God did him good Noah was a Preacher and no doubt a Liver of Righteousness an Hundred and twenty years To have seen but one Convert a year had been sad but he sees none at the end of Twenty Forty Threescore an Hundred years No pricks of Conscience did them good The Spirit strove for a time Men may roar that never Repent No threats of God do them good when they were told of a Deluge they feared not Yet Man's Nature before Sin was conformable to God's Image his Will to God's Law he was designed to serve God here and enjoy him for ever yet after Sin he is call'd Flesh as if dispirited a Worm as David saith of himself a Dog for without are dogs saith Paul nay a Devil so Christ called not only Judas but Peter when he would hinder him from Suffering Get thee behind me Satan 16. Mat. 23. What Devils are the best and much more the worst for Pride Passion c. Now how little the Quakers regard the Fall is notorious Some make Adam Paradise the Tree of Life Serpent and all an Allegory and laugh at Original Sin and believe all come Sinless Creatures into the world Here is the foundation work this makes Man loathe himself Another thing the Scripture teacheth as necessary to be known and which our Perfectionists will not understand is 2. Man's recovery by a Crucified Christ the Son of God Who so fit as he who was the Son of God by Eternal Generation to be so by his Conception Who so fit to make Man the Son of God by Adoption as he that was the Son of God by Nature Who so fit to be a Mediator that in some respect was so for ever Mr. Ainsworth well observes from 3. Gen. 21. God made of Skins Coats and cloathed our first parents That this represented Man's being cloathed by the imputed Righteousness of Jesus for saith he their Cloathing was not of the Skins of Beasts eaten for no Beasts were for food till the time of Noah's Deluge was over 9. Gen. 3. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you even as the green herb have I given you all things Nor yet of Beasts that died of themselves for there was a Ceremonious work of Sacrificing as did Cain and Abel therefore it was saith he of Beasts Sacrificed which were Types of Christ's As Men be Redeemed by the Blood of Christ so are they cloathed by his Righteousness Bishop Hall in his excellent savory Paraphrase thinks this is the sense of the words of Solomon in the Book of Canticles 8. Can. 5. I raised thee up from under the apple-tree there thy mother brought thee forth there she brought thee forth that bare thee as Christ speaking thus to the Spouse O my spouse I raised thee up from under the tree of offence there Eve brought thee forth under the curse she brought thee forth that bare thee Now Mr. Cotton observes when the Church commends Christ She commends his hands but when Christ commends the Church he commends not her hands Canticles chap. 4. and 5. Man is Justified by Christ's Obedience not his own Now Paul preached a Crucified Christ to all the Gentiles idolatrous and prophane Gentiles But when do any Quakers hear any thing of this in their Christless Assemblies God the Father chose some from everlasting gave them to Christ to be Redeemed to the Spirit to be Sanctified else we cannot as some observe talk of a Predestination but may of a Postdestination if Men be Saved on foreseen Holiness 2 Ephes 5 6. By grace are ye saved and are made to sit down in heavenly places in Christ Jesus The Church is the lower Heaven they above and they below make one Family in whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named saith Paul As the Kitchin below and best Room above Christ may say to every Believer as Pharoah's Daughter of Moses I drew him out of the waters Justice placed us all at the mouth of Ruine the Son of God as the Daughter of Pharoah comes and hath Compassion Without understanding Salvation by Christ there is no hope They that reject the outward Crucified Christ reject life Now they once took all in a Mystery an inward Christ was inwardly Crucified This is saith Penn and Whitebread The Lamb slain the Light within opposed by the Sons of Men. 2. Another thing the Scriptures shew is the way God and Christ have appointed to Salvation so we call the Scripture the word of God Christ is seldom so call'd 1 John 1.19 Rev. 13. The Word was God His Name is called the Word of God Why He declareth the Mind and Word of God to men but 30. Proverbs 5 6. Add thou not to his word What is that to Christ You received our testimony not as the word of man but as it is indeed the word of God saith Paul If they are called Gods to whom the word of God came and the Scriptures cannot be broken said Christ You read of them that corrupt the word of