Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 27
SERMON XXVII.
Preached to the King, at White-Hall, the first of April, 1627.
MARK. 4. 24.
Take heed what you heare.
WHether that which is recorded by this Evangelist, in, and about this Chapter, be one intire Sermon of our Saviours, preached at once, or Notes taken and erected from severall Sermons of his, we are no further curious to inquire, then may serve to ground this Note, that if it were one intire Sermon our Saviour preached methodically, and eased his hearers with certain landmarks by the way, with certain divisions, certain transitions, and callings upon them,verse 3. to observe the points as they arose: For as he beginneth so, Hearken, Behold, so he returneth to that refreshing of their considerations, Et dixit illis, He said unto them; and, Again, he said unto them, seaven or eight times, in this Chapter; so many times he calleth upon them, to observe his passing from one point to another. If they be but Notes of severall Sermons, we onelyonly note this from that, That though a man understand not a whole Sermon, or remember not a whole Sermon, yet he doth well, that layeth hold upon such Notes therein as may be appliable to his own case, and his own conscience, and conduce to his own edification. The widow of Sarepta had no Palaces to build,1 Reg. 17. and therefore she went not out to survay Timber; she had onelyonly a poore cake to bake to save her own and her childs life, and she went out to gather a few sticks, two sticks as she told the Prophet Elias, to do that work. Every man that cometh to heare here, every man that cometh to speak here, cometh not to build Churches, nor to build Common-wealths; to speak onelyonly of the duties of Kings, and of Prelates, and of Magistrates; but that poore soul that gathers a stick or two, for the baking of her own cake, that layeth hold upon any Note for the rectifying of her own perverseness hath performed the commandment of this Text, Take heed what ye heare. He that is drowning, will take hold of a bulrush; and even that bulrush may stay him, till stronger means of succour come. If you would but feel, that you are drowning in the whirlepooles of sinne, and Gods judgements for sin, and would lay hold upon the shallowest man, (be that man dignified with Gods Character, the Character of Orders,) and lay hold upon the meanest part of his speach, (be that speach dignified with Gods Ordinance, be it a Sermon) even I, and any thing that I say here, and say thus, (spoken by a Minister of God, in the house of God, by the Ordinance of God) might stop you till you heard better, and you might be the fitter for more, if you would but take heed now what you heard; Take heed what you heare.
These words were spoken by Christ, Divisio.to his Apostles upon this occasion. He had told them before, That since there was a candle lighted in the world, it must not be put under a bushell, nor under a bed, verse 21. That all that is hid, should be made manifest; That all that was kept secret, should come abroad, verse 22. That if any man had ears to heare, he might heare, verse 23. That is, that the Mystery of salvation, which had been hid from the world till now, was now to be published to the world, by their Preaching, their Ministery, their Apostleship: And that therefore, since he was now giving them their Commission, and their instructions; since all that they had in charge for the salvation of the whole world, was onelyonly that, that he delivered unto them, that which they heard from him, they should take heed what they heard; Take heed what you heare. In which he layeth a double obligation upon them: First, All that you hear from me, you are to preach to the world; and therefore Take heed what you heare; forget none of that; And then, you are to preach no more then you heare from me; and therefore Take heed what you heare; adde nothing to that. Be not over-timorous so to prevaricate and forbear to preach that, which you have truely heard from me; But be not over-venturous neither, to pretend a Commission when you have none, and to preach that for my word, which is your own passion, or their purpose that set you up. And when we shall have considered these words in this their first acceptation, as they were spoken literally, and personally to the Apostles, we shall see also, that by reflexion they are spoken to us, the Ministers of the Gospell; and not onelyonly to us, of the Reformation, but to our Adversaries of the Romane perswasion too; and therefore, in that part, we shall institute a short comparison, whether they or we do best observe this commandment, Take heed what you heare; Preach all that, preach nothing but that, which you have received from me. And having passed through these words, in both those acceptations, literally to the Apostles, and by reflexion to all the Ministers of the Gospell, the Apostles being at this time, when these words were spoken, but Hearers, they are also by a fair accommodation appliable to you that are Hearers now, Take heed what you heare: And since God hath extended upon you that glorification, that beatification, as that he hath made you regale Sacerdotium, a royall Priesthood, since you have a Regality and a Priesthood imprinted upon you, since by the prerogative which you have in the Gospell of the Kingdome of Christ Jesus, and the co-inheritance which you have in that Kingdome with Christ Jesus himself, you are Regum genus, and Sacerdotum genus, of kin to Kings, and of kin to Priests, be carefull of the honour of both those, of whose honour, you have the honour to participate, and take heed what you heare of Kings, take heed what you heare of Priests, take heed of hearkning to seditious rumours, which may violate the dignity of the State, or of schismaticall rumours, which may cast a cloud, or aspersion upon the government of the Church; Take heed what you hear.
