Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 42
SERMON XLII.
A Sermon Preached in Saint Pauls in the Evening, November 23. 1628.
PROV. 14. 31.
He that oppresseth the poore, reprocheth his Maker, but he that honoureth him, hath mercy on the poore.
Part of the first Lesson, for that Evening Prayer.
THese are such words, as if we were to consider the words onelyonly, might make a Grammar Lecture, and a Logick Lecture, and a Rhetorick and Ethick, a Philosophy Lecture too; And of these foure Elements might a better Sermon then you are like to heare now, be well made. Indeed they are words of a large, of an extensive comprehension. And because all the words of the Word of God, are, in a great measure, so, that invites me to stop a little, as upon a short first part before the rest, or as upon a long entrie into the rest, to consider, not onelyonly the powerfulnesse of the matter, but the sweetnesse and elegancy of the words of the Word of God in generall, before I descend to the particular words of this Text, He that oppresseth the poore, &c.
We may justly accommodate those words of Moses, Deut. 3. 24.to God the Father, What God is there in Heaven, or in Earth, that can doe according to thy workes? And those words of Ieremie, to God the Sonne, Behold, and see, if there be any sorrow, like unto my sorrow; And those to the Holy Ghost which are in Esay,Lam. 1. 12. Loquimini, ad Cor, speake to the heart, speake comfortably to my People, And those of Saint Iohn too,Apoc. 4. 1. 10. 3. A voyce of Thunder, and after, A voyce of seaven Thunders talking with me: for, who can doe, like the Father, who can suffer like the Sonne, who can speake like the Holy Ghost? Eloquia Domini, eloquia casta, Psal. 12. 6.saith David, The words of the Lord are chaste words, sincere, pure words, no drosse, no profanenesse, no such allay mingled with them; for, as it followeth there, They are as silver tried and purified seaven times in the fire. They are as that silver, that is so tried, and they are as that fire that trieth it. It is Castum, a Pure Word in it self, and then it is powerfull upon the Hearer too; Ignitum Eloquium tuum vehementer, saith he,Psal. 119. 140. Thy word hath the vehement operation of fire; and therefore, thy servant loveth it well, as it followeth there; Therefore, because it pierces; But therefore especially, because it carrieth a sweetnesse with it. For, the sting of the Serpent pierces, and the toothe of the Viper pierces, but they carry venenosam salivam, a venimous and mischievous liquour with them.103. But Dulcia faucibus super Mel, Thy words are sweeter to my mouth, then Hony; Prov. 16. 24.then Hony it selfe. For, verba composita, saith Solomon, chosen words, studied, premeditated words, pleasing words, (so we translate it) are as a Honycombe. Now, in the Hony combe, the Hony is collected and gathered, and dispensed, and distributed from the Hony-combe, And of this Hony-combe is wax, wax apt for sealing, derived too. The distribution of this Hony to the Congregation, The sealing of this Hony to the Conscience, is in the outward Ordinance of God, and in the labour of the Minister, and his conscionable fitting of himselfe for so great a service. But the Hony-Combe is not the Hony, The gifts of the man, is not the Holy Ghost. Iacob laid this blessing upon his sonne Naphtali, Dabit Eloquia pulchritudinis; Gen. 49. 21.That he should be a well-spoken, and a perswasive man. For, of a defect in this kinde, Moses complained, and so did Esay, and Ieremie did so too, when they were to be imployed in Gods service, Moses that he was of uncircumcised; Esay that he was of unclean lips, and Ieremie that he was a Childe, and could not speak; and therefore this was a Blessing upon Naphtali, that hee should bee a well-spoken, and a perswasive man. For so, Moses, after God had farther inabled him,Deut. 32. 1. saith, Give eare, O yee Heavens, and I will speake; Heare O Earth, the words of my mouth, My mouth, saith Moses; The Minister of God, that cometh with convenient gifts, and due preparation, may speak such things, as Earth, and Heaven it selfe may be content to heare. For,Ephes. 3. 10. when Saint Paul saith, That to the Principalities, and Powers in Heavenly places, the manifold wisdome of God, is made known by the Church, that is, by the Ministery, and Service of the Church, and by that which is done here, wee may congruously and piously beleeve, that even those Principalities and Powers in Heavenly places, The Angels of Heaven doe heare our Sermons, and hearken how the glory of God is communicated, and accepted, and propagated through the Congregation; and as they rejoyce at the conversion of a Sinner, so rejoyce also at the means of their Conversion, the powerfull, and the congruous preaching of the Word of God. And therefore, let no man, though an Angell of the Church, though an Archangell of the Church,Heb. 13. 2. Bishop or Archbishop, refuse to heare a man of imeriour place, or inferiour parts to himself; neither let any man be discouraged by the fewnesse or meannesse of his Hearers: For, as the Apostle saith, with relation to Abraham, Entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained Angels unawares, so, preach to all, and that seat that thou thinkest empty, may have Angels in it: To them is the manifold Wisedome of God made knowne by the Church, and Angels are here; here, for the augmentation of their owne Ioy, in their fresh knowledge of the propagation of the Kingdome of God, in this Congregation, and they are here, for their Accusation that are not here, but frivolously and causelessely absent, or negligently, absently present, if they be here. Therefore Moses might say, Give eare O yee Heavens, though it bee but I, that speake; And hee might add, as he doth there, My Doctrine shall droppe as the rain, and my speech shall distll as the dew. And why? Because I will publish the Name of the Lord, saith Moses there; because I will deliver the Messages of my God to his People.
