Epistles excepting those only to particular Persons are written to the Holy Brethren To the Churches of God that are sanctified in Jesus Christ And to all that call upon the Name of the Lord Jesus And hereupon we may discern as in a late Book hath been well discoursed that the Holy Scriptures are as it were a Trust committed to every Christian and he is to be so true to his charge as by no means to part with it Yea these Sacred Writings are our Lord's Will and Testament by which a Man becomes an Heir through Jesus Christ And if so then He that is Heir of an Estate hath surely no less right to the Conveyances that make over the Estate than he hath to the Estate itself And therefore if in common Estates upon Earth it will be every Man's Prudence to secure to himself the Deeds upon which the Estates depend In this Heavenly Inheritance it will be every Man 's not Prudence only but Duty to preserve to himself the Writings that conveigh it The reason is because though a Man may without blame somtimes part with an Inheritance on Earth yet with That in Heaven he cannot without the Imputation of Folly and Wickedness and even the exposing of his own Soul to Sale and Servitude The Pleadings of some Men viz. That the permitting the Scriptures to be in the Hands of the common People is the cause of Schisms and Heresies would have more weight with it if in the Ages most fruitful of Schisms and Heresies the Learned had not had therein as great a share as not to say a greater than any others and if where the Vulgar have of late in this matter seem'd most guilty we had not too much reason to believe That even Those who most complain of them have by their secret Emissaries seduced them on purpose into Errors and divided them into Parties when otherwise they would have walked in straiter Paths and been more at Unity amongst themselves But though there hath been by some an ill use made of the Scriptures yet God to whom These Things long before were not hid thought them not reason enough for hindring the Writing of his Will or for the withholding it when written from the Hands of any And his Goodness and Wisdom is herein manifested in that the ill effects which would have proceeded from the not writing his Laws or the denying them to the Eye of the Vulgar would in all probability have been far more and greater than from the contrary And the good effects of their being written and allow'd to the use of all Men are by the blessing of God much greater than the bad Consequences now are Theoph. Inferr'd also may be the Reasonableness that these Laws should endure without Abrogation or Change so long as the World shall stand The Gospel is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Everlasting Gospel Rev. 14.6 Such as never shall cease nor be as to the Laws of it in any case Repeal'd And upon this account it is that the Time from our Lord's Ascension to the End of the World or his Coming to Judgment is called the Last Days in Holy Writ A great many years indeed have passed since these Laws were given by our Lord and a great many more possibly may pass before the Dissolution of the World shall be but yet these are the Last Days because we are not to expect another Dispension nor another Lawgiver For it is He that will be with us in his Laws and by his Spirit unto the End of the World. Better Laws cannot be given None can Imagine how there should be any Other more sutable to Infinite Holiness Justice and Goodness in Him that gives them or more agreeable to the Nature and Soul of Men to whom they are given And so if the Gospel wherein these Laws are be called Everlasting if the Time that shall be to the End of the World together with that which hath already been since these Laws were given hath the Appellation of the Last Days upon the account that a further Declaration of God's Will is not to be expected we from our foregoing Discourse may easily perceive that abundant Reason there is why it so should be And whosoever they be that shall make the Breach of any of the Divine Laws either to be none or a less fault now than in former Ages it was under a Pretence that our Nature groweth weaker every Day than other and must therefore have its Allowances in Disobedience for so they seem too plainly to affirm who say Hodie pro fornicatione neminem esse deponendum quia fragiliora sunt nostra Corpora quà m olim erant Distinct 82 in Gloss do fouly reflect upon our Lawgivers perpetual institution and make those Sacred Precepts which should govern the evil Inclinations of Men to be in effect over-ruled by them which is a thing so extreamly ill that the World must be weak indeed when it is not odious to a Religious Ear. Eubul Your Inferences Theophilus are Right and I cannot at present think of another But that must not hinder your further going on with them Theoph. I have done what I promised following every one of yours with another But if you have made an end your ceasing is my excuse and may well be so Eubul To draw then to a Conclusion of this our Subject I hope in the Consideration of the Divine Laws we have not exceeded the bounds of our Duty by inquiring further than we ought to do Theoph. I think I justly may absolve you from any such fault now committed For though it be a fault over-curiously to pry into the Laws of our Lord as if all the Reasons of them were to be understood by us and though where we do not understand many things in Relation to them we are to acquiesce by persuading ourselves that they are in every respect Holy and Just yet where the reasons of them lie open to view or at least by an Humble and Devout search into them may easily be found out there it will be well-becoming us and no more than Duty to look into them That the Excellences of them may be discern'd by us and that our Love of them and Gods Glory from them may be the more raised and magnified And indeed Eubulus in all your words I have perceived nothing but what is agreeable to so humble a search and so pious an end And I acknowledge myself as much edified thereby so likewise much obliged to you Eubul The Design of our Discourse hath been good And that I trust will cast a Vail upon what Defects soever may have been in it And if it hath administred to your Satisfaction or in the Apostle's words but stirr'd up your pure Mind by way of Remembrance I shall account its doing so to be sufficiently my Reward A good Work it would be Theophilus if upon occasion we could prevail abroad for a due esteem and love of these sacred Laws Men are apt to
