Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 18
SERMON XVIII.
Preached at Lincolns Inne.
The second Sermon on MATTH. 18. 7.
Wo unto the world, because of offences.
WEe have seen in the first word the vae, as it is vox Dolentis, the voice of condoling and lamenting, that it is accompanyed with a Heu; Gods judgements come against his will, he had rather they might be forborn, he had rather those easie conditions had been performed; And as it is vox minantis, a voice of threatning and intermination, it is accompanyed with an Amen; if conditions be rebelliously broken, Gods judgements doe come infallibly, inevitably; And we have seen in the second word, vae mundo, and the twofold signification of that, that these offences, and scandals fall upon all the world; the wicked embrace tentations, and are glad of them, and sorry when they are but weak; the godly meet tentations, and wrastle with them, and sometimes doe overcome them, and are sometimes overcome by them; but all have them, and yet we must not break out of the world by a retired life, nor break out of the world by a violent death, but take Gods ways, and stay Gods leasure. In this our third part, we are to consider the root from which this over-spreading vae, this woe proceeds, A scandalis, from scandals, from offences, and the double signification of that word, first, Scandalum activum, the active scandall, which is a malice, or at least an indiscretion in giving offence, and Scandalum passivum, the passive scandall, which is a forwardnesse, at least an easinesse in taking offence; To know the nature of the thing, look we to the derivation, the extraction, the Origination of the word. The word from which scandall is derived (scazein) signifies claudicare, to halt; and thence, a scandall is any trap, or Engin, any occasion of stumbling, and laming, hid in the way that I must goe, by another person; and as it is transferred to a spirituall use, appropriated to an Ecclesiasticall sense, it is an occasion of sinning. It hath many branches; too many to bee so much as named; but some fruits from some of them we shall gather,Activum. and present you. First, in our first, the Active Scandall, to doe any thing that is naturally ill, formally sin, whereby another may be occasioned or encouraged by my example to do the like, this is the active scandall most evidently, and most directly, and this is morbus complicatus, a disease that carries another disease in it, a fever exalted to a frenzy; It is Peccatum pragnans, peccatum gravidum, a spauning sin, a sin of multiplication, to sinne purposely, to lead another into tentation. But there is a lesse degree then this, and it is an active scandall too; To doe any thing that in it selfe is indifferent, (and so no sin in mee, that do it) in the sight of another that thinks it not indifferent, but unlawfull, and yet because he hath a reall, or a reverentiall dependence upon me, (my Son, my Servant, my Tenant) and thinks I would be displeased if he did it not, does it against his conscience by my example, though the sinne be formally his, radically it is mine, because I gave the occasion, And there is a lower degree then this; and yet is an active scandall. If I doe an indifferent thing in the sight and knowledge of another, that thinks it unlawfull, though he doe not come to doe it, out of my example, by any dependence upon me, yet if he come to think uncharitably of me, or to condemn me for doing it, though this uncharitablenesse in him bee his sinne, yet the root grew in me, and I gave the scandall. And there is a lower degree then this, and yet is an Active scandall too. Origen hath expressed it thus, Scandalum est quo scandentium pedes offenduntur; To hinder the feet of another, that would goe farther, or climbe higher in the ways of godlinesse; but for me, to say to any man, What need you be so pure, so devout, so godly, so zealous, will this make you rich, will this bring you to preferment? this is an active scandall in me, though hee that I speak to, be not damnified by me. Of which kind of scandall,Mat. 16. 