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 Six and Twentieth SERMON. PART IV. (Book 26)

MATTH. IV. 1. —to be tempted of the Devil.

IN all combates the first thing we inquire af∣ter is, Who are the Parties that fight. One of the Combatants here we find to be JESUS, a Saviour, our Advocate, our Captain, cujus auspiciis bellum geretur, by whose conduct and advise we must enter the lists. The Person who assaulted him is in the Text termed the Devil. An Accuser stands up against an Advocate, a Destroyer against a Saviour, and he that is called the God of this world, because he corrupted it, against him who is truly the God of this world, because he made it.

Nor can we doubt whether there be such a person or no as the De∣vil, unless we will also doubt whether there be such a person or no as Jesus, and so derogate from the truth of the story, and make it less then a phantasine, less then it had been done it a vision. Nobis cu∣riositate non opus est post lesum Christum; When the words of Scripture are plain and positive, Curiosity and Infidelity, though they differ in name, yet are but one and the same thing. And when Phansie drawes Doctrines out of Scripture, instead of visions it presents us with dreams. Nor hath the Devil a more poysonous tentation then that which pours in∣to our hearts a perswasion that there is no Devil at all. Yet there have been found, and now are, those who profess Christian religion, and yet are of opinion that what is delivered of the Devil in Scrip∣ture, and of his tentations, is not to be understood as if there were any such spiritual substance to which we truly attribute these, but that it is a figurative kind of speech fitted to that which the vulgar or com∣mon people believe, that there is nothing which solicitates us to sin, but our own Lusts and Concupiscence, which by them by a wonderful kind

of Prosopopoeia or feigning of the person is called the Devil, as St. James teacheth us, where laying down the manner how we are tempted, he makes no mention of a person, but attributes all to our Concupiscence, which is called in other places the Devil, the adversary which accuseth us before God; that Sin alone is the Serpent which deceives us, the Lyon that roars against us, and the Dragon which devours us, that only Sin is an Accuser. And this St. Bernard seems to lay to the charge of Petrus Adailardus, Epist. 190. where he calls him Quintum Evangeli∣stam, the fifth Evangelist, that saw more then any of the four. But this is but commentum humani ingenii, a fiction of fancyful men, the work of the brain, and may be well entitled to the Devil himself, who is the Father of lyes. By the same art and skill they may, if they please, make the whole Scripture an allegory, since we find nothing more histo∣rically and plainly delivered then this, That there is a Devil. But if I forget not, I have spoken of this heretofore, and chased it away as a phansie of the Devils creating, and the invention of a sick distempered brain. All that we will now say to those who doubt whether there be such a person or no, which set upon our Saviour in the wilderness, and every day renews his assaults against us, is, that his conceit can proceed from no other cause then a strong delusion of the Devil, who they conceive to be nothing, but like Aesops Fox, and Lyon, and Wolf, which carry their Moral along with them, and, till that be made, are nothing but tales: And whilst they say there is no Devil, it may be truly said to them, that they have a Devil. That there is such a per∣son, we may draw an argument from his name here, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. For what is a name but a signification of the nature of that thing which it doth express. And he is called here not a Spirit, or the Tempter, as he is verse 3. but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Devil, from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which signifies to Accuse, to Defame, to Publish infamous reports, to Be the mint where slanders are coyned, or else Credulously to receive them, and pass them from hand to hand as current coyn, to Please himself at the fall of another, as the people of Rome used to delight and clap their hands at the fall of a Sword-player in the Theater. He hath other names, as the Evil spirit, the Wicked one, the Prince that rules in the ayr, the God of this world. But, as Quintilian speaks, Omnia verba alicubi sunt optima: Words have their weight as they are placed. And here, when he was to tempt our Saviour, DIABOLUS, the Devil, was the fittest name for him. For indeed every tentation is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a kind of accusation: and the Devil tempts us that he may accuse us, and ac∣cuses us when he tempts us. He is, saith Augustine, the accuser of the Saints; and knowing what Judge he is to appear before, into what Court he is to bring his bills of accusation, even into the Court of that God who cannot be deceived, though he be the father of lyes, yet he strives to make his bills true, by making us sin. Quia falsa contra nos non po∣test dicere, quaerit vera quae dicat & ideo tentat ut habeat quae dicat; Because he cannot lay to our charge those sins which we did not commit, he incites us to sin, that he may lay it to our charge. He accuseth God to us; which is his Tentation: and then he accuseth us unto God; which makes him a compleat Devil. And as St. Hierome shuts up his whole discourse against Jovinian with a Caveat; Cave JOVINIANI no∣men, quod ab idolo derivatum est, Beware of the name of Jovinian, which is derived from an Idole, from Jupiter; so will I begin mine, Cave DIABOLI nomen; Beware of the Devils name; Beware of accusing and defaming thy brethren. Remember the Devils name, that thou be not like him. Remember that when thou hast drawn a false ac∣cusation

