of flesh and blood which maketh you pretend Moderation and Peace and that it is a sign that you are hypocrites that are so lukewarm and carnally comply with error and that the cause of God is to be followed with the greatest zeal and self denyal And all this is true if you be but sure that it is indeed the cause of God and that the greater works of God be not neglected on such pretences and that your Zeal be much greater for Faith and Charity and Unity than for your opinions But upon great experience I must tell you that of the zealous contenders in the world that cry up The Cause of Consuming ãâã ãâã use at ãâã âo ãâã up the owners of it Whatever tâây say oâ do against others in theââ inââmperaâe violânce they teach otherâ at last to say and do against them when they have opportunity How the Orââodox taught the Aââiaâs to use severity against them may be sâen in Victor utic p. 447 448 449. in the Edict of Hunneâyâhus ââgem quam dudum Christiani Imperatores nostri contra eos alios haereticos pro honorisicentia Ecclesiae Catholiâae dedârunâ adversus nos illi proponere non eâubuerunt v. g. Rex Hun. c. Triumphalis Majestatis Regiae probatur esâe virtutis mââa in autores conâlia retorquere Quisquis enim pravitatis aliquid invenerit sibi imputet quod incurrit Nullâs ãâã homâusion Saceâdoâes assumanâ nec aliquid mysteriââum quae magis polluunt sibi vendicenâ Nullam habeant oâdinandi licentiam Quod ipsaâum legum continentia demonstratur quas induxiââe Imperaâoâibuâ c. viz. Ut nulla exceptâs superstiti ãâ¦ã s suae ânâstibus Ecclesia pateret nuâlâs liceret aliis aut convictus agere aut exercere convântâs nec Ecclesias auâ in uââiââââ aut in quibuâdam ãâã locis God and Truth there is not one of very many that understandeth what he talks of but some of them cry up the Cause of God when it is a brat of a proud and ignorant brain and such as a judicious person would be ashamed of And some of them are rashly zealous before they have parts or time to come to any judicious tryal and some of them are mis-guided by some person or party that captivateth their minds and some of them are hurried away by passion and discontent and many of the ambitious and worldly are blinded by their carnal interests and many of them in meer pride think highly of an Opinion in which they are somewhat singular and which they can with some glorying call their Own as either invented by them or that in which they think they know more than ordinary men do And abundance after longer experience confess that to have been their own erroneous cause which they before entitled the Cause of God Now when this is the case and one cryeth Here is Christ and another There is Christ one saith This is the cause of God and another saith That is it no man that hath any care of his Conscience or of the honour of God and his profession will leap before he looketh where he shall alight or run after every one that will whistle him with the name or pretence of truth or a good cause It is a sad thing to go on many years together in censuring opposing and abusing thâse that are against you and in seducing others and mis-imploying your zeal and parts and time and poysoning all your prayers and discourses and in the end to see what mischief you have done for want of knowledge and with Paul to confess that you were mad in opposing the truth and servants of God though you did it in a zeal of God through ignorance Were it not much better to stay till you have tryed the ground and prevent so many years grievous sin than to scape by a sad repentance and leave behind you stinking and venemous fruits of your mistake And worse if you never repent your selves Your own and your Brethrens souls are not so lightly to be ventured upon dangerous untryed wayes It will not make the Truth and Church amends to say at last I had thought I had done well Let those go to the Wars of disputing and ãâã and cânsuâing and siding with a Sect that are riper and better understand the cause Wars are not for Children Do you suspend your judgement till you can solidly and certainly inform it and serve God in Charity quietness and peace And it s two to one but you will live to see the day that the contenders that would have led you into their Wars will come off with so much loss themselves as will teach them to approve your peaceable course or teach you to bless God that kept you in your place and duty § 3. In all this I deny not but every truth of God is to be valued at a very high rate and that he that shall carry himself in a neutrality when Faith or Godliness is the matter in controversie or shall do it meerly for his worldly ends to save his stake by temporizing is a false-hearted hypocrite and at the heart of no Religion But withal I tell you that all is not matter of Faith or Godliness that the Autonomian-Papist the Antinomian-Libertine or other passionate parties shall call so And that as we must avoid contempt of the smallest Truth so we must much more avoid the most heinous sins which we may commit for the defending of an error And that some Truths must be silenced for a time though not denyed when the contending for them is unseasonable and tendeth to the injury of the Church If you were Masters in the Church you must not teach your Scholars to their hurt though it be truth you teach them And if you were Physicions you must not cramm them or Medicate them to their hurt Your power and duty is not to Destruction but to Edification The good of the Patient is the end of your Physick All Truth is not to be spoken nor all Good to be done by all men nor at all times He that will do contrary and take this for a carnal principle doth but call folly and sin by the name of zeal and duty and set the house on fire to rost his Egg and with the Pharisees prefer the outward rest of their Sabbath before his Brothers life or health Take heed what you do when Gods honour and mens souls and the Churches peace are concerned in it § 4. And let me tell you my own observation As far as my judgement hath been able to reach the men that have stood for Pacification and Moderation have been the most judicious and those that have best understood themselves in most controversies that ever I heard under debate among good Christians And those that suriously censured them as lukewarm or corrupted have been men that had least judgement and most passion pride and foul mistakes in the points in question § 5. Nay I will tell you
To be as like God in all his communicable excellencies as is agreeable to our created state and capacity 2. And to have as near and full communion with him as we can attain to and enjoy § 7. 7. The Will of God and his Goodness and Holiness is more nearly propounded to us to be the Rule of our Conformity than his Power and his Knowledge Therefore his Law is most immediately the expression of his Will and our Duty and Goodness lyeth in our Conformity to his Law being Holy as he is Holy Because I may not stand on the particulars I shall give you a brief imperfect Scheme of that of God which you must thus know GOD is to be known by us I. As ââââââââ I. In his BEING Qâod ââââ 1. One and indivisible In Three Persons 2. Immense and incomprehensible 3. Eternal 1. The FATHER 2. The SON 3. The HOLY GHOST 1. Necessary 2. Independent 3. Immutable II. In his NATURE Quod âât A SPIRIT 1. Simple uncompounded 2. Impassionate incoruptible immortal 3. Invisible intactible c. and LIFE it self 1. POWER 2. UNDERSTANDING 3. WILL. III. In his PERFECTIONS Qâaliâââââ 1. OMNIPOTENT 2. OMNISCIENT 3. MOST GOOD 1. MOST GREAT 2. MOST WISE 3. MOST HOLY and HAPPY 1. BEING HIMSELF 2. KNOWING HIMSELF 3. LOVING ENJOYING HIMSELF II. As Râlaââd to his Creatures I. The EFFICIENT Cause of all things Rom. 9. 36. OF HIM 1. CREATOR Conserver 1. Our OWNER or LORD most Absolute Free and Irresistible d 1. Our Life and Strength and Safety e 1. Perfecting our Natures in Heavenly Life II. The DIRIGENT Cause THROUGH HIM 2. REDEEMER Saviour 2. Our RULER or KING 1. By Legislation 2. Judgement 3. Execution Absolute Perfect True Holy Just Merciful Patient Terrible 2. Our Light and Wisdom 2. Whom we shall behold in Glorious Light III. The FINAL Cause TO HIM are all things To him be Glory for ever Amen 3. REGENERATOR Sanctifier 3. Our BENEFACTOR or FATHER 1. Most Loving 2. Most Bountiful 3. Most Amiable Patient Merciful Constant. Causally and Objectively d 3. Our Love and Ioy And so our End and Rest and Happiness hereafter e 3. Whom we shall Please and Love and be Pleased in him and Loved by him Rejoyce in him Praise him and so Enjoy him Perfectly and Perpetually See these Practically opened and improved in the First Part of my Divine Life The more full Explication of the Attributes fit for the more capacious is reserved for another Tractate § 8. For the right improvement of the Knowledge of all these Attributes of God I must refer you Do Dâs ita uâ sunt loquere Bias iâl ââââ ââg Paââi Sâalâgâi âââââ sâs de ãâã Mââdo Ep. Cath. l 14. God never wrought Miracâe to convince Atheism because his ordinary works convince it â Baâoâ Essay 16. p. 87. Deus est mens soluta libera legâegata ab omni concretione mortall omnia seââââenâ movens c. Cicero 1. Tââcul to the fore-mentioned Treatise The acts which you are to exercise upon God are these 1. The clearest Knowledge you can attain to 2. The firmest Belief 3. The highest Estimation 4. The greatest Admiration 5. The âeartiest and sweetest Complacency or Love 6. The strongest Desire 7. A filial Awfulness Reverence and Fear 8. The boldest quietting Trust and confidence in him 9. The most fixed Waiting Dependance Hope and Expectation 10. The most absolute self-resignation to him 11. The fullest and quiettest submission to his disposals 12. The humblest and most absolute subjection to his Governing Authority and Will and the exactest obedience to his Laws 13. The boldest courage and fortitude in his cause and owning him before the world in the greatest sufferings 14. The greatest Thank fulness for his Mercies 15. The most faithful improvement of his Talents and use of his Means and performance of our trust 16. A reverent and holy use of his Name and Word with a Reverence of his Secrets forbearing to intrude or meddle with them 17. A wise and cautelous observance of his Providences publick and private neither neglecting them nor mis-interpreting them neither running before them nor striving discontentedly against them 18. A disâârning loving and honouring his Image in his children notwithstanding their infirmities and faults without any friendship to their faults or over magnifying or imitating them in any evil 19. A reverent serious spiritual adoration and worshipping him in publick and private with soul and body in the use of all his holy Ordinances but especially in the joyful celebration of his Praise for all his Perfections and his Mercies 20. The highest Delight and fullest Content and Comfort in God that we can attain Especially a Delight in Knowing him and Obeying and Pleasing him Worshipping and Praising him Loving him and being beloved of him through Jesus Christ and in the hopes of the Perfecting of all these in our Everlasting fruition of him in Heavenly Glory All these are the Acts of Piety towards God which I lay together for your easier observation and memory But some of them must be more fully opened and insisted on DIRECT V. Remember that God is your Lord or Owner and see that you make an absolute Gr. Dir. 5. Of Self-resignation to God as our Owner Resignation of your selves and all that you have to him as his Own and Use your selves and all accordingly Trust him with his Own and rest in his disposals § 1. OF this I have already spoken in my Sermon of Christs Dominion and in my Directions for a sound Conversion and therefore must but touch it here It is easie notionally to know and say that God is our Owner and we are not our Own But if the Habitual Practical knowledge of it were as easie or as common the happy effects of it would be the sanctification and reformation of the world I shall first tell you what this Duty is and how it is to be performed and then what fruits and benefits it will produce and what should move us to it § 2. I. The duty lyeth in these acts 1. That you consider the Ground of Gods Propriety in you Persuasum hoc sit à principiâ hominibus dominos esse omnium rerum ac moderatores Deos eaque quae gâraââur coâum geâi dââââone aâque numânâ Et qâââââ quisque ââââ quââ agat quâd in se admiââaâ qua mânte qua pâetaâe âolat râligiânem intue â pâorumque impâorum habere ratâonem ãâã â dâââââ 1. In making you of Nothing and preserving you 2. In Redeeming you by purchase 3. In Regenerating you and renewing you for himself The first is the Ground of his Common Natural Propriety in you and all things The second is the Ground of his Common Gracious Propriety in you and all men as Purchased by Christ Rom. 14. 9 Iohn 13. 3. The third is the Ground of his special Gracious Propriety in you and all his sanctified peculiar people Understand and acknowledge what a Plenary
answer 1. Regard your duty more than what men think of you Prefer virtue before the thoughts or breath of men 2. But yet if you do it wisely the wise and good will think much the better of you You may easily let them see that you do it not in fordid sparing but in love of Temperance and of them if you speak but when there is need either for eating more or less and if your discourse be first in general for Temperance and apply it not till you see that they need help in the application 3. It is undenyable that healthful persons are much more prone to excess than to the defect in eating and that nature is very much bent to Luxury and Gluttony I think as much as to any one sin and it s as sure that it is a beastly breeding odious sin And if this be so is it not clear that we should do a great deal more to help one another against such Luxury than to provoke them to it Had we not a greater regard to mens favour and fansies and reports than to God and the good of their souls the case were soon decided § 11. 7. Another cause of Gluttony is that Rich men are not acquainted with the true Use of ãâ¦ã aâte alios Aâtes quae liberalis âuerânt mechaâiâae âvaseâe ipsââ qui ââlloââm dââââ philo sophi ââââtores ââââiââ aâ pâtâes patââââ esse solent ãâ¦ã atque a ãâ¦ã âactiââââ ââque intelligaâ nullam esse rââââquam spem salâtââ Nobââitatâ tribuâtur quod est Gulae aât procâlââbio ââââitatis Petrarch Riches nor think of the account which they must make to God of all they have They think that their Riches are their own and that they may use them as they please or that they are given them as plentiful provisions for their flesh and they may use them for themselves to satisfie their own desires as long as they drop some crums or scraps or small matters to the poor They think they may be saved just in the same way that the Rich man in Luk. 16. was damned and he that would have warned his five Brethren that they come not to that place of torment is yet himself no warning to his followers They are cloathed in purple and fine linen or silk and fare sumptuously or deliciously every day and have their good things in this life and perhaps think they merit by giving the scraps to Lazarus which its like that Rich man also did But God will one day make them know that the Richest were but his Stewards and should have made a better distribution of his provisions and a better improvement of his Talents and that they had nothing of all their Riches given them for any hurtful or unprofitable pleasing of their Appetites nor had no more allowance for Luxury than the poor If they knew the Right use of Riches it would reform them § 12. 8. Another cause of Gluttony is their unacquaintedness with those Rational and Spiritual Exercises in which the delightful fruits of Abstinence do most appear A man that is but a painful serious Student in any noble study whatsoever doth find a great deal of âerenity and aptitude come by Temperance and a great deal of cloudy mistiness on his mind and dulness on his invention come by fulness and excess And a man that is used to holy contemplations meditation reading prayer self-examination or any spiritual converse above or with his heart doth easily find a very great difference how abstinence helpeth and Luxury and fullness hinder him Now these Epicures have no acquaintance with any such Holy or Manly works nor any mind of them and are therefore unacquainted with the sweetness and benefit of abstinence and having no taste or tryal of its benefits they cannot value it They have nothing to do when they rise from eating but a little talk about their worldly business or complement and talk with company which expect them or go to their sports to empty their paunches for another meele and quicken their appetites lest Luxury should decay as the Israelites worshipped the Golden Calf and as the Heathens their God Bacchus Exod. 32. 5. They sate down 1 Cor. â0 7. to eat and drink and rose up to play Their dyet is fitted to their work Their idle or worldly lives agree with gluttony But were they accustomed to better work they would find a necessity of a better dyââ § 13. 9. Another great cause of Gluttony is mens beastly ignorance of what is hurtful or helpful Of this see more in my Book of self-denyal to their very health They make their Appetites their Rule for the quantity and quality of their food And they think that nature teacheth them so to do because it giveth them such an Appetite and because it is the measure to a beast And to prove themselves Beasts they therefore take it for their measure As if their natures were not Rational but only sensitive or nature had not given them Reason to be the superiour and Governour of sense As if they knew not that God giveth the Bruits an appetite more bounded because they have not Reason to bound it and giveth them not the temptation Sâe Plutarâks Precepts of health of your delicate varieties or giveth them a concoction answerable to their appetites and yet giveth man to be the Rational Governour of those of them that are for his special service and apt to exceed And if his Swine his Horses and his Cattle were all left to their Appetites they would live but a little while If promiscuous generating be not lawful in mankind which is lawful in bruits why should they not confess the same of the Appetite Men have so much love of life and fear of death that if they did but know how much their Gluttony doth hasten their death it would do more to restrain it with the most than the fear of death eternal doth But they judge of their digestion by their present feeling If they feel not their stomachs sick or disposed to vomit or if no present pain correct them they think their Gluttony doth not hurt them and think they have eaten no more than doth them good But of this more anon in the Directions § 14. 10. Another great cause of Gluttony is that it is grown the common custome and being not known is in no disgrace unless men eat till they spew or to some extraordinary measure And so the measure which every man seeth another use he thinketh is moderation and is fit for him whereas the ignorance of Physick and matters of their own health hath made Gluttony almost as common as eating with those that are not restrained by want or sickness And so every man is an example of evil to another and encourage one another in the sin If Gluttony were but in as much disgrace as whoredome yea or as drunkenness is and as easily known and as commonly taken notice of it would contribute
worst they can against another as an enemy but as loving friends do use an amicable arbitration resolving contentedly to stand to what the Iudge determineth without any alienation of mind or abatement of brotherly love § 12. Direct 9. Be not too confident of the righteousness of your own cause but ask counsel of some Direct 9. understanding godly and impartial men and hear all that can be said and patiently consider of the case and do as you would have others do by you § 13. Direct 10. Observe what terrors of Conscience use to haunt awakened sinners especially on a Direct 10. death-âead for such sins as false witnessing and false judging and oppressing and injuâing the innocent even above most other sins CHAP. XXIII Cases of Conscience and Directions against Backbiting Slandering and Evil Speaking Tit. 1. Cases of Conscience about Backbiting and Evil Speaking Quest. 1. MAy I not speak evil of that which is evil And call every one truly as Quest. 1. he is Answ. You must not speak a known falshood of any man under pretence of Charity or speaking well But you are not to speak all the evil of every man which is true As opening the faults of the King or your Parents though never so truly is a sin against the fifth Commandment Honour thy Father and Mother So if you do it without a call you sin against your neighbours honour and many other wayes offend Quest. 2. Is it not sinful silence and a consenting to or countenancing of the sins of others to say Quest. 2. nothing against them as tender of their honour Answ. It is sinful to be silent when you have a call to speak If you forbear to admonish the offender in love between him and you when you have opportunity and just cause it is sinful to be silent then But to silence backbiting is no sin If you must be guilty of every mans sin that you talk not against behind his back your whole discourse must be nothing but backbiting Quest. 3. May I not speak that which honest religious credible persons do report Quest. 3. Answ. Not without both sufficient evidence and a sufficient call You must not judge of the action by the person but of the person by the action Nor must you imitate any man in evil doing If a good man abuse you are you willing that all men follow him and abuse you more Quest. 4. May I believe the bad report of an honest credible person Quest. 4. Answ. You must first consider Whether you may hear it or meddle with it For if it be a case that you have nothing to do with you may not set your judgement to it either to believe it or disbelieve it And if it be a thing that you are called to judge of yet every honest mans word is not presently to be believed You must first know whether it be a thing that he saw or is certain of himself or a thing which he only taketh upon report And what his evidence or proof is and whether he be not engaged by interest passion or any difference of opinion Or be not engaged in some contrary faction where the interest of a party or cause is his temptation Or whether he be not used to rash reports and uncharitable speeches And what concurrence of testimonies there is and what is said on the other side Especially what the person accused saith in his own defence If it be so heinous a crime in publick Judgement to pass sentence before both parties are heard and to condemn a man before he speak for himself it cannot be justifiable in private judgement Would you be willing your selves that all should be believed of you which is spoken by any honest man And how uncertain are we of other mens honesty that we should on that account think ill of others Quest. 5. May I not speak evil of them that are enemies to God to Religion and godliness and are Quest. 5. open persecutors of it or are enemies to the King or Church Answ. You may on all meet occasions speak evil of the sin and of the persons when you have a just call but not at your own pleasure Quest. 6. What if it be one whose honour and credit countenanceth an ill cause and his dishonour would Quest. 6. disable him to do hurt Answ. You may not belye the Devil nor wrong the worst man that is though under pretence of doing good God needeth not malice nor calumnies nor injustice to his glory It is an ill cause that cannot be maintained without such means as these And when the matter is true you must have a call to speak it and you must speak it justly without unrighteous aggravations or hiding the better part which should make the case and person truly understood There is a time and due manner in which that mans crimes and just dishonour may be published whose false reputation injureth the truth But yet I must say that a great deal of villany and slander is committed upon this plausible pretence and that there is scarce a more common cloak for the most inhumane lyes and calumnies Quest. 7. May I not lawfully make a true Narration of such matters of fact as are criminal and Quest. 7. dishonourable to offenders Else no man may write a true History to posterity of mens crimes Answ. When you have a just cause and call to do it you may But not at your own pleasure Historians may take much more liberty to speak the truth of the dead than you may of the living Though no untruth must be spoken of either yet the honour of Princes and Magistrates while they are alive is needful to their Government and therefore must be maintained oft times by the concealment of their faults And so proportionably the honour of other men is needful to a life of love and peace and just society But when they are dead they are not subjects capable of a right to any such honour as must be maintained by such silencing of the truth to the injury of posterity And posterity hath usually a right to historical truth that good examples may draw them to imitation and bad examples may warn them to take heed of sin God will have the name of the wicked to rot and the faults of a Noah Lot David Solomon Peter c. shall be recorded Yet nothing unprofitable to posterity may be recorded of the dead though it be true nor the faults of men unnecessarily divulged much less may the dead be slandered or abused Quest. 8. What if it be one that hath been oft admonished in vain May not the faults of such a one be Quest. 8. mentioned behind his back Answ. I confess such a one the case being proved and he being notoriously impenitent hath made a much greater forfeiture of his honour than other men And no man can save that mans honour who will cast it away himself But yet it is