23. there is an evident, and an illustrious example, between Saint Peter, and Christ; Christ cals Peter a scandall unto him, when Peter rebuked Christ for offering to goe up to Jerusalem in a time of danger. Christ was to accomplish the work of our salvation at Jerusalem, by dying, and Peter disswades, discounsels that journey; and for this, Christ lays that heavy name upon his indiscreet zeal, and that heavy name upon his person, Vade retro, Get thee behind me Satan, thou art a scandall unto me. This is Scandalum oppositionis, the scandall of opposing, disswading, discounselling, discountenancing, and consequently the frustrating of Gods purpose in man; This is but by word, and yet there is a lesse then this, which is Scandalum timoris, when he that hath power in his hand, in a family, in a parish, in a City, in a Court, intimidates them who depend upon him, (though nothing bee expressely done or said that way) and so slackens them in their religious duties to God; and in their constancy in Religion it selfe; And vae illis, woe unto them that doe so, and vae mundo ab illis; woe unto the world, because there are so many that doe so. And yet there is another scandall which seems lesse then this, Scandalum amoris, the scandall of love; as Saul gave David his daughter Mich…l, ut esset ei in scandalum, that she might be a snare unto him;1 Sam. 18. 21. that is, that David being over-uxorious, and over-indulgent to his wife, might thereby lye the more open to Sauls mischievous purposes upon him, and vae illis, woe unto them that doe so; and vae munde ab illis, woe unto the world, because there are so many that doe so, that study the affections, and dispositions, and inclinations of men, and then, minister those things to them, that affect them most, which is the way of the instruments of the Roman Church, to promise preferments to discontented persons, and is indeed, his way, whose instrument the Roman Church is, The Devill; for this is all that the Devill is able to doe, in the ways of tentation, Applicare passivis activa, To finde out what will work upon a man, and to work by that. The Devill did not create me, nor bring materials to my creation; The Devill did not infuse into mee, that choler, that makes me ignorantly and indiscreetly zealous, nor that flegm that choakes mee with a stupid indevotion; Hee did not infuse into mee that bloud, that inflames mee in licentiousnesse, nor that melancholy that dampes me in a jealousie and suspicion, a diffidence and distrust in God. The Devill had no hand in composing me in my constitution. But the Devill knows, which of these govern, and prevail in me, and ministers such tentations, as are most acceptable to me, and this is Scandalum amoris, the scandall of Love.
So have ye then the Name, and Nature, and extent of the Active Scandall; against which, the inhibition given in this Text is generall, wee are forbidden to scandalize any person by any of these ways, The scandall of Example, or the scandall of Perswasion, The scandall of Fear, or the scandall of Love. For, there is scarce any so free to himselfe, so entirely his own, so independent upon others, but that Example, or Perswasion, or Fear, or Love may scandalize him, that is, Lead him into tentation, and make him doe some things against his own mind. Our Saviour Christ had spoken, De pusillis, of little children, of weak persons, easie to be scandalized, before this Text, and he returns, ad pusillos, to the consideration of little children, persons easie to bee scandalized again;ver. 10. this Text is not of them, or not of them onelyonly, but of all; say not thou of any man, aetatem habet, he is old enough, let him look to himselfe, he hath reason as other men have, he hath had a learned and a religious education, ill example can doe him no harm; but give no ill example to any, study the setling, and the establishing of all; for, scarce is there any so strong, but may bee shaked by some of these scandals, Example, Perswasion, Fear, or Love. And hee that employs his gift of wit, and Counsell to seduce and mislead men, or his gift of Power, and Authority to intimidate, and affright men, or his gift of other graces, lovelinesse of person, agreeablenesse of Conversation, powerfulnesse of speech, to ensnare and entangle men by any of these scandals, may draw others into perdition, but he falls also with them, and shall not be left out by God in the punishments inflicted upon them that fall by his occasion.