against thy brother, thou hast drawn out a true one against thy self, which the Devil will be ready to take up, and present before the Tribunal of God. And now, that we may make some use of his name, we will shew you 1. that he is an Accuser, 2. the Motives or Causes which move him to be so; and 3. lastly, we will apply all to our selves, and parallel our defamations with his, as proceeding from the same root of bitterness, and so learn to detest them.

For the first, as Christ is an Advocate pleading for Man, so the De∣vil is an Accuser pleading against him; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, first walking with us that we may sin, and then accusing us for sinning: First accusing God to us; which is the cause of all sin; and then accusing us to God, which is the cause of all punishment: Omnia agens accusato∣rio spiritu, as Livy speaks of Appius; in all his proceedings breathing forth malice and railing accusations. And first, because all sin proceeds from error in judgment, at least in the practick faculty of the soul, (Nam si homo poterit intelligere Divina, potest & facere, saith Lactantius; for if man could rightly understand the things of God, he might easily do them. But our practick determinations are sooner vitiated and cor∣rupted then our speculative conclusions, because those present Truth and Goodness, these Truth alone) the Devil instills his poyson, and in∣fects the Understanding with an evil report of God. And though we cannot deny God or his attributes, yet we seldome sin but we say in our hearts, There is no God. Here in this Chapter the Devil doth excaecare providentiam Dei, strive to put out the very eye of Gods Providence, that he might shake Christs Faith, as it were, and drive him to distrust. He accuseth his Wisdome in our retirement and secret sins, and that with some scorn; Tush, God doth not see it; nor is there knowledge in the most High. He accuseth his Justice, and puts stout words into our mouths when we deny our obedience; It is in vain to serve the Lord: and what profit is there that we have kept his ordinances? He defames his Mercy, when remembring our sins we fall under them, as a burden too heavy for us, and as if God had forgotten to be merciful. He roars loud against his very Power in the mouth of a Rabshakeh, and would per∣swade the Israelites that to say God should deliver them was nothing else but to deliver themselves up to famine and thirst. He casts his ve∣nome upon all the Divine Attributes, and makes them the inducements to sin, which are the strongest motives to goodness. He never presents God to us as he is, but in several forms, and all such as may drive us from one attribute to run us on another. He presents him without an eye, that we may do what we list; without a hand, that we may trust in a hand of flesh; without an Ear, that our blasphemies may be loud. He makes us favorable interpreters of him before we sin, and unjust judges of him when we have sinned. He makes him a Libertine to the presumptuous, and a Novatian to the despairing sinner; being a ly∣ar in all, whose every breath is a defamation. Nulla apud eum turpis ratio vincendi, as was said of King Philip; He is not ashamed of any lye that may lead us from the truth. And as he defameth God unto us, so in every sin almost he accuses us unto our selves. In the heat of our Zeal he accuseth us of Madness, that we may be remiss; and in our Meekness he chargeth us with Folly, that we may learn to be angry. In our Justice he calls us tyrants, that we may yield it up unto unne∣cessary Pity; and in our Compassion he urgeth the want of Justice, that to put on the New man, we may put of all bowels of mercy. He accuseth our Faith to our Charity, and perswades us that for all our good works we are none of the faithful; and our Charity to our Hope,