What though you doe, must this be ascribed unto you? no, Moses claimeth not that; for when hee had said, Give eare, O yee Heavens, (let no man thinke himselfe too high, or too wise to heare me) and called it his Doctrine, and his speech, because he published the Name of the Lord, yet he transferreth all upon God himselfe, He establisheth their attentions with that Ascribe yee Greatnesse unto our God. It becommeth me to make my selfe as acceptable a messenger as I can, and to infuse the Word of God into you, as powerfully as I can, but all that I can doe, is but a small matter, the greatnesse of the worke lieth in your Application, and that must proceed from the Word of God it selfe, quickned by his Spirit, and therefore Ascribe all Greatnesse unto our God, for that is the Hony, whatsoever, or whosoever be the Honycombe. Truely, when I reade a Sermon of Chrysostome, or of Chrysologus, or of Ambrose, Men, who carry in the very signification of their Names, and in their Histories, the attributes of Hony mouthed, and Golden-mouthed Men, I finde my selfe oftentimes, more affected, with the very Citation, and Application of some sentence of Scripture, in the middest or end of one of their Sermons, then with any witty, or forcible passage of their owne. And that is it, which Saint Hierome doth especially magnifie in Saint Paul. After he had said, Quotiescunque lego, non verba mihi videor, sed tonitrua audire, wheresoever I open Saint Pauls Epistles, it is not a word or a sentence, but a clappe of Thunder, that flieth out; he addeth moreover, Legatis, doe but use your selves to the reading of Saint Pauls Epistles, Videbitis, in testimoniis quae sumit, ex veteri Testamento, quàm Artifex sit, quàm prudens, you will easily see how artificially, how dexterously, how cunningly, and how discreetly he makes his use of those places which he citeth out of the Old Testament; Videntur verba Innocontis, & rusticani; you would take them saith hee, sometimes for words of some plain Country-man, (as some of the Prophets were no other;) But before Saint Paul have done with those words, Fulmina sunt, & capiunt omne quod tangunt, hee maketh you see, that they are flashes of lightning, and that they possesse, and melt, affect and dissolve every soul they touch. And hence it is, Beloved, that I return so often at home in my private Meditations, that I present so often to Gods People in these Exercises, this Consideration, That there are not so exquisite, so elegant Bookes in the World, as the Scriptures; neither is any one place a more pregnant example thereof, for the purity and elegancy, for the force and power, for the largenesse and extention of the words, then these which the Holy Ghost hath taken in this Text, Hee that oppresseth the poore, reproaches his Master, &c. And so we passe from this first Consideration, The power and Elegancy of the whole word of God, in generall, to the same consideration in these particular words.
The Matter,Divisio. which in the generall is but this, That the poor must bee relieved, being a Doctrine obvious to all; The Manner wil rather be our object, at this time: How the Holy Ghost, by Solomons hand, hath enwrapped this Doctrine, in these words, How the Omission of this Duty is aggravated, how the performance thereof is celebrated in this Text, and in the force and elegancies thereof. Mans perversenesse hath changed Gods method; God made man good, but in a possibility of being ill; Now, God findes man ill, but in a possibility of being good. When man was good, and enabled to continue so, God began with him, with affirmative Commandements; Commandements that implied liberty and Soveraignty; such as that, Subjicite & Dominamini, Subdue the Creature, and rule over the Creature; and he comes not till after, to Negative, to Prohibitive Commandments, Commandments that imply infirmity, and servility; such as this, Of this Tree thou shalt not eate, upon thy life; this life, and the next, thou shalt not. But now, because God findes man ill, and prone to bee worse, God is faine to change his method, and to begin, and stop him at first with negative, and prohibitive Commandments. So he does in the thirty fourth Psalm, ver. 14. (which is also again repeated) first,1 Pet. 3. 10. Depart from evill, and then, Doe good. For man brings with him something into the world now, to forget, and to unlearn, before he can take out any new lesson: Man is so farre from being good of himselfe, as that he must forget himselfe, devest himselfe, forsake himselfe, before he can be capable of any good. And such is the method of our Text; Because God sees a naturall declination in man, to abuse his power, to the oppression of inferiours, hee begins with that Prohibition, Oppresse not the poore; And then when he hath brought them to that moderation, and that temper, then he carries them farther towards perfection, to an honouring of God in shewing mercy to the poor.
In which method, so disposed into two parts, the fault first, and then the duty, we shall proceed by these steps; First, in the first, we shall consider the fault it self, Oppression; which, in generall, is an unjust damnifying of others. And secondly, the specification of the Persons, the Poore; for others, our Superiours, we may unjustly damnifie too; but that is a fault of another nature; I should rather call it envy, or emulation, or ambition, or supplantation, then oppression; and therefore that second branch will fairly admit a little disquisition, a short comparison of those two kindes of sinnes, Whether emulation of superiours, or oppression of inferiours, bee in the nature, and roote thereof, the greater sinne. In which latter sinne, which is properly the sinne of our Text, that is, oppression of the poore, we shall see, (in a third branch) the iniquity, and hainousnesse thereof aggravated in this, that it is said to bee a Reproach, a Contumely; and Contumely, and Reproach, against whomsoever it bee bent; hath always a venemous, and a mischievous Nature. But much more here, where it is bent against God himselfe; and against God in that supreme, and primary notion, as a Creator, as a Maker, He reproaches the Maker; But then whose Maker? If I should say I cannot tell, the words themselves, and the construction thereof, in the variety of the Hebrew Grammars, would justifie mine ignorance, for they will not admit it to bee easily determined, whether it bee Factorem ejus, or Factorem suum, whether he that oppresses the poore, be said to reproach his Maker that is made poore, or his own Maker: And therefore we shall make our use of both; for both meet to aggravate the fault; If I oppresse the poore, I reproach him that made that poore man, and made that man poore, and I reproach him that made me. And in these circumstances, The fault, Oppression; the specification of the Persons, the Poore; the Probleme, the Comparison of the two sinnes; the Aggravation, as it is a Reproach, a reproach against God, and God as a Creator, as his Creator, as my Creator, wee shall determine that first part. And when in our order thus proposed, wee shall come to our second Part, which is the recommendation, and celebration of the Duty it selfe, To honour God, by shewing mercy to the poore, wee shall first consider the persons, the poore; and then the act, to shew mercy to the poore; and lastly the effect, and benefit thereof; for, as the omission of the duty was aggravated with that, that it was a reproaching of God, the performance thereof is exalted by this, That it is an honouring of God. After all which we shall conclude all, with the consideration of that which is indeed the poorest of all, the sickest, and forest, and saddest, the feeblest and faintest, the wretchedest, and miserablest thing in the world, your owne souls; and lead you to see, how you do reproach God in oppressing, how you might honour God in shewing mercy to those poore souls of yours. And this will be the compasse, in which I shall lead your devotions for this houre; this will be the circle, which from this center, reliefe of the poore, (which is the summe, and resultance of the Text) and by these poles, the hainousnesse of the fault, the happinesse of the duty, I shall designe unto you.