The Commandement is generall, scandalize none, scarce any but may bee overthrown, by some of these ways; And then the Apostles practise was generall too, we give no occasion of offence in any thing. 2 Cor. 6. 3.As he requires that wee should eat and drinke to the glory of God, so hee would have us study to avoid scandalizing of others,1 Cor. 10. 31. 8. 13. even in our eating and drinking; If meat make my brother to offend, (offend either in eating against his own conscience, or offend in an uncharitable mis-interpretation of my eating) In aeternum, Rom. 14. 15.says the Apostle there, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth; Nor, destroy my brother with my meat, for whom Christ dyed. That's the Apostles tendernesse in things; (He would give no occasion of offence in any thing) And it is as generall in contemplation of persons, he would have no offence given, neither to the Iew, 1 Cor. 10. 32.nor to the Grecian, nor to the Church of God: He was as carefull not to scandalize, not to give just occasion of offence to Jew, not Gentile, as not to the Church of God; so must we be towards them of a superstitions religion amongst us, as carefull as towards one another, not to give any scandall, any just cause of offence. But what is to be called a just cause of offence towards those men? Good ends, and good ways, plain, and direct, and manifest proceedings, these can be called no scandall, no just cause of offence, to Jew, nor Gentile, to Turk, nor Papist; nor does Saint Paul intend that we should forbear essentiall and necessary things, for fear of displeasing perverse and peevish men. To maintain the doctrinall truths of our religion, by conferences, by disputations, by writing, by preaching, to avow, and to prove our religion to be the same, that Christ Jesus and his Apostles proposed at beginning, the same that the generall Councels established after, the same that the blessed Fathers of those times, unanimely, and dogmatically delivered, the same that those glorious Martyrs quickned by their death, and carryed over all the world in the rivers, in the seas of their blood, to avow our religion by writing, and preaching, to be the same religion, an then to preserve and protect that religion which God hath put into our hearts, by all such meanes as hee hath put into our hands, in the due execution of just Laws, this is no scandall, no just cause of offence to Jew not Gentile, Turke nor Papists. But when leaving fundamentall things, and necessary truths, we wrangle uncharitably about Collaterall impertinencies, when wee will refuse to doe such things as conduce to the exaltation of Devotion, or to the order, and peace of the Church, not for any harme in the things, but onelyonly therefore because the Papists doe them, when, because they kneel in the worship of the bread in the Sacrament, wee will not kneel in Thanksgiving to God for the Sacrament; when because they pray to Saints, we will reproach the Saints, or not name the Saints, when because they abuse the Crosse, we will abhor the Crosse; This is that that Saint Paul protests against, and in that protestation Catechizes us, that as he would give no just occasion of offence to the true Church of God, so neither would hee doe it to a false or infirme Church. He would not scandalize the true Church of God, by any modifications, any inclinations towards the false; nor hee would not scandalize the false and infirme Church, by refusing to communicate with them, in the practise of such things, as might exalt our Devotion, and did not endanger nor shake any foundation of religion: which was the wisdome of our Church, in the beginning of the Reformation, when the Injuctions of our Princes forbad us to call one another by the odious names of Papist, or Papisticall Heretique, or Schismatique, or Sacramentary, or such convitions (as the word of the Injunction is) and repr…achfull names; but cleaving always intirely, and inseparably to the fundamentall truths of our own religion, as farre as it is possible we should live peaceably with all men. Saint Paul would give no offence to the true Church of God, he would not prevaricate, nor to the Jew nor Gentile neither, he would not exasperate. And this may bee enough to have been said of the active scandall…, and passe we now, in our order, to the Passive.
It is no wonder to see them who put all the world,Passivum. into differences, (the Jesuits) to differ sometimes amongst themselves. And therefore though the Jesuit Maldonat say of this Text, That Christ did not here intend to warne, or to arm his Disciples against scandals, as scandals occasions of sin, but onelyonly from offering injury to one another, That scandall in this text is nothing but wrong, yet another Jesuit, (Vincemius Rhegius) is not onelyonly of another opinion himselfe, but thinks that opinion (as he calls it) absurd; It is absurd, says he, to interpret it so; for, can a mans own hand or foot, or eye, be said to injure him? And yet, in this place, they are often said to scandalize him, to offend him. The interpretation that Maldonat departs from, himselfe acknowledges to be the interpretation of Saint Chrysostome, of Euthymius, of Theophylact, of others of the Fathers; and, by the councell of Trent, he is bound to interpret Scriptures according to the Fathers, and he is angry with us, if at any time we doe not so; and here he departs from them, where, not onelyonly his reverence to them, but the frame, and the evidence of the place should have kept them to him; for here Christ utters his vae, as it is vae Dolentis, as he laments their miseries, and as it is vae Minantis, as he threatens his judgements, not onelyonly upon them that offend and scandalize others, but upon them also that are easily scandalized by others, and put from their religion, and Christian constancy with every rumour.Hierom. Par…m distat scandalizare, & scandalizari; It is almost as great a sin to be shaked by a scandall given, as to give it. Christ intends both in this Text; the Active, and the Passive scandall; but the latter, meliùs quadrat, says a later Divine,Calvin. worthy to be compared to the Ancients, for the exposition of Scriptures, it fits the scope and purpose of Christ best, to accept and interpret this vae, (Woe be unto the world) of the Pas…ive scandall, the scandall taken.
