this auditory (yet I hope there is not, but and if there be), what shall I say unto him? Let him consider, what a hard task he has undertaken, to war against God! Let him consider, what a strange reckoning he is likely to make unto God, when he shall at last (as undoubtedly he will) require of him an account of his stewardship! Behold, Lord, thou hast given me five talents, and what have I done with them? Why, lo, I have made them ten talents. But how, by what courses? Why, I have unjustly and injuriously robbed and wrung from my fellow-servants those few talents which thou gavest them: I have gained thus much by my violent maintaining of a cause which thou hatest, and which myself could not deny but to be most unjust. This is surely a sore evil under the But since I hope it little concerns any one here to have such a crime as this dissected curiously, and purposely insisted upon, it shall suffice me to say, that they who are guilty of it are far from knowing of what spirit they are, when they say they are Christians, since even a very heathen Iwould abhor to countenance or entertain such a vice as this.

sun.

36. In the second place, How can ye believe (saith Christ), who seek honour one of another, and not that honour which is of God?" If these words of Christ be true, that they who too earnestly desire applause and reputation among men, neglecting in the mean time seriously to endeavour the attaining to the honour which is of God, that is, obedience and submission to his commands, which is that wherein a Christian ought especially to place his honour and reputation; if such men as these do in vain, and without all

ground of reason, reckon themselves in the number of true believers; again, if the chief badge and κpirptov, whereby Christ would have his servants to be distinguished from the world, be a willingness to suffer injuries, a desire rather to have the other cheek stricken, and to have the cloak go the same way with the coat, than to revenge one blow with another, or go to law for a matter of no great moment, for recovering of that which a man might well enough lose, without endangering his estate:

37. If these things, I say, be true; suppose Christ (according to the vision of Ezekiel, Ezek. ix. 5, 6.) should command his angels utterly "to slay through all Jerusalem," that is, the church, "old and young, maids, and little children, and women, excepting only those upon whom his mark and badge were to be found;" what destruction and desolation would there be! How would the sanctuary of God be defiled, and his courts be filled with the slain! How would many (who now pass, both in their own and other men's opinions, for good Christians enough) be taken for Mahomet's servants, whose religion it is, by fury and murder to gain proselytes to their abominable profession! Suppose our garments should be presented to God with the same question that Jacob's sons sent their brother Joseph's, Num hæc est tunica filii tui? “Is this thy son's coat?" Would they not rather be taken for the skins of savage beasts? so unlike are they to that garment of humility and patience, which our Saviour wore, and which he bequeathed us in his legacy!

38. We are so far from seeking that honour

which is of God, from endeavouring to attain unto, or so much as countenancing, such virtues, which God hath often professed that he will exalt and glorify, such as humility, and patiently bearing of injuries, that we place our honour and reputation in the contrary; that is counted noble and generous in the world's opinion, which is odious and abominable in the sight of God. If thy brother offend or injure thee, forgive him, saith Christ; if he proceed, forgive him: what until seven times? Aye, until seventy times seven times. But how is this doctrine received now in the world? What counsel would men, and those none of the worst sort, give thee in such a case? How would the soberest, discreetest, well-bred Christians advise thee? Why thus; If thy brother or thy neighbour have offered thee an injury, or affront, forgive him! by no means; of all things in the world take heed of that: thou art utterly undone in thy reputation then, if thou dost forgive him. What is to be done then? Why, let not thy heart rest, let all other business and employment be laid aside, till thou hast his blood. What! a man's blood for an injurious passionate speech, for a disdainful look! Nay, this is not all: that thou mayst gain amongst men the reputation of a discreet well-tempered murderer, be sure thou killest him not in passion, when thy blood is hot and boiling with the provocation, but proceed with as much temper and settledness of reason, with as much discretion and preparedness, as thou wouldst to the communion: after some several days' meditation, invite him, mildly and affably, into some retired place; and there let it be put

to the trial, whether thy life or his must answer the injury.

39. Oh most horrible Christianity! That it should be a most sure settled way for a man to run into danger and disgrace with the world, if he shall dare to perform a commandment of Christ's, which is as necessary to be observed by him, if he have any hope of attaining heaven, as meat and drink is for the sustaining of his life! That ever it should enter into the heart of a Christian, to walk so exactly and curiously contrary to the ways of God; that whereas he every day and hour sees himself contemned and despised by thee, who art his servant, his creature, upon whom he might (without any possible imputation of unrighteousness) pour down the phials of his fierce wrath and indignation! yet he, notwithstanding, is patient and long-suffering towards thee, hoping that his long-suffering may lead thee to repentance, and earnestly desiring and soliciting thee by his ministers to be reconciled unto him! Yet, that thou, for all this, for a blow in anger, it may be, for a word, or less, shouldst take upon thee to send his soul, or thine, or, it may be, both, clogged and pressed with all your sins unrepented of (for thou canst not be so wild as to think thou canst repent of thy sins, and yet resolve upon such a business), to expect your sentence before the judgment-seat of God; wilfully and irrecoverably to deprive yourselves of all those blessed means, which God had contrived for your salvation, the power of his word, the efficacy and virtue of his sacraments, all which you shall utterly exclude yourselves from, and leave yourselves in such a state, that it

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shall not be in God's power to do you any good! "O consider this, all ye that fight against God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you."

40. In the third place, there is another great evil under the sun, and that is, when men are not content to dishonour Almighty God, and their glorious religion, by unworthy scandalous practices, but, to make themselves innocent, they will entitle God to their abominations: of this nature are those who are curious and inquisitive into Scripture, great students in it, for this end, that they may furnish themselves with some places, which, being violently wrested, and injuriously handled, may serve, at least in their opinion, to patronize and warrant their ungodly, irreligious courses. The time will come, saith Christ to his disciples, when they who hate and persecute you shall think they do God good service. And the time is come, when men think they can give no greater nor more approved testimony of their religion, and zeal of God's truth, than by hating and abhorring, by reviling and traducing, their brethren, if they differ from them in any, though the most ordinary innocent opinions: if men accord not altogether with them, if they run not on furiously with them in all their tenets, they are enemies unto God and his truth, and they can find Scripture enough to warrant them to disgrace and revile such, to raise any scandalous dishonourable reports of them, and to poison utterly their reputation with the world.