Fifty sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London, and elsewhere whereof twenty on the Lords Prayer / by ... Anthony Farindon ... ; the third and last volume, not till now printed ; to which is adjoyned two sermons preached by a friend of the authors, upon his being silenced.

The Second SERMON. PART II. (Book 2)

MATTH. V. 5. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

IN the morning we laid before your eyes the Virtue of Meekness; A virtue by which, as St. Chrysostom saith, a man may know a Christian better then by his name. Tertullian telleth us that anciently, among the Heathen, Professors of Christianity were called, not Christiani, but Chrestiani, from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a word signifying Sweet∣ness and Benignity of disposition. I know not how you were taken with the beauty of this divine and useful Virtue, and with what affections you beheld her in those colors in which the Gospel hath shewed her: Some perhaps heard the report of her as they do news from a far Country, not able to contradict, nor yet willing to be∣lieve it. To others her description was but picta nebula, quae non longiùs delectat quàm videtur, as a painted cloud, which is forgot with the remo∣ving of our eye, and delights no longer then it is seen. But yet as the Queen of Sheba spake of the wisdom of Solomon, so will I of this excellent vir∣tue; The one half is not yet told you. We will therefore proceed on, and pass by those lines which we first drew, and having shewed her in her ge∣neral Description, and confined her to her proper Subject; we will, accor∣ding to our method proposed, in the next place present you with the Ob∣ject of Meekness, by which I mean those persons in respect of whom this Virtue is to be exercised.

We have not so confined Meekness, and shut her up in the breasts of pri∣vate men, but we shall as far enlarge her in respect of her Object; which is in compass as large as all the world. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith the Apostle, Let your softness, (your moderation, your meekness, your * 1.1 equity) be known unto all men. For though Meekness and Equity be not one and the same Virtue, yet every meek man so far participates of Equity that he is not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, too exactly just, but makes himself less then he is; that he is willing to depart from his own right, and will not do all that strict and rigid Justice warrants as lawful. Nor is this Vir∣tue cloyster'd up to shine in a corner, but, like the Sun it self, non uni aut alteri, sed statim omnibus in commune profertur; she display's her beams not in good men alone, or Christians alone, but to wicked men, to erring men, to all men, even to the whole world. For this end God doth permit some evil persons in the world. Omnis malus aut ideo vivit ut corrigatur, aut ideo vivit ut per illum bonus exerceatur, Every wicked person doth either

prolong his life for his own good and amendment of himself; or for the good of others, to their tryal. If there were none to injure us, Meekness were but a phansie, or like a Rose in Winter, would have a being, an essence perhaps, but no existence. If there were no evil men, there would not be any good, at least not known to be so. Utrâque turbâ, saith Seneca, opus est, ut Cato possit intelligi, There must be both good and evil men, to make Cato's Vir∣tues known. And Nazianzene, in his Epistles, speaking of the factious behaviour of men, and the troubles of the times, saith, that all those things were to come to pass ut Basilius cognosceretur, that Basil might be known; that he might manifest that wisdom which long experience had taught him, and so shine forth as a light in the midst of a froward generation. Whilst the heavens are clear and the weather fair, and no wind nor tempest stirs, in glomis subit portum, the Pilot arriveth indeed at the wisht-for haven, but without praise or glory. And were our life becalmed, and if no tempests of injuries beat upon us, what room then had Meekness to shew her self? Sed cùm stridunt funes, & gemunt gubernacula, when Malice rageth, when wicked men provoke us; when there are Ismaels to scoff at us, Shimei's to revile us, Zedekiah's to smite us on the cheek; when injuries, like the bil∣lows of the Sea, follow close one on the neck of another; then is the world a stage for Meekness to act her part on. An easie thing it is to be meek where there is nothing to raise our Anger; and Revenge hath no place where there is no provocation. The Philosopher in his Rhetorics, giving us the character of Meekness, tells us that most men are gentle and meek to those who never wronged them, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or who did it unwillingly; to men who confess an injury, and repent of it; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to those who humble themselves at their feet, and beseech them, and who do not contra∣dict them; to those whom they reverence and fear. For Fear and Anger seldom lodge in the same breast. But Christianity raiseth Meekness to a higher pitch, where no injury can reach it. A studied and plotted injury, an injury made greater by defense, an injury from the meanest, from him that sits with the dogs of our flocks, any injury at any time, from any man, maketh a fit object for Christian Meekness, which in the midst of all contu∣melies and reproaches, in the midst of all contradictions is still the same. Should we insist upon every particular, our Discourse would be too large. We will therefore fasten our meditations upon those which may seem most pertinent, and so take off all those pretenses which we Christians common∣ly bring in as Advocates to plead for us when we forget that we are Christi∣ans. There be two errors in our life, the one of Opinion, the other in Man∣ners and Behaviour, which is far the worse: and though these of themselves carry no fire with them, yet by our weakness commonly it comes to pass that they are made the only incendiaries of the world, and set both Church and Commonwealth in combustion. If our brothers opinion stand in op∣position to ours, if his life and conversation be not drawn out by the same rule, we presently are on fire; and we number it amongst our virtues, to be angry with those who in their Doctrine are erroneous, or in their lives ir∣regular. Now in this I know not how blessed we think our selves, but I am sure we are not meek. For if we were truly possessed of that Meekness which Christ commends, as we should receive the weak in Faith with all ten∣derness, so should we be compassionate to the wicked also, and learn that Christian art which would enable us to make good use both of Sin and Er∣ror. And first for Error, though many times it be of a monstrous aspect, yet I see nothing in it which of it self hath force to fright a Christian from that temper which should so compose him that he may rather lend an hand to direct him that errs, then cry him down with noise and violence; seeing it is a thing so general to be deceived, so easie to erre, and so hard to be re∣duced