First then as the words are spoken, in their first acceptation, literally to the Apostles, the first obligation that Christ layes upon them,1 Part. is the publication of the whole Gospell. Take heed what you heare; for, all that, which you hear from me, the world must heare from you; for, for all my death and resurrection the world lies still surrounded under sinne, and Condemnation, if this death and resurrection, be not preached by you,Acts 1. 8. unto them. Therefore the last words that ever our Saviour spoke unto them, were a ratification of this Commission, You shall be my witnesses both in Ierusalem, and in Iudea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. God proceeds legally; Publication before Judgement. God shall condemn no man, for not beleeving in Christ, to whom Christ was never manifested. 'Tis true, that God is said to have come to Eliah in that still small voice, and not in the strong wind, not in the Earth-quake, 1. Reg. 19. 12. Zech. 10. 8. Mat. 10. 27.not in the fire. So God says, Sibilab… populum meum, I will but kisse, I will but whisper for my people, and gather them so. So Christ tells us things in darknesse; And so Christ speakes to us in our Ear; And these low voices, and holy whisperings, and halfe-silences, denote to us, the inspirations of his Spirit, as his Spirit beares witnesse with our spirit; as the Holy Ghost insinuates himselfe into our soules, and works upon us so, by his private motions. But this is not Gods ordinary way, to be whispering of secrets. The first thing that God made, was light; The last thing, that he hath reserved to doe; is the manifestation of the light of his Essence in our Glorification. And for Publication of himselfe here, by the way, he hath constituted a Church, in a Visibility, in an eminency, as a City upon a hill; And in this Church, his Ordinance is Ordinance indeed; his Ordinance of preaching batters the soule, and by that breach, the Spirit enters; His Ministers are an Earth-quake, and shake an earthly soule; They are the sonnes of thunder, and scatter a cloudy conscience; They are as the fall of waters, and carry with them whole Congregations; 3000 at a Sermon, 5000 at a Sermon, a whole City, such a City as Niniveh at a Sermon; and they are as the roaring of a Lion, where the Lion of the tribe of Juda, cries down the Lion that seekes whom he may devour; that is, Orthodoxall and fundamentall truths, are established against clamorous, and vociferant innovations. Therefore what Christ tels us in the darke, he bids us speake in the light; and what he saies in our eare, he bids us preach on the house top. Nothing is Gospell, not Evangelium, good message, if it be not put into a Messengers mouth, and delivered by him; nothing is conducible to his end, nor available to our salvation, except it be avowable doctrine, doctrine that may be spoke alowd, though it awake them, that sleep in their sinne, and make them the more froward, for being so awaked.
God hath made all things in a Roundnesse, from the round superficies of this earth, which we tread here, to the round convexity of those heavens, wch (as long as they shal have any beeing) shall be our footstool, when we come to heaven, God hath wrapped up all things in Circles, and then a Circle hath no Angles; there are no Corners in a Circle. Corner Divinity, clandestine Divinity are incompatible termes; If it be Divinity, it is avowable. The heathens served their Gods in Temples, sub dio, without roofs or coverings, in a free opennesse; and, where they could, in Temples made of Specular stone, that was transparent as glasse, or crystall, so as they which walked without in the streets, might see all that was done within. And even nature it self taught the naturall man, to make that one argument of a man truly religious, Aperto vivere voto, That he durst pray aloud, and let the world heare, what he asked at Gods hand; which duty is best performed, when we joyne with the Congregation in publique prayer. Saint Augustine, hath made that note upon the Donatists, That they were Clancularii, clandestine Divines, Divines in Corners. And in Photius, we have such a note almost upon all Heretiques; as the Nestorian was called Coluber, a snake, because though he kept in the garden, or in the meadow, in the Church, yet he lurked and lay hid, to doe mischief. And the Valentinian was called a Grashopper, because he leaped and skipped from place to place; and that creature, the Grashopper, you may hear as you passe, but you shall hardly find him at his singing; you may hear a Conventicle Schismatick, heare him in his Pamphlets, heare him in his Disciples, but hardly surprize him at his exercise. Publication is a fair argument of truth. That tasts of Luthers holy animosity, and zealous vehemency, when he says, Audemus gloriari Christum à nobis primo vulgatum; other men had made some attempts at a Reformation, and had felt the pulse of some persons, and some Courts, and some Churches, how they would relish a Reformation; But Luther rejoyces with a holy exultation, That he first published it, that he first put the world to it. So the Apostles proceeded; when they came in their peregrination, to a new State, to a new Court, to Rome it selfe, they did not enquire, how stands the Emperour affected to Christ, and to the preaching of his Gospel; Is there not a Sister, or a Wife that might be wrought upon to further the preaching of Christ? Are there not some persons, great in power and place, that might be content to hold a party together, by admitting the preaching of Christ? This was not their way; They only considered who sent them; Christ Jesus: And what they brough; salvation to every soul that embraced Christ Jesus. That they preached; and still begunne with a Vae si non; Never tell us of displeasure, or disgrace, or detriment, or death, for preaching of Christ. For, woe be unto us, if we preach him not: And still they ended with a Qui non crediderit, Damnabitur, Never deceive your own souls, He, to whom Christ hath been preached, and beleeves not, shall be damned. All Divinity that is bespoken, and not ready made, fitted to certaine turnes, and not to generall ends; And all Divines that have their soules and consciences, so disposed, as their Libraries may bee, (At that end stand Papists, and at that end Protestants, and he comes in in the middle, as neare one as the other) all these have a brackish taste; as a River hath that comes near the Sea, so have they, in comming so neare the Sea of Rome. In this the Prophet exalts our Consolation,Esai. 30. 20. Though the Lord give us the bread of Adversity, and the water of Affliction, yes shall not our Teachers be removed into corners; (They shall not be silenced by others, they shall not affect of themselves Corner Divinity. But (saies he there) our eyes shall see our Teachers, and our eares shall hear a word, saying, This is the way, walke in it. For so they shall declare, that they have taken to heart this Commandement of him that sent them, Christ Jesus. All that you receive from me, you must deliver to my people; therefore, Take heed what you hear; forget none of it. But then you must deliver no more then that; and therefore in that respect also, Take heed what you hear; adde nothing to that, and that is the other obligation which Christ laies here upon his Apostles.
