A SERMON Preach'd before the King and Queen, UPON The Second Sunday in Advent, being the fifth of December, 1686.
By the Reverend Father Dom. PHILIP ELLIS, Monk of the Holy Order, of Saint Benedict and of the English Congr. Chaplain in Ordinary, and Preacher to Their MAJESTIES.
Published by His Majesties Command.
LONDON, Printed by Henry Hills, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, for his Houshold and Chappel. 1686.
A SERMON Preach'd before the King & Queen Upon the second Sunday in Advent, being the fifth of December, 1686.
Joannes in vinculis.
John in Prison.
STrange surprizing News, (Sacred Majesty) John in Prison. Luke 1.13. John the Child of Prayer, 11. the gift and darling of Heaven, the mighty subject of an Angels Embassie, himself an Angel, Matth. 11.10. and is [Page 2]he in Prison? John fill'd with the Holy Ghost in the very Womb, Luke 1.15.41.66. filling his Mother with Prophecy, and all people with Admiration, as soon as he appeared in the world, and is he in Chains? Is this the Character of the greatest Man who ever rose among the Sons of Women? In vinculis. Vulgat. Matth. 11.11. Luke 1.17. Is this the Herald, the Precursor sent to prepare the Messiah's way in the Spirit and Power of Elias? But he is tamely seiz'd, 2 Kings 1.10. and committed to Goal, when Elias would have call'd down fire from Heaven to consume the Sacrilegious hand. Is this the powerful Man who was to convert the hearts of the Fathers to the Children, Luke 1.17. Et Incredulos ad prudentiam justorum. Vulgat. and the Disobedient to the Wisdom of the Just? I should not have wondered at his Fathers incredulity, had he foreseen the passage of this day; he would have been struck dumb without a Miracle, horrour and amazement would have done the Work; unless I may call it a greater Miracle, that John IN PRISON heard the Works of Christ, than all the Miraculous Works he heard. [...]. Metuebat. Vulg. reverebatur Rub. in concord. In short, is this the Man whom Herod not only esteem'd, but also knew for certainty to be Just and Holy? Sciens illum justum & Sanctum; and what could have [Page 3]endear'd him so much to a wise Prince? and St. Mark seems to imply no less, Marc. 6.20. [...]. conservabat. Montan. custodiebat eum, he kept him; who would doubt but as a Councellour and a Friend? and so the Evangelist goes on, audito eo multa faciebat, he did many things by his advice, and heard him gladly. So far 'tis very well; 'tis what we expected. But St. Luke saies, Luke 3.20. he added one thing over and above, adjecit & hoc super omnia, he shut him up, not in his Closet, but in Prison. Strange Paradox of Providence! strange turn of Fortune! strange Embleme of human Mutability! a fresh instance of that old Lesson, put not your trust in Princes, Psalm. 146.3. nor in the Sons of Men, in whom is no Salvation, for JOHN IS IN PRISON.
But what real or pretended Crime could be laid to the charge of a person so useful to his Prince, so serviceable to the Publick, so just, so holy and inoffensive in his Private capacity? The Gospel being but an Abridgement of Transactions, sets down only the immediate cause, the immediate provocation, because, saies St. Luke, Herod the Tetrarch was reproved by him, cum corriperetur ab eo, for Herodias his Brothers Wife, Luke 3.19. (because he had Married her, saies St. Mark, Mark 6.17. [Page 4]his Brother being yet alive,) and for all the evils which he had done.
But Josephus Antiq. l. 18. c. 10. as a Statesman and Politician dives into the bottom of the difference, and discovers the first spring which moved Herod against the Baptist; because he excited people to the practice of Virtue and Justice, quia praecipiebat Judaeis virtuti dare operam, justitiam colere: upon which Doctrine, as guilt is ever jealous, but commonly in the wrong place, corrupt Ministers, and a Government noted for many Injustices, Et de omnibus malis quae fecit. Luke, ibid. pretended to ground their politick and irreligious suspition, that it would be of dangerous consequence; a general reason for every thing one has a mind to obstruct, when no other reason can be given: That it was not yet time to suffer such Doctrine to be preached, nè novi aliquid fiat, as the Historian continues, least it should cause some disturbance in the State; wherefore, saies he, upon this sole suspicion, not for any real ground of it, but upon the apprehension of consequences meerly imaginary, John began to decline in the Tetrarch's favour, the Tetrarch began to fear whom he ceas'd to love; he first opened his Ears to Accusations against [Page 5]him, and then his Hand to seize him, tenuit eum, and behold Joannes in Vinculis, John is in Prison.
