put on the form and shape of a Jew to avoid the fury of the Romane, who did then tolerate the Jew, but not the Christian. And how many have we nowadayes who do Galatizari, as Tertullians phrase is, who are as foolish as the Galatians,* 1.18 and make this humour the onely rule by which they frame and measure out their Religion? who make it as their Mistress, and love it most then when it is exploded? who will hear no teacher but that Pharisee who hath made them his proselytes? Every man is pleased in his Religion; and that is his Religion which pleaseth him; that he will rely upon, and a∣nathematize S. Paul, or any Angel,* 1.19 if he shall preach any other Gospel but that. Our two Tables are not written with the finger of God; our Re∣ligion is not framed in the Mount, but here below, in the region of Phan∣tasmes, by Flesh and Bloud, which must not be displeased, but swelleth against every thing that doth not touch it gently and flatter it, and so maketh us like to the Beasts that perish, who have no principle of motion but their Sense: Nay, worse then they: for they have no Reason, but we have Reason indeed, sed quae suo malo est atque in perversum solers,* 1.20 but which is made instrumental against it self, taught to promote that which it condemneth, to forward that which it forbiddeth, and serveth onely to make us more unreasonable.

For, in the second place, this humour, this Desire to be pleased, doth

not make up our defects, but maketh them greater; doth not make Vice a virtue, but Sin more sinful. For he is a villain indeed that will be a villain and yet be thought a Saint, such a one as God will spue out of his mouth. And what is it to acknowledge no defect, and to be worse and worse?* 1.21 to seign a Paradise, and be in Hell? to have a name that we live, and to be dead? And what content is that which is more mortal then our selves, and will soon end, and end in weeping and lamentation? Better, far better, were it that a sword did pass through our heart, that the hidden things of darkness were brought to light,* 1.22 and the counsels of our heart made manifest to us, then that it should be dead as a stone, sensless of its plague; better we were tormented into health then that we should thus play and smile and laugh our selves into our graves. Look upon those sons of Anak, those giant-like sinners against their God, who have bound up the Law,* 1.23 and sealed up the testimony which is against them; who will do what they please, and hear what they please, and nothing else; who deal with the Scripture as Caligula boasted he would with the civil Law of the Romanes,* 1.24 take care nè quid praeter eos loquatur, that it shall not speak at all, or not any thing against them: Look upon them; I for∣get my self: for I fear we look upon them so long till our eyes dazle at the sight, and we begin to think that is not truth which these men will not hear: But yet look upon them, not vvith an eye of Flesh, but that of Faith, an Evangelicall eye, and it vvill rather drop then dazle, pity then admire them. O infelices, quibus licet peccare! Oh most unhappy men of the vvorld, vvho have line and liberty to destroy themselves! vvhom God permitteth to be evil, as in vvisdom he may, and then in ju∣stice permitteth to defend it! vvhose chariot-vvheels he striketh not off t ll they are in the Red-sea! vvhom he suffereth, vvhen they vvould not hearken to his voice, to be smothered to death vvith their ovvn povver, and the breath and applause of fools! Oh it is the heaviest judgment in the vvorld not to feel and fear a judgement till it come. It may be said perhaps, what in all ages hath been said, and not vvithout murmur and complaining, Behold, these are the wicked, yet they prosper in their wayes. Their pride compasseth them about as a chain,* 1.25 their violence covereth them as a garment. They feel no pangs, no throws, have no luctations, no struglings within them. They call themselves the children of the Most High. And what evil can be to him that feeleth it not? What is Hell to him that is not sensible? But these are but the ebullitions and breath∣ings of Flesh and Bloud, that seeth no more of Man then his face and garment. For what seest thou? A painted sepulchre; but thou dost not see the rotten bones within. Thou seest triumphs and trophees with∣out, but within are horrour and stench. Thou seest the Tree of life painted on the gates; open them, and there is Fire and Brimstone, Hell and Damnation. Thou hearest the Tongue speak proud things; but thou seest not the worm which gnaweth within. All this Musick is but a Dirge sung at their funeral; their joy but an abortive and untime∣ly birth begot by Pleasure and Power and Wealth, a shadow cast from outward contentments: when these depart, this joy pe∣risheth.

For, in the third place, this humour, this Desire to be pleased, doth not take the whip from Conscience, but enrageth her; layeth her asleep, to awake with more terrour.* 1.26 For Conscience may be seared indeed, but cannot be abolisht; may sleep, but cannot die, but is as immortal as the Soul it self. Conscience followeth our Knowledge, and it is impossible to chace that away; impossible to be ignorant of that which I cannot but know. It is not Conscience but our Lusts that make the Musick. For

