! him, upon whose acts, any private subject, in civil matters, may Infamy is one of the highest punishments that the law inflicts upon man; for it lies upon him even after death: infamy is the worst punishment, and intestability, (to be made intestable) is one of the deepest wounds of infamy; and then the worst degree of intestability, is not to be believed, not to be admitted to be a witness of any other: he is intestable that cannot make a testament, not give his own goods; and he intestable that can receive nothing by the testament of another; he is intestable, in whose behalf no testimony may be accepted; but he is the most miserably intestable of all, the most detestably intestable, that discredits another man by speaking well of him, and makes him the more suspicious, by his commendations. A Christian in profession, that is not a Christian in life, is intestable so, he discredits Christ, and hardens others against him. John Baptist was more than a prophet, because he was a witness of Christ; and he was a witness, because he was like him, he did as he did, he led a holy and a religious life; so he was a witness. That great and glorious name of martyr, is but a witness. St. Stephen' was proto-martyr, Christ's first witness, because he was the first that did as he did, that put on his colours, that drunk of his cup, that was baptized with his baptism, with his own blood: so he was a witness. To be witnesses for Christ, is to be like Christ; to conform yourselves to Christ; and they in the text, and you, are to be witnesses of Christ in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. St. Hierome notes that John Baptist was not bid to bear witness in Jerusalem, in the city, but in the wilderness; he, and none but he: there were but few men to witness to there; and those few that were, came thither with a good disposition to be wrought upon there; and there were few witnesses to oppose John's testimony, few temptations, few worldly allurements, few worldly businesses. One was enough for the wilderness; but for Jerusalem, for the city, where all the excuses in the Gospel do always meet, they have bought commodities, and they must utter them, they have purchased lands, and they must state them, they have married wives, and they must study them, to the city, to Jerusalem, Christ sends all his apostles, and all little enough. He hath sent a great many apostles, preachers, to this city; more than to any other, that I know. Religious persons as they call them, cloistered friars are not sent to the city; by their first canons, they should not preach abroad: but for those who are to do that service, there are more in this city, than in others, for there are more parish churches here than in others. Now, beloved, if in this city, you have taken away a great part of the revenue of the preacher, to yourselves, take thus much of his labour upon yourselves too, as to preach to one another by a holy and exemplar life, and a religious conversation. Let those of the city, who have interest in the government of this plantation, be witnesses of Christ who is truth itself, to all other governors of companies in all true and just proceedings: that as Christ said to them who thought themselves greatest, Except you become as this little child, so we may say to the governors of the greatest companies, Except you proceed with the integrity, with the justice, with the clearness, of your little sister, this plantation, you do not follow a good example. This is to bear witness of Christ in Jerusalem, in the city, to be examples of truth, and justice, and clearness, to others, in, and of this city. The apostles were to do this in Judea too, their service lay in the country as well as in the city. Birds that are kept in cages may learn some notes, which they should never have sung in the woods or fields; but yet they may forget their natural notes too. Preachers that bind themselves always to cities and courts, and great auditories, may learn new notes; they may become occasional preachers, and make the emergent affairs of the time, their text, and the humours of the hearers their Bible; but they may lose their natural notes, both the simplicity, and the boldness that belongs to the preaching of the Gospel: both their power upon low understandings to raise them, and upon high affection to humble them. They may think that their errand is but to knock at the door, to delight the ear, and not to search the house, to ransack the conscience. Christ left the ninety-and-nine for one sheep; populous cities are for the most part best provided; remoter parts need our labour more, and we should not make such differences. Yeoman, and labourer, and spinster, are dis- 76 tinctions upon earth; in the earth, in the grave there is no distinction. The angel that shall call us out of that dust, will not stand to survey, who lies naked, who in a coffin, who in wood who in lead, who in a fine, who in a coarser sheet; in that one day of the resurrection, there is not a forenoon for lords to rise first, and an afternoon for meaner persons to rise after. Christ was not whipped to save beggars, and crowned with thorns to save kings: he died, he suffered all, for all; and we whose bearing witness of him, is to do, as he did, must confer our labours upon all, upon Jerusalem, and upon Judea too, upon the city, and upon the country too. You, who are his witnesses