Sin Stigmatized, Part 1 · Section 92 – Section 95
§ 92.
SEcondly, How drunkards will raiſe ſlanders of the conſcionable.if wee refuſe to participate with them in their ſinne, it ſhall goe hard, but they will make us partake with them of their ſhame: as if Ioſeph will not commit adultery with his Miſtris, ſhee will accuſe him for an adulterer, and make him worſe thought of then her ſelfe. Innocency is no ſhelter againſt evil tongues; malice never regards how true any accuſation is, but how ſpitefull.
The baggage World deſireth nothing more then to ſcarre the face that is fairer then ſhee; and it is Sathans policie, (becauſe report both makes jealouſies, where there are none, and increaſeth thoſe that there are) to abuſe our eares, in hearing; our tongues, in ſpeaking; and our hearts, in believing lies, to diſable us from diſcerning the truth.
Yea this of ſlander, like a huge and mighty Polypheme, hath done ſuch ſervice to the uncircumciſed, that examples therof in Scripture, are like moates in the Sun; as whom have wee mentioned therein, without mention of ſome falſe accuſation? Naboth was a blaſphemer upon record, and proved ſo by affidavit; Eliah, was a troubler of Iſrael; Ieremiah, an enemy to the State; Suſanna, a Whore; Iohn Baptist, had a Divell; Paul, was a polluter of the Temple; Stephen, was a deſtroyer of the Law; all the Diſciples, ſectaries, ſubverters of the State, &c. Acts 28.21. Yea, Chriſt himſelfe was a Wine-bibber, a ſeducer of the people, a Beelzebub, and what not? And the ſame divell who ſpake in Iezabel, and thoſe wicked ones of old, now ſpeaks in our debauched drunkards; and deboyſhed ſwearers, who reſembling the Divell, Rev. 12.10. Iob 1.7, 9, 11. will charge a man (if hee bee not for their turne) with many things, as the Iewes did Paul, Acts 24. but proving nothing, verſe 13.
Neither needs their any proofe; How apt others are to believe their ſlanders, and afterwards to ſpread them.for the common people as good as thought ſo before. Worldly mindes looking upon Iordan with Syrian eyes, thinke none can be of any other, then their owne diet, (as ſome Moores thinke there is no other complection then their owne, becauſe they never ſaw men of more temperate Clymates) and becauſe they finde their owne filthy luſts, ſo ſtrongly prevailing with themſelves; they cannot conceive how they ſhould be capeable of a repulſe from others; and indeed, it is hard for a wicked heart to thinke well of any other, becauſe it can thinke none better then it ſelfe, and knowes it ſelfe evill.
Wherein alſo is another diſadvantage, that cannot be helped; the multitude will ſooner believe them, then our ſelves, affirmatives being apter to winne beliefe, then negatives are to uncredit them. You know the high Prieſts and Elders were not more ready to raiſe a ſlander upon our Saviour CHRIST, after his death, Matthew 28.12.13. then the common people were apt to believe the ſame, verſ. 15. yea, the Iewes believe it to this day. Calumny ſupports her ſelfe by lying, How pleaſant it is to wicked men to beare ill of the religious.and ſhee may doe it ſafely among evill minded men, becauſe they are Judges, that, for the moſt part, will inquire no further, but believe at firſt. Yea, ſaith Luther, they hunger and thirst after theſe ſcandalous reports of the Godly, and if at any time they heare of the diſgrace of ſome good and eminent perſon, like hungry Hogs, they muzzell in their excrements, and feaſt upon them, as upon dainties; there being nothing that ſo glads their hearts, that ſo opens their mouths, with ſo much inſolency and triumph: O what care they take to ſpread the ſame abroad by a common fame! as let conſcience ſay whether this be not ſo, yea, whether they will not cenſure, and condemne all the generation of Gods people, becauſe they heare ill of ſome few, that care only to bee thought good.
As true it is there are ſuch monſters, ſuch white divels, who make Religion a very ſtalking-Horſe to villany; yea too many men, that diſhonour God, by wearing of his livory. But what was Sathan to the children of God? Iob. 1.6. though he thruſt himſelfe into their company? or what wiſe man will tax all the Apoſtles, becauſe one was a Iudas? To argue, becauſe ſome are ſo and ſo, therefore the reſt are alike, is a ſapleſſe reaſon, onelyonly becomming a foole: yea, to condemne all, for a few that are bad, is as equall and juſt, as it was for Simeon, and Levi, to murther all the Sechemites, for the offence onelyonly of Hamor's Sonne, Gen. 34.2.25.31.