from our error; seeing with more facility many times we change an evil custom then a false opinion. For Sin carries with it an argument against it self. Hoc habet quod sibi displicet, saith Seneca: As it fills the heart with delight, so it doth with terror. Like the Viper, mater est funeris sui, it works its own destruction, and helps to dispossess it self. But Errour pleaseth us with the shape of Truth; nor can any man be deceived in opinion, but as Ixion was by embracing a cloud for Juno, and Falshood for the Truth. He that errs, if he were perswaded he did so, could err no longer. And what guilt he incurs by his error, the most exact and severe inquisition cannot find out; because this depends on that measure of light which is afforded, and the inward disposition and temper of his soul, which are as hard for a stander-by to dive into as to be the searcher of his heart. The Heresie of the Arians was as dangerous as any that ever did molest the peace of the Church, as being that which strook at the very foundation, and denyed the Divinity of the Son; yet Salvian pas∣seth this gentle censure on them, Errant, sed bono animo errant; non odio, sed affectu Dei; They erred, but out of a good mind; not out of hatred, but affection to God. And though they were injurious to Christs Divine generation, yet they loved him as a Saviour, and honoured him as a Lord. The Manichees fell upon those gross absurdities that Reason, when her eye is weakest, may easily see through; yet St. Augustine, who had been one him∣self, bespeaks them in this courteous language, Illi saeviant in vos qui nes∣ciunt quocum labore verum inveniatur; Let them be angry with you who know not with what difficulty the truth is found, and how hard a matter it is to gain that serenity of mind which may dispel the mists of carnal phantasmes: Let them be angry with you who were never deceived, and who do not know with what sighs and groans we purchase the smallest measure of knowledge in Divine mysteries. I cannot be angry; but will so bear with your error now as I did with my own when I was a Manichee. A good pattern to take out, and learn how to demean our selves towards the mistakes of our brethren, and to bear with the infirmities of the weak, and not to please our selves with the pretense of Zeal and Religion, which loose their name and nature, and bring in a world of iniquity, when we use them to fan the fire of contention. I do not see that relation or likeness between Difference of Opinion and con∣trariety in affections, that one would beget the other, or that it should be impossible or unlawful to be united unto him in love who is divided from me in opinion. No; Charity is from heaven, heavenly, and may have its influence on minds of divers dispositions, as the Sun hath on bodies of a different temper, and it may knit the hearts of those together in the bond of love whose opinions may be as various as their complexions. But Faction and Schism and Dissention are from the earth, earthly; and have their be∣ginnings and continuance, not ab extra, from the things themselves which are in controversie, but from within us, from our Self-love and Pride of mind, which condemn the errors of our brethren as heresies, and obtrude our own errors for Oracles. I confess, to contend for the Truth is a most Christian resolution, and in Tertullians esteem a kind of Martyrdom. It is the duty of the meekest man to take courage against Error; and as Nazian∣zene speaketh, in a cause that so nearly concerns us as the truth of Christ a Lamb should become a Lion. I cannot but commend that of Calvine, Maledicta pax cujus pignus desertio Dei, That peace deserves a curse which lay's down the Truth and God himself for a gage and pawn; and benedicta praelia quibus regnum Christi necessitate defenditur, those battels are blessed which we are forced to wage in the name of the Lord of Hosts. And thrice happy he who lays down his life a sacrifice for the Truth. But Religion and Reason will teach us that all this may be done without malice or rancor to

