The Trust and the Account of a Steward

Die Mercurii 28. April. 1647.

ORdered by the Commons assembled in Parliament, That Mr. Ball, do from this House give thanks unto Mr. Strong for the great pains he took in the Sermon he preached on this day at Margaret's Westminster, before the House of Commons (it being a day of public Humiliation) and that he do desire him to Print his Sermon: Wherein he is to have the like Privilege in Printing of it, as others in the like kind usually have had.

H. Elsynge Cler. Parl. D. Com.

I appoint Jo. Benson, and Jo. Saywell to Print my Sermon.

William Strong.

A Sermon Preached before THE HONORABLE HOUSE OF COMMONS, at Margaret's Westminster, on the 28 ^th of April 1647. being the day of Public HUMILIATION and FASTING.

G Reat men have anciently had their Monitors; remembrancers unto them, both of their original, and their duty. The Sicilian Prince had his earthen place to tell him daily that he was but a Potters Son. Philip of Macedon had his Page who cried every morning in his hearing: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . And the Roman Triumphers in the height of all their glory, had a Servant behind them, who did suggest: Hominem memento te. Great men shall not find a greater difficulty, then to keep their hearts low, when their places are high. As in spiritual things it is hard, being fallen to remember whence we are fallen: So in temporal things, being risen, it is hard to remember from whence we arose.

Rara Virtus est humilitas purpurata. Its a thousand to one but as they say of the Pope at his instalment, mutatio nominis, becomes mutatio hominis. And men called God's by Office, are apt to conceive themselves to be God's by Essence.

There is a double curse that is come upon every Creature, and every condition of the Creature since the fall. It is deceiving, it raiseth men's expectations, and it is defiling, it draws out their corruptions.

God hath set up his Ministers in an especial manner for this end, not only to be his Remembrancers (for some apply that unto them as an Act of Office, Isaiah. 62.6.) but to be your Remembrancers and Monitors in his name, who in them speaks from Heaven.

I will not be negligent (saith the Apostle) to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be stablished in the present truth. Yea I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. And the Lord awaken his Watchmen, and your Remembrancers, that they cease not to warn you night and day with tears. We must mind you of your condition: You are made of the same clay with other men; that your hearts be not lifted up above your Brethren. We must cry unto you. Earth, Earth, Earth, hear the word of the Lord. Which the ensuing words intimate, to be spoken of the King; though many Interpreters apply them to the Kingdom. We must mind you of your dissolution, you shall die like men, as other ordinary men do. Nay, in a worse manner; Man being in honor, and understanding not, may be compared to the Beasts that perish.

And we must mind you of your Account, tell you there is a higher then the highest, and that you who now judge others, shall be yourselves judged: For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, and then the present differences and distances shall be done away; you shall be stripped of all these Robes, and stand upon equal terms before God, with the meanest under your command. Nay, if you prove unjust Stewards, upon worse terms; gaining nothing by your present honor, but this, that you shall have the greater Account to make, and the more dreadful Sentence to expect. And the higher your advancement hath been here, the lower shall your abasement be hereafter.

There is among Interpreters great difference about the occasion, connection, and application of this Parable, in so much that Cajetan ventured to say, Applicationem hujus Parabolae, non solum difficilem esse, sed & impossbilem: Which Salmeron blames him for, as speaking unadvisedly with his lips. But I am resolved not to trouble you or detain you, with any strife of words: Judging no controversy to befit a day of Humiliation, but the Lord's controversy.

That we may find out the meaning of the Parable, let us take that ordinary Rule given by Interpreters concerning Parables, which is to observe the scope to which it is applied. In all Christ's Parables there are two things 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 & 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 & his intention in the former, is commonly declared in the latter. This Parable ends at the 8 verse, and the Application begins at the 9. And I say unto you make unto yourselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches, and if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? From whence the scope of the Parable seems evidently to be this. To exhort all men that are betrusted by God here: with Estates, Honors, Authority, and opportunity to make use of all these unto spiritual ends, the glory of God, gaining the love, and refreshing the bowels of their fellow servants; and thereby laying up a good foundation for themselves, that they may lay hold of eternal life. That having been faithful in the Mammon of unrighteousness, God may be pleased to trust them with the true Treasure. And this exhortation is pressed from the example of the unjust Steward; who knowing the time of his Stewardship was but short; improved his trust, power, and authority, to make provision for himself. And the Lord commended the unjust Steward, propter solertiam, non improbitatem: Because he had done wisely. There is a sharp reproof contained in these words, the Children of this world are wiser in their generation, then the Children of Light. Surely the Children of Light should be as wise in their Generation to accomplish spiritual and eternal; as the Children of this world are to accomplish their worldly and temporal ends.

In the words we have three things. First, his Office and condition, he is a Steward. Secondly, his deposition and ejection: The same rich man who committed to him this trust; doth for his unfaithfulness therein cast him out. Thou mayest be no longer Steward. Thirdly, the Account that he must give when he goes out of his Office of all his receipts and expenses, the goodness that he hath received, and the goods that he hath wasted: And from hence these three observations do arise.

First, all men, even those in the highest Place, and the greatest Honor, are but Stewards unto God.

Secondly, their Stewardship shall have an end, they shall not be always Stewards.

Thirdly, when they go out of their Stewardship they shall give an Account And these three shall be the bounds of our present discourse.

First, of his Office and condition, he is a Steward. This is by some applied to the Magistracy, by some to the Ministry, by some to all Rulers, of what kind soever, by some unto every particular person; who hath received some talents from God, and is betrusted with his goods whether it be riches, Honors, Authority, Parts, or whatsoever else, to be employed for the glory of God, the good of others, and his own spiritual and eternal advantage.

All men, even those in the highest Place, and greatest Honor, are but Stewards unto God.