And here let us leave a while this Martyr of Justice, to consider a little the weight and importance of his Doctrine; How much JUSTICE conduces to the happiness both of Prince and People, when its Dictates are followed, and what reparation is required when they are neglected. The first comprehends the Nature, the Excellence, and the several Species of Justice, and shall be treated in my first part: The second regards the violation of it, as it is reparable; where I shall speak of RESTITUTION, and Conclude.
Let us beg a portion of his Spirit, of his Firmness and Courage, that I may not sink the Reputation of that Cause, which he so gloriously maintain'd; but as I cannot hope to bear it up to that height, so it is my comfort that I need not, since I speak to an Assembly already prepar'd to receive a Doctrine so agreeable to Reason, and essential to the Law of Christ, who came into the world, to publish his word to Jacob, Psal. 147.19. his justice and judgments to Israel, when the Angel [Page 6]saluted the B. Virgin in the same terms we make our usual addresses to her,
Hail Mary full of Grace, &c.
IT is the first and greatest commendation of Justice, that it comprehends all virtues in it self, runs through every branch of the Divine and Humane Law, and verifies the bold assertion of a Learned Writer, that, as never any thing was well done which was not directed by Justice; so never any thing was done with a right intention, if it was not for the sake of Justice. The Ancient Author of the Imperfect Work among those of St. Author. oper. impert. apud Chrysost. Hom. 34. John Chrysostom, ingeniously proposes Justice as the Vine, all other Virtues as the Branches which are vegetated and nourished with the Juice and Spirits, which are transmitted to them from this Mother-Stock. And what can be a greater eviction of this Truth, than the Holy Ghost's generally using that Name for the perfection of all, and promiscuously for every Virtue? For when he would deliver the verbum breviatum, speak much of a Man in a [Page 7]little, a Panegyrick in a word, he calls him Just; Thus when he would raise in our minds a high esteem of Noe, he calls him a just and perfect man, Gen. 6.9. Noe vir justus atque perfectus; when he would commend the extraordinary Piety and singular Prudence of St. Joseph, Joseph cum esset justus; Mat. 1.19. when he would represent in one view all the virtues of our Baptist's Parents, Luke 1.6. erant ambo justi: And in fine, when he had drawn the Portraict of our Redeemer, with his Government upon his Shoulder, to express his Sovereignty, he calls him Wonderful, Isa. 9.6. for his Conduct; Councellor, for his Knowledge; the Mighty God, for his Power; the Everlasting Father, for his Affection to his People; the Prince of Peace, for the Tranquility of his Reign; and this, saies he, is his Name, his Stile, Character and Property, vocabiter nomen ejus; Hoc est nomen quod vocabunt eum. Jer. 23.6. all which he sums up elsewhere in one word, Dominus justus noster, our Lord, our King the Just.
From which, and many such instances it appears, as St. John Chrysostom observes, Hom. 23. That a just man is a denomination which implies all virtue; that Justice (as he speaks in Psalm 14.) is a compound of many virtues, [Page 8]and one active virtue does not make a virtue, Justitia conflatur ex multis virtutibus, & una virtus activa non facit virtutem. una virtus activa non facit virtutem. How, Great Doctor! is not one Virtue a Virtue? No, replies he, no more than the loss of one Plank makes a Wreck, or one Stone can build an House: A Ship cannot be built without Planks, nor a House without Materials; but Planks without mortressing, and Stones without Cement are of little or no service: so are all other Virtues without Justice; They are loose and disjoyned, they cannot denominate a man Virtuous, because they cannot denominate him JUST.
I know our Pulpits continually ring with the praises of Charity, as the Mother and Mistress of all other Virtues, and little is heard of Justice. But you are to observe that the Pulpit, in preaching Christianity, supposes Morality; as one who labours to beautifie and adorn a Fabrick, supposes the Foundation is well laid, otherwise it would be madness to spend his Time, his Mony and Industry upon a House which may likely fall upon his Head, and bury him with his Art and Charges in the Rubbage.