We proposed at first, to consider our two parts,1 Part. the fault, and the duty, in the elegancy of the words chosen by the holy Ghost here, according to their origination, and extraction, in the nature of the words, and their latitude and extension, in their use, in other places of Scripture. That we shall do; and in that way, our first word is oppression; Gnashak in the Originall; and Gnashak, as it does oftentimes signifie vim, violence, and force, so does it often signifie dolum, deceit and fraud also: so that violence and deceit concurre in this oppression. And more then they. For Solomon does not depart from that which he meanes,Prov. 17. 5. when he sayes here, He that oppresses the poore, reproaches his Maker, when he sayes in another place, He that macks the poore, reproaches his Maker. So that now these three, violence, and deceit, and scorne are the elements, the ingredients that make up this oppression. There is not a more brutish thing then violence; amongst beasts all goes by force. There is not a more devillish thing then deceit; the Serpent destroyed us all by that. But man hath raised a degree of oppression, beyond beasts, and their violence, and beyond the devill, and his falshood, that is, scorn. For, though the devill oppresse man, and hate man, he does not scorne man; he findes man a considerable enemy. For when he hath throwne a man into the world, oppressed with originall sinne, that man is not therefore his; the Sacrament of Baptisme frustrates him of that Title. When he hath oppressed him in the world, by actuall and habituall sinnes, that man is not therefore his, for a worthy receiving of the body and blood of Christ Jesus frustrates him of that Title. And how weake soever man be in himselfe, yet, in Christo omnia possumus, There is one man (and in that one man are all men, that is, all mankinde, enwrapped) who lye open to the Serpent onelyonly in his heele, and the Serpent to him, in his head; and in him, Omnia possumus, in Christ, the weakest man can do any thing. The Devill could oppresse Iob with violence; fire, and sword, and ruine upon his goods, and cattell, and servants, and children, and himself too. The Devill could oppresse him with deceit, corrupt the wife of his bosome, to tempt him to desperation; but he never came to scorne Iob; for he saw Iob did not serve God for nought; Iob had good wages, and God had hedged him, enclosed him, for himself. Scorne is an affection, that implies such a heighth above another, as cannot be justified in any but God himself. Man can oppresse by deceit; The Kings of the earth take counsell together; they study how to circumvent;Psal. 2. 2. and man can oppresse with violence; there they breake bands asunder, and cast away cords; they will be bound by no lawes. But then, it is onelyonly God, who there laughs them to scorne, and hath them in derision. Now here, the oppressor practises the beasts part, he comes to violence, and the Devils part, he comes to deceit, and he usurps upon Gods part, he comes to that heighth, as to think he may scorn and contemne. And whom? for that is our next consideration; he oppresseth the poore, he treads down the poore; him that was dust before, he treads into dirt, macerated with his own sweat, his own tears, his own blood. He oppresses him with deceit; the credulous and confident wretch, who, because he is harmlesse in himself, is fearelesse of others, he betrayes, he circumvents. And he oppresses with scorne; him whom poverty hath made the subject of pity and of prayers, he makes the anvile of scorne and of jeasts. For, so far, our first word, Gnashak, carries his signification and our meditation, he oppresses by violence, by deceit, by scorne, brutishly, devillishly, and more, (which is the qualification of the fault, and was our first consideration) and all this upon the poore, (which is the specification of the persons, and is our second.)