God What did they corrupt Christ The Quakers have thousands of times cursed them that call the Scriptures the word of God Heathens could not find out the way to life by any Light within but by Scripture-Revelation Many Atheists and Quakers object against it though now some more sober Some object Moses 1 Gen. 16. makes the Moon greater than the Stars which all Astrologers know to be so only in appearance What an unnecessary noise do some Divines make to answer this to tell what it is Subjectively what it is Objectively Doth Moses say he made the two greater Bodies the Sun to rule the Day the Moon to rule the Night No Now though a Star is a greater Body than the Moon yet the Moon is a greater Light sure So 9. Acts 7. it is said They that were with Paul heard a voice but saw no man yet in the 22. Acts 9. They that were with me saw indeed the light but heard not the voice of him that spake There is an Inarticulate and an Articulate sound or voice they heard the sound but not the voice not the sense spoken How do some triumph in such trifles If any Learned Men be perplexed about things of this nature let them read Searphius his Symphonia If any Unlearned Man be let him read a Book call'd The dividing of the Hoof both which Books have done this work incomparably well of reconciling seeming contradictions in Scripture Our Perfectionists care not to direct their Children to Scripture Consider how the Old Testament ends and the New begins I have sometimes pleased my self not a little with this Meditation Mal. 1.4 5. what a Prophecy is here of Christ and John Baptist and it is a good Providence that the Jews though in unbelief never added any thing to the Cannon of Scripture since none comes now to tell them how large read Isaiah 53. and the Gospel May not he well be call'd the Evangelical Prophet If you be
our selves more than him Thus he that pretends to exalt the Love of God hath debased it above all men I hope some learned Bishop or Clergy-man will soon take this conceited Man and cut him up and send him to the Tribes in Israel with a see consider and speak your minds who hath asserted that the Quakers Cause calls for their most Learned Pens and they may triumph in the Victory if they get it The Quakers ignorance discovers it self on all occasions G. Fox would call Preachers Conjurers But to do him right he was none as all know that read his Books or heard him talk George Whitehead that hath writ so much is a Notorious Dunce as proved before Mr. Speed Mr. Vickris of Bristol never speak among them who are Men of Parts and Sense I will imitate the Quakers way of speaking and judge what if you heard such stuff as this though sometimes better in their greater Meetings where contrary to their first Principles many of them forbid Womens speaking or the speaking of Nonsensical Fools that talk at this or the like rate Frunds I am moved by the to speak unto you though I know not what I shall say Noah was a Perfect Man yet some say Men cannot be Perfect or without Sin yet Noah was so and his Son Cham was Cursed for uncovering his Father's nakedness when drunk Judas was the Traytor and bore the Bag and cared not for the Poor It is said he that taketh Kirjah Sepher Now that is the Spirit of the Book Now look Fruâ—ds the Heart is the Book and the Spirit is the Light within It is said indeed I forbid a Woman to speak in the Church but the Priests are in the dark mind and understand it not by the Woman is meant the Flesh and by the Husband is meant the Devil but they in the Witchcraft cannot see it but I say look to the Light within you Frunds If you have motions to a Woman and do not do the act or desire to take another Man's goods and do not do it you Sin not Mary Fisher had leave from the Lord to go froâ— New-England to save her life when otherâ— had not Now they used carnal Weaponâ— Paul said These hands have ministred to â— necessities And whatsoever doth makâ— manifest is Light Now we abhor thâ— Papist Transubsistation and Infannibility and many things be taken figuratelâ— When I shoed a Horse the other day thâ— Horse went the better so you if you loâ—â— to the Light within you ah the pure Lighâ— The Priests use Heathenish words such aâ— be not in Scripture as Sacrament c. Thâ— word of the is come upon mâ— I am to read a Letter from Friend F. oâ— P. though we read not Scripture thâ— was of old yet we may what comes froâ— the pure streams One came to me 〈◊〉 know where John Steeplehouseman dwelâ— whom he prophanely call'd Mr. Churâ—â— man but I bid him defiance for Woâ—shipping the Beast They say if you 〈◊〉 Persecuted from one City flee to anothâ—â— But these Hell-hounds understand noâ— they