Now Justice is the ground of Moral Vertues, as Charity is of the Christian: and as it is a folly to think to be pious without first being honest; so it is a fond hope, and senseless endeavour to superstruct Charity where Justice has not secur'd the Foundation.
To proceed therefore from the more general and larger acceptation of the word, to the common and more restrained use of it, as it signifies a particular virtue, it is defin'd by Divines and Moralists, after Ulpian, Ulp. L. de just: π de jus ν: & jure. constans & perpetua voluntas, jus suum cuique tribuendi, a constant and unchangeable Will, and Resolution of giving to every one what belongs to him, whether in Buying and Selling, or any sort of Trade or Exchange, which we call Commutative Justice: or by dealing out Rewards or Favours, with respect to the Merit, or Fidelity of Persons, which we call Distributive Jnstice: or performing that Service, which every one in his respective station is bound to exhibit to the Publick, which is termed Legal Justice, or restoring the Goods and Effects of another, which we have destroyed, or unjustly detained, which is called Restitution. I purposely abstain from mentioning that sort of Justice, [Page 10]which inflicts Punishments, and is called Vindictive: I speak nothing of it, I say, partly because, tis a Branch of the Distributive; and partly because 'tis more the business of the Bar, than of the Pulpit; and because I desire the Audience should not think I exceed my Commission; I speak of the Divine, not of the Human Justice, I summon you to the Inward Tribunal; and if I threaten Punishment, I mean not that which is inflicted by the Temporal Power.
This premis'd, I affirm, any wilful and premeditated offence against one or more of these species of Justice, constitutes a Man formally unjust; and this not only by Committing, or doing wrong, but also by Omitting, or neglecting to do what we ought, neque minus omissione reddi hominem injustum quàm commissione, say the Divines; And in such cases, the Dictates of right Reason, as well as the precepts of Religion, command us to make reparation if we desire to be forgiven; of which more in my Second part; at present, it will be sufficient to illustrate the Doctrine by an Example or two, in each of these heads, as far as the Time will allow.
First, If you have taken advantage of the necessities of your Neighbours and upon that account sold things dearer than the true value or common price; you have sinn'd against Commutative Justice, and stand oblig'd to Restitution. If you have laid hold of the inadvertencie or ignorance of the seller, and surpriz'd him into an inconsiderate bargain; you have sinn'd against Commutative Justice: which sentences you to Restitution. What you call a good bargain is a deceit: you have not bought, but cheated.
Secondly, If you asperse the Reputation of your Neighbour, either take away his good Name, or notably prejudice it, by Detraction, Drollery Inventing or Dispersing Satyr, Imposing a False, or Revealing a Secret Crime, you have offended against Distributive Justice, Rom. 13.7. which enacts honour to whom honour is due, and obliges you to Restitution, even with the peril of your own fame, under pain of being the Aversion of Mankind, hominum abominatio, saies the wise Man: Prov. 24.9. of being excluded from the common society of Men, cum Detractoribus nè comedas: 21. This sin of Detraction, being one of those for which God delivers Men over to a reprobate [Page 12]sense, as he did the Gentiles; Detractores, Deo odibiles, Rom. 1.28. and 30. &c. For if one who has wrong'd another in his goods, is bound to repair the injury with the expence even of his own, (as all Men acknowledge;) with more reason shall he, who has committed a crime of a more heinous nature, and in an higher subject, be adjudged to a severer compensation. And if Calumny be a greater crime than Theft or Rapine, because it issues from a deeper malice, and leaves behind it a greater prejudice; how came you to perswade your selves the obligation of restoring, should be less? If the person injured be sacred, it is not a Simple Defamation, but a Sacriledge; It is an Invasion as well upon the Religion as Government; and to deface the Character of your Temporal or Spiritual Superiours, is so much worse than prophaning Churches and robbing Altars, as it is worse to mangle or destroy God's living Representation, than to demolish the dead: Diis non detrahes, & Principi populi tui non maledices: Thou shalt not revile the Gods, nor speak evil of the Ruler of thy People; Exod. 22.28. Speak not evil one of another; James 4.11. In cogitatione tuâ Regi nè detrahas, [Page 13]Debase not the King in thy very thoughts, Eccl. 10.20. Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak evil of my Servant? Num. 12.8.