as if it were so cold it could kindle no such virtue within us. From Religion he drives us on to Superstition, and from the fear of Super∣stition into that gulf of Profaneness which will swallow us up. And then, when he hath us in his nets, when he hath by accusing us unto our selves made us guilty indeed, when by accusing our virtues he hath brought to sin, he draws his bill of accusation, and for one sin writes down an hundred. He makes every sin of Infirmity a monster; writes down sudden Anger in letters of bloud; makes a Word in our haste, a resolution in earnest; Confidence, Presumption; and Doubt∣ing, Infidelity. He writes down evil for good, but not good for e∣vil; for that is his work before, not after, our sins. And these his accusations he tenders to the Judge of all the world, and is more impor∣tunate with him then the Widdow with the Judge in the Gospel, Luke 18. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, troubles and buffets him, as it were, with his loud cryes, and will not give over, interitûs nostri avarus exactor, being a rigid and covetous exactor of our destruction. This he doth, thus he accuseth. But the manner how he tenders his accusations is not easily exprest. We may safely say that as he is a Spirit, so the manner of his accusing us is spiritual. We, when we accuse one another, must do it by voice or writing. For when we condemn or censure others but in our heart, we are but as men that stand behind a wall, and must come forth per lin∣guae januam, as Gregory speaks, through the gate of the Tongue and door of the Mouth, and outwardly manifest what we are within. But Spirits are of another nature, not compounded, as we are, of two di∣vers parts, Body and Soul. And, as their Nature is, such is their Speech. Sublimes & incogniti modi locutionis intimae; Their speech is inward and within them, and the manner of it sublime and unknown. Animarum verba sunt desideria, saith the Father; The words of our souls are our Desires, and by them we cry and call unto the Lord, and he hears us. And if we should say that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, those malicious desires of Satan to devour our Souls were his accusations, we speak not much amiss. For God sees what the Devil hath treasured up against us as plainly as he doth our thoughts, and understands them more fully then we do a Bill which we hear read in any Court of Justice. Dicere Diaboli est contra bonos intrà cogitationum suarum latibula conqueri; The Devils speech is that inward grudging he hath against those which are good. And of that nature is his accusation of the wicked. Dicere Diaboli est omnipotenti majestati Dei posse nihil celare. He watcheth our steps, and ponders our goings. He is with us when we sin, and he registers our sins down in his malicious thought. And his speech is, Not to be able to hide it from the eyes of God, which at one view seeth both our sins and his malice. Howsoever he accuseth us, the man∣ner is unknown unto us: and if it be more then that I have shewed, I am sure it stands out of sight: and amplius quaerere non licet quàm quod inveniri licet, It is not lawful to seek after that which before we set forth we know we shall not find. That which neerly concerns us is, so to look to our wayes as that we help not the Devil to accuse us, that he may come and find nothing in us, no sin not washt away with the tears of repentance and the bloud of the Lamb. For as God bids us to thirst after the joyes of heaven, but doth not tell us what they are, but only by telling us they are unspeakable; so he bids us take heed that this Jaylor take not hold of us, and hale us and accuse us before the Judge, but doth not set down the manner how he will tender his Bill; that so we may lose no time in seeking the one, and avoiding the other. For who will not hasten to joyes unspeakable? or who will not fear to

have his name in that Bill which he is sure will be heard? I will con∣clude all with that excellent consideration of Hilary, Stultum est ca∣lumniam in eo inquisitionis intendere in quo comprehendi id unde quaeri∣tur per naturam suam non potest; It is but a piece of vanity to strive and contend about the searching of that which cannot be comprehended, or to look after that which hath no light to discover it.

It is enough for us to know that the Devil is an Accuser, and in his best shape, in his Angelical habit, but a Promooter to catch us, and that all his tentations to sin, though they be fair to the eye, and pleasant to the taste, and musick to the ear, are nothing else but so many means to procure so many sins to fill up this Bill. And so I descend to that which I proposed in the next place to lay before you the Causes or Mo∣tives which makes the Devil our accuser.

