brisker Immortality that Saints and Angels eat not and that the Spirit of a man lives for ever upon wisdom and holiness and contemplation The fat Glutton would have stared a while upon the Preacher and then have fallen asleep But if you had discoursed well and knowingly of a Lamprey a large Mullet or a Boar animal propter Convivia natum and have sent him a Cook from Asia to make new Sawces he would have attended carefully and taken in your discourses greedily And so it is in the Questions and secrets of Christianity which made S. Paul when he intended to convert Foelix discourse first with him about Temperance Righteousness and Judgment to come He began in the right point he knew it was to no purpose to preach Jesus Christ crucified to an intemperate person to an Usurper of other mens rights to one whose soul dwelt in the World and cared not for the sentence of the last day The Philosophers began their Wisdom with the meditation of death and S. Paul his with the discourse of the day of Judgment to take the heart off from this world and the amabilities of it which dishonour and baffle the understanding and made Solomon himself become a child and fool'd into Idolatry by the prettiness of a talking woman Men now-a-dayes love not a Religion that will cost them dear If your Doctrine calls upon Men to part with any considerable part of their estates you must pardon them if they cannot believe you they understand it not I shall give you one great instance of it When we consider the infinite unreasonableness that is in the Popish Religion how against common sense their Doctrine of Transubstantiation is how against the common Experience of humane nature is the Doctrine of the Popes Infallibility how against Scripture is the Doctrine of Indulgences and Purgatory we may well think it a wonder that no more men are perswaded to leave such unlearned follies But then on the other side the wonder will cease if we mark how many temporal ends are served by these Doctrines If you destroy the Doctrine of Purgatory and Indulgences you take away the Priests Income and make the the See Apostolick to be poor if you deny the Popes Infallibility you will despise his Authority and examine his Propositions and discover his Failings and put him to answer hard Arguments and lessen his Power and indeed when we run through all the Propositions of difference between them and us and see that in every one of them they serve an end of money or of power it will be very visible that the way to confute them is not by learned disputations for we see they have been too long without effect and without prosperity the men must be cured of their affections to the World ut nudi nudum sequantur crucifixum that with naked and devested affections they might follow the naked Crucified Jesus and then they would soon learn the truths of God which till then will be impossible to be apprehended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men as St. Basil says when they expound Scripture always bring in something of themselves but till there be as one said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rising out from their own seats until they go out from their dark dungeons they can never see the light of Heaven And how many men are there amongst us who are therefore enemies to the Religion because it seems to be against their profit The argument of Demetrius is unanswerable by this Craft they get their livings leave them in their Livings and they will let your Religion alone if not they think they have reason to speak against it When mens souls are possessed with the World their souls cannot be invested with holy Truths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Isidor said the Soul must be informed insoul'd or animated with the propositions that you put in or you shall never do any good or get Disciples to Christ. Now because a man cannot serve two Masters because he cannot vigorously attend two objects because there can be but one soul in any living Creature if the World have got possession talk no more of your Questions shut your Bibles and read no more of the Words of God to them for they cannot tell of the Doctrine whether it be of God or of the World That is the second particular Worldly affections hinder true understandings in Religion 3. No man how learned soever can understand the Word of God or be at peace in the Questions of Religion unless he be a Master over his Passions Tu quoque si vis Lumine claro Cernere verum Gaudia pelle Pelle Timorem Nubila mens est Vinctáque fraenis Haec ubi regnant said the wise Boethius A man must first learn himself before he can learn God Tua te fallit Imago nothing deceives a man so soon as a mans self when a man is that I may use Plato's expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mingled with his nature and his Congenial infirmities of anger and desire he can never have any thing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a knowledge partly moral and partly natural his whole life is but Imagination his knowledge is Inclination and Opinion he judges of Heavenly things by the measures of his fears and his desires and his Reason is half of it sense and determinable by the principles of sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then a man learns well when he is a Philosopher in his Passions Passionate men are to be taught the first elements of Religion and let men pretend to as much learning as they please they must begin again at Christs Cross they must learn true mortification