Thirdly, All acceptation of persons, whether in deciding differences between Man and Man, or in conferring real Honours, places of Trust and Preferment in the Common-wealth, is a violation of Distributive Justice, which obliges the Magistrate, if not to proportion the reward to the Merit; at least to place the Reward with the Merit: nor to accept persons, but upon account of a greater desert, either of Service, or Capacity. In all other cases, that decision of St. James falls heavy upon Men in publick Employments; Si personas accipitis, peccatum operamini, If you have respect to persons, James 2.9. you commit sin, being convicted by the Law, as Transgressours of it. But what Law is there which binds a Man to the choice of those who are to serve under him, or in whom he pleases to repose a confidence?
First, The Law of Nature, which is nothing but the in born Rudiments of Justice, prompting us to give every one, what in right and equity belongs to him; reddere vnicuique quod suum est: Merit and Retribution [Page 14]are Relatives; Merit therefore is a Right which Equity is bound to acknowledge, and what Equity acknowledges, Justice is bound to pay. Publick service, and suffering for the Publick are of equal weight: they ballance each other when Justice holds the Scale, they deserve an equal Reward; but he that suffers for Justice-sake, weighs down Both. Innocence is the Palm-tree which naturally grows under the weight, and by consequence ought to rise so much the higher, as it was more depressed.
Secondly, The Law of God, as well declaring as acting; Deut. 1.16. nulla erit distantia personarum, there shall be no distinction of Persons, say the Pandects of Heaven, neither at the Bar, nor at the Board, nor upon the account of Religion, much less of ungrounded Suspition. John 7.24. Nolite judicare secundum faciem, saies our Blessed Saviour, judge not according to the face, which some men set upon things or persons; No, nor according to the opinion of the Greater number, who are swayed by a contrary Interest, saies the Eternal Justice; Exod. 23.2. in judicio non acquiesces plurimorum sententiae, nec accipies cujusquam personam, [Page 15]ut à vero devies: in Judgment, i. e. in assigning rewards as well as otherwise, do not acquiesce to the opinion even of the most, nor accept the person of any Body whatsoever, so far as to depart from what is right in thy own judgment: as if he had said, If you do exclude persons whom you think deserving in your own judgement, either upon appearances, or the erring opinion even of the most, you will depart from Justice. Now, the New Law, raising every positive Commandment of the Old to a greater perfection, more is required in this kind of the Christian Magistrate, than of the other, who acts meerly by the Law of Nature and Dictamen of Reason, or the brighter, yet imperfect and glimmering Light of the Mosaical. Wherefore St. James 2.1. seriously admonishes us to have a care That we do not hold the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, together with respect of persons, in personarum acceptione nolite possidere fidem Domini nostri Jesu Cbristi; implying that such a proceeding is contrary to the Oeconomy and Justice, and by consequence, is a Prevarication of the Faith we profess.
And the reason of this is evident, for every person who confers imployments, or has dependences, acts either ex officio, as the supream Magistrate; a man upon his own Estate, a Master in his Family; or else by Commission, as subordinate Officers.
If he act ex officio, Justice and his Duty to the Publick Weal oblige him to delegate his Power to such as his own Judgement and Conscience represent to him as the most faithful and ablest Ministers: For as he is obliged to carry the Reputation of his Country and the Publick Good, not to any determinate degree, but as high as his utmost Prudence and Endeavours can reach: so is he bound in Justice to make use of those Instruments which are best proportioned to that End; and where there is equal Capacity, or but little inferior, a more approved Honesty and Tenderness of Conscience ought to take place. If the person act only by Commission, his Power is less, but his Duty is as great, in this kind, as far as his Power extends; and he is bound in Justice to put the Places which are in his Gift, not into such Hands as will give most for them, (which is Extortion upon the Publick) or [Page 17]are nearest related to him, (which is another sort of Bribery, that of Affection,) or will more espouse and advance his Interest, (which is but the Farming out an Office) but into such as will be most Honest, and Careful, and Circumspect: For though the best Man is not always the best Qualified for Employment, yet Vertue is the better Title, where the Capacity is sufficient, because a Vicious Man can hardly be Just; for he wants the Divine Assistance, and bottoms his Honesty only upon Moral Virtue, which does very seldom bear up its Name in practice, and when it does, generally the Temptation of Dishonesty is overcome, meerly by a sense of Honour: a doubtful case, where a man is to conquer one Passion by another. Wherefore the Holy Fathers and Divines, I think of all Religions within the Pale of Christianity, and I might take the Jew and the Gentile, the Rabbi and the Philosopher, into the number: All Divines and Moralists, I say, unanimously agree, that such as employ men who are corrupt in their judgments, exacting upon the Poor, taking Bribes, or diverting the Publick Stock, &c. are obliged to Restitution, [Page 18]and to repair their Faults, if the Offendors do not do it themselves, which indeed is possible, but not reasonably to be expected▪
