Commentary on Numbers

Hitherto we have shown such actions as were used to try the faith and fidelity of the suspected woman: now we come to the words that are spoken, declaring the manner how it was performed, from the 19 verse, to the ende of the 22. verse. Herein we have laid before us two things: first the oath it self. Secondly the assent of the woman unto the oath. Touching the oath, we have here a prescript form of it, and the words prescribed unto her are ministered to her by the Priest, who uttereth it by his voice, conditionally on both parts; If thou hast not gone astray, and broken the band and covenant of marriage, so that no man hath known thee carnally, be free from this curse: But if thou hast offended this way, and that thou be defiled, the curse come upon thee.

The assent of the woman followeth, being expressed by a common note used in the conclusion of all prayers, Amen, Amen. Wherein we are to observe two things, both the signification, and the repetition of the word. Touching the signification, it signifieth as much as, so be it, as the Septuagint expound it. There is a double use of this word, first, to express our desire, secondly, to testify our faith in the assurance of receiving those things that we crave: both which are to be practiced in prayer, and are expressed by Christ, Mar. 11.24. Whatsoever you desire when ye pray, believe that ye shall have it, and it shall be done unto you. Where he teacheth, that there ought to be in us both a desire of grace, and an assurance of faith. In this place it is taken in the first sense, to wit, for a bare assent, subscribing to the truth of that which is spoken, and wishing that it may be so, as Deut. 27.15. where speaking of the curses pronounced on mount Ebal, he saith, All the people shall say, Amen.

So doth the woman in this place crave and desire against her self, if she be culpable of the crime whereof she is suspected, and have defiled the marriage bed that ought to be honorable, that the curse here threatened, may turn upon her and enter into her. For as the curse that is causeless shall not come, so that which is duly and truly deserved, shall undoubtedly come, and shall not tarry.

The repetition of this word is here set down to note the fervency of her zeal, the innocence of her cause, the uprightness of her conscience, and the purity of her heart: that she cometh not hanging down her head to this trial, as a malefactor that is guilty cometh to the bar, but lifting up her head as going to the place of her delivery where she is sure to be acquitted: not fearfully & doubtfully, but boldly and confidently, as one that is assured what will be the issue of the matter.

In this division some questions arise, which are to be handled. First the question may be asked, what need there was of these words of adjuration to cause her to take the oath, that the Priest should minister it unto her, and pronounce the form of it unto her, and she answer him again, and then drink up the water, as it followeth afterward? The causes hereof are these, first to teach that every sign or Sacrament should have the word joined to it, that it be not a bare & naked sign, as it were an empty box without his ointment. Secondly, it respecteth the public edification of the whole people, when they should see that she pronounced sentence upon her self, and that the judgment of God took event according to the truth that before lay hid, all might justly fear and tremble under his mighty hand.

Secondly, the question may be asked, what is meant by these words of adjuration, The Lord make thee a curse and an oath among thy people? I answer, the meaning is as much as if the Priest had said, God make thee wretched and miserable, yea so unhappy and infamous that it may turn into a proverb, Let that happen to thee, which hath happened to this woman: so that the curse coming upon her shall be alleged as an example of the like to come upon others: both because she had committed so heinous a fault, and because she added unto it these two crimes, impudency, an especial stain and blot in that sex: and perjury, a capital crime in all persons. For it argued great arrogancy and audaciousness to undergo all these means of trial one after another, and yet evermore to conceal her offense, and not confess it, like to Achan, who having committed a trespass in the accursed thing, did what he could to hide it: the tribe of Judah was taken, but he was not moved: the families of Judah being brought, the family of the Zarhites was taken, and yet he was not touched: the families of the Zarhites being brought man by man, Zabdiwas taken, and yet he hath no feeling of it, until himself was taken, and that he was pointed out, Thou art the man: or like unto Judas that betrayed the Son of God, he knew Christ was apprehended, and yet he repented not: mocked, buffeted, spit upon, and yet he repented not; he saw him condemned to the Cross before he thought, What have I done? So in this suspected wife to go forward from the first action to be performed, and from the first word to be pronounced even until the last without any stay or remorse, was a testimony of shamelesnesse and of hardness of heart.

Besides, if none of all these could have entered into her, and pierced her heart harder then stone, yet a man would have thought when she came to be charged with an oath of cursing, she would have stuck at it, and not have swallowed this being greater then a Camel: so that to add to adultery the sin of perjury, as it were drunkenness unto thirst, argued a person given over and forsaken of God, and such a one as had filled up the measure of sin: being like unto profane Esau that sold his birthright for one morsel of meat, and sware to his brother, and despised the birth-right, Gen. 25.33. As he regarded not to commit sin, so he regarded not an oath, that he might finish it, and give himself wholly over unto it.

[Verse 19. And the Priest shall charge her by an oath, &c. ] In these words we have a solemn manner set down of the woman's either absolution or condemnation. After that the Priest hath put the holy water in an earthen vessel, and taken dust from the pavement to be cast into it, he conceiveth words of cursing, to which she is to answer: he goeth before to rehearse them, she is not left to utter what she please lest she should seek evasion by any mental reservation. Thus then she is constrained to appeal to God, and to use his Name, & to purge her self by an oath: which is done to humble her, & to give her warning to take heed that she double not her fault, and join to one great sin another greater, a breach of the first Table, to a breach of the second, that is, perjury to her adultery, an offense against God to the offense against her husband. We learn hereby, that the Name of God is never to be used, but only in cases of necessity: when all other means fail, then it is lawful to take up an oath, whether it be publicly or privately, whether it be before the Magistrate or before any other. This we see in Abraha • , who said to the king of Sodom Gen. 14.22▪ I have lifted up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take anything that is thine: By this gesture he did appeal unto God, as a witness of his swearing, and a revenger of all forswearing, to bind himself from covetousness; that as before he had overcome his enemies, now he might overcome himself and his own affections, which was a greater and nobler victory then the former.

Thus he showeth himself religious toward God, as well as righteous toward men. The like we see in the Law set down by an express commandment, Exod. 22.10, 11. If a man deliver unto his neighbor an asse, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast to keep, and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it: then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbors goods, and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good. This precept directeth when and in what cases to take an oath, to wit, when the matter is doubtful, and cannot otherwise be decided: forasmuch as the owner of the goods is charged to rest therein, and to acknowledge himself well satisfied. This we see farther in the Apostle Paul, 2 Cor. 1.21 I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet to Corinth. He did not break out into this swearing of an ordinary custom, but the glory of God and the salvation of that Church required it; in which cases we are allowed and warranted to use it, and not otherwise.

[Reason 1] The reasons will better confirm this unto us then bare testimonies taken out of the Scriptures, which nevertheless out to be sufficient where no farther proof is used. First, God will not hold him guiltless that abuseth his Name negligently or unnecessarily. He will surely punish them that swear vainly. This penalty or punishment is annexed to the commandment, Exod. 20. The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain. It is an heinous sin, albeit it be thought light before men; and then the judgment also shall be heavy that hangeth over their heads that transgress this Law. The free forgiveness of sins is the fountain of all happiness, both present and to come; for the man is blessed whose sins are forgiven, and whose iniquity is covered, blessed is that man to whom God will impute no wickedness: and therefore we must needs be in continual misery, so long as our sins are retained. This is a fearful thunderbolt to afright us from the profaning of his Name: he will honor those that honor him, but such as despise him shall come to destruction.

Secondly, the end of practicing an oath is [Reason 2] to decide strifes, and to determine controversies, which disturb peace, and hinder Christian charity. It cannot be but offenses will come, and many occasions of quarrels and contentions about matters of this life arise daily between man and man, which could not conveniently be taken up, except we had the lawful use of an oath to confirm some necessary truth; as when it serveth to manifest the glory of God, or to clear the good name of our brother, or to obey the commandment of the Magistrate, or to maintain our own credit. This is set down, Heb. 6.16. Men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. I call that a necessary truth, when a doubtful cause called into question, cannot be decided without an oath, as we see the practice, Rom. 1.9. God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit, in the Gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. It was necessary for the furtherance of the salvation of the Romans, that they should be persuaded of the Apostles affection toward them, but the testimony of men failed to prove this truth, and therefore he was driven to take up an oath, and to appeal unto God. This is also at large delivered by Solomon in that prayer which he made at the dedication of the Temple, 1 King. 8.31. If any man trespass against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house, then hear thou in heaven, and do and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked to bring his way upon his head, and justifying the righteous to give him according to his righteousness. Thus we see the constant and continual use of an oth among God's people in matters of weight and importance, in their most serious and substantial affairs.

Thirdly, the Name of God is most fearful [Reason 3] in praises, glorious in holiness, great in might and doing wonders: and therefore it ought not commonly to run in our mouths without necessary cause. This is urged by the wise man, Eccles. 5.2. Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. And the Lord saith, Deut. 28.58. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this Law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful Name, The Lord thy God, he will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, &c. If then the Name of God be great and glorious, it is not commonly to be used of us, to be turned in our tongues, and to be trodden upon with our feet.

[Use 1] Now let us consider what uses may be made of this unto us. It reproveth sundry abuses & corruptions, both in opinion and practice, in judgment and in life. As first of all the Anabaptists, a proud and fantastical crew of cursed and damnable heretics, that trouble heaven and earth, overthrow Church and Common-wealth, destroy Magistracy and Ministry, disannul the word and Sacraments, and make religion to be no better then a doctrine of liberty. These teach that it is unlawful to swear at all, either in private use, or in place of judgment. This is to run into another extremity, and to fail as much in the defect, as other do in the excess. For albeit all swearing be not lawful, yet it followeth not that all swearing is unlawful. But to abolish all manner of swearing, and all use of an oath, because some abuse it, and use it vainly, is like unto him, who to take away drunkenness, abolished the vines, and would not suffer any to grow in his common-wealth: or as if a man would suffer no corn to grow, because some will surfeit with it. There is no good thing, but hath been or may be abused. The doctrine that is according to godliness is many ways abused. When Paul magnified the mercies of God in his son Christ, so that where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, men of evil spirits arose that abused this to carnal liberty, and turned the grace of God into wantonness, and wrested the Scriptures to their own perdition.

[sect 1] The objections of these heretics are not many, but somewhat they allege for themselves. First, they object the commandment of the Lord in the exposition of the Law, Mat. 5.34. I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, &c. If it be forbidden to swear at all, then it is made utterly unlawful.

I answer, the purpose of Christ is to reprove the false interpretations of the Scribes and Pharisees, who wrested the Law, and restrained it contrary to the meaning of the Lawgiuer. They taught the people to beware of perjury, and swearing falsely, and that if so be men swear truly, it was lawful to swear commonly, as if God took no regard of our ordinary communication, and of our common talk, contrary to the doctrine of Christ else-where, that of every idle word, much more then of idle oaths, men shall give an account at the day of judgment, Matth. 12.36. His purpose is not to condemn the right use of an oth, which is expressly commanded of God in many places, and practiced by the Patriarchs, Gen. 14. by the Prophets, 1 king 17.1. by the Apostles, 1 Cor. 15. by the Angels, Revel. 10.6. by the Judges, Judge. 15.12. by the kings, 1. Sam. 24. and by the Lord himself, Psal. 110.4. Heb. 6.17. And therefore simply it is not a sin to swear. If any reply in their name and behalf, that once it was lawful, but now it is not: in the time of the old testament, but not in the new; we must know, that the Prophets, prophesying of these times of grace under the Gospel, declare that the Church or Christ should swear by the Lord, Isaiah. 1 • .1 • . Jer. 4.2. and therefore he never wholly for bad it, who came not to destroy the Law and abolish the Prophets, but to fulfill and perform the Law, Matth. 5.17. Moreover the Pharisees, that were the teachers of Israel, taught that it skilled not, though men sware vainly, by heaven, by earth, by the creatures, so long as they suppressed the Name of God. Wherefore Christ the true interpreter of the Law. teacheth the contrary, to wit, that it is a sin against the third commandment, not only to forswear, but to swear vainly, and commonly, by what name, and in what manner soever it be yea albeit the Name of God be not mentioned, considering that he which sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon: he that sweareth by the Temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein: and he that sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. This error of these Pharisees is maintained, or at the least practiced commonly by the common sort, they think they may swear as they list, so that they swear truly: and if they have truth on their side, they take liberty to swear and swear again without controlment.

Secondly, they allege also the saying of the Apostle James, chap. 5.12. [Object. 2] Above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea, be yea; and your nay nay: lest ye fall into condemnation.

I answer, [Answer.] we must not always take the words of Scripture generally as they seem to be carried, but limit them according to the circumstances of the Text, and the scope of y ^e words. The Apostle saith, All things are lawful for him, 1 Cor. 6.12. but it must be restrained to things indifferent not forbidden in the Law: for such things as are forbidden, are not lawful. If then we would understand Scripture aright, and not wander from the sound interpretation of it, we must seek and search out the sense according to the intent and meaning of the Spirit of God; otherwise, not only infinite inconveniences, but diverse absurdities, impossibilities, heresies, contradictions, and impieties will follow: as when Christ saith, John. 10.8. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, &c. Shall we conclude from hence, that Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and all the Prophets were no better then thieves and robbers, because they went before Christ in time? No, he pointeth out such as profess themselves to be the door of the sheep, and received or shown any other then himself. So Paul saith, he took all things to be lawful for him: what then? might he do what he list? might he be an idolater, an adulterer, a blasphemer, and such like? no, but herein he preventeth an objection, and answereth by supposition, that albeit all things were lawful, yet he would not be brought under the power of anything. So in another place he saith, I am made all things to all men, 1 Cor. 9.22. Doth he hereby make himself a Libertine, or establish Libertinism, or purchase a protection for every man to do what seemeth good in his own eyes? Not so, but in matters that are indifferent which may be done or not done with a good conscience, he changed himself into all fashions, and applied himself to the conditions of all, that by all means he might save some. So in this place, when the Apostle saith, swear not at all, we must not cleave servilely to the letter, nor sti • ke to the bare words, but know that the Scripture standeth in the right meaning: so that the doctrine of the servant is not different from the Lord's and Masters that sent him, to wit, to condemn lightness in swearing, whereby the Name of God is defiled, directly, or indirectly; which ought to be accounted of all men most holy, and used with the greatest respect and reverence that can be. But in cases of importance and necessity, we have examples beyond all exception, of God himself▪ of the Prophets and Apostles that have used an oath, as we noted before, which could not have been, if the use of an oath had generally and utterly been unlawful.

Secondly, to omit this sect, and to proceed, it reproveth such as take the oaths of persons that are unfit and unmeet to take any oaths. For seeing an oath must be taken up soberly, discreetly and advisedly, and only in cases of necessity, when the truth cannot otherwise be decided, it convinceth such of temerity and want of discretion, that make no difference of whom they take an oath. The end of an oath ought to be to confirm the truth; but the testimony of some is suspected, and of others presumed to be false. Many are not to be admitted as witnesses, as children, furious persons, drunkards, common liars, such whose bodies are withered, and consequently their memories decayed, such as are idiots and lunatikes, common swearers, ruffians, and such as are of evil report, rogues and stragglers that have nothing to lose, nor nowhere to dwell, infidels, heretics, and unbelievers, all these are as it were bored in the ear, or burned in the hand, or branded in the forehead for insufficient persons: because either they do not know the virtue and validity of an oath, nor the difference and distinction of matters whereupon they are produced, and which are to be decided: or being accustomed to evil, may easily be drawn to add one sin of perjury to the heaps of their other wickedness: or may easily be brought to lift at an oath for a little lucre and base gain; or make little account to renounce and sell Christ himself for thirty pence, as Judas d • d, that is, for a small advantage. Such then must be sought out to testify the truth, as are worthy of credit, as fear not the faces of men, as evermore have God before their eyes. As then such are to be chosen, so these that can do nothing with judgment and discretion, with advise and deliberation, ought to be refused, of which the Prophet saith: Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come out of the waters of Judah: which swear by the Name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness. Hence it is that the Prophet requireth, that our oaths be performed in truth, in righteousness, and in judgment, Ier. 5. which cannot be expected of us, or performed of them.