But to goe on. Drunkards feede themſelves with others adverſity, as Beetels are fed with their fellowes dunge; and like fleſh-flies, make the wounds of Gods children their chiefe nouriſhment; yea, Crocodile like, they would, if they could, fatten themſelves with our warmeſt blood; and no wonder, when there are ſome that naturally feed upon poyſon, and are fatned with it.
But they muſt needs be filthy creatures, that feede upon nothing but corruption. To delight in mens ſuppoſed ſins, is the ſport of Devills; recovery from ſinne, is the joy of good men and Angells. Cham derides his Fathers nakedneſſe, it ſhould have beene his ſorrow, he makes it his ſport; but it is ill for a man to make himſelfe merry, with that which angers God.
§ 93
IF you will know the manner of their dealing in this caſe, The manner of their dealing in this caſe.it is lively expreſt by the Author of the booke of Wiſdome, Chap. 2.12. to 23. which is a glaſſe more cleare then Chryſtall, to ſhew the face of every drunkards heart.
As firſt, they will lie in waite to finde faults in us, and pry more narrowly into our actions, then the beſt man would willingly they ſhould: and a reſerved mans behaviour, you know, is like a verſe, wherein every ſyllable is meaſured; yea, what is ſcarce thought a fault in other men, they will hold in us a heinous crime, and thereafter take occaſion in every company to erect our faylings very high, like St. Pauls, for the gaze of all, whereas they hide our good parts under ground, like St. Faiths, that none may note them; for theſe Flyes will skip over all a mans ſound parts, to wit, his excellencies, to faſten on a ſcab or ulcer; reſembling our Prognoſticators, that are more diligent to make mention of foule weather, then of faire; ſtormes and thunder they much harpe upon, but calme and ſerene dayes paſſe them unobſerved; dealing by good men, as one did by Homer, who (as Eraſmus relates) collected all the lame and defective Verſes out of his workes, but paſt over infinite others, which were by him moſt excellently made.
Or, if in caſe they finde not ſpots, they will feigne them; for malice makes them ſo nimble eyed, that they'le finde a knot in a Bullruſh, ſtaying, or going, we know, one, or the other, is offence enough, to thoſe that ſeeke quarrells; a crooked ſtaffe will ſerve to beate a Dog, when a ſtreight one cannot be found; Cambyſes but dreamed that his Brother ſhould be King of Perſia, and put him to death.
Yea, theſe Spiders will turne every thing into poyſon, and picke out of the moſt premeditated action, ſomething to cavill at, either by miſinterpreting things, and ſo turne good into evill, (as an eaſie invention may put falſe matters into true Syllogiſmes) or if they cannot wreſt them ſufficiently, they will remit them unto diſſimulation, and coyne others, deviſe of him ſome ſlander or other, as Turtullus did of Paul, Acts, 24.5. And indeed, if they did not ſo, they ſhould want colour to perſecute us.
The which if thou well conſidereſt, will make thee ſo farre from beleeving evill reports of good men, eſpecially from the Devills ſervants, (drunkards) that thou wilt thinke ſo much the better of them, for (though the blind eate many a flye) yet, in the judgement of the wiſe, not he that is accuſed, but he that is convicted, is guilty, as Lactantius hath it. Hereupon when thoſe rayling Iewes brought Paul to the Barre, Gallio drave them from the judgement ſeate, becauſe he knew they had more malice then matter againſt him. In the Chancery are many accufations, they never meane to proove; yea, upright Cato was fifty times undeſervedly indited, and accuſed by his fellow Citizens, yet every time acquitted, and found innocent; and Ariſtophanes ninty five times by the Athenians, and every time pronounced innocent. If it be enough to accuſe, who ſhall be cleare? which occaſions our Saviour to ſay, not, which of you can accuſe? (for they accuſed him of many things) but, which of you can convince me of ſinne? who can prove that I am a Conjurer, a Samaritane, a wine-bibber, &c. as Eraſmus upon the place. In a word, as I never yet read, or heard of a conſcionable Iſraelite that hath not paſt under ſome calumniation, ſo I cannot yeeld him a true Iſraelite that deſerves it.
§ 94.