You see who this oppressor is, and how you may know him; you have his markes; Violence, deceit, scorne. Pauper.But who is this poor man, and how shall you know him? How shall you know, whether he that askes be truly poor or no? Truly, beloved, there is scarce any one thing, in which our ignorance is more excusable then in this, To know whether he to whom we give, be truly poor, or no: In no case is our inconsideration more pardonable, then in this. God will never examine me very strictly, why I was no stricter in examining that mans condition to whom I gave mine almes. If I give to one that is poor in my sight, I shall finde that almes upon Gods score, amongst them, who were poor in Gods sight: And my mistaking the man, shall never make God mistake my meaning. Where I finde undeniable, unresistible evidence to the contrary, when I see a man able in his limbes live in continuall idlenesse, when I see a man poore in his meanes, and oppressed with his charge, spend in continuall drunkennesse, in this case, I were the oppressor of the poor,Apoc. 22. 1…. if I should give to that man, for this were to give the childrens bread to dogs. And that is not a name too bad for them; for, foris Canes, they are dogs that are without, that is, without the Church: And how few of these, who make beggery an occupation from their infancy, were ever within Church, how few of them ever Christned, or ever maried? Foris Canes, they are dogs, that are without; and the Childrens bread must not be given to Dogs. But to pursue our first intention, and so to finde out these poor in the origination of the words chosen by the holy Ghost here, we have in this text two words for the poor. One is Ebion; and Ebion is a begger. It was the name given to one of those first heretiques who occasioned the writing of St. Iohns Gospell; he was called Ebion. So that it may well be imagined, that those first Heretiques were Mendicants: Men that professed begging, and lived upon the labours, and sweat of other men. For the Ebionit is a begger; not onelyonly he that needs, but he that declares his need, that askes, that craves, that begs: for, the root of Ebion is Ahab; which is not onelyonly to desire, but to declare that desire, to aske, to crave, to beg. Now, this poor man must be relieved. The charity that God required in Israel, was,Deut. 15. …. 22. 16. that no man should be put to this necessity, but provided for otherwise; There shall be no begger amongst you; for, there is our very word, no Ebionite; that is, no poor man shall be put to beg. But yet in the Prophet Ieremy, that man is well spoken of, that did good even to the Ebionit, to the begger; he that is brought to a necessity of asking, must be relieved. Not that we are not bound to give, till another aske, or never to open our hand, till another open his mouth; for, as Saint Iohn did, in the beginning of the Revelation, a man may see a sound, see a voice. A sad aspect, a pale look, a hollow cheek, a bloudlesse lip, a sonke eye, a trembling hand, speake so lowd, as that if I will not heare them from him, God will heare them against me. In many cases, and with many persons, it is a greater anguish to aske, then to want; and easier to starve, then to beg; therefore I must hearken after another voice, and with another organ; I must hearken with mine eye. Many times I may see need speake, when the needy man says nothing, and his case may cry aloud, when he is silent. Therefore I must lay mine eare to the ground, and hearken after them that lie in the dust, and enquire after the distresses of such men; for this is an imitation of Gods preventing grace, that grace, then which we can conceive no higher thing in God himselfe, (that God should be found of them, that seek him not) if I relieve that man, that was ashamed to tell me he wanted. The Ebionit the begger, but not he onelyonly, must be relieved: for our word, in this part of the text, is not Ebion, but a word derived from Dalal; and Dalal, in this word, signifies Exhaustum, attenuatum, a man whose former estate is exhausted, and gone, or whose present labours doe not prosper, but that God, for ends best known to himselfe, exercises him with continuall poverty; the word signifies also a man enfeebled, and decrepit with age; and more then that,Esay 38. 11. the word signifies sicknesse too: for this very word we have in Hezekiahs mouth, The Lord will cut me off with sicknesse. So that now you have the specification of the person, who is the poor man, that is most properly the object of your charity, he whose farmer estate is wasted, and not by his vices, but by the hand of God, He whose present industry does not prosper, He who is overtaken with Age, and so the lesse able to repaire his wants, and in his age, afflicted with sicknesse, and so the lesse able to indure his wants. And this poor man, this labouring man, this decayed man, this aged man, this sickly man, this oppressor in our text pursues; and pursues with violence, with deceit, with scorne. And so have you the qualification of the fault, (which was our first) and the specification of the persons, which was our second consideration.
But before we depart from this branch,Problema. I remember, I asked leave at first, onelyonly to stirre this consideration, onelyonly to propound this Probleme, onelyonly to aske this question, whether Envy, and Emulation, and supplantation of Superiors, or this oppression, and conculcation of Inferiours in this kinde, were in the nature, and root thereof, the greater sinne; and surely the sentence, and the Judgement will be against this oppressor of the poor. For, Envy, conceived against a man in place, hath evermore some emulation of those gifts, which enable a man for that place. Whosoever labours to supplant another, that he may succeed, will in some measure endevour to be fit for that succession. So that, though it be but a squint-eye, and not a direct look, yet some eye, some aspect, the envious man hath upon vertue. Besides, he that envies a higher person, he does not practise (as the Poet says) sine talione; He deales with a man that can be at full even with him, and can deale as ill with him. But he that oppresses the poor, digs in a dunghill for wormes; And he departs from that posture, which God, in nature gave him, that is, erect, to look upward; for his eye is always down, upon them, that lie in the dust, under his feet. Certainly, he that seares up himselfe, and makes himselfe insensible of the cries, and curses of the poor here in this world, does but prepare himselfe for the howlings, & gnashings of teeth, in the world to come. It is the Serpents taste, the Serpents diet, Dust shalt thou eate all the days of thy life; and he feeds but on dust, that oppresses the poor. And as there is evidently, more inhumanity, more violation of nature, in this oppression, then in emulation, so may there well seem to be more impiety, and more violation of God himselfe, by that word, which the holy Ghost chooses in the next place, which is Reproach, He that oppresses the poor, reproaches his Maker.
This word,Reproach. which we translate to Reproach, Theodotion translates to Blaspheme: And blasphemy is an odious thing, even towards men. For, men may be blasphemed. The servant of God,Act. 6. 11. 1 Chron. 20. Moses, is blasphemed, as well as God: And Goliah blasphemed the Israel of God, as well as the God of Israel; and, for the most part, where we read Reviling, the word is Blaspheming. Our word here, (that we may still pursue our first way, a reverent consideration of the elegancy of the Scriptures, in the origination of the words) is Charak; and this word Iob uses, as it is used in our text, for reproach, My heart shall not reproach me, so long as I live. 27. 6.And this, this reproaching of the heart, is, in many cases, a Blaspheming, and a strange one, a self-blaspheming. When I have had, by the goodnesse of Gods Spirit, a true sense of my sinnes, a true remorse, and repentance of those sinnes, true Absolution from those sinnes, true seales of reconciliation after those sinnes, true diligence, and preclusion of occasions of relapsing into those sinnes, still to suspect my state in Gods favour, and my full redintegration with him, still to deny my selfe that peace, which his Spirit, by these meanes, offers me, still to call my repentance imperfect, and the Sacramentall seales ineffectuall, still to accuse my selfe of sinnes, thus devested, thus repented, this is to reproach, this is to to blaspheme mine owne soule. If I will say with Iob, My heart shall reproach me of nothing, this is not, that I will accuse my selfe of no sinne, or say, the elect of God cannot sinne, no, nor that God sees not the sinnes of the elect, nor that God is not affected, or angry with those sinnes, and those sinners, as long as they remaine unrepented, but after I have accused my selfe of those sinnes, and brought them into Judgement, by way of Confession, and received my pardon under seale, in the Sacrament, and pleaded that pardon, to the Church, by a subsequent amendment of life, then I reproach my selfe of nothing, for this were a self-blaspheming, and a reproaching of mine owne soule. Now, the word of our text, in the root thereof, Charak, is manifestare; prostituere; It is to publish the fault, or to prostitute the fame of any man, extrajudicially, not in a right forme of Judgement, and amongst those men, who are not to be his Judges. So to fill itching eares with rumours, and whisperings, so to minister matter and fuell to fiery tongues, so to lay imputations, and aspersions upon men, though that which we say, of those men, be true, is a libelling, is a calumny, is a blaspheming and a reproach, in the word of this text: for it is manifestare, prostituere, to publish a mans faults, and to prostitute a mans fame, there, where his faults can receive no remedy, if they be true, nor his fame Reparation, if they be false. It is properly, to speake ill of a man, and not before a competent Judge. And in such a sense, a man may reproach God himselfe.
