the same distributed into its several parts but it would be a great madness in case one Member should by some accident be the cause of some pain to another for a man in revenge to the part or member offended to hurt the other part In like manner if one man offend another the person offended ought not to revenge the injury nor to retain any bitter resentments of it but presently to forgive the Offender and to pray unto God to be merciful to him This was our ancient Father Abraham's way as we find it written Gen. 20.17 So Abraham prayed unto God and God healed Abimelech Moreover let every man think seriously of this that we who never pass over one day wherein we do not commit some Offence against God do nevertheless find that he is still merciful and gracious unto us Wherefore if we are his Children as it is written Deut. 14.1 Ye aâ—e the Children of the LORD your God If it be our duty to be like to him we ought surely to be as he is ready to pardon and slow to anger for whosoever is averse from wrath that is the desire of revenge his sins are forgiven him God deals with him as he does with those men that have trespass'd against him We must also endeavour upon all occasions to convince one another with such words as are most apt to turn away 2 mans mind from all iniquity lest we should so carry our selves as to incurr the guilt of the sins that another man hath committed in thought word or deed In this threefold way of acting we should do what we can for the good of one another for this is the meaning of that passage in the Law Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Whatsoever things are pleasant and delightsem unto thee these thou oughtest to endeavour as much as in thee lies to procure for all those persons that are of thine acquaintance to reconcile Man and Wife that have been at variance to preserve the peace of thy Country This is that which we find written Psal 34.14 Seek peace and pursue it These same persons thou oughtest also to serve with thy thoughts that is to say to desire most syncerely that they may be really advantaged by thee and thou oughtest as constantly to pray unto God for their prosperity as for thine own Mast Thou hast discoursed at large of those two places wherein all the Law is contained and consequently our whole duty towards God and towards Men. It remains that thou shouldst now declare what and how many are those Seeds of Sin which we ought with all possible care to avoid lest they hinder us from the attainment of the chief Object of our Hope the Sovereign Good or the onely True Happiness Sch. The Seed of Sin is threefold Obstinacy or Wilfulness Imprudence and Rebellion Mast What is that which thou callest Wilfulness Sch. The Heart and much of every man is evil from his Childhood he cares for nothing but what he conceits will be for his own end being prone to Lust and wholly addicted to the satisfaction of his own Inordinate Will he is so eagerly desirous of Temporal Pleasures that he does not distinguish between those that are Lawful and those that are absolutely Sinful so that he may fulfill his sensual desires When a man does any thing merely to enjoy his pleasure and having a perfect knowledge that what he does is contrary to the Law of God yet nevertheless gives way to his inclinations this is said to be done obstinately or wilfully Mast But what is that which thou callest Imprudence Sch. Of this I may rightly say there are two kinds One consists in the fact or thing done as if a man being ignorant that such a thing is unlawful to be done undertakes to do it because he thought that the doing of it was lawful For who can understand his Errors The other is when any man through Incogitancy or want of Consideration gives up himself to affect such things which are not in their own nature exceeding wicked but yet it is a part of Vertue to abstain from them Of this kind are the desires to commit a sin the speaking of idle words the taking of too much pleasure in things lawful and the like for all these do as it were make a man abash'd at the thought of God his Creator so that he cannot with any intention apply his mind to the Contemplation of him nor yield unto him that Worship and Reverence which he requires Their nature and tendency are such that they insensibly bring a man to a Habit of wickedness and involve him in these seven Vices which God hates and abominates and which cast a man down from the state of a sound mind and at once deprive him of Life in this World and in the World to come Mast What are these seven abominable Vices Sch. These are as it were seven Bodies of the Tree of Perversness or Iniquity grown up to a great height from whose Branches all sorts of wickedness spring forth And indeed in the beginning they seem to be light and of little moment that a man should have any great care to avoid them but afterward they most grievcusly oppress a man that