Honour for uncharitableness And the voice of Pride is the voice of the Devil contrary to him who made himself of no reputation Phil. 2. 7 8. and submitted to be arrayed in a garb of mockery and led out with scorn like a fool and bowed to and buffetted and spit upon and crucified who calleth to us to learn of him to be meek and lowly and to deny our selves and take up the Cross which is shameful suffering if we will be his disciples Matth. 11. 28 29. Luke 14. 30 32 33. To every Christian it is the greatest honour to be like Jesus Christ and to excell in Charity It is a greater dishonour to want Love to an enemy than to fly from him or not resist him He that teacheth otherwise and maketh sin honourable and the imitation and obedience of Christ to be more dishonourable doth preach up Pride and preach down Charity and doth preach for the Devil against Jesus Christ and therefore should neither call himself a Jesuite nor a Christian. Yea more if the person that would hurt or kill you be one that is of more worth and usefulness as to the publick good you should rather suffer by him or be slain by him than you should equally hurt him or kill him in your own defence As if the King of another Kingdom that hath no authority over you for of your own there is no question should assault you Or any one whose death would be a greater loss than yours For the publick good is better than your own And it will not alwayes hold that you may wish another as much hurt as you may do him For in defending your self you may sometime blamelesly do more hurt than you were willing to do And you must never wish your enemies hurt as such but only as a necessary means of good as of preservation of himself or you or others Quest. 7. Must Kings and States Love their enemies How then can War be lawful Quest. 7. Answ. Kings and States are bound to it as much as private men And therefore must observe the foresaid Laws of Love as well as others Therefore they must raise no War unnecessarily nor for any cause be it never so just in it self when the benefits of the War are not like to be a greater good than the War will bring hurt both to friends and foes set together A lawful offensive War is almost like a true General Council On certain suppositions such a thing may be But whether ever the world saw such a thing or whether ever such suppositions will come to existence is the question Tit. 2. Motives to Love and do good to Enemies Motive 1. GOd loveth his enemies and doth them good and he is our best exemplar Mot. 1. Matth. 5. 45 46 But I say unto you Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you that ye may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven For he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Mot. 2. Jesus Christ was incarnate to set us a pattern especially of this vertue He sought the Mot. 2. salvation of his enemies he went up and down doing good among them He dyed for his enemies He prayeth for them even in his sufferings on the Cross He wept over them when he foresaw their ruine When he was reviled he reviled not again This is the pattern which we must imitate Mot. 3. God loved even us our selves when we were his enemies Or else what had become of Mot. 3. us And Christ dyed even for us as enemies to reconcile us by his death to God Rom. 5. 9 10. Therefore we are specially obliged to this duty Mot. 4. To be Gods Enemies is to be wicked and unlovely so that in such God could see nothing Mot. 4. amiable but our Nature and those poor remainders of virtue in it and our capacity of being made better by his grace and yet he then loved us But to be an enemy to you or me is not to be ungodly or wicked as such It is an enmity but against a vile unworthy Worm and therefore is a smaller fault Mot. 5. We do more against our selves than any Enemy or Devils and yet we love our selves why Motive 5. then should we not love another who doth less against us Mot. 6. All that is of God and is good must be loved But there may be much of God and much Motive 6. natural and moral good in some enemies of ours Mot. 7. To Love an enemy signifieth a mind that is impartial and loveth purely on Gods account Motive 7. and for Goodness sake But the contrary sheweth a selfish mind that loveth only on his own account Mot. 8. If you love only those that love you you do no more than the worst man in the world may Motive 8. do But Christians must do more than others Mat. 5. 47. or else they must expect no more than others Mot. 9. Loving and doing good to enemies is the way to win them and to save them If there be any Motive 9. spark of true humanity left in them they will love you when they perceive indeed that you love them A man can hardly continue long to hate him whom he perceiveth unfeignedly to love him And this will draw him to love Religion for your sake when he discerneth the fruits of it Mot. If he be implacable it will put you into a condition fit for God to own you in and to judge Mot. 10. you accordingly to your innocency These two together contain the sense of heaping coals of fire on his head that is q. d. If he be not implacable you will melt and win him and if he be implacable you will engage God in your cause who best knoweth when and how to revenge Tit. 3. Directions for Loving and doing good to Enemies Direct 1. MAke no man your enemy so far as you can avoid it For though you may pretend to Love Direct 1. him when he is your enemy you have done contrary to Love in making him your enemy For thereby he is deprived of his own Love to you And if his Charity be his best commodity then he that robbeth him though he be never so culpable himself hath done that which belongeth to the worst of enemies It is a thousand times greater hurt and loss to him to lose his own Love to others than to lose anothers love to him And therefore to make him hate you is more injurious or hurtful to him than to hate him Direct 2. Take not those for your enemies that are not and believe not any one to be your enemy Direct 2. till cogent evidence constrain you Take heed therefore of ill suspicious and ungrounded censures except defensively so far only as to secure your selves
carrieth thee to the place No one forceth thee to sin If thou do it it is because thou wilt do it and lovest it If thou be in good earnest with God and wilt be saved indeed and art not content to part with Heaven for thy cups and company away with them presently without delay § 4. Hast thou lived in wantonness fornication uncleanness gluttony gaming pastimes sensuality to the pleasing of thy flesh while thou hast displeased God O bless the Patience and Mercy of the Lord that thou wast not cut off all this while and damned for thy sin before thou didst repent And as thou lovest thy soul delay no longer but make a stand and go no further not one step further in the way which thou knowest leads to Hell If thou knowest that this is the way to thy damnation and yet wilt go on what pity dost thou deserve from God or man § 5. If thou have been a Covetous Wordling or an Ambitious seeker of honour or preferment in the world so that thy gain or rising or reputation hath been the game which thou hast followed and hath taken thee up instead of God and life eternal away now with these known deceits and hunt not after Vanity and Vexation Thou knowest before hand what it will prove when thou hast overtaken it and hast enjoyed all that it can yield thee and how useless it will be as to thy comfort or happiness at last § 6. Surely if men were willing they are able to forbear such sins and to make a stand and look before them to prevent their misery Therefore God thus pleadeth with them Isa. 1. 16 17 18. Wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well c. Isa. 55 2 3. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you V. 6 7. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found Call ye upon him while he is near Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Christ supposeth that the foresight of judgement may restrain men from sin when he saith Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee John 5. 14. 8. 11. Can the presence of men restrain a Fornicator and the presence of the Judge restrain a Thief yea or the foresight of the Assizes And shall not the presence of God with the foresight of judgement and damnation restrain thee Remember that impenitent sin and damnation are conjoyned If you will cause one God will cause the other Choose one and you shall not choose whether you will have the other If you will have the Serpent you shall have the sting Direction 15. IF thou have sincerely given up thy self to God and consented to his Covenant shew it Direct 15. by turning the face of thy endeavours and conversation quite another way and by seeking Heaven more fervently and diligently than ever thou soughtest the world or fleshly pleasures § 1. Holiness consisteth not in a meer forbearance of a sensual life but principally in living unto God The principle or heart of Holiness is within and consisteth in the Love of God and of his Word and Wayes and Servants and Honour and Interest in the world and in the souls delight in God and the Word and Wayes of God and in its inclination towards him and desire after him and care to please him and lothness to offend him The expression of it in our lives consisteth in the constant diligent exercise of this internal life according to the directions of the Word of God If thou be a believer and hast subjected thy self to God as thy absolute Soveraign King and Judge it will then be thy work to obey and please him as a Child his Father or a Servant his Master Mal. 1. 6. Do you think that God will have Servants and have nothing for them to do Will one of you commend or reward your servant for doing nothing and take it at the years end for a satisfactory answer or account if he say I have done no harm God calleth you not only to do no harm but to love and serve him with all your heart and soul and might If you have a better Master than you had before Aâosta faith that the Iâaiaâs are so addicted to their Idolatry and unwearied in it that he knoweth not what words can sufficiently declare how totally their minds are transformed into it no Whâre monger having so mad a love to his Whore as they to their Ido's so that neither in their idleness or their business neither in publick or in private will they do any thing till they have first used their Superstition to their Idols They will neither rejoyce at Weddings or mourn at Funerals neither make a Feast or partake of it not so much as move a foot out of doors or a hand to any work without this Heathemsh Sacriledge And all this they do with the greatest secrefie lest the Christians should know it Lib. 5. c. 8. p. 467. See here how nature teacheth all men that there is a Deity to be worshipped with all possible love and industry And shall the Worshippers of the true God then think it unnecessary preciseness to be as diligent and hearty in his service you should do more work than you did before Will you not serve God more zealoussy than you served the Devil Will you not labour harder to save your souls than you did to damn them Will you not be more zealous in good than you were in evil What fruit had you then in those things whereof you are now ashamed For the end of those things is death Rom. 6. 21 22. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life If you are true Behâvers you have now laid up your hopes in Heaven and therefore will set yourselves to seek it as worldlings set themselves to seek the world And a sluggish wish with heartless lazy dull endeavours is no fit seeking of eternal joyes A creeping pace beseemeth not a man that is in the way to Heaven especially who went faster in the way to Hell This is not running as for our lives You may well be diligent and make haste where you have so great encouragement and help and where you may expect so good an end and where you are sure you shall never in life or death have cause to repent of any of your just endeavours and where every step of your way is pure and
Unhumbledness Impurity Unreformedness and all sin in general as sin In the ninth you are directed against â Of Presumption and false hope enough is said in the Saints Rest and here about Temptation Hope and other Heads afterward Security Unwatchfulness and yielding to temptations and in general against all danger to the soul. In the tenth you are directed against Barrenness Unprofitableness and Sloth and Uncharitableness and against mistakes in matter of duty or good works In the eleventh you are directed against all Aversness Disaffection or cold Indifferency of heart to God In the twelfth you are directed against Distrust and sinful Cares and Fears and Sorrows In the thirteenth you are directed against an over sad or heartless serving of God as meerly from fear or forcedly without delight In the fourteenth you are directed against Unthankfulness In the fifteenth you are directed against all unholy or dishonourable thoughts of God and against all injurious speeches of him or barrenness of the tongue and against all scandal or barrenness of life In the Books referred to in the sixteenth and seventeenth you are directed against selfishness self-esteem self-love self-conceit self-will self-seeking and against all worldliness and fleshliness of mind or life But yet leât any necessary helps should be wanting against such heinous sins I shall add some more particular Directions against such of them as were not fully spoken to before PART I. Directions against UNBELIEF § 1. I Know that most poor troubled Christians when they complain of the sin of Unbelief do mean by it their not Believing that they are sincere believers and personally justified and shall be saved â Whether not to believe that my sins are pardoned âe indeed Unbelieâ And I know that some Divines have affirmed that the sense of that Article of the Creed I believe the Remission of sins is I believe my sins are actually forgiven But the truth is to believe that I am elect or justified or that my sins are forgiven or that I am a sincere Believer is not to Believe any word of God at all For no word of God doth say any of these nor any thing equivalent nor any thing out of which it can be gathered For it is a Rational Conclusion and one of the premises which do infer it must be found in my self by reflexion or internal sense and self-knowledge The Scripture only saith He that truly believeth is justified and shall be saved But it is Conscience and not Belief of Scripture which must say I do sincerely believe Therefore the Conclusion that I am justified and shall be saved is a Rational Collection from what I find in Scripture and in my self set together and resulting from both can be no firmer or surer than is the weaker of the premises Now Certainty is objective or subjective in the Thing or in my Apprehension As to Objective Certainty in the thing it self all truths are equally true But all Truths are not equally discernable there being much more cause of doubting concerning some which are less evident than concerning others which are more evident And so the Truth of Gods promise of Justification to believers is more certain that is hath fuller surer Evidence to be discerned by than the Truth of my sincere believing And that I sincerely believe is the more Debile of the premises and therefore the conclusion followeth this in its Debility And so can be no article of faith And as to the subjective Certainty that varyeth according to mens various apprehensions The premises as in their evidence or aptitude to ascertain us are the cause of the Conclusion as evident or knowable And the premises as apprehended are the Cause of the Conclusion as known Now it is a great doubt with some Whether a man can possibly be more certain that he believeth Whether a man can be more certain that he believeth than he is that the thing believed is true than he is that the thing believed is true because the act can extend no further than the object and to be sure I believe is but to be sure that I take the thing believed to be true But I shall grant the contrary that a man may possibly be surer that he believeth than he is that the thing believed is true because my believing is not alwayes a full subjective certainty that the thing is true but a believing that its true And though you are fully certain that all Gods word is true yet you may believe that this is his word with some mixture of unbelief or doubting And so the question is but this Whether you may not certainly without doubting know that you Believe the Word of God to be true though with some doubting And it seems you may But then it is a further question Whether you can be surer of the saving sincerity of your faith than you are that this Word of God is true And that ordinarily men doubt of the first as much as they doubt of the later I think is an experimented truth But yet grant that with some it may be otherwise Because he believeth sincerely that so far believeth the Word of God as to trust his life and soul upon it and forsake all in obedience to it And that I do so I may know with less doubting than I yet have about the Truth of the Word so believed All that will follow is but this That of those men that doubt of their Iustification and Salvation some of their doubts are caused more by their doubting of Gods Word than by the doubting whether they sincerely though doubtingly believe it and the doubts of others whether they are justified and shall be saved is caused much more by their doubting of their own sincere belief than by their doubting of the truth of Scriptures And the far greatest number of Christians seem to themselves to be of this later sort For no doubt but though a man of clear understanding can scarcely believe and yet not know that he believeth yet he may believe sincerely and not know that he believeth sincerely But still the knowledge of our own justification is but the effect or progeny of our Belief of the Word of God and of our Knowledge that we do sincerely believe it which conjunctly are the Parents and Causes of it And it can be no stronger than the weaker of the Parents which in esse cognoscibili is our faith but in esse cognito is sometime the one and sometime the other And the effect is not the cause The effect of faith and knowledge conjunct is not faith it self It is not a Believing the Word of God to believe that you believe or that you are Iustified But yet because that faith is one of the Parents of it some call it by the name of faith though they should call it but an effect of faith as one of the causes And well may our doubtings of our own salvation be said to be from Unbelief because
of Christs Body and Blood aright But besides all these what a deal of duty have you to perform to Magistrates Pastors Parents Masters and other superiours to subjects people children servants and other inferiours to every neighbour for his soul his body his estate and name and to do to all as you would be done by And besides all this how much have you to do directly for your selves for your souls and bodies and families and estates Against your ignorance infidelity pride selfishness sensuality worldliness passion sloth intemperance cowardize lust uncharitableness c. Is not here matter for your thoughts § 15. Direct 15. Overlook not that life full of particular mercies which God hath bestowed on your Direct 15. selves and you will find pleasant and profitable matter for your thoughts To spare me the labour of 15. All our particular Mercies repeating them look back to Chap. 3. Dir. 14. Think of that mercy which brought you into the world and chose your Parents your place and your condition which brought you up and bore with you patiently in all your sins and closely warned you of every danger which seasonably afflicted you and seasonably delivered you and heard your Prayers in many a distress which hath yet kept the worst of you from death and Hell and hath Regenerated justified adopted and sanctified those that he hath fitted for eternal life How many sins he hath forgiven How many he hath in part subdued How many and suitable helps he hath vouchsafed you From how many Enemies he hath saved you how oft he hath delighted you by his word and grace what comforts you have had in his Servants and ordinances in your relations and callings His mercies are innumerable and yet do your meditations want matter to supply them If I should but recite the words of David in many thankful Psalms you would think Mercy found his Thoughts employment § 16. Direct 16. Foresee that exact and righteous judgement which shortly you have to undergo Direct 16. and it will do much to find you employment for your thoughts A man that must give an account to 16. The account at Judgement God of all that he hath done both good and evil and knoweth not how soon for ought he knows before to morrow me thinks should find him something better than vanity to think on Is it nothing to be ready for so great a day To have your justification ready your accounts made up Your Consciences cleansed and quietted on good grounds To know what answer to make for your selves against the accuser To be clear and sure that you are indeed Regenerate and have a part in Christ and are washed in his blood and reconciled to God and shall not prove hypocrites and self-deceivers in that trying day when it is a sentence that must finally decide the question whether we shall be saved or damned and must determine us to Heaven or Hell for ever and you have so short and uncertain a time for your preparation will not this administer matter to your Thoughts If you were going to a Judgement for your lives or all your estates you would think it sufficient to provide you matter for your thoughts by the way How much more this final dreadful judgement § 17. Direct 17. If all this will not serve the turn it 's strange if God call not home your thoughts Direct 17. by sharp afflictions and methinks the improvement of them and the removal of them should find some 17. Our Afflictions employment for your thoughts It 's time then to search and try your ways and turn again unto the Lord Lam. 3. 4. To find out the Achan that troubleth your peace and know the voice of the rod and what God is angry at and what it is that he calleth you to mind To know what root it is that beareth these bitter fruits and how they may be sanctified to make you conformable to Christ and partakers of his holiness Heb. 12. 10. Besides the exercise of holy patience and submission there is a great deal of work to be done in sufferings to exercise faith and honour God and the good cause of our suffering and to humble our selves for the evil cause and to get the benefit And if you will not meditate of the Duty you shall meditate of the pain whether you will or not and say as Lam. 3. 17 18 19 20. I forgate prosperity and I said My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord Remembring mine affliction and my misery the wormwood and the gall My soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me Put not God to remember you by his spur and help your meditations by so sharp a means Psal. 78. 33 34 35. Therefore did he consume their days in vanity and their years in trouble when he âlew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God and they remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer § 18. Direct 18. Be diligent in your callings and spend no time in idleness and perform your labours Direct 18. with holy minds to the glory of God and in obedience to his commands and then your thoughts will 18. The business of your Calling have the less leisure and liberty for vanity or idleness Employments of the body will employ the Thoughts They that have much to do have much to think on For they must do it prudently and skillfully and carfully that they may do it successfully and therefore must think how to do it And the urgency and necessity of business will almost necessitate the thoughts and so carry them on and find them work Though some employments more than others And let none think that these Thoughts are bad or vain because they are about worldly things For if our Labours themselves be not bad or vain then neither are those thoughts which are needful to the well-doing of our work Nor let any worldling please himself with this and say My thoughts are taken up about my calling For his calling it self is perverted by him and made a carnal work to carnal ends when it should be sanctified That the thoughts about your labours may be good 1. Your Labours themselves must be good performed in obedience to God and for the good of others and to his glory 2. Your Labours and thoughts must keep their bounds and the higher things must be still preferred and sought and thought on in the first place And your Labours must so far employ your thoughts as is needful to the well-doing of them but better things must be thought on in such labours as leave a vacancy to the Thoughts But diligence in your calling is a very great help to keep out sinful thoughts and to furnish us with thoughts which in their place are good § 19. Direct 19. You have all Gods spiritual helps and holy ordinances to feed your meditations Direct 19. and