in the common and known duties of our lives Conscience doth not, can∣not mislead us. Whose Conscience ever told him that Murder or Trea∣son were virtuous? But our Lust having conceived and brought forth Sin, licketh and shapeth it to the best advantage. He that is taken in adultery will not say that Adultery is no sin, but that Flesh was weak, and Beauty importunate, saith Hilary. He that revengeth w••ll look more on the foulness of the injury then the irregularity and exorbitancy of his wrath. He that troubleth the peace of Israel will make Necessity his plea, or say he troubleth none but those that trouble Israel. Thus Con∣science may be supprest, but not totally; and for a time, but not for ever. It may be slumbred by diversion of the mind from troublesome thoughts, by immersing it in pleasures and delights, by the lullabies of parasites and false prophets, and so be in a manner held down by the weight of the flesh: but still it is not dead, but sleepeth. And then when these are removed, when Pleasure shall turn her back and worse side, when the false Prophets are dumb, when the Flesh hath a thorn in it, she will awake as a giant out of wine, and be more active and clamourous then before. Call in thy Power and thy Honour, suborn the Pleasures of the world to make thy peace, seek out some cunning Artist, who can teach, what a Philosopher once professed, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the art of indolency, a way to be free from pain and grief; when thy Conscience urgeth one place of Scripture, do thou answer it with another; when the letter killeth, do thou put life into it with a gloss; and when it putteth thee to trou∣ble, do thou strive to put it to silence; yet Conscience will be Consci∣ence still; and keep her sting, and bite and wound the deeper yet. For to seek remedy against the gnawings of Conscience from these outward formalities and flatteries, is to strive to take away grief with that which is the cause of it, to destroy it vvith that vvhich begetteth it, to diminish it with that which increaseth it, and to cure a wound with poyson. What though we have some pause and ease? we can have no holy-day but what we make our selves; and that will make our other dayes more black and dismal. For that ease which I forced and gave my self doth but multiply my pain, and leave it to return upon me again with violence and advantage. Nay, our Conscience doth not stay so long, but many times layeth hold on us in a triumph, in all our state and glory, and in our clearest day will break through all those bulworks which we have set up against her, and seaze upon us when we shall say, We shall never be moved; will shake us when we say, Tush, God doth not see; will strike through our loins, and when we plead, will tell us we lie; when we breathe nothing but spirit, will pronounce us most carnal hypocrites; will be as the finger on the wall, when we are quaffing in the vessels of the Sanctuary. You will say, But who seeth it? Why,* 1.27 the King, the sacrilegious King, saw it, who was guilty. For who can feel the sting of another mans conscience? And it is no good argument to say, We do not see it, and therefore it is not done. For what close offen∣der will publish the sorrow of his heart? Who will tell you what stripes he feeleth? Who is resolved to cleave fast to that for which he is beaten? He whose wayes tend to death, when he maketh most hast, and even feeleth himself falling in, yet will not tell you he is going into hell. And this is the sad condition of all those who will, who must be pleased, who will hear nothing that is contrary to them, that is, nothing that may help them; who are devils to themselves, and help the Tempter to overthrow them; who never acknowledge a disease till it be incu∣rable, never see themselves but in hell, never feel any pain till it be eternal.

We proceed now to lay open the other evil humour, of Pleasing men,

which is more visible and eminent in the Text. And indeed to desire to be pleased and to be ready to please, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Isidore Pelusiot, to flatter and to be flattered, bear that near relation the one to the other that we never meet them asunder. It is the Devils net, in which he catcheth two at once. If there be an itching ear, you cannot miss but you shall find a flattering tongue. If the King of Sicily delight in Geo∣metry, the whole Court shall swarm with Mathematicians. If Nero be lascivious, his Palace shall be turned into a stew or brothel-house, or worse.* 1.28 Non deerit Alexandro talia concupiscenti perniciosa adulatio, saith Curtius. Alexander, that loved to be flattered, had Parasites enough. If the Donatists be factious, there will be a Primianus and a Maximinianus to lead them. Accedit dignum patellâ operculum, as S. Hierom applieth this proverb to this very purpose; These dishes, that will receive nothing but juncats, shall find covers to fit them. And if we look into the world, and see how men every day change with the fashion of the world, alter their notes, and turn them to the times, what Echo's they are when Power speaketh; if we turn over those multitude of Pamphlets, which for the most part are nothing else but the monuments of mens flattery and base condescendency (for what errour yet hath shewn so foul a face as not to find a patrone:) if we consider what Mountebanks we have in Divi∣nity as well as in Physick, who seek not men, but theirs, not to cure others souls, but their own poverty; we shall find reason enough to be jealous that there hath been a kind of conspiracy made to meet and satisfie this so inordinate and pernicious desire, and to betray the truth of Christ to this foul and loathsome humour.

We must enquire then What it is to please men, and from whence it proceedeth that men, who naturally love to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to be emi∣nent above their brethren, can work themselves to such baseness as to fall down and lick the dust of their feet, and help them to destroy themselves, to the ruine of both. For both he that maketh the Musick and he that heareth it fall together into the same hell to howl for ever.

And first we must not imagin that S. Paul doth bring in here a Cynical morosity or a Nabal-like churlishness; that none may speak to us, and we speak nothing but swords;* 1.29 that we should make a noise like a dog, and so go round about the City; that we should be as thorns in our brethrens sides, ever pricking and gauling them, that we should, as Appius in Livy, accusatoriam vitam ducere, breathe nothing but railing accusations, nothing but what may strike others with fear, or cast them down with sorrow, or raise their anger and indignation. No, S. Paul was now no such rigid and morose Disciplinarian: for now he is an Apostle, and not a Perse∣cutour.* 1.30 Manè lupus rapax Benjamin àd vesperam dividit escam, Ananiae ovi submittens caput: He was, as Benjamin, of whose tribe he was, a ra∣vening Wolf, but now he boweth down his head to Ananias, who was a sheep, and of the flock of Christ, and breatheth nothing but meekness. There is not a more pleasing, more tractable, more plyable creature in the world then a Christian. If his brother persecute him, he is his Beads∣man, and prayeth for him; if he injure him, he is his Priest, and absolv∣eth him; if he erre, he is his Angel, to keep him in all his wayes, and bring him back; if he mourn, he putteth on sackcloth; and if he rejoyce, he is one at the feast. He appeareth not to him in any shape that may dis∣quiet or trouble him,* 1.31 but, as Esau, did to Jacob, that he may see his face as if he saw the face of God himself, Even I, saith S. Paul, please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, I please them, the same word with that in the Text.