be Baals Priests Hirelings a Geneâ—tion of Vipers for it is revealed unto 〈◊〉 Flee to another is to the City Heaveâ— O Frunds flee there flee there Frund There is none that doeth good they say 〈◊〉 not one but David said after O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Sion The Priests say this world shall in time end but they be in the dark and make Solomon a Lyar who sayeth yea he sayeth One generation passeth away and another cometh but the earth abideth for ever now mark Frunds what abides for ever shall never end but they be Sorcerers Wolves in Sheeps cloathing They say That when the outward fleshly Christ was Crucified the vale of the Temple was rent in twain and the Rocks rent and the Graves were opened But they be blind Guides that lead the blind and so both fall into the Ditch I am moved to tell you Frunds and now the two thumbs must be put against the Breasts that this is meant Mens Hearts were torn Hearts as hard as Rocks what think you Doth the Scripture tell you of outward Temples and outward Books Do not Fâ—unds strike any one after the manner of Men for Paul saith Lay hands suddenly on no man The world is angry if we Honour them not by putting off our upper Covering and say Thee to them but abide you in the Light c. They talk much of Paul's Epistles But what do they tell us of the Epistles of Apostatizing Jews And they talk of Abraham's Faith we must be better than they in their day They telâ— us what David and what the Apostles did 〈◊〉 but being led by Example hath undonâ— the world Now my Frunds the People of God of old were Quakers Moseâ— was a Quaker for he said I exceedingly quake and fear and Habakkuk was a Quaker for his lips quivered yea they were all Quakers for they taught Righteousness which is the very Principle of the Quakers yea I say so do the Quakers sayâ— Now the world saith That the Body of Christ is gone to Heaven but it turned to the dust They say the Scriptures be Gold's Word but they lie they be dirt Serpent's meat some Frunds threw their Bibles into the fire and they perished and therefore are not God's word Frunds It is often said and truly the Scriptureâ— and the Body of Christ be the Two great Harlots that have deceived the world many things in Scripture are evil in onâ— place Circumcision is commanded in another place forbidden c. That such and worse Speeches have been made in thousands of their Assemblies 〈◊〉 doubt not and I am ready to give an account of the things as their assertions that I have read in their Books or heard in hearing them or talking with them Because many are decoyed by the Quakers mode of Speaking as most agreeable to Scripture as Thou to a Single Person not you which word we use Thou not You to God I will consider it We are no more bound to Scripture modes of communication than to Scripture dresses and because many many weak ones are deceived by these specious pretences I will plead this case Bildad said to Job only 18. Job 1 2 3. How long will it be ere You make an end of words How long shall we appear vile in your sight for be teareth Why may I not say You to one as well as Thou to many When God delivered the Law on Mount Sinai Thou shalt not kill Spoke he not to Thousands We borrow this from the French Vouz for they have no other word to a single Person we took You from it We despise not the word Thee to a King as they often say in all cases he that Marrieth him to his Queen saith Wilt thou have this Woman He that gives him the Lords Supper saith The Body of Christ given for Thee preserve thy Body and Soul What if men agree such a word
Papist and a Quaker The Doctrine of Perfection or a Sinless State began among the Pharisees who thought mental sins nothing therefore Christ reproves them convinceth them that a Wrathful thought is Murther an Unchast thought Adultery a Covetous thought Theft for these are contrary to the Divine Law and stain the Heart of Man The greatest wickedness that ever was acted by the most Profligate man in the world was at first but a Thought and his greatest sin virtually therein The greatest Oak was once no bigger than an Acorn the Fire that Burnt London but a Spark I trouble not the Reader with the usual distinctions among the Learned of a Perfection of Parts and a Perfection of Degrees Not that I think them unuseful but not so intelligible to all Capacities He sinneth in his highest acts of Love to God that cannot say I love God so well it is not my duty to love him more neither have I reason to bewail the want of it So I might enlarge about Time Prayer c. Now as this Doctrine began among the Hypocritical Hereticks in the Church of the Jews so it was taken up by such