Secondly, this doctrine directly meeteth [Use 2] with the common, but yet corrupt practice of our times, in which swearing is turned into a custom, so that everyone garnisheth his ordinary talk with graceless and needless oaths, if this may be called a garnishing, and not rather a disgracing. That communication is gracious which ministereth grace to the hearers, other talk is rotten, and reckless, when men make no conscience of taking the Name of God in vain. This is a grievous sin in young and old, in men and women, in rich and poor. It is accounted a special ornament to our speech, and we think it carrieth no credit nor countenance, except it be now and then spiced with an oath. It beginneth everywhere to be esteemed the part of a gentleman, and a note and cognizance to know him and discern him from others. He is judged a puritane and a precise fool that reproveth it, and useth it not. Alas, to what height of sin are we come? the measure is filled up, the judgment is at hand. Herein, O Lord, be merciful unto us: and indeed thou art merciful, a God of pity and patience, or else the land were not able to bear us. The practice of it is of the devil, & yet we are not afraid of it, few men make conscience of it. The children that play in the streets have learned to swear, so soon as they can speak, and are weaned from their mothers breasts. The Rogues and Vagabonds that settle themselves in no family or society, take the sacred Name of God in their mouth, & make it their occupation to beg with it. The chapmen that sell their wares to others, are as ready to sell their souls to the devil to get sometimes one penny. He is not accounted a good shopman that is likely to thrive, that doth not burnish and varnish his bad wares with the glorious Name of God, he is not reckoned worth a chip that will not swear at every word to deceive those that deal with him: and yet God threateneth that he will cut off as well on this side as on that, everyone that sweareth so that the curse shall remain in the middes of his house, and shall consume it, with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof. But some will say, we do not [Object 1] swear by the Name of God, we swear not but by our faith, or troth, or by our Lady, or the Mass, or by Saint Mary. Be it so: [Answer.] yet even these also are breaches of y ^e law of God. Faith and truth are precious jewels that adorn y ^e heart of a Christian, they must be kept there as safely as a treasure. Will a man lay a pearl to gage for every trifle? or will a man defile his best raiment with the worst mire? It is to be feared, that these have little faith in the heart, that have it so commonly in the mouth. As for the cross, or the mass, or the rood, and such like relics, they are abominable idols, of w ^c the Prophet complaineth, They have sworn by them that are no gods. This is called a forsaking of God. The Prophet saith, They shall fall, and never rise again. And the Prophet Zephaniah declareth, that y ^e Lord will destroy man & beast, because they did swear by the Lord and by Malcham. We see hereby what religion and fear of God is in the greatest multitude, for not one of an hundredth feareth an oth, or refraineth frō swearing. Not a day passeth over their heads, but they break out this way. No occasion is offered unto them to speak, but an oath shall be at one end of their talk. They are so far frō striving against it, that they delight in it, and make no more conscience of an oath, then of a word, and use swearing more then eating and drinking. Where the laws of the land do bridle men, there is some abstaining from sin, and few in comparison of the rest offend. It is true indeed that no punishment, will restrain all persons: yet notwithstanding the most are terrified by severity and sharpness, as in cases of treasons, of murders, of thefts, &c. There are few in comparison of others that are guilty of these: and why? because they are looked unto, that offend this way. If men were let alone in these also to themselves, we should have rebellions, and robberies, and shedding of blood as common as oaths. For where conscience of sin is wanting, fear of punishment and terror of death must keep in awe. But where the laws of Princes are most remiss, there a flood-gate is set open to all impiety y ^t overfloweth the banks and ouerwhelmeth all before it without measure; as swearing, and blaspheming, contempt of the word, profaning the Sabbath, whoredom, &c. These are common, this is the broad way, and wide gate that many enter into without controlment. The causes of this general abuse and common sin of swearing are these four. First, custom, and common use, whereby many think themselves excused. Tell them of their sin, and advise them to leave it, They will answer, I confess it is naught, and I am to blame for it, it is a custom I have gotten. Thus they defend themselves by custom, & plead prescription: but in the mean season they hold their wicked and unreasonable custom still, and will by no means be brought from it. And yet if we will speak the truth, what is it te pretend custom to countenance sin, but to confess we do and speak all things without the fear of God? For frō whence proceedeth this custom of sinning, but from this root? to wit, that we commit sin upon sin, one day after another, without any reverence of the Majesty of God. Wherefore, it standeth us upon to break this corrupt custom by a contrary custom, & to leave this use by disuse thereof. Although it may seem hard unto us at the first, yet if we labor to discontinue it, we shall find it easy at the last. The second cause is evil examples, when we keep evil company, we hear them, & we learn of them. We cannot frequent the company of swearers, but we shall have oaths rife in our ears. The passage is easy from the care to the tongue. That which we commonly hear, we commonly talk off. If then oaths be rife in our ears, they will quickly be ready in our mouths. And the reason is, because the often practice of any sin, maketh us to have the less sense and sorrow for sin, less hatred and detestation of sin. As it is in them that commit sin, so it is in them that are present at it. Touching these that are the practicers of it, the Prophet saith, Can the Ethiopian change his skin, &c. So is it also with these that frequent the society of common swearers, it is hard to be with them, & to come from them, but we shall one way or other be partakers of their sins. This sin of swearing is not made the less by multitude of evil examples set before us, forasmuch as the multitude of them that sin doth rather make the sin more to be abhorred, then excused, and provoketh God's wrath more fiercely. We are not to follow a multitude to do evil. If we sin together, we shall also suffer together: and if we offend with others, we shall be punished with others. The third cause is want of admonition. For many sin this way, that do not know they sin, many have a custom in swearing, that are ignorant they do swear, or at least that they swear so often, or that the sin & offense is so great; who are of that flexible nature, & good disposition, that if they knew the grievousness of the sin, or the greatness of the danger, would abstain from doing evil. It is an offense indeed in those that swear, albeit they do it of ignorance: so is it also in those, that pretending love and friendship to those that use it, do not by admonition seek to reclaim them. The wise man saith, Reproue not a scorner, lest he hate thee, &c. It is a fault generally among us, that we do not exhort one another. A word spoken in due season is comely and profitable, like apples of gold in pictures of silver, pleasant words are as an honey comb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. No words are so sweet to the taste, as those that aim at the souls good. We may by this means be an occasion of saving a soul: & by want of the performance of this duty, and by keeping silence when we ought not, we may be partakers of their sins, and we may be a means of damning their souls. For what knowest thou, O man, whether thou mayest win thy brother? The last cause, that shall now be touched, furthering the sin of swearing, is want of punishment. It were to be wished that y ^e Magistrate would sharpen the Law against this sin, and other of the first Table that are of like nature, & concerned directly the glory of God. The punishment is little or none at all against it, which maketh it so common. And I would to God, that they who should be most forward to redress it, had not the chief hand in this trespass. We are as men afraid to touch this sore, and they that ought to reprove it, have taught their tongues to use it, I mean the Ministers of the word. How then should they teach others that cannot teach themselves? or how should they exhort others not to swear, that have learned commonly to swear themselves? Let all those therefore that are in authority, whether their place be higher or lower, look to those that are under them. There is no smoothering of sin, or dealing gently and tenderly with it, if we will repress and redress it. Sin is like unto a nettle, the more lightly you handle it, the more it stingeth: the way is to crush it harder. If we deal mildly with sin, we make it thereby to gather strength. It is the blueness of a wound, saith Solomon, that purgeth evil. Sin is like a serpent in the egg, or like a wolf and lyon that is young; if they be suffered, they sting unto death, and make us their prey. Slight and sheet punishment of any sin, is after a sort an inviting & encouragement unto it. But some man will farther object, without swearing men [Object. 2] will not believe me: they doubt of my word, an oath putteth the matter out of question. I answer, [Answer.] he that will not believe thee without an oth in thy communication, neither will he with an oth. For he that is a common swearer, may well be presumed or suspected to be a common liar: & whosoever maketh no conscience of the greater, will make no conscience of the lesser sin. The prophet Hosea, complaining of the corruptions that reigned in his time, joineth these together, & as it were coupleth thē in one yoke, by swearing and lying they break out, It is not thy facing & out-facing, thy swearing & staring that can procure thee credit among those that are sober minded: forasmuch as they that will commonly swear, will also forswear. Solomon teacheth y ^t in many words there wanteth not folly: so in many oaths there wanteth not perjury. Wouldest thou be believed? and have mē rest in thy sayings without doubting or gainsaying? accustom thy tongue to speak the truth: be ashamed to be taken with a lie: gain a good report to thyself by government of thy tongue, and setting a watch before the door of thy mouth, pondering thy words before thou utter them, and examine thy speech [Object. 3] before thou speak it. But some will pretend a necessity whereby they are urged, and say, they cannot live without swearing; they object that men will not buy of them, and that they shall never be able to utter their wares without it. Nay, [Answer.] the wiser sort believe thee the less, and buy of thee the less. It maketh them look the better about them, and watch thy fingers that hast set no watch before thy mouth. They see thou makest no more conscience of an oath, then a dog doth to wag his tail: but thou must remember that goods gotten by forgery, lying, deceit, and swearing, shall not prosper long, nor continue ever. They put their gains in a bottomless bag. Solomon is plentiful in handling this point in diverse places. Wealth gotten by vanity, &c. The treasures of wickedness, &c. Albeit evil men may prosper for a time, yet they shall not long enjoy their stollē goods. For goods wrongfully gotten, are stolen: and thou hast no better title unto them, then the thief hath to the true man's purse. Thou professest to show friendship unto him, but art ready to cut his throat. Thou speakest fairly, but thou meanest foully. We must not suffer our tongues and hearts to wander so far asunder, but remember y ^t he which keepeth his mouth, keepeth his life, &c. A little gotten with a good conscience shall bring a blessing with it upon us and our children, The just man walketh in his integrity, his children are blessed after him. And howsoever many will account this light gains which is so gotten, yet in the end it shall make an heavy purse, according to y ^e true proverb. As for all wicked and unconscionable gains, they are accursed in us, and our posterities to whom we leave them, and by which we think to enrich them, shall feel the smart of our sins. This is the portion of a wicked man with God, &c. To draw to an end, let us set this down as a rule, that no man ought to swear or lie for an advantage: neither shall our swearing and lying in the end turn to our advantage, but to our loss: forasmuch as sin shall bring profit to no man. It cannot profit a man to win the whole world, and then to lose his own soul. Such get a penny and forgo a pound: they gain hell and lose heaven: they make the devil their friend, and God their enemy. If we would thus reason with our selves, and cast up our accounts, we should soon see little gotten by these sins, & that when we have attained to the greatest wealth, only godliness is the greatest gains, which shall never be taken from us.

Lastly, it is our duty to be careful to use an [Use 3] oath aright. It is the great goodness of God toward us, that doth so far honor us, and abase himself, to give us leave to take up his Name, and to be present at our controversies, being ready to determine of them. We are unworthy of this preeminence, and therefore we ought to rectify our judgment, and swear aright, to y ^e end we take not his Name in vain. And that we may do this, we are to consider these few particulars: 1 what an oth is, 2. who is y ^e author of it, 3. what are y ^e parts of an oth, and whereof it consisteth, 4. what is the form thereof. 5. what is y ^e end: lastly, what be y ^e properties of it. Of these in order as we set thē down.

Touching the first, an oath may thus be described. It is a solemn appealing to God, whereby we testify that we speak the truth. It is a kind of invocation of God's Name, though it be used unto men, or before men: it is a referring of our selves to God, and therefore Paul calleth God to record. We should consider therefore that we have to do with him, & set him before our eyes for the farther provoking of our selves to fear and reverence, & the farther removing from us all falsehood & untruth. Again, it is said, that we by our oath do testify that we speak and utter the truth with our tongues, but it must be from the heart root. This is the reason that oaths are in use, that the truth, which otherwise lieth hid, may come to light. This truth must be spoken, not to halfs, or to hurt by it: but we must speak the truth plainly and sincerely in the simplicity of our hearts, without all glozing or dissembling through fear, or flattery, or favor, or profit, or pleasing of men: we must speak the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

The second point to be considered in an oath, is, who is the author of it. It is commanded of God, by whom we are to swear, inasmuch as he alone is to be called upon, & worshipped, to whom we ascribe a knowledge of all things, a searching of our hearts, a presence in all places, and infinite wisdom in ordering all things. For an oath consisteth not of manifest matters, whereof there is good evidence, but of hidden and uncertain things, in which God only can judge, whether men deceive us or not. True it is, if there were that perfection in us every way, y ^t ought to be, there should be no necessary use of any oath with God or mā. If there were no wavering in us, God needeth not to swear: if there were no forging in us, man needed not to swear: so that unbelief and untruth were the principal causes that brought it into practice. The cause why God sweareth, is for our profit. He is truth it self, and cannot lie, he cannot deceive, or repent, or deny himself; howbeit we are frail & weak creatures; though God promise never so faithfully, and give us his word never so certainly: yet we are full of infidelity and doubting, like to Thomas one of the twelve Apostles: he had the word of God, the promise of Christ, & the testimony of the disciples, yet he would not believe, except he might see in his hands the print of the nails, and put his finger into the print of the nails, and put his hand into his side. It was not enough for him, y ^t he might be no longer faithless, but faithful, to see his wounds with his eyes, but he must touch them, and felt thē with his fingers; and then he would believe. Hence it is, that God sweareth unto us for our better assurance, that we should not doubt, but have sure consolation in his promise, and confirmation in his truth. Again, there should be little or no use of an oath between party and party, if there were y ^t honesty & fidelity among men that ought to have been: for if we were accustomed only to speak the truth, and that we hated lying, as we do the father of it, what need we any oath? or what should we do with swearing? All men will seem to hate the devil, y ^e father of lies: but all hate not his works. They love lies more then to speak the truth, and therefore an oath came in, when the truth could not be found out with much difficulty and long examinations.

The third point is the parts of an oath whereof it consisteth. In every oath pass these four things, confirmation, invocation, confession, & obligation. First, there must be the confirmation of a truth y ^t cannot else be known but by our oath, An oath for confirmation is among men an end of all strife. An oath is not a customary thing, or a matter wherein we may dally: there must be somewhat that needeth to be confirmed. Where all things are apparent, there is no place for this ordinance. Secondly, there is an invocation of God's Name, who is witness of the truth, and a judge to be avenged of us, if we lie. It is not enough for us to use an asseveration, or to make a solemn protestation: there must be a lifting up of the heart to God, and an appealing to his divine Majesty, as the men of God were always wont to do, as we noted before. Thirdly, there should be confession that God punisheth perjury, either expressed or implied, either openly or secretly. For there is a secret kind of acknowledgment in every oath, of God's purpose & power ready to chastise and correct all such as dishonor God and profane the seat of judgment. Fourthly, an obligation, professing and protesting that we are willing to undergo the punishment at God's hand, if we perform not the condition. It is very fit and expedient, that all such as are to take an oath, diligently consider and remember these particular parts, that they have them not only before their eyes, but engraven in their hearts, to keep them from all falsehood.

The fourth thing is the form of an oath, which is described by the Prophet Jeremiah, Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth, in truth, &c. Behold here, the manner that is to be observed in our swearing, it must be performed truly, discreetly, & righteously. Truly, lest we make God a liar: justly, lest we commit impiety: in judgment, lest we be rash and heady w ^t ought not to be in so weighty a matter. Truth ought to be the ground of all our speeches. The Apostle saith, Cast off lying, and speak every man truth unto his neighbor, for we are members one of another: howbeit then especially, when we take the God of all truth to witness, we should be careful to speak nothing but y ^e simple words of truth without all mixture or error or falsehood. As God is the God of truth, so ought we to be like unto him, if we would have him to be our Father, or assure our selves to be his children. We cannot swear lawfully except we swear truly, & therefore we must be sure before we swear, that we swear nothing but the truth. For we come not into the presence of God, and before the deputy of God which is the Magistrate, to deliver our own foolish opinions, drowsy dreams, private thoughts, or uncertain matters such as we conceive; but what we know and are thoroughly persuaded off. Truth and knowledge are inseperable companions. Again, he that sweareth lawfully should swear in judgment. When we are called before a judge to testify the truth, or are to witness in any other lawful cause w ^c can by no other means be found out but by an oth, we must deal in such matters soberly, we are to swear with good discretion and advisement, not lightly, not rashly, not hastily, not headily, but with diligent trial and due consideration of every particular which we are to testify. Lastly, our oath must be taken in righteousness, and be agreeable to right and equity and equity & justice, which serve to give to every man his own, and to God also his due. Thus we see wherein the life and as it were the soul of an oath consisteth: which reproveth the common abuses of those that are sworn men. Our oath must not be an hired oath, nor we hired men to swear whatsoever others will have us: for that were as much as to sell our souls t • Satan for money. If we would have peace and comfort to our selves, we must not take an oath for fear, or favor, or friendship, or flattery, to do our friends a pleasure, and our enemies a displeasure: but in a godly zeal of the uprightness of the cause, and an earnest desire that God's Name may be glorified in the manifestation of the Truth. Let us also learn to detest the corrupt practice of all double-hearted Papists, who have learned the doctrine of Equiuocations, that swear one thing and think another. These men are content to say anything, because they have their mental reservations that they keep to themselves, like unto Hushai, who pretended friendship unto Absalom, and to join with him against David: Whō the Lord and this people, and all the men of Israel shall choose, his will I be, and with him will I dwell, pretending this to Absalom, but intending it to David: he maketh show to speak it of one, but understandeth it of another. This legierdemaine he hath bequeathed to his disciples the Jesuits, who are grown much more cunning & crafty then their master. These are they that dissemble with God and man, and have one heart for the Prince, another for the Pope, who is the greatest enemy y ^e Princes have. Against these and others that take y ^e Name of God in vain, we are taught here how to swear, which everyone doth not know, & few practice aright these rules. We must not be ignorant, that it ought to be done in truth: such love to God & our neighbor should b • in us, that we are to deal without colouring of matters, without hypocrisy, without forging, so y ^t truth should prevail, and have the upper hand. Secondly, in judgment, for fear of rashness. We must not deal rashly but discreetly: not foolishly, but wisely, and when necessity requireth and urgeth an oath of us. An oath is as a medicine. No man taketh physic for wantonness, being not well advised, but upon necessity, either to prevent, or to preserve, or to restore. So no man useth an oath for delight or pleasure, but sometimes to prevent a mischief, sometimes to preserve from wrong, & sometimes to restore a mā to his right. And this is to swear in judgment. Lastly, it must be done in righteousness, to wit, for the good & profit of our neighbor. For when we are called to an oath, that which we promise or undertake must be honest and righteous, that we do not sin in swearing, which were to heap one sin upon another; as we see in Herod the king, who, because he had promised with an oath, sent and beheaded John in prison: and in the enemies of Paul, who bound themselves with a vow, y ^t they would eat nothing, until they had killed Paul.