yields obedience unto them and such is their horrid force that it can hardly be but that he whom they have once depraved becomes incorrigible for they stain the Soul with the deepest Tincture of Impiety Wherefore whosoever to keep his mind in a good temper must with all diligence endeavour to avoid those vices Sloth Pride Gluttony Lust or the inordinate desire of Corporeal Pleasures Anger or the desire of Revenge Covetousness Envy to which some vices the Prophets attributed seven other names to wit these Evil Uncircumcised Unclean Enemy the Stumbling Block c Mast Those things which thou hast now spoken of need some explication wherefore declare the force and nature of every one of these seven vices and show how those Names which thou laidst down but now do answer to those Names or Appellations which the Prophets impes'd on the same Vices Sch. Sloth is a vice which so affects a man that wholly neglecting his duty to keep his Mind in a right temper he sits idle and careless and turns his thoguhts to vain frivolous Objects from meditating on the Law of God from observing his Precepts and doing the works which he enjoyns us unto This is the Fountain of all Vices and therefore it is called Evil. For this is the meaning of that passage in the Law Gen. 8.21 The imagination of mans heart is evil from his youth Such a Creature is Man he would rather give up himself to idleness than take any pains to render his Nature perfect and accomplish'd neither does he rightly understand wherein the Perfection and Accomplishment of his Mind does consist And that man is possest with this vice who loves to be perpetually playing at Dice or Cards or to be at some other sport for
for I the Lord your God am holy Mast Is any other thing necessary for the obtaining of the Sovereign Good or true Happiness besides this twofold Love of which thou hast spoken viz. towards God and towards Men Sch. On these two depends the whole Law for that Deut. 6.5 Thou shalt Love the LORD thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength contains all those Precepts commanding and forbidding which declare what is the Duty of Man towards God And this Lev. 19.18 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self in like manner comprises all those Precepts which pertain to the Duty of every Man towards all other Men concerning their lawful Commerce or Commutation of their Goods and the avoiding of all Deceits Capital Judgments the Right of Marriage and Inheritance which things the Divine Law contains as it hath respect to Human Society There 's nothing therefore which brings us into the favour of our Almighty LORD and Master but the observance of those two Precepts on which depend the Six hundred and thirteen Mast Is it necessary that we should imploy all our Heart and all our Mind and all our Strength in the Exercise of our Love towards Men which is contained in these words Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self in like manner as we ought to do in the Exercise of our Love towards the Immortal God Sch. Those two Loves being as it were two Pillars to support the Law the Exercise of them must needs be of equal necessity but our Love towards God does without all doubt require the whole Heart and Mind and Strength which is the same as if thou shouldst say That to this end that we might rightly observe the Commandments of God that we may reject and cast out of our minds all vain Thoughts and false Conceits it is necessary that our Heart be enflam'd with the Fire of Divine Love and that it be affected with a certain kind of Fear and Reverence so that rather than we would be disobedient to the Admonitions and Precepts of God we would choose to have our Lives taken from us so far should we be from doing any thing contrary to the Divine Law for fear of the Loss of our Estate In a word that if we be in danger to be deprived of our Lives our Fortunes and all things which in this Life are most dear unto us this our Love towards God should restrain us from doing any thing contrary to the Commandmets of our LORD and Governour Therefore our Love towards Men also requires our Heart and Mind and Strength Mast Thou must needs give some light to those thy last words and expound to me how far those three Heart Mind and Strength are requir'd for the due performance of our Love towards Men. Sch. As for the Heart it is requir'd that we do not conceive the least hatred in our Heart against any Man of which the Law speaketh expresly Lev. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine Heart For that Hatred which is laid up in the depths of the Heart for the most part proceeds from Envy which Hatred carries in it far greater Bitterness than that which hath its rise from an injury received from any Wrangling or Contention or any other thing of the like nature For the cause of this kind of Hatred being remov'd that Hot Freth is presently taken away also and so there is a remedy for it But there can no remedy be found out for that Hatred which proceeds from Envy that is always stirring up of Strife and loathsom Brawlings and Contentions that destroyed the second Temple which was not as the first defiled with Idolatry Whoredom Adultery Incest and Murder that hath expell'd the Remnant of the Jews from their own Borders and those Israelites which are yet in the World it keeps even to this day in Captivity and Exile Moreover this was it which caus'd the Expulsion of our People from so many places this was the cause of all the Calamities Miseries and Distresses which we have suffer'd from the beginning of that most grievous Captivity to this very day and this still breaths forth a Smoke so thick and so loathsom that it threatens an Universal Destruction And that Hatred fix'd in the Heart is called Hatred without consideration Odium Temerarium for it seizes on a Mans Heart from no other cause but mere Envy but this is the most grievous and abominable of all the several kinds of Hatred because in it there is double Iniquity Propense Malice which urges to destroy a man and Malignity or Ill Will whereby the Heart is infected or poyson'd Therefore these words are included in the Commandment with all thine heart for that is not onely a Mans Duty to be free from the guilt of all such Inhumanity but also to love every man truly and heartily to have a perfect abhorrence from all kind of Envy Strife and Contention This is to Love with all thine Heart There is another kind of Hatred when one man has in his mind an Aversion to another not from Envy or any private Grudge but upon account of the cross Manners and ill Disposition of that man to whom he has an Aversion for the Likeness in Manners does of it self beget a mutual Affection between men so on the contrary the Disagreement in manners and natural inclinations begets Hatred which is not so bitter as that Hatred which we have already spoken of but yet it is no easie matter to root it out therefore we are admonish'd that we keep our selves far from it For that with all thy Mind implies this sence If any ones manners do not agree with thy Genius however thou oughtest to bear with him and to love him for God surely is worthy for whose sake thou shouldst do this The third kind of Hatred is that which proceeds from the immoderate desire of Riches and to this are those words to be referr'd and with all thy Strength Under this kind of Hatred is comprehended that which Workmen especially if they are of the same Trade are apt to conceive one against another For Artificers for the most part hate those that addict themselves to the same Art which we are forbidden to do And indeed if any Artificer think with himself that all gifts or endowments riches and honours come from the ONE True God nor can that be the portion of one which he hath decreed to bestow on another he will be so far from hating those of his own Profession that he will rather love them the more as those that are like him in their course of life If it so happen that any difference or contention do arise between two men they may go to Law and plead their Cause and when the Judge after a full hearing hath determined the Controversie they should each of them lay aside the person of an Adversary For the whole Company of the Israelites are like the Body of one and
this does not contribute any thing to the advantage of the Commonwealth Whereas a mans Life is not given him but for this end that he may spend it in mediating day and night on the Law of God and in the Exercise of Charity or in Merchandizing or in the management of some Mechanick Art or in doing some other work which may conduce to the Conservation of the World A Gamester therefore is in the number of those men which are not fit to bear to Office of a Judge Pride is a Kingdom without a Diadem thou maist see a man carrying himself in a lofty manner as if it were beneath him to hear or see or take any notice of what is said or done in his presence But why should Man arrogate so much to himself who shall one day be turn'd into Worms and Corruption who fadeth like a Flower and like Smoke vanisheth away Therefore the man that is possest with this vice is called Vncircumcised Hence is that of the Law Deut. 10.16 Circumcise the foreskin of your heart At first Pride stirs up Hatred all men reject and abhor it for there may be some suitableness or agreement with other things but with Pride it is impossible there should be any From dislike or hatred it comes to pass that men relinquish Society and keep themselves at a distance from one another and from hence proceeds ruine and desolation By this it is manifest that a proud man is the destruction of a Body Politick and the disorder of the World If a proud man be so odious to us here below sure he is much more odious to the blessed Spirits above for