And in another place I am made all things to all men; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, I am made,* 1.32 I even frame and fashion and force my self to it. Though I am free, I make my self a servant; I undergo all the humility, the drugery, the hard∣ship of a servant. To the Jew I became a Jew, that I might gain the Jew:* 1.33 And you have an example of it, Acts 21.23, 26. To those that are under the Law, as under the Law; to the Gentiles, who were not bound to Mo∣ses Law, as a Gentile. To them that were without Law, as without Law;* 1.34 as we find Acts 17.22. A Christian Proteus, that wrought himself into any shape which might bring advantage to them who beheld him. He was a Jew to the Jew to make him a Christian; to them that were without Law, as without Law, to confirm them in the truth of the Gospel; to them that were weak, as weak, to make them strong; as all things to all men, not to fill his purse, but to gain their souls; to cut of Circumcision by permit∣ting Circumcision; to converse with the Gentile, and passing by to throw down their Altar by the inscription,* 1.35 and by THE ƲNKNOWN bring them to the knowledge of the living God; by being without the Law bring the Gentile to the grace of the Gospel; and thus cedendo vincere, by seeming to yield to overcome. And this is not the pleasing of a Pa∣rasite, but of an Apostle and careful Father, even that discretion and wis∣dom which Quintilian commendeth in a Schoolmaster, whose duty it is, non statim onerare infirmitatem discentium, sed temperare vires,* 1.36 not present∣ly to overburden the weak capacity of Novices, but to temper and mo∣derate his own strength, and consider not what he can teach, but what they can learn; with Jacob, to lead his flock on softly, lest they die.* 1.37 Besides the act it self was not unlawful, because the Synagogue was indeed dead, but not yet buried, but to be buried with honour. And it was Judaeis factus tanquam, it was onely amongst the Jews. For what himself did a∣mongst the Jews at Jerusalem, he reproveth S. Peter for doing it amongst the Gentiles at Antioch, Gal. 2.11, 14. Nihil Paulo indignum quod efficit Deo credere, saith Hilary; That which bringeth a Jew or Gentile to Christ, may well become S. Paul an Apostle of Christ. When we so please men that we please God also, we cannot please them enough. But when the case was otherwise, when the Truth and honour of God were in hazard, then S. Paul is in a manner Saul again,* 1.38 and breatheth forth threat∣nings and slaughter. He striketh Elymas the Sorcerer blind, delivereth up the incestuous Corinthian to Satan, and when they are puffed up, is ready with his goad to let out the wind, cometh toward them in that imperious strain, What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod? which, I am sure,* 1.39 are not pleasing words, but quae cum ictu quodam audiuntur, such as are heard with a kind of smart, and leave impression behind them Quàm exser∣ta acies macherae spiritualis? as Tertullian speaketh; How naked and keen is the edge of reprehension? In faciem impingit, he striketh them on the face; in os caedit, he beateth them on the mouth; jam vero & singulari stylo figit, and sometimes pointeth them out as a mark, and darteth his re∣prehension, and sticketh it in them. What then would he do if he lived now, and saw what we see?

Thus you see both these are true: We may please men,* 1.40 and we may not please them. We must please them; and we must not please men, if we will be the servants of Christ. For, if you please, you may conceive that relation betwixt God and Man which is betwixt our Reason and our Sense. Now Sin may seem to be nothing else but the flattery of our Sense: because when I break the Law, my will stoopeth down to please my Sense and betray my Reason. But yet when I please my Sense I do not alwayes sin: For I may please my Sense, and be temperate; I may please my Eye, and make a covenant with it; I may please my Tast,* 1.41 and

yet set a knife to my throat:* 1.42 I may please my Sense, and it may be my health and virtue as well as my sin. So in like manner to please men a∣gainst God is the basest flattery, and S. Paul flingeth his dart at it; but to please men in reference to God is our duty, and taketh in the greatest part of Christianity. For thus to please men may be my Allegiance, my Reverence, my Meekness, my Longanimity, my charitable Care of my Brother. I may please my Superiour, and obey him; I may please my obliged Brother, and forgive him; I may please the poor Lazar, and re∣lieve him; I may please an erring Brother, and convert him: and in thus doing I do that whch is pleasing both to God and Man.