their persons, whose error we strive against, and that the Lords battles may be fought without shedding of bloud. Surely Meekness is the best Director in these wars, where he gains the greatest conquest who is overcome. The Physician is not angry with him whom he intends to cure, but he searcheth his books, and useth his art and all diligence, morbum tollere, non hominem, to remove the disease, and not to kill the man: How much more should we be careful how we handle our weak and erring brother, lest we make him weaker by our rough and unskilful usage, and cure him indeed, but in the Tyrant's sense in Suetonius, who boasted he had done a cure, when he cut off a mans head, or otherwise put him to death, who had offended him. We read that Paul and Barnabas were at some difference about the choice of their * 1.2 companion; the one determined to take Mark with them, the other thought it not good: From whence sprung that paroxysme, as the Evangelist terms it, which divided them the one from the other. Yet St. Hierom will tell us, Quos navigatio separavit, hoc Christi Evangelium copulavit; Though they sailed to several Coasts, yet they were both bound for the same negotiation, e∣ven the preaching of the Gospel. Paul withstood Peter to his face; yet in * 1.3 the same Chapter he calls him a Pillar of the Truth. A Father may differ from his Son, and the Wife from the Husband in opinion; yet this difference breaks not the bond of that relation which is betwixt them; but the Fa∣ther may, nay must perform the office of love, and the Son of duty. And why may not Christians be diversly perswaded in some points of Religion in earth, and yet the same Heaven hold them both? That which deceives us are those glorious things which are spoken of Zeal. We read of Phine∣has, who was blest for thrusting his Javelin through the adulterous couple; of the austerity of Elijah, the zeal of Simon the Canaanite, the severity of Peter, which struck Ananias and Sapphira dead; the constancy of Paul, who struck Elymas the Sorcerer blind. And we are told, Non est crude∣litas pro Deo pietas, That in God's cause the greatest piety is to be cruel. But we willingly mistake our selves: for neither here is the cause alike, nor the person the same. We know not of what Spirit we are. Every man is not a Phinehas, an Elijah, a Paul, a Peter. Nor did Elymas loose his sight, and Ananias his life, for their errors, but for their witchcraft, and grand hypocrisie. Nor are times the same. We cannot but commend Zeal as an excellent quality in man: but as Agarick or Stibium being prepared and castigated are soveraign Physick, but crude and unprepared are dangerous: so Zeal, which so many boast of, seasoned with discretion, is of singular use and profit; but taken crude and in the Mineral, it oft-times proves de∣leterial and unfortunate. Zeal is a light, but by occasion it troubles the eye of the understanding; and being by degrees enraged by our private ends and phansies, at last it puts it quite out, and leaves us fighting in the dark. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, an unlearned Zeal and su∣pine Negligence are both so bad that it is not easie to determine which is worst: only Negligence lets inconveniencies slily steal into the Church, but unguided Zeal much plies those errours which Negligence letteth in: and, as if error were indeed a Hydra, it never strikes off the head of one error, but two arise in the place. And therefore St. Bernard, in his forty ninth Sermon on the Canticles, will tell us, Semper zelus absque scientia minùs uti∣lis invenitur, plerumque etiam perniciosus sentitur; Zeal without knowledge is alwaies unprofitable, many times most dangerous. And therefore the more hot and fervent it is, and the more profuse our Charity, with the more care and diligence should we set our Knowledge and Reason as a Sentinel, quae Zelum supprimat, spiritum temperet, ordinet charitatem, which may abate and cool our Zeal, temper our spirit, and compose and order our Charity.