In the opening whereof I shall propound to you four general considerations.

First, you are Stewards, and that is a Title of the greatest trust. God hath indeed immediately but one Steward, Jesus Christ the Mediator, the man of his right-hand, the Father hath given all things into his hands, hath put all things in subjection under his feet. The dispensation and administration of both Covenants, is committed unto him. He hath made him the Head of the Church, and over all things for the Churches sake; and at his hands will the Lord require all these. He shall then give an account of his Stewardship when he shall give up his Kingdom to God even the Father, that God may be all in all.

But Jesus Christ hath many under-Stewards in the administration of all things here below. The Angels are therefore called Principalities, if good things be to be dispensed: An Angel comes to Daniel, and tells him, thou art greatly beloved. If wars be to be raised; An Angel goes forth to fight against the King of Persia, and then the Prince of Gracia shall come. Generally, the spirit of the living Creatures it in the wheels. Next unto the Angels, Christ employs Magistrates and Ministers as his Stewards also. And as Christ shall give an account to his Father, at the giving up of his Kingdom: So shall they render an account to Christ at the giving up of their stewardship.

That it is a great trust committed unto Magistrates to be Stewards under Christ; all the Titles given unto them in Scripture do fully manifest. If a Kingdom be to be supported, they are the foundations of the earth, upon which it stands, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . If it be to be defended, yet are the sheilds of the earth. If the City be besieged, ye are the bars of the gates. If an assault be made, ye are the repairers of the breach. If wounds be given, ye are the Surgeons, and the healers: If the State be distempered, ye are the Physicians. All these Titles denote the highest trust.

But yet because the more fully ye know your receipts, the better ye will be able to judge of your accounts: Let us therefore more particularly look into that trust which the Lord hath as to Stewards, committed unto you, in these six particulars.

First, God hath betrusted you with the Laws of this Land, which are the foundations upon which the Kingdom stands: That ancient hedge, by which we have been kept hitherto, from running first into a Common and then into a Wildernes. A hedge, ad seperationem, & ad munitionem; which hedge never any did attempt to break, but a Serpent did bite him; which boundstones never any did attempt to remove, but they were hurt therewith, Eccles. 10.8. These Laws are the common inheritance, and patrimony of every free-borne Subject; the common refuge and Asylum of every oppressed soul. These are committed to you as Stewards in a double respect, in the legislative and the Judiciary power.

The legislative power; I say, is yours; because in you all the Laws of the Land begin; they are by you propounded, by you desired. And Laws they cannot be unless by you consented to. Lex Regia non est quicquid de voluntate Regis tantummodo praesumptum est; sed quod magnatum suorum consilio & assensu definitum fuerit. Take heed therefore that you leave no unjust or unnecessary Laws unrepealed: Take heed there be no unjust or dangerous Laws enacted, lest you establish iniquity by a Law.

The Iudiciary power also is yours: See that Justice be executed according unto Law without partiality without delay: God expects, that in your fastings you should loose the bands of wickedness, untie the heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free, and that you should break every yoke. God will not smell in your solemn. Assemblies unless Justice run down like water, and judgment as a mighty stream. Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, then come, pray to me, and reason with me; this is the Lord's order Isaiah 1.15. or else God will answer you as he did Joshua praying, Wherefore liest thou upon thy face? Israel hath sinned in the accursed thing. What accursed things there are among you, God knows. There is a great cry of accursed things in the Nation. The children call for bread, and there is none to break it to them. The Subjects cry for justice, and there is none to dispence it. It is an honorable title indeed for Magistrates to be called the shields of the earth; but very dishonorable for them to become scuta praedatorum (as the ordinary Gloss renders that place) shields of, and shelters for Robbers. Mountains of prey, that the high places of the Earth, should be full of the habitations of cruelty.

Secondly, God hath be trusted you with the lives, liberty, and property of this Great people: and for all these you must give an account. Ye are the breath of our nostrils, the nail fastened in a sure place, upon which the vessels of all quantities hang. If our liberties be to be defended, ye are our hiding place. If they be to be vindicated, ye are our covering, under whose shadow, next under the shadow of the wings of the Almighty, we hope to be safe. If the lives of the Subjects of England be not protected; if their Property be not preserved; if their liberties be not vindicated; but they are left, even as fishes of the Sea that have no King, but the great ones devour the less without control; truly at your hands will the Lord require it. And though you may be able by your power now, to preserve yourselves, from those violences and oppressions, which formerly you were liable to, equally with other men; yet know that not only your own good, but the good of the whole depends upon you. There must hang upon you cups as well as flagons. A good Magistrate ought to be in the Commonwealth as the soul in the body, which is tota in qualibet parte.