Box of Ointment on the Head of our Lord That wheresoever the Gospel should be preached in the whole World there also should this that this woman hath done be told for a memorial of her Mat. 26.13 In the same manner are the good Actions of Holy Men preserved in the Scripture that they may be told as a Memorial of them wheresoever these Sacred Writings shall come and so long as they shall last which shall be to the End of the World. Moses shall for ever be celebrated who refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh 's Daughter choosing rather to suffer Afflictions with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season Abraham's Faith shall never cease to be praised till Faith itself shall cease and be turned into Vision Gideon Barak Sampson Jephtha David also and Samuel and all the Prophets and Apostles shall for their faithful Deeds be had in Everlasting Remembrance Such Honour have all God's Saints And though they be happy in the enjoyment of the Recompence of Reward and may seem not to need any of that praise which Earth can give yet surely it cannot but be esteemed an high Favor from God unto them while they are Blessed in Heaven to be Honourable on Earth and Celebrated themselves here while they are praising God there Had we ourselves Theophilus no use and benefit from these examples yet their being Registred as an Honour to the Persons that lived so well is sufficient reason for their being written Though truly in this their Honour we may reap a great deal of satisfaction For those Righteous Actions which God hath so much honoured Them for we may justly conclude He will be well pleased with in Vs Since He is no Respecter of Persons in every Nation he that feareth Him and worketh Righteousness being accepted with him 'T is true indeed we cannot expect that God will give Divine Authority to any more Books than the Bible and write our Names in them But He hath other ways of Rewarding Holy Livers on Earth besides enrolling them in a Sacred Volume that shall last as long as the World. He can give us Honour and Prosperity while we Live and can Embalm us also in a lasting Name when we are dead And though he should not do this yet we read of another Book of God in which the Names and all the good Actions of Faithful Men are recorded and which at the last day will be opened when every man shall receive according to his works The Righteous Deeds of Holy Men being preserved in the Books of Scripture may put us in mind of this other Book And the Honour which they have of being never forgotten in this world encourageth us to the like Holy and Just Actions that we may be remembred in the world to come Theoph. God grant we may at last be remembred there and then I shall little care though the same Earth that covers my Body bury my Memory also Though yet the Honour of Living in Sacred Writings after Death and of being made instrumental to other Mens virtuous Deeds and to the more comely performing of them I acknowledge to be very great And since God is pleased to make a Good Name and the Being for Ages Exemplary to be a Reward of a well-led Life I will not blame Those why by rightly ordering their Lives have an Eye to such a Reward Eubul I am sure we have a great deal of Reason to account it a Blessing that we have had so many patterns of Virtue set us by which we are the better capacitated for being Happy ourselves and being also Examples unto others The Faith indeed of Abraham is thought by some to have been the more excellent and even to have given him the Name of the Father of the Faithful upon the account that he had no precedent Example of any ones Believing in God He dwelling in Vr of the Chaldees where they were all Idolaters But supposing this were so and that therefore our Faith cannot have the accomplishment of Father Abrahams because we have Him and many Others our Examples Yet our Condition in our Faith is much the more sure unto us than it would have been if we had had none in whose steps we might tread For who of us would have done as Abraham did We may therefore praise God in that he hath caused us to be Born into the World after so many excellent Persons whose Examples may direct us further than of our Selves we could have gone And albeit we shall not have the Honour to receive others into our Bosome when in Heaven as Abraham doth yet if we can the more easily have a place in his and be our Selves in some measure Leaders of other Men thither we shall have no reason to complain of any want of Happiness but a great deal of cause to rejoyce that the way to Heaven was made so plain and that we had so many encouragements in it not to faint And with reference unto this The Church hath piously ordered that we should bless Gods H. Name for all his Servants departed this Life in his Faith and Fear Beseeching him to give us Grace so to follow their Examples that with Them we may be partakers of his Heavenly Kingdom Theoph. A great Esteem and Love Eubulus we may have for the