What then is that which here S. Paul condemneth? Look into the Text, and you shall see Christ and Men as it were two opposite terms. If the Man be in errour, I must not please him in his Errour; for Christ is Truth; If the Man be in sin, I must not please him, for Christ is Righteous∣ness. And in this case we must deal with men as S. Augustine did with his Auditory when he observed them negligent in their duties, We must tell them that which they are most unwilling to hear: Quod non vultis facere, bonum est, saith he; That which you will not do, that which you are afraid of and run from, that which with all my breath and labour I cannot procure you to love, that is it which we call to do good. That which you deride, that which you turn away the ear from with scorn, that which you loath as poyson, that which you persecute us for, Quod non vultis audire, verum est; That which you distast, when you hear, as gall and wormwood, that which you will not hear, that which you call strange doctrine,* 1.43 that is Truth. As Petrarch told his friend, Si prodesse vis, scribe quod doleam; If you will profit and improve me in the wayes of goodness, let your penne drop gall, write something to me which may trouble and grieve me to read. So when men stand in opposition to Christ, when men will neither hear his voice nor follow him in his wayes, but delight themselves in their own, and rest and please themselves in Errour as in Truth, to awake them out of this pleasant dream, we must trouble them, we must thunder to them, we must disquiet and displease them. For who would give an opiate pill to these Lethargicks? To please men then is, to tell a sick man that he is well; a weak man, that he is strong; an erring man, that he is orthodox; instead of purging out the noxious hu∣mour, to nourish and increase it; to smooth and strew the wayes of Er∣rour with roses, that men may walk with ease and delight, and even dance to their destruction; to find out their palate, and to fit it; to envenom that more which they affect, as Agrippina gave Claudius the Emperour poyson in a Mushrome. What a seditious flatterer is in a Common-wealth, that a false-Apostle is in the Church. For as the seditious flatterer ob∣serveth and learneth the temper and constitution of the place he liveth in, and so frameth his speach and behaviour that he may seem to settle and establish that which he studieth to overthrow; to be a Patriot for the publick good, when he is but a promoter of his private ends; to be a servant to the Common-wealth, when he is a Traytor: so do all sedu∣cers and false-teachers; They are as loud for the Truth as the best cham∣pions she hath, but either subtract from it, or add to it, or pervert and corrupt it, that so the Truth it self may help to usher in a lye: When the Truth it self doth not please us, any lye will please us, but then it must carry with it something of the Truth. For instance; To acknowledge Christ but with the Law, is a dangerous mixture: It was the errour of the Galatians here. To magnifie Faith and shut out Good works, is a dash. That we can do nothing without Grace, is a truth; but, when we will do nothing, to impute it to the want of Grace, is a bold and un∣just

addition. To worship God in spirit and truth,* 1.44 our Saviour command∣eth it; but from hence to conclude against outward Worship, is an in∣jurious defalcation of a great part of our duty.* 1.45 To stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, the Apostle commandeth it; but to stand so as to rise up in the face of the Magistrate, is a Gloss of Flesh and Bloud, and corrupteth the Text.* 1.46 Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, that is the Text; but to be subject no longer then the Power is mannaged to our will, is a chain to bind Kings with, or a hammer to beat all Power down, that we may tread it under our feet. And when we cannot relish the Text, these mixtures and additions and subtractions will please us: These hang as Jewels in our ears; these please, and kill us; beget nothing but a dead Faith and a graceless life; not Liberty, but Licentiousness; not Devotion, but Hypocrisie; not Religion, but Rebellion; not Saints, but Hypocrites; Libertines and Traytors. The Truth is corrupted, saith Nyssene, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.47 by subtraction, by alteration, by addition. And these we must avoid the rather because they go hand in hand as it were with the Truth, and carry it along with them in their company, as lewd persons do sometimes a grave and sober man, to countenance them in their sportiveness and de∣bauchery. De nostro sunt, sed non nostrae, saith Tertullian:* 1.48 They invade that inheritance which Christ hath left his Church. Some furniture, some colour, something they borrow from the Truth, something they have of ours, but ours they are not. And therefore, as S. Ambrose ad∣viseth Gratian the Emperour, of all errours in doctrine we must beware of those which come nearest and border as it were upon the Truth, and so draw it in to help to defeat it self; because an open and manifest er∣rour carrieth in its very forehead an argument against it self, and cannot gain admittance but with a veil, whereas these glorious but painted false∣hoods find an easie entrance, and beg entertainment in the Name of Truth it self. This is the cryptick method and subtil artifice of Men-pleasers, that is, Men-deceivers, to grant something, that they may win the more and that too in the end which they grant; not rudely at first to demolish the Truth, but to let it stand a while, that they may the more securely raise up and fix that Errour with which it cannot stand long. S. Paul saw it well enough, though the Galatians did not;* 1.49 If you be circum∣cised, Christ profiteth you nothing, that is, is to you as if there were no Christ at all. If the false Apostles had flatly denied Christ, the Galatians would have been as ready as S. Paul to have cut them off, because they had received the Gospel; but joyning and presenting the Law with Christ, they did deceive and please them well, who began in the Spirit, and did acknowledge Christ, but would not renounce the Law propter me∣tum Judaeorum, for fear of their brethren the Jews.

Now these Men-pleasers, these Crows,* 1.50 which devour not dead but living men, are from an evil eg and beginning, are bred and hatcht in the dung, in the love of this world, and are so proud and fond of their original that it is their labour, their religion, the main design of their life, to bring the Truth, Religion and Christ himself in subjection under it. And to this end they are very fruitful to bring forth those mishapen issues which savour of the earth and corruption, and have onely the name of Christ fastned to them as a badge, to commend them, and bring them to that end for which they had a being, which is to gain the world in the name, but in despite, of Christ. And these are they who, as S. Peter speaketh make merchandise of mens souls, nummularii sacerdotes,* 1.51 as Cy∣prian calleth them, Doctours of the Mint, who love the Image of Caesar more then the image of God, and had rather see the one in a piece of