and crucifixion of their anger and desires before they can be good Scholars in Christs School or be admitted into the more secret enquiries of Religion or profit in spiritual understanding It was an excellent Proverb of the Jews In passionibus Spiritus Sanctus non habitat the Holy Ghost never dwells in the house of Passion Truth enters into the heart of man when it is empty and clean and still but when the mind is shaken with Passion as with a storm you can never hear the voyce of the Charmer though he charm very wisely and you will very hardly sheath a sword when it is held by a loose and a paralytick Arm. He that means to learn the secrets of Gods wisdom must be as Plato says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soul must be Consubstantiated with Reason not invested with Passion to him that is otherwise things are but in the dark his notion is obscure and his sight troubled and therefore though we often meet with passionate Fools yet we seldom or never hear of a very passionate wise man I have now done with the first part of my undertaking and proved to you that our evil life is the cause of our Controversies and Ignorances in Religion and of the things of God You see what hinders us from becoming
Natural man cannot choose but do evil but it is because he will do so he is not born in the second Birth and renewed in the Baptism of the Spirit 2. We have brought our selves into an accidental necessity of sinning by the evil principles which are suck'd in by great parts of mankind We are taught ways of going to Heaven without forsaking our sins of repentance without restitution of being in charity without hearty forgiveness and without love of believing our sins to be pardoned before they are mortified of trusting in Christs death without conformity to his life of being in Gods favour upon the only account of being of such an opinion and that when we are once in we can never be out We are taught to believe that the events of things do not depend upon our crucifying our evil and corrupt affections but upon eternal and unalterable Counsels that the promises are not the rewards of obedience but graces pertaining only to a few praedestinates and yet men are Saints for all that and that the Laws of God are of the race of the Giants not to be observed by any grace or by any industry this is the Catechism of the ignorant and the prophane but without all peradventure the contrary propositions are the way to make the world better but certainly they that believe these things do not believe it necessary that we should eschew all evil and no wonder then if when men upon these accounts slacken their industry and their care find sin still prevailing still dwelling within them and still unconquerable by so slight and disheartned labours For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every fool and every ignorant person is a child still and it is no wonder that he who talks foolishly should do childishly and weakly 3. To our weak and corrupted nature and our foolish discourses men do dayly superinduce evil habits and customs of sinning Consuetudo mala tanquam hamus infixus animae said the Father an evil custom is a hook in the soul and draws it whither the Devil pleases When it comes to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Peter's word is a heart exercised with covetous practices then it is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is weak and unable to do the good it fain would or to avoid the evil which in a good fit it pretends to hate This is so known I shall not insist upon it but adde this only that wherever a habit is contracted it is all one what the instance be it is as easie as delicious as unalterable in vertue as in vice for what helps Nature brings to a vitious habit the same and much more the Spirit of God by his power and by his comforts can do in a vertuous and then we are well again You see by this who are and why they are in this evil condition The evil natures and the evil principles and the evil manners of the world these are the causes of our imperfect willings and weaker actings in the things of God and as long as men stay here sin will be unavoidable For even meat it self is loathsom to a sick stomack and it is impossible for him that is heart-sick to eat the most wholsom diet and yet he that shall say eating is impossible will be best confuted by seeing all the healthful men in the world eat heartily every day 2. But what then Cannot sin be avoided Cannot a Christian mortifie the deeds of the body Cannot Christ redeem us and cleanse us from all our sins Cannot the works of the Devil be destroyed That 's the next particular to be inquired of Whether or not it be not necessary and therefore very possible for a servant of God to pass from this evil state of things and not only hate evil but avoid it also He that saith he hath not sinned is a liar but what then Because a man hath sinned it does not follow he must do so always Hast thou sinned do so no more said the wise Bensirach and so said Christ to the poor Paralytick Go and sin no more They were excellent words spoken by a holy Prophet Let not the Sinner say he hath not sinned for God shall burn coals of fire upon his head that saith before the Lord God and his Glory I have not sinned Well! that case is confessed All men have sinned and come short of the glory of God But is there no remedy for this Must it always be so and must sin for ever have the upper hand and for ever baffle our resolutions and all our