in the Church of Rome and carried on by such in the Protestant Church I affirm and am able to prove it The Quakers borrowed their Expositions and Arguments out of Popish Authors Let any man compare Kellison the Jesuit his Survey of the New Religion and Barclay's Apologia pro Theologia vere Christiana together and speak his mind in this point I could never get any of our Perfectionists for so I often call them as detesting them for this worst of Doctrines to Answer this first Question They desire no Pardon of God for any Imperfection in the end of a Day For fear I think God should take them at their word few of them now pretend to it or talk so much of it for fear it may be they should be laught at so many living and conversing with them see so much pride passion unfair dealing neglect of all Family and secret Duties I remember one of Bristol a Scholar who tells us in Print his outward name was Lawrence Steel a Novice lifted up with Pride and so fell info the Condemnation of the Devil he once said to the Reverend Mr. Fairclough of that City Not that I am Perfect would I were yet going on in Disputing or rather Prating he urged that much mistaken and abused place He that committeth sin is of the devil then you are so said Mr. Fairclough to him on your own confession according to the wrong gloss you give of the words Instead of an argument for an answer he fell into an angry fit and so into angry words Question 2. Whether George Bishop of the City of Bristol a Scholar writing a Book call'd A Looking-Glass for the Times was not a most deceitful Writer though then their grand Champion He saith in the Title page That the quakers were most like to the ancient Christians as was proved in the Book out of Eusebius Socrates Scholastieus Evagrius and Dorotheus Yet in the Folio is so far from such a proof that he doth not attempt it But to do him right he gives a true account out of those Authors but such a description of Ordination by Laying on of Hands Singing of Psalms Swearing against the Arians and all other things that prove them to be altogether unlike the Quakers and like us It is true by the ble in a few leaves he speaks of Jerom and it may be some others who were against taking of Oaths which if true is not material for I knew one worthy Minister against it and some private Christians and would to God this were all the Controversie between us and our Perfectionists The Book cur'd me of the temptation which I confess induc'd me to read it Tell me Was there ever such a cheat since Writing or Printing were known in the world Did he think we would look no further than the Title Page and take his word for all the rest One of these Books for this rare admirable Discovery was sent to every Doctor in the University in my time which was twenty seven year since for their Conviction and Edification If any say the Quakers were like them for Sufferings so were the Protestants much more in Queen Mary's days the Papist in Queen Elizabeth's days the Nonconformists in the Reign of King Charles the Second that Papist in Masquerade as he confessed on his Death-bed No he pretends likewise in Principles and Practice Since the Reading of his Book I could never think of the Author without great detestation as the greatest piece of Falshood and Impudence that ever appear'd in the world Yet our Perfectionists never testified against this man have call'd me a Persecutor for thus telling the truth I could name other Quakerish Writers of History but will not Question 3. Whether the Quakers in the time of the violent Proceedings against Dissenters begun about almost Fifteen years since and continued about Five years leaving the Places of their Publick Worship for fear of Confiscation of Goods Imprisonment or Banishment were not either Notorious Impostors or Notorious Apostates acting on our Principles after the severest Censure of them They have asserted in many many many of their printed Books Speakings and private Conference That it was unlawful for any to leave the Place of their Publick Worship for any Persecution whatever That they were moved by the Holy Spirit sent by the Ever-living God to testify to us in the Name of the Lord That we were Hypocrites Carnal Persons Lovers of the World more than of God for not appearing openly So Pen and others Though we declared we so far were from thinking such an open Appearance to as they phrase it bear our Testimony to be Duty that it was Folly Either say I when they themselves lest their Meetings which they generally did all England over where the then Rage was fiery and burning their Minds were changed about this thing or not If they were not they were Notorious