will of that which they are most afraid of thinking As the spirits and blood will have recourse to the part that is hurt The very pain of their fears doth draw their thoughts to what they fear As he that is over-desirous to sleep and afraid lest he shall not sleep is sure to wake because his fears and desires keep him waking so do the fears and desires of the Melancholy cross themselves And withall the malice of the Devil plainly here interposeth and taketh advantage by this disease to tempt and trouble them and to shew his hatred to God and Christ and Scripture and to them For as he can much easier tempt a cholerick person to anger than another and a flegmatick fleshy person to sloth and a sanguine or hot tempered person to lust and wantonness so also a melancholy person to thoughts of blasphemy infidelity and despair And ost-times they feel a vehement urgency as if something within them urged them to speak such or such a blasphemous or foolish word and they can have no rest unless they yield in this and other such cases to what they are urged to And some are ready to yield in a temptation to be quiet and when they have done they are tempted utterly to despair because they have committed so great a sin and when the Devii hath got this advantage of them he is still setting it before them 27. Hereupon they are further tempted to think they have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost not understanding what that sin is but fearing it is theirs because it is a fearful sin At least they think they shall not be forgiven not considering that a temptation is one thing and a sin another and that no man hath less cause to fear being condemned for his sin than he that is least willing of it and most hateth it And no man can be less willing of any â sin than these poor souls are of the hideous blasphemous thoughts which they complain of 28. Hereupon some of them grow to think that they are possessed of Devils and if it do but enter into their fantasie how possessed persons use to act the very strength of imagination will make them do so too so that I have known those that will swear and curse and blaspheam and imitate an inward aliene voice thinking themselves that it is the Devil in them that doth all this But these that go so far are but few 29. Some of them that are near distraction verily think that they hear voices and see lights and apparitions that the Curtains are opened on them that something meets them and saith this or that to them when all is but the errour of a crazed brain and sick imagination 30. Many of them are aweary of their lives through the constant tiring perplexities of their minds and yet afraid of dying some of them resolutely famish themselves some are strongly tempted to murder themselves and they are haunted with the temptation so restlesly that they can go no whither but they feel as if somewhat within them put them on and said Do it do it so that many poor creatures yield and make away themselves 31. Many of them are restlesly vexed with fears of want and poverty and misery to their families and of imprisonment or banishment and lest some-body will kill them and every one that they see whisper they think is plotting to take away their lives 32. Some of them lay a law upon themselves that they will not speak and so live long in resolute silence 33. All of them are intractable and stiffe in their own conceits and hardly perswaded out of them be they never so irrational 34. Few of them are the better for any Reason conviction or Counsel that is given them If it seem to satisfie and quiet and rejoyce them at the present to morrow they are as bad again it being the nature of their disease to think as they do think and their thoughts are not cured while the disease is uncured 35. Yet in all this distemper few of them will believe that they are melancholy but abhor to hear men tell them so and say it is but the rational sense of their unhappiness and the forsakings and heavy wrath of God And therefore they are hardly perswaded to take any Physick or use any means for the cure of their bodies saying that they are well and being confident that it is only their souls that are distressed This is the miserable case of these poor people greatly to be pittyed and not to be despised by any I have spoken nothing but what I have often seen and known And let none despise such for men of all sorts do fall into this misery learned and unlearned high and low good and bad yea some that have lived in greatest jollity and sensuality when God hath made them feel their folly § 3. The causes of it are 1. Most commonly some worldly loss or cross or grief or care which made too deep an impression on them 2. Sometime excess of fear upon any common occasion of danger 3. Sometime over-hard and unintermitted studies or thoughts which screw up and rack the fantasie too much 4. Sometime too deep fears or too constant and serious and passionate thoughts and cares about the danger of the soul. 4. The great preparatives to it which are indeed the principal cause are a weak Head and Reason joyned with strong Passion which are oftest found in Women and those to whom it is natural 5. And in some it is brought in by some heynous sin the sight of which they cannot bear when Conscience is but once awakened § 4. When this disease is gone very far Directions to the persons themselves are vain because they have not Reason and free-will to practise them but it is their friends about them that must have the Directions But because with the most of them and at first there is some Power of Reason left I give Directions for the use of such § 5. Direct 1. See that no errour in Religion be the cause of your distress especially understand well Direct 1 the Covenant of Grace and the Riches of mercy manifested in Christ. Among others it will be useful to you to understand these following truths 1. That our thoughts of the Infinite Goodness of God should bear proportion with our thoughts Special Truths to be known for preventing causeless troubles concerning his Infinite Power and Wisdom 2. That the Mercy of God hath provided for all mankind so sufficient a Saviour that no sinner shall perish for want of a sufficient satisfaction made for his sins by Christ nor is it made the condition of any mans salvation or pardon that he satisfie for his own sins 3. That Christ hath in his Gospel-Covenant which is an Act of oblivion made over himself with pardon and salvation to all that will penitently and believingly accept the offer And that none perish that hear the Gospel but
here is not meant the substance of the Christian belief or any one necessary Article of it But a Belief of the indifferency of such things as Paul spake of in meats and drinks If thou know these things to be Lawful when thy weak brother doth not and so thou be wiser than he thank God for thy knowledge and use it to thy own salvation but do not proudly or uncharitably contend for it and use it uncharitably to the danger of anothers soul much less to the wrong of the Church and Gospel and the hinderance of greater truths 2 Tim 2. 14. Of these things put them in remembrance that is of the Saints hope in Gods faithfulness charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit but the subverting of the hearers Yet for the faith we must earnestly contend Jude 2 3. So 2 Tim. 2. 2. 23 24. But foolish and unlearned questi ãâ¦ã avoid knowing that they do gender strife And the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle to all men § 8. But that which is the chiefest matter of our Profession is The being and perfections of God himself His love to man and power over him and mans subjection and obligations unto God The person and office and works and benefits of our Redeemer with all the duty that we owe to him in perfect holiness and all the hopes that we have in him the happiness of the Saints the odiousness of sin and the misery of the wicked These and such as these are things that we are called to Profess yet so as not to deny or renounce the smallest truth § 9. Direct 3. Understand also the manner how we must make Profession of Religion 1. There is Direct 3. a Professing by words and a professing by Actions 2. There is a solemn profession by Gods publick ordinances and an occasional or privater profession by conference or by our conversations And all these wayes must Religion be professed § 10. Direct 4. Understand also the season of each sort of Profession that you omit not the season nor do it Direct 4. unseasonably 1. Profession by Baptism Lords Supper and Church-assemblies must be done in their season which the Church-guides are the conducters of 2. Profession by an innocent blameless obedient life is never out of season 3. Profession by private conference and by occasional acts of piety must be when opportunity inviteth us and they are likely to attain their ends 4. The whole frame of a Believers life should be so Holy and Heavenly and mortified and above the world as may amount to a serious profession that he liveth in confident hope of the life to come and may shew the world the difference between a Worldling and an heir of Heaven between corrupted nature and true grace The Professors of Godliness must be a peculiar people zealous of good works and adorned with them Tit. 2. 14. 1 Tim. 2. 10. § 11. Direct 5. Take special care that your Profession be sincere and that you be your selves as good Direct 5. as you profess to be Otherwise 1. Your profession will condemn your selves 2. And it will dishonour the truth which you deceitfully profess There can scarce a greater injury befall a good cause than to have a bad and shameful patron to defend it Rom. 2. 3. And thinkest thou this O man that judgest them which do such things and dost the same that thou shalt escape the judgement of God Vers. 13. to 25. Thou that makest thy boast of the Law through breaking the Law dishonourest thou God For the name of God is blaspheamed among the Gentiles through you § 12. Direct 6. Let not your profession be so much of your own sincerity as of God and his excellencies Direct 6. Boast not of your selves but of God and Christ and the promise and the Hope of true believers and do it to Gods praise and not for your own Be sure that in all your profession of Religion you be seeking honour to God and not unto your selves And then in this manner he that doubteth of his own sincerity yet may and must make profession of Christ and true Religion when you cannot proclaim the uprightness of your own hearts you may boldly proclaim the excellencies of Religion and the happiness of Saints § 13. Direct 7. Live upon God alone and trust his Alsufficiency and abhor that pusillanimity and Direct 7. baseness of spirit which maketh men afraid or ashamed openly to own the truth Remember the example of your Lord who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession 1 Tim. 6. 13. who came for this end into the world to bear witness to the truth Fear not the face of man whose breath is in his Joh. 18. 37. The Arrians under Valens and the Vandalâ still silenced the Orthodox Preachers and forbad their meetings and yet the people adhered to their Pastors and kept their meetings while they could Saepius prohibitum est ut sacerdotes vestri conventus minime celebrarent nec sua seditione animas subverterent Chistianas Praecept Hunner in Victorâ uticers p. 414. nostrils and is perishing even while he is threatning If thou believe not that Christ can secure thee from the rage of man thou believest not indeed in Christ If thou believe not that Heaven will satisfie for all that by scorns or cruelties thou sufferest from sinners thou hast not indeed the hope of a believer And no wonder if thou profess not that which thou believest not But if thou believe that God is God and Christ is Christ and Heaven is Heaven and the Gospel is true thou hast enough in thy Belief to secure thee against all the scorns and cruelties of man and to tell thee that Christ will bear thy charges in all that thou sufferest for his sake O what abundance are secretly convinced of the truth and their Consciences bear witness to the wisdom of the Saints and a holy life and yet they dare not openly own and stand to the truth which they are convinced of for fear of being mockt by the tongues of the profane or for fear of losing their places and preferments O wretch dost thou not tremble when thou art ashamed of Christ to think of the day when he will be ashamed of thee Then when he comes in Glory none will be ashamed of him Then where is the tongue that mockt him and his servants Who then will deride his holy wayes Then that will be the greatest Glory which thou art now ashamed of Canst thou believe that day and yet hide thy profession through cowardly fear or shame of man Is man so great and is Christ no greater in thine eyes than so If he be not more regardable than man believe not in him If he be regard him more and let not a worm be preferred before thy Saviour § 14. Direct 8. If any doubt arise whether thou shouldst now make particular Profession of
The word obligation being Metaphorical must in controversie be explained by its proper Answ. terms The Law doth first constituere debitum obedientiâ propter inobedientiam debitum poenâ Here then you must distinguish 1. Between Obligation in foro conscientiâ and in foro humano 2. Between an obligation ad poenam by that Law of man and an obligation ad patiendum by another Divine Law And so the answer is this 1. If the Higher Powers e. g. forbid the Apostles to preach upon pain of death or scourging the dueness both of the obedience and the penalty is really null in point of Conscience however in foro humano they are both due that is so falsly reputed in that Court Therefore the Apostles are bound to preach notwithstanding the prohibition and so far as God alloweth they may resist the penalty that is by flying For properly there is neither debitum obedientiae nec poenae 2. But then God himself obligeth them not to resist the higher powers Rom. 13. 1 2 3. and in their patience to possess their souls So that from this command of God there is a true obligation ad patiendum to patient suffering and non-resistance though from the Law of man against their preaching there was no true obligation aut ad obedientiam aut ad poenam This is the true resolution of this Sophism § 65. Direct 34. It is one of the most needful duties to Governours for those that have a call and Direct 34. opportunity as their Pastors to tell them wisely and submissively of those sins which are the greatest enemies Vetus est verumque dictum Miser est Imperator cui vera reticentur Grotius de Imp. p. 245. Principi consâile non dulciora sed optima is one of Soloâs Sentences in Laârt de Solon Therefore it is a horrid villany of the Jâsuites which is expressed in Secret Instruct. in Arcanis Iesuit pag. 5 6 7 8 11. to indulge great men and Pri ãâ¦ã es in those opinions and sins which please them and to be on that side that their Liberty requireth to keep their favour to the Society So Maffaeius l. 3. c. 11. in vita ipsiuâ Loyolae Alexand. Severus so greatly hated flatterers that Lampridius saith Siquis caput flexisset aut blandius aliquid dixisseâ uti adulator vel abjiciebatur si loci ejus qualitas pateretur vel ridebatur ingenti cachinno si ejus dignitas graviori subjacere non posset injuriae Venit ad Attilam past victoriam Marullus poeta ejus temporis egregius compositumque in adulationâm carmen recitavit In quo ubi Attila per interpretem cognovit se Deum divina sâirpe ortum vanissime praedicari aspernatus sacrilâgae adulationis impudentiam cum autore âarmen exuri jusserat A qua severitate subinde temperavit ne scriptores caeteri a laudibus ipsius celebrandis terrerentur Callimach Exp. in Attila p. 353. to their souls and not the smallest enemies to their Government and the publick peace All Christians will confess that sin is the only forfeiture of Gods protection and the cause of his displeasure and consequently the only danger to the soul and the greatest enemy to the Land And that the sins of Rulers whether personal or in their Government have a far more dangerous influence upon the publick state than the sins of other men Yea the very sins which upon true repentance may be pardoned as to the everlasting punishment may yet be unpardoned as to the publick ruine of a state As the sad instance of Manasseh sheweth 2 Kings 23. 26. Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal 2 Kings 24. 3 4. Surely at the Commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh according to all that he did and also for the innocent blood that he shed for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood which the Lord would not pardon And yet this was after Iosiah had Reformed So Solomons sin did cause the renting of the ten Tribes from his Sons Kingdom Yea the bearing with the High Places was a provoking sin in Kings that otherwise were upright Therefore sin being the fire in the Thatch the quenching of it must needs be an act of duty and fidelity to Governours And those that tempt them to it or sooth and flatter them in it are the greatest enemies they have But yet it is not every man that must reprove a Governour but those that have a Call and Opportunity nor must it be done by them imperiously or reproachfully or publickly to their dishonour but privately humbly and with love honour reverence and submissiveness § 66. Object But great men have great Spirits and are impatient of reproof and I am not bound Object to that which will do no good but ruine me Answ. 1. It is an abuse of your Superiours to censure them to be so proud and bruitish as not to Answ. consider that they are the subjects of God and have souls to save or lose as well as others Will you judge so hardly of them before tryal as if they were far worse and foolisher than the poor and take this abuse of them to be an excuse for your other sin No doubt there are good Rulers in the world that will say to Christs Ministers as the Prince Elector Palatine did to Pitisâus charging him to tell Mâlâh Adam in vit Barth Pitisci him plainly of his faults when he chose him to be the Pastor ânlicus 2. How know you before hand what success your words will have Hath the Word of God well managed no power yea to make even bad men good Can you love your Rulers and yet give up their souls in despair and all for fear of suffering by them 3. What if you do suffer in the doing of your duty Have you not learned to serve God upon such terms as those Or do you think it will prove it to be no duty because it will bring suffering on you These reasons favour not of faith § 67. Direct 35. Think not that it is unlawful to obey in every thing which is unlawfully commanded Direct 35. It may in many cases be the subjects duty to obey the Magistrate who sinfully commandeth him For all the Magistrates sins in commanding do not enter into the matter or substance of the thing commanded If a Prince command me to do the greatest duty in an ill design to some selfish end it is his sin so to command but yet that command must be obeyed to better ends Nay the matter of the command may be sinful in the Commander and not in the obeyer If I be commanded without any just reason to hunt a feather it is his sin that causelesly commandeth me so to lose my time and yet it may be my
any thing and fearless in the greatest perils For what should he fear who hath escaped Hell and Gods displeasure and hath conquered the King of terrours But fear is the duty and most rational temper of a guilty soul and the more fearless such are the more foolish and more miserable § 2. Direct 2. Be sure you have a warrantable Cause and Call In a bad cause it is a dreadful Direct 2. thing to conquer or to be conquered If you conquer you are a murderer of all that you kill If you are conquered and dye in the prosecution of your sin I need not tell you what you may expect I know we are here upon a difficulty which must be tenderly handled If we make the soveraign power to be the absolute and only Iudge whether the Souldiers cause and call be good then it would follow that it is the duty of all the Christian subjects of the Turk to fight against Christianity as such and to destroy all Christians when the Turk commandeth it And that all the subjects of other Lands are bound to invade this or other such Christian Kingdoms and destroy their Kings when ever their Popish or malicious Princes or States shall command them which being intollerable consequences prove the Antecedent to be intollerable And yet on the other side if subjects must be the Judges of their cause and call the Prince shall not be served nor the common good secured till the interest of the Subjects will allow them to discern the goodness of the cause Between these two intollerable consequents it is hard to meet with a just discovery of the mean Most run into one of the extreams which they take to be the less and think that there is no other avoiding of the other The grand errours in this and an hundred like cases come from not distinguishing aright the case de esse from the case de apparere or cognoscere and not first determining the former as it ought before the latter be determined Either the cause which Subjects are commanded to fight in is really lawful to them or it is not Say not here importunely who shall judge For we are now but upon the question de esse If it be not lawful in it self but be meer robbery or murder then come to the case of Evidence Either this evil is to the subject discernable by just means or not If it be I am not able for my part to justifie him from the sin if he do it no more than to have justified the three witnesses Dan. 3. if they had bowed down to the golden Calf or Daniel 6. if he had forborn prayer or the Apostles if they had forborn preaching or the Souldiers for apprehending and crucifying Christ when their Superiours commanded them For God is first to be obeyed and feared But if the evil of the Cause be such as the Subject cannot by just and ordinary means discern then must he come next to examine his Call And a Volunteer unnecessarily he may not be in a doubtful cause It is so heinous a sin to murder men that no man should unnecessarily venture upon that which may prove to be murder for ought he knoweth But if you ask what Call may make such a doubtful action necessary I answer It must be such as warranteth it either from the End of the action or from the Authority of the Commander or both And from the end of the action the case may be made clear that if a King should do wrong to a forreign enemy and should have the worse cause yet if the revenge which that enemy seeketh would be the destruction of the King and Countrey or Religion it is lawful and a duty to fight in the desence of them And if the King should be the assailant or beginner that which is an Offensive War in him for which he himself must answer may be but a Defensive War in the commanded Subjects and they be innocent Even on the High-way if I see a stranger provoke another by giving him the first blow yet I may be bound to save his life from the fury of the avenging party But whether or how farr the bare Command of a soveraigne may warrant the subjects to venture in a doubtfull cause supposing the thing lawful in it self though they are doubtful requireth so much to be said to it which Civil Governours may possibly think me too bold to meddle with that I think it safest to pass it by only saying that there are some cases in which the Ruler is the only Competent Judge and the doubts of the subject are so unreasonable that they will not excuse the sin of his disobedience and also that the degree of the doubt is oft very considerable in the case But suppose the cause of the War be really lawful in it self and yet the subject is in doubt of it yea or thinketh otherwise then is he in the case as other erroneous consciences are that is entangled in a necessity of sinning till he be undeceived in case his Rulers command his service But which would be the greater sin to do it or not the Ends and circumstances may do much to determine But doubtless in true Necessity to save the King and State subjects may be compelled to fight in a just cause notwithstanding that they mistake it for unjust And if the subject have a private discerning judgement so far as he is a voluntary agent yet the Soveraign hath a publick determining judgement when a neglecter is to be forced to his duty Even as a man that thinketh it unlawful to maintain his Wife and Children may be compelled lawfully to do it So that it is apparent that sometime the Soveraigns cause may be good and yet an erroneous conscience may make the Souldiers cause bad if they are Volunteers who run unnecessarily upon that which they take for robbery and murder and yet that the Higher Powers may force even such mistakers to defend their Countrey and their Governours in a case of true necessity And it is manifest that sometimes the Cause of the Ruler may be bad and yet the cause of the Souldier good And that sometimes the cause may be bad and sinful to them both and sometime good and lawful unto both § 3. Direct 3. When you are doubtful whether your Cause and Call be good it is ordinarily Direct 3. safest to sit still and not to venture in so dangerous a case without great deliberation and sufficient evidence to satisfie your consciences Neander might well say of Solons Law which punished them Neander in Chron. p. 104. that took not one part or other in a Civil War or Sedition Admirabilis autem illa atque plane incredibilis quae honoribus abdicat eum qui orta seditione nullam factionem secutus sit No doubt he is a culpable Neuter that will not defend his Governours and his Countrey when he hath a call But it is so dreadful a thing to
