England Faithfully Watched, Lecture 66
COLOS. 1.24.
The Afflictions of Chriſt, &c.
AFflictions are from God immediately, or from man: God ſtrikes ſometimes and uſes no hand but his owne, it is leaſt conſidered when ſo, but not leaſt of importance, for God hath ſome great deſigne upon the man, when hee ſtrikes every ſtroke himſelfe. Sometimes God ſtands behind Shimei, and lets fly at a man, and wounds deeply, and then tis not ſo eaſie to ſee him, becauſe an earthen breaſt-work is before him. Sometimes he appeares in the front in perſon himſelfe, like Goliah, and makes the incounter by duell, hand to hand with the Creature, the creature ſmites and God ſmites, Name, State, Fleſh, and Spirit: God would faine be ſeene and knowne of the ſoule, when he does thus; if it cannot be, he lets the creature lick himſelfe whole if he can.
Afflictions from man immediately are here meant, and not ſuch as are from God immediately. Creatures of the ſame kind, are uſed to ſpit in one anothers face, to ſcratch and teare one another: a Cat, a Cat; a Dog, a Dog; a Man, a Man. Creatures of the ſame kind (to ſay no more) are uſed to tread upon one anothers toes, to afflict one another. All earth beares thornes, chuſe out what earth you will, ſift it how you will, appoint it to what you will, to be a pillow for repoſe, a breaſt, a boſome, a bed of flowers to ſolace in, yet there will grow up thornes and pricke. Creatures one by creation, one by redemption, yea one by mutuall election, differ, fall out, afflict one another: man afflictes man, that was Pauls caſe here: ſaint afflicts ſaint; husband afflictes wife, wife curſes husband; things made and choſen of purpoſe to delight, ſad: thornes will grow in ones boſome here. You cannot take a roſe to ſmell to here, out of any Garden but hath prickles, unleſſe the Roſe of Sharon. All is vanity, yea vexation: all below us, all equall with us, onelyonly that all excepted, which is above us, which onelyonly is indeed all; and in him is light and no darkeneſſe, ſweet and no bitterneſſe, in that earth growes no thornes.
Man afflictes man, yea man oppreſſeth man, that is affliction in ſtrength, malum multiplex, a manifold evill, which is the ſignification of the word foreign which is here uſed; tis tranſlated by ſome compreſſion, a den of theeves, a neſt of hornets, many afflictions in one, or under one foreign, Heb. 11.25. ſimul malis vexari, to be vexed with many evills together, 'tis ſpoken of Moſes, who caſt himſelfe upon oppreſſion with Gods people in Egypt; which expreſſion ſets out fully what oppreſſion is, 'tis ſome vitall wounded, ſome maine part trod upon, as name, ſtate, body, ſoule, ſomething brutiſhly bruiſed and torne, that maims or marres livelyhood, internall or extenall; ſome ſuch thing troden to death, as hath many little ones in the belly of it: tis a Kid killed and ſeethed in ſuch liquor, as ſhould nouriſh many, in Mother-milke: tis a Mother-mercy deſtroyed, whilſt in travaile for the good of the whole. Good name is a Mother-mercy, many are nouriſhed by it, ſo is eſtate, ſo is the body, ſo is the ſoule; all theſe travell perpetually in this world, for the tranquillity of the whole, and of the maine, to beare up great things, Heaven and Earth, the glory of God, and the welfare of every relation, wherein ſuch a creature ſtands: any of theſe therefore torne and ript up, whileſt thus in travaile for the good of the whole, is cruelty and oppreſſion.
Oppreſſion ſpeakes injury, but no ſmall injury; not the daſhing ones cloathes accidentally, or intentionally as one goes by, but it alwayes notes ſomething that daſhes the perſon in one main thing or other; 'tis a Dog that flies at the throate, at ſomething. that is vitall, and teares that; at ſomething that tends to throw downe the perſon and welfare of ſuch a creature. 'Tis a diabolicall quality inſinuated by a curſed ſpirit, whereby one creatures being is too bleſſed in the eye of another. Men one in birth from the Earth, yet wiſdome hath ranked them variouſly upon it, ſome higher, ſome lower, ſome have much, ſome leſſe, all have wiſdomes portion, and therefore it ſhould be accounted enough, and content, but it doth not: one mans manſion is not fine enough, anothers not big enough; one perſon better beloved, better indowed, better ſucceeded; if hee were dead, dead in eſteeme, or dead in being, all theſe deepe waters would turne, and run into my ciſterne; if Abel were dead, if Iacob were dead, if Mordecai were dead, then I ſhould be all, and have all, I ſhould be the onelyonly favorite in the world, and ſo quietly abide. [Yee kill] and deſire to have, and cannot obtain, James. 4.2. oppreſſion is a bloudy ſpirit, ſtriking ſtill at ſomething that is vitall, at the perſon, livelyhood or life it ſelfe, if one will not fall without the other. 'Tis an evill ſpringing from the root of all evill, to wit, covetouſneſſe: yee kill and [deſire to have.] 'Tis a man of the Earth, ſaith the Pſalmiſt, and hee would be alone upon it, though there were no Rivers and houſes in it for delight, but ſuch as hee hath made with the bloud and bones of all ſuch as live neere him. That the man of the [earth] may no more oppreſſe, Pſalme 10.18. the word oppreſſe, ſignifies to terrifie, and ſo you have it noted in the margent, intimating what an oppreſſor is, tis a brute that terrifies all that come neere him, to eate or drinke by him, that he may have all alone, and what hee cannot eate or drink he puddles and ſpoiles.