In that, we consider the working of this Vae, three ways; first, vae quia illusiones fortes, woe unto the world because these scandals and offences, tentations, and tribulations are so strong in their nature; and then vae quia infirmi vas, woe because you are so weak in your nature; and again, vae quia Pravaricatores, woe because wee prevaricate in our own case, and make our selves weaker then we are, and are scandalized with things which are not in their nature scandalous, nor were scandalously intended. The two first, are woe because we shall be scandalized, for scandals are truly strong, and you are truly weak; The other is woe because ye will bee scandalized, when, and where you might easily unentangle the snare, and devest the …scruple. First, for the vehemence, the violence, the unavoydablenesse and impetuousnesse of these scandals, tentations, and tribulations under which wee all suffer in this world, it may bee enough to consider that one saying of our Saviours, They shall seduce, Si possibile,Mat. 24. 23. even the elect, where (by the way, it is not meerly, not altogether, as we have translated it, If it were possible, for that sounds, as if Christ had positively, and dogmatically determined, that it is not possible for the elect to be seduced; but Christ says onelyonly, Si possibile, if it be possible, as being willing to leave it in doubt, and in suspense how farre, in so great scandals, so very great tentations, even the elect might bee seduced.Gregor. Ista Dominici sermonis dubitatto, trepidationem mentis in electis relinquit; this doubtfulnesse in Christs speech, makes the very elect stand in fear of falling, in the midst of such tentations, for, howsoever the elect shall rise again, the elect may fall by these scandals, and though they may be reduced, they may be seduced. We are to consider men, as they are delivered in the approbation, and testimony of the Church, that judges s…cundum allegata & probata, according to the evidence that she sees and heares, and not as they are wrapped up in the infallible knowledge of God; and so, our election admits an outward tryall,1 Pet. 1. 1. that is, Sanctification: so S. Peter writes, to the strangers elect through sanctification. They were strangers, strangers to the Covenant, and yet Elect; for, as all of the houshold, all within the Covenant, all children of the faithfull, are not elect, (for to be born of Christian parents within the Covenant, gives us a title to the Sacrament of Baptism, so as that we may claim it, and the Church cannot deny it us; but this birth doth not give us that title to heaven, which Baptisin it self does) so all strangers, all that are without the Covenant, are not excluded in the election. S. Peter admits stragers to election, but yet no otherwise then through sanctification; when we are come to that hill,2 Thes. 2. 13. to sanctification, we have a fair prospect to see our election; in: so, God hath elected you to salvation, says S. Paul, to the Thes. but how? To salvation through sanctification; that's your hill, there opens your prospect. Agreeably to these two great Astles, says the beloved Apostle, 2 Ioh. 1. 1.the Elder unto the elect Lady, and her children; but still, how elect?verse 6. as he tels you, elect if she walk in the Commandements of God, elect if she lose not her former good works,verse. 8. that she may receive a full reward; elect, if she abide in the doctrine of Christ. Always from that mount of sanctification arises our prospect to election; and sanctification were glorification, if it were impossible to fall from it. If a tentation of mony made Iudas an Apostle fall from his Master, how easily will such a tentation make men fall with their Master, that is, run into dangerous and ruinous actions with them? How easily will our children, our servants, our tenants fall form the truth of God, if they have both the example of their superiors to countenance them, and their purse to reward them for it? That scandal, that tentation is a Giant, and an armed Gyant, a Goliah, and a Goliah with a speare like a weavers beame, that marches upon those two leggs, Example to doe it, and Preferment for doing it.