do it And so sweet is Revenge to their furious nature as the damning of men is to the Devil that Revenged they will be though they lose their souls by it And the impotency and baseness of their spirits is such that they say Flesh and blood is unable to bear it § 11. 10. Another cause of murder is a wicked impatience with neer relations and a hatred of those that should be most dearly loved Thus many men and women have murdered their Wives and Husbands when either Adulterous Lust hath given up their hearts to another or a cross impatient discontented mind hath made them seem intollerable burdens to each other And then the Devil that destroyed their love and brought them thus far will be their teacher in the rest and shew them how to ease themselves till he hath led them to the Gallows and to Hell How necessary is it to keep in the way of duty and abhor and suppress the beginnings of sin § 12. 11. And sometimes Covetousness hath caused Murder when one man desireth another mans estate Thus Ahab came by Naboth's Vineyards to his cost And many a one desireth the death of another whose estate must fall to him at the others death Thus many a Child in heart is guilty of the murder of his Parents though he actually commit it not Yea a secret gladness when they are dead doth shew the guilt of some such desireâ while they were living And the very abatement of such moderate mourning as natural affection should procure because the estate is thereby come to them as the heirs doth shew that such are far from innocent Many a Iudas for Covetousness hath betrayed another Many a false witness for Covetousness hath sold anothers life Many a Thief for Covetousness hath taken away anothers life to get his money And many a Covetous Landlord hath longed for his Tenants death and been glad to hear of it And many a Covetous Souldier hath made a trade of killing men for Money So true is it that the Love of money is the root of all evil and therefore is one cause of this § 13. 12. And Ambition is too common a Cause of Murder among the great ones of the World How many have dispatched others out of the World because they stood in the way of their advancement For a long time together it was the ordinary way of Rising and dying to the Roman and Greek Emperours for one to procure the murder of the Emperour that he might usurp his Seat and then to be so murdered by another himself And every Souldier that looked for preferment by the change was ready to be an instrument in the fact And thus hath even the Roman seat of his Mock Holiness for a long time and oft received its Successours by the poison or other murdering of the possessours of the desired place And alas how many thousand hath that See devoured to defend its Universal Empire under the name of the spiritual Headship of the Church How many unlawful Wars have they raised or cherished even against Christian Emperours and Kings How many thousands have been Massacred How many Assassinate as Hen. 3. and Hen. 4. of France Besides those that fires and Inquisitions have consumed And all these have been the flames of Pride Yea when their fellow-Sectaries in Munster and in England the Anabaptists and Seekers have catcht some of their proud disease it hath workt in the same way of blood and cruelty § 14. 2. But besides these twelves great sins which are the nearest cause of Murder there are many more which are yet greater and deeper in nature which are the Roots of all especially these 1. The first cause is the want of true Belief of the Word of God and the judgement and punishment to come and the want of the Knowledge of God himself Atheism and Infidelity 2. Hence cometh the want of the true Fear of God and subjection to his holy Laws 3. The predominance of selfishness in all the unsanctified is the radical inclination to murder and all the injustice that is committed 4. And the want of Charity or Loving our Neighbour as our selves doth bring men neer to the execution and leaveth little inward restraint § 15. By all this you may see how this sin must be prevented and let not any man think it a needless work Thousands have been guilty of murder that once thought themselves as far from it as you 1. The soul must be possessed with the Knowledge of God and the true Belief of his Word and judgement 2. Hereby it must be possessed of the Fear of God and subjection to him 3. And the Love of God must mortifie the power of selfishness 4. And also much possess us with a true Love to our neighbours yea and enemies for his sake 5. And the twelve fore-mentioned causes of murder will thus be destroyed at the Root § 16. II. And some further help it will be to understand the Greatness of this sin Consider therefore 1. It is an unlawful destroying not only a Creature of God but one of his noblest Creatures upon earth Even one that beareth at least the natural Image of God Gen. 9. 5 6. And surely your blood of your lives will I require at the hand of every beast will I require it and at the hand of man at the hand of every mans brother will I require the life of man whoso sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he man Yea God will not only have the beast slain that killeth a man but also forbiddeth there the eating of blood v. 4. that man might not be accustomed to cruelty 2. It is the opening a door to confusion and all calamity in the World For if one man may kill another without the sentence of the Magistrate another may kill him and the world will be like Mastiffs or mad Dogs turned all loose on one another kill that kill can 3. If it be a wicked man that is killed it is the sending of a soul to Hell and cutting off his time of Repentance and his hopes If it be a Godly man it is a depriving of the World of the blessing of a profitable member and all that are about him of the benefits of his goodness and God of the service which he was here to have performed These are enough to infer the dreadful consequents to the Murderer which are such as these III. 1. It is a sin which bringeth so great a guilt that if it be repented of and pardoned yet Conscience very hardly doth ever attain to peace and quietness in this World And if it be unpardoned it is enough to make a man his own Executioner and tormenter 2. It is a sin that seldome scapeth vengeance in this life If the Law of the Land take not away their lives as God appointeth Gen. 9. 6. God useth to follow them with his extraordinary Plagues and causeth their sin
Quest. 7. Answ. No not by private assault or violence But if the crime be so great that the Law of the Land doth punish it with death if that Law be just you may in some cases seek to bring the offendor to publick justice But that is rare and otherwise you may not do it For 1. It belongeth only to the Magistrate and not to you to be the avenger 2. And killing a man can be no meet defence against calumny or slander For if you will kill a man for prevention you kill the innocent If you kill him afterward it is no Defence but an unprofitable revenge which vindicateth not your honour but dishonoureth you more Your patience is your honour and your bloody revenge doth shew you to be so like the Devil the destroyer that it is your greatest shame 3. It is odious Pride which maketh men over-value their reputation among men and think that a mans life is a just compensation to them for their dishonour Such bloody Sacrifices are fit to appâase only the blood-thirsty Spirit But what is it that Pride will not do and justifie CHAP. XI Special Directions to escape the guilt of persecuting Determining also the case about Liberty in matters of Religion THough this be a subject which the guilty cannot endure to hear of yet the misery of persecutors the blood and grones and ruines of the Church and the lamentable divisions of profâssed Christians do all command me not to pass it by in silence but to tell them the truth whether they will hear or whether they will forbear though they were such as Ezek. 3. 7 8 9 11. § 1. Direct 1. If you would escape this dreadful guilt Understand well what Persecution is Else Direct 1. you may either run into it ignorantly or oppose a duty as if it were persecution § 2. The Verb Persequor is often taken in a good sence for no more than continuato motu vel ad extremum sequor and sometime for the blameless prosecution of a delinquent But we take it here as the English word Persecute is most commonly taken for inimico affectu insequor for a malicious or injurious hurting or prosecuting another and that for the sake of Religion or Righteousness For it is not common injuries which we here intend to speak of Three things then go to make up Persecution 1. That it be the Hurting of another in his Body liberty relations estate or reputation 2. That it be done injuriously to one who deserveth it not in the particular which is the cause 3. That it be for the cause of Religion or of Righteousness that is for the Truth of God which we hold or utter or for the worship of God which we perform or for obedience to the will of God revealed in his Laws This is the cause on the sufferers part what ever is intended by the Persecuter § 3. There are divers sorts of Persecution As to the Principles of the Persecutors 1. There is a Persecution which is openly professed to be for the cause of Religion As Heathens and Mahometans persecute Christians as Christians And there is an Hypocritical Persecution when the pretended cause is some odious crime but the real cause is mens Religion or obedience to God This is the common Persecution which nominal Christians exercise on serious Christians or on one another They will not say that they Persecute them because they are Godly or serious Christians but that is the true cause For if they will but set them above God and obey them against God they will abate their Persecution Many of the Heathens thus persecuted the Christians too under the name of Ungodly and evil doers But the true cause was because they obeyed not their commands in the Worshipping of their Idol Gods So do the Papists persecute and murder men not as Professours of the truth which is the true cause but under the name of Hereticks and Schâsmaticks or Rebels against the Pope or what ever their malice pleaseth to accuse them of And prophane nominal Christians seldome persecute the serious and sincere directly by that name but under some Nickname which they set upon them or under the name of Hypocrites or self-conceited or factious persons or such like And if they live in a place and Age where there are many Civil Wars or differences they are sure to fetch some odious name or accusation thence Which side soever it be that they are on or if they meddle not on any side they are sure by every party whom they please not to hear Religion loaded with such reproaches as the times will allow them to vent against it Even the Papists who take this course with Protestants it seems by Acosta are so used themselves not by the Heathens but by one another yea by the multitude yea by their Priests For so saith he speaking of the Parish Priests Priests among the Indians having reproved their Diceing Carding Hunting Idleness Lib. 4 c. 15. pag. 404 405. Itaque is cui Pastoralis Indorum cura committitur non solum contra diaboli machinas naturae incentiva pugnare debet sed jam etiam confirmatae hominum consuetudini tempore turba praepotenti sese objicere ad excipienda invidorum ac malevolorum tela forte pectus opponere qui siquid à profano suo instituto abhorrentem viderint proditorem hypocritam hostem clamaât that is He therefore to whom the Pastoral care of the Indians is committed must not only fight against the Engines of the Devil and the incentives of nature but also now must object or set himself against the confirmed custome of men which is grown very powerful both by time and by the multitude and must valiantly oppose his breast to receive the darts of the envious and malevolent who if they see any thing contrary to their profane fashion or breeding cry out A Traitor An Hypocrite an Enemy It seems then that this is a common course § 4. 2. Persecution is either done in Ignorance or Knowledge The commonest persecution is that which is done in Ignorance and errour when men think a Good cause to be bad or a bad cause to be good and so persecute Truth while they take it to be falshood or good while they take it to be evil or obtrude by violence their Errours for Truths and their evils as good and necessary things Thus Peter testifieth of the Jews who killed the Prince of life Act. 3. 13 14 17. I know that through Ignorance you did it as did also your Rulers And Paul 1 Cor. 2. 8. which none of the Princes of this world knâw for had they known it they would not have Crucified the Lord of glory And Christ himself saith Joh. 16. 3. These things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father or me And Paul saith of himself Act. 26. 9. I thought verily with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the name
of Iesus of Nazareth which thing I also did c. And 1 Tim. 1. 13. that it was ignorantly in unbelief that he was a blaspheamer a persecutor and injurious And on the other side some Persâcute Truth and Goodness while they know it to be so Not because it is Truth or Goodness but because it is against their carnal worldly interest and inclination As the Conscience of a worldling a drunkard a whoremonger beareth witness against his sin while he goeth on in it so oft-times doth the Conscience of the Persâcutor and he hath secret convictions that those whom he persecuteth are better and happier than himself § 5. 3. As to the cause sometime persecution is for Christianity and Godliness in the gross or for some great essential point And sometimes it is only for some particular Truth or duty and that perhaps of a lower nature so small or so dark that it is become a great Controversie whether it be Truth or errour duty or sin In some respects it is more comfortable to the persecuted and more heynous in the persecutor that the suffering be for the Greatest things For this leaveth no doubt in the mind whether our cause be good or not and this sheweth that the persecutors mind is most aliene from God and truth But in some other respect it is an aggravation of the sin of the persecutor and of the comfort of the persecuted when it is for smaller truths and duties For it is a sign of great uncharitableness and cruelty when men can find in their hearts to persecute others for little things And it is a sign of a heart that is true to God and very sincere when we will rather suffer any thing from Man than renounce the smallest truth of God or commit the smallest sin against him or omit the smallest duty when it is a duty 4. Sometime persecution is directly for Religion that is for matters of professed Faith or Worship And sometimes it is for a civil or a common cause Yet still it is for our Obedience to God or else it is not the persecution which we speak of though the Matter of it be some common or civil thing As if I were persecuted meerly for giving to the poor or helping the sick or for being Loyal to my Prince and to the Laws or for doing my duty to my Parents or because I will not bear false-witness or tell a lye or subscribe a falshood or any such like This is truly persecution whatever the matter of it be as long as it is truly for Obeying God that we undergo the suffering § 6. I omit many other less considerable distributions And also those afflictions which are but improperly called persecutions as when a man is punished for a fault in a far greater measure than it deserveth this is Injustice but not persecution unless it be his Religion and Obedience to God which is the secret cause of it § 7. Direct 2. Understand well the greatness of the sin of Persecution that you may be kept in a Direct 2. due fear of being tempted to it Here therefore I shall shew you how Great a sin it is § 8. 1. Persecution is a fighting against God So it is called Act. 5. 39. And to fight against God is odious Malignity and desperate folly 1. It is Venemous malignity for a Creature to fight against his Creator and a sinner against his Redeemer who would save him and for so blind a worm to rise up against the wisdom of the All-knowing God! and for so vile a sinner to oppose the fountain of Love and Goodness 2. And what Folly can be greater than for a Mole to reproach the Sun for darkness or a lump of Earth to take up Arms against the Almighty terrible God Art thou able to make good thy cause against him or to stand before him when he is offended and chargeth thee with sin Hear a Pharisee Act. 6. 38 39. And now I say unto you refrain from these men and let them alone for if this counsel or this work be of men it will come to nought But if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it lest happily ye be found even to fight against God Or hear Christ himself Act. 9. 4 5. I am Iesus whom thou persecutest It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks with bare feet or hands to beat the thorns How unmeet a match is man for God! He needeth not so much as a word to take away thy soul and crush thee to the lowest Hell His will alone can lay thee under thy deserved pains Canst thou Conquer the Almighty God Wilt thou assault the Power which was never overcome or storm Jehovahs Throne or Kingdom First try to take down the Sun and Moon and Stars from the Firmament and to stop the course of the Rivers or of the Sea and to rebuke the Winds and turn night into day and Winter into Summer and decrepit Age into vigorous Youth Attempt not greater matters till thou hast performed these It is a greater matter than any of these to conquer God whose cause thou fightest against Hear him again Isa. 45. 9. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker Let the potsherd strive with the Potsherds of the Earth Shall the Clay say to him that fashioneth it What makest thou Or thy work He hath no hands And Isa. 45. 9. who would set the bryars and thorns against me in battel I would go through them I would burn them together Wo to the man that is not content to fight with men but chooseth the most dreadful God to be his enemy It had been better for thee that all the World had been against thee § 9. 2. Persecution opposeth the gracious design of our Redeemer and hindereth his Gospel and work of mercy to the world and endeavoureth the ruine of his Kingdom upon earth Christ came to save men and persecutors raise up their power against him as if they envyed salvation to the World And if God have made the work of mans Redemption the most wonderful of all his works which ever he revealed to the sons of men you may easily conceive what thanks he will give them that resist him in so high and glorious a design If you could pull the Stars out of the Firmament or hinder the motions of the Heavens or deny the rain to the thirsty Earth you might look for as good a reward for this as for opposing the merciful Redeemer of the World in the blessed work of mans salvation § 10. 3. Persecution is a resisting or fighting against the Holy Ghost Act. 7. 51. saith Stephen to the Jews Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye If you silence the Ministers who are the means by which the spirit worketh in the illuminating and sanctifying of souls Act. 26. 17 18. or if you afflict men for those Holy duties which the
and that all strict Religion is but hypocrisie or at least to refuse their help and counsels Even Plutark noted that It so comes to pass that we entertain not virtue nor are âapt into a desire of imitating it unless we highly honour and love the person in whom it is discerned And if they see or think the Preacher to be himself of a loose and careless and licentious life they will think that the like is very excusable in themselves and that his doctrine is but a form of speech which his office bindeth him to say but is no more to be regarded by them than by himself Two wayes is mens damnation thus promoted 1. By the ill lives of hypocritical ungodly preachers who actually bring their own persons into disgrace and thereby also the persons of others and consequently their sacred work and function 2. By wicked Preachers and people who through a malignant hatred of those that are abler and better than themselves and an envy of their reputation do labour to make the most zealous and faithful Preachers of the Gospel to be thought to be the most hypocritical or erroneous or factious and schismatical § 5. 5. The neglect of Ministerial duties is a common cause of sin and of mens damnation When they that take the charge of souls are either unable or unwilling to do their office when they teach them too seldome or too unskilfully in an unsuitable manner not choosing that doctrine which they most need or not opening it plainly and methodically in a fitness to their capacities or not applying it with necessary seriousness and urgency to the hearers state When men preach to the ungodly who are neer to damnation in a formal pase like a School-boy saying his lesson or in a drowsie reading tone as if they came to preach them all asleep or were afraid of wakening them When they speak of sin and misery and Christ of Heaven and Hell as if by the manner they came to contradict the matter and to perswade men that there are no such things The same mischief followeth the neglect of private personal inspection When Ministers think that they have done all when they have said a Sermon and never make conscience of labouring personally to convince the ungodly and reclaim offenders and draw sinners to God and confirm the weak And the omission much more the perversion and abuse of sacred Discipline hath the like effects When the Keys of the Church are used to shut out the good or not used when they ought to rebuke or to shut out the impenitent wicked ones nor to difference between the precious and the vile it hardeneth multitudes in their ungodliness and perswadeth them that they are really of the same family of Christ as the Godly are and have their sins forgiven because they are partakers of the same Holy Sacraments Not knowing the difference between the Church mystical and visible nor between the judgement of ministers and of Christ himself § 6. 6. Parents neglect of instructing Children and other parts of holy education is one of the greatest causes of the perdition of mankind in all the World But of this elsewhere § 7. 7. Magistrates persecution or opposition to Religion or discountenancing those that preach it or most seriously practise it tendeth to deceive some who over-reverence the judgement of superiours and to affright others from the obedience of God § 8. 8. Yea the negligence of Magistrates Masters and other Superiours omitting the due rebuke of sinners and due correction of the offenders and the due encouragement of the good is a great cause of the wickedness and damnation of the World § 9. 9. But above all when they make Laws for sin or for the contempt or dishonour or suppression of Religion or the serious practice of it this buildeth up Satans Kingdom most effectually and turneth Gods Ordinance against himself Thousands under Infidel and ungodly Princes are conducted by Obedience to damnation and their Rulers damn them as honourably as the Physicion kill'd his Patients who boasted that he did it secundum artem according to the rules of art § 10. 10. The vulgar example of the multitude of the ungodly is a great cause of mens impiety and damnation They must be well resolved for God and holiness who will not yield to the major Vote nor be carryed down the common stream nor run with the rabble to excess of ryot When Christianity is a Sect which is every where spoken against it proveth so narrow a way that Act. 2. 8. few have a mind to walk in it Men think that they are at least excusable for not being wiser and better than the multitude Singularity in honour or riches or strength or health is accounted no crime but singularity in godliness is at least thought unnecessary What! will you be wiser than all the Town or than such and such superiours is thought a good reprehension of Godliness where it is rare Even by them who hereby conclude their superiours or all the Town to be wiser than God § 11. 11. Also the vulgars scorning and deriding Godliness is a common cause of Murdering souls Because the Devil knoweth that there cannot one Word of solid Reason be brought against the Reason of God and so against a Holy life he therefore teacheth men to use such weapons as they have A Dog hath teeth and an Adder hath a sting though they have not the Weapons of a man A fool can laugh and jeer and rail and there is no great wit or learning necessary to smile or grin or call a man a Puritan or precisian or Heretick or Schismatick or any name which the malice of the age shall newly coin Mr. Robert Bolton largely sheweth how much the malignity of his age did vent it self against Godliness by the reproachful use of the word Puritan When Reason can be bribed to take the Devils part either natural or literate reason he will hire it at any rate But when it cannot he will make use of such as he can get Barking or hissing may serve turn where talking and disputing cannot be procured Drum and Trumpets in an Army serve the turn instead of Oratory to animate cowards and drown the noise of dying mens complaints and groans Thousands have been mocked out of their Religion and salvation at once and jeered into Hell who now know whether a scorn or the fire of Hell be the greater suffering As Tyrants think that the Greatest and Ablest and wisest men must either be drawn over to their party or destroyed so the Tyrant of Hell who ruleth in the Children of disobedience doth think that if Reason Learning and wit cannot be hired to dispute for him against God they are to be suppressed silenced and disgraced which the noise of rude clamours and foolish jeers is fit enough to perform § 12. 12. Also idle sensless prating against Religion as a needless thing doth serve turn to deceive the simple Ignorant people