gold then the other renewed and stampt in a mortal man. And this image they carry along with them whithersoever they go, and it is as their Holy Ghost to inspire them. For most of the doctrines they teach savour of that mint, and the same stamp is on them both: The same face of Mammon which is in their heart is visible also in their doctrine. Thus Hosea complained of the false Prophets in his time,* 1.52 They eat up the sin of my people; that is, by pleasing them they have consented to their sin, and from hence reaped gain: for flattery is a livelyhood. Or, they did not seriously reprehend the sins of the people, that they might receive more sacrifices, on which they might feed. Some render it, Levabant animum suum ad peccata populi, They lifted up their soul, anhelabant, they even panted, after their sin, desired that they might sin, that they might make advantage; and so made them evil, to make themselves rich. For from hence, from that for which we cannot find a name nor have a thought bad enough, from a Desire to be rich, breaketh forth that mark of a slave, our desire to please. S. Paul hath made a window into their breasts, that we may see them with the same hand coyning their Doctrine and Money;* 1.53 They that are such serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Ser∣pents they are to deceive, and the curse of the Serpent is upon them, Ʋpon their belly they go, and they eat dust all the dayes of their life. For a wonderful thing it is to see how the Love of the world will transform Men into any shape, sometimes to fawn like a Dog, sometimes to rage like a Lion, and then to lurk like a Fox; how like the Charity of the Gospel, it maketh them to bear all things,* 1.54 believe all things, endure all things, yea, contumelias in questu habere, & injuriis pasci, to count-contumelies gain, and to feed sweetly on injuries, to speak what they do not think, to like what they condemn, to mortifie themselves, to lye, and cringe and bow and fall to the ground, which is a kind of Mortification; more then they will do for Christ, who bringeth poverty, disgrace and contempt, and hath no reward but that which is laid up for the future. This brought Plato the great Philosopher a ship-board to sayl to Dyonisius his Court, and there laid him down at his feet;* 1.55 this made him 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. as Nazianzene speaketh, prefer a half-peny before his Gods. This was the evil spirit in the mouth of those lying Prophets, which did prevail with Ahab, to go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead. This maketh men speak, not with mens Persons, but with their fortunes; not with the sinner, but with the rich and noble man. And this Spirit is abroad still, and perswadeth some into their graves, and some into hell, rayseth every storm and every tempest, and maketh that desolation which we see up∣on the earth.* 1.56 We read that Aristippus found Diogenes washing his herbs and roots, his daily food, and in a kind of pity or scorn told him, that, if he would flatter Dionysius, he need not eat these, nor tye himself to such course fare: But Diogenes replieth like a Philosopher, and returneth his saying upon him, Si tu ista esse velles, Dionysio non adulareris, If thou couldest content thy self, and feed on these, thou wouldst never be so base as to flatter Dionysius. And certainly if we could with the Cynick be con∣tent with Nature for our purveyour, and look for no supply but from her hand;* 1.57 having food and raiment, as S. Paul speaketh, could we be therewith content; did we not enlarge our desires as Hell, and send our hopes afar off, did we not love the world, and the things of this world, we should not thus debase and annihilate our selves a••, being men our selves, to make our selves the shadows of other, in their morning to rise with them, at their noon and highest to

come up and close with them, and then at their night to fall out and leave them in the dark; we should not mould and fit our best part to their worst, our Reason to their Lust, nor make our phansie the elaboratory to work out such essaies as may please and destroy them; we should not foment the anger of the Revenger to consume him, nor help the Cove∣tous to bury himself alive, nor the Ambitious to break his neck, nor the Schismatick to rend the seamless coat of Christ, nor the Seditious to swim to hell in a river of bloud; but we should bind the Revengers hands, break the Misers idoles, bring down the Ambitious to the dust, make up those rents which Faction hath made, and confine the Seditious to his own sphere and place. For who would favour or uphold such Monsters as these but for pay and salary? In a word, if every man did hate the world, every man would love his brother.* 1.58 If every man did keep himself unspot∣ted of the world, every man would be his Brothers keeper. When the world pleaseth us, we are as willing to please the world, and we make it our stage, and act our parts; we call our selves Friends, and are but Para∣sites; we call our selves Prophets, and are but Wizards and Juglers: we call our selves Apostles, and are Seducers; we call our selves Brethren, though it be in evil, and like Hippocrites his Twins we live and dye together: We flatter, and are flattered; we are blind, and leaders of the blind,* 1.59 and fall together with them into the ditch, and bring our burden after us. We please men to please our selves, lull them into a pleasant dream,* 1.60 and our damna∣tion sleepeth not. You see now what it is to please men, and from whence it proceedeth, from whence it springeth, even from that bitter root, the root of all evil, the Love of the world. Let us now behold that huge di∣stance and inconsistency which is between these two, the pleasing of men, and the Service of Christ. If I yet please men, I am not the servant of Christ.

I am thy servant, saith David Psal. 119.125 grant me understanding to know what it is to be thy servant.* 1.61 Latet sub familiaribus verbis maxima fidei & conscientiae professio, saith Hilary; By this familiar word Servant we bind our Faith and Conscience to the will and command, and beck of him we serve. The servant of Christ, is a title too great, too high an ho∣nour for a mortal Man, too high for an Emperour, for an Apostle, for an Angel, for a Seraphim: But since he is pleased to give it, we are bound to make it good, that every action and motion, and thought of ours may be to him, that whether we live, we may live unto him, and whether we die,* 1.62 we may die unto him; that whatsoever we do, we may be the Lords.