And first, we cannot imagine that it proceeds from any delight or ease he can take in our bloud. For this were to seek Joy in Hell, where there can be none at all. The number of the damned are so far from dimi∣nishing the Devils pain that they increase it; but yet in the Devil, though there be no true joy, yet there is something like our joy in evil, which is in him not in the nature of a passion; but as an act of his will, as Aquinas saith. When we sin not, he is grieved, because it is against his will; and when we yield to his tentations; he is said to be delighted, because his will is fulfilled. For something he would have which is not; and this is his grief: and something he would have which is; and this is his joy. In him, as in us, Joy is nothing else but the perfection and com∣plement of those actions which are natural unto him. And because he is naturally a hater of God and Men, he is said to take delight when God is blasphemed, or Man made guilty of death. Quantus Diabolo luctus inest? saith the Father; How is the Devil grieved when the Prodigal re∣turns, because his desire was to have had him choakt with his husks. And quantum Diabolo gaudium? What joy is it to him to see a child turn Prodigal! for this is natural unto him, even the work of his hands. Such is his malice unto us that mavult perire quàm non perdere, he had rather be destroyed himself, then that we should not perish, and had rather Hell were hotter then we not come there. And this his obstinate Malice proceeded from his pain, from the sad apprehension of an angry Power and an offended Majesty. Inviderat, quia doluerat, saith Tertul∣lian; He did envy us because he was grieved; and his Pain increaseth with his Malice: The first desire which threw him down was, That he might be God; and the next, when he was fallen, That there should be no God at all. And being now in chains of everlasting darkness, he hates that light which he cannot see: And since God himself is at that infinite distance from him, so full of power and majesty that his Malice cannot reach him, he opposeth himself to the works of his hands, and seeks to destroy him in his image; as the poor man, when he could not get his enemy into his hands, whipt his statue. Being much troubled, saith Tertullian, that God had given Man dominion over the works of his hands, in Dei imagine quo sit in Deum odio ostendit, he manifests his hatred to God in his image, which he strives to deface. Some think he envied the Hypostatical Union: but this conjecture is not probable. Most certain it is, his extreme Misery enrageth his Ma∣lice, and his Malice whets his Will and endeavors, and maketh him very subtle to invent strange stratagems; by which, if we be not ve∣ry wary, he will steal our names from Christ, to whom we have given them up, and put them in his roll. Nor is the working of his Malice hindred by the bad effect it produceth. For the more he

suffers, the more malicious he is; and the more malicious he is, the more he suffers. He grieves and is troubled that Men, built up of flesh and bloud, should keep the love of God on earth, which he, being a glorious Spirit, lost in heaven; that mortal Man should ascend to that pitch of happiness from whence he being an immortal Angel was flung down. And though he know that his pains are increased by the con∣demnation of those whom he hath prevailed with to sin, yet he strives to increase the number, though with the increase of his pains; and is content to suffer more so that more may suffer with him. Nor need we wonder that the Devil, who is so subtle a Serpent, fails in such a point of wisdome. For as his Subtlety and Wisdome is great, so is his Malice, which even in Man doth darken the eye of Reason, and makes the Devil every day more a Devil to himself: so that though he be very cunning to bring souls unto punishment, yet he hath no wisdome to keep off the increase of it from himself. Very busie he is to frame his accusations, though, when we come to the barr, he must also be condem∣ned as accessory.

Now as these two, Malice and Envy (which we have joyntly handled and together, because they are so like) are as inward incitements unto the Devil to accuse us, so also is his Pride. For he is king over all the chil∣dren of pride, as Job speaketh. And this may be one cause, though not the chief why he cannot repent. Hoc vitio misericordiae medicina respui∣tur; This is the sin which shuts down the portcullis to Mercy: So that if God should have provided a plaster for his Malice, his Pride would have refused it. Infelix superbia dedignatur sub praeceptis coelestibus vivere; Such is the infelicity of Pride that it can never be induced to be brought unto obedience of the heavenly commandments. This was the sin which pluckt off his Angels wings, and flung him down from heaven. For not content to be no greater then he was, he was made less then he was. Ob hoc minus est quàm fuit, quòd eo quod minus erat frui noluit, saith Augu∣stine; Being not content to be an Angel of light, he became a Devil; and when heaven would not hold him unless he might be a God, he was thrown into hell. Nor is his Pride the less because his Malice is great. For the Schools conclude that he preserved his naturals entire, as his subtilty and agility. He was a Spirit still; and Pride, as Malice, proceeds from infirmity, from decay. And though we say that Pride, as a moth, will breed even in Humilities mantle, yet it rather proceeds from our unne∣cessary gazing on it and misconstruing it, then from the virtue it self. The Devil is a spirit, of an excellent essence; and it cannot be said unto him, saith the Father, as it may be to Man, Why art thou proud, Dust and Ashes? Again, there be many sins which Men are subject to, of which he cannot be actually guilty, as Adultery, Luxury, Covetousness, and the like, therefore he is the bolder to accuse us. And to this he incites us, thinking his sin more hurtful to us then his punishment. And this he is ready to lay to our charge, that we, as he, have an ambition to be like unto the Highest, and in every sin affect a kind of equality with God. Still he would be as God, our ruler and king, the God of this world, to lead or drive us at his pleasure. And as God commands obedience, that it may be well with us; so doth he proclaim us rebels, and since he cannot be our judge, takes a pride in being our accuser. Here his Art and Skill magnifieth it self, that he can destroy what God was willing to save, that he can make him hate what naturally he loved. Here his Will and Eloquence is seen, in drawing out arguments to which Man cannot answer; in making our Sins, our unrepented Sins, cry louder then the Bloud of Christ; in laying before Gods eyes those wounds which his mercy cannot