The fifth point in an oath, is the end wherefore it was ordained: one end was in respect of God, the other in respect of men. In respect of God, the end is his own glory, who made all things for the magnifying of his Name, and the manifestation of his glory. This we ought to aim at in all things, Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Secondly, in respect of our selves to confirm some truth, and decide some controversy, as when our name, or goods, or life are in question. To come to particulars, the ends of a lawful oath are these four: first, allegiance and obedience to Princes, as we see in the elders of Gilead, who, entreating Jephthah to be their captain, & to fight their battles against the Ammonites, sware unto him that he should be their head and governor, and that they would be subject unto him, The Lord be witness between us, if we do not according to thy words. In like manner Jehoiada the Priest, making Joash king, whō he had preserved from the massacre executed against the blood royal, and hidden six years in the house of the Lord, took an oath of the captains & guard, that they should obey the king whom he shown unto them. Whereby we may conclude that Christian Princes may bind their subjects by an oath, and that subjects may & ought to swear to do all homage unto their Princes: so that it argueth a treacherous intent & meaning in the Popish sort that refuse to take the oth of allegiance, as if they meant to perform no duty to their lawful Princes. For all such as are the Popes subjects cannot be true subjects: & if he that challengeth a supremacy be their Prince, y ^e Prince cannot be supreme. Again, an oath may lawfully be taken to confirm a league and establish a covenant between man and man, to assure those we deal with, that we for our parts mean faithfully, & purpose to keep it inviolable. And we have sundry examples hereof in holy Scripture Abraham entered into a league with Abimelech, and confirmed the same by oath. For when Abimelech said, Swear unto me here by God, that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, &c. he answered, I will swear. The like is shown afterward, how Abimelech maketh a covenant with Isaac at Beer-sheba; he said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee, that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, &c. and they arose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another. The like agreement by oath passed between Jacob and Laban, Gen. 31.53. So did David and Jonathan make a faithful league between them, and confirmed it with a solemn oath, 1 Sam. 18.3. and 20.8. and 23.18. As then we may swear to witness our allegiance to Princes, so also we may, for the confirmation of covenants betwixt others and our selves. Thirdly, it is lawful to take an oath for the deciding of controversies that arise between party and party, which otherwise cannot be ended. Some things are committed and conveyed away in such secret manner, that they cannot possibly come to light, but only by an oath, so that Magistrates are forced to put men to an oath, to witness the truth in the Name of God. When one is found slain in the field, and it is not known who hath slain him, the Lord commandeth that the elders of that city which are next unto the slain man, shall come into his presence, and to say, Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto their charge, Deut. 21.8. So we shown before out of the Epistle to the Hebrews, that the end of an oath is the confirmation of a truth. Woe therefore unto them that use it, and fear not to take it, for y ^e confirmation of an untruth. Lastly, we may lawfully swear to justify our religion, and to bind our selves thereby unto his worship. When men grow cold and careless, or stand wavering and halting between two opinions, as if they knew not whether they should worship God, or Baal: we may strengthen our selves, and confirm our hearts in the purity of religion; as in the days of Asa, they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers, with all their heart, and with all their soul: that whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman: and they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. These are the chief ends of an oath: and therefore in every Christian Commonwealth it ought to have place: without which many evils would lie hidden and unknown, many men would be hindered in their right, and many good duties would be unperformed. It is a good duty to testify our subjection to our Princes and Magistrates. It is a good duty to give assurance to men of our faithfulness in keeping covenants. It is a good duty to end controversies, and thereby to become peacemakers. It is a good duty to bind our selves not to start back from our holy religion & profession, but to continue constant unto the end: all which are the benefits that proceed from an oath.

Lastly, the adjoined properties of an oath, are to be considered. For as every oath is not unlawful, so every oath is not lawful: & therefore we are to mark, what are lawful, & what unlawful. Those are lawful that disagree not with God's word: those are unlawful that are contrary to it. The lawful oaths are undertakē of such things as are true, certainly known, possible, godly, necessary, profitable, weighty and worthy so great a confirmation. If these or any one of them be wanting, the oath becometh wicked: if they concur and meet together, so that we be duly prepared thereunto, it ought to be performed. On y ^e other side, if the matters undertaken be false, or uncertain, or unknown, or impossible, or unprofitable, or unnecessary, or wicked, or frivolous and light, the oath is unlawful, and to perform it, is to add sin to sin, as we noted before. For he that sweareth to perform that which is false, maketh God that is truth witness of an untruth: he that taketh an oath o • uncertain things, sweareth with an evil conscience, and considereth not what he doth, neither regardeth the presence, the power, and punishment of God, when he presumeth to make God a witness of the things which he knoweth not whether they be truth or untruth: he that taketh an oath of any wicked thing, maketh God to favor and approve that which he hath forbidden in his Law, and is flatly contrary to himself: whosoever taketh an oath of impossible things, mocketh God and man to their faces, forasmuch as he cannot have a purpose and resolution to perform that which he speaketh and sweareth. He that taketh an oath lightly, declareth that he hath no reverence or fear of God before his eyes. And this is a most certain rule, that whosoever commonly sweareth, commonly forsweareth, or at least will make no bones of it, if he see any advantage to come by it: because he that maketh no conscience of the one, will not make any of the other. Thus we have handled y ^e doctrine of oaths: let us now make conscience of them, & take heed we take not the Name of God in vain. He is jealous of his honor and glory, let us not abuse his patience. Though he be slow to anger, yet he is great in power: and albeit he bear long, & forbear much, yet he will not clear the wicked. Although Princes do not make statutes against it, yet the statute law of God hath decreed against it, and condemned it, & set a great penalty upon the breach of it. We have sundry laws y ^t none abuse our names: but we have none for y ^e preservation of God's Name, and therefore God will look to it, and take order for it. No commandment hath had more visible judgments executed vpō the breakers of it then this. The plague of God shall not depart from his house that is a swearer, one judgment or other shall overtake him: and if he do escape, the greater torment is reserved for him in the life to come The Prophet Zacharias telleth us, y ^t God will consume the timber and stones of his house.

The son of the Israelitish woman that blasphemed the Name of the Lord and cursed, is brought forth without the campe, and stoned to death, Levite. 24.14, 15. and thereupon a Law established, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin, It is lamentable to consider the wretchedness of profane men, notwithstanding the grievousness of this sin. Many are of such a ruffian-like spirit, that they fear not to tear in pieces the Lord of life, and to crucify again the Son of God, as much as in them lieth. We our selves are jealous of our own names, and the names of our parents and posterity: no marvel then if God be exceeding jealous over himself. If we will not glorify him, he will glorify himself, and his Name in our destruction. He may wink at us for a time, as also at our manifold and monstrous oaths, but he hath not forgotten them; he keepeth a book of accounts as a register against us, and when the great day of the Lord shall come, he will bring forth the records, and set our sins in order before us. Let us not think to escape, because sentence is not speedily executed: the more he delayeth, the more he hoardeth up punishment for us. The longer the arrow is in drawing, the deeper it will pierce when it is shot out against us. He suffereth them to live in security for a time, but they shall taste of severity in the end, Job 24.23. and 21.30. The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction, & they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

Hitherto we have seen the things that go before the trial: now we come to such as are more nearly joined with it, which are these. He must write the curses in a book, and then blot them out with the waters of bitterness before remembered. But before the woman drink of the waters, he must take the offering out of her hand, and wave it before the Lord, and then offer it unto the Lord. Lastly, he is to burn a part of it upon the altar, and afterward cause the woman to drink the water.

[Object.] Here the question may be asked, wherefore the curse must be written, and afterward blotted out? If it must be blotted out, what need it to be written? If it must be written, why should it be blotted out? I answer, [Answer.] it was written to note out the stableness of God's judgments, and the certainty of his truth. And therefore also it was uttered in words, expressed in actions, and established by writing. In word, of the adjuration: in work, of the drinking up of the water: in writing, of the whole fact, as it was done before the Lord. Nevertheless, this writing was so extant, that it continued not long, but was so clean defaced that none could read it; because God would not have the remembrance of such filthy causes and iealouses, and suspicions to remain to posterity, lest any be inflamed with the like passion, and so bring into imitation such like practices.

[Verse 23.24, &c. And the Priest shall write these curses, &c. We see in this place the former ceremonies, and circumstances farther urged and pressed near to the conscience of her that was suspected and stood before the Lord to be tried. She is caused and commanded to drink of these waters prepared for this purpose. These waters that cause the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.

This is the means that God will use to manifest things that yet are hidden in secret, and such as should bring an heavy judgment upon her that was guilty. We learn from hence, that whoredom is always punished of God, and never escapeth unpunished. Howsoever adultery be not regarded among men, and thought either no sin, or a little and venial sin, yet God findeth it out, and ceaseth not to plague and punish it both temporally and eternally, both in this life, and in the life to come.

This we see set forth before us at large throughout the whole book of God. What was the cause that brought the flood upon the old world, and swept away the inhabitants thereof? was it not for their uncleanness, and the lusts of their eyes, and the looseness of their life? The like we might say of Sodom and Gomorrhah, and the cities about them, who giving themselves once to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. When Balaam was not suffered to curse the people of God, he gave the Moabites and Midianites this damnable counsel, to allure them to commit fornication; by which means many perished, as we shall show afterward in the 25 chapter of this book: whereunto also the Apostle alludeth, 1 Cor. 10.8. when he saith, Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. It must needs be a grievous sin that brought down so grievous a judgment. A like fearful example we have in the book of Judges, when the Levites wife was abused unto death, there followed the destruction of the beniamites, so that there fell of them five and twenty thousand, & almost one whole tribe of Israel was wanting. This is it which the Lord threatened to his people, Levite. 18.24.25 20. Ye shall not defile yourselves in any of these things: (among which this was one, to defile themselves with their neighbors wife by carnal copulation) for in all these, the nations are defiled, which I will cast out before you, and the land is defiled, therefore I will visit the wickedness thereof upon it, and the land shall vomit out her inhabitants. The Prophets are full in all places of the like threatenings. There is a notable testimony to this purpose, Ier. 5.7, 8, 9. where the Lord complaineth of this iniquity, and of the abuse of his manifold benefits, Though I fed them to the full, yet they committed adultery, and assembled themselves by companies in the harlots houses: they rose up in the morning like fed horses, every man neyed after their neighbors wife: shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? shall not my soul be avenged on such a natiō as this? We read in the book of Genesis, that when Pharaoh at the commendation of his Courtiers had taken Abraham's wife into his house, the Lord plagued him and his house with great plagues, and they ceased not until he had restored her again, and given his servants commandment to do him no hurt.

The like we might also speak of Abimelech the king of Gerar, when he also sent and took her, though he had not yet come near her, but only purposed evil, yet the Lord came to him in a dream by night, and said unto him, Behold, thou art but dead, because of the woman which thou hast taken, for she is a man's wife. So then there is ordained for all adulterers and fornicators both temporal and eternal punishments. These sins shall bring a man to beggary, even to a morsel of bread, Prov. 6.26 they shall root out his house, destroy his posterity, consume his flesh, waste kingdoms, yea shut out of God's kingdom, and bring to the condemnation of the devil; forasmuch as no unclean thing shall enter into the heavens, but all murderers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and whoremongers shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

[Reason 1] The reasons hereof are these. First, the wrath of God is kindled against such. In his favor is happiness, but if his wrath be kindled but a little, blessed are all that trust in him. For this cause the Apostle saith, Ephe. 5.6. Let no man deceive you with vain words, for, because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. In the words going before he had shown, that no whoremonger, or unclean person hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God; the reason is, because such lie under the heavy wrath of God. He is angry with them, and therefore woe unto them. If the child see the father angry with him, how is he grieved? what saith the Lord unto Moses, concerning the sin of Myriam his sister? If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? And the Apostle to the Hebrews, chap. 12 9. We have had the fathers of our bodies which corrected us, and we gave them reverence, shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? What subject can bear the displeasure of a Prince? The fear of a king, saith Solomon, is like the roaring of a Lyon, Prov. 19.12. and 20.2. and 16.14. who so provoketh him to anger, sinneth against his own soul. If the lyon hath roared, who would not fear? as testifieth y ^e Prophet. Seeing then the wrath of a king is as messengers of death, what shall we think the wrath of the King of kings to be? who is even a consuming fire, Hebr. 12.29. and devoureth all as straw and stubble before him.

Secondly, it appeareth to be a grievous sin, because it is worse then theft, as Solomon [Reason 2] maketh the comparison, Prov. 6.30.32. Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul, when he is hungry, &c. but whoso committeth adultery with a woman, lacketh understanding: he that doth it destroyeth his own soul. It is an odious name to be called a thief: but it is more odious to be called an whoremaster. A thief when he hath stolen is carried to the gallows: but the adulterer deserveth it much more. What an horrible offense is it to destroy a man's own soul? we pity him that layeth violent hands upon his own body, and killeth himself. Who doth not account Saul, and Achitophel, and Judas most infamous, who perished with their own hands? but the adulterer doth a thousand times worse, he destroyeth his own soul, which is a greater price then the body.

Thirdly, adultery and uncleanness defile [Reason 3] the land: not only the persons and the houses, but whole cities and countries, until all become abominable, and the land become full of sin: and therefore no marvel though it be punished of God. To this purpose the Lord speaketh in the Law of Moses, Levite. 19.29. Do not prostitute thy daughter to cause her to be a whore, lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness. This sin is of an infectious nature above other: suffer it but a little▪ and it will quickly increase, like fire that is kindled in dry wood, which suddenly taketh hold, and easily passeth from one to another until the whole be enflamed.

Fourthly, we must know what our calling [Reason 4] is. The Gentiles that knew not God, and were ignorant of his law, defiled themselves with these abominations, and were cast out before his face: for the land did spew them out as loathsome. But we have learned better things, and God hath vouchsafed us greater mercy; he hath called us to be an holy people to himself, and redeemed us that we should serve him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives. This the Apostle noteth, 1 Thess. 4.3, 4, 5, 7. This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication, that everyone of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God, &c. for God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. To this we shall add sundry other reasons afterward, when we make use of this doctrine.