But is there then a Judge between God and man? Shall not the Iudge of all the earth doe right? is Abrahams question;Deus. Gen. 18. 25. but there, that Judge of all the earth, is God himself. But is there a Judge of heaven too? A Judge between God and man, for Gods proceeding there? There is. The Scripture is a Judge, by which God himself will be tryed. As the Law is our Judge, and the Judge does but declare what is Law, so the Scripture is our Judge, and God proceeds with us according to those promises and Judgements, which he hath laid down in the Scripture.Esay 9. 3. When God says in Esay, Iudge betweene me and my Vineyard, certainly, God means that there is something extant, some contract, some covenant, something that hath the nature of a Law, some visible, some legible thing, to judge by. And Christ tels us what that is; Search the Scriptures. says hee; for, by them wee must bee tryed for our lives. So then, if I come to thinke that God will call me in question for my life, for my eternall life, by any way that hath not the Nature of a Law, (And, by the way, it is of the Nature and Essence of a Law, before it come to bind, that it be published) if I think that God will condemn me, by any unrevealed will, any reserved purpose in himself, this is to reproach God, in the word of this Text, for it is prostituere, to prostitute, to exhibit God, otherwise then he hath exhibited himselfe, and to charge God with a proceeding upon secret and unrevealed purposes, and not rest in his Scriptures. God will try us at last, God himself will be tryed all the way by his Scriptures; And to charge God with the damnation of men, otherwise then by his Tantummodo Crede, I have commanded thee to beleeve, and thou hast not done that, And by his Fac hoc & vives, I have commanded thee, to live well, and thou hast not done that, which are conditions evidently laid downe in the Scriptures, and not grounded upon any secret purpose, is a reproaching of God, in the word of this Text.
This,Factorem. this Oppressor of the poor is said to doe here; He reproaches the Maker; God, in that notion, as he is the Creator. Now this is the clearest notion, and fastest apprehension, and first handle that God puts out to man, to lay hold upon him by, as hee is The Creator. For though God did elect mee, before hee did actually create mee, yet God did not mean to elect mee, before hee meant to create mee; when his purpose was upon me, to elect me, surely his purpose had passed upon me, to create mee; for when he elected me, I was I. So that this is our first notion of God towards us, as he is The Creator. The School will receive a pregnant child from his parents, and work upon him; The Vniversity will receive a grounded Scholar from the School, and work upon him; The State, or the Church, will receive a qualified person from the University, and worke by him. But still the State, and the Church, and the University, and the first School it self, had something to work upon; But God, in the Creation, had nothing at all: He called us when we were not, as though we had been. Now, here is this world, we make our selves; that is, we make one another: Kings make Iudges, and Iudges make Officers: Bishops make Parsons, and Parsons make Curats: But when wee consider our Creation, It is he that hath made us, and not we our selves; we did not onelyonly not doe any thing, but we could not doe so much as wish any thing to be done, towards our Creation, till wee were created. In the Application of that great worke, The Redemption of mankinde, that is, in the conversion of a sinner, and the first act of that conversion, though the grace of God work all, yet there is a faculty in man, a will in man, which is in no creature but man, for that grace of God to worke upon; But in the Creation there was nothing at all. I honour my Physician, upon the reasons that the Wise man assignes;Ecclus. 38. 7. because he assists my health, and my well-beeing; But I honour not my Physician with the same honour as my Father, who gave me my very Beeing. I honour my God in all those notions, in which he hath vouchsafed to manifest himselfe to me; Every particular blessing of his is a Remembrancer; but my Creation is a holy wonder, and a mysterious amazement. And therefore, as David, the Father, wraps up all stubborn ignorance of God, in that, The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God; so Solomon, the Son,Eccles. 12. 1. wraps up all knowledge of God in that, Remember thy Creator; still contemplate God in that notion, as he made thee of nothing, for, upon that, all his other additions depend. And when thou comest to any post-Creations, any after-makings in this world, to be made rich, made wise, made great, Praise thou the Lord, blesse him, and magnifie him for ever, for those Additions, and blesse him for having made thee capable of those Additions, by something conferred upon thee before, That he gave thee a patrimony from thy parents, and thine industry working upon that, made thee rich; That he raised thee to Riches, and the Eye of the State looking upon that, made thee Honourable; But still return to thy first making, thy Creation, as thou wast made of nothing, nothing; so low, as that not sin it self, not sin against the holy Ghost himselfe can cast thee so low again; nothing can make thee nothing; nothing that thou canst doe here, nothing that thou canst suffer hereafter, can reduce thee to nothing. And in this notion, this supreme, and Majesticall notion, does this oppressor of the poor reproach God; He reproaches the Maker. But then, whose Maker? for that is also another branch, another Disquisition.
