2. Where God will make special use of instruments, he giveth them answerable endow^nents, both of body and mind. Moses, in his very childhood, had a majesty and invincible grace in his countenance. There are some upon whom God hath set a mark for special work and service ; this is a kind of presage what he will do with them in time to come. This hint is of use to parents, to observe their children's disposition ; and where there are special endowments, to dispose of them to public work. Much of the duty of parents is seen in provid- ing meet callings for their children, that the man may suit the calling, and the calling the man. Otherwise mischief ariseth; many public ^ifts are smothered, and lie hid in a private employment ; or else mis-
424 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XT. [SeR. LVII.
chief ariseth by invasion of callings, and there is never any quietness ■while that lasteth ; as when elements are out of their place, or a mem- ber of the body is out of joint ; it is as if a man should go about to walk on his hands, or write with his foot. This must be done with much seeking of God, observing their dispositions, and inclina- tions, and natural gifts ; and if it were made a matter of public care, so much the better. Nazianzen, in bis epistles, showeth that this was the practice of the Athenian magistrates, to make public trial of the ingenuity and disposition of children. For want of this there hath been much obtruding of unwortby men into public ministries and offices, dull men, who have been more fit for the plough; and others have been hindered by poverty and want of supply who gave great hopes of eminency in better employments than they were set to.
o. That beauty is a gift of Grod, but not to be rested in, nor to be abused to feed pride. It is a gift of God ; we might have been de- formed by nature, and the crookedness of the soul have been stamped upon the body. It is a good portion which a body brings to a virtuous soul ; beauty is a beam of the majesty of God, it hath a natural magic in it. Absalom gained much by his beauty. There is the greatest cognation and sympatby between the soul and the body. As some forerunning beams foretell day, so beauty is a good presage, but it is not to be rested in. Beauty was a mark of special service in Moses, but not in Elijah. Sometimes the stuff doth not answer the show. It is often joined with folly and filthiness, and other vices. Paul was a little old man. In itself it is one of God's lower blessings, but it is but skin-deep : Prov. xxxi. 30, ' Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain.' It is soon withered with sickness and old age. Well then, let them that excel in gifts of the body look to excel also in gifts of the mind, and then it is a mark of honour ; if you abuse it, you lay your crowns in the dust.
[2.] The internal moving cause — ' And they not afraid of the king's commandment,' that bloody law of destroying their children, — to bid- rayfia rov ^aaiXeo)^, the constitution of the king.
Here are three points —
(1.) Princes must not be obeyed in things contrary to the word of God. Here was SLaTayfia, a commandment of the king, and yet it was disobeyed. We have both doctrine and example for it. Doctrine : Eph. vi. 1, ' Children, obey your parents in the Lord.' We must not obey magistrates simply and absolutely ; that is proper to God, whose will cannot be controlled. Therefore if their edicts be against the law of God, they bind not, for then they would be honoured above God. And examples : Acts iv. 19, ' Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye ; ' he leaveth it with them ; and Acts v. 29, ' Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.' When they forbid what God hath commanded, or command what God hath forbidden, it is a part of religious manners to break with the magistrate rather than God : so Dan. iii. 16-18, ' Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- nego, answered and said unto the king, 0 Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter ; our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver
VeR. 23.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 425
US out of thine hands, 0 king ; but if not, be it known unto thee, 0 king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up/ For, (1.) The magistrate hath not his power from himself, ' he is the minister of God for good/ Rom. xiii. 4. Now the power of the minister or servant is not of force against the master, when he either forbiddeth what Grod hath commanded, or commandeth what God hath forbidden. (2.) He is under authority As the cen- turion that came to Christ said, I am a man of authority, and have others subject to me. Mat. viii. 9 ; so there is a higher than the highest, whose will alone must be observed.