Thirdly, God hath betrusted you with the Religion, Ordinances, and worship of God in this Kingdom, and in an especial manner with this great work of Reformation, which he did so unexpectedly begin, and hath so far made bare his Arm to carry on, against the highest opposition that could be made, by the power or policy of this, and the neighbouring Kingdoms, Rom. 3.2. The Apostle saith, The Oracles of God were committed to the Jews 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; so committed that they were concredited; not for their own persons only, but that they might be transmitted by them to their posterity. So are the Ordinances of God committed unto you, that you may transmit them. Surely the stability of the Kingdom stands in the Religion of it. If the Lord cast the house which he hath sanctified for his name out of his sight, he will quickly pluck you up by the roots out of the land which he hath given you. If he throw down your eminent place, they shall quickly strip you of all your clothes, take away your fair Jewels and leave you naked and bare, for the fire that burns the City is taken off the Altar. Ubi non est sanctitas pietas, fides instabile regnum. Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times and strength of salvation; the fear of the Lord is his treasure, Isaiah 33.6. If you would not have the Kingdom to be rooted up; let not Religion be rooted out. Let it be only Mariana's opinion, ut nihil princeps de Religion statuat. And let it ever be thought an evil consequence amongst reasonable men; that because Magistrates cannot contstrain men's consciences, therefore they may not restrain their actions, their errors. Surely Rome is Mystery, Babylon the Great mother of the Harlots, and as it was the sin of the ten Kings to give their Kingdoms to the beast, to receive his mark, in their right hand and in their fortheads: Submit themselves, and use their power, to cause those under their authority to do the like. So when the Lamb shall overcome them: which shall be by their conversion, not their destruction, and they shall hate the where, eat her flesh and burn her with fire: they shall then use their power against her in the same way that they did for her when they gave their Kingdoms to her, sc. by hating her themselves, and causing all under their domion, to their utmost, to do the like. Surely Rome shall fall as well by the Civil, as the Spiritual power, by the Sword as well as the Word, and the ten Kings shall make her desolate. This is approved by God, as being the Magistrates duty even in matters of Religion; which doubtless they shall exercise each of them in their own Kingdoms respectively; before they shall go forth to make War against her in a foreign nation. And Austin hath concluded, In hoc Reges Deo serviant in quantum Reges. So far therefore as Religion is corrupted, the worship of God profaned, the faith once given to the Saints blasphemed; if it come under your cognizance, it will be set upon your account.

Fourthly, God hath betrusted you with the Saints and the Church of God among you. These he hath first committed unto Christ, not as an ordinary gift, but as the first fruits of the creatures, as the choicest jewils among all the treasures of the Creation, for whose sake, and by whose Covenant the world stands, for whose good chiefly the Magistracy is appointed; for whose sake the Lord will reprove Kings: and for whose lives God will give Nations. David saith, his eyes in government should be upon the faithful in the land. Take heed how you neglect or despise one of these little ones; and how you prefer unto these a disciplinarian Saint; but a profane man, a drunkard, a railer, a cursed speaker, whose Religion began with his opinion; and whose profession hath risen with the hopes of his preferment. Take heed when sentence is to be executed upon a profane man, who hath a member to be cut off; that you turn not the back of the sword of Authority; and when a godly man hath but a hair amiss, you turn the edge and strike a full blow. This may tend to advance formility, but will never piety. Surely with God neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature; and methinks nothing else should avail with us, For the Kingdom of God consists not in externals, and forms, after this or that way, but in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the holy Ghost, he that in these things serveth God, is accepted of God and approved of all good men, Rom. 14.17, 18. It is your duty therefore to cherish holiness, in what shape soever it be represented; and to discountenance profaneness, what vizard soever it may put on.

Fifthly, God hath betrusted you with the guidance of this great people, which Solomon looked upon as a very great trust; and therefore made it his only request, that God would give him wisdom to go in and out before so great a people. You are the arms by which they are led, Psal. 77.20. he led his people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. You are the Angels that God hath appointed for their conduct; and to you the generality of the people look; as to the pillar of fire and the cloud for direction. You have a virtual influence into the whole Nation, the people generally being a lump ready to receive any leaven: those that will willingly walk after any commandment whether for good or evil. Let it not be charged upon you, The leaders of this people have caused them to err, and they that are led by them are destroyed; or that my people have been lost sheep, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains, they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place. Formerly neglects in this kind might be somewhat extenuated, by the extremity of the War; but now God hath subdued your enemies, and made the way plain before you. If some better course be not taken for the guidance of the people; God will surely put it upon your account.

Sixthly, God hath betrusted you with the prosperity, happiness and hopes of the neighbouring Churches. Public persons should have public spirits, and these will have public designs. It is a hireling, that looks no further then his own party, the raising of his own family, and the feathering of his own nest. The glory of God, the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ, the care of all the Churches, should be the matter of all your debates and consultations. Private men have but short hands; they can only reach out their prayers unto the Churches necessities. But men in public imloyments they have long hands, large opportunities. It were a consultation worthy of a Parliament to say, We have a little sister, a dying sister, and she hath no breasts, what shall we do for our sister in the day that she shall be spoken for? Ireland calls, cries, stretcheth out her hands all the day long unto you; they have looked for assistance, even till their eyes fail. God knows where the stop and obstruction is, and will certainly search it out. For you to have the honor to be the repairers of the breach, the restorers of Cities to dwell in; for God to give you your sisters for daughters, which is the promise made to the Jews in their return; these things should be great in your eyes.

If you consider these particulars, and take off your eyes from your Honor, and fixe them upon the trust committed to you, and the account that will be required of you; you will conclude it is no light thing to sit within your walls. Therefore as the Apostle saith of the Ministers. Let men esteem of us as the Ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God: so we do account of you, as the Ministers of Christ, and Stewards of all the precious things of this Nation: and so humbly desire you to esteem yourselves.

Secondly, though you are Stewards, yet you are but Stewards: not owners, and Proprietaries. For this Steward was accused to his Lord for wasting his goods: therefore the goods in the hand of the Steward, remained to be the Lord's still. He hath not so committed anything to your trust, as to relinquish his own interest in it, or care over it; you must therefore employ all according to his appointment, and direction: lest one day you be found wasters and unjust stewards. If Ministers who are the stewards of the mysteries of God, in his word do seek to themselves preeminence; draw disciples after them, daub with untempered mortar; make merchandize of the Truths of God, or the souls of men; pollute the name of God, for handfulls of barley, and pieces of bread; to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls that should not live; this is to abuse their power in the Gospel. So for Magistrates, to make use of their authority, to enrich their families, gain to themselves a party, pleasure their friends, and crush their adversaries; this is to abuse their power in the Kingdom; this is wasting your Lord's goods for which he will call you to an account.