[Use 1] This serveth to teach us sundry instructions both touching our knowledge, and concerning our obedience. First, let no man flatter himself in this sin. It is accounted of the greatest sort, a small and sleight matter, a venial sin, a trick of youth. Such scoffers as these, it seemeth, were in y ^e Apostles times, but now they are more common, as the sin is more commonly practiced, and aboundeth everywhere. This doth the Apostle declare, 1 Cor. 6.9. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate shall inherit the kingdom of God. It is a fire that shall devour to destruction, and bring strange punishments upon the workers of such iniquities, Job 31.3.12. This serveth to reprove diverse sorts of men: first, such as think fornication to be a thing indifferent, and no great matter to be stood upon. But is it a thing indifferent unto us, whether we ever come into God's kingdom or not? or is it a trick of youth to loose heaven, and to be banished from the comfortable presence of God? We shown before that whoredom is worse then theft, and to rob any of their chastity, is a thousand times more heinous then to take from them their money. It bringeth with it the heinous sin of idolatry. It spoileth a man's neighbor of an irrecoverable benefit that can never be repaired or restored, being once lost. It dishonoreth & embaseth the children y ^t are so begotten, depriving them of the common right of inheritance that belongeth unto others, Deu. 23.2. It bringeth dullness and deadness of heart upon men and women, making them senseless in sin, and to rush without conscience into many, or rather into any other, as the Prophet Hosea teacheth, chap. 4.11. Whoredom, and wine, and new wine, take away the heart. He joineth together two sins that are near neighbors and very familiar one to another, to wit, uncleanness and drunkenness, which above all other brutish pleasures besot us, and bereave us of understanding, and reason, will and affections, so that we delight and take pleasure in nothing but in sensuality. The better the Lord doth feed us, and the more liberally he multiplieth his blessings upon us, the more we abuse them to wantonness, and spend them in voluptuousness. Such is our unthankfulness to God, that the more he enlargeth our prosperity, the more we kick against him, and lift up our heels to spurn at him that giveth us our meat in due season, and satisfieth our souls with marrow and fatness. Such is the great corruption of our natures, and the contagion of sin that dwelleth in us, that it infecteth God's good creatures, and turneth his benefits into curses. The more our gracious God doth remember us, the more ought we to remember him again: and the more he serveth us, the better ought we to serve him, the more zealous we should be of his glory, the more dutiful and diligent to please him in all things. We are like to the Sodomites; they inhabited a place very fruitful, it was like the garden of God, wherein Adam dwelt: howbeit they turned Paradise into hell, and abused all his good gifts, to pride, gluttony, drunkenness, wantonness, filthiness, and to all manner of unlawful and unnatural lusts. The more the Lord in mercy bestoweth upon us, the greater obedience we ought to yield unto him: and where he giveth greatest wages, he worthily and justly requireth the greatest work. Woe then unto such as give themselves over to the beastly pleasures of the flesh, that make wise men fools, and turn men into beasts, insomuch as men endued with common sense and natural reason may wonder at them. Their carnal lusts so blind their eyes that they run headlong into all mischiefs. They regard not their good names, neither care what other men think of them. They spend their strength and life upon harlots, they waste their bodies and consume them with foul and filthy diseases. They esteem them of greater excellency then any other; they cast off all care of their wives, of their children, and of their families, as if they were strangers or enemies unto them. They cut short their own days, and waste their substance, & sometimes bring themselves to extreme beggary; and that which is more fearful then all these joined together and bound in a bundle, they damme and destroy their own souls.

Hence it is that the holy Scripture best able to define wisdom and folly, and to set down who are the greatest fools, doth by way of eminency and excellency, brand the sin of uncleanness with the title of folly, and calleth all adulterers fools. When Jacob's sons understood that Shechem had deflowered their sister, they were grieved and exceedingly offended at it, because he had wrought folly in Israel, Gen. 34.7. Tamar dissuading her brother from forcing and ravishing of her, useth this reason, No such thing ought to be done in Israel, do not thou this folly, 2 Sam. 13.12. Solomon is preferrred before all the Princes that were before him, or should come after him for his singular wisdom, and he gave himself above others to know wisdom and folly: and therefore let us hear what he saith of it. In the sixth chapter of the Proverbs, he teacheth, that whosoever committeth adultery with a woman, lacketh understanding. And in the chapter following, describing the leudnes of wanton persons, he saith, At the window of my house I looked through the casement, and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youthes, a young man void of understanding, &c. yea, such is his resoluteness to go forward, and madness that infatuateth him, that he compareth him to an ox led to the slaughter, and as a fool to the correction of the stocks: and such is their rage and violence in their distempered and disordered lusts, that Jeremiah compareth them to fed horses, because they neighed after their neighbors wives. Many there are that follow these follies, that think scorn to be ranged and marshalled among thieves, horses, dogs, and to have their impieties expressed with such comparisons: but we need crave no pardon of them, if we cal them as the Scripture calleth them, which knoweth who they are, and what they deserve, and by what names they are to be named. Let us now rip up these things afresh, and examine the difference between the judgment of the most pure and holy God, and the judgment of the impure & unclean men. They account whoredom and adultery to be kindly sins, tricks and toys of youth: but the glass that God setteth before our eyes maketh them look as ugly creatures and most deformed monsters, such as none should be enamored off. These fleshly lusts fight against our souls, and make continual war upon us, seeking to destroy us utterly. Is it a trick of youth to waste our bodies, and to bring upon our names a perpetual blot? Is it a thing indifferent unto us, whether we save our souls or destroy them? Is it indifferent unto us, whether we be reputed wise, or fools: men, or beasts: such as are made after the image of God, or pampered horses, unclean swine, and filthy dogs? Is it a venial sin to defile the land, and replenish it from one corner to another, with all wickedness? Let such take heed, lest in the end they find no pardon at the hands of God for these venial sins: and beware betimes lest these light offenses be so heavy a burden upon their hearts, that they weigh them down to hell. Then they shall find to their cost and sorrow, that it was the greatest folly in the world to run headlong into these evils, and to defer their repentance till it be too late.

Secondly, it reproveth such as live cunningly and secretly in these sins of uncleanness, and think if they can hide them from the eyes of men, and from the sight of the world, all is well, no hurt or harm shall befall unto them, and come upon them. If they profess Christian religion, and resort to the Church, and hear the word of God, and present themselves to the Lord's Table, they suppose they live in no danger, they account thenselves as good Christians as the best. This is a course taken to deceive our selves, and such do no better then make a covenant with death, and a league with hell, Isaiah 28. He hath delivered many threatenings in his word against this sin, which must needs be accomplished: because he is not as man that he should lie. It is in vain therefore to flatter our selves with the foolishness of security, or hope of secrecy, or the ignorance of men, or the darkness of the night, or the solitariness of the place, or the cunning of hypocrisy, or any other means of concealment, forasmuch as we have to do with God, before whose eyes all things are naked and open. This committing of sin in secret, and presuming to carry it away close, because no man seeth us, is on the one side to turn God into an idol, making him to sit idle in heaven, and on the other side to transform our selves into Atheists, as if God could be blinded and deceived of us. This made the Prophet to say, Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I fly from thy presence? if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there, &c. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me: yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee: for thou hast possessed my reins, thou hast covered me in my mothers womb.

So then, where the knowledge of man faileth, and the hand of man ceaseth to execute punishment against this sin, God's eye taketh notice of it, and his justice will cause him to proceed against it, so that there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Many indeed are cunning hypocrites, and can deceive the faces of men: but they cannot so color their sins as to cozen God thereby, who will pluck off their vizards, and wash away their paintings, and open their disguisings, that the hollowness of their hearts shall be made manifest to all men.

The last reproof is of the Church of Rome, that erect a stews in all places where Popery is professed, and so warrant the toleration of fornication. The Law of God is manifest, Deut. 23.17. There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be an whorekeeper of the sons of Israel. God condemneth the thought, and therefore cannot alow the fact of simple fornication, for that were to make the spirit of God contrary to it self. All enticements and provocations unto sin are reproved, of which this is a principal. How then can he that boasteth of his Holiness warrant by the word of God the erection and continuance of his stews, albeit he gain thereby a yearly rent into his coffers? Or how could that monster and devil incarnate, Sixtus the fourth, set up a stews of both kinds, that is, of men and women, whereby he obtained some years 20000, and some years forty thousand duckats as a yearly pension, which those filthy persons paid for the free liberty of that sin? This was most base and beastly gain, though the man of sin think it sweet gain that is gotten by worse then the excrements of Rome. A man would think it most strange that they should open their mouths in defense of open sin and impiety: and yet many among them are not ashamed to become proctours for the stews. It is well known how commonly the Priests themselves resort unto such infamous places, & therefore no marvel if some of them shame not to open their mouths in defense of their own practice, among which are two of no small note among them, to wit, Harding and Parsons. Harding in his pretended confutation of the apology of the Church of England, calleth the stews a necessary evil for the avoiding of a greater mischief: and though (being charged) he dare not deny there be twenty thousand of that generation in Rome that prostitute their bodies for gain, yet he excuseth them all, and telleth us that we are too young to controlle the city of Rome in her doings.

The like we might say of Parsons, for he in his confutation of John Nichols recantation, hath thought it a matter well beseeming his labors to handle this point at large (who is often said to have been under the Chirurgians hand for this sin) and so to justify the doings of himself and of his fellows. I will set down their reasons, that we may see, know them, and examine them, and disprove them. Nothing is so impious & wretched that some men will not go about to justify. It is well known that a Divine, a great Divine among them wrote a treatise in defense of Sodomy, as these do in defense of whoredom. And this is the deep judgment of God upon those that not only restrain but utterly forbid marriage to their Clergy, (which the Apostle calleth the doctrine of devils ) to give them over both to defend and practice all kind of uncleanness. But let us see their reasons, whereby they would prove this evil to be necessary. [Object 1] First, they allege the heat of the country, and therefore not fit that Harlots should be banished from among them. I answer, [Answer.] this is no sufficient warrant to set up stews, no more then it is to marry many wives. It becometh not a Christian man, much less a professor of Divinity to hold, that where there is greatest heat, there may be greatest whoredom.

This is the rule of God's word, that wheresoerver the greatest allurements and provocations are to any sin, there ought to be more watchfulness to cut off all occasions. And why I pray you might not they among the Indians justify the marrying and keeping of a multitude of wives, where the heat far surpasseth the heat of Rome, and of all Italy? or wherefore doth God restrain the Jews his own people from whoring and committing fornication, where the climate is as hot and much hotter then in Popish places where stews are erected? Doth whoredom defile the land, and is it a necessary evil? But enough of this reasonless reason, whereof I think the Popish sort are ashamed, if they have any shame or any reason left in them. A second argument is this, y ^t a civil Magistrate, & consequently [Object 2] the Pope, may, for the avoiding of a greater inconvenience, tolerate and permit this sin, without fault and without being charged with any allowance of the sin it self. It is one thing to approve, and another to allow a thing; as God permitteth many wicked acts in the world, which notwithstanding he detesteth. I answer, [Answer.] the comparison is unequal, that I say not, it is blasphemous. It is the fearful judgment of God upon his enemies, to make such monstrous and misshapen conclusions. God hath a royal prerogative above his law, and is not subject unto it, but to the righteousness of his own will. He permitteth the abominations that are committed, that by his infinite power and wisdom he may turn all things to the glory of his mercy or justice. It is not so with the Magistrate, he must be obedient to the law of God, and all his authority is to be subject unto it: it is his office to punish known evil, and not to permit it: neither is he able to turn evil into good by his suffering of it. Besides, it will not follow from hence, to speak nothing of the Popes temporal jurisdiction, and of the right he claimeth to be a temporal Prince; neither can it any way justify his practice, who raiseth rents and taketh fines for bawdry, and therefore maketh himself no better then a bawde to whores and knaves, forasmuch as he maintaineth them, and they maintain him. They have streets and houses assigned unto them where they shall dwell, and he taketh their money which they pay with ease, and live in bravery and excess with the rest.

Lastly▪ we may conclude from this reason, that Magistrates if they list, may permit all manner of wickedness, and suffer it to escape unpunished, and not be charged with the allowance of it. For if this reason do hold in one particular (God may permit, therefore the Magistrate may) it is good in all; which were to open a gap wide to all profaneness, Libertinism, Atheism, and Epicureanism. A third argument [Object] is this, a naughty thing may sometimes be necessary, and being necessary, and consequently impossible to be removed, it must needs be tolerated without fault, as they go about to prove by testimony of Christ, there must be offenses, Matth. 18.11. and of Paul, there must be heresies, 1 Corinth. 11.19. Here is a necessity of offenses and heresies, yet Christ and Paul were not in fault, neither did they allow heresies. I answer, [Answer] first I would know, whether they mean, every wicked thing, or only some wicked thing. I suppose they mean not in general, that every naughty thing is so necessary that it should be tolerated; for then they must speak plainly with the devils tongue, and openly utter his language. Do they then understand it of some naughty and wicked thing, that is necessary, and so to be tolerated? Then the reason must be framed in this manner, Some evil is necessary, and therefore to be suffered: but the stews is some evil that is necessary, and therefore the stews ought to be tolerated. Everyone meanly seen in the art of reasoning knoweth that: the form of this reason is stark naught, and neither necessary nor to be suffered: for of particulars nothing can follow. Again, they pervert and corrupt the meaning of Christ and his Apostle. Such things as cannot be avoided, may be accounted necessary according to the decree of God. When he purposeth to try his children, & to have them discerned from hypocrites, oftentimes evils, yea, even heresies break forth from the corruption of men. This is true, we confess: and so much the places prove and infer. So then we must distinguish of toleration, which is of two sorts, there is a toleration of necessity, and a toleration of negligence. The one is good, as when a Magistrate having a subject that committeth treason, or such heinous crime that he cannot punish by reason of his own weakness and his subjects power, this he must bear of necessity, because he hath no remedy; so David dealt toward Joab, when he had slain Abner with the sword, 2. Sam. 3.39 I am this day weak, though anointed king: and these men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me: the Lord shall reward the dooer of evil, according to his wickedness. Where we see he tollerateth the evil which he could not remedy, and referreth the execution of justice unto God that was of ability and power to punish it. So may the Magistrate bear with patience for a certain season, not failing in his duty: howbeit this must not be always, for when there is no such cause to suffer a known sin to escape unpunished, he may not wink at it and bear with it. There is also a toleration that is evil, which is done of negligence, carelessness, and overmuch lenity and indulgence; this is no necessary toleration, as when Eli bare with his sons in his old age, & did not chastise them for their offenses; this way do they offend, that punish not at all those that are to be punished, or punish lightly such as are to be punished severely. This toleration of negligence cannot be implied from the former places of Scripture, seeing that to justify the wicked and to condemn the innocent are both of them equally an abomination unto the Lord. Proverbs 17.15.

Lastly, I would gladly understand, whether our adversaries would reason thus, Heresies must be, therefore tolerate heresies, and suffer heretics to remain: therefore burn not heretics, confute not heresies, but let them alone? If they dare not reason thus, why do they press us with the like consequent? if they will needs conclude after this manner, what wrong have they done to our brethren, and how much innocent blood have they shed in the late days of persecution? O that this argument had been coined and urged in Queen Mary's days among us, or might now prevail with the Spanish Inquisition: then should not the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held, cry out with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood, on them that dwell on the earth? The last argument is this, that the Protestants permit usury by their laws, and do not punish [Object 4] men for taking ten in the hundred: which is done to meet with a greater inconvenience or mischief: and so doth the Pope with his stews.

Hereunto we may add, that which Parsons patcheth together after his trifling manner, namely, that we allow not the Catholics absenting themselves from the Church, and yet we make them pay for their recusancy? I answer, [Answer.] to the first instance, that if we punish not all biting gain, or suffer the poor to be oppressed, we cannot be excused, but are to be blamed: forasmuch as the word of God forbiddeth to oppress the poor by usury, Exo. 22.25. Levite. 25.35, 36. Deu. 23.19. Touching the second instance or example that he giveth of taking a fine of Catholics by way of punishment for not coming to Church, as the Pope doth a yearly pension to punish the harlots: it is a very unequal comparison, and he dealeth with us as in the former reason. It is of necessity, saith Christ, that scandals must come, therefore the stews must be permitted. That is one false conclusion. Another is like unto it, It must be permitted, therefore it must be let alone without punishment: so that they understand a thing that must needs come, to be all one with this, a thing of necessity must be winked at, and left without punishment. So touching their Recusants, the comparison is many ways faulty. First, if the penalty were duly inflicted upon these his friends, it would pinch them & sting them much more, then the payment which the Pope receiveth from the stews: forasmuch as the Curtezans make such a gain of that filthy market and sale of their bodies, as that they pay that money with ease, such is the custom they have coming in. Secondly, the Papists are not suffered openly to have their Masses, nor to exercise idolatry, nor to have places allowed them in one certain place in all cities and countries, as harlots are permitted to commit whoredom freely, and to recover their hire by action at the Law, in case any deny to pay the price agreed upon between them. If they had free liberty given them to practice their superstitions, it were somewhat that is said of them: but forasmuch as they are restrained, the comparison holdeth not. Thirdly, the Papists cannot make an apparent gain above that which they pay for their not coming to Church, and therefore it differeth much from the Popes punishment, who allow them the means to enrich themselves by the overplus that they retain to themselves. Before we shut up this point, let us use some reasons against this sufferance of open whoredom, not to be suffered in any Christian Commonwealth and therefore wheresoever the Gospel of Christ is openly professed, and freely received, the stews and brothel houses are pulled down, and are dispersed and scattered away as clouds before the Sun.