Examples of Holy Men but it must at last End in the Esteem and Love of the Laws of Christ which include in them all the Good that the best Examples of Men ever have shewn or can shew Eubulus It must so Theophilus For all those actions of Men and Women famous in their Generations The Practice of Righteousness and Mercy of Munificence and Liberality of Temperance and Sobriety of unfeigned Devotion and Piety towards God all of which every Man hath a Tongue to praise are but imperfect draughts of these Holy Laws I say imperfect Draughts Because no Man our Blessed Lord alone excepted hath ever yet risen to that height of Excellence which they require Very pleasing they are as they are represented in the Lives of Good Men though they there are not unlike a Beautiful Face drawn to great disadvantage and with many unbecoming Shades But could we see them without failure exprest in the demeanor of any Man and had Eyes clear enough to behold them we should confess that they were a Sight too good for Earth However in the commendable actions of Men with the imperfections of Mortality if we would but reflect thus to wit The Constancy of that Man is a pleasant thing to behold The Righteousness of this Man is truely Comely Mercy and Goodness here is a real Ornament to the Actor Friendship and Kindness there How amiable are they The Flourishing of Society in Peace and Industry and all publick Virtues The Affections and Tenderness of Parents The Submission and Dutifulness of Children The Dwelling of Brethren together in Unity And the Affability and Usefulness of Neighbors to each
Law properly so called but in the Psalms And I doubt not but as the Psalms are called in a larger Sense Gods Law so our Psalmists in these words O how I love thy Law meaneth all that God by Divine Inspiration hath caused to be written as well as the Law taken in the strictest signification Theoph. Give me leave to tell you that I look not upon you to have done your task throughly unless you deal with the other Parts of Holy Scripture as you have done with that which is properly Preceptive Eubul There is the less need of this because if That be excellent and amiable in relation to us the rest of the Bible as being in order unto and promotive of the Precepts there for so in reality it is must be Excellent and Amiable likewise whether it be Historical or Prophetick Adhortative or Devotional and to one or other of these all except what we have already discours'd of or at least the most of what the Sacred Writings include is reducible Theoph. If you would be a little particular herein you would seem to me not to exceed the Bounds of your Discourse Good Eubulus begin with the Historical part of the Bible which for the great things it containeth and the Faithful account which it giveth doth when ever I read it afford me very great satisfaction Eubul That the accounts of things are Faithful and Written with a design of Truth the Holy Writers not sparing themselves but putting down their own faults as several of them in several places do is a very great Evidence Such an Integrity cannot but be Loved where from Historians having less respect to their own Reputation than to the verity of things a Man may be as well satisfied in his knowledge of the most Ancient Times as he is in those which he Lives in and sees with his Eyes Yea such History may much the more engage his Love when it gives him not merely the knowledge of the first Times but such a knowledge as to a good Man puts a Relish into All Times and will make the years pass more gratefully to the End of the World. Look we Theophilus upon the account of the Creation of the World which we may be certain was Written by Gods Immediate Appointment and Inspiration for the exciting a due Fear and Love of Him i. e. an Obedience to his Laws and what Delight may we not conceive therefrom While the Wise Men of the World have in vain sought how this goodly Fabrick of the Heaven and Earth came to be such as it is some of them affirming it to be from all Eternity the same which we now see it others determining it to be from a lucky hit of Matter casually coming together into this Beauteous Form We amidst their Errors can pity them and the more enjoy the Truth from the Ignorance and Darkness which these Searchers have been in But as the knowledge of a Truth which they could not reach unto may upon that score be prized by us so we may intermingle the greatest Love with our Esteem of it because it gives us such a firm support throughout our Lives God who Created the World did it not more to manifest his Power than to express his Goodness unto Men whom he made to enjoy it and to be served by all things in it And how Cold and Vnaffecting are the Other Opinions in respect of this Truth Were the World such as it now is from all Eternity altogether without a Deity or with no Relation unto one which is the opinion of some Atheistical Men it could not give us the pleasure of thinking that it was the effect of Divine Power and Love to us Nay were it Eternal by a necessary Efflux from the Goodness of a Deity which could not refrain from the thus exerting itself as the Platonists hold where would be the Favour For that which cannot possibly be otherwise layeth no Obligation upon us And should the World have risen merely by Chance as the Epicureans would have it there would this way also have been the Total absence of Kindness For what hath Chance to do with Kindness whose perfection it is to have the Understanding and Will along with it But now in the History of the Worlds Beginning we can behold the Love and Beneficence of the Great Creator and with Pleasure can Contemplate Him who makes his Goodness to be seen in every thing though Himself be Invisible So great a