Here we accept willingly,Ejus. and entertain usefully their doubt, that will not resolve, whether our Gnoshehu in the Text, be Factorē Ejus, or Factorē Suum; whether this oppressor of the poor be said here to reproach his Maker, that is made poor, or his own Maker. Let them enjoy their doubt; Be it either; Be it both. First, let it be the poor Mans Maker, And then, does this oppressor consider, that it is God that hath made that poor man, or that hath made that man poor, and will he oppresse him then? If a man of those times, had heard a song of Nero's making, & had been told that it was his, (as that Emperour delighted in compositions of that kind) he would not, he durst not have said, that it was a harsh, an untunable song. If a man saw a Clock or a Picture of his Princes making, (as some Princes have delighted themselves with such manufactures) hee would not, he durst not say, it was a disorderly Clock, or a disproportioned picture. Wise Fathers have foolish children, and beautifull, deformed; yet we doe not oppresse, nor despise those children, if we loved their parents; nor will we any poor man, if we truly love that God, that made him poor; And, if his poverty be not of Gods making, but of the Devils, induced by his riot and wastfulnesse, howsoever the poverty may be the Devils, still the Man is of Gods making.
Probris afficit factorem ejus, Suum.He reproaches Him that made that man poore, and Probris afficit factorem suum, Hee reproaches that God who made him rich, his owne Maker. Now, doth he consider, that the Devill hath super-induced a half-lycantropy upon him, The Devill hath made him half a wolfe, so much a wolfe as that he would tear all that fall into his power, And half a spider, so much a spider, as that hee would entangle all that come near him, And half a Viper, so much a Viper, as that he would envenome all that any way provoke him. Does hee consider that the Devill hath made him half a wolfe, halfe a spider, half a viper, and doth hee not consider that that God that is his Maker, could have made him a whole Wolfe, a whole Spider, a whole Viper, and left him in that rank of ignoble, and contemptible, and mischievous creatures? Does he not consider, that that God that made him richer then others, can make him a prey to others, & raise up enemies, that shall bring him to confusion, though he had no other crimes, Therefore, because he is so rich? God can make his very riches the occasion of his ruine here, and the occasion of his everlasting ruine hereafter, by making those riches snares and occasions of sin. God who hath made him, could have left him unmade; or made him what he would; and he reproaches God, as though God could have done nothing lesse for him, then he hath done, nor could not undone him now. But, before we depart from this branch, consider we wherein this offender, this oppressor, sins so very hainously, as to deserve so high an increpation, as to be said to Reproach, and to Reproach God, and God in that supream Notion, A Maker, His Maker, and his own Maker. If his fault be but neglecting or oppressing a poor man, why should it deserve all this? In all these respects.
First,In Orphanis. The poor are immediately in Gods protection. Rich and poore are in Gods administration, in his government, in his providence; But the poor are immediately in his protection. Tibi derelictus est pauper, Ps. 10. 14.says David, The poor commits himself unto thee. They are Orphans, Wards, delivered over to his tuition, to his protection. Princes have a care of all their Allies, but a more especiall care of those that are in their protection. And the poor are such; And therefore God more sensible in their behalfe. And so, hee that oppresses the poor, Reproaches God, God in his Orphans.
Again,In Imagine. rich and poor are Images, Pictures of God; but, (as Clement of Alexandria says wittily and strongly) The poor is Nuda Imago, a naked picture of God, a picture without any drapery, any clothes about it. And it is much a harder thing, & there is much more art showed in making a naked picture, then in all the rich attire that can be put upon it. And howsoever the rich man, that is invested in Power, and Greatnesse, may be a better picture of God, of God considered in himself, who is all Greatnes, all Power, yet, of God considered in Christ, (which is the contemplation that concerns us most) the poor man is the better picture, and most resembles Christ who liv'd in continual poverty. And so, he that oppresses the poor, reproaches God, God in his Orphans, God in his Picture.
Saint Augustine carries this consideration farther,In Corpore. then that the poore is more immediately Gods Orphan, and more perfectly his picture, That he is more properly a member of himself, of his body. For, contemplating that head, which was not so much crowned as hedged with thorns, that head, of which, he whose it was, sayes, The Sonne of man hath not where to lay his head, Matth. 8. 19.Saint Augustine sayes, Ecce caput Panperum, Behold that head, to which, the poore make up the body, Ob eam tantùm causam venerabiles, sayes that Father, Therefore venerable, therefore honourable, because they are members sutable to that head. And so, all that place, where the Apostle sayes, That upon those members of the body, which we think to be lesse honourable, we bestow most honour, 1 Cor. 12. 23.that Father applies to the poore, that therefore most respect and honour should be given to them, because the poore are more sutable members to their head Christ Jesus, then the rich are. And so also, he that oppresses the poore reproaches God, God in his Orphans, God in his Image, God in the Members of his owne body.
Saint Chrysostome carries this consideration farther then this of Saint Augustine. That whereas every creature hath filiationem vestigii, In Haeredibus.that because God hath imparted a being, an essence, from himselfe, who is the roote, and the fountaine of all essence, and all being, therefore every creature hath a filiation from God, and is the Sonne of God so, as we read in Iob, God is the father of the raine; and whereas every man hath filiationem imaginis, as well Pagan as Christian, hath the Image of God imprinted in his soule, and so hath a filiation from God, and is the Sonne of God, as he is made in his likenesse; and whereas every Christian hath filiationem Pacti, by being taken into the Covenant made by God, with the Elect, and with their seed, he hath a filiation from God, and is the Sonne of God, as he is incorporated into his Sonne Christ Jesus, by the Seals of the Christian Church; besides these filiations, of being in all creatures, of the Image in all men, of the Covenant in all Christians, The poore, sayes that Father, are not onelyonly filii, but Haeredes, and Primogeniti, Sonnes and eldest Sonnes, Sonnes, and Sonnes and Heires. And to that purpose he makes use of those words in St. Iames, 2. 5.Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poore of this world, rich in faith, and Heirs of that Kingdome? Heirs,Mat. 5. 3. for, Ipsorum est, sayes Christ himself, Theirs is the Kingdome of heaven; And upon those words of Christ, Saint Chrysostome comments thus, Divites ejus regnitantum habent, quantum à pauperibus, eleemosynis coemerunt, The rich have no more of that Kingdome of heaven, then they have purchased of the poore, by their almes, and other erogations to pious uses. And so he that oppresses the poore reproaches God, God in his Orphans, God in his Image, God in the Members of his own Body, God in his Sonnes, and Heires of his Kingdome.