NOw ſundry reaſons may be given, 7 Reaſons why they ſlander us.why drunkards and vicious followers of their owne luſts, like Miners, are ever working to blow up our untainted names: as doing it, either, with the Lapwing, to divert, by their falſe cryes, the traveling ſtranger from finding the neſt of their filthineſſe; or, with the curtayled Fox in the Fable, to endeavour to have all Foxes cut tayld; or, with the Fiſh Sepia, to darken with the pitchy inke of aſperſions all the water, that ſo themſelves may eſcape the net of cenſure, juſtly caſt to catch them; or, they ſpeake evill of us, becauſe they cannot doe evill unto us; or, they doe it to incite and ſtir up others to doe the like; or, becauſe God hath put an enmity betweene the men of the world, and his children; or they doe it, becauſe Sathan will have them doe it; or elſe to have themſelves thought as good as any other; they will not have any thought good that dwells neere them, &c.
But the chiefe reaſon and end why they doe the ſame, is, that they may diſcourage us in the way to Heaven, floute us out of our faith, and draw us backe to the world; that ſo they may have our company here in ſinne, and hereafter in torment, as I ſhall prove anon.
But firſt ſee the former reaſons explained; Ever ſuch as ſcoffeat, and traduce others have greater faults themſelvesonelyonly let me premiſe this (and it may ſerve as an hand in the Margent) that as Cham was worſe then Noah, whom he derided; and Iſhmael worſe then Iſaac, whom he mocked; and Saul worſe then David, whom he perſecuted; and Iezabel worſe then Naboth whom ſhe defamed and murthered: ſo you ſhall ever ſee, that they which are wont to ſcoffe, and jeere at, traduce, and perſecute others, have greater faults themſelves, and cauſe to be jeered, and flouted at, traduced, and evill intreated; which they cannot tell how to cover, but by diſgraceing of others. Firſt reaſon of their raiſing ſlanders to divert mens thoughts from minding their villany.Whereas by this meanes, while the people laugh at us, by reaſon of their odious aſperſions, they never mind them: as when a great man objected to the Player, his ſaucineſſe, in that he durſt perſonally tax men on the Stage; his anſwer was, be content, for while the people laugh at our foolery, they never mind your villany. As, is it not uſuall for them (being conſcious of their owne defects) to be ever defaming good men, that by this meanes, they may draw away the thoughts and conſideration of the beholders, from climing up into their faults, while they are fixed and buſied upon a new object? One colour we know, being laid upon another, doth away the former, and remaines it ſelfe. A cut-purſe in a throng, when he hath committed the fact, will cry out, My maſters, take heede of your purſes; and he that is purſued, will cry, Stop Theife, that by this meanes he may eſcape unattached: and ſo in every like caſe, there is none apter, to cry, Treaſon, Treaſon, then Ahaliah, who hath ſlaine all the Kings ſeede. Yea, ſo it is, that the ſmalleſt ſpot in a ſober mans face, ſhall excuſe all the ſores and ulcers of their bodies.
§ 95.
SEcondly, 2. By depraving the godly themſelves paſſe for indifferent honeſt men.ſeeing the drunkards wicked and ſinfull life, is reproved by the others Godly converſation: as how is a vicious perſon diſcredited, and made contemptible, by the vertuous life of a holy man? ſeeing ſtraight lines helpe to ſhew the crooked, as doubtleſſe Pharaoh's fat kine, could not chooſe but make the leane ones more ill favoured: for the whiter the Swanne is, the more blacke is the Crow that's by her; hence a ſwarthy and hard featured viſage, loves not the company of cleare beauties.
Whereas on the otherſide, were all the world ugly, deformity would be no monſter: among the Myconians baldneſſe is no unſeemely thing, becauſe they are all ſo borne: yea, a baſe perſon may come to preferment, if none be thought better then himſelfe: he which hath but one eye, may be King amongſt the blinde: even Heliogabalus, that beaſtly monſter, thought to make himſelfe the ſole god, and be onelyonly worſhipped, by baniſhing all other Religions out of the world.
At leaſt, as the ſplendor of the others vertues, doth obſcure the meaneſſe of his credit; (as the Sunnes brightneſſe obſcures the light of a candle) ſo by depraving him, and all his fellowes, himſelfe ſhall be judged vertuous, very cheape accounted a man of honeſty and honour, though a drunkard or an Homicide.
And indeed, how ſhould Naboth be cleanly put to death; or Ioſeph fairely clapt in Irons, if firſt the one be not accuſed of blaſphemy, and the other of treacherous incontinency? Whereas by uſing theſe meanes, thoſe ends were eaſily atchieved: you know, if a man would have his Dog kild, 3 Drunkards cenſure and ſlander the godly to incite and ſtirre up others to doe the like.he needs but give it out that he is mad: which leades me to a third reaſon, for.