White Salt, Chapter 4
CHAP. IV.
HEre we muſt a little hunt the Wolves, which have not yet taken away all, becauſe they have not taken away our liberty of endeavouring, not to right our ſelves, but to make them right. And certainly they will betray themſelves to be very unjuſt, if we may not ſpeak againſt injuſtice to this purpoſe, the beſt that can be. Nay, when they have been ſufficiently injust to others, they will afterwards ſhew themſelves unjuſt to themſelves, if they will not let the ſpiritual edge of an wholeſome reproof to enter into them. We ought not to eſcape the edge of the ſpiritual ſword. It will be worſe for us if we do. Until we be thus wounded, we ſhall never be whole.
Unrighteouſneſs reſpects others and our ſelves; others in the object; our ſelves in the guilt, and ſometimes in the loſs. Almoſt, as hath been ſaid, in that wherein we look for gain, we make loſs. And as the Eaſtern Fable is, a Woolf took away a Pig, and as he was carrying it away a Lion met him, & took it away againfrom him: whereupon the Woolf admired how that which was not well gotten did not wel thrive. So it cometh to paſs ſometimes, that although juſtice be another mans good: yet unrighteouſneſs is our own loſs.
But why do we make any words againſt unrighteouſneſs in the Kingdom of Chriſt? Is there any more of it then the meer notion of it in all Chriſtendom? Hath this accident any inherence in any ſubject amongſt Chriſtians? If we would find an example of this inquity, muſt we not travail for it? to the Getes or Maſſagetes, ſhall we go to ſee an action of unrighteouſneſs; or to thoſe who in cruelty & ſavagenes differ little from what they live amongſt, wilde beaſts?
Oh! thoſe that do not give every one their due, dwell hard by. And they are thoſe who go under the account of Chriſtians. The name of Chriſt is named upon them: and they would think men ſhould doe ſome of them a great deal of wrong, if they ſhould not eſteem them to be very good Chriſtians, although they can wrong others.
Theſe are the Spleen of the Common-wealth, who draw all from others to ſwell their bags. Theſe are the Leeches, which ſuck the bloud of mens eſtates, until they burſt aſunder as Judas did, after he had betrayed his Maſter for money: theſe are as Moles, that keep a pudder and a grubbling in the earth to make their hillocks of earth a little bigger; and they ſpend their pains in this Earth, as if their eyes, like thoſe of Moles, were fitted only to work in the ground, and by and by cometh a foot that throws down the hill; or a ſpear that entreth into the Earth-grubber. Theſe are not the ſervants of the high God; no, but they are the ſervants of the low and baſe Mammon; which, if they did not deceive others for, yet will certainly deceive them and therefore is called the unrighteous Mammon by our Saviour: for deceit is comprehended under unrighteouſneſs.
Righteouſneſs is comprehenſive duplicate page duplicate page of ſignificates: which we have no reaſon here to give account of. We take it here as a quality to be inherent in us for the diſpoſing us to be obedient to the Laws of God in the ſecond Table; and ſpecially to the eighth Commandement.
There is a right ſenſe of righteouſneſs which doth run through every Precept, and the veins as it were of every Law of the ſecond Table; and doth give obedience which is due to Parents, in the fifth, Natural, or Civil, or Eccleſiaſtical; doth give obedience to God in the proſerving the life of our neighbor, according to the ſixth; in preſerving the juſt relations, in the ſeventh; in preſerving the eſtate of our neighbour, in the eighth; the good name of our neighbour, in the ninth; doth keep our deſires in due proportion of contentedneſs againſt coveting what is our neighbours, according to the tenth.
As it is divided againſt piety, which doth immediately, in regard of object, reſpect God; and againſt temperance, which doth immediately likewiſe reſpect our ſelves; ſo it doth take in all that duty which we owe to our neighbour. As it is contradiſtinguiſhed unto the fifth, ſixth, ſeventh, ninth, and tenth Commanmandements, ſo it is taken reſtrictively with relation to the eighth.
Take we it how we will, I would we had it any way. For if we had it any way upon true principles, we ſhould have it every way. For true principles are intrinſecally influxive unto univerſal obedience: ſince there is the ſame law and reaſon of obedience to all.
Have we indeed conſidered our Maſter Chriſt, who took not away that which was anothers, unleſs their ſins, which would never do them good. He took upon him the nature of man, that man might be reſtored to himſelf, and redeemed from thoſe enemies which neceſſarily would have deſtroyed him.