That reading of those words of Saint Iohn, Oblig. 2. 1 Ioh. 4. 3.Omnis spiritus qui solvit Iesum, Every spirit that dissolves Jesus, that takes him asunder, in pieces, and beleeves not all, is a very ancient reading of that place. And upon that Ancient reading, the Ancients infer well, That not onelyonly that spirit that denies that Christ being God, assumed our flesh, not onelyonly he that denies that Christ consists of two natures, God and Mam, but he also that affirmes this Christ, thus consisting of two natures, to consist also of two persons, this man dissolves Iesus, takes him asunder, in pieces, and slackens the band of the Christian faith, which faith is, That Christ consisting of two natures, in one person, suffered for the salvation of man. So then, not onelyonly to take from Jesus, one of his natures, God or man, but to adde to him, another person, this addition is a Diminution, a dissolution, an annihilation of Jesus. So also to adde to the Gospel, to adde to the Scriptures, to adde to the articles of faith, this addition is a Diminution, a Dissolution, an Annihilation of those Scriptures, that Gospel, that faith, and the Author, and finisher thereof. Iesus grew in stature, says the Gospel; But he grew not to his lifes end; we know to, how many feet he grew. So the Scriptures grew to; the number of the books grew; But they grow not to the worlds end, we know to how many bookes they grew. The body of man and the vessels thereof, have a certain, and a limited capacity, what nourishment they can receive and digest, and so a certaine, measure and stature to extend to. The soul, and soul of the soul, Faith, and her faculties, hath a certain capacity too, and certain proportions of spirituall nourishments exhibited to it, in certaine vessels, certaine measures, so many, these Bookes of Scriptures. And therefore as Christ saies,Mat. 6. 27. Which of you can adde one Cubit to your stature? (how plentifully, and how delicately soever you feed, how discreetly, and how providently soever you exercise, you cannot doe that) so may he say to them who pretend the greatest power in the Church, Which of you can adde another booke to the Scriptures, A Codicill to either of my Testaments?22. 18. The curse in the Revelation fals as heavy upon them that adde to the booke of God, as upon them that take from it: Nay, it is easie to observe, that in all those places of Scripture which forbid the taking away, or the adding to the Book of God, still the commandment that they shall not, and still the malediction if they do, is first placed upon the adding, and after upon the taking away. So it is in that former place, Plagues upon him,4. 2. that takes away: but first, Plagues upon him, that addes: so in Deut. you shall not diminish,12. 32. but first, you shall not adde: So again in that Book, whatsoever I command you observe to do it: Thou shalt not diminish from it; but first, Thou shalt not adde to it. And when the same commandment seems to be given in the Proverbs, 30. 6.there is nothing at all said of taking away, but onelyonly of adding, as though the danger to Gods Church consisted especially in that; Every word of God, is pure, saith Solomon there: Adde thou not unto his word, lest thou be reproved and found a lyer. For, though heretofore some Heretiques have offered at that way, to clip Gods coin in taking away some book of Scripture, yet for many blessed Ages, the Church hath enjoyed her peace in that point: None of the Books are denied by any church, there is no substraction offered; But for addition of Apocryphal Books to Canonicall, the Church of God is still in her Militant state, and cannot triumph: and though she have victory, in all the Reasons, the cannot have peace. You see Christs way, to them that came to heare him;Matth. 5. Audiistis, and Audiistis, This, and that you have heard others say; Eg… autem dico; your Rule is, what I say; for Christ spoke Scripture; Christ was Scripture. As we say of great and universall Scholars, that they are viventes Bibliothecae, living, walking, speaking Libraries; so Christ was l…quens Scriptura; living, speaking Scripture. Our Sermons are Text and Discourse; Christ Sermons were all Text: Christ was the Word; not onelyonly the Essentiall Word, which was alwayes with God, but the very written word too; Christ was the Scripture, and therefore, when he refers them to himselfe, he refers them to the Scriptures, for though here he seem onelyonly, to call upon them, to hearken to that which he spoke, yet it is in a word, of a deeper impression; for it is Videte; See what you hear. Before you preach any thing for my word, see it, see it written, see it in the body of the Scriptures. Here then lies the double obligation upon the Apostles, The salvation of the whole world lies upon your preaching of that, of All That, of onelyonly That, which you hear from me now, And therefore, take heed what you hear. And farther we carry not your consideration, upon this first acceptation of the words as they are spoken personally to the Apostles, but passe to the second, as by reflexion, they are spoken to us, the Ministers of the Gospel.