First, no Magistrate may suffer any sin ordinarily unpunished frō generation to generation, and take a yearly rent for it, which impeacheth the glory of God, hurteth y ^e Church, and annoyeth the Common-wealth: but to suffer unchaste women in a certain place, and to permit the people without danger of law, or fear of punishment to resort unto them, is ordinarily to suffer sin unpunished; therefore the Magistrate, who is the Minister of God, bearing his person, and ministering his justice, and executing his sentence, may not, and cannot without contempt of God suffer unchaste women in his kingdoms & dominions: forasmuch as he carrieth not his sword in vain, but is an avenger in wrath to him that doeth evil.

Again as no man in general, so no Magistrate in particular may do evil, that good may come thereof, whose damnation is just, saith the Apostle, Rom. 3.8. But to permit a stews and to take a rent (not one half of their foul and filthy gains) to the end that adultery may be forborne, is to do evil that good may come of it; forasmuch as to commit any sin is to do evil, and to fail in anything is to transgress the Law, and not to punish when we ought to punish, as we see in Saul that spared the Amalekites, 1 Sam. 15. and in Ahab that suffered Benhadad to escape out of his hand whom the Lord had appointed to utter destruction, 1 King. 20.42. Therefore no Magistrate may suffer whoredom to go unpunished, under what color and pretence, to what end and purpose so ever he do it, though it should be to remedy a greater evil

Moreover it is utterly unlawful to lie, albeit it might redowne to the glory of God, Rom. 3.7. and therefore I may not suffer my brother to lie, if by lawful means I may keep him from it. We may not in God's cause speak iniquity or use deceit, Job 13.7.8. Will you speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him? will ye accept his persō? will ye contend for God? Much less therefore accept the person for avoiding adultery, and take yearly rent of the stews.

Lastly, no Magistrate may openly suffer that to be, which God hath expressly said in his word shall not be: but it is expressly and directly forbidden to suffer a whore in Israel, and to take the wages of an whore for his house, and therefore for the Church. This sin is abominable to the Lord, and draweth down his wrath wheresoever it is committed, and therefore albeit they say that in judgment they do not alow it, yet in the judgment of God and his word they maintain it; and so much the rather, because the prohibition of marriage in sundry Orders beareth sway among them. What thing will not these men presume and be bold to defend that spare not to open their mouths and sharpen their pens to maintain incontinent living and confessed filthiness? Or when may we think they will begin to reform the Church of God, that in so long a time cannot redress their open stews? It was truly said by Bernard, Take once from the Church honorable marriage and the bed undefiled, and thou fillest the same full with Brothel-houses, with keeping Concubines, with incests, with pollutions, with wantons, and with all sorts of filthy persons: how then is not he guilty of these horrible abominations that forbiddeth marriage, yet calleth himself the Vicar of Christ, the head of the Church, and the holy One of Israel? We must abandon vain and vicious remedies which are more grievous then the manifest diseases. Tertullian testifieth truly, that stews are execrable and accursed before God. And the Emperor Justinian notwithstanding all forged necessity & falsely named policy, straitly commandeth that harlots be banished out of all towns.

Secondly, seeing God is the punisher of all [Use 2] whoredom and uncleanness, it is our duty to eschew harlots, as the most dangerous creatures in the world. It is well said of Solomon, Prov. 2.18. Their house tendeth to death, and their paths unto the dead, And afterward chap. 23.27. he saith, An whore is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is as a narrow pit: and therefore it is good to keep our selves from falling or entering into the same. So in another place he describeth the practices, the allurements, and the deceits of such, Prov. 9.15.16.17.18. She sitteth at the door of her house on a seat, in the high places of the city, to call passengers who go right in their ways; who so is simple, let him turn in hither and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stollen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret, is pleasant; but he knoweth not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depth of hell. Such naughty women are called everywhere in this book strangers, though they be too familiar and well known, and thrust themselves into the company of others; because they should be strangers unto us, and not of our acquaintance. There is nothing more common in them, then to entice young men by wanton gestures, lasciuous words, and plausible persuasions, to dalliance and delight: It is a great favor of God to be preserved from their baits, and kept from their snares, yea, it is a far greater mercy to be secured from harlots, then to be kept from the pestilence: & they show greater wisdom that shun and pass by their houses and company, then they that forsake places & persons that are infected with some dangerous and deadly disease. Everyone is forward to beware he come not near any pest-house for fear of his life: but if we assemble into harlots houses, we run in danger of soul & body. It is an easy matter to fall into a pit where a man may be drowned, but it is not so easy to get out of it. The wanton woman is as a deep ditch, and a narrow pit, and a dangerous hole, whereinto a man may slip hastily & at unawares; but he shall hardly come out from thence, or deliver himself, without the special goodness of God, pulling him as it were out of the fire, and setting his feet in safety. For as a thief lurketh in a den or wood to get a prey, so doth she lie in wait, and useth baits to steal away the hearts of men, and thereby prevaileth mightily with many in the world. Among all dangers, this is not the least that Solomon speaketh of, None that go unto her, return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. These words do not absolutely deny repentance to them that are fall̄, or shut the gate of mercy against them that have sinned, but the meaning is, that few, yea very few escape destruction, & return to salvation, because they seldom repent. It is a very rare thing to see a penitent adulterer: they leave the sin when it leaveth them, because they can follow it no longer, but they do not repent of it, they do not sorrow for it, they do not fly from it. Hence it is, that you shall hear many old men, whose strength is decayed, whose bodies are withered, whose feet are already entered in a manner into their graves, laugh heartily at the remembrance of their tricks of youth, and talk wantonly & filthily of the pranks which they have played; so that from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh, and their corrupt communication testifieth, that they never soundly repented of their uncleanness. No marvel therefore if the wise man peremptorily declare, that few or none of those that are given over to this lewdness of life, do come to repentance: for albeit some few find grace, yet in comparison of such as run on headlong, & live securely to the end in their wickedness, they may worthily be said to be none at all. They are so blinded & besotted, that they cannot see their own filthiness; they are so dull and deaf, that they cannot hear those that admonish them, nay they hate those that reprove them. The Apostle Paul exhorting the Corinthians to fly fornication, which was most common in those days, and esteemed a slight or no sin at all, useth many notable reasons of great weight & importance, & worthy to be considered of us. One reason or motive is this, that our bodies are the Lord's, and must be serviceable unto him, The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord. Wherefore hath he given to us our body, but y ^t we should serve him in our body? We are not to yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but we ought to yield our selves unto God, as those y ^t are alive from the dead, and so make our members as instruments of righteousness unto him. First therefore the Apostle reasoneth frō the end of our creation. Secondly, the Lord Jesus is ordained & appointed to be the Redeemer & Savior, not only of the soul, but also of the body, & therefore he saith, the Lord for the body. Fornication and sanctification cannot stand together, but are contrary one to the other, so that they cannot abide in one subject. Christ came into the world to this end that he might redeem our bodies by his death out of y ^e power of the devil, and sanctify them by his Spirit. If then we give our selves as servants to obey the lusts of the flesh, we make void the glorious work of our redemption, wherein mercy, justice, and truth kissed one another. For herein we see the truth of God's promise accomplished, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpents head: and the truth of his threatening fulfilled, that man offending, should die the death. Herein we may behold y ^e wonderful justice of God, that because man had sinned, man must be punished; for otherwise he had not been a just God. Lastly, hereby appeareth the unspeakable mercy of God toward mankind; who, albeit his justice were such, that rather then sin should go unpunished, he would punish it in his Son, who bare our sins in his body, and made intercession for our transgressions, yet found out a way how to redeem us, when we cast our selves headlong into all misery, and made our selves subject to the greatest thralldom that ever was. We are delivered from the hands of our enemies, sin, the world, and the devil, y ^t we should be holy unto him that hath called us. The third motive is drawn from the glorious resurrection of our bodies, as the former was frō the gracious redemption of our bodies. If we would have them live with him forever y ^t shall raise thē up, we must abstain from filthy lusts w ^c defile the body; & therefore the Apostle saith, God hath both raised up the Lord, & will also raise us up by his own power. The author of this great benefit and wonderful work, is God, w ^c passeth and exceedeth man's reason. Hence it is, that he putteth us in mind of his power, because he is almighty. If it were not impossible unto him to create our bodies out of the dust of the earth, why shall it not be possible to raise them out of the dust again? Nay, if he were able to make thē of that w ^c was nothing, inasmuch as the Apostle teacheth, y ^t the things which are seen, were not made of things which do appear; how much more shall he be able to give to everyone his body w ^c he had before? Again, he teacheth, y ^t God hath raised already the Lord Christ frō death to life, & therefore will raise us also. We are the members, he is y ^e head. Therefore if the head be alive, he will no • leave the members dead, so y ^t if he be risen frō y ^e dead, we shall rise again. How thē shall we that are appointed to glory, defile our bodies beastly lusts, the end and wages whereof is shame and ignominy? Seeing then Christ Jesus hath determined to make our bodies glorious, let us not make them foul and infamous, for as much as the reward of fornication is shame, not glory. If then we look that these frail and mortal bodies should be partakers of immortality at the last day, let us keep them as fit vessels to receive honor and glory, and everlasting life. It is no small offense to pollute the body of Christ with filthiness and uncleanness, which God raiseth frō the dead, and maketh it sit most glorious in the heavens. The fourth motive to work in us the detestation, and to lay before us the danger of whoredom, is this; the members of Christ are not to be made the members of an harlot: but our bodies are the members of Christ, therefore we ought not to make them the members of an harlot. Now the bodies of the faithful are called the members of Christ, because Christ is the head of the church, and performeth the office of an head unto it, into which all the elect are grafted by faith. If any man were asked, whether he would willingly rent or pull away a member from Christ's own body, to make it the member of an harlot, he would utterly deny it, he would be ashamed of it, he would be ready to defy him that should charge him with it. Howbeit, the Apostle feareth not to lay that imputation upon such as commit fornication; they separate themselves quite away from Christ, so that it must needs be a deadly sin which parteth and pulleth us from him. Wherefore he saith, Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. Hereby then we must learn, how heinous whoredom is, because we are the members of Christ; but by it we make our bodies the members of an harlot: which is as much in effect, as to turn Christ himself into an harlot, and to make him a whoremaster, then which nothing is more reproachful and dishonorable unto the glory and majesty of Christ. For the Church is the mystical body of Christ, w ^c he hath redeemed with his blood, whereof he is the head; and by his Spirit so joineth it to him, that it is made one spiritual body with him. So then, every faithful person is one member for his part of the body of the Church, and of Christ the head, joined with him by faith, & quickened by his Spirit. He y ^t joineth himself therefore to an harlot is made one body with an harlot, so that of the members of Christ, he shall make them the members of an harlot, and thereby cease to be any longer the members of Christ; then which, what can be more dangerous to us, or more reproachful to Christ, or more dishonorable to God? The fifth motive to dissuade from fornication, is because this sin is committed against the body, whereas all other sins are without the body. He that committeth whoredom defileth and abuseth his own body, and leaveth a proper stain and blot upon it, making it both the subject and the object of his sin. It is not so with the thief, or the murderer or the slanderer: they deal with the life, with the goods, and with the good name of another. But the whore-master useth his body as the instrument, and sinneth against his own body more then any other. Hence it is that the Apostle saith, Fly fornication every sin that a man doth, is without the body: but he that committeth fornication, sinneth against his own body. If a man kill himself, he hurteth indeed, his own body, howbeit he useth sword or knife, or fire, or water, or some such like instrument which is out of the body: but the fornicator both useth and abuseth his own body, he maketh it either instrument or object, or subject, or all of them.

The sixth motive that is used, is this; That our body is the Temple of the holy Ghost: whereupon the Apostle would have it inferred, that a fornicator is a sacrilegious person, because he hurteth and wrongeth the temple of God. But Whosoever defileth the Temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple we are, 1 Cor. 3. ver. 17. Temples are ordained and appointed for holiness and pure actions, and are not therefore to be profaned with filthiness, forasmuch as they be consecrated and dedicated to God which is most pure and holy. To this purpose he speaketh and argueth, What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the holy ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God? If our bodies be Temples, they ought to be kept clean and decent of us. The Apostle nameth the body in this place, as he did also before, in regard of the matter he hath in hand, to the end he might withdraw us from the defiling and poluting of our bodies. We heard already, that our bodies are the members of Christ, & here he saith, Our bodies are the Temples of the holy Ghost; not that our souls are excepted and exempted, for they are made partakers of Christ, and we are the Temples of God in soul and body, as he speaketh in the second Epistle, Ye are the Temples of the living GOD. 2 Cor. 6, 16. If he dwell in us, let us beware of fornication, because he will not inhabit and abide in defiled bodies. He is the spirit of purity, therefore we must be pure: he is the spirit of holiness, therefore we ought to be holy, otherwise we are not his. He will dwell in a clean house, therefore not in a stye of unclean and filthy swine. Let us take heed, we grieve not the spirit of God, whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption. Eph. 4. The Gentiles knew by the light of nature, that they ought to keep their temples swept and garnished. Christ whipped out of y ^e temple such as bought & sold in it: yet what are these, but lime & stone, and such corruptible stuff: how much more then ought we to look to our selves, our souls & bodies, y ^t we do not defile them, and God destroy them. The Temple of Jerusalem was burned, and the Ark carried away for the sins of the people: there is no holiness of place can privilege us, if sound Religion be wanting in them that inhabit it. Thus was it also at the destruction of Jerusalem foretold in Scripture, after the Gospel of Christ was preached, the abomination of desolation was set in the holy place, so that one stone was not left upon another that was not thrown down. If then, God spare not most holy places consecrated to his service, thorough their sin that abuse them, let us not doubt, but our own bodies shall be smitten by the hands of God, except we keep them pure and undefiled.

The last motive to keep us from this sin, is to know that we are wholly God's, and not our own, to do what we list, or to dispose of our selves. We are Christ's, therefore it is our duty to glorify him by living chastely and continently. He hath redeemed us from the power of the devil, by paying the price of his precious blood, as of a Lamb unspotted. God hath good right to challenge us as his own, forasmuch as he bought us at a deer rate, and we cost him more then a world, nay a thousand worlds of riches and treasures. Christ gave his life for us, a price far greater then all men ca • conceive. For what can be imagined so precious, as the dignity, the majesty, & the glory of God, which were all after a sort, changed and diminished, when he took our nature upon him, and suffered in it the cursed and shameful death of the cross. Therefore it is that the Apostle saith, 1 Cor. 6, 19, 20. Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, for they are God's. It is the property of Justice to give to everyone his own, and not to use that which is another man's as his own. Our bodies are another man's right, therefore we may not abuse them to filthiness at our own carnal pleasures. We have not authority over our selves, to dispose of our selves; therefore we are as another man's servants. We belong to Christ and to GOD, therefore we must live according to his will. Christ hath bought us with a great price and hath redeemed us from hell, from Satan, from death, and from sin, therefore we be Christ's; we pertain as a proper possession to him, and no man can lay claim unto us. Let us live as becometh his servants, our profession, our calling, and our redemption: but they that follow after fornication serve his enemy, forasmuch as our sins were the enemies that put him to death.

[Use 3] Lastly, let all married persons live chastely, and keep the vessels of their bodies in holiness and in honor. There is indeed a twofold chastity, one of the single life, the other of the married. Chastity of single life, is with all carefulness, with fasting and prayer, to keep their minds, affections, and bodies in holiness. Chastity in marriage is, when the pure and holy use of wedlock is observed. Hence it is that the Apostle saith, Heb. 13, 4. Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Matrimony is an holy league or covenant, as it is called in the Scripture. If a man forge or falsify a covenant that is made in bargain and sale, either by conveying some secret title or interest to himself, or by suborning false Witnesses, it is, and ought, to be sharply and severely punished. But behold by an unclean life, the chief and most holy Covenant that can be in the world, is broken and violated. A solemn declaration is made of the faith that the husband oweth to the wife, and the wife to her husband: they come into y ^e church (as it were) into the presence, and before the face of God, they call upon him to be a witness and Judge, if either of them keep not promise: yet oftentimes all this vanisheth away and cometh to nothing. Hence it is that the Lord complaining against the people of Israel, and convincing them of whoring, and such like wickedness, threateneth them, that Therefore the Land shall mourn, and everyone that dwelleth therein, shall be cut off, with the Beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the heaven, and also the Fishes of the sea, shall be taken away. Hosea chap. 4. and the 2. & 3. verses.