For if we do not keep our souls with diligence, and carry a strict and ob∣servant eye upon our Zeal, our Meekness will be consumed in this fire, and with it the whole crop and harvest of spiritual Wisdom lost. We shall be heady and high-minded, lovers of our selves, unwilling to pardon one error to our brethren, and to acknowledge any of our own. This is it which hath been the mother and nurse too of all those outrages in the Church of Christ that Story hath transmitted to Posterity, and those too which later and our present times have been too guilty of, that men will neither sub∣scribe to the opinion of others, lest they may be thought not to have found the Truth, but have borrowed it; nor will yet retain so much meekness as to give their brother leave to erre, but, when they cannot convince him by Argument, fall heavy upon him with Reproach: A fault sometimes in him that errs, and sometimes in him who holds the truth, the one obstinate, the other indiscreet, both ready to maintain with violence what they cannot perswade by reason. The Arians betook themselves to this guard, and called in the temporal Sword to defend their Cause against the Orthodox; and when they could not prevail by Argument, they made use of outward force: And so this faction, saith the Father, plainly shewed quàm non sit pia, nec Dei cultrix, how destitute it was of piety and the fear of God. The Donatists stiled themselves filios Martyrum, the off-spring of Martyrs; and all other Christians, progeniem traditorum, the progeny of those who basely delivered up the sacred things. They broke the Chalices, demolisht the Al∣tars, ravisht Virgins and Matrons, flung the holy Eucharist to the Dogs, slew those who were not of their faction, beat down the Bishop Maximinian with batts and clubs even as he stood at the Altar, and did those outrages on Christians which Christian Meekness would have forbidden them to commit on a Jew or Infidel: the Monks of Aegypt were indeed devout and religi∣ous men, but for the most part Anthropomerphites holding that God had hands and feet and all the parts that a Man hath, and was in outward shape and proportion like unto one of us. That having got Theophilus, a learned Bishop of Alexandria, into their hands, so roughly used him that he could not get out of their fingers till he made use of his wits and sophistry, and told them in a kind of complement that he had seen their face as the face of God. Nor did this evil rest here, amongst the vulgar and discontented persons, quibus opus erat bello civili, as Caesar spake, who could not subsist but in times of noise and hurry, but it blasted the fairest plants in all the Church; Chrysostom would not consent to give his suffrage for the condem∣nation of Origen's works; Epiphanius subscribes to it, and makes St. Chry∣sostom a Patron of those errors which did no doubt deserve a censure: Both forgot that Meekness which they both commended in their Writings. Epi∣phanius curseth Chrysostom, and Chrysostom Epiphanius; and both took ef∣fect: for the one lost his Bishoprick, and the other his Country, to which he never after returned. An infirmity this is which we cannot be too wary of, since we see the strongest Pillars of the Church thus shaken with it; An evil which hath alwaies been forbidden and retained in all Ages of the Church; Zeal being made an apology for Fury, and the Love of Truth a pretense to colour over that behaviour which hath nothing in it to shew of Truth or Christianity. And therefore the Church of Christ, which felt the smart of it, hath alwaies condemn'd it. When Eulalia the Martyr spit in the face of the Tyrant, and broke and scatter'd the Idols before, Pru∣dentius and others were fain to excuse it, that she did it impulsu Divini spiritûs, by special revelation from the Spirit. Which was indeed but an excuse, and a weak one too. For that Spirit which once descended in the shape of a Dove, and is indeed the Spirit of Meekness, cannot be thought to be the Teacher of such a Lesson. But when other Christians in the time