Chriſtian! what canſt thou ſee in him, which can afford thee any intimation of unrighteouſneſs, if thou wouldſt be ruled, as thou ſhouldſt be, by his example? whatſoever he was, as man, he was for thee. Whatſoever he did, he did for thee. Whatſoever he ſuffered, he ſuffered for thee. He ſo far from unrighteouſneſs, that he would be poor. He emptied himſelf for thee. Whatſoever thou ſeeſt in him was mercy. He came not to any purpoſe but to pay for thee a price infinite. He came not to take away thine inheritance, but to make thee coheir with him. He put not in his head into another mans houſe: for he had not where to lay his head: He ſhewed not his juſt Dominion over the creature; but that thou mightſt ſee his Dominion over thee. He took not up the ſword even in his own defence, but when it was drawn by one of his ſervants, he cauſed the ſword to be put up; and he did put up the injury. He got nothing in his converſation for thee, but reproaches, and hunger, and wearineſs, and blows, and wounds, and death, & all for thee.
What canſt thou read in all that is ſaid by him, or thoſe who were ſent by him, to teach thee ſalvation and duty, but laws of righteouſneſs, and truth, and mercy? Look upon thy Copy; is it not written exactly ſtraight and right; and every letter hath its due proportion: and every word duly and orderly joyned? Why is then thy writing wrong? Why are ſome letters left out? Why one letter for another? Why doth one letter take the place of another? Why doſt thou write ſuch an hand, which no man can read whether it be a Chriſtian hand or not? Why doſt thou write a red letter or a letter in red, and a theta too, which ſhould not be in red, nor ſuch? Thus thou doſt write the Roman hand: but this is not the Chriſtian hand; Chriſt did not write thus: we have not ſo learned Chriſt. Indeed he did write ſome letters in red, but in paſsion, in ſuffering: ſo his example is; ſo his copy. It is the notion of St. Peters, and his expreſſion in his 1. Epiſtle, 2.21. For unto this are ye called; for Chriſt alſo ſuffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye ſhould follow his ſteps, who did no ſin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he ſuffered did not threaten, but committed it to him that judgeth righteouſly; who himſelf took up our ſins, or bare our ſins upon the croſs in his body; that we being dead to ſin ſhould live to righteouſneſs; by whoſe ſtripes we are healed: ſuch his example; ſuch his copy, as it is in the Greek; foreign we find it to be; to write under.
Tell it not in Gath, neither publiſh it in Askelon, that any one of all the Chriſtians in the world hath ſhewed more unrighteouſneſs, then would have become him, though he had not been ſuch. What? true Chriſtians, and not true men? Incompoſſibility of incompoſſibilities! Shal the Turk from us take occaſion to inſult over Chriſt and his Religion by our unrighteouſneſs? we take the honour of our Maſters livery to his infinite diſhonour. The Roman ſouldiers took off his own coat, and put on another, and then abuſed him: but we abuſed him as it were in his own clothes. We make uſe of his name for our advantage of unrighteouſneſs; as if we would have him undo himſelf.
Bleſſed God! muſt thoſe be accounted ſuch as do make the Word of God the rule and meaſure of their faith, whoſe word we cannot in any degree make the meaſure of our belief of them? Or are they the ſingular profeſſors of Truth Theological, who have in them ſo little of Truth Moral?
Lye not againſt the truth, ſaith St. James, 3.14. If you lye, and yet will be eſteemed to be good Chriſtians, and true Chriſtians; you lye againſt the Truth. He that lyeth is an open enemy to the Truth. That which he doth, beareth witneſs againſt what he pretends. And moſt diſingenuous ſouls they are, who go about to couſen all the world of all comfortable ſociety: for if all men were thus diſpoſed, to what purpoſe or how ſhould we live one with another? If we will not ſpeak truth, what do we amongſt men? Wherefore did God put ſpeech into our mouths, but that thereby, when there is occaſion, we ſhould faithfully interpret our mindes, in what we think, and what we intend? Hath God given us a tongue to be an inſtrument of deceit? or as a falſe Alarum to betray men? or to catch men as we do birds with a falſe call; or as a clapper to toll men to their deſtruction? Is our language given us to tell others what is not? Let all the letters be mutes, and the hedge of our teeth for ever quick-ſet, if our heart be not always at our mouth when we anſwer or promiſe; when we are to ſay what is, or what we will do. Or let our tongue for ever keep within doores, rather then it ſhould go our to deceive our neighbour. Hath God made our ſpeech to paſs through ſo many inſtruments, that we ſhould make nothing of a lye?
