Two Treatises, Treatise 1 · Chapter 17
CHAP. XVII.
The impetuous injuſtice, and malice of the adverſaries of a good conſcience.
AS we have ſeene the entertainment a good conſcience meets withall in the world, ſo we may here further ſee the inordinat violences that the enemies and haters of a good conſcience are carried with. Therefore out of this inſolent Injunction of Ananias, we may in the ſecond place obſerve:
The heady violence, and impetuous injuſtice Doct. 2 of the adverſaries of good conſcience. Smite him on the mouth. A man would not imagine that hatred and malice againſt goodneſſe, ſhould ſo tranſport a man as to make him run into ſo much, ſo open, ſo groſſe Injuſtice. Doe but examine the fact, and you ſhall ſee a ſtrange deale of injuſtice therein.
1. Who is he that bids ſmite? The high Prieſt. He had a better Canon to live by, Mal. 2. 6. He walked with me in peace and equity. So Levi walked, & ſo ſhould Gods Prieſts walke alſo. And that Canon of Paul for the Miniſtry of the Goſpel, held no leſſe good for the Miniſtry of the law, That he ſhould not be ſoone angry, no ſtriker, Tit. 1. 7. How haps it then that the High Prieſt is thus light fingred. Smite him on the mouth? Oh! ſhame that ſuch a word ſhould come out of a Prieſts, eſpecially the High Prieſts mouth.
2. Who muſt be ſmitten? Paul an Innocent. Foule injuſtice. Queſtionleſſe if Paul had offered ſuch meaſure but to Ananias his dog, to have ſmitten him for nothing, but out of his meer ſpight, Ananias would have judged him a dogged fellow. And would Ananias uſe an innocēt perſon as he would be loth a man ſhould uſe his dog?
3. Where muſt this blow be given? In open Court, where they were all convened to doe juſtice. Still the worſe. If he had commanded him to have been ſmitten in his private Parlour, it had been unjuſtifiable, but to ſmite him in open Court, and to doe injuſtice in the place of Iuſtice, this is deepe injuſtice. The place he ſate in, the gravity of his perſon, Gods High Prieſt, the ſolemnity of the adminiſtration of juſtice, all theſe might have manacled his hands, and have a little tempered and bridled his ſpirit. A foule indignity for the Iudge of Iſrael to bee ſmitten on the cheeke, Mic. 5. 1. As foule an iniquity for a Iudge of Iſrael to ſmite on the mouth wrongfully, and in an open Court of Iuſtice. What an indecent thing for a Iudge to goe to cuffes on the Bench? What an intemperate and a vindictive ſpirit argues it? But what is the Indency to the Injuſtice? And what Injuſtice to that which was done upon the Bench? Of all wormwood that is the moſt bitter, into which juſtice is turned.
4. For what is the blow given? For a good conſcience. What? And hath Gods High Prieſt no more conſcience than ſo, his place teaches him to bee a Protector, Defender, and an Incourager of good conſcience. His whole office is matter of conſcience, and will he that ſhould teach, maintaine, and incourage good conſcience, will he ſmite men for good conſcience? What is this but Iſ. 58. 4. To ſmite with the fiſt of wickedneſſe?
5. When is the blow given? When he is begining to plead his own innocencie, & to ſpeake in his own defence. More injuſtice yet. Did not Nicodemus ſpeake reaſon, Ioh. 7. 51. Doth our Law judge any man before it heare him? Nay, if Ananias have no regard to Gods Law, as it ſeemes hee hath but a little, that will ſmite a man for good conſcience, yet what will he ſay to Caeſars Law? Act. 18. 25. Is it lawfull for you to ſcourage, and ſo to ſmite, a man that is a Roman and uncondemned, and unheard? To judge and condemne a man unheard, is deep Injuſtice, but far deeper to puniſh, and execute him. Will hee hang a man, and then try him? Lo here indeed a right unrighteous Iudge, that feares neither God, nor man, that regards neither Gods Law, nor Caeſars.