man is bound to punish himself As when the Law against Swearing Cursing or the like doth give the poor a certain mulct which is the penalty He ought to give that money himself And in cases where it is a necessary cure to himself And in any case where the publick good requireth it As if a Magistrate offend whom none else will punish or who is the Judge in his own cause he should so far punish himself as is necessary to the suppression of sin and to the preserving of the honour of the Laws As I have heard of a Justice that swore twenty Oaths and paid his twenty shillings for it 2. A man may be bound in such a Divine Vengeance or Judgement as seeketh after his particular sin to offer himself to be a sacrifice to Justice to stop the Judgement As Ionah and Achan did 3. A man may be bound to confess his guilt and offer himself to Justice to save the innocent who is falsly accused and condemned for his crime 4. But in ordinary cases a man is not bound to be his own publick accuser or executioner Quest. 10. May a Witness voluntarily speak that truth which he knoweth will further an unrighteous Quest. 10. cause and be made use of to oppress the innocent Answ. He may never do it as a confederate in that intention Nor may he do it when he knoweth that it will tend to such an event though threatned or commanded except when some weightier accident doth preponderate for the doing it As the avoiding of a greater hurt to others than it will bring on the oppressed c. Quest. 11. May a witness conceal some part of the truth Quest. 11. Answ. Not when he sweaââââh to deliver the whole truth Nor when a good cause is like to suffer or a bad cause to be furââââered by the concealment Nor when he is under any other obligation to reveal the whole Quest. 12. Must a Iudge and Iury proceed secundum allegata probata according to evidence and Quest. 12. proof when they know the witness to be false and the truth to be contrary to the testimony but are not able to evince it Answ. Distinguish between the Negative and the Positive part of the Verdict or Sentence In the Negative they must go according to the evidence and testimonies unless the Law of the Land leave the case to their private knowledge As for example They must not sentence a Thief or Murderer to be punished upon their secret unproved knowledge They must not adjudge either Moneys or Lands to the true Owner from another without sufficient evidence and proof They must forbear doing Iustice because they are not called to it nor enabled But Positively they may do no Injustice upon any evidence or witness against their own knowledge of the truth As they may not upon known false witness give away any mans Lands or Money or condemn the innocent But must in such a case renounce the Office The Judge must come off the Bench and the Jury protest that they will not meddle or give any Verdict what ever come of it Because God and the Law of Nature prohibit their injustice Object It is the Law that doth it and not we Answ. It is the Law and you And the Law cannot justifie your agency in any unrighteous sentenâe The case is plain and past dispute Tit. 2. Directions against Contentious Suits False Witnessing and Oppressive Iudgements § 1. Direct 1. THe first Cure for all these sins is to know the intrinsick evil of them Good Direct 1. thoughts of sin are its life and strength When it is well known it will be hated and when it is hated it is so far cured § 2. I. The Evil of Contentious and unjust Law-Suits 1. Such contentious Suits do shew the power of selfishness in the sinner How much self-interest is inordinately esteemed 2. They shew the excessive love of the world How much men over-value the things which they contend for 3. They shew mens want of Love to their neighbours How little they regard another mans interest in comparison of their own 4. They shew how little such mens care for the publick good which is maintained by the concord and love of neighbours 5. Such contentions are powerful Engines of the Devil to destroy all Christian Love on both sides and to stir up mutual enmity and wrath and so to involve men in a course of sin by further uncharitableness and injuries both in heart and word and deed 6. Poor men are hereby robbed of their necessary maintenance and their innocent families subjected to distress 7. Unconscionable Lawyers and Court-Officers who live upon the peoples sins are hereby maintained encouraged and kept up 8. Laws and Courts of Justice are perverted to do men wrong which were made to right them 9. And the offender declareth how little sense he hath of the authority or Love of God and how little sense of the grace of our Redeemer And how far he is from being himself forgiven through the blood of Christ who can no better forgive another § 3. II. The Evil of False Witness 1. By False Witness the innocent are injured Robbery and Murder are committed under pretence of truth and justice 2. The Name of God is horribly abused by the crying sin of Perjury of which before 3 The Presence and Justice of God are contemned When sinners dare in his sight and hearing appeal to his Tribunal in the attesting of a lye 4. Vengeance is begged or consented to by the sinner who bringeth Gods curse upon himself and as it were desireth God to plague or damn him if he lye 5. Satan the Prince of malice and injustice and the Father of lyes and murders and oppression is hereby gratified and eminently served 6. God himself is openly injured who is the Father and Patron of the innocent and the cause of every righteous prson is more the cause of God than of man 7. All Government is frustrated and Laws abused and all mens security for their reputations or estates or lives is overthrown by false witnesses And consequently humane converse is made undesirable and unsafe What good can Law or right or innocency or the honesty of the Judge do any man where false-witnesses combine against him What security hath the most innocent or worthy person for his fame or liberty or estate or life if false witnesses conspire to defame him or destroy him And then how shall men endure to converse with one another Either the innocent must seek out a Wilderness and flye from the face of men as we do from Lyons and Tygers or else Peace will be worse than War For in War a ma ãâ¦ã ay fight for his life but against false witnesses he hath no defence But God is the avenger of the innocent and above most other sins doth seldome suffer this to go unpunished even in this present world but often beginneth their Hell on Earth to such perjured
make any restitution and therefore must desire forgiveness you cannot well do it without confession 2. When you have wronged a man by a lye or by false witness or that he cannot be righted till you confess the truth 3. When you have wronged a man in his honour or frame where the natural remedy is to speak the contrary and confess the wrong 4. When it is necessary to cure the revengeful inclination of him whom you have wronged or to keep up his charity and so to enable him to love you and forgive you 5. Therefore all known wrongs to another must be confessed except when impossibility or some ill effect which is greater than the good be like to follow Because all men are apt to abate their Love to those that injure them and therefore all have need of this remedy And we must do our part to be forgiven by all whom we have wronged Quest. 2. What causes will excuse us from confessing wrongs to others Quest. 2. Answ. 1. When full recompence may be made without it and no forgiveness of the wrong is necessary from the injured nor any of the foresaid causes require it 2. When the wrong is secret and not known to the injured party and the confessing of it would but trouble his mind and do him more harm than good 3. When the injured party is so implacable and inhumane that he would make use of the confession to the ruine of the penitent or to bring upon him greater penalty than he deserveth 4. When it would injure a third person who is interessed in the business or bring them under oppression and undeserved misery 5. When it tendeth to the dishonour of Religion and to make it scorned because of the fault of the penitent confesser 6. When it tendeth to set people together by the ears and breed dissention or otherwise injure the Common-wealth or Government 7. In general it is no duty to confess our sin to him that we have wronged when all things considered it is like in the judgement of the truly wise to do more hurt than good For it is appointed as a means to good and not to do evil Quest. 3. If I have had a secret thought or purpose to wrong another am I bound to confess it Quest. 3. when it was never executed Answ. 1. You are not bound to confess it to the party whom you intended to wrong as any act of Justice to make him reparation nor to procure his forgiveness to your self Because it was no wrong to him indeed nor do thoughts and things secret come under his judgement and therefore need not his pardon 2. But it is a sin against God and to him you must confess it 3. And by accident finis gratia you must confess it to men in case it be necessary to be a warning to others or to the increase of their hatred of sin or their watchfulness or to exercise your own humiliation or prevent a relapse or to quiet your conscience or in a word when it is like to do more good than hurt Quest. 4. To whom and in what cases must I confess to men my sins against God and when not Quest. 4. Answ. The cases about that confession which belongeth to Church-discipline belongeth to the second Tome and therefore shall here be passed by But briefly and in general I may answer the question thus 1. There are conveniences and inconveniences to be compared together and you must make your choice accordingly The reasons which may move you to confess your sins to another are these 1. When another hath sinned with you or perswaded or drawn you to it and must be brought to repentance with you 2. When your conscience hath in vain tryed all other fit means for peace or comfort and cannot obtain it and there is any probability of such advice from others as may procure it 3. When you have need of advice to resolve your conscience whether it be sin or not or of what degree or what you are obliged to in order to forgiveness 4. When you have need of counsel to prevent the sin for the time to come and mortifie the habit of it The inconveniencies which may attend it are such as these 1. You are not certain of anothers secresie His mind may change or his understanding fail or he may fall out with you or some great necessiây may befall him to drive him to open what you told him 2. Then whether your shame or loss will not make you repent it should be foreseen 3. And how far others may suffer in it 4. And how far it will reflect dishonour on Religion All things being considered on both sides the preponderating reasons must prevail Tit. 2. Directions about confessing sin to others Direct 1. DO nothing which you are not willing to confess or which may trouble you much if Direct 1. your confession should be opened Prevention is the easiest way And foresight of the consequents should make a wise man still take heed Direct 2. When you have sinned or wronged any weigh well the consequents on both sides before you Direct 2. make your confession that you may neither do that which you may wish undone again nor causelesly refuse your duty And that inconveniences foreseen may be the better undergone when they cannot be avoided Direct 3. When a well informed conscience telleth you that confession is your duty let not self-respects Direct 3. detain you from it but do it what ever it may cost you Be true to Conscience and do not wilfully put off your duty To live in the neglect of a known duty is to live in a known sin which will give you cause to question your sincerity and cause more terrible effects in your souls than the inconveniences of confession could ever have been Direct 4. Look to your Repentance that it be deep and absolute and free from hypocritical exceptions Direct 4. and reserves For half and hollow Repentance will not carry you through hard and costly duties But that which is sincere will break over all It will make you so angry with your selves and sins that you will be as inclined to take shame to your selves in an honest revenge as an angry man is to bring shame upon his adversary We are seldome over-tender of a mans reputation whom we fall out with And Repentance is a falling out with our selves We can bear sharp remedies when we feel the pain and perceive the mortal danger of the disease And Repentance is such a perception of our pain and danger We will not tenderly hide a mortal enemy but bring him to the most open shame And Repentance causeth us to hate sin as our mortal enemy It is want of Repentance that maketh men so unwilling to make a just confession Direct 5. Take heed of Pride which maketh men so tender of their reputation that they will Direct 5. venture their souls to save their honour Men call
heed of running from one extream into another p. 50 Direct 11. Be not too confident in your first apprehensions or opinions but modestly suspicious of them p. 51 Direct 12. What to do when Controversies divide the Church Of silencing truth p. 52 Direct 13. What Godliness is The best life on earth How Satan would make it seem troublesome and ungrateful 1. By difficulties 2. By various Sects 3. By scrupulosity 4. By your over-doing in your own inventions 5. By perplexing fears and sorrows 6. By unmortified lusts 7. By actual siâs 8. By ignorance of the Covenant of grace p. 54 Direct 14. Mortifie the flesh and rule the senses and the appetite p. 57 Direct 15. Be wary in choosing not only your Teachers but your Company also Their Characters p. 58 Direct 16. What Books to prefer and read and what to reject P. 60 Direct 17. Take not a Doctrine of Libertinism for Free Grace p. 61 Direct 18. Take heed lâst Grace degenerate into Counterfeits formality c. p. 63 Direct 19. Reckon not on prosperity or long life but live as dying p. 65 Direct 20. See that your Religion be purely Divine That God be your First and Last and All Man nothing p. 66 CHAP. III. The General Grand Directions for walking with God in a life of faith and Holiness Containing the Essentials of Godliness and Christianity p. 69 Gr. Dir. 1. Understand well the Nature Grounds Reason and Order of Faith and Godliness Propositions opening somewhat of them The Reader must note that here I blotted out the Method and Helps of Faith having fullier opened them in a Treatise called The Reasons of the Christian Religion and another of the Unreasonableness of Infidelity Gr. Dir. 2. How to live by Faith on Christ. How to make Use of Christ in twenty necessities p. 72 Gr. Dir. 3. How to Believe in the Holy Ghost and live by his Grace His Witness Seal Earnest c. Q. When good effects are from Means from our Endeavour and when from the Spirit p. 77 78 Gr. Dir. 4. For a True Orderly and Practical Knowledge of God A Scheme of his Attributes p. 81 82 Gr. Dir. 5. Of self resignation to God as our Owner Motives Marks Means p. 83 Gr. Dir. 6. Of subjection to God as our Soveraign King What it is How to bring the soul into subjection to God How to keep up a Ready and Constant Obedience to him p. 85 Gr. Dir. 7. To Learn of Christ as our Teacher How The Imitation of Christ. p. 90 Gr. Dr. 8. To obey Christ our Physicion or Saviour in his Repairing healing work p. 95 How each faculty is diseased or depraved The Intellect its acts and maladies The Wiââ Q. Whether the Locomotive and sense can move us to sin without the Consent of the Will âr Reason upon its bare Omission The sin of the Memory Imagination affections sensitive appetite exterior parts which need a Cure Forty intrinsecal evils in sin which make up its Malignity The common Aggravations of sin Special aggravations of the sins of the Regenerate Directions to get a hatred of sin How to cure it p. 95 Gr. Dir. 9. Of the Christian Warfare under Christ Who are our Enemies Of the Devil The state of the Armies and of the War between Christ and Satan The ends grounds advantages auxiliaries instruments and methods of the Tempter p. 104 How Satan keepeth off the forces of Christ and frustrateth all means Christs contrary Methods p. 109 Tit. 2. Temptations to particular sins with Directions for preservation and Remedy 1. How Satan prepareth his baits of Temptation p. 111 2. How he applyeth them p. 114 Tit. 3. Temptations to draw us off from duty p. 124 Tit. 4. Temptations to frustrate holy duties p. 126 Gr. Dir. 10. How to work as servants to Christ our Lord. The true doctrine of Good Works p. 128 Directions for our serving Christ in well doing p. 130. Where are many Rules to know what are good works and how to do them acceptably and successfully Q. Is doing good or avoiding sin to be most looked at in the choice of a Calling or Employment of life p. 133 Q. May one change his Calling for advantages to do good Q. Who are excused from living in a Calling or from Work p. 124 Q. Must I do a thing as a Good work while I doubt whether it be good indifferent or sin p. 134 Q. Is it not every mans duty to obey his Conscience p. 135 Q. Is it not a sin to go against Conscience Q. Whether the formal cause alone do constitute obedience Q. How sin must be avoided by one that hath an erroneus conscience Q. How can a man lawfully resist or strive against an erring conscience when he striveth against a supposed truth Q Is not going against conscience sinning against Knowledge p. 136 Q. When the information of conscience requireth a long time is it not a duty to obey it at the present Q. May one do a Great Good when it cannot be done but by a Little sin as a Lye Q Must I not forbear all Good Works which I cannot do without sin Q Must I forbear a certain great duty as preaching the Gospel for fear of a small uncertain sin Q. What shall a man do that is in doubt after all the means that he can use p. 137 Sixteen Rules to guide a doubting conscience and to know among many seeming duties which is the greatest and to be preferred p. 137 Gr. Dir. 11. To LOVE GOD as our Father and Felicity and End The Nature of holy Love God must be Loved as the Universal Infinite Good Whether Passionately What of God must be loved p. 141 What must be the Motive of our first Love Whether Gods special Love to us The sorts of holy Love Why Love is the highest Grace p. 143 The Contraries of holy Love How God is Hated The Counterfeits of Love p. 144 Directions how to excite and exercise Divine Love ibid. How to see God Signs of true Love p 154 Gr. Dir. 12. Absolutely to Trust God with Soul Body and all with full acquiâscence The Nature of Trust of which see more in my Life of Faith and Disp. of Saving Faith p. 157. The Contraries The Counterfeits Q. Of a particular faith The Uses of Trust. p. 158. Fifteen Directions for a quieting and comforting Trust in God p. 158 Gr. Dir. 13. That the temperament of our Religion may be a DELIGHT in God and Holiness Twenty Directions to procure it with the Reasons of it 162 Gr. Dir. 14. Of THANKFULNESS to God our grand Benefactor The signs of it Eighteen Directions how to obtain and exercise it 167 c. Gr. Dir. 15. For GLORIFYING God Ten Directions how the Mind must Glorifie God Ten Directions for Praising God or Glorifying him with our Tongues Where are the Reasons for Praising God Twelve Directions for Glorifying God by our Lives p. 172 Gr. Dir. 16. For Heavenly mindedness and Gr. Dir. 17. For Self-denyal
6. Cases about losing and finding Q. 1. Must we seek out the loser to restore what we find Q. 2. May I take a reward as my due for restoring what I found Q. 3. May I wish to find any thing in my way or be glad that I find it Q. 4. May I not keep it if no owner be found Q. 5. If others be present when I find it may I not conceal or keep it to my self Q 6. Who must stand to the loss of goods trusted to another p. 130 Tit. 7. Directions to Merchants Factors Travellers Chaplains that live among Heathens Infidels or Papists p. 131 Q. 1. Is it lawful to put ones self or servants specially young unsetled Apprentices into the temptations of an Infidel or Popish Countrey meerly to get Riches as Merchants do p. 131 Q. 2. May a Merchant or Embassadour leave his Wife to live abroad p. 132 Q. 3. Is it lawful for young Gentlemen to travail into other Kingdoms as part of their education The danger of Common Traveling p. 133 Directions for all these Travellers in their abode abroad p. 135 CHAP. XX. Motives and Directions against Oppression The sorts of it The greatness of the sin of Oppression The Cure p. 137 Tit. 2. Cases about Oppression especially of Tenants p. 140 Q. 1. Is it lawful to buy land of a liberal Landlord when the buyer must needs set it dearer than the Sâlâer did Q. 2. May one take as much for his Land as it is worth Q. 3. May he raise his Rents Q. 4. How much below the full worth must a Landlord set his Land Q. 5. May not a Landlord that is in debt or hath a payment to pay raise his Rents to pay it Q. 6. If I cannot relieve the honest poor without raising the Rent of Tenants that are worthy of less charity may I do it Q. 7. May I penally raise a Tenants Rent or turn him out because he is a bad man Q. 8. May one take house or Land while another is in possession of it Q. 9. May a rich man put out his Tenants to lay the Lands to his own dâmesnes Q. 10. May one Tenant have divers Tenements Q. 11. May one have divers Trades Q. 12. Or keep shops in several Market Towns CHAP. XXI Cases and Directions about Prodigality and sinful waste What it is p. 143. Wayes of sinful waste Q. 1. Are all men bound to fare alike Or what is excess Q. 2. What cost on visits and entertainments is lawful Whether the greatest good is still to be preferred Q. 3. What is excess in buildings Q. 4. May we not in building dyet c. be at some charge for our Delight as well as for Necessity Q. 5. When are Recreations too costly Q. 6. When is Apparel too costly Q. 7. When is Retinue Furniture and other pomp too costly Q. 8. When is House-keeping too costly Q. 9. When are Childrens Portions too great Q. 10. How far is frugality in small matters a duty Q. 11. Must all labour in a Calling Q. 12. May one desire to increase and grow rich Q. 13. Can one be prodigal in giving to the Church Q. 14. May one give too much to the poor Q. 15. May the Rich lay out on conveniences pomp or pleasure when multitudes are in deep necessities Directions against Prodigality p. 143 c. CHAP. XXII Cases and Directions against injurious Law suits witnessing and judgement p. 148 Tit. 1. Cases of Conscience about Law suits and proceedings Q. 1. When is it Lawful to go to Law Q. 2. May I Sue a poor man for a Debt or Trespass Q. 3. May I Sue a Surety whose interest was not concerned in the debt Q. 4. May I Sue for the Use of Money Q. 5. May Law Suits be used to vex and humble an insolent bad man Q. 6. May a rich man use his friends and purse to bear down a poor man that hath a bad cause Q. 7. May one use such forms in Law Suits Declarations Answers c. as are false according to the proper sense of the words Q. 8. May a guilty person plead Not guilty Q. 9. Is a man bound to accuse himself and offer himself to justice Q. 10. May a witness voluntarily speak that truth which he knoweth will be ill used Q. 11. May a witness conceal part of the truth Q. 12. Must a Iudge or Iury proceed secundum allegata probata when they know the witness to be false or the Cause bad but cannot evince it T it 2. Directions against these sins p. 150. The evil of unjust Suits The evil of false witness The evil of unjust judgements The Cure p. 150 CHAP. XXIII Cases of Conscience and Directions against backbiting Slandering and Evil speaking p. 152 Tit. 1. Q. 1. May we not speak evil of that which is evil Q. 2. May not the contrary be sinful silence and befriending mens sins Q. 3. What if Religious credible persons report it Q. 4. If I may not speak it may I not believe them Q. 5. May we not speak ill of open persecutors or enemies of Godliness Q. 6. What if it be one whose reputation countenanceth his ill Cause and his defamation would disable him Q. 7. If I may not make a true Narrative of matters of fact how may we write true Histories for posterity Q. 8. What if it be one that hath been ofâ admonished Q. 9. Or one that I cannot speak to face to face Q. 10. In what Cases may we open anothers faults Q. 11. What if I hear men praise the wicked or their sins T it 2. Directions against back-biting slandering and evil speaking p. 154 Tit. 3. The great evil of these sins p. 155 CHAP. XXIV Cases of and Directions against Censoriousness and sinful judging p. 157 Tit. 1. Cases Q. 1. Am I not bound to judge truly of every one as he is Q. 2. How far may we judge ill of one by outward appearance as face gesture c. Q. 3. How far may we censure on the report of others Q. 4. Doth not the fifth Command bind us to judge better of Parents and Princes than their lives declare them to be Q. 5. Whom must we judge sincere and holy Christians Q. 6. Is it not a sin to err and take a man for better than he is Q. 7. Whom must I take for a visible Church member Q. 8. Whom must I judge a true Worshipper of God Q. 9. Which must I take for a true Church Q. 10. Whom must we judge true Prophets and true Pastors of the Church p. 157 Tit. 2. Directions for the Cure of sinful Censoriousness p. 159 Tit. 3. The evil of the sin of Censoriousness p. 160 Tit. 4. Directions for those that are rashly censured by others p. 162 CHAP. XXV Cases and Directions about Trusts and Secrets p. 163 Tit. 3. The Cases Q. 1. How must we not put our Trust in man Q. 2. Whom to choose for a Trust Q. 3. When may I commit a