fierce and earnest promises of amendment God forbid There was a time then to come and blessed be God it hath been long come Yet a little while saith that Prophet and Iniquity shall be taken out of the earth and Righteousness shall reign among you For that 's in the day of Christ's Kingdom the manifestation of the Gospel When Christ reigns in our hearts by his Spirit Dagon and the Ark cannot stand together we cannot serve Christ and Belial And as in the state of Nature no good thing dwells within us so when Christ rules in us no evil thing can abide For every Plant that my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up and cast away into the fires of consumption or purification But how shall this come to pass since we all find our selves so infinitely weak and foolish I shall tell you It is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a Needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven saith Christ. It is impossible to Nature it is impossible to them that are given to vanity it is impossible for them that delight in the evil snare But Christ adds With Men this is impossible but with God all things are possible What we cannot do for our selves God can do for us and with us What Nature cannot do the Grace of God can So that the thing may be done not indeed by our selves but gratia Dei mecum saith S. Paul God and Man together can do it But if it can be done any way that God has put into our powers the consequent is this No mans good will shall be taken in exchange for the real and actual mortification of his sins He that sins and would fain not sin but sin is present with him whether he will or no let him take heed for the same is the Law of sin and the Law of death saith the Apostle and that mans heart is not right with God For it is impossible men should pray for deliverance and not be heard that they should labour and not be prosperous unless they pray amiss and labour falsely Let no man therefore please himself with talking of great things with perpetual conversation in pious discourses or with ineffective desires of serving God He that does not practice as well as he talks and do what he desires and what he ought to do confesses himself to sin greatly against his conscience
Slanderer could tell a story yet none could prove that ever he received a Bribe to blind his eyes to the value of a pair of Gloves It was his own Expression when he gave glory to God who had preserved him innocent But because every mans Cause is right in own eyes it was hard for him so to acquit himself that in the Intriques of Law and difficult Cases some of his Enemies should not seem when they were heard alone to speak reason against him But see the greatness of Truth and Prudence and how greatly God stood with him When the numerous Armies of vexed people Turba gravis paci placidaeque inimica quieti heaped up Catalogues of Accusations when the Parliament of Ireland imitating the violent procedures of the then disordered English when his glorious Patron was taken from his head and he was disrobed of his great defences when Petitions were invited and Accusations furnished and Calumny was rewarded and managed with art and power when there were above 200 Petitions put in against him and himself denyed leave to answer by word of mouth when he was long imprisoned and treated so that a guilty man would have been broken into affrightment and pitiful and low considerations yet then he himself standing almost alone like Calimachus at Marathon invested with enemies and covered with arrows defended himself beyond all the powers of guiltiness even with the defences of Truth and the bravery of Innocence and answered the Petitions in writing sometimes twenty in a day with so much clearness evidence of truth reality of Fact and Testimony of Law that his very Enemies were ashamed and convinced they found they had done like Aesops Viper they licked the file till their tongues bled but himself was wholly invulnerable They were therefore forced to leave their muster-rolls and decline the particulars and fall to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to accuse him for going about to subvert the fundamental Laws the way by which great Strafford and Canterbury fell which was a device when all reasons fail'd to oppress the Enemy by the bold affirmation of a Conclusion they could not prove they did like those Gladiatores whom the Romans call'd Retiaries when they could not stab their Enemies with their Daggers they threw Nets over him and cover'd him with a general mischief But the Martyr King Charles the First of most Glorious and Eternal Memory seeing so great a Champion likely to be oppress'd with numbers and despair sent what rescue he could His Royal Letter for his Bail which was hardly granted to him and when it was it was upon such hard terms that his very delivery was a persecution So necessary it was for them who intended to do mischief to the Publick to take away the strongest Pillars of the House This thing I remark to acquit this great man from the Tongue of slander which had so boldly spoken that it was certain something would stick yet was so impotent and unarmed that it could not kill that great Fame which his greater Worthiness had procur'd him It was said of Hippasus the Pythagorean that being asked how and what he had done he answered Nondum nihil neque enim adhuc mihi invidetur I have done nothing yet for no man envies me He that does great things cannot avoid the tongues and teeth of Envy but if Calumnies must