Here give me leave to mind you, First: That the Law • of this Land are not yours: you are but stewards; they are God's Laws, and the Laws of the people. And though they be not, as the Laws of the Medes and Persians, unalterable: yet there is something sacred in them while they remain Laws, as being the rules of the common justice of the Kingdom. The Magistrates are legum custodes & ministri, therefore it is not in their power to dispence with the Law at pleasure, which is their rule in judging, as it is the people's in obeying (except only in some extraordinary emergencyes for the preservation of the public, which the providence of man cannot foresee, nor his wisdom prevent: And in these cases, salut populi est suprema lex ) but in a common and ordinary way of justice, the Law should be as the public standard to measure all by. The Magistrate indeed should take care, and be exact in the Laws that he makes, that nothing in them be wanting or redundant; nothing burdensome to the people: But being by serious advice and public consent established as Laws; if the Magistrate go against them, he shall incur the sentence, of being one that remooves the bounds. Rex ipse non debet esse sub homine, sed sub Deo & sub Lege; quia Lex Regem facit. Digna vox est ex Majestate regnantis, Legibus alligatum se Principem profiteri & majus est Imperio Legibut submittere Principatum.

Secondly, that the Liberty and Property of this People are not yours. You are not Lord's, but Stewards: You cannot grant Immunities or Impunities, which the Law doth not. Leges vitae necis{que}, potestatem habent non Reges. As you ought not to restrain those, whom the Law sets at liberty: So you ought not to enlarge those whom the Law hath bound. Surely, clementior pastor est qui lupum, necat quam qui servat: he that is more merciful then the Law, in this respect is cruel. And for property the meanest Subject hath as true a Title unto his estate, as the greatest. All things in this Kingdom indeed are yours; ad Imperium, to command them according to Law, and for the necessity of the Nation: But they are not yours ad Patrimonium; to dispence them at your pleasure to whom, when, and in what manner will you.

Thirdly, the Religion of the Kingdom is not yours: It was Jeroboams brand, and will be to the end of the world; that under his Government the defection in Religion was made, that he was the Son of Nebat that made Israel to sin: And it will be Jehu's dishonor forever, that he made Reformation, but an Act of Pollicy, to establish the Kingdom upon himself, and his Posterity. Surely God did never commit a people to the hand of a Magistrate so; as to devest himself of his Authority over them; but that they should be so under the Magistrate as that they continue God's people still; and it is just with God that a people should be oppressed, and broken in judgment; if willingly they follow such commands, Hose 5.11.

Fourthly, the Public Justice of the Kingdom is not yours: But God, the most High rules in the Kingdoms of mortal men, the sheilds of the earth belong to God, he is with you in judgment, and when ye submit your consciences, cast down your Crowns; rule with him, and for him, then he is greatly exalted.

Thirdly, being Stewards, you must employ all that is committed to you with wisdom, and faithfulness, for the good of the Family, For these are the qualifications of a Steward mentioned by Christ himself: Who is that faithful and wise Steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his Household?

First, with faithfulness, to give them their meat in due season: To imrpove your Authority to the utmost for the public good; not only to deny yourselves, but forget yourselves, and with Joseph to provide for the whole Land of Egypt, and yet to procure no possessions for himself or his sons therein; with Joshua to give the people of Israel possession of the Land of Canaan, and reserve nothing in it for himself. This is the difference that the Philosopher makes between a King, and a Tyrant, the one seeks his own, and the other the people's good. For Magistrates to eat the fat, drink the sweet, feed themselves, and not the flock. This becomes not a faithful Steward.

Secondly, with Wisdom. Magistrates had need be wise; even as an Angel of God, that you may so manage your Authority as it were to take the people by guile; to gain upon their hearts; for he that is not in the hearts of the people, shall have little command of their persons or actions. You are to engage all sorts to you, and to take heed how you disoblige any in an unjust way: Especially let your wisdom be seen in managing the public Treasure of the Kingdom with frugality, and for the public good: (because upō this the eyes of the generality are most fixed) that the people may see that you seek not theirs, but them. Prodigality of the public purse will ever disoblige the people to their Rulers. When Magistrates shall pleasure friends, raise servants, advance kindred by other men's estates. The Turks call tribute sacrum populi sanguinem, and hold it an abhominable thing to employ it to any, but a public use. For Magistrates as possessors to slay the people, and not hold themselves guilty, and their own Shepherds not to pity them; to be lavish in the expense of the Treasures of the Kingdom, that in every public business, because it is the public, so much shall be expended, when even the Tithe would suffice: These things take off exceedingly the hearts of people from their Governors. You should so sweeten your Government with wisdom, that it neither become burdensome nor loathsome: If not your right arm will quickly wither, and your right eye in judgment will be put out.

Fourthly, to quicken you to all this, there are three Arguments in the Text. First, you shall be accused unto your Lord for wasting his goods, and no men have more accusers then those in public place. ('Twere well, if this were not one of the sins under which this Land groans sc. speaking evil of dignities, and cursing the Rulers of the people.) You shall be accused if things miscarry in your hand, by a seduced party, by an oppressed people, and the tears of the oppressed will come up before the Lord, because they have no Comforter. There is a cry in tears, as well as in blood. The Devils will accuse you. Satan stands at Joshua's right hand to resist him. The Angels will accuse you, the judgment that came upon Nebuchadnezzar (that oppressing Prince, who gathered the riches of the Nations like Egges. ) Was by the Decree of the Watchers, and the demand, by the word of the Holy One. And your consciences also will, with this unjust Stewards accuse you, in that day when God shall judge the secrets of all men according to the Gospel. Cumquis habuerit justum Judicem & conscientiam suam testem nihil time at nisi causam.

Secondly, the Text tells you, that unfaithfulness in a temporal trust, shall be punished with spiritual and eternal Judgments. For he that is unfaithful in the least, will be unfaithful also in much. If you have not been faithful, in the Mammon of unrighteousnessc, who will commit unto you the true Treasure? If you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, &c.