This sin spreadeth far, like a foul and unclean Leprosy, and catcheth hold of one part after another, till the whole body be defiled; like to fire, that being once kindled, runneth from one place to another, until all be consumed. There is an adultery of the heart, Math. 5, 28. condemned by our Savior Christ, which being once entertained, is compared to a burning or boiling, 1 Cor. 7.9. that so disturbeth and disquieteth the soul, and the exercises of the soul, that it cannot suffer a man to serve the Lord in a quiet mind and a pure conscience. There is an adultery of the eyes, which are as the windows of the heart, 2 Peter chap. 2. verse 14. as Saint Peter speaketh of fleshly minded men, Whose eyes were full of Aduiterie. This made Job to make a Covenant with his eyes, that they went not astray, and caused him to go astray. The looking after a woman to lust after her, is called by Christ, the committing of Adultery. And the Prophet reproveth the daughters of Zion, because they walked without-stretched necks, and wanton eyes, Esa. chap 3, verse 13. There is an adultery of the ears, the which we fall into, when we listen unto unchaste and unclean talk uttered by others, when we have itching ears after it, and are content to hear it, and yet show no dislike unto it, no hatred of it. There is another adultery, and that is of the tongue; when we take delight in unchaste speeches, and filthy Ribaldry, by which, the hearts of others are corrupted, and our own are 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 manifested to be corrupt already, forasmuch as from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, Mat. 12. What religion soever we profess, it is in vain, we deceive our own hearts, except we learn to bridle our own tongues, I am. 1, 26. And the Apostle giveth this exhortation, Ephes. 4, 29. that no corrupt communication should proceed out of our mouths, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers. And in another place he teacheth, that evil communications corrupt good manners. Lastly, there is an adultery which is outward in fact, and is called sin finished: all the former are as steps & degrees leading to this, and in the end bring it forth as a birth which they have conceived. For wherefore do unclean persons nourish in themselves the adultery of the heart, of the eyes, of the ears, and of the tongue, but because they purpose to commit the outward act when time, and place, and person, and other occasions shall be offered unto thē? But we must be careful to avoid all these kinds, which should not be named among Christians, as becometh the Saints of GOD. No marvel therefore, if this wickedness be punished of God with heavy judgments, as that which in an high degree sinneth against God, against our neighbor, and against our selves, as we have noted in sundry particulars before. We sin against God, because we resist and withstand his will, whose pleasure it is that we bring forth the fruits of sanctification; we pollute and profane the holy ordinance of Matrimony; we make the members of Christ the members of an harlot, and so seek to draw (as much as in us lieth) our blessed Savior into a filthy fellowship of our sin; we defile the Temples of the holy Ghost, and turn them into stews. Against our neighbor, because this sin is not committed alone, but we draw some other to be partakers with us in the same wickedness & punishment; we sin against the wife or husband of the married-party, whom we wrong in the chiefest treasure & possession that she or he hath: we sin against the fruit of our own body, whom we disgrace & brand with a note of perpetual infamy, which for the most part prove a degenerate brood through want of good-education, and especially thorough the secret judgment of God: we sin against our own families, which we oftentimes over-turn by defiling of them, & turn our houses into stews: we sin against the Cities, societies, & kingdoms where we abide, because we defile the land, and cause it to vomit out the inhabitants: we sin against the church of God, both by hindering the propagation thereof, which increaseth by an holy seed, and by causing it to be evil spoken of by others, as if it wer a company of unclean persons. Against our selves, because we make our bodies the instruments of sin and Satan: we weaken them, and make them subject to diverse diseases, and we plunge souls & bodies into the pit of hell, which burneth with fire and brimstone. Such then as are adulterers, do not go into hell alone, they carry other company with them. If then the judgments of poverty, beggary, infamy, infirmity, folly, and impenitency will not move us to make conscience of this sin, yet let this prevail with us, that thereby we destroy our own souls, and exclude our selves from his presence. Let us threfore be watchful over our own ways, let us pull up the root of this sin, and all other of the same sort, and mortify the deeds of the flesh, Col. 3, 5. Let us cut off all occasions that may draw us to them, as surfeiting, drunkenness, idleness, wantonness, profane company, and such like. And above all these things, let us observe these three things: First, let us remember that as God is holy, so he requireth an holy people to serve him. It is his will that we live in sanctification, so that without holiness no man can see God, or have fellowship with him, Heb. 12. Secondly, we must learn to fear God in his word, and mark the commandment that forbiddeth adultery. Nothing maketh us to fall into sin, but the forgetting of the Law, which saith, thou shalt not sin. This stayed up Joseph in a strong temptation, which being yielded unto, did set before him a fair show and goodly train of all pleasures, profits, & honors; but being withstood, did threaten him with a multitude of miseries, hatred, poverty, sorrow, shame, imprisonment, destruction, and death it self: yet he eschewed the sin by this means, Shall I do this, and sin against God? The word of God must be made our wisdom and direction, our guide, and our counselor; it is able to deliver us frō the stranger that flatteteth with her words. This is it that Solomon setteth before us, My son, keep thy fathers commandments, and forsake not the law of thy mother: bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck, &c. For the Commandment is a lamp, and the Law is light, &c. to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. He teacheth, that the lips of a strange woman drop as an honey comb, and that her mouth is smoother then oil, but her end is bitter as worm-wood, and sharp as a two-edged sword: how then shall we be delivered from her, if the word of truth be not in our mouths, and that which is more, in our hearts, to rule and reform us, and to order our paths aright? Such as are ignorant of the word, are soonest over-taken, and they that have not the love and power of it dwelling in them. The foolish woman, that sitteth at the door of her house, and calleth the passengers that go right in their ways, maketh choice of such as are simple and want understanding, to turn in unto her.

Lastly, let us keep inviolable the Covenant of marriage, made in the presence of God, of Angels, and of men: let the married persons make one another y ^e delight of their eyes, and the joy of their hearts, and be careful to perform the duties they owe one to another. And, as the unlawful & impure conjunction of man and woman is detested of God: so is holy matrimony ever accepted of him, and adorned with many blessings, and crowned with a continual supply of the fruits of his love and favor. The Prophet saith, Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord, & walketh in his ways; for thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands, happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee: thy wife shall be as a fruitful Uine by the sides of thine house, thy children like Olive plants round about thy table: behold that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. Riches are the inheritance of parents, but a prudent wife is a special gift of God, and we receive her as at his hands. The Apostle doth beautify it with an honorable title, when he calleth it honorable in all. It is the spirit of error w ^c calleth that unclean which God hath sanctified. Adultery is foul and unclean, but the marriage bed is undefiled. Damnable then is the decree of Pope Syricius, that marriage it self is the pollution of the flesh, & that the married cannot please God. Devilish also is the law of forced chastity, restraining some orders and degrees from it: whereas to avoid fornication, every man is commanded to have his own wife, and every woman her own husband.

We have shown already, that in setting down this law of trial, Moses observeth 3. things. First, the cause is propounded. Secondly, the question and controversy is determined. And lastly, the event of the whole is delivered. The two former have been handled before. Now we come to consider the issue and effect of the whole matter according to the determination of God. For, as he foretold what should come to pass, so he faileth not in it, but accordingly verifieth the same. Whatsoever he hath spoken shall fall out, whether he promise anything unto us, or threaten anything against us. He is not as man that he should lie, neither as the son of man that he should repent, as Balaam by the Spirit of God prophesieth hereafter in this book, Chapt. 23. verse 19. And Christ our Savior teacheth. Math. 5, 18. that Heaven and earth must pass away, but one word of his mouth shall not pass away, but all shall be accomplished and fulfilled.

This event here mentioned is twofold: First, respecting the guilty in the 27. Verse, where it is shown, that she shall perish according as she sinned, and her name shall turn into a Proverb of cursing. Secondly, in respect of the innocent; because by drinking of the water, she shall receive and feel no hurt, but God will turn that wrongful suspicion, and causeless calumniation into a great blessing, and so reward her innocence, that he will turn the heart of her husband toward her (who hath the hearts of all men in his power, and turneth them about as pleaseth him) so that they shall mutually love one another, and be blessed in their children that shall be given unto them.

Now the question may be asked, [Object.] whether this force, to discern between the guilty and the innocent, and to bring to light the things that were hidden in darkness, were in the water it self, and a quality inherent in it, and infused into it? I answer, [Answer.] we must ascribe no power to the water it self, which in regard of the substance, was no other then common Water, forasmuch as both the guilty and the vnguilty did drink of it, or at least might drink of it. The whole force proceeded from the operation of God, and his holy institution. The brazen Serpent, set upon a pole, and looked upon by them that were bitten by the fiery Serpents, did heal them; so that albeit they were stung, yet they died not. Howe came this to pass? Was it in regard of the matter? or of the form? Surely, of neither; but all the virtue proceeded from GOD, the author of it.

When Christ healed the blind man, John 9. verse 6. He spate upon the ground, and made clay of the spettle, he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and bad him wash in the pool of Siloam, who went his way, and washed, and returned seeing. All men know, and can easily judge, that this could not by any natural operation, restore sight to the blind; so that it was Christ that healed him, not the spettle, not the clay, not the annointing, not the washing. This may be expressed and conceived by the miracle y ^t Christ shown upon the woman that had an issue of blood, Mat. 9, 20. She came behind him and touched the hem of his garment, for she said, If I may touch but his clothes only, I shall be whole: what then? Did his garments heal her? or were they the cause that her fountain of blood stanched and dried up? No, it was the power of Christ that gave a blessing to y ^e weak means; and therefore he saith to his disciples, Some body hath touched me, for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. He saith not, out of the border of my garment which she hath touched. She touched indeed the garment of Christ, but it was her faith in Christ that made her whole.

So in this place, both sorts that came to be tried, drunk of the water, and according as they were either innocent or not innocent, so it fell out unto them: howbeit it was God that understandeth all secrets that brought the truth to light, not any inherent strength that was in the waters.

[Verse 27. And when he hath made her to drink the water, &c.] Here we have observed, that the success of the whole business is contained: wherein Moses declareth, what doth follow, and most certainly come to pass, if the woman have been abused. Here is set down the temporal punishment that shall come upon her. The more she hath stood upon her purgation, and the greater her impudency and shamelesnesse hath been, the more notorious is her sin, and the more notable is her punishment. God having all means in his own hand, could have punished her (if it had pleased him) otherwise: but to make it the better appear, that he is the maintainer and preserver of marriage which is his own institution, and that all might acknowledge the judgment to be from his hand, he punisheth her in those parts wherewith she had offended. He hath all diseases in his own power to bring upon the breakers of his ordinance, and the transgressors of his Law: he might therefore have stricken her with the leprosy, or with plague and pestilence, with the consumption, with incurable agues, or with such an issue of blood, as we heard off before in the woman that was cured by touching of Christ's garment; but to brand her with a perpetual mark of infamy, and to show how he hateth adultery, he meeteth with her in her own kind, and punished those parts of her body which she had abused. She had opened her feet, as the Prophet speaketh, to everyone that passed by, so that she became as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband. Her filthiness was poured out, and her nakedness discovered, her belly and thighs communicated to another: howbeit her pleasure should be turned into pain, and she should be judged as women that break wedlock: she should feel the curse of God, & end her days in reproach: for as she had sinned with her belly, so her belly should swell through greatness and anguish: and as she had opened her thighs, so they should rot away, so y ^t she should be punished where she most deserved, and become a fearful spectacle of a forlorn creature and a living carcass, consuming in her flesh, and dying being yet alive. We do all learn from hence, that God doth not only punish sin, but he punisheth sin in his own kind. He dealeth with men and women in his punishments, as they deal with him in their transgressions: so that according as we sin, so we are punished.

We see this by infinite examples laid before us in the word of God. Consider with me, the enemies & persecutors of Daniel y ^t sought his life, and caused him to be cast into the Lions den; but how doth God meet with them? he might have revenged himself upon them by his own immediate hand; but he would not, for they perish and are punished the same way: for the king commanded to bring those men that accused Daniel, and to cast them into the den of Lions, who had the mastery over them, and brake all their bones in pieces, or ever they came at the bottom of the den. David sinned in committing of adultery with the wife of Uriah his faithful servant, and destroyed him with the sword of the Ammonites: he is paid home and punished in his own kind: for God, by way of rewarding and serving him as he had served others, as a just judge doth raise up evil against him out of his own house. His own sons break out into the same sins, and he kindleth such a fire in his own family, that they rise up against him, and one against another. Absalom spreadeth a tent, and lieth with his fathers concubines in the sight of all Israel: Amnon deflowreth his sister Tamar; to revenge this, Absalom killeth his own brother. Experience teacheth us, that blood requireth blood, so that the murderer requireth vengeance of God, albeit peradventure he escape the hand of the Magistrate. We see this in Joab, he shed innocent blood, and escaped a long time as if it had been forgotten, but at length his blood was shed, and his hoary head went not down to the grave in peace. This is it which Christ telleth us, Matth. 7.1, 2. Judge not, that ye be not judged: for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. He that rashly and unjustly censureth others, feeleth at one time or other the smart of it in the like kind: for God raiseth up others justly, albeit they defame him unjustly, that thereby he may be recompensed. This is that which Samuel bringeth into the remembrance of Agag the king of Amalek, 1 Sam. 15.33. As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women: so he hewed him in pieces before the Lord. Neither need we go far to fetch examples of this truth, or turn over histories of ages past, for we have it sealed up to us in our days and times wherein we live, I mean in those of the pretended holy league in our neighbor kingdom: they confederated themselves to root out true religion and the professors thereof, out of the face of the earth; they bend all their forces to effect it: but the Lord that sitteth in heaven laugheth them to scorn, and hath thē in derision: he hath rewarded thē to the full, and that in their own kind, he turned their weapons upon themselves, and sheathed their swords in their own bowels, as he dealt with the Midianites that slew one another. The example of Haman is famous and well known, he set up a gibbet to hang Mordecai, because he bowed not unto him: howbeit himself was hanged upon it, and fell into the pit he had prepared for another; but Mordecai escaped, and was delivered, and advanced, who spake good for the King, as appeareth in the book of Ester.

[Reason 1] The reasons are evident to be seen, and easy to be found out. First, the justice of God is thereby cleared, and the mouth of iniquity stopped. For what have we to allege or answer for our selves, when God retaileth us according to the sin that we have committed? Doubtless, we have no excuse, or pretence, or allegation for our selves; but we must confess with our own mouths, even against our selves, that God is righteous, and we are unrighteous. This appeareth in the book of Judges, in the example of Adonibezek being taken by Joshua and the people, he had his thumbs and great toes cut off: for he confessed, that the justice of God had found him out, and requited him in his kind, according to his own cruelty, Judge. 1, ver. 7. Threescore and ten Kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my Table: as I have done, so God hath requited me; and they brought him to Jerusalem, & there he died. If then God be just, he cannot but measure all his actions by justice, for no unrighteousness is found in him, as he will make men themselves confess.

[Reason 2] Secondly, the Lord cannot abide a measure and a measure, they are an abomination unto God, as Prov. 20, 23. Divers weights are an abomination to the Lord, and a false balance is not good. The Judge of all the world, cannot but deal justly and truly. This reason is expressed by the Angel of the waters, Revel. 16, 5, 6. Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shall be, because thou hast judged thus: for they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink. Where he concludeth, that their blood must be shed, that delighted to shed y ^e blood of others, because God is a righteous Lord. His justice shineth among men, in all places, in that he recompenceth the wickedness of men by a like punishment sent from him, so that their punishment is answerable to their sin.

[Reason 3] Thirdly, the ungodly are fully worthy of such punishment. It is meet that malefactors have their deserts: how then can they complain of iniquity or injustice, so long as they receive their own, and he payeth them the debt he oweth them with their own money? GOD will give to every man according to his works, Rom. 2. and give their wages according to their merits. This reason is also added in the former place of the Revelation, where the Angel chargeth them that they had shed the blood of the Saints, and putteth them in mind, that God had done them no wrong, when he gave them blood to drink: then he annexeth the reason, for they are worthy. If then we consider the deserts of men, how great they are, we cannot marvel, whē at any time we behold the hand of God stretched out against them in this manner, and recompensing them with such measure.