pass for Evidences the bravest Hero's must always be the most reproached Persons in the World Nascitur Aetolicus pravum ingeniosus ad omne Qui facere assuerat patriae non degener artis Candida de nigris de candentibus atra Every thing can have an ill name and an ill sense put upon it but God who takes care of Reputations as he does of Lives by the orders of his Providence confutes the slander ut memoria justorum sit in benedictionibus that the memory of the righteous man might be embalm'd with honour And so it hapned to this great man for by a publick Warranty by the concurrent Consent of both Houses of Parliament the Libellous Petitions against him the false Records and publick Monuments of injurious shame were cancell'd and he was restor'd in integrum to that Fame where his great Labours and just Procedures had first estated him which though it was but justice yet it was also such honour that it is greater than the virulence of tongues which his worthiness and their envy had arm'd against him But yet the great Scene of the troubles was but newly opened I shall not refuse to speak yet more of his troubles as remembring that S. Paul when he discourses of the glories of the Saints departed he tells more of their Sufferings than of their Prosperities as being that Laboratory and Crysable in which God makes his Servants Vessels of honour to his glory The storm quickly grew high transitum est à linguis ad gladios and that was indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iniquity had put on arms when it is armata nequitia then a man is hard put to it The Rebellion breaking out the Bishop went to his Charge at Derry and because he was within the defence of Walls the execrable Traitor Sir Phelim ô Neale laid a snare to bring him to a dishonourable death for he wrote a Letter to the Bishop pretended Intelligence between them desir'd that according to their former Agreement such a Gate might be deliver'd to him The Messenger was not advis'd to be cautious nor at all instructed in the art of Secrecy for it was intended that he should be search'd intercepted and hang'd for ought they car'd but the Arrow was shot against the Bishop that he might be accused for base Conspiracy and die with shame and sad dishonour But here God manifested his mighty care of his Servants he was pleased to send into the heart of the Messenger such an affrightment that he directly ran away with the Letter and never durst come neer the Town to deliver it This story was published by Sir Phelim himself who added That if he could have thus ensnar'd the Bishop he had good assurance the Town should have been his own Sed bonitas Dei praevalitura est super omnem malitiam hominis The goodness of God is greater than all the malice of men and nothing could so prove how dear that sacred Life was to God as his rescue from the dangers Stantia non poterant tecta probare Deos To have kept him in a warm house had been nothing unless the roof had fallen upon his head that rescue was a remark of Divine Favour and Providence But it seems Sir Phelim's Treason against the Life of this worthy Man had a Correspondent in the Town and it broke out speedily for what they could not effect by malicious stratagem they did in part by open force they turned the Bishop out of the Town and upon trifling and unjust pretences search'd his Carriages and took what they pleas'd till they were asham'd to take more they
they will be sure to carry the cause against you and no man is able to bear the reproach of singularity It was in honour spoken of S. Malachias my Predecessor in the See of D. in his life written by S. Bernard Apostolicas sanctiones decreta SS pp. in cunctis Ecclesiis statuebat I hope to do something of this for your help and service if God gives me life and health and opportunity But for the present I have done These Rules if you observe your Doctrine will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it will need no pardon and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 never to be reprov'd in Judgment I conclude all with the wise saying of Bensirach Extoll not thy self in the counsel of thine own heart that thy soul be not torn in pieces as a Bull straying alone FINIS RULES AND ADVICES TO THE CLERGY OF THE DIOCESSE OF DOWN CONNOR For their Deportment in their Personal and Publick Capacities Given by Jer. Taylor Bishop of that Diocess at the Visitation at LISNEGARVEY The third Edition LONDON Printed for R. Royston Book-seller to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty 1667. Rules and Advices to the Clergy I. Personal Duty II. Of Prudence required in Ministers III. The Rules and Measures of Government to be used by Ministers in their respective Cures IV. Rules and Advices concerning Preaching V. Rules and Advices concerning Catechism VI. Rules and Advices concerning the Visitation of the Sick VII Of ministring the Sacraments publick Prayers and other duties of Ministers RULES AND ADVICES TO THE CLERGY I. Personal Duty rule I REmember that it is your great Duty and tied on you by many Obligations that you be exemplar in your lives and be Patterns and Presidents to your Flocks lest it be said unto you Why takest thou my Law into thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed thereby He that lives an idle life may preach with Truth and Reason or as did the Pharisees but not as Christ or as one having Authority rule II Every Minister in taking accounts of his life must judge of his Duty by more strict and severer measures than