To have done by Paul as Gallio did, Act. 18. 14, 16. When Paul was about to open his mouth, to drive him and the reſt from the judgement-ſeat, this had beene injuſtice, but when Paul opens his mouth to ſpeake for himſelf, for Ananias to ſtop his mouth, and to ſtop it with his fiſts, to ſtop his mouth, and ſmite him on the mouth both, when he was to ſpeake in his owne defence, what greater depth of Injuſtice can we imagine? An hundred to one but Ananias was one of the Sanhedrim, which at the time when the officers not having apprehended Chriſt, fell a curſing the people, Ioh. 7. 49. This people that knowes not the Law is curſed. VponUpon which ſpeech Nicodemus ſeemes to meet kindly with them, ver. 51. Doth our Law judge any man before it heare and know what he doth? As if he had ſaid, Do you glory in the knowledge of the law, and are they curſed that know not the law, what then are they that knowing the Law goe directly againſt it? are the people, Ananias, curſed that know not the Law, what art thou thy ſelfe then who knowſt both Gods Law and Caeſars, and yet through malice againſt Paul ſinneſt againſt both? Vnjuſt and malicious proceedings, God will not let them have the honor ſo much as of the colour of formality, and legality in their courſes. But they ſhall be ſo carried, that the madneſſe and malice of them, may ly manifeſtly open to the view of all the world.
6. By what authority is the blow given? Ananias commanded them. Yea but Mal. 2. 7. The Prieſts lips ſhould preſerve knowledge, and they ſhould ſeeke the Law at his mouth. And ſhould they that ſhould ſeeke the Law at his mouth, againſt all law at his command, ſmite men on the mouth? It was too much that Gallio did, and the holy Ghoſt leaves a deep diſgrace upon him for it, Act. 18, that he would ſuffer others to ſmite Soſthenes, and not to care for it. It was too much that Ahab ſuffers Zidkiah to ſmite Micaiah, and to breake the kings peace in the kings preſence, hee ſhould have condemned him at leaſt to loſe his hand, for ſtriking before the King. But here is a worſe matter, he not only ſuffers it, but commands it to be done. Ananias commanded to ſmite. Vnjuſtice ſuffered by authority is too much, but unjuſtice commanded by authority, that is far worſe.
It ſhewes the truth of Pauls phraſe, 2 Theſ. 3. 2. Vnreaſonable men, or abſurd Vſe 1 Non eſt crudelior in orbeterrarumira, quam Eccleſia ſanguinaria & hypocritarum: Nam in politica ira eſt aliquid humani reliquum. Nullus tam immanis latro ad ſupplicium rapitur, quin aliqua commiſeratione tanguntur homines: Sed cum falſa illa & ſanguinaria Eccleſia in filium verae Eccleſiae inciderit, non ſ…is ei eſt effudiſſe ſanguinem, etiam male dicit, execratur, devove…, & in miſerum cadaver ſaevit, it…que ira falſae eccleſiae, & ſuror phariſaicus eſt furor plane diabolicus Luther in Gen. cap. 4men. Malice againſt the truth and the Goſpel, ſo hurries adverſaries, that it tranſports them beyond all bounds of common equitie, common honeſtie, the gravity of their perſons, and places; ſo as neither Law of God, nor law of man can reſtraine their violence, and impetuouſneſſe. No bounds can keepe a malicious ſpirit within compaſſe. It makes men forget common civility, and carries men beyond all Decorum, even that Decorum their place and office cals for. Bonner cannot content himſelfe to judge, and condemne Gods ſervants to the fire, it ſatisfies him not to be their judge, but hee muſt be taking the Beadles, or the Hangmans office out of his hand too, and muſt bee whipping them with his own hands; And malicious Story forgetting the gravity of his Doctorſhip, muſt be throwing Faggots at the faces of the Martyrs, when bound to the ſtake to be burned. What is to be abſurd and unreaſonable, if this be not? Murtherers, and bloody cut throats ſhall find more legall and formall proceedings at their hands, than the maintainers of the Goſpell, and Gods truth ſhall do at their tribunals. To be ſure, Barrabas ſhall find more favour; and leſſe hatred than Chriſt.
Iudge by this what may be lookt for, if Vſe 2 ever the Romiſh Ananias ſhould get head amongſt us againe. Ananias his ſpirit lives ſtill in that chaire of peſtilence. If ever therefore wee ſhould come under his fingers, looke neither for law, nor reaſon, honeſty, nor equity, look for nothing but the weight of his fiſts.
Thus have we ſeen the enemies impetuouſnes in this point, and we may yet ſee a little more in the next. Therfore further in the third place obſerve.