But then Christ himself carries his consideration,In Seipso. Mat. 25. 40. beyond all these resemblances, and conformities, not to a proximity onelyonly, but to an identity, The poore are He. In as much as you did it unto these, you did it unto me; and, In as much as you did it not unto these, you did it not unto me. And after his ascension, and establishing in glory, still he avowed them, not onelyonly to be his, but to be He, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? The poore are He, He is the poore. And so, he that oppresseth the poore, reproaches God, God in his Orphans, God in his Image, God in the Members of his owne Body, God in the Heirs of his Kingdome, God in himself, in his own person. And so we have done with all those peeces, which constitute our first part, the hainousnesse of the fault, in the elegancy of the words chosen by the holy Ghost, in which you have seen, The fault it self, Oppression, and the qualification thereof, by the marks, Violence, Deceit, and Scorne. And then the specification of the persons, The poore, as he is the Eb…onite, the very vocall begger, and as the word is Dalal, a decayed, an aged, a sickly man; And in that branch, you have also had that Probleme, Whether aemulation of higher, or oppression of lower, be the greater sinne: And then, the aggravation of this sinne, in those weights, That it is a reproach, a reproach of God, of God as The Maker, as His Maker whom he oppresses, and as his own Maker; And lastly, in what respects especially this increpation is laid upon him. And farther we have no occasion to carry that first part, the fault.
In passing from that first part, the fault, to the duty, and the celebration thereof,2 Part. in those words of choice elegancy, He that hath mercy on the poore, honours God, though we be to looke upon the persons, the poore, and the act, shewing mercy to the poore, and the benefit, honouring of God, yet, of the persons, (who are still the same poore, poore, made poore by God, rather then by themselves) more needs not be said, then hath been said already. And of the act, showing of mercy to the poore, onelyonly thus much more needs be said, that the word, in which, the holy Ghost expresses this act here, is the very same word,Exod. 33. 19. in which, he expresses the free mercy of God himself, Miserebor cujus miserebor, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy. So that God hath made the charitable man partaker with himself, in his own greatest attribute, his power of showing mercy. And then, left any man should thinke, that he had no interest in this great dignity, that God had given him no meanes to partake of this attribute of God, this power of shewing mercy to the poor, because he had left him poor too, and given him nothing to give, the same word, which the holy Ghost uses in this text,1 Reg. 8. and in Exodus, for mercy, which is Canan, he uses in other places, particularly in the dedication of the Temple, for prayer. So that he, who being destitute of other meanes to relieve the poore, prayes for the poore, is thereby made partaker of this great attribute of Gods, this power of showing mercy. He hath showed mercy to the poore, if, having nothing to give, he have given mild and confortable words, and have prayed to his abundant, and inexhaustible God, to relieve that poor man, whom he hath not made him able to relieve.
So then,Honorat Detem. no more being needfull to be said, of the persons, the poor, nor of the Act, showing of mercy to the poor, there remaines no more in this last part, but according to our way, all the way, to consider the origination and latitude of this last word, Cahad, this honouring of God. The word does properly signifie Augere, ampliare, To enlarge God, to amplifie, to dilate God; to make infinite God, shall I dare to say, more God? certainely, God to more, then he was before. O who can expresse this abundant, this superabundant largenesse of Gods goodnesse to man, that there is a power put into mans hands, to enlarge God, to dilate, to propagate, to amplifie God himselfe! I will multiply this people, Ier. 30. 19.says God, and they shall not be few, I will glorifie them, and they shall not be small; there's the word of our text. God enables me to glorifie him, to amplifie him, to encrease him, by my mercy, my almes. For this is not onelyonly that encrease, that Saint Hierom intends, that he that hath pity on the poor, Foeneratur Domino, he lends upon use to the Lord, Prov. 19. 17.for, this, though it be an encrease, is but an encrease to himselfe; but he that showes mercy to the poore, encreases God, says our text, dilates, enlarges God. How?Heb. 10. 5. Corpus aptasti mihi; when Christ comes into the world, (says Saint Paul) he says to his Father, Thou hast prepared and fitted a body for me. That was his naturall body, that body which he assumed in the bowels of the blessed Virgin. They that pretend to enlarge this body by multiplication, by making millions of these bodies in the Sacraments, by the way of Transubstantiation, they doe not honour this body, whose honour is to sit in the same dimensions, and circumscriptions, at the right hand of God. But then, as at his comming into this world, God had fitted him a body, so in the world, he had fitted himselfe another body, a Mysticall body, a Church purchased with his bloud. Now this body, this Mysticall body I feed, I enlarge, I dilate, and amplifie, by my mercy,Ezek. 16. 1. and my charity. For, as God says to Ierusalem, Thou wast in thy bloud, thou wast not salted, nor swadled, no eye pityed thee, but thou wast cast out into the open field, and I loved thee, I washed thee, I apparelled and adorned thee, & prosperataes in regnum, I never gave thee over, till I saw thee an established kingdome: so may all those Saints of God say to God himselfe, to the Sonne of God invested in this body, this mysticall body, the Church, thou was cast out into the open field, all the world persecuted thee, and then we gave thee suck with our bloud, we clothed thee with our bodies, we built thee houses and adorned and endowed those houses to thine honour, & prosperatus es in regnum, we never gave over spending, and doing, and suffering for thy glory, till thou hadst an established kingdome, over all the earth. And so thou, thy body, thy mysticall body, the Church, is honoured, that is, amplified, dilated, enlarged, by our mercy. Magnificat Anima mea Dominum, was the exultation of the blessed Virgin; My soule doth magnifie the Lord. When the meditations of my heart, digested into writing, or preaching, or any other declaration of Gods glory, carry, or advance the knowledge of God, in other men, then My soule doth magnifie the Lord, enlarge, dilate, amplifie God. But when I relieve any poor wretch, of the houshold of the faithfull, with mine almes, then my mercy magnifies the Lord, occasions him that receives, to magnifie the Lord by this thanksgiving, and them that see it to magnifie the Lord by their imitation, in the like works of mercy. And so far, doe these two elegant words chosen here by the holy Ghost, carry our meditation: in the first, Canan, God makes the charitable man partaker of his own highest power, mercy; and in the other Cabad, God enables us, by this mercy, to honour him so far, as to dilate, to enlarge, to amplifie him, that is that body, which he in his Sonne, hath invested by purchase, his Church.