of Dioclesian attempted the like, and were slain in the very enterprise, to de∣ter others from such an inconsiderate Zeal; it was decreed in the Councel of Eliberis, and the 60 Canon, Siquis idola fregerit; If any hereafter break down the heathen idols, he shall have no room in the Diptychs, nor be re∣gistred with the number of the Martyrs, although he be slain in the very fact, quatenus in Evangelio non est scriptum, because we find nothing in the Gospel that casts a favourable countenance upon such a fact. I have brought this instance the rather, to curb those forward spirits now adaies which, did not Fear more restrain them then Discretion, would be as good Martyrs as these, and with the same Engine with which they heave at the outwork, in time would blow up Church, Religion, and all; who are streight angry with any thing that doth but thwart their private humor, or with any man that by long study and experience and evidence of reason hath gained so much knowledge as not to be of their opinion. What mean else the Unchristian nick-names of Arminians, and Pelagians, and Socini∣ans, and Puritanes, which are the glorious Scutchions the Meekness of these times doth fix in every place, and the very pomp and glory of their tri∣umph, when factious men cry down that truth which they are not willing to understand? Doth this rancor, think you, proceed from the spirit of Meek∣ness? or rather from the foul Spirit of Destraction. Little do these men think that the Truth it self suffers by such a Defense, that rash Zeal cannot be excused with intentions and the goodness of the end which is proposed; that the crown of Martyrdom will sit more gloriously on his head who ra∣ther suffers that the Church may have her peace, then on his who dies that he may not offer sacrifice to idols. For in this every man hath been merci∣ful and good to himself; but in the former he merits for the whole, and is a sacrifice for the publick peace of the Church whereof he is a part. Talk of Martyrdom what we please; never was there any Martyr, never can there be any Martyr made without Meekness. Though I give all my goods to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burnt in the justest cause for the truth of the Gospel, and have not Meekness, which is a branch of Christian Charity, it profitteth me nothing: For my impatience will rob me of that crown to which my sufferings might otherwise have entitled me. The Ca∣nonists speak truly; Non praesumitur bono exitu perfici quae malo sunt inchoata principio, The event of that action can never be good whose very beginning was unwarrantable. Philosophers have told us that when the Sea rageth, if you throw in oyl upon it, you shall presently calm it. The truth of this I will not now discuss; but give me leave to commend this precious oyl of Meekness to powre upon your souls, when Zeal or Ignorance shall raise a tempest in your thoughts. Have men of wisdom tender'd to you something which falls cross with your opinion? If you obey not, yet be not angry? If your obedience appear not in your practise, yet let it be most visible in your Meekness. Remember that private men, who converse in a narrow Sphere, must needs be ignorant of many things which fall not within their horizon and the compass of their experience; that they may have knowledge enough perhaps to do their own duty, which will come short in the per∣formance of anothers, especially of a Superiors. If an erroneous Consci∣ence bind thee from the outward performance of what is enjoyned, yet let Truth and Scripture and Meekness seal up thy lips from reviling those qui in hoc somnum, in hoc vigilias reponunt, who do watch for thy good, and spend their dayes and nights too that thou mayest live in all good consci∣ence before God all the dayes of thy life. To conclude this point; Dost thou know or suppose thy brother to be in an error? Take not mine, but St. Paul's counsel, and restore such a one in the spirit of Meekness, consider∣ing that thou also maist be deceived. And peradventure this may be one error,

that thou art perswaded that thy brother errs when Truth and Reason both speak for him: Pride and Self-conceit are of a poysonous quality, and, if not purged out, exhalat opaca mephitia, it sends forth pestiferous vapors, which will choak and stifle all goodness in us. But Meekness qualifies and prepares the mind, and makes it wax for all impressions of spiritual graces; it doth no evil, it thinketh no evil, it cannot be provokt with errors in opi∣nion, nor with those grosser mistakes and deviations in mens lives and con∣versation.