Fourthly, let us mark what God requireth [Reason 4] at the hands of Magistrates in his Law, to wit, that they recompense like for like. Moses saith in the Law, Thou shalt pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe, Exod. 21, 24. Such a blemish as he hath made in any, such shall be repaied to him, Levite. 24, 20. Neither was this law repealed or disliked by Christ our Savior, Math. 5, 38. Forasmuch as in that place he only condemneth the abuse of it by private persons, according to their private affections and lusts of revenge, who are not Magistrates. If then the Lord will have the higher powers recompense the sinner according to the manner of his sin: we may not doubt, but he that is above all, will measure his works according to the rule of justice, which is most equal. Therefore, whatsoever measure we mete, it is just we should receive the like again: that he which taketh the sword, should perish with the sword: that he which spoileth, should be spoiled: that he which leadeth into captivity, should be led into captivity, Revel. 13, 10. That what a man doth, the same he should suffer: that by what a man sinneth, by that he should be punished: that evil should hit the worker, and the offender be pressed with his own example. This is the law of equity and equality, that men suffer the same things of others, which they have offered unto others. Thus then we may conclude this truth very strongly, upon the ground of these reasons, that God punisheth men and women in the same things wherein they offended & dishonored him.

Let us make use of this doctrine, which I [Use 1] purpose at this present, briefly to point out, because we shall have fit occasion to handle it afterward in this book. First, this ought to teach us to set a watch over our selves, to keep out the practice of sin, that carrieth such a tail and train after it. The sinner shall never escape, but find a punishment answerable to his sin. This is a notable bridle to induce us to abstain from all manner of sin. We see this in whoredom, which is the point that is aimed at in this chapter. Forasmuch as men are slack and careless in punishing of it, God bringeth upon them that continue in this sin, and follow it with greediness, such loathsome and noisome diseases, as our forefathers never knew, neither heard off. If we be wise to commit new sins, shall not the wise God catch us in our wisdom, and be wise enough to find out punishments that be proportioned according to our transgressions? Let us therefore watch over our hands and hearts, over our tongues and mouths, over our eyes and ears, and over all the members of our body, lest to our great grief and sorrow, we find and feel the fruit of our iniquities. This is that which Christ in one particular pointeth out, Math. 7. Judge not, that ye be not judged, &c: teaching us that all such as censure others, procure and provoke judgment upon themselves; so that we ought to keep the door of our lips, and govern our tongues aright. This is one main cause of slanders and defamations that are so common in the world, the beginning of them for the most part, is in the person himself that is defamed. It is the ordinance and appointment of God in his wisdom & providence, that such as give rash judgment, should have rash judgment given of them. Here is then a lesson to be learned, to make us beware of all sin, considering it hath such a penalty going with it, or following it hard at the heels, and lying at the doors ready to enter upon us. If we did only hear and understand that God will certainly punish sin, & that none shall be able to escape at what time he shall search Jerusalem with lights, and visit the men that are frozen in the dregs of their evil ways: were not this sufficient to withhold us from it, and cause us to abstain from all wickedness? For how can we hide our selves from him, or how can we deliver our selves from his presence? He that made the eye, shall he not see? and he that made the ear, shall he not hear? But the doctrine that now we deal withal, doth not only teach us that God will assuredly punish, but that he will punish us according to our sins. It is one part of justice to punish, and another to punish as we have sinned. Both of them do serve to clear God of injustice, and to stir us up to consider, that so often as we provoke him to anger by our sins, he sleepeth not, neither hath his sword rusting in his sheath, but draweth it out after he hath whet it, and striketh the sons of men with a terrible stroke. Nay, that which is more, when we transgress his commandments, & walk stubbornly against him, he holdeth the balance in his own hand, that he may weigh us out our punishment with an equal weight: and when we have filled up the measure of our sins, he will also give us a full measure pressed down, and running over.

Hence it is, that the Lord threateneth, Levite. 26, verse 24. that if we walk stubbornly against him, he will also walk stubbornly against us, and smite us yet seven times for our sins. If we set our faces against him, and will not obey him, he will set his face against us, & will chastise us seven times for our sins in his sore anger and heavy displeasure, and bring seven times more plagues upon us, according to our deservings. When we have sinned against him, and will not be reformed, it might bring comfort, or at least some ease, if we might be assured that our punishment should be mitigated. For the consideration of a slight and slender punishment, might slake our care and endeavor of striving against sin. But we are taught, that our transgressions against God, and his afflictions upon us for them, shall be squared one to the other. A lesser sin shall not have a greater punishment; neither shall a greater sin have a lesser punishment: but with what measure we mete to him, with the same it shall be measured unto us again. This doth our Savior Christ press against the Jews, Math. chap. 23, verses 32, 35. Fulfill ye the measure of your fathers, that upon you may come all the righteous blood that was shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous, unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the Temple and the Altar. So then, it standeth us upon to examine our selves, and to consider how greatly we sin, and how grievously we offend the Majesty of God. If we add sin unto sin, we may be sure he will add judgment unto judgment. A necessary point carefully to be marked of us, who have received the mercies of GOD in greater measure then many others. If they escape not that have received little, doubtless they shall not escape that have received much. If they shall be beaten with few stripes that know not the will of their master, they shall be beaten with many, that know it and do it not. Luke 12, ver. 47, 48. If Sodom and Gomorrhah were destroyed with fire and brimstone, which knew not the Law nor the Lord, then Capernanm which was lifted up unto heaven, must be brought down to hell: For if the great works done in it, had been done among them of Sodom, they had remained unto this day. Mat 11, 23. Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required, aed to whom men much commit, the more of him will they ask. If we be not careful to walk in his ways, we are of all people the most unthankful: so that as our blessings have been great, our plagues and punishments shall be grievous, except we repent.

Secondly, as God threateneth to punish according [Use 2] to the manner of our sinning, so he will bless those that please him and serve him in fear and trembling, according to the manner and measure of our walking before him. Here then on the other side we have a gracious promise, not only of a blessing, but of a blessing answerable unto our obedience. This is a notable encouragement unto us in well-doing, and as it were a spurr to prick us forward to perform such duties as he requireth at our hands. This is it which he promiseth to Abraham, Gen. 12, verses 2, 3. I will make thee a great Nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee &c. If any did good to Abraham, he should receive good again: if any were a friend to him, he should have God to be a friend unto him. This is that which God performed to Ebed-melech, he saved the life of Jeremiah, and therefore he had his own life given unto him as a prey. Ier. 39, 18. For when the Prophet was cast into a deep dungeon, where he stuck fast in the mire, the Ethiopian went unto the King, and spake for him, so that by his means his life was saved, and he was taken out of the pit, where he must have perished. What then? Doth he lose his reward? or is GOD unmindful of him? No, he receiveth blessing for blessing, mercy for mercy, and life for life: and therefore when the King of Babylon took the City, and put the people to the sword, he was delivered, and was not given into the hand of the men of whom he was afraid. Do we then any good to God's Church and Children? it shall not go unregarded and unrewarded to a cup of cold water: we shall receive measure for measure, good for good, blessing for blessing. Can we desire or look for a better recompense? Or would we have a farther means to incite us to follow our calling. We have a double encouragement to serve such a master, who will reward us according to our service. For while we do good to others, we do as much good to our selves. Will any man be an enemy or hindrance to himself? Do we not by the light of nature love our selves, make much of our selves, help our selves, & wish all good to our selves? This is the way to attain unto our desires, and to receive a blessing from the hands of God, to do good to others: for then God hath bound himself by promise, to be merciful to us. There is that scattereth, saith Solomon, & there is more increased. The way and means to receive & increase our substance, is to give and to distribute, like the husbandman that must sow his seed before he can reap his fields, and gather in his harvest. The covetous man thinketh otherwise, because like an Idolater he trusteth in his money; but in the end it bringeth him nothing home. The Prophet Elijah was sent of God to Sarepta, to a widow in the days of famine, she had no more left but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse, so that she was gathering sticks to dress it for her self and her son, that they might eat it, and die. Nevertheless, of her penury she sustained the Prophet, she made him a little cake first, and brought it unto him. She did good to the holy Prophet of the Lord, howbeit she did more good thereby to her self and her son: she relieved him, and thereby relieved her self, For the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah, 1 Kings 17, 16. Luke 4. The like we might say of Obadiah; he hid the Prophets of God by fifty and fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water, whē many other perished: howbeit he did hereby no small good to himself, forasmuch as thereby he obtained rain, and plenty of all things. This is it which our Savior promiseth in the Gospel, to his Disciples that followed him; There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the Gospels, but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come, eternal life. Mark. 10, 29, 30. Job is commended in Scripture, to be a just man, fearing God, and eschewing evil, and by occasion of his friends taxing of him with hypocrisy, and accusing him of iniquity, is compelled to stand upon his own innocence, and to make a solemn protestation of his integrity, Job 31, 19 that he had not seen any to perish for lack of clothing, or any poor without covering, he was an eye to the blind, a father to the fatherless, and as an husband to the widow. He had his children, and his substance taken from him, and he bare his cross with patience. What then was the end that the Lord made? or how was he blessed of God? The end of the history declareth this at large, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before; and as he had comforted others, and visited them in their necessities, so his brethren and sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, resorted & repaired unto him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him: and as he had been bountiful to others, so every man gave him a piece of money, and everyone an ear-ring of gold: yea, the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more then the beginning, so that he obtained many sons and daughters, and a great increase of cattle. Onesiphorus oft refreshed Paul, and was not ashamed of his chains: the Apostle prayeth, that the Lord would grant unto him, that he might find mercy of the Lord in the great day, 2 Tim. 1, 18. This poin • being thoroughly learned, will minister great comfort to everyone of us, being assured that as God punisheth in manner as we sin, so he will bless us and reward us after the manner of our obedience. Have we comforted others? God will comfort us, & turn the hearts of others to comfort us also? Have we done good to others? he will stir up others to do good to us. Have we relieved others? we have laid up a good foundation for the time to come, we shall be relieved by others in our necessities. Do we give unto the poor? We do not only lend unto the Lord, but we provide well for our selves, forasmuch as that we give shall be paid unto us again.

We read in the book of Nehemiah, not only how zealous he was for the glory of God, but also how careful to show compassion to the people of God, and to provide for them in their necessities, and to deliver them from the oppressions of the mighty: in consideration whereof, he is bold to entreat the Lord to think upon him for good, according to all that he had done for his people, Neh. 5, 19. So is it lawful for us to crave of God to be mindful of us in goodness, according as we have done to others, and dealt toward them. If we remember God, we may be assured that he will remember us. If we be careful to hear his word, he is careful to hear our prayers according to his promise. He will return like for like, care for care, hearing for hearing, and blessing for blessing. If we be careful to hear his voice, his ears are open to hear us: and if we bless him, he will bless us. And as he hath promised to hear them that hear him, so he hath threatened not to hear them that will not hear him. Prov. 1, 28, 29. They shall call upon me, but I will not answer: they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. And to this purpose speaketh the Lord in the Prophets; They shall cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings. This is a grievous threatening, and full of all discomfort. It is as it were the top of all misery, to have God stop his ears against us. To live in this sort, is worse then a thousand deaths. If a Subject had a petition to put up to the Prince, and knew he would turn away his face from him, how near would it go unto him? and how would he be discouraged? Or if a child knew, that whatsoever he asked of his father should be denied unto him, except he obeyed his father in that whereunto he exhorted him; I suppose it would stir up the son to do the will of his father. In like manner it ought to be with everyone of us. Seeing God hath bounded and limited his hearkening unto our voice, when we speak unto him, with this condition, that we hearken unto his voice when he speaketh unto us; it ought to move us to hear his word with fear & reverence, and to express the power of it in obedience, that so we may comfort our selves with assurance of God's mercy toward us, in regard of our zeal and affection toward him.

Thirdly, from hence we may learn to be [Use 3] patient under the punishments that do befall us. For seeing God will punish us in the same manner that we offend, when we feel & perceive that he meeteth with us, and hath found us out, and that we can no longer be hidden nor our actions from his eyes, let us stoop down under his hand, and hold our peace, because he hath done it. Let us not fixe and fasten our eyes upon the earth beneath, nor dwell upon the meditations of men's dealings toward us: but lift our hearts unto God, who always punisheth us justly, he being the righteous Judge of all the world, to whom is incident no unrighteousness. If we be slandered and defamed by others, let us consider whether we have not done the like to others, and therefore the Lord recompenceth us in the same kind, and as it were taketh our feet in the snare that we have laid for others, and casteth us into the same pit which we digged for them, as it fell out to Haman, who was hanged upon his own gallows: so that as we have wronged others, it falleth out that we must receive wrong from others. This is the use that Solomon pointeth out in y ^e book of Ecclesiastes; Take no heed unto all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee: for oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth, that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others. Let us therefore be patient in injuries; let us not slander them that slander us, nor revile them that revile us, nor speak evil of them that speak evil of us. Moses is commended, that when Miriam and Aaron rose up against him, and moved sedition by reason of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, he possessed his soul with patience and bare all their reproaches with meekness of spirit, for he was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth, Numb. 12, 3. It is said of Saul, being made King of Israel, that when the children of Belial said. How shall this man save us? and they despised him in their hearts, he gave them not taunt for taunt, nor rebuke for rebuke, he commanded not the standers by to take away their lives, albeit they deserved it, and he had power in his hand to do it, but he held his peace, and passed by their reproaches, as a blind man that saw them not, as a deaf man that heard them not, and as a man without sense, that felt them not. When Shimei reproached David, and cursed him with an horrible curse, David with patience abstaineth and with persuasion refraineth others from revenge, that offered themselves to take off the head of that dead dog: so that he said, Let him alone; it may be that the Lord will lock upon mine affliction, and requite good for his cursing this day. He could have returned upon him curse for curse, nay wounds for words: but he knew well enough, and teacheth it to others in another place, that he which loveth cursing, the same shall come upon him; and he that delighteth not in blessing, it shall be far from him, because as he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so it shall come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. It is well said of an heathen man, Fear none more then thine own conscience. This is the right and ready way to get a good name, and to keep it being gotten, to judge of others with right judgment and Christian equity, carrying a charitable opinion of everyone, thinking well of them, speaking the best of them, and covering the multitude of infirmities, as Shem and Japheth did the nakedness of their father. This is true charity indeed, and hereby we may assure our own hearts, that we love not in word and tongue only, but in deed and truth. The counsel of the Prophet is good & wholesome to this purpose, Psal. 34.12, 13, 14, 15. What man is he that desireth life? and loveth many days that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile: depart from evil, and do good: seek peace and pursue it. The reason is, because the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry; whereas the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut out the remembrance of them frō the earth.