We have done;Conclusic. If you will but claspe up all this in your owne bosomes, if you will but lay it to your owne hearts, you may goe. A poorer thing is not in the world, nor a sicker, (which you may remember to have been one signification of this word poore) then thine own soule. And therefore the Chalde paraphrase renders this text thus, He that oppresses the poore reproaches his owne soule; for, his owne soule is as poore, as any whom he can oppresse. To a begger, that needs, and askes but bodily things, thou wilt say, Alasse poore soule; and wilt thou never say Alasse poore soule to thy self, that needest spirituall things? If thy affections, thy pleasures, thy delights, beg of thee, and importune thee so farre, to bestow upon them, say unto them, I have those that are nearer me then you, Wife and Children, and I must not empoverith them, to give unto you, I must not sterve my family, to feed my pleasures. But if this Wife and Children begge, and importune so farre, say unto them too, I have one that is nearer me, then all you, a soule; and I must not endanger that, to satisfie you; I must not provide Ioyntures, and Portions with the damnifying, with the damning of mine owne soule. It is a miserable Alchimy and extracting of spirits, that stills away the spirit, the soule it selfe; and a poore Philosophers Stone, that is made with the coales of Hell-fire; a lamentable purchase, when the soule is payed for the land. And therefore show mercy to this soule. Doe not oppresse this soule; not by Violence, which was the first signification of this word Oppression: Doe not violate, doe not smother, not strangle, not suffocate the good motions of Gods Spirit in thee… for, it is but a wofull victory, to triumphe over thine owne conscience, and but a servile greatnesse to be able to silence that. Oppresse not thy soule by Fraud, which was the second signification of this word Oppression. Defraud not thy soul of the benefit of Gods Ordinances; frequent these exercises; come hither; And be not here like Gideons fleece, dry when all about it was wet; parched in a remorselesnesse when all the Congregation about thee is melted into holy tears; Be not as Gideons fleece dry, when all else is wet, nor as that fleece, wet when all about it was dry: Be not jealous of God, stand not here as a person unconcerned, disinteressed; as though those gracious promises, which God is pleased to shed down upon the whole Congregation, from this place, appertained not to thee, but that all those Judgements denounced here, over which, they that stand by thee, are able, by a faithfull and cheerfull laying hold of Gods offers, though they stand guilty of the same sinnes that thou doest, to lift up their heads, must still necessarily overflow and surround thee. Oppresse not that soule, by violence, by Fraud, nor by Scorne, which was the other signification of this word Oppression. Hoc nos perdit,Chrysoft. quod divina quoque eloquia in facetias, in dicteria vertamus. Damnation is a serious thing, and this aggravates it, that we slight and make jests at that which should save us, the Scriptures, and the Ordinances of God. For by this oppression of thy poore soule, by this Violence, this Fraud, this Scorne, thou wilt come to Reproach thy Maker, to impute that losse of thy soule, which thou hast incurred by often breach of Lawes evidently manifested to thee; to his secret purpose, and un-revealed will; then which, thou canst not put a greater Reproach, a greater Contumely, a greater Blasphemy upon God. For, God cannot bee God, if hee bee not innocent, nor innocent if hee draw bloud of mee, for his owne Act. But if thou show mercy to this soule, mercy in that signification of the word, as it denotes an actuall performance of those things that are necessary for the making sure of thy salvation, or, if thou canst not yet attaine to those degrees of Sanctification, mercy in that signification of the word, as the word denotes hearty and earnest Prayer, that thou couldest, Lord I beleeve, Lord help mine unbeliefe, Lord I stand yet, yet Lord raise mee when I fall, Honorabis Deum, thou shalt honour God, in the sense of the word in this Text, thou shalt enlarge God, amplifie, dilate God, that is, the Body of God, the Church, both here, and hereafter. For, thou shalt adde a figure to the number of his Saints, and there shall bee a Saint the more for thee; Thou shalt adde a Theme of Joy, to the Exultation of the Angels; They shall have one occasion of rejoycing the more from thee: Thou shalt adde a pause, a stop to that Vsquequo of the Martyrs, under the Altar, who solicite God for the Resurrection, for, Thou shalt adde a step to the Resurrection it selfe, by having brought it so much nearer, as to have done thy part for the filling up of the number of the Saints, upon which fulnesse the Resurrection shall follow. And thou shalt adde a Voyce, to that Old, and ever-new Song, that Catholique Hymne, in which, both Churches,Apoc. 5. 13. Militant and Triumphant, shall joyne, Blessing, Honour, Glory, and Power, bee unto him, that sitteth upon the Throne, and to the Lambe, for ever, and ever. Amen.