heal. Here he striveth to pluck God out of his throne, by telling him he cannot be God and pardon such offenders: Here he is wise and just, still that Angel which would be equal with God. Variis quisque causis ad ac∣cusandum compellitur; There be divers causes, saith Seneca, which move men to accuse one another: Some are spur'd on by Ambition, others by Hatred, some by Hope of reward. But the Devils motives are his Ma∣lice and Envy to mankind, and that which made him a Devil, his Pride. And now having shewed you the Devil as an Accuser, we pass to the Ap∣plication, That we may learn to hate and detest that sin of Defamation, lest if we leave our Brotherhood with our Advocate, we get no better a Fa∣ther then the Father of lies.

For we must not think the Devil is an Accuser only in defaming of us, but also in teaching us to defame and accuse one another; in speaking by us as he did by the Priests of his Temples, and through our mouths brea∣thing forth slanders as oracles. He was an Accuser in the Jews, and taught them to call Christ a wine-bibber, a companion of publicanes and sinners; to disgrace his Miracles, and call them the works of Beelze∣bub. He taught Elymas, his own child, as St. Paul calls him, to per∣vert * 1.1 the right wayes of the Lord. He taught the Heathen to call the first Christians Impostors, and Traytors, and Atheists; to lay to their charge the Murder of Infants, Incest, and those crimes which were not only false but incredible; accusare vocabulae, to accuse the very name of Chri∣stian. And, which is most to be lamented, he hath taught Christians to perform this vile office one against another. For no sooner had God freed them from the terror of Persecution, but they raised a worse amongst themselves, one Christian placing a great part of his Religion in lay∣ing some foul imputation upon another; and finding Heresie in the roll of carnal sins Gal. 5. 20. calling them Hereticks whom they could not otherwise defame; pronouncing Anathema's one against another; as if all who would be Christs Disciples were not to be sons of Consolation, but of Thunder. I may be bold to say, Scarce any Father or holy man which past without his mark. Augustine was defamed by the Dona∣tists and Manichees; Hierome called a Magician, a Seducer, as himself complaineth. Chrisostome had no less then nine and twenty accusations tenderd against him, as we find it recorded in Photius. Cyprianus was turned into Coprianus, as one who in his tracts of Christianity had apply∣ed his elagant wit to womens tales. And this before Superstition had gained much footing in the Church. But when the Pope did once rerum potiri, when he had gained a Kingdom in the Church, and was acknow∣ledged the Primate of the Christian world, then not to receive his de∣terminations as Oracles, not to fall down and worship him, not to obey him in all things, was to be an Heretick.

In the year 713. Philippicus the Emperor was branded with the name of Heretick, because he had removed Images out of the Church. Leo the third was condemned of the same crime, and had a nick-name, and was called Iconomachus. Henry the Fourth Emperor was no less, be∣cause he would not grant the Pope the investure of Bishopricks. Fre∣derick the Second was a Heretick, for that he held the Popes stirrop on the wrong side, and withstood the tyranny of that See. Philip the Fourth King of France was condemned to the same crime, because he would not go to war when Pope Boniface did beat up his Drumm. Charles the Sixth had the same doom, because he would not suffer the Churches of France to pay tribute to Martin the Fifth. Lewis the Twelfth, who was called Pater populi, the Father of his people, was stiled a Heretick, because he would not yield to Julius the Second,