In this consideration,Part. 2. we take in also our Adversaries; for we all pretend to be successors of the Apostles; though not we, as they, in the Apostolicall, yet they as well as we in the Evangelicall, and Ministeriall function: for, as that which Christ said to Saint Peter, he said in him, to all the Apostles, VponUpon this Rock will I build my Church, so in this which he saith to all the Apostles, he saith to all us also, Take heed what you heare. Be this then the issue between them of the Roman distemper, and us; whether they or we, do best perform this commandment, Take heed what you heare, conceal nothing of that which you have heard, obtrude nothing but that which you have heard: Whether they or we do best apply our practise to this rule, Preach all the Truth, preach nothing but the Truth, be this lis contestata, the issue joyned between us, and it will require no long pleading for matter of evidence;An omnem. Matth. 4. 4. Deut. 8. 3. first, our Saviour saith, Man liveth by every word, that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And this Christ saith from Moses also: so that in the mouth of two unreproachable witnesses, Moses, and Christ, the Law, and the Gospel, we have this established, Mans life is the Word of God, the Word is the Scripture. And then our Saviour saith further, The Holy Ghost shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance:Ioh. 14. 26. and here is the Latitude, the Totality, the Integrality of the meanes of salvation; you shall have Scriptures delivered to you, by them the Holy Ghost shall teach you all things; and then you shall be remembred of all, by the explication and application of those Scriptures, at Church, where lies the principall operation of the Holy Ghost. Now, is this done in the Roman Church? Are the Scriptures delivered, and explicated to them? To much of the Scriptures as is read to them, in their Lessons and Epistles, and Gospels, is not understood when it is read, for it is in an unknown language; so that, that way, the Holy Ghost teaches them nothing. Neither are all the Scriptures distributed into these Lessons and Epistles, and Gospels which are read: so that if they did understand all they heard, yet they did not heare all they were bound to understand. And for remembring them by the way of preaching, though it be true, that the Reformation (by way of example, though not by Doctrine) have so much prevailed upon them, as that they have now twenty Sermons in that Church, for one that they had before Luther, yet if a man could heare six Sermons a day, all the days of his life, he might die without having heard all the Scriptures explicated in Sermons: But when men have a Christian liberty afforded to them to read the Scriptures at home, and then are remembred of those things at Church, and there taught to use that liberty modestly, to establish their faith upon places of Scripture that are plain, and to suspend their judgment upon obscurer places, till they may, by due meanes, preaching or conference, receive farther satisfaction therein, from them, who are thereunto authorized by God in his Church, there certainly is this Rule of our Saviours, Take heed what you hear, preach all that you have received from me, likelyer to be observed then there, where the body of the conveyance, the Scripture it self is locked up from us; and the soule of the conveyance, the sense, and interpretation of the Scriptures, is locked into one mans brest; and the Great Seal of that conveyance, the Sacrament of our Reconciliation, is broken, and mutilated, and given us but by halfe.
But they do not onelyonly stray on that hand,An solam. in not giving all that the Scripture gives; (They doe not give the liberty of meates, nor the liberty of mariage, which the Scripture gives; Nay, they doe not give the liberty of trying, whether the Scripture give it or no; for they doe not give the liberty of reading the Scriptures) But on the other hand, they stray too, and further, That they deliver more then the Scriptures doe, and make other Rules and Canons equall to Scriptures. In which excesse, they doe not onelyonly make the Apocryphall Books, (Books that have alwaies had a favourable aspect, and benigne countenance from the Church of God) equall to Canonicall Scriptures, But they make their decretall Epistles of their Popes and of their Extravagants, (as they call them) and their occasionall Bulls, nay their Bull-baitings, their Buls fighting, and crossing and contradicting one another, equall to Canonicall Scripture. So that these men have put the salvation of the world, upon another science, upon another profession; It is not the Divine, that is the Minister of salvation, but the Canonist. I must not determine my beleef in the Apostles Creed, nor in Athanasius, nor in that of the Nicen Fathers; not onelyonly not the Scriptures, but not the Councels, nor Fathers must give the Materials, and Elements of my faith, but the Canon law; for so they rule it: Gratian that hath collected the sentences of Fathers and Councels, and digested them into heads of Divinity, he is no rule of our beleef, because, say they, he is no part of the body of the Canon law; But they that first compiled the Decretals, and the Extravagants, and they who have since recompiled more Decretals, and more Extravagants, the Clementins, and the Sextins, and of late yeares the Septims, with those of Iohn the 22. these make up the body of the Canon law, and these must be our Rule; what to beleeve. How long? Till they fall out with some State, with whom they are friends yet, or grown friends with some State, that they are fallen out with now; and then upon a new Decretall, a new Extravagant, I must contract a new, or enlarge, or restrain my old beleef. Certainly, as in naturall things, the assiduity takes off the admiration, (The rising, and the setting of the sunne, would be a miracle to him, that should see it but once) and as in civill things, the profusenesse, and the communication, and the indifferency takes off the Dignity, (for, as gold is gold still, the heaviest metall of all, yet if it be beat into leaf gold, I can blow it away; so Honour is honour still, the worthyest object of the worthyest spirits, and the noblest reward of the greatest Princes, yet the more have it, the lesse every one hath of it) So in the Roman Church, they have not found a better way to justify their blasphemy of the insufficiency of the Scriptures, then by making contemptible writings, as sufficient as Scriptures, equall to Scripture. If they could make me beleeve, the Scriptures were no more sufficient then their Decretals, and Extravagants, I should easily confesse there were no Scriptures sufficient for salvation. And farther we presse not this evidence, how farre they depart from this rule, Take heed what you heare, How much lesse, and how much more then Christ gave, they give, but passe to the third acceptation of these words, as, in a fair accommodation, they are spoken to you, who are now as the Apostles were then, Hearers, Take heed what you heare.
