The Best Name on Earth, Text 3 – Title page 4
THE SNARE BROKEN.
Genes. 49. vers. 6.
O my soul come not thou into their secrets.
AMong the many arguments to prove the pen-men of the scripture inspired by the spirit of God, this is not the last and least, that the pen-men of holy writ do record their own faults, and the faults of their nearest and dearest relations: for instance hereof, how coursly doth David speak of himself? So foolish was I and ignorant, I was as a very beast before thee.
And do you think that the face of S. Paul did look the more foul by being drawn with his own pencill, when he sayes, I was a murtherer, a persecutor, the greatest of sinners, &c.
This is not usuall in the writings of humane authors, who praise themselves to the utmost of what they could; and rather then loose a drop of applause, they will lick it up with their own tongues.
Tully writes very copiously in setting forth the good service which he did the Roman state, but not a wo…d of his covetousnesse, of his affecting popular applause, of his pride and vain glory, of his mean extraction, and the like.
Whereas clean contrary Moses, he sets down the sinne and punishment of his own sister; the idolatry and superstition of Aaron his brother; and his own fault in his preposterous striking the rock, for which he was excluded the land of Canaan. No wonder then if he tell the faults of Simeon and Levi, both their cruell murther, and the heavy curse which their father laid upon them.
Old Jacob lyes now a dying, the lanthorn of his body was ready to be broken, and the light that was in it to be ex…inguished; his twelve sonnes get about him, every one expects a blessing, and they raise their intentions the more, because they knew that he was a prophet.
He begins sadly; Reuben hath a check, and Simeon and Levi have a curse. No doubt old Jacob as a private man had affection to them both, but now he speaks to them as a prophet; he knowes no naturall affection, being acted with spirituall inspiration; he leaves off flesh and blood, being prompted by the spirit of God, and tells them, cursed be their wrath, for for it was fierce, and their anger, for it was furious.
I shall use no other method in the words, but such observations as are pertinent to the text, & profitable for your souls.
First, O my soul, &c. seeing Jacob doth entertain a discourse with his own soul, wee may learn,
A Christian who can discourse with his own soul, may make good company for himself.
This was Davids precept Psal. 4. vers. 4. commune with your own hearts upon your beds; this is no contradiction, there is a kind of discourse which makes no noise: this communion is the heart of heavenly meditation, he may give himself a question, and answer it himself; and David what he prescribes to us, practises himself, when he sayes, why art thou so sad O my soul, and why art thou so disquieted within me? trust still in God.
Had people this art of entertaining a time to discourse with themselves, it would prevent much mischief; thou mayest divide thy soul into severall parts, and thou maist discourse if thou wilt with every faculty, with thy understanding, memory, fancy, and the severall affections of thy soul.
Ask that question of thy understanding which Philip askt of the Eunuch, Acts 10. understandest thou what thou readest? call your understanding to account whether you understand what you read or not.
Ask thy fancy that question which Acbish once propounded to king David, where hast thou been roving all this day? bring thy fancy to account.
Ask that of thy memory which the master did of the unjust steward, Luke 16. give an account of thy stewardship; ask thy memory what good hast thou measured up.
When thou findest thy self transported with mirth, ask thy soul that question, God did to Sarah, why laughest thou? when thou seest the passion of anger grow too violently upon thee, ask of it that question which God did to the prophet Jonah, doest thou well to be angry?
Consider, if you could thus discourse with your selves, you would prevent much bad company; for when we runne into the company of good fellowes, wee have but one thing to pretend unto as a thing incident to mans nature, that he loves company. But if we could entertain this discourse with our own souls, wee should be never lesse alone, then when we are alone, and abate the tediousnesse of solitarinesse with good society.
Oh my soul come not thou into their secrets. The next observation is,
That wicked men have certain secrets, which they communicate to those of their own society.
Wee read in the 26. Psalm of the secrets of the Lord; now as the Lord hath his secrets, so the devil hath his secrets of iniquity; and the reason why they keep them secret, is, because otherwise they would not attain to those ends which they propound to themselves: if all their designes were open, they would be frustrated and never obtain their hellish intents, and therefore that they may not be hindred in bringing them about, they keep them secret.
And yet know by the way, though they are secrets to men, they are not secrets to God; all things are naked and open before him, he is the searcher of the heart and reins. But no further of this; I come to that which is of more concernment.
It is a dangerous thing to come into the secrets of wicked men.
I divide wicked men into two sorts, those that call people into their secrets, and those that come into their secrets when called; the principalls, and the accessaries: there is a generation of people that think they will fare well enough, if they be not the first contrivers, or the most active instruments in an evil designe: they think this will bear them out, if they came in but by the by; oh beloved, know it is not enough to excuse thee.
And know that a man may come into an evil secret, and not command it, contrive it, or act it.
First by consent to it, thus (not S. Paul) but Saul the persecutor came into the mischievous secret of stoning Stephen; for though it was openly acted, yet it was privately plotted. And what did Saul do? he threw never a stone, he did not, but I tell you what he did, he kept the clothes of those that did it: the Iewes put off their upper garments that their hands might be at the more liberty, with the more strength and steady aime to throw their stones at him, which their sleeves hindered; now Paul standing by, and keeping the wardrobe of their clothes, was equally guilty with them in that act.
The next thing by which a man may be guilty of a wicked sercret, is by concealing of it, and we find that God brought heavy judgements upon meere concealing.