Ananias commands to ſmite Paul. A Doct. 3 falſe Prieſt to ſmite a true Apoſtle. Never do Gods faithfull ſervants ſuffer harder meaſure than from ſuch. Who ſmites Micaiah, but that counterfeit Enthuſiaſt Zidkiah, 1 King. 22. Well might he come in with his horns. They were emblematicall, & better ſignes of the malice of his heart, than of the truth of his prophecie. There be no ſuch horned beaſts that puſh ſo dangerouſly againſt Gods true Prophets, as Satans falſe prophets are, Ier. 20. Ieremy is buffeted and ſtocked, and who is the deed doer? Paſhur the Prieſt. See Ier. 26. 8, 11, 16. The prophet finds more reaſon & faire dealing from the Princes, and the people, than from the Prieſts, and the prophets. Theſe were fiercely bent againſt him, & nothing would quench the wolves thirſt, but the prophets blood. Pilate can find no fault in Chriſt; yea ſeeks to deliver him; but the chief Prieſts & the Elders perſwaded the multitude that they ſhould ask Barabbas & deſtroy Ieſus, Mat. 27 20. How wofull a caſe was it, that more juſtice and equity ſhould be in an heathen Pilat, than in the Prieſts? How well would it have become them to have ſticked, and ſtood for Chriſt, if Pilate had ſought his life, rather than that an Heathen ſhould plead for him, whilſt thoſe that glory that they are the Prieſts of God, ſhould ſeeke the murther of Gods Son. What a pittifull caſe that Pilate ſhould be the Iew, and the Prieſts the Heathens? Therefore is Pauls Preface in his anſwer before Agrippa worth the noting. Act. 26. 2. I thinke my ſelfe happy King Agrippa, becauſe I ſhall anſwer for my ſelfe this day before thee. Why, what was Agrippa? He was an heathen man. Why then ſhould he think himſelfe happy to anſwer before him? Had he not been happier if he might have anſwered the matter before the high Prieſt? No; for Agrippa gives him liberty to ſpeak for himſelf, Act. 26. 1. Then ſaid Agrippa to Paul, thou art permitted to ſpeake for thy ſelfe. But Ananias the high Prieſt layes him on the mouth, when having leave hee begins to ſpeake for himſelfe. There is more hope of reaſon, and faire proceeding from heathen Agrippa, than from Ananias. There be no ſuch virulent, and violent enemies againſt Gods truth and ſervants as are degenerate, and counterfeit friends, and amongſt thoſe ſtill they be the bittereſt, whom it behooved to be the beſt. The bittereſt enemies againſt the Church, are thoſe within her owne bowels.
Ananias was an uſurper of the office of Doct. 4 the Prieſthood, and mark how he carries himſelfe in the place. He commands Paul to be ſmitten. Vſurpers commonly are ſmiters, and uſurpation is uſually attended with violence. Such as the entrance, ſuch the adminiſtration. We ſee it true in Abimelech Integritas praeſidentiſi eſt ſalus ſubditorū, principatus autē quem ambitus occupavit, etiam ſi moribus, atque actibus non offendit, ipſius tamen initij ſui eſt pernitioſus exemplo: & difficile eſt ut bono peragantur exitu, quae malo ſunt inducta principio, ex Decret.and Athalia. That as it is ſaid of Pope Bonif. the eight, that he entred like a Foxe, raigned like a Lyon, &c. So was it with Ananias, hee had a Foxes entrance, hee came not to the Prieſthood by an hereditary ſucceſſion, but as the faſhion then was by ſimony, bribery, and flattery, and now ſee how he raignes like a Lion, and commands Paul to be ſmitten on the mouth. An ill entrance into any place of office, in Church, or Common-wealth, cannot promiſe any good in the adminiſtration thereof.
See what wofull times here were, what bitterneſſe, what madneſſe againſt a good conſcience. Doct. 5 And theſe were the times that did a little fore-run the fatall & fearfull ruine and deſolation of Ieruſalem, and the Nation of the Iewes. Ananias his deadly hatred of goodneſſe, and good conſcience, was a bud of the fig-tree, that the particular Iudgement of Ieruſalem was even at the doores. When the rod is bloſſomed, and pride hath budded, and violence, ſpecially againſt good conſcience is riſen up into a rod of wickednes, then may it truly be ſaid, Behold the day, behold it is come, The time is come, the day drawes neere, Ezec. 7. 10, 11, 12. By Bede deſcribing the ancient deſtruction Odium in veritatis profeſſores tanquā ſubverſores omnia tela & odium in hos. Bed. hiſt. gent. Aug. l. 1. cap. 14.of this kingdome of Britain, this is made a fore-runner therof, The hatred of the profeſſors of the truth, as of ſubverters, all the ſpite and hate was againſt them. Our Saviour tels his Diſciples, Luk. 21. 11. of fearfull ſights and great ſignes that ſhould be from heaven, before the deſtruction of Ieruſalem. And ſo there was a fearfull comet, & many other prodigious things before the ſame. Now if the Iewes had had hearts to have conſidered it, this cordiall malignity on every hand againſt good cō ſciēce was as ſad a Prognoſticator of their approaching ruine, as any blazing ſtar, or terrible ſight whatſoever. It is an ill preſage of a Nation going down, when once good conſcience is fiſted downe.