Several Sermons, Dedication 2
TO THE HONORABLE HOUSE OF COMMONS, Now aſſembled in PARLIAMENT.
I Now tender what you are pleaſed to owne: ſooner I could not, becauſe wanting time & health, I had onelyonly broken notes. I am now come as neere my ſelfe, as my notes will helpe me. It was my reſolution from the firſt, to hold me to the worke in hand, the work of the day, the work of my calling; accordingly I made, and purſued my choice, waving all diſputes Sacred, or Civil. Things ever move beſt in their owne Sphere: And O that all things might ever runne in their right channell! My worke was to Mourne, to Preach; not to Parliament-it: and I never brought a ſadder heart to a buſineſſe. Nay, The diviſions of Reuben ſtill ſticke, and have leſt thoſe impreſſions, which will not off.Judg. 5.15. I bleed ſtill in the breaches of Dying Ireland, and in our Home-Jealouſies. Alas! That Brethren who promiſe and purpoſe ſo well, work and ſweat ſo hard, ſhould ſo hardly underſtand each other. There is, I feare, a Divine diſpleaſure in it. Where Unity is,Pſal. 133.3. the bleſſing is. The ſpirit of Iealouſy & diviſion is a Meſſenger of wrath.Judg. 9. &c. And then moſt, when All complaine of it, and No one will owne it. For this My ſoule ſhall weep in ſecret; and in Rebaccahs caſe, I will take up her complaint; Why is it thus! As for you Noble gentlemen, What can I ſay now? It is wiſdome (you know) to know ones owne Compaſſe, and you are far above me. Your Place is high, your Task great; and yet your ſtrength not infinite. By Place, Pſal. 82.you are Gods: and yet Men; you muſt Fall (and may faile) like others. Queid eſt Eccleſia? Viri & mulieris. Ohey in Eph. 5.Gods own Synod (the Church) is made up of men: and men be Men, in the Greateſt Councels. Compare them to the Higheſt God, their greateſt agitations, are but as the buſie ſweatings of ſo many Ants in a Molehill. Your work is alſo great. As your Place, ſo your Work is Gods. Your buſineſſe lies about Laws, and Orders. Order is a Sacred thing, Law, the work of a God. No man can ſee, or ſay All in his Law; Sin will evade; witneſſe our good Laws touching the Lords day, Swearing, and Drinking. Now (for ſooth) you muſt tell us what Prophaneſſe is, what Swearing you meane, and when a man is Drunken. Nay, when a Law is with ſome difficulty conceived and with more brought forth, it is not an eaſie thing to teach it to Speak plainly: nor are men ſo happy in their expreſſions as was S. Paul, who wrote,2. Cor. 1. nor more, nor leſſe then we Read. I ſpeak not this in a Diſcouraging way. Et neſcit reme are leo Crand. foreign &c. Eurip.Noble Spirits know not what that meanes. Only they know from the Poet, That it makes a man leſſe then nothing. Laws therefore muſt be; elſe all goes to loſſe. Leave men to themſelves, each mans luſt will be a Law; each mans Opinion, a Bible. My ſpeech onelyonly tends to this, to provoke you and my ſelf to prayer and dependence. He that will undertake the work of God, with the wit and ſtrength of a man, will but ſhame the worke, and break himſelf. My hope is, That you will begin and end with God: that you will doe all in his ſtrength, and doe his beſt work firſt. Mens Conſciences are miſerably perpelxed between Command and Command. Our Congregations are as much divided, betweene Teacher, and Teacher. The concluſion in time will be,1 Cor. 1 12. We are of Chriſt, We will believe none of them all. Let me aſſure you, The caſe betwixt Paſtor and Flock will be very ſad, if there be not a timely ſettlement. But things of this nature I had rather ſpeak in Private, then in Preſſe, or Pulpit; And there rather to God, then to Man. I therefore reine in and betake my ſelfe with aged Jerome to my Tuguriolum, and there bleſſe God, that I dare ſleep, and can ſay, that ought is my owne, and there deplore my barren miniſtery for almoſt twice twenty yeares, and implore the bleſſing of heaven upon my Deare Soveraigne, & his Great Councel. Now the Great Counſellor give you a right underſtanding, Eſay 9.2 Tim. 2.in all things: And the God of Peace himſelfe (he alone can do it) give you peace, 2 Theſ. 3.16.in al things, by al meanes. So wil pray
From my poore Study Iune 13.164. The unworthieſt of thoſe that ſerve you in the faith ROBERT HARRIS.