4ly. But there is another sort of Justice, which we call Legal, and touches not only men in Employments, but reaches all who are capable of serving the Publick, and from whose service they are bound in Justice not to withdraw themselves; bound not only to have their Loyns girt; and be found in a readiness when they are called; but even in their several respective stations to promote the Publick Good, and prefer it to the Private, whether Reputation or Interest. For as every one is a part of the Civil Society, and enjoys the Blessings and Protection of it; so every one has a Special Duty incumbent on him to procure and promote the good of that Society: For the good of the Part is ordered to the Whole, and the good of the Whole communicates it self to each Member. And therefore when a man behaves himself meerly passive to the Community, much more when he vilifies the Government, and exasperates peoples mind against it; he is a Monstrous [Page 19]member of the Common-wealth, and is oblig'd to Restitution, that is, to rectifie, and attone for his former coldness and indifferency, with diligence for the future, with more than common Instances of Loyalty, and Endeavours to set their hearts right, which by his Example or Discourses have been alienated from the Government.
Thus have I given you a slight view of Justice in all it's Branches, and crowded the Subject of whole Volumes, and indeed of ones whole Life into few words. And having shown the great Duty of Restitution to be far more obliging, and of far greater extent than people generally imagine; It is time I proceed to Treat of it in the common sense and vulgar usage of the Word, which imports only one sort of Restitution, when another's Goods are unjustly taken or detain'd, whether by Theft, or Robbery, by Rapine or Extortion, and even by forms of Law. Your Attention, and my Second Part.
SECOND PART.
Some, who in other matters accuse the Catholick Chuch of imposing too great severities upon her Children, in this think her so impiously indulgent, as to connive at Injustices, to sell Pardons for sins, and to allow of unjust Possessions, provided she goes shares with the Possessour; and in short, that she dispenses with all sorts of Restitution, unless it be to her self. But in Truth, this last sort is the only Restitution she can dispence with, Sermon before the King upon All-Saints of the Order of St. B. Nov. 13. and which she has actually, solemnly, and irrevocably done, as I lately proved in reference to Abbey-Lands: She can renounce her own Title, but not anothers; For in all other cases it is, and ever was her Doctrine and practice, sicut non satisfit Deo. de injuria sibi illata, nisi per paenitentiam: ita nec proximo de re spoliata, nisi per justam Restitutionem, S. Thom. Tom. 1. Opusc. cap. 17. as the great Master of our Schools expresses it; As we cannot appease our God for an injury done to him, but by a serious Repentance: so cannot we satisfie our Neighbour for usurping his Goods, but by a full Restitution. He had learnt this Doctrine of St. Gregory, whose [Page 21]Judgment is become that of the whole Church, being inserted into the Body of our Canon Law: Qui bona alterius, &c. Decret. Par. 2. de paenit. Dist. 5. Cap. Falsas. Who unjustly detains the goods of another, must at the same time acknowledge he cannot do that Penance, or make that Satisfaction which will carry him to Heaven, thô he may come off in this World, and in the eyes of Men, unless he restore what he has unjustly seiz'd. St. Gregory had learnt this Doctrine of St. Aug. Ep. 54. Augustin who in his 54th. Epistle to Macedonius, a Man of great Authority in the Roman Empire, si res aliena propter quam peccatum est, non redditur, non agitur paenitentia, sed fingitur. If the thing wherein you sinn'd by taking or detaining, be not restored, you do not repent, but counterfeit Repentance. And the reason of this is clear, for to obtain an end, we are obliged to use the necessary meanes. Now there are two sorts of means, by which we are to work out our Salvation; both necessary, but not equally so: The first is necessitas precepti, necessary because commanded, as Fasting and Alms-deeds, &c. which are then binding, when we are in the circumstance and condition to perform them. The second, necessitas medii, necessary, [Page 22]because the end, without the means cannot be obtained, as Faith in Christ in order to Eternal Life, the Love of God and our Neighbour, &c. Now God has affixt both these necessities to Restitution; that of Command is frequently repeated and urg'd in both Testaments. In the Old, having provided for his own Love and Service in very few Commandments, he imploys more than twice the number in securing the Rights, and fenceing in the Goods of our Neighbour; and to imprint in us a greater horrour of usurping them, he forbids even the Desire, Non concupisces; and to imprint in us a greater horrour of detaining them, he will not permit his own people to keep the wages of an hired Servant even till the next Morning. Levit. 19.13. In the New Testament he does not repeat, but supposes the Moral Law as to honesty; but proceeds to the perfection of it, a Consummated Virtue. This Zachaeus understood, who without expecting any particular Order from Jesus Christ, promises; Si quid aliquem defraudavi, if I have defrauded or wrong'd any one, Luke 19.8. 2 Sam. 12.6. I restore him four-fold. This the Moral Law oblig'd him to: The other Article, Behold I give [Page 23]half my goods to the Poor, was in complyance to the Evangelical, which enacts, quod superest date Elecmosynam; Luke 11.41. what you have over and above necessity and decency, give it in Alms. Now he that obliges us to give what is our own, will he dispense with us from rendring what is not our own?