he does of his People and he that ties heavy burthens upon others ought himself to carry the heaviest end and many things may be lawful in them which he must not suffer in himself rule III Let every Minister endeavour to be learned in all spiritual wisdom and skilful in the things of God for he will ill teach others the way of godliness perfectly that is himself a babe and uninstructed An Ignorant Minister is an head without an eye and an Evil Minister is salt that hath no savour rule IV Every Minister above all things must be careful that he be not a servant of Passion whether of Anger or Desire For he that is not a master of his Passions will always be useless and quickly will become contemptible and cheap in the eyes of his Parish rule V Let no Minister be litigious in any thing not greedy or covetous not insisting upon little things or quarrelling for or exacting of every minute portion of his dues but bountiful and easie remitting of his right when to do so may be useful to his people or when the contrary may do mischief and cause reproach Be not over-righteous saith Solomon that is not severe in demanding or forcing every thing though it be indeed his due rule VI Let not the name of the Church be made a pretence for personal covetousness by saying you are willing to remit many things but you must not wrong the Church for though it be true that you are not to do prejudice to succession yet many things may be forgiven upon just occasions from which the Church shall receive no incommodity but be sure that there are but few things which thou art bound to do in thy personal capacity but the sâ—me also and more thou art obliged to perform as thou art a publick person rule VII Never exact the offerings or customary wages and such as are allowed by Law in the ministration of the Sacraments nor condition for them nor secure them before-hand but first do your office and minister the Sacrameâ—â—s purely readily and for Christs sake and when that is done receive what is your due rule VIII Avoid all Pride as you would flee from the most frightful Apparition or the most cruel Enemy and remember that you can never truly teach Humility or tell what it is unless you practise it your selves rule IX Take no measures of Humility but such as are material and tangible such which consist not in humble words and lowly gestures but what is first truly radicated in your Souls in low opinion of your selves and in real preferring others before your selves and in such significations which can neither deceive your selves nor others rule X Let every Curate of Souls strive to understand himself best and then to understand others Let him spare himself least but most severely judge censure and condemn himself If he be learned let him shew it by wise teaching and humble manners If he be not learned let him be sure to get so much Knowledge as to know that and so much Humility as not to grow insolent and puffed up by his Emptiness For many will pardon a good man that is less learned but if he be proud no man will forgive him rule XI Let every Minister be careful to live a life as abstracted from the Affairs of the world as his necessity will permit him but at no hand to be immerg'd and principally imploy'd in the Affairs of the World What cannot be avoided and what is of good report and what he is oblig'd to by any personal or collateral Duty that he may do but no more Ever remembring the Saying of our Blessed Lord In the world ye shall have trouble but in me ye shall have peace and consider this also which is a great Truth That every degree of love to the world is so much taken from the Love of God rule XII Be no otherwise sollicitous of your Fame and Reputation but by doing your Duty well and wisely in other things refer your self to God but if you meet with evil Tongues be careful that you bear reproaches sweetly and temperately rule XIII Remember that no Minister can govern his people well and prosperously unless himself hath learn'd humbly and cheerfully to obey his Superiour For every Minister should be like the good Centurion in the Gospel himself is under authority and he hath people under him rule XIV Be sure in all your Words and Actions to preserve Christian simplicity and ingenuity to do to others as you would be done unto your self and never to speak what you do not think Trust to Truth rather than to your Memory for this may fail you that will never rule XV Pray much and very fervently for all your Parishioners and all men that belong to you and all that belong to God but especially for the Conversion of Souls
good Divines But all this while we are but in the preparation to the Mysteries of Godliness When we have thrown off all affections to sin when we have stripp'd our selves from all fond adherences to the things of the world and have broken the chains and dominion of our Passions then we may say with David Ecce paratum est Cor meum Deus My heart is ready O God my heart is ready then we may say Speak Lord for thy Servant heareth But we are not yet instructed It remains therefore that we inquire what is that immediate Principle or Means by which we shall certainly and infallibly be led into all Truth and be taught the Mind of God and understand all his Secrets and this is worth our knowledge I cannot say that this will end your Labours and put a period to your Studies and make your Learning easie it may possibly increase your Labour but it will make it profitable it will not end your Studies but it will direct them it will not make