And first, we cannot do both, not serve Men and Christ, no more then you can draw the same streight line to two points, to touch them both. You cannot, saith Christ, serve God and Mammon.* 1.63 One master may have many servants, but one servant cannot have many masters. Imperium di∣vidi potest, Amor non potest; Power and Command may stretch and spread and divide it self to many, but Love and Observance cannot be carried & levelled but on one. Nor can the mind, saith Quintilian, seriously intend many things at once: Quocunque respexerit, desinit intueri quod propositum fuerat; To whatsoever it turneth it self, it turneth from that which it first lookt upon, and loseth one engagement in another, because it cannot fit and apply it self to both. How then can one and the same man bestow him∣self upon Christ and upon the World? It is not with the Will and Affections as it is with the Intellectual faculty. The Understanding may easily sever one thing from another, and understand them both; nay, it hath power to abstract and separate things really the same, and consider them in this dif∣ference: but it is the property of the Will and Affections in unum ferri, & se in unitatem colligere, to collect and unite and become one with the Ob∣ject. Nor can our Desires be carried to two contrary objects at one and

the same time. We may apprehend Christ as righteous and holy, and the World and the Riches of it as Vanity it self; but we cannot at once serve Christ as just and holy, and love the World and the vanities thereof. Our Saviour telleth us we shall love the one, and hate the other, lean to the one, and despise the other. If it be a love to the one, it will be at best but a liking of the other; if it be a will to the one, it will be but a velleity to the other; if it be a look on the one, it will be but a glance on the other. And this Liking, this Velleity, this glance are no better then Disservice, then Ha∣tred and Contempt: For these proceed from my Understanding, but my Love from my Will, which is fixed, not where I approve, but where I choose. It is easie to say, and we say it too often; for the Divil is ready to suggest it; It is true, we set our affections upon things below, but yet so that we do not omit the duties of Divine worship; We are willing to please men, but we doubt not but we may please Christ also; We are indeed time servers, but we are frequent hearers of the Word; We pour oyl into our brothers ears, but we drop sometimes a peny into the Treasury. Thus we please others, and we please our selves, we betray others, and are our own parasites. But Christ is ready to seal our lips with an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, No man can serve two Masters. So that you see what a weak foundation that Hope hath which is thus built up upon a divided Love and Service: It is built in the air; nay, it hath not so sure a basis; it is built upon nothing, it is raised upon Impossibility.

Secondly, the Servant must have his eye upon his Master, and as he seeth him do must do likewise.* 1.64 Now Christ is called Gods Servant; and he broke through Poverty, Disgrace, and the terrours of Death it self, that he might do his Fathers will, omitted no tittle or Iota of it. But he that would not break a bruised reed, shook the cedars of Libanus, pronounced as many woes to the Pharisees as they had sins, called Herod Fox, pluckt off every visour, plowed up every conscience, and thus shook the powers of Hell,* 1.65 and destroyed the Kingdome of Satan: for he came not to do his own but his Fathers will. Look upon his acts of Mercy; even them he did not to please men.* 1.66 Non habent Divina adulationem, saith Hilary; His Divine works, his works of Love and Compassion, had nothing of Flattery in them.* 1.67 He did them not as seeking his own glory: For he had a quire of An∣gels to chant his praise. He did them not to flatter men: For he needed not that which is ours;* 1.68 for the world was his, and all that therein is. Pow∣er cannot flatter; and Mercy is so intent on its work that it thinketh of no∣thing else. To work wonders to please men were the greatest wonder of all. And thus should we look upon him, and teach our brethren as he wrought miracles; not for praise, which may make us worse; not for riches, which may make us poorer then we were;* 1.69 but beseech them in Christs stead and in the person of Christ, and speak like him in whose mouth there was neither flattery nor g••ile; speak the truth, though it dispease; speak the truth, though the Heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing; speak the truth, though for ought we know it may be the last word we speak; speak the truth, though it nayl us to the cross, where we shall most resem∣ble him with this title, THE SERVANTS OF CHRIST, as his was THE KING OF THE JEWS. He that taketh nothing but his name, that serveth the world, that flattereth when he biddeth him rebuke, and pleaseth others when they displease Christ, is not his servant but his enemy, one of those many Antichrists; or if his servant, such a servant as Peter was when he denied him, as Judas when he betrayed him. And he will take it for more disservice to betray him in his members then in his person, and is troubled more at the sight of those wounds which were made in his mystical body then he was at those which were made in his flesh. He willingly, suf∣fered the pains of death that they might not die;* 1.70 Himself was lead

to death as a sheep to the slaughter, and opened not his mouth:* 1.71 but when he saw havock made of his Church, he cryed out, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And in this every false Teacher is worse then Peter when he was at the worst, every flatterer is worse then Judas, every seducer is worse then the Jews when they nayled Christ to the cross.