that Sword-man, who flung St. Peters Keys into the River of Tiber, and took up St. Pauls Sword. Heresie is a sin; and indeed in their account there was no other sin but Heresie, no sin of so foul an aspect: And therefore whatsoever was the offense, that was the sin. And though a man were no-whit guilty, yet was it in the Popes power to make him so: As it is haereticare propositiones, to make those propositions false which are true. Nor is the Devil a Devil at Rome only, or in the streets of Babylon; but he hath shewed himself in Jerusalem, even in the Re∣formed Churches. For what have the Writings of the Lutherans and the Calvinists been but bitter satyres of one side against the other, where, like Aeschines and Demosthenes, they reciprocally lay open each o∣thers filthiness to the eyes and scorn of the world; where they fight not with the tongue of Men and Angels, but of Devils. The Calvinist says to the Lutheran that he is Diabolificatus, Diabolified; and the Lutheran replys to the Calvinist that he is Superdiabolificatus, more then diabolifi∣ed. And thus their contention was not so much for the truth, as who should be most diabolified. For sure the Devil cannot have worse lan∣guage, though he speak by the whore. This in these latter dayes hath been the method of finding out the Truth, to accuse one another of er∣ror. And hence finding out a strange Beast in the Apocalypse, we are ready, if any offend us, or will not be of our opinion, to say he is that Beast. What mutual stabbings, what digladiations amongst Christians, not who shall be best, but who shall be loudest! Par pari refertur, & invicem nobis videmur insanire; We give scorn for scorn, and reproach for reproach, and each side and faction seems mad to the other; and to a discreet good Christian indeed they are both so. For in this eager pursuit and inquiry after the Truth, Christianity is quite lost; and we leave the cause, and fall upon the person; like cholerick men, who in the fierce and hot persecution of a quarrel at last forget the beginnings and ground from whence it arose. So that as Petrarch once spoke of Rome, Nusquam magìs Roma ignoratur quàm Romae, That Rome was no where less known then at Rome, so may we of Christianity, That it is no where less preached then amongst Christians, who have a name that they live, but are dead, are but statues and representations of Christi∣ans; so that what was written by Cato of Brutus may be fasten'd upon many Christians, CHRISTIANE, MORTUUS ES, O Christian, thou art dead. All the members he hath are the members of a carnal man, Lips invenomed with the poyson of Asps, his Tongue a sharp Sword, his Mouth an open Sepulchre: Such a creature is many a Christian to ano∣ther, ridente Turcâ, nec dolente Judaeo; Which makes the Turk laugh, and prefer his Mahomet before Christ, and the Jew to pluck the vail closer to his face. Ac nunc miseram licet aetatis nostrae laborem, & prae∣sentium temporum stultas opiniones congemiscere; And here give me leave to lament the business of this our age, and so bewail the ungrounded o∣pinions of the men of these present times; as Hilarius once spake in a case somewhat like. What wantonness in Religion! what religion in rayling! what disgrace flung on Learning! what honor to Ignorance! what hardness of heart and contempt of Gods word and commandments! How many scurrilous, witless, unsavory, unchristian Libels! more, I believe, within the compass of one year then have been publisht before in three times the age of a man. So that we may say of the common people of this our Nation as Seneca speaks of Aegypt when it was a Province under the dominion of the Romans, Loquax & ingeniosa ad contumelias provin∣cia, in qua qui vitaverunt culpam, non effugerunt calumniam; They are be∣come talkative and witty in telling of lyes, and filling one another with re∣proach:

and he that lives amongst them may peradventure keep him∣self free from fault, but he can hardly be exempt from infamy. Hoc I∣thacus velit; This is it which the Devil would have. If he were to be incarnate, and live amongst them, he would know his own dialect, and speak as they do. Amongst the rest, the Ministers of the Church, who might well challenge their prayers, have felt the lash of their tongues, and for a, Lord bless them, have heard, Down with them, Down with them, even to the ground. Some there are who complain that their souls are starved for want of good preaching: And I can hardly see how it should be otherwise, since their Pastours feed them with nothing but their own idle phansies, which are no better then the husks which the Swine and the Prodigal fed on. Others, who can but make eight of the Hundred of their moneys, can make Two hundred drunkards of less then Eight, peradventure of none: And though they are in Porters frocks, they are willing to believe that they are Priests: Not but that their Cove∣tousness may be as great as their Malice; but they find it easier to multiply Faults then their Money. In a word, some condemn their Pride, others, their Idleness; and many, their Covetousness: Which were it true of them all: yet they were but like many of them, and especially those that accuse them. Et certè magìs nos amarent si tales essemus: essemus enim de armento suo: And certainly if they were all such as they say, they would love them more then they do: for they might well meet and go together as beasts of the same herd. Amongst the Ro∣mans they used to brand all calumniators and false accusers, and mark them with the letter K, to make them infamous for defaming of others, that so they might find no man to accuse but their own fortunes alone. I will never wish any infamy to these men who thus delight in the infa∣my of others: For then I should be like unto them, and triumph in that which I should lament. But I perswade my self that if this Roman Law should be put in execution amongst us, we should see plures litera∣tas frontes, many a head letter'd without which hath little wit and less learning within. I had rather they would remember whose profes∣sion it is to accuse, and for his sake learn to detest it; or if they will accuse their brethren, let them accuse them as God doth them, not till they are forc't to it. In omnibus accusationibus hoc agendum est, nè ad e••s lubenter descendisse videamur; All accusations must be put up with an unwilling hand, and we must make it appear that we were forc't to enter our action. Therefore that of Cassius Severus, Dii boni, vi∣vo, & quo me vivere juvat, Asprenatem reum video; Oh you Gods, I live: and my life is more pleasant unto me because I see Asprenas arraign∣ed, was a speech which did much offend Quintilian, a good Orator and a judicious Advocate. But so it is many times, defamers have this advantage of their fulfilling a malicious will, they find some ease and delight in it. For as it is in other passions, so is it in Malice; it brings ease in the vent. It is a flame in our bones; but when we have breathed it forth at our mouth, it is light. A strange thing it is to observe what content some men receive in the sharp and severe censuring of their brethren, how they lay their hand to their mouth, and wipe it, when they lay the whip on their back, and lash them; how it is health unto them to say their brother is sick. Maledicere omnibus signum bonae conscientiae arbitrantur, saith St. Hierome of some of his time; They count it a sign of a good conscience to speak a∣gainst all men: Remedium poenae putant, si nemo sit sanctus; and they esteem it as a remedy of their smart, if no man be holy, and hope to escape punishment by anothers sin. He that wears the patrimony

of the poor on his back, will forget the sin quickly after a volley of curses discharged against the Clergy. He that walks and talks away his life, may be very confident that he is Gods child, because a great part of that talk was against lazy Ministers. He that prodigi∣ously spends more at a supper then will keep a Colledge a moneth, yet thinks himself a very pious man because he hates drones, and there∣fore is well minded to pull them all down; and, if any will joyn with him, he is ready with a Petition against them. Oh what a gar∣ment of righteousness would these men think they had put on, if they could take from Paul both his cloak and his parchments! How do ma∣ny sit down together, and sigh, and cry down the sins of the times, and then say in their hearts, O how holy are we! Oh what a rare art hath the Devil taught us, to extract a cordial out of our brothers disease! How have we learnt to stuff a pillow with other mens sins, and sleep upon it, and dream of the Kingdom of Hea∣ven! How doth this man hide his Covetousness with that mans Pride! How is the Profaneness of the Atheist lost in the Superstition of the Idolater, and the Luxury of the Lay-man forgot in the Idleness of the Clergy! But let men flatter themselves as they please; By this we know whose Disciples they are, and whose side they take: Imi∣tando eum siunt ex parte ipsius, saith St. Augustine; even his whom they imitate. They may call themselves what they please, the Elect, the Saints of God; But if they delight in the defamation of others, and build up their faith upon the ruins of their brethren, and think themselves holy because they can call their brother Ungodly, the Scripture hath given them a mark, which is as the letter K in their forehead; FILII DIABOLI SUNT, They are the children of that great Adversary, that Accuser, the Devil. Unusquisque cujus opera exercet in hoc seculo, illius erit in altero; Every man shall be his in the next world, whose works he doth in this. He that will be his brothers Advocate, will plead for him, will pardon, will forgive him, will make his compassion as a mantle to cover him, shall follow Christ, shall follow that meek Lamb whithersoever he goes. But he that delights in the ripping up of the bowels of his bro∣ther, in mangling his name, and murdring him alive; he that mea∣sureth his Piety by the curiosity of his Malice, and makes it his Re∣ligion to say such a one hath none; he that is a false accuser, and a calumniator of his brethren, shall follow—but I tremble to speak it; and had rather beseech God for his infinite mercies sake to give them grace that they may search their own hearts diligently; that they may learn to be judges of themselves, and advocates for o∣thers: that they may lash their own sins, and weep for others: that they may accuse themselves: which brings on absolution; and not slander others; which hastens condemnation, and we con∣clude this point with that which hath been the prayer of the Church, From all blindness of heart, from pride, vain glory, and hypocrisie, from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitable∣bleness, Good Lord, deliver us. And let all the people say, A∣MEN.