This is the vae, in the consideration of the passive scandal, as it arises out of the vehemence of the scandal,Quia infirmi and tentation, Quia illusiones fortes, because they are so strong in themselves. It arises also out of our weaknesse, Quia infirmi nos, because we are so weak, even the strongest of us. And for this, it may also be enough to consider those words of our Saviour;Mat. 13. 21. That a man may receive the word, and receive it with joy, and yet, Temporalis est, says Christ, it may bee but for a while, hee may be but a time-server, for, assoon as persecution comes, Illico continuò scandalizatur, by and by, instantly, forthwith hee is scandalized and shaked. Hee stays not to give God his leasure, whether God will succour his cause to morrow, though not to day. Hee stays not to give men their Law, to give Princes, and States time to consider, whether it may not be fit for them to come to leagues, and alliances, and declarations for the assistance of the Cause of Religion next year, though not this. But continuò scandalizatur, as soon as a Catholique army hath given a blow, and got a victory of any of our forces, or friends, or as soon as a crafty Iesuit hath forged a Relation, that that Army hath given such a blow, or that such an Army there is, (for many times they intimidate weake men, when they shoote nothing but Paper, when they are onelyonly Paper-Armies, and Pamphlet-Victories, and no such in truth) Illico scandalizatur, yet with these forged rumours, presently hee is scandalized, and hee comes apace to those dangerous conclusions, Non potens Deus, (for any thing I see, God is not so powerfull a God, as they make him, for his enemies Armies prevaile against his) Non sapiens Deus, (for any thing I see, God does not take so wise courses for his glory, of which hee talkes so much, and pretends to bee so jealous, for his enemies Counsels prevaile against his;) And hee comes at last to the Non est Deus, to labour to over-rule his own Conscience, and make himselfe bebeleeve, or (at least) to wish, though hee cannot beleeve it, that there were no God.
Now to correct, or to repair this weaknesse, you see our Saviours physique here; If thy foot, thy hand, thine eye, scandalize thee, offend thee, abscinde & proj…ce, erue & projice, Cut it off, pull it out, and then cast it away. You see Christs method in his physique, It determines not in a preparative, that does but stirre the humours, (for every remorse, and every compunction, and every sense that a man hath, that such, and such company leades him into tentation, does that, it workes in the nature of such a preparative, as stirres the humours, affects the soul,) Christs physique determines not in a blood-letting, no not in cutting off the gangren'd part, for it is not onelyonly Cut off, and pull out, but, Cast away, it is an absolute evacuation and purging out of the peccant humour. It is not a halting with the foot, nor a shifting with the hand, it is not a winking with the eye, but abscinde, and erue, Cut off, pull out; and, after that, Though hee bee the foot upon which thou standest, thy Master, thy Patron, thy Benefactor; Though hee be thy hand by which thou gettest thy living, thy meanes, the instrument of thy maintenance, or preferment; Though hee bee thine eye, the man from whom thou receivest all thy Light, and upon whose learning thou engagest thy Religion, abscindatur, & projice, if hee scandalize thee, shake thee in thy Religion at the heart, or in the ways of godlinesse in thine actions, Cut him off; that is, cut off thy selfe from that conversation, and cast him away, returne no more within distance of that tentation: for, as sinne hath that quality of a worm, that it gnawes, (it gnawes the conscience) so hath it also that quality of a worm, that if you cut it into pieces, yet if those pieces come together again, they will re-unite again; sinne, though discontinued, will finde his old pieces, if they keep not farre asunder. And since it is said of God himself by David,Psalm 18. Cum perverso perverteris, That God will grow froward with the froward, and since God says of himselfe, That with them that goe crookedly, hee will goe crookedly too, that the behaviour of other men are said to make impressions upon God himselfe, cosider the slipperinesse of our corrupt nature, how easily the vices of other men insinuate and infuse themselves into us, and how much need wee have of all Christs physique, abscinde, erue, projice, Cut off, pull out, and cast away.
