Chapter 36: The dreadful evil there is in reproaching the Saints
FOurthly, the consideration of this calls for a trembling heart unto all those that have been guilty in any degree of casting reproaches upon the people of God. In this Use we have three branches: First, those that have done it themselves: Secondly, those that rejoice in the reproaches that others cast upon Gods people: Thirdly, those that are the divulgers and spreaders of the reproaches of Gods people. In Zeph. 2. The Holy Ghost there rebuking Moab for reproaching his people in the eighth and tenth verses, at the eleventh verse it is said, The Lord will be terrible to them: there are some of you, that howsoever God have shown you better things now, yet heretofore you have been guilty, and it may be some of you are guilty of this still; and if you be guilty, the Lord will be terrible to you. God has contempt and dishonor for you, as you have cast contempt and dishonor upon Christ: suitable to your sin shall be your punishment. That is observable that we have in Psalm 59. verse 6. their sin is, They return at evening, they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the City: thus is their sin, and it is their sin of reproach and scorn, as appears in the following words, verse 7. They belch out with their mouth: and observe ver. 14. their judgement is expressed in the same words, And at the evening let them return, and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the City. Did your reproaches reach no further then the Saints themselves, yet in regard of that excellency there is in them, it is an abominable wickedness. Mark with what indignation the Spirit of God speaks against such as are guilty herein, Isa. 57. 3, 4. Draw near hither ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer, and the whore, against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom do ye make a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falshood? What, you who are so vile and filthy yourselves, will you presume to reproach the Saints of God, such as are so precious in the eyes of God, and so near to Christ? Know, you have not to deal with them only, but with Christ in them. You think you have to do only with a company of poor weak creatures that are not able to right themselves; but know, you have to do with Christ himself. Mark that expression we have in Isa. 37:23 it is spoken concerning Rabshekah, Whom hast you reproached? it is not against Hezekiah, it is against the holy One of Israel: Those that have done thus, have lifted up their mouthes against heaven it self: They set their mouthes against the heavens: You hast reproached him that is the brightness of the glory of the Father; The character, The engraven image of the Father; he that is the glory of heaven, that has all the treasures of all good in him; You hast cast reproach upon him that must be your Judge; At whose mercy you lyest for your present and eternal estate; Him that is God blessed for ever, that is the infinite delight of the Father. You mistake, you have shot at Christ all this while: As we read of Oedepus, he killed his father Laius King of Thebes, taking him for his enemy; your mistake is worse you strike at, you reproach Christ, while you think it is but a poor man, yea your enemy.
O that ever you should be born to do so much mischief as to cast dirt upon the face of Christ; surely you kick against the pricks: It is an argument that you are not a son of the promise, that you are a successor of Ishmael: You hast cause to fear that God will laugh at your destruction, and mock when your fear comes: You hast cause to fear that you art reserved for everlasting shame and contempt, unless God does humble you for this dreadful guilt that is upon you. When you take advantage upon the meanness of Gods people for to reproach them, you are the men and women that are found guilty in heaven for to reproach Christ.
But you will say, There are none so vile as to reproach Christ, nor the people of Christ for their godliness, it is for their hypocrisie.
Let no man deceive himself thus; for there never was any Devil or man that did reproach godliness under the name of godliness, but they would put some other name upon it, under which it might appear vile and contemptible; and in this the men of the world do as the persecutors did in the Primitive times with the Christians, they put the bodies of Christians into the skins of wilde beasts, and then they would set dogs upon them, and other wilde beasts, to tear them: So men do to this day; they put the profession of godliness into the shapes of their own conceits, and their own slanders, and their own apprehensions, to make it ugly, and they fall a reproaching and tearing, and run upon them like a company of wilde beasts: And that which you sayest is hypocrisie, is but the skin of the wilde beast, your own unshapen conceits, to make yourself and their adversaries run upon them, that you may the more freely venture; because the wilde beasts would not venture upon the body of a man so freely, but when they saw the body of a man in the shape of such a beast as they hated, they ran upon it freely: And so you dealest with Gods Saints in putting an unshapen form upon them, to let out your heart more freely upon them. But what if that which you callest hypocrisie, God account godliness? yea know, that this your aspersion upon godliness, to say it is hypocrisie, and upon the people of God, to say they are hypocrites, is the reproach of Gods people, and there is a great deal of evil in it more then you art aware of. In Mark 3. from verse 22. and so on, when Christ cast out devils, they said, He casts them out by Beelzebub the Prince of devils: well says Christ, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme, but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, has never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: So that it seems these Pharisees had sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost, in that they said, He had an unclean spirit, because they attributed that to an unclean spirit, which was done by the Spirit of Christ; only they did this against knowledge, and in malice: I do not say that all reproachers do sin against the Holy Ghost; but if it be against knowledge, and in malice, consider how near it comes: as their attributing that to an unclean spirit which came from the spirit of God was it; so does not your attributing that to hypocrisie which comes from the Spirit of God in sincerity come near it. But lastly, if it be for hypocrisie that you reproach, and not for godliness, then it is for an evil; if it be for an evil that you doest reproach them, then the better you art, and the better mood you art in, the more you will reproach them. But we see the contrary evident: Wicked men they reproach the godly for hypocrisie, as they say, but they do it when they are in the height of their lusts; but if they be in a good mood, when they are on their sick beds or death beds, and in their best condition, they reproach them least; therefore sure it was the good they reproached, and not the evil. But thus much concerning the first branch.