Priviledge is it to have the World founded in the Divine Power Wisdom and Love that one who knows those things and is a Virtuous Person would not for a World that the World should be without them The Light would be a less pleasant thing to behold should it not have been from Him who is the Fountain of Light. And what pleasure would the Heavenly Bodies whether those which we term fixed or those which as Cicero speaks are Vocabulo nonâ—e errantia Planets not in reality but word only afford by their Motion and Influence were it not from the Creators Order that they thus Move from his Care of us that they thus shed their Influence Could we not say also concerning these Earthly Things That Manifold are thy Works O Lord in Wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy Riches And even concerning ourselves likewise that Man was first formed by God who breathed into him the Breath of Life that ever since we have been fearfully and wonderfully made and that in his Book are all our Members Written both We and They should lose all our Excellence For an Excellence wholly destitute of Wisdom wholly destitute of Love would be an empty thing yea a meer Contradiction Theoph. It must needs be yielded that such History is Worthy to be Loved on the Considerations you now mention'd and one Consideration more may be added viz. That though there be in some antient Authors some things not altogether unlike to this History they in probability having either seen Moses's Writings and so out of design mingled Fictions with them for the making an Opinion of their own or else heard an imperfect Relation of them and so given us only some faint resemblances of Truth though the best they could yet none of them all do give that satisfaction to a Religious Reader which Moses doth He having been throughly instructed by the Creator himself for what he hath Written and having given Confirmation also of its Truth by the Wonders which he wrought Eubul It is not difficult to conceive why though even by Natural Reason it may be inferred that the World owed its Form and Fashion to a Divine Power there yet is such a defective account of the Origen of the Universe from the Philosophers of Old. For they however otherwise of good Knowledge and great Industry relying altogether on the Experience of the Works of Nature in which they saw that somthing was requisite for the production of another thing could not
with those of others to be less in them merely because they bear the Name of his Children will strongly imagine themselves to be Gods Children that so their Sins though great they be and are like never by true Repentance to be less may not be the Spots of wicked Men. These much wrong the Righteousness and Purity of God. These make Faith in Christ which worketh by Love to be the spurious Issue of their Fancy and by thus untowardly thinking their Sins to be the Sins of God's Children they the more surely make them the Sins of the worst sort of wicked Men. Theoph. Your Discourse Eubulus hath been very satisfactory unto me I yet could wish that some others had with me been partakers of it because I think they thence might have learn'd to make a better Judgment of their Spiritual State than now they seem to do Eubul Would Men from such things as these deal impartially with themselves some dangerous Mistakes which they are willing enough to foster might be corrected And what Theophilus if they should seriously ask themselves these or such like Questions viz. Are we contented and well enough pleas'd with our Original Sin and the Imperfection of our Nature Are we at no time affected with sorrow at it as being our Sin and do we never with a relenting Eye account it our Unhappiness as being our Punishment Can we sit idle under it and not endeavour to correct it by purging our Understandings of their Ignorance our Wills of their Pravity and our Affections of their Corruption Doth the sense of it never encline us to Humility And are we never thereby excited to pity others who are thus polluted and unhappy as well as we Or yet worse than so Do we encrease the Defilements of our Nature and studiously promote and stir up our vile Affections which otherwise would have been more quiet And then for Outward Actions Are our Lives almost wholly liv'd out in Sin Can we proceed from one Wickedness to another and do Evil with both Hands earnestly Or else if outward Shame hinder us from Evil Practices openly and in the Sight of this Sun do we Clandestinely Act them Or is our behaviour Plausible and Civil merely that we may the more surely and with less Suspition carry on Evil Actions and Designs Or if there be none of these outwardly notorious bad Actions nor secretly Wicked Designs yet are the chief Ends nothing look'd unto in what we do Is the Glory of God justled out by the Under-Aims of Earthly Profits or Pleasures And doth the Salvation of our Souls through Unbelief or Carelesness weigh little or nothing with us in respect of Advantage or Reputation among Men Have the particular Obligations by Almighty God laid upon us not been minded or not taken notice of by us to any good effect Have our greater Knowledge and Abilities been improved to no higher Services than the Ignorance and Weakness of the meaner Sort have been Have the stronger Motions from Gods Holy Spirit fallen Fruitless upon us And those Suggestions which at some times we in a more than ordinary manner have had and in which the Hand of God hath peculiarly been have they been refused and not complied with In the Sins which we have committed hath there been no Unfained Sorrow No Indignation at ourselves for making such ill returns to so Gracious a God and Father Have our Devotions been none or very Faint and Cold ones after our falling