Apostates to live in the sinful omission of open Duties so many years as many did going up and down about their business till not Conscience but King James's illegal deceitful Toleration brought them to those Places again They observ'd not their own Message from God to us And if we through ignorance must be damned they much more for acting against their Light and that after thousands of Protestations to God and man of the contrary If their Minds were changed as Richard Vicarr confessed privately to me he believed they were then were they Notorious Impostors to bring us a Message from the Devil in the Name of the Lord. Then have they blasphemed the Name of the Eternal God and belied the Holy Ghost Then have they defamed slandered the Generation of the Righteous and reprobated and damned them for an innocent lawful justifiable Action Know Reader that we ever asserted That it was lawful to flee in a
there is no Name given under Heaven by which men can be saved but the Name of Jesus There is no Salvation in any other Acts 4.12 If it be asked Why I am sometimes Comical and Reflect so severely on some of their Leaders I answer Quacks and Jugglers and foolish Pretenders to any thing are not to be treated as wise and sober men Answer says the Wisest of Men a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own conceit Prov. 26.25 Says the serious Worshipper at Mount Carmel that approached the Altar of God with all imaginable Reverence and not as a Stage player when he saw the Priests of Baal seemingly most devout cut themselves and leap upon the Altar Cry aloud 1 Kings 18.27 either he is talking or in a journey or sleepeth and must be awaked A goodly God! For my severe Reflections on some Men I lived nigh them knew them well they were some of the great Advocates for their Cause talk'd of all England over for their Zeal among the Quakers who spared not the most Learned Religious Ministers and People in the world for want of self-denial which little appeared in the Accusers for leaving the Places of their open Meetings the Ministers were Hirelings 10. John 12 13. who did flee when the wolf came that cared not for the sheep and that because the sheep were not their own As if to flee from a Place were to flee from an Office And after they had call'd them and the People Hypocrites Children of the Devil Haters of Christ Lovers of the World that should be damned for ever for this their great open Sin and Wickedness they did the same thing themselves when their Fund failed Either what I have Charged them with is True or False if it be False let me be accounted the greatest Defamer upon Earth a Persecutor or what they please If it be true as I call Heaven and Earth to Record it is and can justifie the Charge before God and Man I do say it on mature Consideration and with great Composure of Mind That Pen and the Quakers are Impostors or Apostates Know Reader I have made no use of Books nor Men to help me in this Work tho it is said by some it were impossible I could thus describe them without help from some Man that had been a Quaker I have not troubled you with some stories of Quakers upon common fame though I doubt not the truth of them yet cannot prove them if required as that one Friend came to another and said The Lord hath sent me to thee to tell thee thou must lend me Twenty pound It was a lying Spirit sent thee said the other for the Lord knows I am not worth half the Money Neither have I troubled you with their denying such a sense of Scripture when writing against us and asserting the same sense to serve their own turn and all from one and the same Infallible Spirit Penn is a notorious instance who in a Book call'd Judas and the Jews said on those words Tell the Church 18. Matt. 17. That the Church was to judge of matters of wrong between Man and Man but not of Faith or Conscience yet in another Book to all Protestants asserts The Church had Power about matters of Faith and Conscience when he pleaded for the Church-Quakers Nor much of what I have read of some of them many y s since I remember in the time of a long continued Drought about Twenty year since when many fear'd and talk'd of a Famine out comes Fox and tells us What reason we had to expect a Famine That before the Plague he saâ— the Angel of the Lord with a drawn Sword over the Court. See the Cheat. Rain soon pour'd down You false Prophets tell us your Prophecies before not after their accomplishment I must recommend to you the aforementioned Book The Snake in the Grass If you are Dissenters pardon some warm passages proceeding from intemperate Zeal for Bishops and Liturgies In the Book may you be informed of The