When the paint of outward holineſs ſhall melt at the fire of Gods Tribunal, and the frame of Nature taken apieces, and every thing diſcovered, the gloſs which is ſet upon bad actions will go off, every thing will be naked in its principles; and lying will be then found to be worſe then ſwearing, in ſeveral regards. 1. Becauſe ſwearing is not abſolutely unlawful. If it be in the right form, upon due occaſion, and the object be God, it is an act of Religion: but there is no right form of lying; there can be no juſt occaſion; there is no object for it: it is againſt judgement, truth, and righteouſneſs. We ought not therefore to ly, though thereby we could ſave a world; although what ſo frequent as to tell a lye, to ſave or get a farthing?
2. Lying is worſe becauſe it is more unreaſonable. For it is oppoſite to the principles of beeing. It is impoſſible that the ſame thing ſhould be and not be, is a prime principle: now the lye, in the nature of it, doth thwart this principle: for it would make the matter of the lye to be and not to be. As in the example of Gehezi, the Prophet asked him where he had been, he ſaid he went no whither; here was the lye, he ſpake contrary to the thing known, for he did go after Naaman for his advantage. That he did go, was true in the fact; and that he did not go, he would have true in his word: and ſo the effect of the lye is, to have both the parts of the contradiction true, that he did go, and he did not go. And if this might be granted, it would unravel all the world, and we could not affirm God or any thing. This is the minde of going againſt our minde in ſpeech: ſo it is repugnant to prime principles, and the prime verity, who is.
3. It is more hainous, becauſe it is more deſtructive of all communion with men: ſwearing is not in it ſelf deſtructive, but is, if duely performed, of uſe to preſerve the rights of men, in their good name, or eſtate, or life; as when an Oath is made before a lawful Judge, for the ending of debates.
4. God cannot lye, for it is ſin; and therefore he cannot do it; and all in him is beeing, and therefore he cannot lye; but God hath ſworn in his wrath, if they ſhall enter into his reſt, as in the 95. Pſalm.
5. Becauſe lying is an act, as we may ſpeak, of filial obedience to the god of this world, the Devil, who is the Father of a lye, as St. John deſcribes him, Joh. 8.44. He was a lyer from the beginning, and ſo he deſtroyed man. And that which is ſymbolical to the firſt ſin, is like to be a chief ſin. We do not read of the Devils ſwearing: for they have no minde to do that which upon any conditions ſhould be a religious act; and alſo men will believe him without ſwearing.
6. This ſin of lying was odious to the very Heathens; and as odious as hell, was he that ſaid one thing and meant another.
So haynous this vice is, which I have not taken ſuch notice of, as if I would favour ſwearing; for I ſhall give it its correction in its due place. But I have given it the ſharper cenſure, becauſe it deſerves it, and becauſe it is more common, and more abominable in thoſe who abominate Oaths.
Were there any Chriſtian bloud running in our veins, we would bluſh at ſuch enormity, which, had we not been Profeſſors of Chriſtianity, we might have ſcorned. Can we make any pretence of intereſt in the God of Truth, when there is no truth in us? Let us not therefore any longer diſhonour the faith of a Chriſtian, in making that to be a cloak of our iniquity, which when we put it on, was made to ſignifie that we would put off lyes. Lye not one to another, ſince you have put off the old man with his works; and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge according to the Image of him that created him; as St. Paul exhorts us, Col. 3.9. When God created the world, he ſaw all things good, which ſuppoſeth them to be conformable to his forms of them in his own minde: and when God re-creates, renews man, he puteth in him this principle to ſhew himſelf conformable outwardly to the image and types of things in his own minde.
If an Heathen ſhould lye unto me, he ſhould deceive me, becauſe I look for truth from him upon account of reaſon: but if a Chriſtian tels me a lye, he deceiveth me more, becauſe that worthy and holy name, wherewith he is recommended to my belief, maketh me to preſume that he will be true to his profeſsion, and to me. And therefore though it be not unlawful for Chriſtians, when the caſe is duly put, to ſwear: yet me thinks he ſhould not be urged to any other form, then upon his honour. The word of a Chriſtian makes a kinde of ſpiritual oath: and although he doth not touch the book, yet it is made by it; yea the Chriſtians word ſhould be more credible then another mans oath: becauſe the Chriſtians word ſhould proceed from an internal principle of ſincerity; the other mans oath may be cauſed by ſome extrinſecal end.