Oppreſſion is made, vi, aut dolis, by force or by fraud, man can uſe both as hee is advantaged, and as his game lies. Parts internall are all ſubdued, by that luſt which rules, and taught to tumble and ſet this or that poore innocent ſoule, for their maſter: Innocency ſleepes the moſt ſecurely of any thing, dreams of no affrighting things, of no injurious uſage, but from Dogs and Beares and Wolfes, from beaſts, not from any man: innocency thinkes every man, a man; not a Fox, nor a Serpent, nor a Crocodile; where as an oppreſſor conjureth his wits, his parts, his practiſes, and ſo himſelfe, into all theſe, to catch his prey. Therefore is an oppreſſor imblazed by the Scripture in a Lyon couchant, as one lurking for his prey, as one whoſe words are Oyle, yet ſharpe ſpeares, as one who ſhootes his Arrowes in darkeneſſe, and hits privily the upright in heart. Over-reaching is oppreſſion: tis ſtrong parts ſetting their feete upon weake, and wringing bloud out of a brothers Noſe: 'tis grinding the face of the poore; words and dealings which are the face of a man to the World, all by craft and wile ground to ſuch duſt as to choak and cheat the man, that utters them. What fraud cannot doe, force externall is preſſed to ſecond. Oppreſſion commands all within and without, to ſqueeſe out her will where ſhee faſtens; it turnes Iudges into evening Wolfes, Kings, Nebuchadnezzars into Beaſts, and gives them Nayles like Eagles-clawes, that is, makes them turne all their externall advantages, to plume and prey upon whom they will: It doth as the Devill where he raignes; there is not a power in Hell, but hee makes a fleſhhooke on't, to teare and torture and fulfill his bloudy will: ſo not a faculty, not an office not any vires within or without, but by oppreſſion are all made tormenta, killing inſtruments, and to know none, no not one like himſelf, a man, no not one like God, but chaine him and rack him. Thy Princes are roaring Lyons, thy Iudges are evening Wolfes, they know not the bones till the morrow, Zephany. 3.3. Here are all powers externall and internall combined and ſeconding one another.
Ʋſe. Matter of caution and matter of admiration may ſpring from this point. Oppreſſion hath beene opened, and now wee have ſeene the nature of it, wee ſhould all take heede of ſo foule an evill, eſpecially men of place: 'tis an Aſpe, a Frogge, that uſeth to craule up into Princes and great mens bed-chambers, where it may lie ſofteſt and warmeſt, and be beſt accommodated. Cruelty is nothing without ſtrong inſtruments; it can doe nothing with ſtrawes, but vex and burne it ſelfe. The Devill is a great Courtier, hee gets among great men, and there hee can ſhew himſelfe as hee is; play the Devill and make great earthquakes, rend and teare whom hee will, righteous and wicked; what hee will, body or ſoule; at what compaſſe hee will; Townes, Cities, Countries; ſet whole Kingdomes a groaning, bleeding, dying Parts commend themſelves to place, place ſwells the ſoule too big for any due compaſſ, unleſſe Chriſt bee gracious: oppreſſion is the firſt borne of pride in place, after it comes to the Crowne: 'tis that child that will inherit all the outrage of greatneſſe. They are great mountaines that do cruſh; Who art thou O great Mountaine before Zorubbabell? great ſpirits, and parts, in great place. The Devills children ſhould be all ſtrangled in the wombe, or elſe they prove very long lived: we ſhould not have had ſo many bloudy oppreſſors at this day, if pride had ſeaſonably been bewailed.