into Sin Have our former Faults begot in us no Resolutions of not Sinning knowingly and Presumptuously for the time to come Do we when tempted to commit a Sin not only yield to it but continue in it Are we never after it more earnest persuers of that which is Good And do the Frailty and Weakness of our Natures and the Sins which while we are in the Body we shall never be free from at no time prompt us to long for that Happy Day when we in Heaven shall do Gods Will without Carefulness Drowsiness and Imperfection If Theophilus they should thus question themselves and should find it no otherwise with them than what might be reducible to some or more of the particulars now mention'd they might make a Judgment whether their Sins are such as belong to the Worse or less Evil Sort of Wicked Men but would have no reason to think them only the Failures of Good Men. Theoph. Indeed Eubulus should Men thus be Judges of their own Misdeeds they would not be more than what they well might Some of their Sins possibly which cannot so well bear the being look'd into least their Pollution and Deformity should be discovered might be apt to say ye take too much upon you and who made you Rulers and Judges over us But certainly Men have a Power over their own Doings and may search their own Hearts and Examine the Rise and Progress and Design of their own Actings and need not fear that any should say unto them Why do ye thus Eubul And this they may the rather do Theophilus because they are the better able in many respects to make a Judgment of their own Sins than other Men are For they can see those things in their own Breasts which are hid from Mens Eyes abroad And it may be they can also conceive those deep Deceits there which they cannot by their Words so well express and give account of to others Well surely it would be that in those things which they are unknown in unto Others they should not be unknown to Themselves Theoph. It is I confess not the least part of Learning for Men to know Themselves The being skill'd in the works of Nature and in the Arts and Sciences The seeing into future Times and understanding all Mysteries and all Knowledge would be of small avail with them without the Knowledge of their own Sins For where these are not known there is very small hope that a Cure and Amendment will be wrought And what would it profit a Man to be otherwise in all respects accomplished and yet to go out of the World with his Sins unknown and so not repented of Eubul I am persuaded Theophilus that the great reason of so many Mens continuing in their Sins is because they are not willing to search into them Let them be throughly look'd into and the Cover taken off from their Deformity and they will find few that will not loath them When David had considered his ways i. e. had found the Spots and Defilements which his Sins carried in them he turned his Feet to Gods Testimonies He made hast and delayed not to keep his Commandments And would Men generally do as He did I have no cause to doubt but through Gods Blessing there would be the same good Issue to Them as to Him there was Nay I am sure if Pollution and Deformity will Create a Loathing they would perfectly Loath the Disobedience they have so long Indulged Theoph. Happy it would be if Men from the Motives of Fear or Shame would cease to be Disobedient but surely the Defilement and Deformity which Sin casteth upon them should prevail with them most And where they from this Consideration chiefly shall abstain from Iniquity they will be if I may so speak the more generously Innocent Eubul They by so doing will turn those Spots that mark'd them as wicked Men into the Spots of God's Children And at the last when their Bodies shall be raised Spiritual and Incorruptible they will leave even these Spots also behind them Ascending up into the Heavenly Jerusalem where nothing shall in any wise enter that defileth and where they will be for ever arrayed in fine Linnen clean and white the Righteousness of the Saints To which Heavenly Purity Theophilus and Inheritance Vndefiled GOD of his infinite Mercy bring You and Me and Them through the Blood of Cleansing even that of our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST FINIS An Advertisement of Books sold by Joseph VVats at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-yard SPeed's Maps Folio Cowley's Poems compleat Folio The Confession Prayers and Meditations of Lieutenant John Sterne and George Borosky Published by Dr. Burnet and Dr. Horneck Folio The Tryals of Thomas Walcot William Hone William Lord Russel John Rouse and William Blagg for High â—eason Folio That the Bishops may and ought to Vote in Cases of Blood Folio Pierce of Gods Decrees especially of Reprobation Quarto Perinchief against Toleration Quarto Parson's Sermon at the Funeral of the Earl of Rochester Quarto Dr. Jane's Sermon before the Commons Quarto Cave's Sermon the 30th of January Quarto Beverley's Disquisition upon Tythes wherein the whole Case is impartially stated and resolved Quarto Stubb's Justification of the Dutch War both Parts Quarto Horneck's Best Exercise Octavo Lassell's Voyage through Italy Octavo Smyth's Unequality of Natural Time with its Reason and Causes With a Table of the true Equation of Natural Days Octavo Reformed Devotions in Meditations Hymns and Petitions for every Day in the Week and every Holiday in the Year in two Parts the second Edition At which place all Persons may have most sorts of Acts of Parliament Proclamations Declarations Orders of King and Council Speeches in Parliament c. Pamphlets of all sorts viz. Pamphlets relating to the State Sermons Controversies Tracts of Divinity and other Miscellaneous Tracts Also Tryals Narratives and Gazettes FINIS