But to come to our last note, Besides the woe arising from the strength of the scandall, and the woe from the corruptnesse of our weak nature, there is a woe upon our wilfulnesse, upon our easinesse in being scandalized by an over-jealousie, and suspicious mis-interpretations of the actions of other men. And for this, in the highest consideration, as it hath relation to our Saviour himselfe, and his Gospell, it may be enough to consider that which himselfe says,Mat. 11. 6. Blessed is hee, whosoever shall not be offended in me. But, Quis homo, What man is hee that is not offended in him, and his Gospel? Qui non crubescit, aut timet, what man is he that is not ashamed of the Gospel, or afraid of it; that does not desire that the religion that he professes, were a religion of more liberty & of less threatnings? We see, that though the Cross of Christ, that is, Christ crucified, were daily represented to the Jews in their sacrifices, & preached to the in the succession of their Prophets,1 Cor. 1. 23. yet this Crosse of Christ was Scandalum Iudais, a scandal to the Jews; It was, (as the Apostle says there) Stultitia Gracis, to the Gentiles, that had no such preparation to the Gospel, as the Jews had in their Law, and Sacrifices, the Gospel was meer foolishnes, a religion unconformable to nature, and to reason, but even to the Jews themselves, it was a scandal, a stumbling block; they grudged that that religion left them so narrow a way open to pleasure, and to profit, and that it referred all to a spirituall Kingdome, whereas the Jews looked for a temporall Kingdome in their Messias. And so truly Christ and his Gospel will be a scandal to all them that will needs set Christ a price, at which hee shall sell his Gospel. If Tithes, or some some small matter in lieu of Tithes, will serve his turn, and now and then a groat to a Brief, and sometimes an extraordinary contribution, when extraordinary knowledge may bee taken of it, if this will serve his turn hee shall have it. But if it must come to a Non pacem, that Christ profess hee comes not to settle peace, but to kindle a warre, if wee must maintain armies for his Gospel, if it come to an Odisse vitam, to hate Father, and Mother, and Wife, and Children, and our owne lifes for his Gospel, this is too high a price, Nolumus hunc regnare, now the Gospell growes a Tyran, and wee will not be under a tyrannous government; If hee will govern by his Law, that hee be content with our coming to Church every Sunday, and our receiving every Easter, wee will live under his Law; but if he come to exercise his Prerogative, and presse us to extraordinary duties, in watching all our particular actions, and calling our selves to an account, for words and thoughts, then Christ and his Gospell become a scandall, a stumbling block unto us, and lye in our way, and retard our ends, our pleasures, and our profits. But if we can overcome this one scandall of the Gospell, that we be not ashamed nor afraid of that, (that is, well satisfied in the sufficiency of that Gospel for our salvation, and then content to suffer for that Gospel) if we can devest this scandall, no other shall trouble us.Psal. 119. 165. Great peace have they which love thy Law, says David; To love it, is to prefer it before all things; and great peace have they that doe so, says he; Wherein consists this peace? In this, Et non est illis scandalum, Great peace have they that love thy Law,Prov. 12. 21. for they have no scandals; nothing shall offend them. There shall no evill happen to the just, says his son Solomon; not that the just shall feel no worldly misery, but that that misery shall not make them miserable; how evill so ever it be in it self, it shall not be evill to them,Rom. 8. 28. 1. 3. 13. but Omnia in bonum, All things work together for good, to them that love God. Who is he that will harme you, if you be followers of God? says Saint Peter, The wicked will not follow you in that strange Country; their conversation is not in heaven; if yours be, they will not follow you thither. They will doe, as he, whose instruments they are,Iacob. 4. 7. do, the Devill; and Resist the Devill, and he will flee from you. A religious constancy blunts the edge of any sword, dampes the spirits of any counsel, benums the strength of any arme, opens the corners of any Labyrinth, and brings the subtilest plots against God and his servants, not onelyonly to an invalidnesse, an ineffectualnesse, but to a derision;Iude 5. 20. Psal. 2. 