enim quippe sâmpitârâum per iâsam matâriam omnem siâgulaâârâare Mundum quoque râgi administrari secundum menteâ providentiam mente per omnes illius partes pertiâgente Laert. in Zenone bold to take all this for granted And I hope in all this I do not wrong thee § 7. 4. I suppose thee to be one that knowest that thou didst not make thy self nor give thy self that Power or Wisdom which thou hast and that he that made thee and all the world must needs be before all the world and that he is Eternal having no Beginning for if ever there had been a time when there was nothing there never would have been any thing because Nothing can make nothing And I suppose thou dost confess that all the Power and Wisdom and Goodness of the whole Creation set together is less than the Power and Wisdom and Goodness of the Creator Because nothing can give more than it hath to give I suppose therefore that thou dost confess that there is a God For to be The Eternal Infinite Being and the most Powerful Wise and Good and the first Cause of all Created Being and Power and Wisdom and Goodness this with the subsequent Relations to the Creature is to be GOD. If thou wilt deny that there is a God thou must deny that thou art a man and that there is any man or any Being § 8. 5. I suppose thou knowest that GOD who gave a Being unto all things is by this title of 5. That the Creator of all is the Lord or Owner of all the Ruler of the Rational Creature and the Benefactor and End of all Creation the Absolute Owner or Lord of All And that he that made the Reasonable Creatures with Natures to be Governed in order to a further End is by that title their Supream Governour and therefore hath his Laws commanding Duty and promising Reward and threatning punishment and therefore will Iudge men according to these Laws and will be Iust in judgement and in his Rewards and Punishments And that he that freely gave the Creature it's Being and all the Good it hath and must give it all that ever it shall have is the Father or most Bountiful Benefactor to his Creatures Surely I screw thee not too high in supposing thee to know all this For all this is no more than that there is a God For he is not God if he be not the Creator and therefore our Owner our Ruler and Benefactor our Absolute Lord our most Righteous Governour and our most Loving Father or Benefactor § 9. 6. I suppose therefore that thou art convinced that GOD must be absolutely submitted to and obeyed before all others in the world and Loved above all friends or pleasures or creatures whatsoever 6. That this God must be obeyed and loved For to say He is my Owner is to say I must yield my self to him as his Own To say I take him for my supream Governour is to say that I will absolutely be ruled by him and to say I take him as my dearest Father or chief Benefactor is to say that I am obliged to give him my dearest Love and highest thanks Otherwise you do but jeast or say you know not what or contradict your selves while you say He is your God § 10. 7. I suppose thou art easily convinced that in all the world there is no Creature that can 7. That nothing is to be preferred before him shew so full a title to thee as God or that hath so great Authority to Govern thee or that can be so Good to thee or do so much for thee as God can do or hath done and will do if thou do thy part And therefore that there is nothing to be preferred before him or compared with him in our obedience or Love Nor is there any that can save us from his Justice if we stand out against him 8. That he that ruleth the world by the Hopes and fears of another life doth not rule them by deceit and lies and that he hath Rewards and punishments hereafter Mundus âuâine regitur estque quasi commuâis urbs civitas hominum Cicero 2. de finib Impiis apud inferos sunt poenae praeparatae Cicero 1. de Inâenâ Impii apâd iââeâos pânas luunt Idem Phil. 1. de Legib. Iovem dominatorem rerum omâia nutu regentâm praeâentem praeâotentâm qui dâbitat âaud saâe intelligâ our noââdem sol sit an nullus sit dubitari possit Cicer. de Nat. Deor. 2. p. 48. § 11. 8. I suppose that as thou knowest God is just in his Laws and Iudgements so that he is so faithful that he will not and so All-sufficient that he need not deceive mankind and Govern them by meer deceit This better beseems the Devil than God And therefore that as he governeth man on earth by the Hopes and fears of another life he doth not delude them into such Hopes or fears and as he doth not procure obedience by any Rewards or Punishments in this life as the principal means the wicked prospering and the best being persecuted and afflicted here therefore his Rewards and Punishments must needs be principally hereafter in the life to come For if he have no Rewards or Punishments he hath no Iudgement and if he have no judgement he hath no Laws or else no Iustice and if he have no Laws or no Iustice he is no Governour of Man or not a righteous Governour and if he be not our Governour and just he is not our God and if he were not our God we had never been his Creatures nor had a being or been men § 12. 9. I suppose thou knowest that if God had not discovered what he would do with us in the 9. That man being bound to love and obey God above all is bound to do nothing in vain and that we cannot be losers by his service life to come yet man is highliest bound to Obey and Love his Maker because he is Our Absolute Lord Our highest Ruler and our chief Benefactor and all that we are or have is from him And that if man be bound to spend his life in the service of his God it is certain that he shall be no loser by him no not by the costliest Obedience that we can perform For God cannot appoint us any thing that is Vain nor can he be worse to us than an honest man that will see that we lose not by his service Therefore that God for whom we must spend and forsake this life and all those pleasures which sensualists enjoy hath certainly some greater thing to give us in another life § 13. 10. I may take it for granted at the worst that neither thy self nor any Infidel in the world 10 That no Infidel can say He is sure there is no life to come can say that you are sure that there is not another life for man in which his present
dealing so plainly with you You know that they hazard by it their reputation with such as you and they cannot be ignorant that it is like to expose them to your ill will and indignation § 2. And they are men as well as you and therefore undoubtedly desire the good will and the good word of others and take no pleasure to be scorned or hated Undoubtedly they break through much temptation and reluctancy of the flesh before they can so far deny themselves as to endeavour your salvation on such terms And seeing it is all for you methinks you should be their chief encouragers If others should oppose them you should be for them because they are for you If I go with a Convoy to relieve a besieged Garrison I shall expect opposition from the Enemy that besiegeth them But if the besieged themselves shall shoot at us and use us as enemies for venturing our lives to relieve them it 's time to be gone and let them take what they get by it § 3. Perhaps you think that the Preacher or private admonisher is too plain with you But Seneca Ep. 87. sâ ibit Tan necessarium fuisle Romano populo âasci Catoaâm quam Scâpionem Alter enim cum hostious âostââ alter cum moâibus belluâ gessiâ you should consider that self-love is like to make you partial in your own cause and therefore a more uncapable Judge than they And you should consider that God hath commanded them to deal plainly and told them that else the peoples blood shall be required at their hands Isa. 58. 1. Ezek. 18. And that God best knoweth what Medicine and Dyet is fittest for your Disease And that the case is of such grand importance whether you shall live in Heaven or Hell for ever that it is scarce possible for a Minister to be too plain and serious with you And that your disease is so obstinate that gentler means have been too long frustrate and therefore sharper must be tryed else why were you not converted by gentler dealing until now If you fall down in a swoon or be ready to be drowned you will give leave to the standers by to handle you a little more roughly than at another time and will not bring your action against them for laying hands on you or ruffling your Silks or Bravery If your house be on fire you will give men leave to speak in another manner than when they modulate their voices into a civill and complementing tone It may be you think that they are censorious in judging you to be unconverted when you are not and to be worse and in more danger than you are and speaking harder of you than you deserve But it 's you that should be most suspicious of your selves and afraid in so great a matter of being deceived A stander by may see more than a player I am sure he that is awake may know more of you than you of your selves when you are asleep § 4. But suppose it were as you imagine it is his Love that mistakingly attempteth your good He intendeth you no harm It is your salvation that he desireth It is your damnation that he would prevent You have cause to love him and be thankful for his good will and not to be angry with him and reproach him for his mistakes He is none of those that brings you into the inquisition and would fine or imprison or banish or burn or hang or torment you in order to convert and save you The worst he doth is but to speak those words which if true you are deeply concerned to regard and if mistaken can do you no hurt unless you are the cause your self If it be in publick preaching he speaketh generally by descriptions and not by nomination no more of you than of others in your case Nor of you at all if you are not in that case If he speak privately to you there is no witness but your self and therefore it is no matter of disgrace Never for shame pretend that thou art willing to be converted and saved when thou hatest those that would promote it and art angry with every one that tells thee of thy case and couldst find in thy heart to stop their mouths or do them a mischief Direction 8. IF thou art willing indeed to be converted do thy best to discover that yet thou art unconverted Direct 8. and in a lost and miserable state § 1. Who will endeavour to cure a Disease which he thinks he hath not Or to Vomit up the poison which he thinks he never took or taketh to be no poison Or to come out of the ditch that thinks he is not in it Or who will turn back again that will not believe but he is in the right way Who will labour to be converted that thinks he is converted already Or who will come to Christ as the Physicion of his soul that thinks he is not sick or is cured already The common cause that men live and die without the grace of Repentance Sanctification and Justification which should save them is because they will not believe but that they have it when they have it not and that they are penitent and justified and sanctified already It is not my desire to make any of you think worse of your condition than it is But if you will not know what it is you will not be fit for recovering grace nor use the means for your own recovery you think it is so sad a conclusion to find your selves in a state of condemnation that you are exceeding unwilling to know it or confess it § 2. But I beseech you consider but these two things First Either it is true that you are in so Bernard de grad humil grad 8. describeth mens excusing their sins thus If it may be they will say I did not do it or else It was no sin but lawful or else I did it not oft or much or else I meant no harm or else I was perswaded by another and drawn to it by temptation miserable a state or it is not true If it be not true the closest tryal will but comfort you by discovering that you are sanctified already But if it be true then do you think it will save you to be ignorant of your danger Will it cure your disease to believe that you have it not Will thinking well of your selves falsly prove that you are well indeed Is it the way to grace to think you have it when you have it not Will it bring you to Heaven to think that you are going thither when you are in the way to Hell Nay do you not know that it is the principal temptation of the Devil to keep men from a state of Repentance and Salvation to deceive them thus and perswade them that they are in such a state already Judge soberly of the case Do you think if all the impenitent unconverted sinners in the world were certain that they are
your excellency The soul of Religion is departing from you and it is dying and returning to the dust And if once Man get the preheminence of God and be preferred and set above him in your hearts or lives and feared trusted and obeyed before him you are then dead to God and alive to the world and as Men are taken for your Gods you must take up with such a salvation as they can give you If your Alms and Prayers are done to be seen of men and to procure their good thoughts and words if you get them make your best of them For verily your Judge hath said unto you You have your reward Matth. 6. 1 2 3. Not that man is absolutely to be contemned or disregarded No under God your Superiours must Aâte ãâã sâ voles aââ haâe sedâm ae ãâ¦ã am domum contuâât re ãâ¦ã Sermoââbâs vuâgâ dedeââs te nec in praeviâs humamanis âpem posueris rerum tuarum suis te illecebrâs oportet ipsa viâtâs trahat ad verum dââuâ Ciârâ somâ Sââp Cael stia sâmper âpââtato ââââa humana contemnito Id. Ibid. be obeyed you must do wrong to none and do good to all as far as in you lyeth you must avoid offence and give good example and under God have so much regard to men as to become all things to all men for their salvation But if once you set them above their rank and turn your selves to an inordinate dependance on them and make too great a matter of their opinion or words concerning you you are losing your godliness or divine disposition and turning it into man-pleasing and hypocrisie When man stands in competition with God for your first and chief regard or in opposition to him or as a sharer in co-ordination with him and not purely in subordination to him he is to be numbred with things to be forsaken Even good men whom you must love and honour and whose communion and help you must highly value yet may be made the object of your sin and may become your snare Your honouring of them or love to them must not entice you to desire inordinately to be honoured by them nor cause you to set too much by their approbation If you do you will find that while you are too much eying man you are losing God and corrupting your Religion at the very heart And you may fall among those that how Holy soever may have great mistakes in matters of Religion tending to much sin and may be somewhat censorious against those that are not of their mind and so the retaining of their esteem and the avoiding of their censures may become one of the greatest temptations of your lives And you will find that man-pleasing is a very difficult and yet unprofitable task Love Christ as he appeareth in any of his servants and be followers of them as they are followers of Christ and regard their approbation as it agreeth with Christs But O see that you are able to Live upon the favour of God alone and to be quietted in his acceptance though man despise you and to be Pleased so far as God is pleased though man be displeased with you and to rejoyce in his Justification though men condemn you with the odiousest slanders and the greatest infamy and cast out your names as evil doers See that God be taken as Enough for you or else you take him not as your God Even as Enough without man and Enough against man That you may be able to say If God be for us who can be against us Who is he that condemneth it is God that justifieth Rom. 8. 31 33 34. Do I seek to please men For if I yet pleased men I should not be a servant of Christ Gal. 1. 10. Jer. 17. 5. Thus saith the Lord Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord For he shall be like the Heath in the Desert and shall not see when good cometh Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is for he shall be as a Tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the Rivers and shall not see when heat cometh but her leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought neither shall cease from yielding fruit Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is be to be accounted of Isa. 2. 22. § 3. HAving given you these Directions I must tell you in the Conclusion that they are like foed that will not nourish you by standing on your Table or like Physick that will not cure you by standing in the Box They must be taken and digested or you will find none of the benefit It is not the Reading of them that will serve the turn to so great use as the safe proceeding and confirmation of beginners or Noâices in Religion It will require humility to perceive the need of them and labour to learn digest and practise them Those slothful souls that will refuse the labour must bear the sad effects of their negligence There is not one of all these Directions as to the Matter of them which can be spared Study them Understand them and Remember them as things that must be done If either a senselesness of your necessity or a conceit that the Spirit must do it without so much labour and diligence of your own do prevail with you to put off all these with a meer approbation the consequent may be sadder than you can yet foresee Though I suppose you to have some beginnings of Grace I must tell you that it will be comparatively a sad kind of life to be erroneous and scandalous and troublesome to the Church or full of doubts and fears and passions and to be burdensome to others and your selves Yea it is reason that you be very suspicious of your Sincerity if you desire not to increase in grace and be not willing to use the means which are necessary to your encrease He is not sincere that desireth not to be perfect And he desireth not sincerely who is not willing to be at the labour and cost which is necessary to the obtaining of the thing desired I beseech you therefore as you love the happiness of prudent strong and comfortable Christians and would escape the misery of those grievous diseases which would turn your lives into languishing unserviceableness and pain that you seriously study these Directions and get them into your minds and memories and hearts and let the faithful practice of them be your greatest care and the constant employment of your lives CHAP. III. The General Grand Directions for Walking with God in a Life of Faith and Holiness Containing the Essentials of Godliness and Christianity I Am next to Direct you in that Exercise of Grace which is common to all Christians Habits are for Use Grace is given you not only that you may have it
but also that you may Use it And it is fit that we Direct you how to Use it before we direct you how to know that you have it because it is Grace in exercise that you must discern and Habits are not perceived in themselves but by their Acts And the more lively and powerful the exercise is the more easily is Grace perceived So that this is the nearest and surest way to a Certainty of our own sincerity He that Useth Grace most and best hath most Grace And he that hath most and useth it most may most easily be Assured that he hath it in sincerity and truth In these Directions I shall begin with those great internal duties in which the very Life of all Religion doth consist and the General Practice of these Principles and Graces and all these Generals shall be briefly set together for the easiness of Understanding and Remembring them And then I shall give you such Particular Directions as are needful in subordination to those Generals DIRECT I. Labour to understand well the Nature Grounds Reason and Order of Faith and Gr. Dir. 1. Godliness and to Believe upon such grounds so well understood as will not suffer For a well-grounded Faith you to stagger or entertain a contrary belief § 1. IGnorance and ungrounded or ill-grounded perswasions in matters of Religion are the cause that abundance of people delude themselves with the empty name and dead profession of a Faith and Religion which they never were indeed possessors of I know there are low degrees of knowledge comparatively in many that are true believers and that there may be much Love and Holiness where knowledge is very small or narrow as to the objective extent of it And that there is a knowledge that puffeth up while Charity edifieth And that in many that have the narrower knowledge there may be the fastest faith and adherence to the truth which will conquer in the time of tryal But yet I must tell you that the Religion which you profess is not indeed your own Religion if you know not what it is and know not in some measure the true Grounds and Reasons why you should be of that Religion If you have only learnt to say your Creed or repeat the words of Christian Doctrine while you do not truly understand the sense or if you have no better Reasons why you profess the Christian faith than the custom of the Countrey or the command of Princes or Governours or the Opinion of your Teachers or the example of your Parents friends or neighbours you are not Christians indeed You have a humane belief or opinion which objectively is true but subjectively in your selves you have no true divine belief I confess there may be some insufficient yea and erroneous Reasons which a true Believer may mistakingly make use of for the proof of certain fundamental truths But then that same man hath some other Reason for his reception of that truth which is more sound and his faith is sound because of those sound infallible principles though there be a mixture of some other Reasons that are unsound The true Believer buildeth on the Rock and giveth deep rooting to the holy seed Matth. 7. 24. 13. 5 8. Though some deluded men may tell you that Faith and Reason are such enemies that they exclude each other as to the same object and that the less Reason you have to prove the truth of the things believed the stronger and more laudable is your faith yet when it cometh to the tryal you will find that Faith is no unreasonable thing and that God requireth you to believe no more than you have sufficient reason for to warrant you aââ bââr you out and that your faith can be no more than is your perception of the Reasons why you should believe and that God doth suppose Reason when he infuseth Faith and useth Reason in ââe usâ of faith They that Believe and know not why or know no sufficient Reason to warâant their Belief do take a fansie an Opinion or a dream for faith I know that many honest hearted Christians are unable to dispute for their Religion or to give to others a satisfactory account of the Reasons of their faith or hâpe But yet they have the true apprehension of some solid Reasons in themselves and they are not Christians they know not why And though their knowledge be small as to the number oâ propositions known yet it doth alwayes extend to all that is essential to Christianity and Godliness and they do not believe they know not what And their knowledge is greater intensively and in its value and operation than the knowledge of the learnedst ungodly man in the world § 2. Though I may not here digress or stay so long as largely to open to you the Nature Grounds Reason and Method of Faith and Godliness which I am perswading you to understand yet I shall first âây before you a few Propositions which will be useful to you when you are enquiring into these things and then a little open them unto you Prop. 1. A life of Godliness is our living unto God as God as being absolutely addicted to him 2. A life of Faith is a living upon the unseen everlasting Happiness as purchased for us by Christ with all the necessaries thereto and freely given us by God 3. The contrary life of sense and unbelief is a living in the prevalency of sense or flesh to this present world for want of such believing apprehensions of a better as should elevate the soul thereto and conquer the fleshly inclination to things present 4. Though man in innocency needing no Redeemer might live to God without faith in a Redeemer yet lapsed man is not only unable to Redeem himself but also unable to live to God without the grace of the Redeemer It was not only necessary that he satisfie Gods justice for us that he may pardon and save us without any wrong to his Holiness Wisdom or Government but also that he be our Teacher by his Doctrine and his Life and that he Reveal from Heaven the Fathers will and that Objectively in him we may see the wonderful condescending Love and Goodness of a Reconciled God and Father and that effectually âe illuminate sanctifie and quicken us by the operations of his Word and Spirit and that he protect and govern justifie and glorifie us and be the Head of Restored Man as Adam was the Root of lapsed man and as the lapsed Spirits had their Head And therefore we must wholly Live upon him as the Mediator between God and man and the only Saviour by Merit and by âfficacy 5. Faith is a knowledge by certain credible Testimony or Revelation from God by means supernatural or extraordinary 6. The knowledge of things naturally revealed as the cause by the effect c. is in order before the Knowledge or Belief of things revealed supernaturally 7. It is matter of natural Revelation
to fight against his cause and work which is by fighting against the World and the Flesh and for the glory of God § 13. In opening to you this holy War I shall 1. Shew you what we must do on the Offensive part The Mââââd 2. What on the Defensive part And here I shall shew you I. What it is that the Tempter aimeth at as his End II. What matter or ground he worketh upon III. What are his Succours and Assistants IV. What kind of Officers and Instruments he useth V. What are his Methods and actual Temptations 1. To actual sin 2. Against our duty to God § 14. 1. Our offensive arms are to be used 1. Against the power of sin within us and all its advantages and helps For while Satan ruleth and possesseth us within we shall never well oppose him without 2. Against sin in others as far as we have opportunity 3. Against the credit and honour of sin in the world As the Devils Servants would bring Light and Holiness into disgrace so Christs Servants must câsi disgrace and shame upon sin and darkness 4. Against all the Reasonings of sinners and their subtile fallacies whereby they would deceive 5. Against the passions and violent lusts which are the causes of mens other sins 6. Against the holds and helps of sin as false Teachers prophane Râvilers ignorance and dâcâit Only take heed that on this pretence we step not out of our ranks and places to pull down the powers of the world by rebellions For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal 2 Cor. 10. 4. § 15. 2. As to our Defence I. The ends of the Tempter which must be perceived are these 1. In general his aâm is at our utter ruine and damnation and to draw us here to dishonour God as much as he can But especially his aim is to strengthen the great heart-sins which are most mortal and are the root and life and spawners of the rest Especially these 1. Ignorance which is the friend and cloke to all the rest 2. Error which will justific them 3. Unbelief which keeps off all that should oppose them 4. Atheism prophaneness unhâliness which are the defiance of God and all his Armies 5. Presumption which emboldneth them and hides the danger 6. Hardness of heart which fortifieth them against all the batteries of Grace 7. Hypocrisie which maketh them serve him as Spies and Intelligencers in the Army of Christ. 8. Disaffection to God and his wayes and servants which is the Devils colours 9. Unthankfulness which tends to make them unreconcileable and unrecoverable 10. Pride which commandeth many Regiments of lesser sins 11. Worldliness or love of money and wealth which keepeth his Armies in pay 12. Sensuality Voluptuousness or flesh-pleasing Animi molles aetate fluxâ doââs hâud dâfficulter câpâuntur which is the great Commander of all the rest For selfishness is the Devils Lieutenant General which consisteth chiefly in the three last named but especially in Pride and Sensuality Some think that it is outward sins that bring all the danger but these twelve heart-sins which I have named to you are the twelve Gates of the infernal City which Satan loveth above all the rest § 16. II. The Matter and Grounds of his Temptations are these 1. The Devil first worketh upon the outward sense and so upon the sensitive appetite He sheweth the Cup to the Drunkards eye and the bait of filthy lust to the fornicator and the riches and pomp of the world to the covetous and proud The Glutton tasteth the sweetness of the dish which he loveth Stage-playes and tempting sports and proud attire and sumptuous buildings and all such sensual things are the baits by which the Devil angleth for souls Thus Eve first saw the fruit and then tasted and then did eat Thus Noah and Lot and David sinned Thus Achan saith Josh. 7. 21. I saw the Garments Silver and Gold I coveted them and I took them The sense is the door of sin § 17. 2. The Tempter next worketh on the Fantasie or Imagination and prints upon it the loveliest image of his bait that possibly he can and engageth the sinner to Think on it and to rowl it over and over in his mind even as God commandeth us to Meditate on his Precepts § 18. 3. Next he worketh by these upon the Passions or affections which fantasie having enflamed they violently urge the Will and Reason and this according to the nature of the passion whether fear or hope sorrow or joy love or hatred desire or aversation but by none doth he work so dangerously as by Delight and Love and Desire of things sensual § 19. 4. Hence he proceedeth to infect the Will upon the simple apprehension of the understanding to make it inordinately cleave to the temporal good and to neglect its duty in commanding the understanding to meditate on preserving objects and to call off the Thoughts from the forbidden thing It neglecteth to rule the Thoughts and Passions according to its office and natural power § 20. 5. And so he corrupteth the understanding it self first to omit its duty and then to entertain deceit and to approve of evil And so the servant is put into the Government and the commanding powers do but serve it Reason is blinded by sensuality and passion and becomes their servant and pleads their cause § 21. By all this it appeareth 1. That Satans first bait is ordinarily some sensible or imaginary good set up against true spiritual good 2. That his first assault of the Reason and Will is to tempt them into a sluggish neglect and neutrality to omit that restraint of Sense Thought and Passion which was their duty 3. And that lastly he tempteth them into actual complyance and committing of the sin And herein 1. The bait which he useth with the understanding is still some seeming Truth And therefore his art and work is to colour falshood and make it seem Truth For this is the deceiving of the mind And therefore for a sinner to plead his mistake for his excuse and say I thought it had been so or so I thought it had been no sin or no duty this is but to confess and not to excuse It is but as much as to say my Understanding sinned with my Will and was deceived by the Tempter and overcome 2. And the bait which he useth with the Will is alwayes some appearing good And self-love and love of good is the principle which he abuseth and maketh his ground to work upon as God also useth it in drawing us to good § 22. III. The Succours and Auxiliaries of the Devil and his principal means are these 1. He doth what he can to get an ill tempered Body on his side For as sin did let in bodily distempers so do they much befriend the sin that caused them A cholerick temper will much help him to draw men to passion malice murder cruelty and revenge A sanguine and bilious