In the fifth of the Acts, it is said of Ananias that he kept back the price, his wife being privy to it, it is not said shee did consent, but onelyonly conceal it. Now S Austin saith in this case it is one of the hardest things to clear Gods judgements.
God is just, the fault was in her use of this action, she might have discovered it unto the Church, and so have been spared.
Thirdly, by commending it; though we neither consent to it, or conceal it, yet if thou commend it, thou dost adopt that wicked act to be thine own, and draw the guilt thereof upon thee; and so men come to be guilty of other folkes sinnes.
But if a man be a minister or a magistrate, he may be guilty of sinne otherwise, and neither of these wayes here spoken of; the minister if he doth not publickly reprove it, and the magistrate if he do not punish it.
The minister, if he do not reprove it with Christian discretion and moderation; though in the sinnes of great men there is much more danger in reproving them. A crack or want of repair in the top of a steeple is more dangerous to mend then any part; the mason must have many devices to climb unto it with the danger of loosing of his life: so it is dangerous to reprove great persons to high for us to meddle with. But if we be called to it, we must trust in the assistance of God; and wee partake of their sinnes if wee do not reprove them.
But the magistrate is guilty though he do reprove it, if he do not punish it. Ely did reprove his sonnes, it was well he did it, but this is not enough, the heinousness of their offences was of that nature, that the proud flesh must be cut off, and not be suffered to fester in the body. But he being a magistrate and not punishing of it, suffered himself.
But now let us come to know the secret; what was the mischief which these two had done? the story is large, and is set down by the spirit of God in the 34. of Genesis.
Now may I request you, when divine providence shall carry you to your quiet meditations, to read the whole story.
I shall give you a brief account of it.
Iacob had but one only daughter, and shee would go gadding abroad to see other daughters; see what comes of the wandring of virgins from their parents houses, for this was it which wrought her misery, she would go abroad to see fashions, and going forth, she sees and is seen by the prince of the land.
Give now Shechem his due that did her this wrong, he was more honest in his dishonesty then many in this age, who when they have improved their wicked thoughts upon womens weaknesse, how many are there who do scornfully & spitefully throw them off, and triumph in the conquest they have gotten by their own treachery, and the others fault, and throw away the snuff of their wantonnesse which ends their love?
It is said of Thamar the daughter of David, that after Ammon had abused her, he fell from her; but Shechem had more generous principles, he doth endeavour to make her, whom formerly he had made his harlot, to be his wife.
This done, the sonnes of Jacob will not consent, unlesse they be circumcised, which done, in comes Simeon and Levi and kills them all, men, women and children. Now two things give accents to their cruelty.
First, that they abused the holy sacrament of circumcision, which God had appointed for a signe and a seal to the children of Israel, and to make this a cloak to their murtherous intents this is the first aggravation, they brought heaven into their intended designes.
The second was this, that whereas the offence done was personall in Shechem; yet the punishment fell upon the whole city, and the women and children.
What mischief had the women done, whose known weaknesse is their profest armour against any true valiant man? What fault have little infants done, whose fathers were the onelyonly committers of the faults? this added to their cruelty.
But as a musket makes no report when discharged in the same place and time with a full cannon; so the act of these is but small in comparison of the cruelty of which this day is our gratefull remembrance: my soul come not thou into their secrets. It was a secret in its nature, but a greater secret in regard of the time and place in which it was committed; it was plotted in the bowels of the earth, and they undermined many yards therein, least the sun ashamed to see it should discover it; or as if they would creep neerer to hell, from whence it was first invented.
And it was a secret in respect of the persons who were joyned and soldered together with an oath of secresie; and mark a double concurrence of cruelty in this secret.
The sonnes of Iacob abuse the sacrament of circumcision, under the covert whereof they might the better bring to passe their intended villanies; so Gardiner, he gave the sacrament of the Lords supper, to all those that were conspirators in this wicked designe and treason; that so he might enjoyn them to the greater secrecy.
And as in the secret of Iacobs sonnes there were men, women & children slain; so these traitors intended not their cruelty against the king onelyonly, but surely that blow had not been given, but many thousands of people whose occasions might have summoned them to that place, would have been sent with the peers of the land the same way of destruction. I do not question but there are those here present, whose memories have not let fall the day of this great deliverance; for it must not be said that the deliverance extended onelyonly to those then living, but wee, though then in our mothers wombs, and not thought on, participate fully in the enjoyment thereof. For had it been effected as it was intended, it is easie for you to judge and conceive the sad condition this land had groaned under; had it took effect the miseries of this land had been great, but the dishonour to God had been far greater, and if God had suffered it to come to passe, presently they had censured their own actions to be good and just, but the snare is broken, and we are delivered.
Oh let your prayers be therefore joyned with mine, that wee may be all kept from the secrets of wicked men, and in a thankfull remembrance be constant in our praises to God for this dayes deliverance.
Some desire that this day may not be kept, but forgot, and methinks it looks with a paler colour in the Almanack then it use to do, but next year it will be a full jubile, fifty years since the contrivance thereof: let all those whom God shall lend life unto that day, keep in your minds the memoriall of so great a blessing, and to preserve the memory thereof, for what principles of false doctrine had infected this land, had this plot taken effect? and therefore it shall be my prayer; that God will write thankfulnesse in your hearts to a continuall remembrance of the same.
FINIS.
STRANGE JUSTICE.
Iudges 19.30.
There was no such deed done nor seen, from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt, unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.
By T. F. B. D.
LONDON Printed by R. Daniel, for I. S. MDCLVI.