Here we are to observe three things. 1. The opposition between things temporal, riches, honors, authority, parts, learning, &c. and things spiritual and eternal. The one is, that which is teast, (men commonly look upon them as great things, Jer. 45.5. seekest thou great things for thyself; though they were not so in subsistence: Yet they were in apparance: ) But Christ saith that they are the least of all the gifts of God, which God doth bestow upon the basest of men. It is Christ, and grace, and the things that concorne a better life, which the Lord esteems as great things, and so we should account them. The one is the mammon of unrighteousness; because they commonly prove an occasion of sinning, and are a means to become a snare to the owners; but it is only Christ and grace that is the true Treasure; as the food, so the riches, that endure to everlasting life. The one is another man's, that is chiefly committed to a man as a Steward; for the good of others, and it is this worlds good, which a man neither brings with him, neither shall he carry with him when he departs; but grace and glory are a man's own, a treasure that no man shall take from him. 2. Observe the end, why the Lord doth commit these temporal blessings unto men; sc. as a trial of their faithfulness; as men do their servants of whose fidelity they have no assurance; they commit to them first things of less consequence, that as they show forth faithfulness in these, they may betrust them with greater. 3. The usual punishment that God doth inflict upon men for abusing temporal blessings is, to deny them spiritual, and eternal. When men's authority, and estates shall draw out their pride, oppression and licentiousness, that they beat their fellow-servants, and eat and drink with the drunken, they becoming beasts in their lives, its no wonder, if at death they be compared to the beasts that perish, and that abusing temporal mercy, God is justly provoked to deny them grace here, and glory hereafter. And it will be enough to silence them all at last day, to tell them, because they were not faithful in the unrighteous Mammon, therefore the Lord did not commit unto them the true treasure.

Thirdly he shall be turned out of his stewardshippe in wrath, for his unfaithfulness, and be cast out as an abhominable branch; the must be no longer Steward: And this brings us unto the second point proposed, which is,

The greatest Stewardship upon earth shall have an end. Men shall not be always Stewards.

God doth commonly put men out of their stewardship three ways. Frst, by the power of an enemy; as Zedechi • h was put out of his stewardship by the King of Babylon when he was carried captive; soyee may see an enemy in your habitations; an enemy sitting upon your seats, supplying your places, and you yourselves thrust out.

Secondly, by the tumuls of the people, there is a particular curse of God upon the Magistracy in taking off the hearts of the people from them: Either openly and at once; as in the case of Rehoboam, and Nebuchadnezzar, for their cruelty and oppression, destroying their Land, and sl • tying their people. God giving them up unto such cursed ways, that their own Subjects cast them out of their Dominions. Or secretly, and by degrees, for God is not always a Lyon to a State; but sometimes a Moth, and the Prophet Zach. 11.16. speaks of the withering of the shepherds right arm, which is the decay of his authority, and ruling power by degrees. Some seditious Libells you know have been scattered abroad, of the people's reassuming their power, which doubtless is wicked; for God never put the sword into the people's hands; but yet though it may be the sin of the people, it may be the punishment of the Magistrate, and the judgment of the Kingdom.

Thirdly, by death, at utmost, then your stewardship shall have an end; these relations are but for the time of this life, and then these Robes shall be taken off, then shall ye fail. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . (which the Septuagint renders often for that word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Hebrew, Jer. 42.17. and 22. They shall die, or fail by the sword, by the Famine, and by the Pestilence) and lay down your honor in the dust. And there is not a sickness, or any bodily infirmity that befalls any of you, but it is a Monitour to preach this Doctrine; give an account of thy stewardship, for thou canst not long remain a Steward.

And this brings us unto the third point; them shall not be only a laying down of the present office and • onour, but it must be with an account.

When men in the highest place are put out of their stewardship, they must give an account of their carriage therein, and the greater their trust is, the heavier will their reckoning be.

An account unto men, if you would once resolve to adjust the accounts, and pay the debts of the Kingdom, (which by your own promises ye are engaged to, and will certainly by all men be expected at your hands) would be unto many an unjust Steward in these days, as the hand-writing upon the wall was to Bleshazzar, and would have the same effect; their countenances would change, their thoughts trouble them, the joints of their loins be loosed, and their knees smite one against another. To all such I say, as one to the King, saying he is for his accounts answerable to none, satu sufficit ei ad poenam, quod Dominum expectet ultorem, and if a day for these men's Audits here never come; yet this is enough, there remains for them an account unto God. There is a story of one Usthazanes an Eunuch Tutor to Sapores the King of Persia, a man of great honor at Court, and an especial Favorite who had formerly been a Christian, and afterwards for fear had fallen again to the Idolatry of the Heathen, and worshipped the Sun: He seeing Simeon the Arch-Bishop of Seleucia passing by, being carried to prison, came to him and saluted him, the Bishop with great indignation reproved him for his Apostasy and passed by; with which he was so afflucted, that he cast off his Courtly apparel, and put on black the habit of a mourner, and with great bitterness cried out, Oh wretched man that I am, how shall I appear before God; whom I have denied, and what may I expect from him; when Simeon my ancient friend will not own me, but turns from me. Unto God ye must give an account, not only of yourselves as men; but also as Magistrates. Every man shall bear his own burden; everyone of us shall give an account of him else unto God. This I shall reduce to these two neads. 1. As Magistrates ye shall give an account of yourselves. 2. Of the people committed unto you.

1. Ye must give an account of yourselves as Magistrates, in these particulars.

1. Of your ends in entering upon this great employment; what it was that ye did propound to yourselves when you desired it; whether it was for a private advantage or for a public service, to be in a condition to honor God, and further a Reformation, that the Kingdom of Christ may be exalted: Or else to be in an estate to secure yourselves, pleasure your friends, and to make benefit of the times (which is to be feared of many who either declined, or deserted the service at first, and have since desired it, and labored for it) Then you shall give an account whether your end with Jehu was to raise your Families, and to rote yourselves in the Kingdom, or whether with the bramble in Jotham’s parable, your aims were to have other men put themselves under any of your shadows, that he might become King of the trees.