Authority of the Church-Quakers for so Penn's Faction are call'd who often Assemble at London and assume to themselves power over the Light within especially in the Separate Quakers for so are the Followers of George Keith call'd a Scholar once Master of Arts who owns Faith in an outward Christ crucified him that died at Jerusalem The Resurrection of the Body Defects to be bewail'd The insufficiency of the Light within without Scripture and speaks favourably of Baptism and the Supper All this George Keith hath printed and told me He proves George Fox their Great Apostle to be a Blasphemer and impostor That he said before some Governors That he said he was equal with God and Judge of the world He receiv'd the Title and Worship of Christ from many who lay prostrate before him he smoothing them on the face and blessing them So did Sabbata Sevi his deluded Followers and Nathan the Prophet in the Year 1666. till he turned Turk to save his Neck Penn pleads for this Fox attributes his abuse of many Terms to his Ignorance What! and yet inspired and sent of God! That he call'd on the Army to fight against Rome and the Turks That Balaam must be slain and all the Hirelings turn'd out of the Kingdom He bad them pull down Mass-houses and Colleges Give the Priests Blood to drink for they are worthy said Burroughs The Blasphemy of many of their Leaders who said they were as holy as God not only in quality but equality and that the preternatural distortions of their Bodies and their Quakings at first were of the Devil Though the Numen that then inspired them hath now left them Though Solomon Eccles a Quaker before the Fire of London went up and down with a Pan of burning Coals yet he was proved to be a false Prophet in other things That the Quakers moved not their Goods believing it was a Delusion and knowing that almost every Week one Quaker or another would go up and down the Streets in London and cry Thus saith the Lord Fire Pestilence Sword c. And if Solomon Eccles prophecied of the Burning of the City all know so did Oliver's Porter That Muggleton hath his Prophecies too to be printed How soon Josiah Coal died after he testified against him That Muggleton a Taylor and Fox a Shoemaker set up for Inspired Persons together Though Fox at first condemned all outward teaching by Man till he had gotten men from the Ministry then he set up Preaching but Muggleton doth not but keeps to the old Principle He saith The Father to whom Christ pray'd was Elijah who governed in Heaven when Christ was on Earth because in his absence there was no God there And such Blasphemous stuff They pretended to the Spirit of discerning Persons and Things and could tell what Men were on the sight of them They now Damn one another the Muggletonians and Quakers call one another Sorcerers Serpents and say
stumbled regard it not As now How often is it objected That the Jews borrowed of the Egyptians Jewels of Silver and Jewels of Gold with an intent never to pay them and one gives one answer God bade them another another they had abused the Jews For my part I think the matter is clear they gave them for as the Jews borrowed so the Egyptians lent now did they think when God by a mighty Hand brought them out of Egypt they should see the Men more no nor the Jewels neither How often have I seen others mock 4. Matt. 8.9 The Devil took Christ on a high mountain to shew him the kingdoms of the world Why I hope the higher the Mountain was the more he might see and how high he was lifted up above the Mountain who can tell Divines say there was a Map and Idea of all to Christ Hobs himself in his Leviathan seems not to be scandalized here take his Opinion rather than blaspheme That all was done Visionary Many places in the Old Testament mentioned in the New are carried from their primary intention to a secondary one Out of Egypt have I call'd my Son 11. Hos 1.2 Matt. 15. is clear 8. Psalm 4. What is man is true of all though carried in a high sense of Christ And because some cannot be persuaded but that of the Prophet Isaith A Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son 7. Isa 14. was of the Prophetess to whom Isaiah went who bare a Son one that was a Virgin when Isaiah made the Prophecy might not be so after They say That what was true in sensu diviso of that Prophetess was in sensu composito of the Virgin Mary a Maid and Mother at the same time as the Prophetess in a different time If this be yeilded I know not but some are sooner and more fairly silenced I will not tell my thoughts if any conjecture they shall but conjecture Now the Scripture direct about matters of Faith and matters of Practice without which we should