Secondly, This Duty of Restitution is necessary necessitate medii; 'tis absolutely necessary; neither Divine, nor Human Power can dispence with the performance of it; and nothing but a formal and absolute incapacity can excuse us; for no body can be oblig'd to what is impossible. Yet this absolute incapacity does not take away the obligation, but only suspends it for the time; for it still returns upon us when we are able in any degree to comply with it: I said, not the Divine Power; I said it, and I prove it. For there are two injuries involv'd in every unjust action, or quasi-action, that is, Nonrestitution; the one to God, who suffers by the violation of his Commandment; the other to your Neighbour, who suffers by the loss or detention of his Goods or Inheritance: Whence arise two distinct obligations; the one, of satisfying God, whose [Page 24]honour and Sovereignty you have incroach'd upon by disobedience; the other, of satisfying your Neighbour, whose tears, whose wants, and even whose desires cry to Heaven for vengeance against you; Psal. 10.17. for our Lord hears the desire of the Poor, saies the Royal Prophet. With this Load upon your Conscience, you place your self in your Oratory, or come to the Feet of your Confessour, you protest you are sorry for having offended God, Psal. 51.17. and come to beg pardon of him who will not despise an humble and a contrite heart. No question God would regard your sorrow, and have compassion upon your tears, were the injury directed only against himself: But your Neighbour is a party offended too; you beg not pardon of him, you still retain his Goods, you grasp his Inheritance; his Children serve you upon their own Estates, Matth. 5.24. vade prius reconciliari fratri tuo; Go then saies he, Go, and be first reconciled to your Brother, repair the wrong, or compound it. Till one of these be done, all your offerings are prophane; Isa. 1.13. Bring me no more vain oblations; All your observance of Religious duties, and even your appointed Feasts, 14. my Soul hateth: even the Sabbaths, [Page 25]which I commanded. Iniqui sunt caetus vestri; your solemn meetings are iniquity; They receive a tincture of Injustice from that of the mind you bring to them. All your Alms are fruitless; They are not your own; ex substantia tua fac Eleemosynas; Tob. 4.7. to merit that Name, they must be done out of your own substance, not another's. Indeed Charity covers a multitude of sins, 1 Pet. 4.8. but why does not St. Peter say all sins, as Holy Toby 4.11. ab omni peccato liberat? The Apostle seems to allude to, and explain this Text: For some Crimes there are, which Charity it self cannot cover; she may varnish them over, but can never efface them; and these are sins against Justice. To be short, your very Repentance is false and counterfeit, non agitur paenitentia, sed fingitur; Aug. supra. your hopes of pardon are ungrounded and impudent; and when you spread forth your hands to receive it, Isa. 1.15. I will hide mine eyes from you: Your very Prayers, the only means left, become a fresh provocation, and heighten your guilt, cum multiplicaveritis orationem, non exaudiam, when you multiply them upon me, I will not hear.