We have brought Meekness to its tryal indeed. For sure where Sin once shews its deformity, all meekness in a Christian, whose Religion bindeth him to hate sin must needs be lost. It is true, all created natures we must love, because they have their first foundation in the love and good∣ness of God; and he that made them saw that they were good. But Sin is no created entity, but without the compass of Nature, and against her, against that order and harmony which Reason dispenseth. This only hurts us; this is that smoke which comes from the very pit of Hell, and blasts the soul; even then when the body is untoucht: This is the fornace in which men are transformed into Devils. We cannot then hate Sin enough. Yet here our Christian skill must shew it self; and we must be careful that our Anger, which frowns upon Sin, do not rage against the Sinner, and that whilst we strike at one we do not wound both. Our Anger must be, not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, not an hatred of the person, but a detestation of the sin. A hard subtlety indeed it is, to distinguish things thus confound∣ed and blended together. Facile est atque proclive, saith St. Augustine, malos odisse, quia mali sunt; rarum autem & pium, eosdem ipsos diligere, quia ho∣mines sunt; It is an easie thing to hate evil men because they are evil; but to love them as they are men, this is a rare and pious thing. And therefore we must be wary that our Anger be not too hot and extreme against the acti∣ons of others, for fear least at last we transpose it upon the men themselves. Timon, that great hater of mankind, made this his apology, That he hated evil men because they were evil; and all others, because they did not hate them. He thought it a sin not to be angry with those who did commit sin. But Christianity begets no Timons, but Children like unto the Son of God, who though he knew no sin, yet was content to lay down his life for sinners. There is no man so evil but hath some good thing to commend him, though it break not out, as being clouded and darkned with much corruption. There∣fore Christian Meekness is very wary, and doth not think there is nothing else but evil where she often sees it. And though she cannot nourish a good opinion of the man, to think him good; yet she will a charitable hope, that he may be so. And as those who seek for treasure, give not over by reason of clay and mire, so long as there is any hope to speed; so doth not Meekness slack her hand and cast off her industry, though it be spent on the most polluted soul, & ad quaedam sana, in quorum delectatione acquies∣cat, per tolerantiam perducatur. Many for want of this Meekness destroy the work of God, Dum ita objurgant quasi oderint, whilst they reprove their brother as if they hated him, and upbraid rather then reprehend him. They make it their virtue rixari cùm soeculo, to chide the times and manners. They suppose they are bound to hate sinners; and will be just rather in shewing mercy to their beast then to their brother. Away with him, away with him from the earth, is quickly said; but is commonly breathed from a soul as much stained and polluted as his is whom we suppose to be sick to death. What Tertullian spake is most true, In Majestatis reos & publicos hostes omnis homo miles est, Against traytors and publick enemies, every man is a Souldier. And it is as true, that every one that is of strength to pull a soul out of the fire, is, when his brother sins, a Priest also, and may,

nay is bound to rebuke him: but he must be careful that his counsel and ad∣vise be the dictates of his Love, not of his gall and bitterness; that he take God himself for a patern, qui non homines odit, sed vitia; who never hated men, whom he made, but Sin, which, being God, he could not make. The Prophet David puts it up in the manner of a question unto God himself, Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with * 1.4 those which rise up against thee? and presently gives himself the answer, I hate them with a perfect hatred, I count them mine enemies. Quid est illud, PERFECTO ODIO? saith St. Augustine; What is that the Pro∣phet means by perfect hatred? No more then this, He hated the vices in them, not the men; How then will this perfect Hatred and the Love of our enemies subsist together? To wit, by this, That we hate this in them, that they are wicked; and love this in them, that they are men. The 109 Psalm is a Psalm of cursing. There we find such fearful imprecations that a true Christian must needs tremble but to hear them read. St. Chrysostom in his very first words upon that Psalm, saith 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, He that will take this Psalm into his hands had need be discreet. Whether it be a Prophesie or a collection of bitter imprecations, is not much ma∣terial: In the Gospel there is no such gift of Prophesie, nor liberty of cur∣sing granted. He that foretells his brothers ruine, is a Prophet also of his own: and he that curseth his brother secretly in his heart, though it be for sin, hath committed that sin which will bring a heavy curse upon himself. I know it hath been used in the Church; and it hath been thought a heavy curse to say DEUS LAUDUM upon any man, which is the very first words and title of that Psalm. A common thing it was in France, saith Calvin, if any man had an enemy that molested him, to hire with a sum of money a Monk or a Franciscane every day to repeat this Psalm. A Gen∣tlewoman of great note procured one of that Fraternity to use that very form of imprecation against her only Son. So dangerous are the examples even of the Saints of God; which we are too ready to follow when they are ill; and when they are good and warrantable, as ready to mistake them. Si David, cur non ego? If David that Saint of God, that man after Gods own heart, did fill his Psalm with Imprecations, why may not we also set our Prayers to the same tune, and curse our enemies with a DEUS LAU∣DUM? I will grant we may, when as we find such a roll of curses under the Law; we find also such another under the Gospel. If the Proverb will suffer the Jew but to creep into Mount Ebal, sure Christianity should be a sense to keep a Christian from coming near it. I cannot conceive but that God doth exact this duty in far greater measure from a Christian then from a Jew. For though this precept in equity bound the Jews as well as us, yet God, who dispensed with them, hath not done that favor unto us, who have received far greater from him, but requires this duty of Meekness from us in the highest degree. If he demanded of the Jew an Omer, he will ex∣act from us Christians an Ephah.