For, lastly, Servus pro nullo est, A Servant is nothing, is no person in law, hath no power of his own. Servitus morti aequiparatur, say the Civilians: A Servant is as a dead man, and cannot act nor move of him∣self, but is actuated as it were by the power and command of his Lord and Master, and never goeth but when he saith, Go, never doth but what he biddeth him do, and doth not interpret but execute his will. Non oportet villicum plus sapere quàm dominum, saith Columella; It is a most unfit and disadvantageous thing for the Farmer or Husband∣man to be wiser then his Lord. For when the Lord commandeth one thing, and the Servant thinketh it fitter to do another, the crop and harvest will be but thin. And it is so in our spiritual Husbandry. It savoureth of too much boldness and presumption for the Servant to be wiser then his Master: and there will be but small increase, when the Master calleth for the whip, and the Servant bringeth the merry harp and the lute; when he calleth for a talent, to reckon but a mite; and when he writeth an hundred, to take the bill and set down fifty. It is the greatest folly in the world to be thus wise, when wisdome it self prescribeth; when he condemneth the Love of the world, to put in im∣moderate, and yet keep no moderation in our Love; when he for∣biddeth us to be angry, to lay hold of that without a cause, and yet suffer every breath to raise a tempest in us; when he saith, Swear not at all, to perswade men to swear, and swear again, though it be against a former oath; when he biddeth us pray for our enemies, to be so bold as to curse our friends and our brethren. It is a great and dangerous folly thus to trifle with our Master, and delude his Precepts. And what do we with these distinctions and limitations and mitigations but shake Christs livery off from our backs, and thrust our selves out of his service? And then, tell me, whose servants are we? Quot nascuntur do∣mini? For this one Master, whose service we have cast off, how many Masters and Tyrants do we serve? servants to the Flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof; servants to Covetousness, which setteth us, with the Gibeonites, to be hewers of wood and drawers of water,* 1.72 condemneth us to the mines and brick-kiln; servants to Ambition, which will carry thee from ste•• to step, from degree to degree, till thou break thy neck; ser∣vants to Pleasure, which, like the Egyptian thieves, will embrace and strangle thee; and servants to other Men, would that were all! nay, but to other mens Wills and Lusts, which change as the wind, now em∣bracing, anon lothing, now ready to joyn with that which in the twink∣ling of an eye they fly from. Et quot nascuntur domini? How many Masters must thou serve in one man? servants to their Lusts, which are as unsatiable as the Grave; servants unto Errour, which is blind; and to Sin, which is darkness it self: even mancipia Satanae, the bondslaves of Satan, with Canaans curse upon us, A servant of servants shall he be,* 1.73 NON SƲM SERVƲS CHRISTI, I am not the servant of Christ, is Anathema Maran-atha, the bitterest curse that is.

For conclusion then, Let them who are set apart to lead others in the wayes of Truth and Righteousness take heed they lead them not in the wayes of Cain, and take from them their spiritual, as he did from his brother his temporal life. Let them who subscribe themselves Your ser∣vants

in Christ, (In every Epistle thus they write) be careful to make it good, that their Epistle prove not a complement, and their subscripti∣on a lye.* 1.74 Let them who do 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, fit their conversation and doctrine to the times, and so make them worse; who force the word of God 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to speak in favour of Philip, or any great Potentate, as he was; who make it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a buskin, to be pulled on and fit any design, any enterprise; let them remember what they are called, and what they call themselves, the Servants of Christ, of that Christ who will one day call them to an account, require the bloud of those vvho are under their charge at their hands, call upon them as Augustus Caesar did upon Quin∣ctilius Varus, Quinctili Vare, redde legiones. Give an account of your Stew∣ardship: Where are the Legions, those souls vvhich I committed to your hands? the souls of them you betrayed to the World, and left them Mammonists; the souls of them you betrayed to Pride and made them factious; the souls of them you betrayed to Discontent, and made them seditious; the souls of them you betrayed to Cruelty, and made them murderers?* 1.75 Their bloud vvill be upon you, and verily it shall be required of this generation.

* 1.76And let them vvho are taught, remembring that they are bought with a price, and are the servants of Christ, cleave fast to him, and not be dri∣ven from him vvith every vvind of doctrine, not judge of the doctrine by the person, but of the person by his doctrine. In Christianity, saith S. Hierom, Non multum differunt decipere & decipi, There is no great dif∣ference betvveen these tvvo, To take a cheat, and to offer one; for both are deceived, and both perish. The one cometh vvith a veil, the other is vvilling to draw it over his face: The one putteth out the others eyes, and the other is willing to be blind, and both rejoyce at the vvork, both cry, So, so; thus we would have it. When vve see so many so diffident in all things but that which should fit them for happiness, taking nothing up∣on trust but the doctrines of men;* 1.77 when we shall see them have mens per∣sons in admiration, and their eyes dazle at every mushrome in Divinity that groweth up in a night; when we shall see them debauch their Rea∣son, and deliver up their Understandings and Wills to a Face, to a Voice, to the Gesture and Behaviour and Sleight of men; when every empty cloud that cometh towards them shall be taken for heaven, and he that speaketh not so much reason as Balaams Ass shall be received for a Pro∣phet; when men are so enclined, so ready, so ambitious to be deceived, we need not wonder to see so many blind Bartimeus's in our streets, who grope at noon day, and stumble at every straw, that blindness is happened to Israel, that Truth is become a monster, and Errour a Saint, that the Pharisees have more Disciples then Christ. Men and brethren, what should I say? Why should you desire to be pleased? If we thus please you, we damn you. Why should we study to please you? If we study to please you, we damn our selves. It is not your favour, your applause which we affect: We know well enough out of what treasury those winds come, and how uncertainly they blow. One applause of Consci∣ence is vvorth all the triumphs in the vvorld. Bring then the balance of the Sanctuary, the touch-stone of the Scripture: If our Doctrine be not minus habens, be not light, but full vveight; if it be not refuse sil∣ver, but current coin, and bear no other image but of the King of Kings, even for the Truths sake, for our common Masters sake, whose servants we are,* 1.78 lay aside all malice and guile and hypocrisie, and with the meekness of a new-born babe receive it, that you may grow thereby. But if nothing yet be Truth which doth not please you, then what shall we say, but even tell you another truth? Vero verius, most true it is, You will not hear the Truth.