to draw another to waste his time in wantonness and foolish sports An ambitious or proud person is fit to kindle that fire in others A swearer is fittest to make a swearer ând so of many other sins § 33. 2. The Devil usually chooseth for his Instruments men that have no great tenderness of conscience or fear of sinning or of hurting souls He would have no such Cowards in his Army as men fearing God are as to his Ends It must be men that will venture upon hell themselves and fear not much the loss of their own souls and therefore must not be too tender or fearful of destroying others Butchers and Souldiers must not be chosen out of too tender or loving a sort of people such are not fit to go through his work § 34. 3. He usually chooseth Instruments that are most deeply engaged in his cause whose preferment and honour and gain and carnal interest shall be to them as Nature is to a dog or wolf or fox or other ravenous creature who think it a loss or danger or suffering to them if others be not hundered in good or made as bad as they Thus Demetrius and the other crafts-men that Act. 19. 24 38 39. lived upon the trade are the fittest to plead Diana's cause and stir up the people against the Apostles And the Iews were the fittest Instruments to persecute Christ who thought that if they let him alone all men would believe on him and the Romans would come and take away both their place and nation and that it was expedient for them that one man die for the people and that the whole nation perish not John 11. 48 49. And Pilate was the fittest Instrument to condemn him who feared that he should else be taken to be none of Caesars friend And Pharoah was the fittest Instrument to persecute the Israelites who was like to lose by their departure § 35. 4. when he can he chooseth such Instruments as are much about us and nearest to us who have opportunity to be oft speaking to us when others have no opportunity to help us The fire that is nearest to the wood or thatch is liker to burn it than that which is farr off Nearness and opportunity are very great advantages § 36. 5. If it be possible he will choose such Instruments as have the greatest Abilities to do him service One man of great wit and learning and elocution that is nimble in disputing and can make allmost any cause seem good which he defendeth or bad which he opposeth is able to do more service for the Devil than an hundred Ideots § 37. 6. If possible he will choose the Rulers of the World to be his Instruments that shall command men and threaten them with imprisonment banishment confiscation or death if they will not sin as the King of Babylon did by the three witnesses and Daniel Dan. 3. 6. and all persecutors have done in all ages against the holy seed For he knoweth that though not with a Iob yet with a carnal person skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life And therefore they that have the power of life and liberty and estate have carnal men by the handle that will rule them § 38. 7. He maketh the Rich his Instruments that having the wealth of the world are able to reward and hire evil doers and are able to oppress those that will not please them Landlords and Rich men can do the Devil more service than many of the poor They are the Iudas's that bear the bag As the Ox will follow him that carieth the hay and the Horse will follow him that carrieth the provender and the Dog will follow him that feedeth him and the Crow will be where the carrion is so carnal persons will follow and obey him that bears the purse § 39. 8. The Devil if he can will make those his Instruments whom he seeth we most Esteem and Reverence Persons whom we think most wise and fit to be our Counsellors we will take that from these which we would suspect from others § 40. 9. He will get our Relations and those that have our Hearts most to be his Instruments A Husband or a Wife or a Dalilah can do more than any others and so can a bosom friend whom we dearly love when all their Interest in our affections is made over for the Devils service it may do much Therefore we see that Husbands and Wives if they love entirely do usually close in the same Religion opinion or way though when they were first married they differed from each other § 41. 10. As oft as he can the Devil maketh the Multitude his Instrument that the crowd and noise may carry us on and make men valiant and put away their fear of punishment § 42. 11. He is very desirous to make the Embassadors of Christ his prisoners and to hire them to speak against their masters cause that in Christs name they may deceive the silly flock speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them Acts 20. 30. Sometimes by pretence of his Authority and Commission making poor people believe that not to hear them and obey them in their errors is to be disobedient rejecters of Christ and thus the Romish party carry it Sometime by their parts and plausible perswasive speeches And sometime by their fervency frightning people into error And by these two ways most Hereticks prevail None so succesfully serveth Satan as a false or bribed Minister of Christ. § 43. 12. He is exceeding desirous to make Parents themselves his Instuments for their childrens sin and ruine And alas how commonly doth he succeed He knoweth that Parents have them under their hands in the most ductile malleable age and that they have a concurrence of allmost all advantages They have the purse and the portion of their children in their power They have the interest of Love and Reverence and estimation They are still with them and can be often in their sollicitings They have the rod and can compel them Many thousands are in Hell through the means of their own Parents such cruel monsters will they be to the souls of any others that are first so to their own If the Devil can get the Parents to be cursers swearers gamesters drunkards worldlings proud deriders or railers at a holy life what a snare is here for the poor children § 44. V. In the Method of Satan the next thing is to shew you how he labours to keep off all the forces of Christ which should resist him and destroy his work and to frustrate their endeavours and fortifie himself And among many others these means are notable § 45. 1. He would do what he can to weaken even natural Reason that men may be blockish and uncapable of good And it is lamentable to observe how hard it is to make some people either understand or regard And a beastly kind of education doth much to
this and so doth custom in sensual courses even turn men into bruits § 46. 2. He doth what he can to hinder Parents and Masters from doing their part in the instructing and admonishing of Children and servants and dealing wisely and zealously with them for their salvation Either he will keep Parents and Masters ignorant and unable or he will make them wicked and unwilling and perhaps engage them to oppose their children in all that 's good or he will make them like Eli remiss and negligent indifferent formal cold and dull and so keep them from saving their childrens or servants souls § 47. 3. He doth all that possibly he can to keep the sinner in security presumption and senselesness even asleep in sin and to that end to keep him quiet and in the dark without any light or noise which may awake him that he may live asleep as without a God a Christ a Heaven a Soul or any such thing to mind His great care is to keep him from Considering and therefore he keeps him still in company or sport or business and will not let him be oft alone nor retire into a sober conference with his conscience or serious Thoughts of the Life to come § 48. 4. He doth his best to keep soul-searching lively Ministers out of the Country or out of that Place and to silence them if there be any such and to keep the sinner under some ignorant or dead-hearted Minister that hath not himself that faith or repentance or life or love or holiness or zeal which he should be a means to work in others And he will do his utmost to draw him to be a leader of men to sin § 49. 5. He doth his worst to make Ministers weak to disgrace the cause of Christ and hinder his work by their bungling and unskilful management that there may be none to stand up against sin but some unlearned or half-witted men that can scarce speak sense or will provoke contempt or laughter in the hearers § 50. 6. He doth his worst to make Ministers scandalous that when they tell men of their sin and duty they may think such mean not as they speak and believe not themselves or make no great matter of it but speak for custom credit or for their hire And that the people by the wicked lives of the Preachers may be emboldned to disobey their doctrine and to imitate them and live without Repentance § 51. 7. He will labour to load the ablest Ministers with reproaches and slanders which thousands shall hear who never hear the truth in their defence And so making them odious the people will receive no more good by their preaching than from a Turk or Iew till the very truth it self for it self prevail And to this end especially he doth all that he can to foment continual divisions in the Church that while every party is engaged against the other the Interest of their several causes may make them think it necessary to make the chief that are against them seem odious or contemptible to the people that so they may be able to do their cause and them no harm And so they disable them from serving Christ and saving souls that they may disable them to hurt themselves or their faction or their impotent cause § 52. 8. He doth what he can to keep the most holy Ministers under persecution that they may be as the wounded Deer whom all the rest of the herd will shun or like a worried dog whom the rest will fall upon or that the people may be afraid to hear them lest they suffer with them or may come to them only as Nicodemus did to Christ by night § 53. 9. Or if any Ministers or Godly persons warn the sinner the Devil will do what he can that they may be so small a number in comparison of those of the contrary mind that he may tell the sinner Dâst thou think these few self-conceited fellows are wiser than such and such and all the country Shall none be saved but such a few precise ones Do any of the Rulers or of the Pharises believe in him But this people that knoweth not the Law are cursed John 7. 48 49. That is as Dr. Hammând noteth This illiterate multitude are apt to be seduced but the Teachers are wiser § 54. 10. The Devil doth his worst to cause some falling out or difference of interest or opinion between the Preacher or Monitor and the sinner that so he may take him for his Enemy And how unapt men are to receive any advise from an Enemy or Adversary experience will easily convince you § 55. 11. He endeavoureth that powerful preaching may be so rare and the contradiction of wicked cavâllers so frequent that the Sermon may be forgotten or the impressions of it blotted out before they can hear another to confirm them and strike the nail home to the head and that the ââre may go out before the next opportunity come § 56. 12. He laboureth to keep good books out of the sinners hands or keep him from reading them leât he speed as the Eunuch Acts 8. that was reading the Scripture as he rode in his Chariot on the way And instead of such books he putteth Romances and Play-books and trifling or scorning contradicting writings into his hands § 57. 13. He doth what he can to keep the sinner from intimate acquaintance with any that are truly Godly that he may know them no otherwise than by the image which ignorant or malicious slanderers or scorners do give of such And that he may know Religion it self but by hearsay and never see it exemplified in any holy diligent believers A holy Christian is a living image of God a powerful convincer and teacher of the ungodly And the nearer men come to them the greater excellency they will see and the greater efficacy they will feel Whereas in the Devils army the most must not be seen in the open light and the Hypocrite himself must be seen like a picture but by a side-light and not by a direct § 58. 14. Those means which are used the Devil labours to frustrate 1. By sluggish heedlesness and disregard 2. By prejudice and false opinions which prepossess the mind 3. By diversions of many sorts 4. By pre-ingagements to a contrary interest and way so that Christ comes to late for them 5. By worldly prosperity and delights 6. By ill company 7. And by molesting and frighting the sinner when he doth but take up any purpose to be converted Giving him all content and quietness in sin and raising storms and terrors in his soul when he is about to turn The Methods of Christ against the Tempter § 59. Before I proceed to Satans perticular Temptations I will shew you the contrary Methods of Christ in the conduct of his Army and opposing Satan I. Christs Ends are ultimately the Glory and Pleasing of his Father and himself and the saving of his Church and the
destroying the Kingdom of the Devil and next the purifying his peculiar people and calling home all that are ordained to eternal life § 60. But more particularly he looketh principally at the heart to plant there 1. Holy Knowledge 2. Faith 3. Godlyness or holy devotedness to God and Love to him above all 4. Thankfulness 5. Obedience 6. Humility 7. Heavenly-mindedness 8. Love to others 9. Self-denial and Mortification and contentment 10. Patience And in all these 1. sincerity 2. tenderness of heart 3. âeal and holy strength and resolution And withal to make us actually serviceable and diligent in our masters work for our own and others salvation § 61. II. Christs order in working is direct and not backward as the Devils is He first revealeth saving truth to the understanding and affecteth the will ââ shewing the Goodness of the things revealed And these employ the Thoughts and Passions and Senses and the whole body reducing the inferiour faculties to obedience and casting out by degrees those images which had deceived and prepossessed them § 62. The matter which Christ presenteth to the Soul is 1. Certain Truth from the Father of Lights set up against the Prince and Kingdom of darkness ignorance error and deceit 2. Spiritual and everlasting Good even God himself to be seen and Loved and Enjoyed for ever against the Tempters temporal corporal and seeming good Christs Kingdom and work are advanced by Light He is for the promoting of all useful knowledge and therefore for clear and convincing Preaching for reading the Scriptures in a known tongue and meditating in them day and night and for exhorting one another daily which Satan is against § 63. III. The Means by which he worketh against Satan are such as these 1. Sometime he maketh use of the very temper of the body as a preparative and being Lord of all he giveth such a temperature as will be most serviceable to the soul As a sober deliberate meek quiet and patient disposition But sometime he honoureth his Grace by the conquest of such sins as even bodily disposition doth entertain and cherish § 64. 2. Sometimes by his providence he withdraweth the matter of temptations that they shall not be too strong for feeble souls But sometimes his Grace doth make advantage of them all and leave them for the magnifying of its frequent victories § 65. 3. Sometimes he giveth his cause the major vote among the people so that it shall be a matter of dishonourable singularity not to be a professed Christian and somtime but exceeding rarely it is so with the life of Godliness and practice of Christianity also But ordinarily in the most places of the world Custom and the Multitude are against him and his grace is honoured by prevailing against these bands of Satan § 66. 4. He maketh his Ministers his principal Instruments qualifying disposing and calling them to his work and helping them in it and prospering it in their hands § 67. 5. He maketh it the duty of every Christian to do his part to carry on the work and furnisheth them with Love and Compassion and Knowledge and Zeal in their several measures § 68. 6. He giveth a very strict charge to Parents to devote their Children with themselves to God encouraging them with the promise of his accepting and blessing them and commandeth them to teach them the word of God with greatest diligence and to bring them up in the nurture and fear of God § 69. 7. He giveth Princes and Magistrates their power to promote his Kingdom and protect his servants and encourage the good and suppress iniquity and further the obedience of his Laws Though in most of the world they turn his enemies and he carrieth on his work without them and against their cruel persecuting opposition § 70. 8. His Light detecteth the nakedness of the Devils cause and among the Sons of Light it is odious and a common shame And as wisdom is justified of her children so the judgement of holy men condemning sin doth much to keep it under in the world § 71. 9. His providence usually casteth the sinner that he will do good to into the bosome and communion of his holy Church and the familiar company and acquaintance of the Godly who may help him by instruction affection and example § 72. 10. His providence fitteth all conditions to their good but especially helpeth them by seasonable quickning afflictions These are the means which ordinarily he useth But the powerful inward operations of his Spirit give efficacy to them all Tit. 2. Temptations to particular sins with Directions for preservation and Remedy IN Chapter 1. Part 2. I have opened the Temptations which hinder sinners from Conversion to God I shall now proceed to those which draw men to particular sins Here Satans Art is exercised 1. In fitting his baits to his particular use 2. In applying them thereto § 1. Tempt 1. The Devil fitteth his Temptations to the sinners age The same bait is not suitable Tempt 1. to all Children he tempteth to excess of playfullness lying disobedience unwillingness to learn the things that belong to their salvation and a senselesness of the great concernments of their souls He tempteth youth to wantonness rudeness gulosity unruliness and foolish inconsiderateness In the beginning of manhood he tempteth to lust voluptuousness and luxury or if these take not to designs of worldliness and ambition The aged he tempteth to covetousness and unmoveableness in their error and unteachableness and obstinacy in their ignorance and sin Thus every age hath its peculiar snare § 2. Direct 1. The Remedy against this is 1. To be distinctly acquainted with the Temptations of Direct 1. your own age and watch against them with a special heedfullness and fear 2. To know the special duties and advantages of your own age and turn your thoughts wholly unto those Scripture hath various precepts for the various ages study your own part The young have more time to learn their duty and less care and business to divert them Let them therefore be taken up in obedient learning The middle age hath most vigor of body and mind and therefore should do their masters work with the greatest vigor activity and zeal The Aged should have most judgement and experience and acquaintedness with Death and Heaven and therefore should teach the younger both by word and holy life § 3. Tempt 2. The Tempter also fitteth his Temptations to mens several bodily tempers as I Tempt â shewed § 22. The hot and strong he tempteth to lust The sad and fearful to discouragement and continual self-vexations and to the Fear of Men and Devils Those that have strong appetites to Gluttony and Drunkenness Children and Women and weak-headed people to Pride of Apparel and trifling Complement And masculine wicked-unbelievers to Pride of Honour Parts and Grandeur and to an ambitious seeking of Rule and Greatness The meek and gentle he tempteth to a yieldingness unto the perswasions
That if you Tempt 10. are weak he may either discourage you or which is more usual and dangerous make you think better of them than they are and to think you know much when its next to nothing and to make you wise in your own eyes and easily to receive an error and then to be confident in it not to discern between things that differ but to be deceived into false zeal and false wayes by the specious pretences and shews of truth and then to be zealous for the deceiving of others Also that you may be a dishonour to truth and godliness by your weakness and ill management of good causes and may give them away through your unskilfulness to the adversary If you are of stronger wits and parts the Tempter will draw you to despise the weak to take common gifts for special grace or to undervalue holiness and humility and overvalue learning and acuteness He will tempt you dangerously to lothe the simplicity of Christianity and âf the Scriptures as to style and method and to be offended at the Cross of Christ. So that such persons are usually in greater danger of Infidelity Heresie Pride and insolent domineering over the flock of Christ than vulgar Christians that have lower parts § 20. Direct 10. Labour to be well acquainted with your selves If you are weak know your Direct 10. weakness that you may be humble and fearful and seek for strength and help If you are comparatively strong remember how weak the strongest are and how little it is that the wisest know And study well the Ends and use of knowledge that all that you know may be conââcted into Love and Holiness and use it as remembring that you have much to give account of § 21. Tempt 11. Moreover the Tempter will fetch advantage against you from your former life Tempt 11. and actions If you have gone out of the way to Heaven he would harden you by custom and make you think it such a disgrace or trouble to return as that it s as good go on and put it to the venture If you have done any work materially good while your heart and course of life is carnal and worldly he would quiet you in your sinful miserable state by applauding the little good that you have done If a good man have erred or done ill he will engage his honour in it and make him study to defend it or excuse it left it prove his shame and tempt men as he did David to hide one sin with another If he gât hâld of one link he will draw on all the chain of sin § 22. Direct 11. Take heed therefore what you do and foresee the end Let not the Devil get Direct 11. in one foot Try your way before you enter it But if you have erred come off and that throughly and betime whatever it cost for be sure it will cost more to go on And if he would make a snare of the good that you have done remember that this is to turn it into the greatest evil And that there must be a concurrence and integrity of good to make you acceptable and to save you Heart and life must be good to the End § 23. Tempt 12. Lastly He fitteth his Temptations to the season He will take the season just Tempt 12. when an evil thought is likest to take with you and when the Winds and Tyde dâ serve him that will take at one time when a man hath his wits and heart to seek which would be abhorred at another In afflicting Times he will draw you to deny Christ with Peter or shift for your selves by sinful means In prosperous Times he will tempt you to security worldliness and forgetfulness of the night and Winter which approacheth The Timing his Temptations is his great advantage § 24. Direct 12. Dwell as with God and you dwell as in Eternity and will see still that as Time Direct 12. so all the pleasure and advantages and dangers and sufferings of Time are things in themselves of little moment Keep your eye upon Iudgement and Eternity where all the errors of Time will be rectified and all the inequalities of Time will be levelled and the sorrows and joyes that are transitory will be no more And then no reasons from the frowns or flatteries of the Times will seem of any force to you And be still employed for God and still armed and on your watch that Satan may never find you disposed to take the bait The Tempters Method in applying his prepared baits § 25. Tempt 1. The Devils first work is to present the Tempting bait in all its alluring deceiving Tempt 1. properties To make it seem as true as may be to the understanding and as good and amiable as may be to the will To say as much as can be said for an evil cause He maketh his Image of Truth and Goodness as beautiful as he can Sin shall be sugared and its pleasure shall be its strength Heb. 11. 25. Sin shall have its wages paid down in hand 2 Pet. 2. 15. He will set it out with full mouthed praises O what a fine thing it is to be rich and please the flesh continually to have command and honour and lusts and sports and what you desire Who would refuse such a condition that may have it All this will I give thee was the Temptation which he thought fit to assault Christ himself with And he will corrupt the History of Time past and tell you that it went well with those that took his way Jer. 44. 17. And for the future he will promise them that they shall be gainers by it as he did Eve and shall have peace though they please their flesh in sinning See Deut. 29. 19. § 26. Direct 1. In this case first enquire what God saith of that which Satan so commendeth Direct 1. The commendations and motions of an enemy are to be suspected God is most to be believed 2. Then consider not only whether it be good but how long it will be good and what it will prove at the end and how we shall judge of it at the parting And withal consider what it tendeth to whether it tend to good or evil and whether it be the greatest good that we are capable of And then you will see that if there were no good or appearance of good in it it could do a voluntary agent no hurt and were not fit to be the matter of a Temptation And you 'll see that it is temporal good set up to deceive you of the Eternal Good and to entice you into the greatest evil and misery Doth the Devil shâw thee the world and say All this will I give thee Look to Christ who sheweth thee the glory of the world to come with all things good for thee in this world and saith more truly All this will I give thee The world and Hell are in one end of the ballance