For conclusion then, and to make some use of that which hath been spo∣ken; Let us not go in the waies of the Gentiles, nor in theirs who are so fully bent against those who are not of the same opinion, that in the pro∣secution they forget they are men, and that there is any such virtue as Meek∣ness; that, like Hannibal, cannot live without an enemy; or, like those ancient Spaniards in Justine, are so out of love with concord that they swell at the very name; that have no other reason or inducement to quar∣rel but to quarrel, and think Religion consists in words of gall and acts of vengeance, that Clamor is Zeal, and Fury Piety, and that then they reign as Saints when they wash their feet in the bloud of their brethren; that call every opinion that is not theirs Blasphemy; and that are not so hot against a

foul pollution in the heart as against an error in the understanding, nor so angry with a crying sin as with a supposed mistake. If these be Saints, then certainly our Saviour is not so meek as he hath told us, or we must believe, what is past understanding, that our meek Saviour, as he once had Judas, so may now have these men of Belial for his Disciples. If these men be Saints, why may not Lucifer recover his place? What? a Saint with fire and sword? with axes and hammers? with fire devouring before him, and a tempest round about him? like the bottomless Pit, sending forth smoke as out of a fornace, smoke out of which come Locusts to devoure the earth? a covetous, ma∣licious, deceitful, treacherous, adulterous, murderous Saint? Such Saints peradventure may walk on earth, or under that name; but sure they will never follow the Lamb, nor appear in those new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness. Let us, I say, not be like these. For they say, and do not; they say, and do the contrary. What profit, what ho∣nour will it be to be such an Angel as appears here in light, and is reserv'd to be kept in chains of darkness for ever? such a Saint as shall be turned into a Feind? Let us rather take upon us the yoke of Christ, who was meek; and bear the burdens of these contentious men, as St. Paul exhorts. Let us not assault one another with lyes in the defense of Truth, nor break the bonds of Charity in the behalf of Faith, nor fly asunder in defense of the Corner∣stone, nor be shaken in pieces to secure the Rock. If they separate them∣selves, let not us withdraw our affection from them. Si velint, fratres; & si nolint, fratres; If they will, let them be our brethren; and if they will not, yet let them be our brethren. And in these times of hurry and noise, in the midst of so many divisions and sects, let us look upon every man with an eye of Charity and Meekness, or, as Erasmus speaks, with an Evangelical eye; and leaving all bitterness and rancor behind us, let us walk on in a constant course of piety and holy contention with our selves, not answering reviling with reviling, but beating down every imagination which is contrary to Meekness; doing that upon Sin in our selves which we cannot do upon Errour in others. When they spurn at our Meekness, and defie our silence, and rebuke our innocence, let us be meek and silent and innocent still. When they will kill us, be as silent as they who have been dead long ago: that so we may possess our souls when they are ready to take them from us; and be like the people of Nazianzum, who by their peaceable behaviour in times of great dissention gained a name and title, and were called The Ark of Noah, because by this part of spiritual Wis∣dom they escaped that deluge and inundation of fury which had wel-near overflowed and swallowed up all the Christian world.