2. Ye shall give an account of all your parts, and how ye have used them for or against the truth. Achitophel was a great Politician, whose counsel was as if a man had asked at the Oracle of God. Tertullus was an eloquent Orator, facundus sed malo publico, of these they shall surely give an account. Some men there are, who by their parts of nature and abilities of language, can turn themselves into any shape, guild and varnish over anything; so as to put a fair gloss upon it, who love diverticulaes and turn aside unto crooked ways; can like unto the Planets move with the Orbe, and yet reserve to themselves their own private and proper motion: Can sails seemingly to such a Port with a full gale, and yet with a side wind turn about to a quite contrary point of the Compass. Some men there are whose words are full of homonon yes & various acc • ptations, who have taught their tongues to speak ambuiguities, that no man can tell what they say; because he cannot know what they mean. And whose actions are full of intricacies and perplexities; like some hurtful beasts, they love confusa vestigia. They weigh the violence of their hands, that they may be sure to do it within compass: So as to have for it a fair pretence; they commit evil artificially and by rule, they frame mischief by a Law; they do nothing but under a cloak of covetousness or malicionsnesse; according to the hidden things of dishonesty, that men may have nothing directly against them, and so they wrap it up. Of all this abuse of parts ye shall give an account in that day.

3. Ye shall give an account of all that power and authority that God hath given you among the people, and how it hath been improved by you, to win men unto God, to advance his honor, to countenance holiness, and discountenance profaneness and blasphemies in the Nation. Ye are not God's by Condition, but by Commission only: therefore ye must rule with God, and for him, it is an evil that proceeds from the Ruler, when folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place; not to honor men according to their worth is evil; but to exalt men for their wickedness is abominable; for the wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted. We read Cant. 5.7. that the Church of God in her desertion is evil entreated by two sorts, that should have succoured her; the Watchmen that gee about the City, some interpret the Ministers, whose watch is mainly conversant about those within; for what have we to dee to judge them them that are without? And the Reepers of the walls; the Magistrates, who are to watch for the Church against enemies without, for their safety, and protection; the Church of God is wounded by the one, and disgraced by the other; if this use be made of power, whether Civil or Ecclesiastical, men shall surely given an account thereof to him who is ready to judge the quick and dead.

4. Ye shall give an account how under your Government Religion hath been reformed or corrupted. There are in Ordinances different degrees of purity, sometimes the sea is of Glass clear as Crystal; sometimes its of glass mixed with fire, and sometimes it becomes as the blood of a dead man. And there are different degrees of growth and beauty in Ordinances; sometimes when the Lord measures the waters that issue out of the Sanctuary, they are to the knees, and are to the loins, and sometimes they are but to the ankles. Now Magistrates are watchmen, and as their great care should be to keep God in the Nation; so their vigilancy should especially be exercised in observing by what steps the glory of the Lord departs. Therefore the Lord doth exactly set down in Scripture how far Religion was corrupted in every Kings Reign, and how far that corruption was by authority countenanced; how Jeroboam had his Idolatry, and that unto this were added the statutes of Omri, and the works of the house of Ahab, sc. in the worship of Baal, and they did cause the people to walk in their counsels that the Lord might make them a desolation. And how afterward the women mourned for Tamuz, and the ancients of the people worshipped the Sun, and all sorts of creeping things; even all the abominations of the Gentiles. And the Lord in Scripture exactly records how far the Reformation went in every Kings reign; Jehu took away the Idolatry of Baal; but yet he retained the Calves. Asa went far in a Reformation; yet the Lord observes, that the high places were not taken away. In the days of Jehoshaphat the Reformation rose higher, and he took away the high places, and the groves out of Judah. And in Josiah time, when there was the throwest Reformation that we read of in the Scripture; yet the Lord observes, that there were remnants of Baal, and the Chemarions with the Priests, some that did worship the host of heaven, worshipping and swearing by God and by Malcham; those that turned back from the Lord, and that sought not the Lord, nor inquired after him. Its recorded to the dishonor of the ten Kings; that through their inadvertency, and by their authority, they countenanced Popery, and gave their power and their Kingdoms to the beast to set up that lie. And there is a mistery of iniquity in all ages, under the form of godliness to destroy the power, unto which Magistrates if they be not very vigilant may easily concur, and of this also ye shall give an account.

5. Ye shall give an account how the publi{que} justice of the Kingdom hath been administered. Next unto God's own immediate honor, he hath taken care that justice be dispensed between man and man; next to holiness he loveth righteousness and judgment. And this he hath committed into your hands, as he hath put the word into the hands of his Ministers, and they only in a public way are to dispence it in God's name: So hath he put the sword into the hands of the Magistrates, and as it is God's word that is preached by the one; so it is the justice of the Lord, that is executed by the other. This is the way to remove evil from the Nation; then stood up Phineas and prayed say some, and executed judgment say others, (for the original word will bear both) so the plague ceased: The best prayers of Magistrates for the removing of evil from a Nation are by letting justice run down speedily, and they will surely find that all their prayers are ineffectual unless this concur with them, the Lord will say, when you spread out your hands I will hide mine eyes, and when ye make many prayers I will not hear you, for your hands are full of blood. And the best way to obtain blessing for the Nation is, to make it the habitation of justice, and the mountain of holiness. Saul for not executing justice had even destroyed the Nation; so that when David came to the Crown, he saith, the Land is weak, and all the inhabitants thereof are diss • lved, I heave up the pillars of it. And the speediest means to provoke God to execute judgment upon you, is, to deny the execution of judgment upon others. For thus faith the Lord, Behold I will judge between Cattle and Cattle, between the Rams and the he Goats. Seemeth it a small thing unto you, to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feetethe residue of your pastures? And to have drunk of the deep waters but ye must foul the residue with your feet? Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad: Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall be no more a prey, and I will judge between Cattle and Cattle, &c.