not know the one or the other Direction 2. Timely instruct your Children and endeavour to transmit Religion from Family to Family Do your Children love History What is better than that of Joseph and his Brethren of Esther Haman and Mordecai and Ahasuerus The Creation of the world Fall of Man Call of Abraham Plagues of Egypt Contract some things in hints and Books in Verses English ones such there are others in Latin as the Ten Plagues of Egypt are express'd in four Verses Fit cruor ex undis conspurcant omnia vanae Dat pulvis cimices postea musca venit Dein pectu post ulcera grando locusta tenebrae Tandem proto tocos ultima plaga necat Convince them of their natural state you may say 9. John 20. That this is our son we know and that he was born blind we know blind in Spirituals Look well to their Company Mr. White adviseth Parents to invite sober Lads to their House and make them their Childrens Companions He that walketh with the wise shall be wise a companion of fools shall be destroyed saith Solomon Above all duties teach them secret Prayer 6. Matt. 6. shew them the necessity benefit sweetness of this this gives life to all other duties Talk most against the Sins they be inclined to Pride Passion Idleness Stealing taking God's Name in Vain c. Allow them convenient time for Diversions and Recreations Look well they be such as for nature are Lawful for time Seasonable for use Moderate Avoid Plays suspiciously Evil. Mr. Perkins condemns in his Cases of Conscience Playing at Cards as an Evil in it self Dr. Taylor in his Ductor Dubitantium doth not so yet doth disswade from the use of them You will at a full Table let alone a suspicious Dish not proper for you when many safe ones Plays are lawful and the matter of God's Promise The Quakers have condemned all as well as Family Prayer and other Duties How feebly doth Robert Barclay the great Quaker in his Apology write against playing at Bowls and Nine-pins we have Bodies as well as Souls 8. Zech. 5. The streets shall be full of boys and girls playing Paul took delight to think of the Family Timothy came from 2 Tim. 1.5 When I call to mind the unfeigned faith which first dwelt in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice and I am persuaded that in thee also Not the same numerical Faith which could not be without a Transmigration of Souls but specifical like for kind Qui studes patrimonio terrestri magni quam caelesti filios tuos commendas Diabolo magis quam Christo I remember Cyprian somewhere says Pray consider he that minds his Child's Body more than his Soul is like one that if Child and Dog were like to he drowned should take care to save the Dog but let the Child be drowned To make your Childrens lives Religious is to make your own comfortable Let the Spirit teach my Children I will not say some Perfectionists If you will not an evil Spirit you see early doth Catechise them often and well Direction 3. Endeavour to retain what you hear or read to confirm your Faith against all unsound Doctrines Pray to God for good Heads and Memories as well as for good Hearts and Affections many are turn'd to and fro with every wind of Doctrine Many take want of Memory to be only their infelicity which I say is their fault To help you here take these Directions 1. Mind the chief word in a sentence direction story or comparison on which all depends revolve that in your mind over and over 2. Chuse some good Companions whose good Memories may help your bad ones ask them what they remember tell them what you do Thus let one hand rub another till both be warm 3. Write down if you can what most concerns you you do so in other things Debts Directions for Distempers New Affections many years hence will make old things heard new 4. Beware of Meats and Drinks for Quantity or Quality that indispose you to dullness in hearing 5. In the close of a Sabbath and in the opening of the next day in your Beds repeat what you are willing to retain in your mind 6. Use some mark with a Pen or Pencil in reading excellent Books where you are most willing to remember O what a shame it is for Men to remember every thing except what they should can tell all the News going long stories of Contentions or Pastimes but what is said to strengthen Faith they have forgot here Fuller in his Meditations says thus I heard a merry story long since and that I remember I heard a good Sermon lately and that I have forgotten thus Lord is my Memory like a filthy pond where Frogs live and good Fish dye Mind these Directions so may you give an account of the reason of the Hope in you so may you convince Gainsayers so may you be kept in an hour of Temptation for Heresies