In the last place; let us level our Wrath and Indignation against Sin, but spare the Sinner, since our selves so often do call upon God to spare us: And if he did not spare us, where should the righteous, where should the best Saints appear. It is one mark of Antichrist, that he sits as God in the * 1.5 Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God, thundring out his excom∣munications, canonizing, damning, absolving, condemning whom he please. Thus 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to overlook our brother, thus to look down upon our brethren, and dart a heavy censure at them for that which we should shed a tear, is so far to follow Antichrist as to take the seat and place of God; nay, to put him out of his seat, and to do his office; nay, to do that which he will not do, to sentence him to death whom God for ought we know, hath chosen to eternal life. Nay, though it doth not make a man the Antichrist, yet it makes him so much Antichrist as to place him in a flat opposition to Christ himself. For he is not such an angry Bishop, such a proud High Priest, as cannot be touched with the feeling of our sins, but one who being meek and tempted him∣self, is able and willing to compassionate those that are tempted. Did we feel

the burden of our brethrens sins, as he did; Did we apprehend the wrath of God, as he did; we should rather offer up prayers and supplications, with * 1.6 strong cryings and tears for them, then tell of the misery of these wounded ones, (that is, speak vauntingly and preach thereof, as the word signifieth) then let our Anger loose against them, and beat upon them with all our storms. I confess, prudent and discreet Reprehension is as a gracious and seasonable rain, but rash and inconsiderate Anger as a tempest, a hurricane, to waste a soul, and carry all before it, and dig up Piety by the root. As it is truly said that most men speak against Riches, not out of hatred but love unto them, so do many against Sin, not out of hatred to sin, but love of themselves, which may be as great a sin as that which they are so loud against. Signum putant bonae conscientiae, aliis maledicere; They count it a sign of a good con∣science in themselves, to be angry with and speak evil of others: They think themselves good if they can say others are evil: Whereas true Righteousness speaks alwaies in meekness and compassion; but that which is false and coun∣terfeit breaths forth nothing but wrath, reviling and indignation. O beloved! what soloecismes, what contradictions may we observe in the School and Church of Christ! men raging against Sin, and yet raising a Kingdom from it in themselves! loathing it as poyson, and yet drinking it down as water! angry with it, and loving it! whipping it with scorpions, and yet binding it about them as a garment! Jacob's sons declaiming against Uncleanness with the instruments of cruelty in their hands! Absalom bewailing the Injustice of the times, when himself was a Traytor! Judas angry with Mary's oint∣ment, when he would have it sold and put into his bag! What a pageant is it to see Sacriledge beating down Idolatry? Covetousness whipping of I∣dleness? Prophaneness pleading for the Sabbath? Gluttony belching out its fumes against Drunkenness? Perjury loud against Swearing? and Hy∣pocrisie riding in triumph, and casting out its fire and brimstone on all. And what is a groan or a sigh from a Murderer? What is a Satyre from a Sodomite? or a Libel from a man of Belial? If Hell hath any musick, this is it, and the Devil danceth after it, after the groans and sighs and prayers and zeal of a Pharisee. And do they then well to be angry? Yes, they say, they do well to be angry, even to death; but not at their sin, of themselves, but their bre∣thren. For Meekness and cruelty cannot harbor in the same breast. Nor will it come near the habitations of Covetousness, Ambition and Hypocri∣sie: for where these make their entrance, Meekness takes the wing, and flyes away. Therefore, to conclude, let us mark these men, and avoid them, as the Apostle counsels. And though they bring us into bondage, though they smite us on the face, though they take from us all that we have, let us pity them and send after them more then they desire, our prayers, that God will open their eyes, that they may see the snare of the Devil which holds them fast while they defie him and all his works; and what a poor and narrow space there is betwixt them and Hell, while they think they are in the presence and favour of God. In a word, though they curse, let us bless; though they rage, let us pray: and, as the Apostle counsels, Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from us, with all * 1.7 malice. And let us be kind and meek one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Phil. 4. 5.
• * 1.2

  Acts 15.
• * 1.3

  Gal. 2. 11.
• * 1.4

  Psal. 139. 21, 22.
• * 1.5

  2 Thess. 3. 4.
• * 1.6

  Psal. 69. 26.
• * 1.7

  Eph. 4. 31, 32.