4. not onelyonly to a Dimicatum de coelis, that the world shall see, that the Lord fights for his servants from heaven, but to an Irridebit in coelis, that he that sits in heaven, shall laugh them to scorn; he shall ruine them, and ruine them in contempt. That prayer that David makes, Libera me Domine ab homine malo, deliver me O Lord, from the evill man, is a large, an extensive, an indefinite prayer; for, there is an evill man (occasion of tentation) in every man, in every woman, in every action; there is Coluber in via, a snake in every path, danger in every calling. But Saint Augustine contracts that prayer, and fixes it, Liberet te Deus à temes, noli tibi esse malius; God blesse me from my selfe, that I be not that evill man to my selfe, that I lead not my selfe into tentation, and nothing shall scandalize me. To which purpose it concerns us to devest that naturall, but corrupt easinesse of uncharitable mis-construing that which other men doe, especially those whom God hath placed in his own place, for government over us; that we doe not come to think that there is nothing done, if all bee not done; that no abuses are corrected, if all be not removed; that there's an end of all Protestants, if any Papists bee left in the world. Upon those words of our Saviour, speaking of the last day of Judgement,Mat. 13. 41. The son of man shall send forth his Angels, and they shall gather out of his Kingdome, Omnia scandala, All things that might offend: Calvin says learnedly and wisely, Qui ad extirpandum quicquid displicet praepostere festinant, They that make too much haste to mend all at once, antevertunt Christi judicium, & ereptum Angelis officium sibi temereusurpant, They prevent Christs judgment, and rashly, and sacrilegiously they usurp the Angels office. Christ hath reserved the cleansing and removing of all scandals, all offences to the last day; the Angels of the Church, the Minister, the Angels of the State, the Magistrate, cannot doe it; not the Angels of heaven themselves, till the day of judgement. All scandals cannot be removed in this life; but a great many more might be then are, if men were not so apt to suspect, and mis-constru, and imprint the name of scandall upon every action, of which they see not the end, nor the way; for from this jealousie and suspicion; and misconstruction of the Angels of Church and State (our Superiours in those sphears) wee shall become jealous, and suspicious of God himselfe, that he hath neglected us, abandoned us, if he do not deliver us, and establish us, at those times, and by those means, which we prescribe him; we shall come to argue thus against God himselfe, Surely, if God meant any good to us, he would not put us into their hands, who doe us no good. Reduce all to the precious mediocrity; To be unsensible of any declination, of any diminution of the glory of God, or his true worship and religion, is an irreligious stupidity; But to bee so ombragious, so startling, so apprehensive, so suspicious, as to think every thing that is done, is done to that end; this is a seditious jealousie, a Satyr in the heart, and an unwritten Libell; and God hath a Star-chamber, to punish unwritten Libels before they are published; Libels against that Law, Curse not, or speak not ill of the King,Eccles. 1…. 20. no not in thy thought. Not to mourn under the sense of evils, that may fall upon us, is a stony disposition; Nay, the hardest stone, marble, will weep towards foul weather. But, to make all Possible things Necessary, (this may fall upon us, therefore it must fall upon us,) and to make contingent, and accidentall things, to be the effects of counsels, (this is fallen upon us, therefore it is fallen by their practise that have the government in their hands) this is a vexation of spirit in our selves, and a defacing, a casting of durt in the face of Gods image, of that representation, and resemblance of God, which he hath imprinted in them, of whom hee hath sayd, They are Gods. In divine matters there is principally exercise of our faith, That which we understand not, we beleeve. In civill affairs, that are above us, matters of State, there is exercise of our Hope; Those ways which we see not, wee hope are directed to good ends. In Civill actions amongst our selves, there is exercise of our Charity, Those hearts which we see not, let us charitably beleeve to bee disposed to Gods service. That when as Christ hath shut up his w…e onelyonly in those two, Va quia f…rtes illusiones, W…e because scandals and offences are so strong in their nature; and Va quia infirmivos, w…e because you are so weak in yours, we doe not create a third Woe, Va quia praevaricatores, in an uncharitable jealousie, and mis-interpretation of him, (that we are not in his care) nor of his Ministers (that they doe not execute his purposes,) nor of one another; that when as God hath placed us in a Land, where there are no w…lfes, we doe not think Hominem homini Lupum, imagine every man to be a wolf to us, or to intend our destruction. But as in the Arke there were Lions, but the Lion shut his mouth, and clincht his paw, (the Lion hurt nothing in the Arke) and in the Arke there were Vipers and Scorpions, but the Viper shewed no teeth, nor the Scorpion no taile, (the Viper bit none, the Scorpion stung none in the Arke) (for, if they had occasioned any disorder there, their escape could have been but into the Sea, into irreparable ruine) so, in every State, (though that State be an Arke of peace, and preservation) there will be some kind of oppression in some Lions, some that