And into this part I enter with such a protestation,3 Part. as perchance may not become me: That this is the first time in all my life, (I date my life from my Ministery; for I received mercy, as I received the ministery, as the Apostle speaks) this is the first time, that in the exercise of my Ministery, I wished the King away; That ever I had any kinde of loathnesse that the King should hear all that I sayd. Here, for a little while, it will be a little otherwise; because in this branch, I am led, to speak of some particular duties of subjects; and in my poor way, I have thought it somewhat an Eccentrique motion, and off of the naturall Poles, to speake of the Duties of subjects before the King, or of the duties of Kings, in publike and popular Congregations. As every man is a world in himself, so every man hath a Church in himself; and as Christ referred the Church for hearing to the Scriptures, so every man hath Scriptures in his own heart, to hearken to. Obedience to Superiours, and charity to others, are In-nate Scriptures; Obedience and Charity, are the Naturall mans, the Civill mans, the Morall mans Old and New Testament. Take heed, that is, observe what you heare from them, and they will direct you well. And first, Take heed what you heare, is, take heed that you hear; That you do hearken to them,Iohn 8. 47. whom you should hear. Our Saviour saith, He that is of God, heareth his words; ye therefore hear them not, because you are not his. Transferre this to a civill application; to obedience to Superiors. Christ makes account that he hath argued safely so; If you heare him not, you are none of his. If you heare him not in his Lawes, heare him not in his Proclamations, heare him not in the Declarations of his wants and necessities, you are none of his, that is, you had rather you were none of his: There is a Nolumus hunc regnare smothered in our breasts, if we will not hear, and we had rather we might devest our Allegeance, rather we might be no subjects. By the Law, Exod. 21. 6.he that was willing to continue in the service of his Master, was willing to bee boared in the eare, willing to testify a readinesse of hearing and obedience. And when David describes the refractary man so,Psalm 53. 4. He is like the deafe Adder, that stoppeth her eare, which will not hearken to the voyce of Charmers, charming never so wisely, that word Charmer, signifies an eloquent, a persuasive man, a powerfull speaker; this Viper will not hear such. And for the sinnes of a Nation, when those sinnes come to the height,8. 17. God will first inflict that punishment in the Prophet Ieremy, I will send Serpents, Cockatrices amongst you, which will not be charmed, that is, venimous, and mutinous, and seditious spirits, upon whom, no language, no reason, no counsell, no perswasion can prevail;3. 1. And then, he will second, and aggravate that punishment, with that in Esay, The Lord shall take from Ierusalem, the man of warre, and the Iudge, and the Prophet, and the honourable man, and the Counseller, and the eloquent Oratour. As when they will not embrace religious duties, God shall take away their Preachers, so when they will not believe their Civill dangers, God shall take from them the spirit of persuasibility, and the power of perswasivenesse towards them, from them who should work upon them; and leave them a miserable example of that fearefull rule, whom God will destroy, he will infatuate first; from that Nation from whom God will depart, as he is the Lord of hosts, and not fight their battels, he will depart first, as he is the Angel of the great counsell, and not enlighten their understandings, that they might see their dangers. The Potion of jealousie,Num. 5. 12. was a bitter potion, and a putrefying potion, where it was to be ministred; and it was to be ministred to them, who gave the occasion of the jealousie. Now not to have brought Saul presents, not to have contributed to his present wars, and his present wants,1 Sam. 10. ult. this occasioned the jealousie; for so, says the text, They despised Saul, and brought him no presents; This was evidence enough of their contempt, That they brought him no presents. And where jealousies are so occasioned, much bitternesse may follow; many bitter potions may be administred; many bitter pilles may be swallowed. And therefore, take heed that you heare, and hear so, as may in one act testify your obedience to Superiours, and charity towards others, who are already enwrapped in the same miseries, that may reach you; for obedience and charity are an Old, and a New Testament.
Take heed that you heare them whom God hath appointed to speake to you; But, when you come abroad, take heed what you hear; for, certainely, the Devill doth not cast in more snares at the eye of man, then at the eare. Our Saviour Christ proposes it as some remedy against a mischief,Mat. 18. 8. That if the eye offend thee, thou mayst pull it out, and if thy hand or foot offend thee, thou mayst cut it off, and thou art safe from that offence. But he does not name nor mention the ear: for, if the ear betray thee, though thou doe cut it off, yet thou art open to that way of treason still, still thou canst heare. Where one man libels with the tongue, or hand, a hundred libel with the ear; One man speakes, or writes, but a hundred applaud and countenance a calumny. Therefore sepi aures tuas spinis, Ecclus. 28. 28.as the Vulgate reads that place, hedge thine eares with thornes; that he that would whisper a calumny in thine ear, against another man, may be pricked with those thornes, that is, may discern from thee, that he is not welcome to thee, and so forbear; or if he will presse upon thee, those thorns may prick thee, and warne thee that there is an uncharitable office done which thou shouldest not countenance.