But why hast thou set us up as a mark against [Page 26]thee? Job. 7.20. Why hast thou mark'd us out for slaughter, Lament. 5.20. O thou preserver of Men! wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long a time? Isa. 59.3. Because your hands are defil'd with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. If he who neglects to feed the Poor in necessity, is properly said by St. Austin to Murther them, (si non pavisti, occidisti;) certainly he who reduces them to necessity, and continues them in it, is guilty of a double Murther: Manus vestrae plenae sunt sanguine, both your hands are full of Blood; the one for taking, the other, for detaining. As for other offences which strike only at himself, as all the breaches of the first Table, he alone can, and is ever ready to forgive them; but the injuries aimed at him through your Neighbour, as Detraction, Oppression, Robbery, or Rapine, non dimittitur peccatum, &c. God cannot pardon them I say, by the ordinary course of his Grace, and without a Miracle, except the offenders ignorance be invincible, after he has used his best endeavours to inform himself in his Fortune and Estate, according to the Example of Holy Tobias, Tob. 2.21. nè fortè furtivus sit, lest any part of what he possesses came to him by indirect ways.
But what a phrenzy and alienation of mind is it in a Christian to desire those Riches which Providence has refused him? If you did Lawfully possess those Goods you Unlawfully enjoy, the Baptist would advice you to return them to the Donor in relief of the Poor: But what would he say, did he see us coveting our Neighbours Possessions, or detaining them with an Unjust Hand, tearing them from the Widow and the Orphan, and not regarding them, while their Cries, and Tears, and Prayers pierce the Heavens, and call down judgment upon us, from a God who vouchsafes to stile himself the Refuge of the Oppressed, Psal. 9.9. To become their Advocate, and plead their Cause, Psal. 25.1. and threatens to break in pieces the Oppressour, Psal. 72.4.
If God had designed to save you by Riches, he would have furnished you with lawful means of acquiring them: But he has thrown up the Ditches, and thickned the Fences, that you should not break in upon them, foreseeing you would abuse them, they would seduce you. If God has bestowed them upon you, he also has given you grace to use them to his [Page 28]Honour; but if you add to the Heap what you receive not from his Hand, you force him to withdraw his Grace, and disable you to use the rest as you ought. But a little, you may say, cannot be of such dreadful consequence: Yet it is not the quantity, but the quality of the Poyson which is Mortal. This Little which comes in by driblets, must go out in Great summs, when you come to restore; and when will you be dispos'd to render the arrears in Quadruplum, Fourfold, if you cannot now be perswaded to throw up the tenure, or pay in the Principal? God Almighty is no favourer of Interest upon other accounts, Anselm. l. cur Deus Homo, c. 11. but in Restitution he exacts it. Non sufficit solum reddere quod ablatum est, sed pro contumelia illata, plus debet reddere quàm abstulit, saies, our famous St. Anselm. If it be a little you unjustly possess, you ought to be more ready to refund; if it be much, you ought to be more careful. Totum massum corrumpit Vulg. [...], fermentat. 1 Cor. 5.6. Mat. 6.19, 20. But what is a little to you, perhaps is the whole fortune and subsistence, the Daily Bread of the Sufferer. A little Injustice is like the Leven, it corrupts the whole Mass; it is the Moth, which devours the Treasure; it is the Thief, which breaks [Page 29]in, and steals it away insensibly; the way, many Estates are consumed, when No body could give an account by what means. Unjust possessions have this quality of the Manna; they taste deliciously upon the Carnal Palate, but putrifie and become noisome, if they are kept even till to morrow; Nay, they become Mortal, as soon as the person is satisfied they are unlawful.
Gabriel, Soto, Lessius, Gabriel in 4. d. 15. q. 2. a. 2. Soto l. 4. q. 7. a. 4. Lessius de jure l. 2. c. 12. dub. 2. and many others of the first Class, both Ancient and Modern Divines teach as a certain Truth, that every unjust Possessor, when he knows himself to be so, continuò actu peccat, sins continually, not only by an habitual injustice mortally criminal, but also sins actually, till the moment he restore. Be not surpriz'd at this Doctrine, it is grounded upon clear and undeniable Reason; for who does not restore when he can, wilfully detains anothers Goods: But a wilful detaining them is a new action, at least instar actionis, equivalent to an action: Therefore as long as his Will to detain them does continue, so long the Injustice continues, so long the Injury, and, by evident Consequence, so long the Actual Sin.