6. Ye shall give an account how the wealth of the Kingdom hath been expended and employed. If ye refuse to do it unto men, (which we assure ourselves ye will not) there is none can call you to an account here; but there is an account, that ye shall all give of it before the Lord. Its recorded for the glory of Joshua & Zerubbabel, that they emptied the golden oil out of themselves, for to maintain the Candlestick. Now for Magistrates on the contrary to empty the Candlestick to fill themselves, to enlarge their desires as hell, & not be satisfied, to take up all with the net, & with the angle, and then to rejoice because their portion is made fat, and their meat plenteous; and say blessed be the Lord, for I am rich, they shall, find no iniquity in me, will be to their dishonor forever. How cunning so ever men's contrivances are, yet surely the Lord will diligently search it out, for he heholds mischlife and spite to requite it with his hand, he is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed: For all these things God will bring you to judgment, when your stewardship shall have an end.

2. As ye shall give an account for yourselves; so for those also committed unto your charge, and put under your command. As Ministers in their places are to watch over men's souls, as those that must give an account, that if the people die in their sins their blood shall be required at their hands. So are Magistrates set over Kingdoms, & Commonwealths, as those that must give an account of them that God hath subjected to their authority. God many times doth in judgment to a people, shut them up in the hand of a cruel Lord, and let a fierce King rule over them: Make them the flock of the slaughter, and raise up a Shepherd in the Land; who will not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which standeth still: But shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear the claws in peecees. Though this be a judgment upon the people, to set a Leopard to watch over their Cities; yet this people will the Lord require at the Magistrates hand. For thus saith the Lord God. Behold I am against the Shepherds, and I will requir • my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them, &c. And the accounts of Kingdoms will be dreadful; for to whom much is given, of them much will be required, and therefore it will be good for you to call yourselves to an account before hand, and to judge yourselves ere ye be judged of che Lord. I will conclude this with the serious advice of a great Lawyer of our own; to the Judges of this Nation. Sedem judicandi quae est quasi Thronus Dei non presumat quis ascendere insipiens & indoctus ne lucem ponat in tenebras & tenebras in lucem; & ne in manu indocta, modo furientis gladio feriat innocentem, & liberet nocentem, &c. Sitting in the seat of Judicature; he do not judge contra leges, prece vel pretio, lest he be himself judged by him, who hath said vengeance is mine, and I will repay; and with him there is no respect of persons.

Now that you may behave yourselves as good Stewards, and be able at the end of your shewardships to give a good account, I shall with all humility set before you these six directions and conclude.

First, make no private advantage of any public Trust. Build not your houses upon the Kingdoms ruins; if you do, they will not stand; for the foundation is laid in a curse, and that which is gathered of the Hire of an Harlot, shall return to the Hire of an Harlot. I confess men pay ill and reward their best servants, for their greatest services but with forgetfulness and disregard. But there is a reward that comes from God only; there is no man that denies himself in anything, whether Father or Mother, Wife or Children, House or Land • for Christ: But the promise is, he shall have an hundred fold more in this life, and in the world to come eternal life. And surely Heaven Will make amends for all your services. I am persuaded God hath given many of you such Heroicall, and Princely spirits, that you would not for all the world in this respect, have your glorying made void. And if any shall do otherwise: They will get to themselves a blot, a wound, and a dishonor, that will never be wiped off. Surely in maximafortun • minima est licentia, that may be lawful for other men, that for you may not be expedient. It may befit the common soldiers to be scrambling for the spoil; but it will not be honorable for the Commanders, who should rather say, as Themistocles did after a great victory won against the Persians, walking up and down among the slain, and seeing many agreat • ooty, which he disdained to stoop for; but calling to them that stood by, said, T •• e hec 〈◊〉 qui Th • mist • cles 〈…〉 . It is recorded to S •• s eternal disgrace after his victory against Amalecke, that he did fly upon the spoil. 1 Sam. 15.19.

Secondly, give everyone in the Family his pertion i • d •• season. Let Justice be as common as the Air we breath in. Now to hear the cries of the oppre •• ed that have no Comforter; would 〈…〉 to praise the dead that are already dead, rather then the living that are yet alive. It may be justice may be done (where a public advantage may come in another way) upon men that have no great relation to some in high place; but if they have any of these references, be the person never so vile, be the matter never so foul, he shall find friends to plead his cause, and justice against such an one shall find many a stop. Constantine's Edict would befit a Parliament in this respect; who published to the people. If any of my Friends, Courtiers, Servants, have wronged any man, let him come to me without fear, and I will not only right him, but reward him. Oh what account will Magistrates give in this particular, for honoring friends, above justice, and above God?

Thirdly, nourish not divisions and parties in the Family; which is a great evil in a Steward. Zach. 10.2. You are called the corner which joins the building, and by joining strengthens it. It was Athanasius his honor to be percutient bus Adamas, & dissentientibus Magne • . God hath honored you in the one, the Lord grant ye may be like him in the other. For your differences will occasion, or at least foment divisions in the whole Kingdom. Blessed be God, our breach is not so great, with those that agree with us in matters of Doctrine; but that a little love would cover it, do not you widen it. We have the example of Christ who hath therein left us a copy to write after. He cared not for giving offense in matters of Piety. When they told him the Pharisees were offended at him, he answered, let them alou • , they be blind leaders of the blind. Yet he was very careful, not to give offense in matters of liberty, he pays tribute though it were not due, lest he should offend them. It was a just reproof that the Mariners gave to the Philosopher in a storm, propounding questions of no moment, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 while we are sinking thou art trifling.