To ſay no more, it is time for the whole world to ſhut up ſhop, if there be no hold of mens words. And we might make it a queſtion, whether, if the laws of men were punctually to be accommodated to the uſe of Society, there ſhould not be as great a puniſhment for a lye, as for a ſtealth; ſince ſome lyes are redundantly more injurious to the Publique then ſome ſtealths. Had we not as good take the Sun out of the Firmament, as take away righteouſneſs? and truth of words is organical to righteouſneſs in actions. It is no matter whether the Sun ſhines or not, if by the light of mens words we cannot ſee what is, or what they mean. This baſe falſity leaves us more in the dark, ſo that we know not where to ſet a ſure ſtep in any civil courſe. And it came from the Prince of darkneſs, and it will return thither again to be puniſhed with him, and by him, who in envy to God brought it into the world, that he might make the world as bad as himſelf, who abode not in the truth.
But what ſhall we ſay of them who are more to be believed when they do not promiſe you; and promiſe and proteſt with high devotions to deceive you: whom, when they have ſpoken, we are to underſtand backwards, as we do read ſome verſes, and ſome languages. We are never right, unleſs we read them wrong.
Let ſuch for their congruous and condign puniſhment be baniſhed into deſerts, where they ſhall have none to deceive; or let them be amongſt men, but not allowed to ſpeak a word, untill they will ſpeak ſo, as one may underſtand them by their words, and not their words by them.
Oh blemiſhes, and ſpots, and everlaſting reproaches of the Chriſtian name! Change your name, or your manners. Or if you will not do as Chriſtians ſhould, there is another name which would more become you, and by which you would be better known; ſurely Jeſuites.
Such took their Inſtitution for theſe two ends; to teach Grammar and the Goſpel; and how they have performed their duties, you may learn by their Diſciples: for they have taught the world a new Leſſon and a new Goſpel. They can learn you to ſpeak ſo, as if you underſtand them ſo, you are undone. And if you do not think that they think ſomewhat contrary to what they ſay, they will think you are not like to be Politicians; and therefore for their turn, that you may be ridden like Engliſh Catholiques.
Such variety of juſtice we now meet with in theſe rare and glorious times, wherein there is ſuch uſe made of the Goſpel, as never before. Wherein we have more liberty, becauſe more Maſters: and are bound to rejoyce that we have the freedom to keep our money till they call for it. O Saints ſuperlative!
Are there not ſuch in the world? Is it not more difficult to name them then to finde them? And if ſuch be Chriſtians, who would be ſaved? are theſe the men that with the Apoſtle look not after thoſe things which are ſeen, but thoſe things which are not ſeen? Is it not the repreſentation of hypocriſie, to colour the outward carriage with ſhews of holineſs for the more expedite proſecution of unrighteouſneſs; either in the ſubſtance of commodity, or the price, or the weight, or the meaſure, or propriety?
All that are juſt, are not in other things good; but all that are good, are certainly juſt: for grace which exceedeth the principle of reaſon, doth alwayes ſuppoſe it; and therefore if we judge theſe men by their actions, they are not right: if we feel their pulſe, they are not ſound Chriſtians. If thoſe who do not good works ſhall not enter into heaven, what ſhall become of thoſe who do evil works? as the Father ſaid, Can thoſe look to live in heaven, by whom we cannot live on earth? May thoſe expect an heavenly inheritance to be given them, who can take away inheritances on earth from them to whom they were given? What pity it is that it ſhould be poſſible to be ſaid by any, Had it not been for ſuch a Chriſtian, I had not been undone?
Is heaven like to fall into the mouths of thoſe who gape for other mens eſtates? No, heaven is for thoſe who ſeek the good of others: not for thoſe who ſeek the goods of others. Thoſe whoſe affections are ſo inherent in the pelf of the world, are not yet diſpoſed to the happineſs of another kinde. And if thoſe who love their own too much ſhall not injoy God, what place in heaven can be found for thoſe, who love that which is anothers?