Neither onelyonly may thy charity towards another, be violated by such a whisperer, but thine own safety endangered; And therefore, Take heed what you hear. There are two dangerous sorts of men, whom we call Auricularios, Earwigs transformed into men. And certainely there is no Lycanthropie so dangerous, not when men are changed into devouring wolfes, as when these Earwigs are metamorphos'd into men. The first sort is of those, who take us into their eares; the other, that put themselves into ours. The first are they, that receive Auricular confessions; in which a man will propose to his Confessar, treasonable and bloody purposes; and if he allow them, then it is no longer a confession, but a consultation, and he may disclose it to any, whom he may thereby draw in; But if his Confessar disallow it, then it retaines the nature of a confession still, and being delivered under that Seale, it may not be revealed, though the concealing cost Christendome, or, (as they expresse it) all the souls, that Christ hath dyed for. And of these Earwigs, of these Auricular men, we had shrewd experience in the carriage of that treason, the Emphaticall Treason, in respect of which, all other Treasons are but Trespasses, all Rebellions but Ryots, all Battayls but Frays. But then, the more frequent, and the more dangerous Earwig is he, that upon pretence of trusting thee with a secret, betrays thee, and therefore Take heed what you hear. Bartelus that great Lawyer, had delivered it for law, that whosoever hears treason, and reveals it not, is a Traitour. And though Baldus, a great Lawyer, and one between whom, and Bartolus, the scales are even, say, That Bartolus his soule, and all their soules that follow him in that opinion, burne in hell for that uncharitablenesse, yet, to verify that, that the most doe goe to hell, the most doe follow Bartolus, and so thy danger, that huntest after the knowledge of great secrets, is the greater, and therefore, Take heed what you heare. Arridet tibi homo, & instar privati sermones occupat, says the little great Epictetus, or Arrian upon him, a man will put himself into thy company, and speake in the confidence of a deare friend, and then, De Principe inclementer loquitur, he comes to speake boldly and irreverently of the greatest persons; and thou thinkest thou hast found Exemplum & monumentum fidei, a rare, a noble, an ingenuous, a free, and confident Spirit, Et pertexis, quod prior inceperat; Thou doest but say on that which he was saying, and make up his sentence, or doest but believe him, or doest but not say, that thou doest not believe him, and thy few words, thy no words, may cost thee thy life. Per ornamenta ferit, says the Patriarch, and Oracle of Morall men, Seneca; This whisperer wounds thee, and with a stilletta of gold, he strangles thee with scarfes of silk, he smothers thee with the down of Phoenixes, he stifles thee with a perfume of Ambar, he destroys thee by praising thee, overthrows thee by exalting thee, and undoes thee by trusting thee; By trusting thee with those secrets that bring thee into a desperate perplexity, Aut alium accusare in subsidium tui, (as the Patriarch, and Oracle of States-men, Tacitus, says) Either to betray another, that pretends to have trusted thee, or to perish thy selfe, for the saving of another, that plotted to betray thee. And therefore, if you can heare a good Organ at Church, and have the musique of a domestique peace at home, peace in thy walls, peace in thy bosome, never hearken after the musique of sphears, never hunt after the knowledge of higher secrets, then appertaine to thee; But since Christ hath made you Regale Sacerdotium, Kings and Priests, in your proportion, Take heed what you hear, in derogation of either the State, or the Church.
In declaring ill affections towards others,Regnum. Exod. 21. 17. the Holy Ghost hath imprinted these steps. First, he begins at home, in Nature, He that curseth Father or Mother shall surely be put to death; and then, as families grow out into Cities, the Holy Ghost goes out of the house,Exod. 22. 28. into the consideration of the State, and says, Thou shalt not curse the Ruler of the people, no Magistrate. 2 Sam. 19. 21.And from thence he comes to the highest upon earth, for in Samuel, Lev. 24. 15.it comes to a cursing of the Lords Anointed; and from thence to the highest in heaven, Whosoever curseth his God, shall bear his sinne; and as though both those grew out of one another, The cursing of the King, and the cursing of God, the Prophet Esai hath joyned them together,8. 21. They shall be hungry, says he, (indigent, poor, penurious) and they shall fret, (be transported with ungodly passion) and they shall curse their King and their God: If they doe one, they will doe the other. The Devil remembers from what height he is fallen, and therefore still clambers upward, and still directs all our sinnes, in his end, upon God: Our end, in a sin, may be pleasure, or profit, or satisfaction of affections, or passions; but the Devils end in all is, that God may be violated and dishonoured in that sinne: And therefore by casting in ill conceptions and distasts, first, against Parents and Masters at home, and then against subordinate Magistrates abroad, and so against the Supreme upon earth, He brings us to ill conceptions and distasts against God himself; first, to thinke it liberty to bee under no Governour, and then, liberty to be under no God; when as, onelyonly those two services, of a gracious God, and of a good King, are perfect freedome. Therefore the wise King Solomon meets with this distemper in the root, at first ebullition, in the heart;Eccles. 10. 20. Curse not the King, no not in thy thought; for, that Thought hath a tongue, and hath spoken, and sayd Amen in the eares of God; That which thy heart hath said, though the Law have not, though the Jury have not, though the Peers have not, God hath heard thee say. The word which Solomon uses there, is Iadung; and that our Translators have in the margin called Conscience; Curse not the King, no not in thy conscience; Doe not thou pronounce, that whatsoever thou dislikest, cannot consist with a good conscience; never make thy private conscience the rule of publique actions; for to constitute a Rectitude, or an Obliquity in any publique action, there enter more circumstances, then can have fallen in thy knowledge. But the word that Selomon takes there, Iad…ng, signifies properly all waies of acquiring knowledge, and Hearing is one of them, and therefore, Take heed what you heare: Come not so neare evill speaking, as to delight to heare them, that delight to speake evill of Superiours. A man may have a good breath in himself, and yet be deadly infected, if he stand in an ill ayre; a man may stand in a cloud, in a mist, in a fogge of blasphemers, till, in the sight of God, himself shall be dissolved into a blasphemous wretch, and in that cloud, in that mist, God shall not know him, that endured the hearing, from him, that adventured the speaking of those blasphemies. The ear, in such cases, is as the clift in the wall, that receives the voice, and then the Echo is below, in the heart; for the most part, the heart affords a returne, and an inclination to those things that are willingly received at the ear; The Echo returnes the last syllables; The heart concludes with his conclusions, whom we have been willing to hearken unto. We make Satyrs; and we looke that the world should call that wit; when God knowes, that that is in a great part, self-guiltinesse, and we doe but reprehend those things, which we our selves have done, we cry out upon the illnesse of the times, and we make the times ill: so the calumniator whispers those things, which are true, no where, but in himselfe. But thy greater danger, is that mischievous purpose, (which we spake of before) to endanger thee by hearing, and to entangle thee in that Dilemma, of which, an ingenuous man abhors one part, as much as a conscientious man does the other, That thou must be a Delinquent, or an Accuser, a Traitour or an Informour: God hath imprinted in thee characters of a better office, and of more dignity, of a Royall Priesthood; as you have sparks of Royaltie in your soules, Take heed what you hear of State-government; as you have sparks of holy fire, and Priesthood in your soules, Take heed what you heare of Church-government, which is the other consideration.