And we may well apply it to ourselves. We are wrangling about curiosities, when this and the neighbouring Kingdom are perishing. And it may justly provoke the Lord to give us up into the hands of our enmies to bring us to an accord. And if I may have liberty to profess my fears, I fear our present divisions may make way for the saddest perfecution that ever was known in England. For Christ shall have the bitterest enemies in the last days. The fourth beast is divers from all those that were before it, exceeding dreadful, his teeth of iron, and his nails brass which devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet. The Witnesses that did formerly prophesy in sackcloth and ashes, an expression of an afflicted and suffering condition; in the latter days they shall be slain, and their dead bodies cast out, and not allowed a burial, the most barbarous inhumanity.

And this bitter enmity shall be coloured over with the greatest shows of holiness: Antichrist fights against Christ under his own banner; he is compared to a whore, whose lips drop as the honeycomb, and she gives the wine of her fornication in a golden cup; under so much flattery and show of love and profession of zeal for Christ; that many an honest and plain hearted man, who have not known the depths of Satan, may be blinded with such delusions, and may put forth their hand in the persecution with scorners. Satan can creep into Peter, and for a private end, cause him to dissemble, and then Barnabas also may be carried away by the same dissimulation.

Fourthly, use your Authority to engage the Saints to you; who are the best of the Family, and in them your strength lies. Take heed how you grieve them, that you do not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which are the sharpest strokes, and the deepest wounds. It had been but to little purpose for Joshua to have fought in the Valley; had not Moses his hands been lifted up upon the Mountain; and the success varies not according to Joshua's fighting, but Moses praying. Revel. 8.5. Judgments are executed upon the enemies by coals that are taken from the Incense Altar, and are poured out in the same Censer, in which the prayers of the Saints were offered. And from thence came the earthquake, the thunderings, lightnings, and voices. Take heed of disobliging the Saints in truth (I speak not for any that do proudly appropriate to themselves the name) losing their hearts, and their prayers, and all this for matters circumstantial wherein our own light is not fully clear. Indeed there will come a time when Ezekiel's Temple shall be built, and the Lord will show his people the Paterne of his House, and all the forms of it. When New Jerusalem shall be built upon the foundation of the Apostles Doctrine, and men shall clearly see how everything is grounded thereupon: But mean while, agreeing in fundamentals, till the Lord clear these things to us, we should pity on another, pray one for another, as coming all forth ex eodem utore ignorantia.

Fifthly, improve your Authority to perfect the Reformation begun. Take care of your Masters goods; lose not what is already wrought: Do not with Ephraim as an unwise stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children: Yet think not that we are already perfect; look unto that pattern which the Lord hath set forth in the latter days, and see how far we come short, and let us press hard unto that mark: to be content with low things, is an Argument of low spirit, and to write a nil ultra upon every new degree attained. The Church indeed in this world will be only fair as the Moon, which hath some spots, and is not perfectly enlightened: Yet let us set before us the purest pattern, and strive to it.

In this last Church. 1. The Doctrine of Christ shall be preached with so much evidence that all men shall be convinced, in comparison of the light that now is: it shall be as the light of the Sun, which only makes it day. 2. The Ordinances shall be pure without all human mixtures and contributions; the Temple and all things therein shall be measured by the golden reed of the word, and Jehovah shall be one, and the unclean spirit with the false Prophet shall pass out of the Land. 3. The members of this Church shall be holy, the foundation shall be laid of Sapphires, the windows of Agates, the gates of Carbuncles: There shall be no 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 there, by reason of holiness, no need of putting censures in execution; for they shall write upon the bells of the horses holiness to the Lord: And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord: And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of Hosts. And there shall be such a spirit of discerning, that only open and profane men shall be without, but also everyone that loves and makes a lie.

4. From these Ordinances there shall be abundance of Converts, for the more purity the more power. When the waters shall ishue out of Ezekiel's Temple, every thing shall love where they come, and the fish shall be as the fish of the great sea exceeding many.

5. Their Communion with God shall be glorious, and full of evidence: The glory of the Lord, and of the Lamb shall be to them, as the Sun in the Firmament, a constant and a perfect Light, (for the more of God's order the more of his presence) the name of the City shall be Jehovah Shamah, the Lord is there.

6. There shall be a perfect and sweet Communion one with another; as Communion with God grows; so doth the Communion of Saints grow; the nearer the lives are to the Center, the nearer they come one to another. All divisions shall be taken away about the ways of worship, Jehovah shall be one, and his name one, they shall glorify God with one mind, and one mouth, serve the the Lord with one shoulder. Bless God for the Reformation begun, and strive to perfection: Always have an eye unto this pattern, and so far as ye come short; so much is wanting of that pitch, that the Lord hath set forth as attainable in this life.

Sixthly, follow your employments as Magistrates, yet so as you neglect not your duty as private Christians: Make use of all for your spiritual and eternal good; that being faithful in that which is another man's, God may give you that which is your own. Consider yourselves to be Stewards, and make your accounts even day by day; & when you come from judging publicly; then judge yourselves in secret before a higher Trybunall then your own, that you may give an account with joy, and not with grief in the end. Think of your Honor so, that you forget not your Office, ye are but Stewards: So rejoice in your Office, that you remember your end: Ye shall not be always Stewards. So glory in your receipts, and exaltations, that you forget not the account of your stewardship. And this (in the name of the Lord who hath given to his Ministers great liberty of speech) I charge you before God, and the Elect Angels, and before Jesus Christ, who shall judge quick and dead, at his appearing, and in his Kingdom. So this shall be a joyful voice to you: Give an Account of your Stewardship, for ye may be no longer Stewards.