The second is this, it calls for a trembling heart from those that shall rejoice at the reproaches of Gods people: Perhaps you art one that will not reproach yourself, yet you mayest rejoice at the reproaches of Gods people: There is a great deal of evil in this: Surely you hast no love to them, for love does not rejoice in iniquity, 1 Corinth. 13:6 When the Devil does sow the seed, you dost come with the harrows to cover the seed, when you dost rejoice in their reproaches. Proverbs 18:8 The words of a tale-bearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly: It may be translated, The words of a tale-bearer are as the words of them tbat are wounded: That is, The tale-bearers that come and tell you things, they come with expressions of a great deal of brokenness of heart, as if their spirits were grieved at that they hear, and they speak as if they spoke in the defense of them, and then they are as wounds; not the wounds of them they speak of, but the wounds of the wounded: And if any come in this way to cast reproaches upon Gods people, they are taken down into the belly, and they go glib down: This is a slight of the Devil to make them pass without the least questioning; for those that reproach, seem to speak out of wounded troubled hearts.
But we do not rejoice in this, that we hear any evil of Gods people, but we rejoice that they are discovered, and this is the work of God.
1. If so be your conscience be convinced, that through the concealing of such and such things, there was a great deal of mischief done before, and there is a great deal of good like to come to the publike cause, and the name of God in the discovery, then you may rejoice.
Secondly, I appeal to conscience: Suppose the discovery do a great deal of hurt, Gods name does suffer by it, is there a proportionable measure of grief in your heart, for the suffering of Gods name, unto the joy that is in you for the discovery?
But thirdly, suppose it were one that were near to you; suppose it were your Father or Brother, the Wife of your bosom, the dearest friend you had that were discovered, would your hearts rejoice then? if you rejoice because God has glory by the discovery, then would you rejoice, if the dearest friend you had were discovered?
Fourthly, yea, suppose you did suffer much by this discovery, that it were much to your prejudice, you should lose something that your hearts are much set upon, would you rejoice then?
Fifthly, if so be that it were for the discovery that you rejoice; then you would not rejoice, that they are discovered to such as will not honor Gods name: You are glad that any know of it, that Gods enemies know of it, that will not make a good use of it, but will be hardened in their sin, and dishonor Gods name: Take heed you do not deceive yourselves, to rejoice so in the discovery of the people of God; there is a great deal of evil in it, more then you think of. Joseph he feared Mary, but he feared the name of God might suffer, and therefore he would not make her a publike example.
The third branch is to those that are divulgers of the reproaches of Gods people. Consider what you do, they are the reproaches of Christ; take heed you do not divulge the reproaches of Gods people. Suppose they prove false, do you think that after Gods people have suffered so much, this will be enough to answer God and Christ, for all the dirt that has been cast upon his face, I heard so; that the names of Gods people may suffer much, when they are under false reproaches. As it is with a stick; a stick when it is in the water, it looks as if it were broken, pull it out of the water, and it is straight: So it is with the names of Gods people; when their names are under reports that go abroad in the world, they look as broken; but when their names are pulled out from the reports of the world, they appear whole: And therefore take heed of divulging the reproaches of those that are godly; You may in this do the Devils work, and carry the Devils pack. The Apostle in 1 Timothy 3:11 speaking of women, says, That they must be grave, not slanderers; The word in the Original is, that they must not be Devils: So that to carry slanders and evil reports up and down, is the work of the devil. Again, will you spread the reproaches of Gods people, when as it is the great work of God to cover the sins of his people? And further, consider, doest you stand in need of so much covering of your own sins, and will you have a hand in spreading abroad the sins of others? How just will it be with God to let you fall into some gross sin, and spread abroad your shame, seeing his name and the names of his people are not dear in your eyes?