Humane Learning easie but it will make it wise unto Salvation and conduct it into true notices and ways of Wisdom I am now to describe to you the right way of Knowledg Qui facit Voluntatem Patris mei saith Christ that 's the way do God's Will and you shall understand God's Word And it was an excellent saying of S. Peter Add to your Faith Virtue c. If these things be in you and abound ye shall not be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For in this case 't is not enough that all our hindrances of Knowledge are removed for that is but the opening of the covering of the Book of God but when it is opened it is written with a hand that every eye cannot read Though the windows of the East be open yet every eye cannot behold the glories of the Sun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Plotinus the eye that is not made Solar cannot see the Sun the eye must be fitted to the splendor and it is not the wit of the man but the spirit of the man not so much his head as his heart that learns the Divine Philosophy 1. Now in this Inquiry I must take one thing for a praecognitum that every good man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is taught of God and indeed unless he teach us we shall make but ill Scholars our selves and worse Guides to others Nemo potest Deum scire nisi à Deo doceatur said St. Irenaeus lib. 6. cap. 13. If God teaches us then all is well but if we do not learn Wisdom at his feet from whence should we have it it can come from no other Spring And therefore it naturally follows that by how much nearer we are to God by so much better we are like to be instructed But this being supposed as being most evident we can easily proceed by wonderful degrees and steps of progression in the Oeconomy of this Divine Philosophy For 2. There is in every righteous man a new vital Principle the Spirit of Grace is the Spirit of Wisdom and teaches us by secret Inspirations by proper Arguments by actual Perswasions by personal Applications by Effects and Energies and as the Soul of a man is the cause of all his vital Operations so is the Spirit of God the Life of that Life and the cause of all Actions and Productions Spiritual And the consequence of this is what St. John tells us of Ye have received the Vnction from above and that annointing teacheth you all things All things of some one kind that is certainly all things that pertain to life and godliness all that by which a man is wise and happy We see this by common experience Unless the Soul have a new Life put into it unless there be a vital Principle within unless the Spirit of Life be the Informer of the Spirit of the Man the Word of God will be as dead in the operation as the Body in its powers and possibilities Sol Homo generant hominem saith our Philosophy A Man alone does not beget a Man but a Man and the Sun for without the influence of the Celestial Bodies all natural Actions are ineffective and so it is in the operations of the Soul Which Principle divers Phanaticks both among us and in the Church of Rome misunderstanding look for new Revelations and expect to be conducted by Ecstasie and will not pray but in a transfiguration and live upon raptures and extravagant expectations and separate themselves from the conversation of men by affectations by new measures and singularities and destroy Order and despise Government and live upon illiterate Phantasms and ignorant Discourses These men do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they belie the Holy Ghost For the Spirit of God makes men wise it is an evil Spirit that makes them Fools The Spirit of God makes us Wise unto Salvation it does not spend its holy Influences in disguises and convulsions of the Understanding Gods Spirit does not destroy Reason but heightens it he never disorders the Beauties of Government but is a God of Order it is the Spirit of Humility and teaches no Pride he is to be found in Churches and Pulpits upon Altars and in the Doctors Chairs not in Conventicles and mutinous corners of a House he goes in company with his own Ordinances and makes progressions by the measures of life his infusions are just as our acquisitions and his Graces pursue the methods of Nature that which was imperfect he leads on to perfection and that which was weak he makes strong he opens the heart not to receive murmurs or to attend to secret whispers but to hear the word of God and then he opens the heart and creates a new one and without this new creation this new principle of life we may hear the word of God but we can never understand it we hear the sound but are never the better unless there be in our hearts a secret conviction by the Spirit of God the Gospel it self is a dead Letter and worketh not in us the light and righteousness of God Do not we see this by daily experience Even those things which a good man and an evil man know they do not know them both alike A wicked man does know that Good is lovely and Sin is of an evil and destructive nature and when he is reproved he is convinced and when he is observed he is ashamed and when he has done he is unsatisfied and when he pursues his sin he does it in the dark Tell him he shall die and he sighs deeply but he knows it as well as you Proceed and say that after death comes Judgment and the poor man believes and trembles he knows that God is angry with him and if you tell him that for ought he knows he may be in Hell to morrow he knows that it is an intolerable truth but it is also undeniable And yet after all this