Now to make some application of what hath been delivered: Since this desire to accuse and defame others is a property so natu∣ral to the Devil that from it he hath his name, so that the Accuser and the Devil are the very same, it will concern us to be very wa∣ry that we calumniate not our brethren, lest we resemble him our Enemy, rather then Jesus our Advocate. When Michael the Arch-angel

contended with this Devil, and disputed with him about the bo∣dy of Moses, he brought no rayling accusation. And why should one * 1.2 Christian do that to another which an Arch-angel would not do to the Devil himself? Why should not our words rather kindle at the fire of Heaven then of Hell?

In the second place, let us take heed to our own wayes, that this Enemy throw us not down, and then accuse us for falling. Let us watch over our own steps, that when he makes his approach, he may find nothing in us, no malice, no bitterness, nothing which he may put into his Bill. Let us say within our selves when he comes to tempt us, This language is fair; but if we hearken to it, he will change his dialect, and be that Lyon which shall roar against us. He smileth in this Beauty; but this Beauty will be a snare. He courts us in this Honor; but, if we go up with him to the pinacle, he will tumble us down. He shines in these Riches; but, if we come near, we shall find him a consuming fire. The fairest speech he gives is but a kind of prologue or preface to an Accusation: and when he speaks friendly to us, we may be sure he will strike us through the fifth ribb. Let us then say with Joseph, How can I com∣mit this wickedness, and sin against God, who would save me? and how can I commit this, and help the Devil my enemy to accuse me? In the affairs of this world we are very sly and cautelous, and will not give any advantage to those whom we suppose to be no well∣willers unto us. Nay, many times we abstein from things not un∣lawful in the presence of those we do not love, because we fear what∣soever we do will be misinterpreted, and can expect no better gloss then that which Malice will make. And shall we be so confident on the greatest enemy of mankind as to help his Malice, and to further and promote the desire which he hath of our ruines. Shall I fill this Accusers mouth with arguments against my self, and even furbish and whet the sword of my Executioner. This is a folly which we cannot but be a∣shamed of; and yet in every sin we commit, we commit this folly.

But yet, in the last place, as St. John saith, If we sin, we have an Advocate; so say I, If we sin, and the Devil put up his bill of Accusation against us, (as most certainly he will) let us learn to ac∣cuse our selves, and that will make his Accusation void, and cancel his Bill. From a broken and a contrite heart let us say, We have sin∣ned, and he hath nothing to say. Let us confess our sins, and we have put the Adversary to silence. Let us plead Guilty, and Christ is ready to blot out the hand-writing which is against us, and to take it away, and nayl it to his cross. When I slander my brother, I do the Devils office: When I yield to him, I help him: When I sin, I do but prompt him what he should say against me, and as much as in me is, make the Devil no lyar. But when I rip up my heart, and lay it open to God, when I breathe forth my sins and my sor∣rows before him, when I tender up a Bill against my self, a Bill of my sins bedewed with my own tears, and coloured with my Savi∣viours bloud, the Devil may roar, but not prevail; he may accuse me, but not be heard, because I am quit already by proclamation, They that believe and repent shall be saved. Confessio poenarum com∣pendium. Our serious acknowledgment makes a short work, pre∣vents our Enemy, sets a period to Sin and Punishment. If we ac∣cuse

our selves, no accusation shall hurt us; and if we judge our selves, no sentence shall pass upon us; and whatsoever libel this Ac∣cuser shall put up against us, JESUS shall cancel, who is our Advocate. To whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all ho∣nour and glory for evermore.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Acts 13. 10.
• * 1.2

  Jude 19.