whosoever is abhorred of all other men God also is displeased with him He is said to be a Glutton in whom there is an insatiable desire of Feasting that the later Feasts may be more sumptuous than the former for it is a vehment desire or longing in the bowels of wicked men who have frequently such Speeches as this in their mouths Let us eat and drink for to morrow weshall die for they live to eat not eat to live In the mean time the Belly of such wicked persons is extreme needy for not one of them when he goes out of this world has obtained the half part of the things he had desir'd and long'd for Such a man is call'd unclean for in as much as we read Psal 51.12 Create in me a clean heart O God 't is manifest that there is something unclean But this vice is as it were a stream of filthiness from whence Pollutions continually flow This overwhelms a man with all manner of Impurities Now by Lust we are to understand an unbridled desire of Corporeal Pleasures this is an extreme and exceeding great wickedness 'T is called Enemy for those words may have some meaning that refers to this vice Prov. 25.21 If thine Enemy be hungry give him bread to eat and if he be thirsty give hive water to drink For this wicked desire is a mans greatest Enemy it brings death to his Soul because it forces him to commit such horrid impieties which enkindle the wrath of the Divine Majesty against him A man given up to his Lust is hated of God for God is holy and all wantonness and impurity is an abomination unto him This man is also hated of Men for all have an Aversion to such a man who has no regard of his own or others Honour and Reputation These words may therefore be thus interpreted If the ravenous Appetite of this Enemy should excite thee to wickedness see thou satisfie him with the Bread of the Divine Law and the Drink of true Repentance and of the Fear of God this way thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head and shalt receive an ample Reward Briefly and pertinently spake the wise men of old If thou meetest with any lewd obscene fellow constrain him to go with thee to the School which is appointed to expound the Divine Law God will give thee a reward who is most bountiful in his Gifts Anger is a burning desire of revenge whereby a man is as it were all in flames This is called a Stumbling-block for of this the Prophet spake when he said Isaiah 57.14 Take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people The mind of a man that is enraged and full of Anger runs violently upon that which is hurtful and should be avoided as a Ship that is dash'd upon a rock If a man be not slow to anger patient and long-suffering he renders his own Life and the lives of others very miserable Covetousness is a vast desire deeply fixed in the heart of heaping up Riches This stands in opposition to Liberality as a hard rock in the heart of a Man the rock yields not a drop of water nor is moved out of its place by the violence of the winds so a covetous man he hearkens not to those that advise him to relieve the necessities of the Poor or to do any Office of Charity that may tend in the least to his detriment For he is of such a mind that Riches are much more dear to him than his Soul and Body And for this cause he is called a Stone Hence it is that the Prophet speaks I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh Ezech. 36.26 Envy is such an ill disposition of the Mind whereby a man is so affected that he grieves for the Prosperity of others and rejoyceth in their Calamity Such a man is like a Basilisk which horrid Monster breaths forth poison whereas it gets nothing thereby And a Basilisk sends forth from his eyes poison generated in its heart so that the eyes of the envious man discover the flame that his Heart hath conceived Lo these seven Trunks or full grown Bodies of Iniquity which when thy Soul shall be all fastned unto though it be through imprudence and ignorance of the mischievous nature of them nevertheless thou shalt by little and little be drawn aside so that thou shalt incur the guilt of the most horrid Impieties and break that Silver Cord and that Bond whereby Mortals are joyned to the Immortal God for so it is that one sin flows upon another These vices do of themselves infect and poison the Soul and at length they involve it in the guilt of those Impieties which are the greatest abomination unto God For as it is written Prov. 6.16 Six things doth the Lord hate yea seven are an abomination unto him By which words we may understand this that whosoever hath his Soul possest with those seven most horrid Vices which I have reckoned up he will be induced to these six most abominable Impieties which are so odious unto God and to do those four primary Mischiefs whose Cries for vengeance pierce the Heavens till they deprive the guilty person of his Life both in this and in the other world Mast What are those