As your naturalia, ſo your praeternaturalia get ſuch neſts, as to maturate themſelves: oppreſſion maturates it ſelfe in high places, there it can do all it will, ſtrike full blowes, home blowes. Oppreſſion maturated, is the crying'ſt provocation in a Land, and brings downe the cryingeſt judgement, Civill war, a body tearing out its owne bowells; ſee Zachary 11.5.6. Thus ſaith the Lord, feede the flocke of ſlaughter whoſe poſſeſſors ſl…y them, and hold themſelves not guilty and they that ſell them ſay, Bleſſed be the Lord, for I am rich, and their owne Shepheards pitty them not, therefore I will no m… pitty the inhabitants of the Land, ſaith the Lord, but loe I will deliver the men every one into his Neighbours hand, and into the hand of his King, and they ſhall ſmite the Land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them; which words meane civill war, as the learned interpret, which is the greateſt judgement of all externall judgement; doubly torturing, for brother to ſheath his ſword, like thoſe Levites, in the bowells of a Brother, Father waſhing hands in the bloud of children, and children waſhing hands in the heart-blood of Fathers; wee may gueſſe our ſinne by our puniſhment; oppreſſion ſet us together by the eares, oppreſſion corporall, oppreſſion ſpirituall, our poſſeſſors to wit, Prince, Peeres, Prelates, did ſlay us as the Prophet ſpeakes, body and ſoule, and held not themſelves guilty. Their ſteps trod in, wrath will continue till it end us all, and God will not deliver.
Matter of admiration alſo iſſueth from this point. Let's admire two things, the badneſſe of men, and the goodneſſe of God. When wee ſee any praeternatural's, any thing that nature did not properly intend, any monſtroſity in a thing, if it bee but in a finger, in a hand, in a toe, much more if in any maine part, which maims the ſhape, and almoſt varies the ſpecies, wee wonder much, as to ſee a Dove with a Bores tuskes: to ſee a Lambe with a Serpents taile: to ſee a man with a mouth and a throate as wide as a Sepulcher, and a Tongue in it, a fire of Hell; and the ſpittle under the roofe of this Tongue, the poyſon of Aſpes, &c. Wee wonder at what nature did never intend; ſhould wee not much more wonder at thoſe monſters which grace did never intend? ſuch grace as workes toward man. We meet a thouſand thouſand ſuch monſters fore-mentioned in a ſpirituall ſenſe, and never make one thought ſtand ſtill a jot, divinely to conſider it. Spirituall monſtroſity ſhould affect us much, to behold ſo noble a creature as man, and his nobleſt part, to wit, his heart, turned into a beaſt, all his inſide like a Wolfe or a Beare, and onelyonly his outſide, and ſcarce that, like a man. The worſe ſome are, the better others ſhould be to make it up, that God may not be altogether a loſer, in the greateſt and coſtlieſt workes of his hands. A tender heart will admire, ſigh and bleed over a hard. O Jeruſalem, Jeruſalem, thou that killeſt the Prophets, here is a patterne worth the following. Chriſt beholds a company of bloudy tyrants, ſtony-hearted hypocrites, and he admires, ſighs, mournes over them: 'twere but the diſcharge of our duty, to mourne over this malicious bloudy Age wherein we live. O England England, thou that haſt oppreſt to death many brave Prophets and worthies of other rankes ſent unto thee. When others kill and crucify Chriſt, we ſhould ſit like Mary and weep over them.
Wee ſhould admire the badneſſe of men, and the goodneſſe of Chriſt. Creatures in our own skin, and of our own forme, and yet Wolfes and Lyons; how great is the power and goodneſſe of Chriſt, to preſerve his people amongſt ſuch! Theſe wild beaſts differ in their property from all: more boundleſſe, more reſtleſſe every way, the more ſhould that power be admired that keepes us. Other creatures of prey, keepe their place, to wit, the deſert; where no noble creatures trade, is there range; they keepe their time, the night is their day. Thou makeſt darkneſſe and it is night, wherein the beaſts of the forreſts doe creepe forth, the Sun ariſeth, they gather themſelves together, and lay them downe in Dens, Pſal. 14.22. They are wild creatures, and they keepe a wild place, and a wild time; when and where they may finde prey proper, without injury to more noble creatures. Theſe wild Beaſts before mentioned, goe forth at all times, when the Sun is downe, and when the Sun is up; into all places, into Cities, into Houſes, up to mens bed-chambers, and pull perſons out of their beds, and ſucke their bloud. O the providence of God, that keepes thee, London, from theſe Beaſts of prey! that hath ſaved thee and thy little ones, from cruel oppreſſors ſo long! This providence is lengthned, and the mercy is by ſo much the more ſtrengthned upon you, the more to be laid to heart. How often have theſe beaſts of prey in great droves, and with open mouthes been driving this way, and the Majeſty and the juſtice of the Lord hath appeared and preyed upon them that would have preyed upon us, fulfilling his word, He ſhall breake in pieces the oppreſſor, Pſalm 72.4. As God remembers his word, ſo we ſhould remember him, and write down his Noble acts upon our doore-poſts, bed-poſts, heart-poſts, to all which theſe beaſts would have come for their prey. Theſe great acts of God prove mercies to men, as laid to heart; evill will returne, and they which have beene ſo often driven back, will be irreſiſtible at length, if he be forgotten which hath done all this for us.