The Church is the spouse of Christ: Noble husbands do not easily admit defamations of their wives.Ecclesia. Very religious Kings may have had wives, that may have retained some tincture, some impressions of errour, which they may have sucked in their infancy, from another Church, and yet would be loth, those wives should be publikely traduced to be Heretiques, or passionately proclaimed to be Idolaters for all that. A Church may lacke something of exact perfection, and yet that Church should not be said to be a supporter of Antichrist, or a limme of the beast, or a thirster after the cup of Babylon, for all that. From extream to extream, from east to west, the Angels themselves cannot come, but by passing the middle way between; from that extream impurity, in which Antichrist had damped the Church of God, to that intemerate purity, in which Christ had constituted his Church, the most Angelicall Reformers cannot come, but by touching, yea, and stepping upon some things, in the way. He that is come to any end, remembers when he was not at the middle way; he was not there as soon as he set out. It is the posture reserved for heaven, to sit down, at the right hand of God; Here our consolation is, that God reaches out his hand to the receiving of those who come towards him; And nearer to him, and to the institutions of his Christ, can no Church, no not of the Reformation, be said to have come, then ours does. It is an ill nature in any man, to be rather apt to conceive jealousies, and to suspect his Mothers honour, or his sisters chastity, then a strange womans. It is an irreverent unthankfulnesse, to think worse of that Church, which hath bred us, and fed us, and led us thus far towards God, then of a forein Church, though Reformed too, and in a good degree. How often have I heard our Church condemned abroad, for opinions, which our Church never held? And how often have I heard forein Churches exalted and magnified at home, for some things in the observation of the Sabbath, and in the administration of the Sacrament, which, indeed, those Churches doe not hold, nor practise? Take heed what you heare; And that ill, which you heare of your own Church, at home, by Gods abundant goodnesse to it, is not true; And, I would all that good, which you heare of Churches abroad, were true; but I must but wish, that it were so, and pray that it may be so, and praise God, for those good degrees towards it, which they have attained; But no Church in the world, gives us occasion of emulation towards them, or of undervaluing Gods blessings upon ours. And therefore, as to us, who pretend an ambassage from him, if we make our selves unworthy of that employment, God shall say,Psal. 50. …6. What hast thou to doe, to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my Covenant into thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee? So to them, that hearken greedily after defamations of the persons and actions of his Church, God shall say, Why takest thou mine Ordinance into thy construction, or my servants into thy consideration, since thou hatest my yoake, and proposest to thy selfe no other end, in defaming others, then a licentious liberty, and an uncontrolled impunity in thy selfe? As you are Christians, God hath given you a Royall Priesthood; be so Noble, be so Holy, as to take heed what you heare, of State and Church, and of those persons, whom God hath called Gods, in both those firmaments. And, for conclusion of all, Take heed what you heare of yourselves.
Men speake to you,Conclusio. and God speakes to you, and the Devill does speake to you too; Take heed what you hear of all three. In all three the words look two ways; for, in them, there is both a Videte, and a Cavete, first see that you doe heare them, and then take heed what you heare from them. Men will speake; and they will speake of you: Men will discourse, and you must be their subject; Men will declame, and you must be their Theme. And truely you should desire to be so: As onelyonly man can speake, so onelyonly man can desire to be spoken of. If gold could speake, if gold could wish, gold would not be content to lie in the darke, in the mine, but would desire to come abroad, to entertain Armies, or to erect, or endow Civill, or Ecclesiasticall buildings. He that desires to Print a book, should much more desire, to be a book; to do some such exemplar things, as men might read, and relate, and profit by. He that hath done nothing worth the speaking of, hath not kept the world in reparations, for his Tenement and his Terme. Videte, see that you doe hear, That you doe give occasion to be spoken of, that you doe deserve the praise, the thankes, the testimony, the approbation of the good men of your own times, for that shall deliver you over fairely to posterity. But then, Cavete, Take heed what you hear, that you suffer not these approbations to swerve,Eccles. 7. 5. or swell into flattery: for, it is better to hear the Rebuke of the wise, then to heare the songs of fools,Prov. 26. 25. says the wise King: And, when the flatterer speaks thee faire, says he, beleeve him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart; And, (by the way) the Holy Ghost at any time, had as lieve say seventy millions, as seven; for seven is the holy Ghosts Cyphar of infinite; There are infinite abominations, in the flatterers heart. And of these flatterers, these waspes, that swarme in all sweet, and warme places, and have a better outside… then the Bee, (the Waspe hath a better shape, and a better shape, and a better appearance then the Bee, but a sharper and a stronger sting, and, at last, no hony) of these, no authors of any books of the Bible, have warned us so much, and armed us so well, as those two Royall Authors, those two great Kings, David, and Solomon; In likelyhood because they, as such, had been most offered at by them,Psal. 55. 22. and could best give a true character of them, as David does, Their words are smoother then butter, but warre is in their hearts, and softer then oile, and yet they are naked swords. Videte, Cavete, see that you do hear, that you give good men occasion to speak well of you; But take heed what you hear, that you encourage not a flatterer, by your over easie acceptation of his praises.