will abuse their power; but Vae si scandalizemur, woe unto us if we be scandalized with that, and seditiously lay aspersions upon the State and Government, because there are some such in every Church, (though that Church bee an Arke, for integrity and sincerity) there will bee some Vipers, Vipers that will gnaw at their Mothers belly, men that will shake the articles of Religion; But Vae si scandalizemur, woe if we be so scandalized at that, as to defame that Church, or separate our selves from that Church which hath given us our Baptism, for that. It is the chasing of the Lion, and the stirring of the Viper, that aggravates the danger; The first blow makes the wrong, but the second makes the fray; and they that will endure no kind of abuse in State or Church, are many times more dangerous then that abuse wch they oppose. It was only Christ Jesus himself that could say to the Tempest,Mar. …4. 39. Tace, …b…utesce, peace, be still, not a blast, not a sob more; onelyonly he could becalm a Tempest at once. It is well with us, if we can ride out a storm at anchour, that is, lie still and expect, and surrender ourselves to God, and anchor in that confidence, till the storm blow over. It is well for us if we can beat out a storm at sea, with boarding to and again; that is, maintain and preserve our present condition in Church, and State, though we encrease not, that though we gain no way, yet wee lose no way whilst the storm lasts. It is well for us, if, though we be put to take in our sayls, and to take down our masts, yet we can hull it out; that is, if in storms of contradiction, or persecution, the Church, or State, though they be put to accept worse conditions then before, and to depart with some of their outward splendor, be yet able to subsist and swimme above water, and reserve it selfe for Gods farther glory, after the storme is past; onelyonly Christ could becalm the storme; He is a good Christian that can ride out, or board out, or hull out a storme, that by industry, as long as he can, and by patience, when he can do no more, over-lives a storm, and does not forsake his ship for it, that is not scandalized with that State, nor that Church, of which he is a member, for those abuses that are in it. The Arke is peace, peace is good dispositions to one another, good intepretations of one another; for, if our impatience put us from our peace, and so out of the Arke, all without the Arke is sea; The bottomlesse and boundlesse Sea of Rome, will hope to swallow us; if we dis-unite our selves, in uncharitable mis-interpretations of one another; The peace of God is the peace that passeth all understanding; Phil. 4. 7.That men should subdue and captivate even their understanding to the love of this peace, that when in their understanding they see no reason why this or this thing should be thus or thus done, or so and so suffered, the peace of God, that is, charity, may passe their understanding, and goe above it; for, howsoever the affections of men, or the vicissitudes and changes of affairs may vary, or apply those two great axiomes, and aphorisms of ancient Rome, Salus populi suprema lex est…, The good of the people is above all Law, and then, Quod Principi places, lex esto, The pleasure of the Prince is above all Law, howsoever I say, various occasions may vary their Laws, adhere we to that Rule of the Law, which the Apostle prescribes, that we always make,1 Tim. …. 5. Finem pra…cepti charit…tem, The end of the Commandement charity; for, no Commandement, (no not those of the first Table) is kept, if, upon pretence of keeping that Commandement, or of the service of God, I come to an uncharitable opinion of other men.Ephef. 3. 17. That so first, Fundemur & radic…mur in charitate, that wee be planted, and take root in that ground, in charity, (so wee are, by being planted in that Church, that thinks charitably even of that Church, that uncharitably condemns us) And then,1 P…t. 1. 2. Vt …ultiplice…ur, That Grace and peace may be multiplyed in us, (so it is, if to our outward peace, God adde the inward peace of conscience in our own bosomes) and lastly,1 Thes. 3. 11. Vt abundemus, that we may not onelyonly encrease, (as the Apostle says there) but (as he adds) abound in charity towards one another, and towards all men, for this abundant and overflowing charity, (as long as we can, to beleeve well, for the present, and where we cannot do so, to hope well of the future) is the best preservative and antidote against the woe of this Text, Woe unto the world because of scandals and offences; which, though it be spoken of the Active, is more especially intended of the Passive scandal; and though it be pressed upon us, first, Quia Illusiones fortes, because those scandals are so strong, and then, Quia infer… nos, because we are so weak, doe yet endanger us most, in that respect, Quia pr…varicatores, because we open ourselves, nay offer our selves to the vexation of scandals, by an easie, a jealous, a suspicious, an uncharitable interpreting of others.