Now, Christian, have you any thing to object against this, and not renounce that Name? Dare you reply in your thoughts, that if you restore what you wrongfully possess, you will not be able to bear up in the World according to your Condition? If this Reason be as Weighty, as it is Popular, you may as well steal, you may rob the Altar to live according to your Condition. Why cannot you reduce your self for the sake of Justice, to what other people do for Decency and Devotion? You will not be able perhaps to make so great a Figure in Court, nor Glitter so much at a Ball, nor be so Expensive in Plays; you will want Oyl to feed your Excesses and Vanity: Now is not this an odd kind of Objection, when one of the Reasons why God calls upon you to make Restitution, and to pay your Debts, is to remove you from the cocasions of Offending? But it will draw an Infamy upon me: Sure you are a great Stranger to Honesty, who have so mean an opinion of it. Justice is honour'd, and revered, and applauded even by the Wicked; and the Fame of a Zacheus shall live for ever; 1 Kings 21.1. and so long the Memory of an Ahab shall be in Execration.
But if this Doctrine were reduced to practice, it would cause great changes in a Nation. So thought the States-men of Galilee; so Herod fear'd, when a Baptist preach'd it, apprehendens nè novi aliquid fieret. Josephus suprà. But what the consequence would be, King David tells us, veritas de terra orta est, Psal. 85.11. & Justitia de Caelo prospexit; when Justice looks down from Heaven, Truth springs up from the Earth, as it were to meet it. Justice and Peace shall kiss one another, the Mother and the Daughter shall embrace; for Peace and Prosperity are the fruit of Justice. O ye sons of men be Just, and fear no other consequences than these; for the Justice of the clear-hearted-man, saies the Wise One, shall level and make strait his path, Prov. 11.5, Justitia simplicis diriget viam; 6. it shall conduct him safe to the end, liberabit eum, it shall prolong his days, and deliver him from the death of fin; liberabit eum à morte: Prov. 10.2. It shall Crown him with Eternal Life, in semitis ejus vita: 12.28. It shall win the Affection of the Almighty, Qui sequitur justitiam diligitur ab eo; 15.9.14.34. it exalteth a Nation; elevat gentem: and shall establish the Throne; firmabitur justitiâ Thronus. 25.5. Thus might St. John speak, because thus [Page 32]speaks the Holy Ghost, who replenish'd him from the very Womb, and inspir'd him with that Courage which the Psalmist glories in, that he spake of the Testimonies of God, Psal. 119.46. of Justice and Equity, before Kings, and was not confounded, though he was imprisoned: For nothing can confound a Precursor or Preacher of Christ, but betraying his Ministery. And now he has discharg'd his Office; I hope, no one here will put him off, Act. 24.26. Disputante autem illo de justitia, &c. as Felix did St. Paul, when he had discoursed of the same Subject, Tempore opportuno accersam te, I will hear thee at a more proper season: I hope no body will think his Doctrine unseasonable, or if any one do; you will not find him a Reed shaken with the Wind: you will find him firm to Himself, and to his Character, preaching the word in season, and out of season. He will not change his Camels Hair for Soft Raiment, nor be taken off, nor mollified by the amusements of a Court. He is the same Man in the Kings House, as in the Kings Prison: He will bid the Trades-man be just in his Dealing, Luk. 3.11. the Rich to impart of their Superfluities to him that wants Necessaries; The Publicans and Collectors, [Page 33] to exact no more than is appointed them, 12. and to give a faithful account of what they receive; The Soldier, to do violence to no man, 14. and to be contented with his pay: He has a Non Licet for every one, and a Baptism of Repentance in their own Tears, for the Remission of Sin: He has a Commission to Threaten every Tree which bringeth not forth good Fruit, that it shall be cut down, and cast into the Fire; and he has an Humble Petition to those who Judge the World, that they will not think they perform their Duty to Justice, by observing it Religiously in their own particular, unless they cause it to be observed by all their Subjects, as far as their Knowledge and Power can reach; unless they redress the Wrongs of Innocents oppressed, and suffer no body to be condemned, without first being heard; unless they repair the breaches of the Publick Faith, and over-rule all Ordinances to the contrary; which can never tye up the Sovereign's Hands from reforming abuses, though they oblige the Subject to a Passive Obedience, to possess his Soul in patience, and to forgive the injury, while he sues to have it redressed. Which God, &c.