too, must do so too; preach in your just actions, as to the city, to the country too. Not to seal up the secrets, and the mysteries of your business within the bosom of merchants, and exclude all others: to nourish an incompatibility between merchants and gentlemen; that merchants shall say to them in reproach, You have played the gentlemen, and they in equal reproach, You have played the merchant; but as merchants grow up into worshipful families, and worshipful families let fall branches amongst merchants again, so for this particular plantation, you may consider city and country to be one body, and as you give example of a just government to other companies in the city, (that is, your bearing witness in Jerusalem,) so you may be content to give reasons of your proceedings, and account of moneys levied, over the country, for that is your bearing witness in Judea. ما But the apostles' diocese is enlarged, farther than Jerusalem, farther than Judea, they are carried into Samaria; You must bear witness of me in Samaria. Beloved, when I have remembered you, who the Samaritans were, men that had not renounced God, but mingled other gods with him, men that had not burnt the law of God, but made traditions of men equal to it, you will easily guess to whom I apply the name of Samaritans now. A Jesuit hath told us, (an ill intelligencer I confess, but even his intelligencer, the devil himself, says true sometimes) Maldonate says, The Samaritans were odious to the Jews, upon the same grounds as heretics and schismatics to us; and they, we know were odious to them for mingling false gods, and false worships with the true. And if that be the character of a Samaritan, we know who are the Samaritans, who the heretics, who the schismatics of our times. In the highest reproach to Christ, the Jews said, Samaritanus es et dæmonium habes, Thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil. In our just detestation of these men, we justly fasten both those upon them. For as they delight in lies, and fill the world with weekly rumours, Dæmonium habent, They have a devil, quia mendax est et pater ejus. As they multiply assassinations upon princes, and massacres upon people, dæmonium habent, they have a devil, quia homicida ab initio: as they toss, and tumble, and dispose kingdoms, dæmonium habent, they have a devil, omnia hæc dabo, was the devil's compliment1: but as they mingle truths and falsehoods together in religion, as they carry the Word of God, and the traditions of men, in an even balance, Samaritani sunt, they are Samaritans. At first Christ forbade his apostles to go into any city of the Samaritans: after, they did preach in many of them 18. Bear witness first in Jerusalem, and in Judea"; give good satisfaction especially to those of the household of the faithful, in the city and country, but yet satisfy even those Samaritans too. They would be satisfied, what miracles you work in Virginia; and what people you have converted to the Christian faith, there. If we could as easily call natural effects miracles, or casual accidents miracles, or magical illusions miracles, as they do, to 16 John viii. 44. 18 Matt. x. 5. 17 Matt. iv. 10. 19 Acts viii. 25. make a miraculous drawing of a tooth, a miraculous cutting of a corn, or, as Justus Baronius says, when he was converted to them, that he was miraculously cured of the cholic, by stooping to kiss the pope's foot, if we would pile up miracles so fast, as Pope John XXII. did in the canonization of Aquinas, Tot miracula confecit, quot determinavit questiones, He wrought as many miracles, as he resolved questions, we might find miracles too. In truth, their greatest miracle to me, is, that they find men to believe their miracles. If they rely upon miracles, they imply a confession that they induce new doctrines; that that is old and received, needs no miracles; if they require miracles, because, though that be ancient doctrine, it is newly brought into those parts, we have the confession of their Jesuit, Acosta, That they do no miracle in those Indies, and he assigns very good reasons, why they are not necessary, nor to be expected there. But yet bear witness to these Samaritans, in the other point; labour to give them satisfaction in the other point of their charge, what heathens you have converted to the faith, which is that which is intended in the next, which is the last branch, You are to be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Literally, the apostles were to be such witnesses for Christ: were they so did the apostles in person, preach the Gospel, over all the word? I know that it is not hard to multiply places of the fathers, in confirmation of that opinion, that the apostles did actually, and personally preach the Gospel in all nations, in their life. Christ says, The Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world20; and there he tells the apostles, that they shall see something done, after that; Therefore they shall live to it. So he says to them, You shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake"; but the Gospel must first be published among all nations in one evangelist there is the commission; Preach in my name to all nations 22. And in another, the execution of this commission, And they went and preached everywhere”3. And after the apostle certifies, and returns the execution of 20 Matt. xxiv. 14. 21 Mark xiii. 9. 23 Mark xvi, 20. |