Man speakes; and God speakes too; and first Videte,Deus. see that you do heare him; for, as he that fears God, fears nothing else, so he that hears God hears nothing else, that can terrifie him. Ab Auditione mala non timebit,Psal. 112. 7. says David, a good man shall not be afraid of evill tydings, for his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. A rumor shall come one year, 51. 46.says Ieremy, and next year another rumor; new inventions from Satan, for new intimidations; but still he is at home, for he dwells in God. Videte, see that you heare him; But then Cavete, take heed what you heare, even from God himself, that you mistake not what God says, for as all Gods pardons have an Ita quòd se bene gerat; He whom God pardons, for that that is past, is bound to the good behaviour for the future,Es…. 1. 19. so all Gods promises have a Si audiertis, si volueritis, if I hearken, if I obey, I shall eat the good things of the land; otherwise I shall sterve, body, and soule. There is a Vives proposed to me, I may conceive justly an infallibility of eternall life, but still it is; fac hoc & vives, this I must doe, and then I shall live; otherwise, moriar, and morte moriar, I shall dy both ways, body and soule. There is not much asked of Ioshua, but something there is; It is but a Tantummodo hoc, onelyonly this; but a Tantummodo hoc, an onelyonly this there is, OnelyOnly be thou valiant, and of a good courage; forsake not the cause of God, and God will never forsake thee. There is not much asked of Iairus, for the resuscitation of his dead daughter, but something there is, it is Tantummodo hoc, but onelyonly this; but an onelyonly this there is, Tantummodo crede, & non metuas; doe not mistrust Christ, doe not disable Christ, from doing a miracle, in thy behalfe, by not beleeving; as, in one place, where he came, it is said that Christ could not doe much, by reason of their unbeleefe. Heare God there, where God speaks to thee, and then thou shalt heare, that, that he speakes to thee. Above, in heaven, in his decrees, he speakes to himselfe, to the Trinity: In the Church, and in the execution of those decrees, he speakes to thee. Climbe not up, to the search of unsearchable things, to the finding out of investigable things, as Tertullian speakes; but look to that which is neare thee; not so much to those Decrees which have no conditions, as to be able to plead conditions performed, or, at least, a holy sorrow, that thou hast not performed them. Videte, Cavete; see that you doe heare God, else every rumor will scatter you; But take heed what you heare, else you may come to call conditionall things absolute.
And lastly, since Satan will be speaking too, Videte, be sure you doe heare him, be sure you discerne it to be his voice, and know what leads you into tentation. For, you may hear a voice that shall say, youth must have pleasures, and greatnesse must have State, and charge must have support. And this voice may bring a young man to transfer all his wantonesse upon his years, when it is the effect of high dyet, or licentious discourse, or wanton Images admitted, and cherished in his fancy; and this voice may bring great officers, to transfer their inaccessiblenesse, upon necessary State, when it is an effect of their own lazinesse, or indulgence to their pleasures; and this voice may bring rich landlords to transfer all their oppression of tenants, to the necessity of supporting the charge of wives and children, when it is an effect of their profusenesse and prodigality. Nay you may heare a voice, that may call you to this place, and yet be his voice; which is that, which Saint Augustine confesses and laments, that even to these places persons come to look upon one another, that can meet no where else. Videte; see you doe heare, that you doe discerne the voice; for, that is never Gods voice that puts upon any man, a necessity of sinning, out of his years and constitution, out of his calling and profession, out of his place, and station, out of the age, and times that he lives in, out of the pleasure of them, that he lives upon, or out of the charge of them, that live upon him. But then, Cavete, take heed what you heare from him too, especially then, when he speakes to thee upon thy death-bed, at thy last transmigration; then when thine eares shall be deafe, with the cryes of a distressed, and a distracted family, and with the found, and the change of the found of thy last bell; then when thou shalt heare a hollow voice in thy selfe, upbraiding thee, that thou hast violated all thy Makers laws, worn out all thy Saviours merits, frustrated all the endeavours of his blessed Spirit upon thee, evacuated all thine own Repentances, with relapses; then when thou shalt see, or seem to see his hand turning the streame of thy Saviours bloud into another channell, and telling thee, here's enough for Iew and Turke, but not a drop for thee; then when in that multiplying glasse of Despaire, which he shall present, every sinfull thought shall have the proportion of an Act, and every Act, of a Habite, when every Circumstance of every sin, shall enter into the nature of the sin it selfe, and vary the sinne, and constitute a particular sinne; and every particular sinne, shall be a sinne against the holy Ghost; Take heed what you heare; and be but able to say to Satan then, as Christ said to Peter, in his name, Vade retro Satan, come after me Satan, come after me tomorrow; come a minute after my soule is departed from this body, come to me, where I shall be then, and when thou seest me washed in the bloud of my Saviour, clothed in the righteousnesse of my Saviour, lodged in the bosome of my Saviour, crowned with the merits of my Saviour, confesse, that upon my death-bed, thou wast a lyer, and wouldest have been a murderer, and the Lord shall, and I, in him, shall rebuke thee. See that yee refuse not him, that speaketh, says the Apostle;Heb. 12. 25. not any that speakes in his name; but especially not him, whom he names there, that speakes better things, then the bloud of Abel; for, the bloud of Abel speakes but by way of example, and imitation; the bloud of Christ Jesus, by way of Ransome, and satisfaction. Heare what that bloud says for you, in the eares of the Father, and then no singing of the flatterer, no lisping of the tempter, no roaring of the accuser, no thunder of the destroyer shall shake thy holy constancy. Take heed what you heare, remember what you have heard; and the God of heaven, for his Sonne Christ Jesus sake, by the working of his blessed Spirit, prosper and emprove both endeavours in you. Amen.