Lastly, we may conclude from hence the [Use 4] woeful estate and condition of all cruel and merciless oppressors, that grind the faces of the poor, and pluck off their skins from the flesh, and the flesh from the bones, by their covetous and corrupt dealing; who measure hard measure unto others, and pull from them that which is their own, without conscience of sin, or feeling of judgment to come. These are they that regard not how they rack the poor, how they engross and withhold the fruits of the earth; they make the Epha small, and the Shekell great, that is, they sell little for much, lessening the measure, and enhauncing the price, they sell a little come for a great deal of money; they make a dearth without scarcity, and bring a famine upon others, when God hath given plenty to themselves. For it falleth out ofttentimes, when GOD is liberal to us, we deal niggardly one toward another: and when the Lord heareth the heavens, and they hear the earth, and the earth heareth y ^e come, and the wine, and the oil, and all they hear Israel, what a shame, nay what a sin is this, that we will not hear one another, so that the cry of the poor people is not heard of us, nor the misery of them that are in need, is not felt of us? When GOD sendeth fruitful times and seasons, that neither the heaven over the head is as brass, nor the earth underneath our feet, is as iron, but that they yield their rain and fruit in due season; how cometh it to pass, that our hearts are as hard as iron, as tough as steel, and as inflexible as brass one to another? And seeing the eye of God is good to us, how cruel are we that make our eyes to be evil toward our brother? These are they that wish with all their souls for dearth and famine, nay they not only desire it, but cause it, when God hath not caused it; and send it upon others, when God hath not sent it upon them. This is to them a day of joy and delight, of feasting and banqueting, of merriment and pastime, when as their poor brethren weep and lament with their wives and children. This is the day that they long looked for, and they stir up themselves to rejoice and be glad in it, that they may enrich themselves with the spoils of them that are in necessity. But let them know, that this sweet meat hath sour sauce belonging unto it, and that a fearful woe belongeth unto thē, w ^c shall come upon them, and seize upon their bodies and souls, and sons & daughters, and goods, and all that belongeth unto them, when they shall be dealt withal by others, as they have dealt and distributed the measure unto others. They shall find as little favor in the day of trouble, as they have shown unto others in their trouble. Consider the example of the rich man in the Gospel, when poor Lazarus lay at his gate, he called for mercy in his misery, and craved the crumbs only that fell from his table, but they were denied unto him. And what was the issue? or how sped he in the end? We read in the Parable, that himself in the end called for mercy at the hands of Abraham, but could not have one drop of water to cool his tongue and quench his heat, being tormented in the flames of hell that never go out. He would not grant to Lazarus a small request, y ^e crumbs of his table, nay the crumbs that fell from his table: and he cannot obtain himself a little water, not so much that Lazarus might dippe the tippe of his finger in water, to give him thereby any ease & refreshing. To conclude, he that would show no mercy, findeth judgment without mercy, torment without ease, heat without cooling, and misery without end. The time was, when he was prayed and sued unto, but would not hear: now he prayeth and entreateth, but cannot be heard. All human things are frail and uncertain. He that is today aloft, may be cast down low enough the next day. Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Pride goeth before destruction, and an high mind before the fall: for everyone that exalteth himself, shall be brought low, and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted. The Lord in the Law forbiddeth to trouble the widow, to vex the fatherless, and to oppress the stranger, lest he punish those that oppress them. But how will that be? and in what kind doth he threaten to punish? he saith, My wrath shall be kinled and I will kill you with the sword, so that your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. See how the Lord threarneth to bring woe upon them that work woe to such as are in misery, and add affliction to them that are in affliction, and multiply sorrow upon them that are in sorrow. This is the use urged by the Prophet I say, chap. 33, 1. Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled, & dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee: when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled: and when thou shalt make an ende to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee. God suffereth them to have their times, when he holdeth his peace, and letteth them alone to fill up the measure of their sins: howbeit God hath his seasons also, and hath concluded and determined what to do unto them, and how to deal with them; the spoiler shall be spoiled, the robber shall be robbed, the oppressor shall be oppressed, & they that do wickedly to others shall have others to deal wickedly against them. This is that which Christ our Savior speaketh unto Peter, that went beyond the bounds of his calling, and forgatte that the weapons of their warfare were not carnal, but spiritual; and that the sword which he was to draw out and to fight withal, was the two edged sword of the Spirit, coming out of the mouth of God, Math. 26.52. Put up thy sword into his place, for all they that take the sword, shall perish with the sword. God will set sword against sword, and wound against wound, yea, and life against life. In the book of the Revelation, the Spirit prophesying of the destruction of the Roman Monarchy, which oppressed the church, and persecuted the Saints of God with cruel slaughter, showeth that it should be cast down, and pass the same judgment they gave against others, chap. 13, 10. He that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword. It is a just thing in all ages and times with God, to recompense tribulation to thē that trouble his Church. Indeed we do not see such judgments executed, and such threatenings performed by and by: we are not to prescribe to God his seasons; he knoweth when to strike, and how to punish. It is well said by the Prophet, Hab. 2, 3. The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry. For albeit God may seem to us to defer the time, or to forget his servants, yet he will try our patience and obedience, as we see in the place named before, Here is the patience and faith of the Saints, Revel. 13, 10. We must not make too much haste, but wait for the accomplishment of those things, having withal a lively faith and full assurance to believe, that in God's appointed time they shall come to pass. He is faithful that hath promised, and cannot lie: he is true of his word that hath spoken, and cannot deceive. Woe therefore unto all those that deal unjustly and violently with God's inheritance: they touch his anointed, and they that do them harm, do touch the apple of his eye, so that they cannot escape vengeance.

[Ver. 28. And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean, then she shall be free. ] In the former verse Moses hath shown the punishment that shall come upon the guilty person; which punishment is suitable to the sin committed, thereby to clear his own justice, and to terrify all persons from committing sin. In these words we have matter of wonderful great comfort for the innocent person. For howsoever GOD setteth down diverse hard and heavy threatenings, as grievous burdens to be borne, against all wicked and ungodly persons; yet he is evermore careful of his children▪ that they be not oppressed with sorrow and overmuch heaviness of mind, forasmuch as he hath a remnant that call upon him, & wisdom is always justified of her children. Behold here a contrary effect and operation in drinking of these bitter waters, according to the contrary condition of those that drank of them. Such as were guilty of the sin of adultery, they turned to their horrible destruction, and became as it were rank poison; their bellies swelled, their thighs rotted, and the parts which they had shamefully abused, miserably perished. But such as were indeed innocent, suspected without just cause, and accused without due proof, and examined without sufficient trial of the fact committed, through the jealousy of their uncharitable husbands, and had kept the marriage bed undefiled; those bitter waters should not be bitter unto them, they should not hurt or hinder them at all, neither work any dangerous effect in them, but rather be wholesome and healthful unto them. God himself the just GOD and the maintainer of justice, will bring the truth to light that was hid in darkness, and turn the hearts of their husbands toward them, so that they should live in godly love and charity together, and see to their endless joy and comfort, the fruit of their bodies, the hope of their houses, the staff and stay of their age, I mean their children, the heritage of the Lord.

We learn from this first promise, [Doctrine.] that God maketh known the innocence of his servants. For howsoever the faithful may be falsely accused, and have many slanderous imputations laid unto their charge, yet God will make their cause to be rightly known, and discover the truth in despite of their enemies. This is confirmed unto us by many examples in the old and New Testament. Joseph being sold into Egypt, was grievously accused by his mistress, and cruelly imprisoned by his master: impudency and incontinency in the one, cruelty and credulity in the other, were the causes that he was put into prison in the place where the Kings prisoners lay bound: his case might seem now to be desperate, and he to be forever in displeasure and out of favor, and no hope left unto him to be delivered from thence where his feet were held in the stocks, and he laid in irons: yet when the appointed time came, and the counsel of the Lord had tried him, he made his cause known, Gen. 39. The Lord was with Joseph, & shown him mercy, and got him favor in the sight of the master of the prison, &c. Whereby we see, that at the first he was used hardly, and had fetters of iron cast upon him as an evil dooer; but afterward he was more mildly and mercifully handled, when as his innocence was made known. The like we might say of David, who in all his dealings toward Saul, carried himself wisely, obediently, and uprightly, as became the Kings son, subject, and servant: yet he was persecuted from place to place, and hated even unto the death, and hunted as a Partridge upon the Mountains, yea he found no rest for the soles of his feet, like the Dove sent out of the Ark in the time of the flood, and overflowing of the waters, Gen. 8 9. But when Saul saw that the lap was cut off from his garment, and the spear and pot of water that was at his head, taken away, he said to David, Thou art more righteous then I: for thou hast rendered me good, and I have rendered thee evil: and thou hast shown this day that thou hast dealt well with me, forasmuch as when the lord had closed me in thine hands, thou killedst me not, &c. but my soul was precious in thine eyes. 1 Sam. 24, 18. and 26, 20, 21. So did God deal with Jeremiah, when he was slandered and falsely accused to be a conspiratour, and to weaken the hands of the people; and when he was cast into prison, the Lord raised up some to favor him, who made his case known, and he was delivered. Christ Jesus was charged to be a blasphemer of God, an enemy of Caesar, an author of sedition, and a disturber of the peace: howbeit his greatest enemies that sat in judgment of him, pronounced him innocent, and confessed that the Pharisees and Priests for envy had delivered him.

I will add one example more, and that shall be the blessed Virgin, who being betrothed to Joseph, before they came together as man and wife, she was found to be with child by the holy Ghost. Math. 1, 18, 19, 20. Then she began to be suspected of incontinency, and Joseph being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away seretly. What then? doth God leave her destitute, and him perplexed? her in suspicion, and him in his resolution to depart from her? No: for as she was innocent and not faulty of that crime, so did he make her innocence and integrity known; for whiles he thought these things, behold, an Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph the son of David, fear not to take Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her, is of the holy Ghost. All which testimonies make this apparent, that God will one way or other make the innocence of his people to be known.

[Reason 1] The reasons of this doctrine will farther confirm us in the truth of it: whereof the first may be from the office of God, who is the Judge of all the world. Surely the Lord will not pervert judgment to do unrighteously, neither will he take rewards, nor subvert a man in his cause.

Hence it is, that Abraham, making intercession for the Sodomites, that those Cities might be spared, saith, Gen. 18, 25. Be it far from thee from doing this thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be even as the wicked, be it far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the world do right? And to that purpose reasoneth the Apostle, Rom. 3.5. What shall we say? Is God unrighteous, which punisheth? God forbid: else how shall God judge the world? If then this title belong unto him of right above all others, then he will at last come forth, though he tarry long, to plead the cause of his servants, & will bring their righteousness into the open light.

Secondly, God is evermore an helper in [Reason 2] time of need, who, albeit he suffer his servants to be exercised and tried by slanders & grievous afflictions, as we heard before concerning Joseph, yet he appeareth for their deliverance, and cleereth their names from reproach. When they are in greatest danger, then is he nearest at hand, and so giveth the issue with the temptation. This doth the Prophet David acknowledge, Psalm. 118.6, 7. and 56, 4, 11. The Lord is on my side, I will not fear what man can do unto me: the Lord taketh my part with them that help me, therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. And this doth the Apostle teach us to apply to our selves, because everyone may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man can do unto me.

If then he have promised to take our part, and to help us in time of need, when we are oppressed with the evil speeches of our enemies, he will not be far from us, but succor us and sustain us that we shall not fall.

Thirdly, we know well, that howsoever [Reason 3] many things are covered here in darkness, partly through hypocrisy in some, and partly through ignorance and weakness that is in all, we are not able to enter into the actions of men, and dive down so low as to see with what purpose they do them, yet the time shall come when they shall be discovered and manifested. This is the general rule delivered by Christ our Savior, Luk. 12, verse 2. There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed: neither hid that shall not be known. This is true, not only touching the hypocrisy of the wicked, but also touching the innocence of the righteous: for all shall be known in the end, when the secrets of all hearts shall be discovered.

From hence we have offered to our wise [Use 1] considerations, very many profitable uses, whereof I will point out the principal. First, we are put in mind from hence to commit all our ways and works to God, and to depend upon him to bring to light the truth of our hearts. Let us put our trust in him, and delight our selves in the Lord. Let us possess our souls with patience, when we are slandered and traduced, and resign up our selves to him that ruleth all things. Let us cast our eyes upon his providence, who careth for us, and watcheth over us.

The children of God, when they see the prosperity of the wicked, and how all things in this world for the most part go well with them, are sore troubled, they begin to waver, and sometimes to fret & murmur, as if there were no God to govern all things. This made the Prophet David to say, Psal. 73, 12, 13, 14. Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world, and increase in riches; verily, I have cleansed mine heari in vain, & washed mine hands in innocence; for all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning. But God will not forget us or forsake us, if we trust in him, we shall not be deceived. So often as we have evil rewarded unto us for good, and are overladen with the slanders of the ungodly, we are ready to fret and fume, and to seek revenge against them: we have many doubts arise in us, as if it were lost labor to worship God sincerely, and to deal with our brethren justly.

It is not the pleasure of almighty God, that our righteousness should always lie hid in the dark, and as it were creep into corners, forasmuch as he will make it shine as the Sun, and bring it into the open light. This is the use that the Prophet teacheth us to make, Psal. 37, 5, 6. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, & he shall bring it to pass: and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon day. Wherein he alludeth fitly unto the night, the darkness whereof, the morning arising, scattereth away.

Are we then hardly used? are we shamefully entreated? are we oppressed with slanderous things laid to our charge? and doth God for a time hold his peace, as if he heard them not? or doth he shut his eyes, as if he saw them not? Let us not take it to heart, or be discouraged, this ought to trouble us no more, then when the darkness of the night covereth the earth, because we look for the morning to appear, and the Sun to shine. When all things are dark, that nothing can be discerned, when we know not white from black, nor chalk from cheese, nor fair from foul, we are not to be grieved or disquieted by it, because we live in expectation of the light which we know cannot be far. Then we shall know one thing from another, when all will show themselves in their likeness. From this consideration we are admonished to commit our ways unto the Lord, who will make a notable issue of them, by giving judgment on our side, and delivering of us from the venom of the evil tongue. He forbiddeth in the law, any to bear false witness in judgment. Now he is a false witness that holdeth his peace, when he may by his testimony relieve his brother, justify his person, clear his good name, or defend his goods, or right his cause in any matter called into question, as well as he that speaketh in a cause, to decline after many, to wrest judgment. He hath made us keepers of the credit one of another: so that we may offend God and our neighbor, as well by not speaking the truth, as by speaking of an untruth.

The law it self requireth such love to be among us, that although we be not requested, yet we should never be wanting to another, but always be willing and desirous to maintain his good name and estimation, according to the commandment of our Lord and Master, Matthew 7, verse 12. Whatsoever ye would that other men should do unto you, even so do ye unto them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Doth God require this at our hands, and will not he perform it toward us? Must we clear our brothers good name, and will God himself fail to do it? or do we think we can have a better or greater care of the name of our brother, or of our own name, then God the righteous Judge of the world, hath of us all? That cannot be, he is jealous of our good names, and will not have the truth smothered with a lie, nor innocence buried in the earth. Shall we make our selves more righteous then GOD, and justify our selves above our Maker? There is not a spark of that truth which is in GOD given to us: true it is, he honoreth us by vouchsafing this mercy unto us, to open our mouths to speak his truth, which he is able to avouch and justify against all gainsayers a thousand ways. If we then that are evil, know how to acquit our brethren, we may be well assured, he will be more just and righteous in all his dealings toward us, then we have been or can be one to another. And if we have means at any time to free our brethren from infamy, we may fully and certainly be assured that he will be ready to bring to light our innocence.

Secondly, seeing God hath promised to make our innocence that is derided or denied, [Us;e 2] to be known, let us know that it is our duty to go boldly to the Throne of his grace, and to pray unto God to perform his promise toward us.

It falleth out oftentimes that we see no way to bring the truth to light, and we think it impossible that ever we should be cleared: howbeit we have to do with God, to whom nothing is secret, before whom all things are manifest, he is able to bring us into credit again. We take therefore a wrong course, and provide evilly for our selves, to rage and storm against those that revile us and speak all manner of evil of us falsely for Christ his sake: whereas we ought to repair into the presence of GOD, and to crave of him that he would make the justice of our causes to appear.

If any object, [Object.] Is not God without prayer able to make the truth of our causes known? Or hath he need to be put in mind of his office, which is to justify the godly, and to condemn the wicked?

I answer, [Answer.] as GOD is able of himself to do it, so he also hath appointed the means how he will do it. And among them all, none is more excellent then prayer: so that his almighty power doth not exclude prayer, but rather imply it; neither should it keep us from prayer, but rather encourage us to prayer; forasmuch as almighty God useth it as an instrument for y ^e performance of those things which he hath promised, and appointed. He that goeth to warfare, prepareth horse & armor, and leuieth soldiers, and getteth what provision and furniture he can; he will by no means be brought to leave thē behind him, or to send them back again, and to rush into the battle without them, because they are instruments by which God is wont to give the victory to such as it seemeth good to him, so that he cannot without rashness lay them aside: so is prayer necessary, by the which the LORD is accustomed to give unto us those things that we want, and therefore it were horrible presumption to neglect it under pretence of his knowledge understanding our cases, or of his power enabling him to do all things, or of his providence determining all things. As God hath appointed armor to them that desire victory, so hath he ordained prayer for them that would be relieved in necessity.

True it is, GOD knoweth what we need, better then our selves that are in need: & yet is not prayer to be holden superfluous, because God hath commanded us that in the day of trouble we should call upon him, Mat. 7. he hath promised to hear us, and deliver us, Psal. 50. He hath made no promise to us of any blessing, except we ask the same of him: he keepeth us in fear and reverence, and maketh us to acknowledge him to be the giver and author of all good things: he declareth his love unto us that humbleth and abaseth himself to hear our requests & complaints particularly, and thereby inflameth us to love him again, and to put our trust in him: by this familiar communication with him, we grow after a sort familiar with him, and we are bold to shroud our selves under his wing, as the child flieth to his father: and lastly, as we confess that whatsoever good things we enjoy do come from him alone, so it is our duty to return to him the thanks, and to use them to his glory. Wherefore, whensoever we find our selves wronged of our neighbors, we are not to turn upon thē in a rage, like unto the dog that runneth after the stone that is cast at him, and not at him that did cast it: but let us run with boldness unto God, and pour out our supplications before him, desiring him to help us and right our cause. This doth the Prophet