And therefore, in the last place, let us all, both Teachers and Hear∣ers, purge out this evil humour of pleasing and being pleased, and let us, as the Apostle exhorteth,* 1.79 consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Let us speak truth every one to his neighbour: For we are members one of another. It is an errour to think that the duty of Ad∣monition is impropriate and perteineth onely to the Minister. Adversùs publicos hostes omnis homo miles est, saith Tertullian in another case; A∣gainst traytours and common enemies every man is a souldier. Every one that is of strength to pull a soul out of the fire is for this business, by counsel, by advise, by rebuking, is a Priest: Nor must he let him lie there to expect better help. Thou shalt not see thy brother sin, but thou shalt rebuke and save thy brother.* 1.80 Common charity requireth thus much at thy hand: And to make question of it is as if thou shouldst ask with Cain, Am I my brother's keeper? This is the true and surest me∣thod of pleasing one another. For Flattery, like the Bee, carrieth honey in its mouth, but hath a sting in its tayl; but Truth is sharp and bitter at first, but at last more pleasant than Manna. He that would seal up thy lips for the Truth which thou speakest, will at last kiss those lips, and bless God in the day of his visitation. And this if we do, we shall please one another 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to edification,* 1.81 and not unto ruine. And thus all shall be pleased; the Physician, that he hath his intent; and the Patient in his health: The strong shall be pleased in the weak, and the weak in the strong; the wise in the ignorant, and the ignorant in the wise: And Christ shall be well pleased to see Brethren thus to walk together in unity, strengthening and inciting one another in the wayes of righteousness: And when we have thus walkt hand in hand together to our journeys end, he shall admit us into his presence,* 1.82 where there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Josh. 24.15.
• * 1.2

  Job 29.14. Psal. 6.6.
• * 1.3

  John 4.34.
• * 1.4

  Exod. 32 27.
• * 1.5

  Luke 15.16. Prov. 28.1.
• * 1.6

  Rom. 14.22.
• * 1.7

  Prov. 23.5.
• * 1.8

  Rhetor. l. 2. c. 14.
• * 1.9

  Psal. 139.7.
• * 1.10

  Aristot. l. 9. Eth. c. 4.
• * 1.11

  2 Kings 1.2, 3.
• * 1.12

  Quintil. l. 3. Instit. c. 1.
• * 1.13

  Eccles. 1.18.
• * 1.14

  Deut. 28.24.
• * 1.15

  Psal. 115.
• * 1.16

  Gal. 3.2.
• * 1.17

  Gal. 6.12.
• * 1.18

  Gal. 3.1.
• * 1.19

  Gal. 1.8, 9.
• * 1.20

  Seneca.
• * 1.21

  Rev. 3.1.
• * 1.22

  1 Cor. 4.5.
• * 1.23

  Isa. 8.16.
• * 1.24

  Sueton. Calig. c. 34.
• * 1.25

  Psal. 73.6, 12.
• * 1.26

  1 Tim. 4.2.
• * 1.27

  Dan. 5.
• * 1.28

  Lib. 8.
• * 1.29

  ••••••l. 59.6, 14.
• * 1.30

  Hieron. ad He∣liodor. Epitah. Nepotiani.
• * 1.31

  Gen. 33.10. 1 Cor. 10.33.
• * 1.32

  1 Cor. 9.22. —19,
• * 1.33

  —20,
• * 1.34

  —21.
• * 1.35

  Acts 17.
• * 1.36

  Lib. 1. Inst. c. ••
• * 1.37

  Gen. 33.13, 14
• * 1.38

  Acts 13.11. 1 Cor. 5.5.
• * 1.39

  1 Cor. 4.18.21
• * 1.40

  Ex Deo magis quam in con∣tumeliam Dei hominibus pla∣cendum, Hil. in Psal. 52.
• * 1.41

  Job 31.1.
• * 1.42

  Prov. 23.2.
• * 1.43

  Lib. 7. de Re∣utr. fort. c. ult.
• * 1.44

  Joh. 4.23.
• * 1.45

  Gal. 5.1.
• * 1.46

  Rom. 13.1.
• * 1.47

  Orat. 1. contra Eunom.
• * 1.48

  De Proscript.
• * 1.49

  Gal. 5.2.
• * 1.50

  Dictam Dio∣genis, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Athen. Deip∣nos. l. 6. c. 17.
• * 1.51

  2 Pet. 2.3.
• * 1.52

  Hos. 4.8.
• * 1.53

  Rom. 16.18.
• * 1.54

  1 Cor. 13.7.
• * 1.55

  Orat. 3. 1 King. 22.
• * 1.56

  Val. Max. l. 4. c. 3.
• * 1.57

  1 Tim. 6.8. ••ab. 2.5. 1 Joh. 2.15.
• * 1.58

  Jam. 1.27.
• * 1.59

  Matth. 15.14.
• * 1.60

  2 Pet. 2.3.
• * 1.61

  In Loc.
• * 1.62

  Rom. 14 8.
• * 1.63

  Matth. 6.24.
• * 1.64

  Isai. 62.10.
• * 1.65

  Joh. 6.38.
• * 1.66

  De Trin. l. 2.
• * 1.67

  Joh 8 50.
• * 1.68

  Psal. 24.1. & 50.12.
• * 1.69

  2 Cor. 2.10. & 5.20.
• * 1.70

  Isa. 53.7.
• * 1.71

  Acts 8.32. Acts 8.3. & 9.4.
• * 1.72

  Josh. 9.21.
• * 1.73

  Gen. 9.25.
• * 1.74

  Athen. Deipn. l. 12. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Scire uti soro.
• * 1.75

  Luke 11.51.
• * 1.76

  1 Cor 6.20.
• * 1.77

  Jude 16.
• * 1.78

  1 Pet. 2.1, 2. Jam. 1.21.
• * 1.79

  Hebr. 10.14. Ephes. 4.25.
• * 1.80

  Lev. 19.17.
• * 1.81

  Rom. 15.2.
• * 1.82

  Psal. 16.11.