Answ. tween the Being of a duty and the Knowledge of a duty and remember that the first Question is whether this be my duty and the next How I may discern it to be my duty And that God giveth it the Being by his Law and Conscience is but to know and use it And that God changeth not his Law and our duty as oft as our opinions change about it The obligation of the Law is still the same though our Consciences err in apprehending it otherwise Therefore if God command you a duty and your opinion be that he doth not command it or that he forbids it and so that it is no duty or that it is a sin it doth not follow that indeed God commands it not because you think so Else it were no error in you nor could it be possible to err if the thing become true because you think it to be true God commandeth you to Love him and to worship him and to nourish your children and to obey the higher powers c. And do you think you shall be discharged from all these duties and allowed to be prophane or sensual or to resist authority or to famish your children if you can but be blind enough to think that God would have it so 2. Your error is a sin it self And do you think that one sin must warrant another or that sin can discharge you from your duty and disannull the Law 3. You are a subject to God and not a King to your self and therefore you must obey his Laws and not make new ones § 33. Quest. 2. But is it not every mans duty to obey his Conscience Quest. Answ. Answ. No It is no mans duty to obey his Conscience in an error when it contradicteth the command of God Conscience is but a Discerner of Gods command and not at all to be obeyed strictly as a Commander but it is to be obeyed in a larger sense that is to be followed where ever it truly discerneth the command of God It is our duty to lay by our error and seek the cure of it till we attain it and not to obey it § 34. Quest. 3. But is it not a sin for a man to go against his Conscience Quest. Answ. Answ. Yes Not because Conscience hath any authority to make Laws for you but because interpretatively you go against God For you are bound to obey God in all things and when you think that God commandeth you a thing and yet you will not do it you disobey formally though not materially The Matter of Obedience is the thing commanded The form of obedience is our doing the thing because it is commanded when the Authority of the Commander causeth us to do it Now you reject the Authority of God when you reject that which you think he commandeth though he did not Quest. § 35. Quest. 4. Seeing the form of obedience is the being of it and denominateth which the Matter doth not without the form and there can be no sin which is not against the authority of God which is the formal cause of obedience is it not then my duty to follow my Conscience Answ. Answ. 1. There must be an integrity of causes or concurrence of all necessaries to make up Obedience though the want of any one will make a sin If you will be called Obedient you must have the matter and form because the true form is found in no other matter You must do the thing commanded because of his Authority that commandeth it If it may be called really and formally Obedience when you err yet it is not that obedience which is acceptable For it is not any kind of obedience but obedience in the thing commanded that God requireth 2. But indeed as long as you err sinfully you are also wanting in the form as well as the matter of your obedience though you intend Obedience in the particular act It is not only a willful opposing and positive rejecting the Authority of the Commander which is formal disobedience but it is any Privation of due subjection to it when his Authority is not so regarded as it ought to be and doth not so powerfully and effectually move us to our duty as it ought Now this formal disobedience is found in your erroneous Conscience For if Gods Authority had moved you as it should have done to diligent enquiry and use of all appointed means and to the avoiding of all the causes of error you had never erred about your duty For if the error had been perfectly involuntary and blameless the thing could not have been your particular duty which you could not possibly come to know Quest. § 36. Quest. 5. But if it be a sin to go against my Conscience must I not avoid that sin by obeying it Would you have me sin Answ. Answ. You must avoid the sin by changing your judgement and not by obeying it For that is but to avoid one sin by committing another An erring judgement is neither obeyed nor disobeyed without sin It can make you sin though it cannot make you duty It doth ensnare though not oblige If you follow it you break the Law of God in doing that which he forbids you If you forsake it and go against it you reject the authority of God in doing that which you think he forbids you So that there is no attaining to innocence any other way but by coming first to Know your duty and then to do it If you command your servant to weed your corn and he mistake you and verily think that you bid him pull up the corn and not the weeds what now should he do Shall he follow his judgement or go against it Neither but change it and then follow it and to that end enquire further of your mind till he be better informed and no way else will serve the turn § 37. Quest. 6. Seeing no man that erreth doth know or think that he erreth for that 's a contradiction Quest. how can I lay by that opinion or strive against it which I take to be the truth Answ. It is your sin that you take a falshood to be a truth God hath appointed means for the Answ. cure of blindness and error as well as other sins or else the world were in a miserable case Come into the light with due self-suspicion and impartiallity and diligently use all Gods means and avoid the causes of deceit and error and the Light of Truth will at once shew you the Truth and shew you that before you erred In the mean time sin will be sin though you take it to be duty or no sin § 38. Quest. 7. But seeing he that knoweth his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with Quest. ãâ¦ã âe that knoweth it not with few is it not my duty chiefly to avoid the many ãâ¦ã against my Conscience or Knâwledge Answ. 1. Your duty is to avoid both and if
that giveth me all Life is not for meat or drink or play but these are for Life and Life for the higher Ends of Life § 16. 2. Look unto thy Redeemer drowsie soul and consider for what end he did Redeem thee Was it to wander a few years about the earth and to sleep and sport a while in flesh Or was it to crucifie thee to the world and raise thee up to the Love of God He came down to Earth from Love it self being full of Love to shew the Loveliness of God and reconcile thee to him and take away the enmity and by Love to teach thee the art of Love His Love constrained him to offer himself a Sacrifice for sin to make thee a Priest thy self to God to offer up the Sacrifice of an enflamed heart in love and praise And wilt thou disappoint thy Redeemer and disappoint thy self of the benefits of his Love The Means is for the End Thou maist as well say I would not be Redeemed as to say I would not Love the Lord. § 17. 3. And bethink thy self O drowsie soul for what thou wast Regenerated and sanctified by the Spirit Was it not that thou mightst KNOW and LOVE the Lord What is the Spirit of Adoption that is given to Believers but a Spirit of predominant Love to God Gal. 4. 6. Thou couldst have loved Vanity and doted on thy fleshly friends and pleasures without the Spirit of God It was not for these but to destroy these and kindle a more noble heavenly fire in thy breast that the Spirit did renew thee Examine search and try thy self whether the Spirit hath sanctified thee or not Knowest thou not that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his 2 Cor. 13. 5. Rom. 8. 9. And if Christ and his Spirit be in thee thy Love is dead to earthly vanity and quickned and raised to the most Holy God Live then in the Spirit if thou have the Spirit To walk in the Spirit is to walk in Love Hath the Regenerating Spirit given thee on purpose a new principle of Love and done so much to excite it and been blowing at the Coals so oât and shall thy carnality or sluggishness yet extinguish it As thou wouldst not renounce or contemn thy Creation thy Redemption and Regeneration contemn not and neglect not the Love of thy Creator Redeemer and Regenerater which is the End of all § 18. Direct 2. Think of the perfect fitness of God to be the only Object of thy superlative Love Direct 2. and how easie and necessary it should seem to us to do a work so agreeable to right Reason and uncorrupted Nature and abhorr all temptations which would make God seem unsuitable to thee O sluggish and unnatural soul Should not an object so admirably âit allure thee Should not such attractive Goodness draw thee Should not perfect amiableness win thee wholly to it self Do but know thy self and God and then forbear to love him if thou canst Where should the fish live but in the Water And where should Birds flye but in the Air God is thy very Element Thou dyest and sinkest down to brutishness if thou forsake him or be taken from him What should delight the smell but odours or the appetite but its delicious food or the eye but Light and what it sheweth and the ear but harmony And what should delight the soul but God If thou know thy self thou knowest that the Nature of thy Mind inclineth to knowledge and by the knowledge of effects to rise up to the cause and by the knowledge of lower and lesser matters to ascend to the highest and greatest And if thou know God thou knowest that he is the cause of all things the Maker Preserver and Orderer of all the Being of Beings the most Great and Wise and Good and Happy so that to know him is to know all to know the most excellent independent glorious being that will leave no darkness nor unsatisfied desire in thy soul. And is he not then most suitable to thy mind If thou know thy self then thou knowest that thy will as free as it is hath a natural necessary inclination to goodness Thou canst not Love evil as evil nor canst thou choose but Love apprehended goodness especially the chiefest good if rightly apprehended And if thou know God thou knowest that he is Infinitely good in himself and the Cause of all the good that is in the world and the giver of all the good thou hast received and the only fit and suitable good to satisfie thy desires for the time to come And yet shall it be so hard to thee to Love so agreeably to perfect Nature so Perfect and full and suitable a good even goodness and Love it self which hath begun to Love thee Is any of the Creatures which thou Lovest so suitable to thee Are they good and only Good and Perfectly Good and unchangeably and eternally Good Are they the spring of comfort and the satisfying happiness of thy soul Hast thou found them so Or dost thou look to find them best at last Foolish soul Canst thou love the uneven defective troublesome creature if to some one small inferiour use it seemeth suitable to thee and canst thou not Love him that is all that rational Love can possibly desire to enjoy What though the creature be near thee and God be infinitely above thee He is nearer to thee than they And though in glory he be distant thou art passing to him in his glory and wilt presently be there Though the Sun be distant from thee it communicateth to thee its Light and Heat and is more suitable to thee than the Candle that is nearer thee What though God be most Holy and thou too earthly and unclean Is he not the fitter to purifie thee and make thee Holy Thou hadst rather if thou be poor have the company and favour of the Rich that can relieve thee than of beggars that will but complain with thee And if thou be unlearned or ignorant thou wouldst have the company of the wise and learned that can teach thee and not of those that are as ignorant as thy self Who is so suitable to thy Desires as he that hath all that thou canst wisely desire and is willing and ready to satisfie thee to the full Who is more suitable to thy Love than he that Loveth thee most and hath done most for thee and must do all that ever will be done for thee and is himself most lovely in his infinite perfections O poor diseased lapsed soul if sin had not corrupted and distempered and perverted thee thou wouldst have thought God as suitable to thy Love as meat to thy hunger and drink to thy thirst and rest to thy weariness and as the earth and water the Air and Sun are to the inhabitants of the world O whither art thou fallen and how far how long hast thou wandered from thy God that thou now drawest
20. Insomuch as it sââmâth one of the greatest impediments to the Conversion of the Heathen and Mahomâtan world and the chiefest means of confirming them in their Iââââdelity and making them hate and scorn Christianity that the Romish and the Eastern and Southern Churches within their view do worship God so dishonourably as they do as if our God were like a little Child that must have pretty toyes bought him in the Fair and brought home to please him Whereas it the unreformed Churches in the East West and South were Reformed and had a Learned Pious Able Ministry and clearly preached and seriously applyed the Word of God and worshipped God with understanding gravity reverence and serious spirituality and lived a holy heavenly mortified self-denying conversation this would be the way to propagate Christianity and win the Infidel world to Christ. § 43. Direct 12. If you will glorifie God in your lives you must be above a selfish private narrow Direct 12. mind and must be chiefly intent upon the publick good and the spreading of the Gospel through the world A selfish private narrow soul brings little honour to the cause of God It s alwayes taken up about it self or imprisoned in a corner in the dark to the interest of some Sect or Party and seeth not how things go in the world Its desires and prayers and endeavours go no further than they can see or travel But a larger soul beholdeth all the earth and is desirous to know how it goeth with the Cause and Servants of the Lord and how the Gospel gets ground upon the unbelieving Nations and such are affected with the state of the Church a thousand miles off almost as if it were at hand as being members of the whole body of Christ and not only of a Sect. They pray for the Hallowing of Gods Name and the coming of his Kingdom and the doing of his will throughout the Earth as it is in Heaven before they come to their own necessities at least in order of esteem and desire The prosperity of themselves or their Party or Countrey satisfieth them not while the Church abroad is in distress They live as those that know the Honour of God is more concerned in the welfare of the whole than in the success of any party against the rest They pray that the Gospel may have free course and be glorified abroad as it is with them and the Preachers of it be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men 2 Thess. 3. 1 2. The silencing the Ministers and suppressing the interest of Christ and souls is the most grievous tydings to them Therefore they pray for Kings and all in authority not for any carnal ends but that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2. 1 2 3. Thus God must be glorified by our Lives DIRECT XVI Let your life on Earth be a conversation in Heaven by the constant work of Gr. Dir. 16. Faith and Love even such a faith as maketh things future as now present and the unseen world as if it were continually open to your sight and such a Love as makes you long to see the glorious face of God and the glory of your dear Redeemer and to be taken up with blessed Spirits in his perfect endless Love and Praise MY Treatise of The Life of Faith and the fourth Part of The Saints Rest being written wholly or mostly to this use I must refer the Reader to them and say no more of it in this Direction DIRECT XVII As the soul must be carried up to God and devoted to him according to all the Gr. Dir. 17. foregoing Directions so must it be delivered from carnal selfishness or flesh-pleasing I pass not this by as a small matter to be passed by also by the Reader For I take the Love of God kindled by Faith in Christ with the full Denyal of our carnal selves to be the sum of all Religion But because I would not injure so great a duty by saying but a little of it And therefore desire the Reader who studieth for Practice and needeth such helps to peruse the mentioned Books of Self-denyal and Crucifying the World which is the grand enemy to God and Godliness in the world and from the three great branches of this Idolatry viz. the Love of sensual pleasures the Love of worldly wealth and the proud desire and Love of worldly honour and esteem And the mortifying of these must be much of the labour of your lives OF this also I have written so much in a Treatise of Self-denyal and in another called The Crucifying of the World by the Cross of Christ that I shall now pass by all save what will be more seasonable anon under the more Particular Directions in the fourth Tome when I come to speak of Selfishness as opposed to the Love of others I Have now given you the General Grand Directions containing the very Being and Life of Godliness and Christianity with those particular sub-directions which are needful to the performance of them And I must tell you that as your life and strength and comfort principally depend on these so doth your success in resisting all your particular sins And therefore if you first obey not these General Directions the more particular ones that follow will be almost useless to you even as branches cut off from the Stock of the Tree which are deprived thereby of their support and life But upon supposition that first you will maintain these Vital parts of your Religion I shall proceed to Direct you first in some particulars most nearly subordinate to the forementioned duties and then to the remoter branches APPENDIX The true Doctrine of LOVE to GOD to HOLINESS to OUR SELVES and to OTHERS opened in certain Propositions Especially for resolving the Questions what self-love is lawful What sinful Whether God must be loved above our own felicity And how Whether to Love our felicity more than God may stand with a state of saving grace Whether it be a middle state between sensuality and the Divine nature to Love God more for our selves than for Himself Whether to Love God for our selves be the state of a Believer as he is under the promise of the New Covenant And whether the spirit and sanctification promised to Believers be the Love of God for himself and so the Divine nature promised to him that chooseth Christ and God by him out of self-love for his own felicity How God supposeth and worketh on the principle of self-love in mans Conversion With many such like To avoid the tediousness of a distinct debating each Question THough these things principally belong to the Theorie and so to another Treatise in hand called Methodus Theologiae yet because they are also Practical and have a great influence upon the more Practical Directions and the right understanding of them may help the Reader himself to determine a multitude of Cases of Conscience the
Actions divers from that which commandeth my affections As those that put children relations families neighbours under our especiall charge and care though often others must be more loved 20. That Good which is the object of Love is not a meer Universal or General notion but is allwaies some particular or singular being in esse reali vel in esse cognito As there is no such thing in rerum natura as Good in a meer General which is neither the Good of natural existence or of moral perfection or of Pleasure Profit Honour c. Yea which is not in this or in that singular subject or so conceived so there is no such thing as Love which hath not some such singular object As Rada and other Scotists have made plain 21. All Good is either GOD or a CREATURE or a Creatures Act or Work 22. GOD is GOOD Infinitely Eternally Primitively Independently Immutably Communicatively of whom and by whom and to whom are all things The Beginning or first efficient the Dirigent and ultimately ultimate cause of all created Good As Making and Directing All things For Himself 23. Therefore it is the duty of the Intellectual Creature to Love God Totally without any exceptions or restrictions with all the Power Mind and Will not only in degree above our selves and all the world But also as GOD with a Love in kind transcending the Love of every Creature 24. All the Goodness of the Creature doth formally consist in its threefold Relation to GOD viz. 1. In the Impresses of God as its first Efficient or Creator as it is his Image or the effect and demonstration of his perfections viz. his Infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness 2 In its Conformity to his Directions or Governing Laws and so in its Order and Obedience 3. And in its Aptitude and Tendency to God as its final cause even to the demonstration of his Glory and the Complacency of his Will 25. All Created Good is therefore Derivative Dependant Contingent Finite Secondary From God By God and To God receiving its Form and Measure from its respect to Him 26. Yet as it may be subordinately From man as the Principle of his own Actions and By man as a subordinate Ruler of himself or others and To man as a subordinate End so there is accordingly a subordinate sort of Goodness which is so denominated from these respects unto the Creature that is himself Good subordinately 27. But all this subordinate Goodness Bonum à nobis Bonum per nos Bonum nobis is but Analogically so and dependantly on the former sort of Goodness and is something in due subordination to it and against it nothing that is not properly Good 28. The best and excellentest Creatures in the foresaid Goodness-related to God are most to be loved and all according to the Degree of their Goodness more than as Good in relation to our selves 29. But seeing their Goodness is formally their Relation unto God it followeth that they are Loved ãâã only for his sake and consequently Gods Image or Glory in them is first Loved and so the true Love of any Creature is but a secondary sort of the Love of God 30. The best being next to God is the universe or whole Creation and therefore next him most to be loved by us 31. The next in Amiableness is the whole coelestial society Christ Angels and Saints 32. The next when we come to distinguish them is Christs own Created Glorified Nature in the Person of the Mediator Because Gods Glory or Image is most upon him 33. The next in Amiableness is the whole Angelical society or the orders of Intellectual Spirits above man 34. The next is the spirits of the Just made perfect or the Triumphant Church of Saints in Heaven 35. The next is all this lower world 36. The next is the Church in the world or militant on earth 37. The next are the particular Kingdoms and Societies of the world and so the Churches according to their various degrees 38. The next under societies and multitudes are those individual persons who are Best in the three fore-mentioned respects Whether our selves or others And thus by the objects should our Love that is Rational be diversified in Degree and that be Loved best that is best 39. The Amiable Image of God in man is as hath oft been said 1. Our Natural Image of God or the Image of his three Essential properties as such that is Our Vital Active Power our Intellect and our will 2. Our Moral Image or the Image of his said properties in their perfections viz. Our Holiness that is Our Holy Life or spiritual vivacity and Active Power Our Holy Light or Wisdom our Holy Wills or Love 3. Our Relative Image of God or the Image of his Supereminencie Dominion or Majesty which is 1. Common to Man in respect to the Inferiour Creatures that we are their Owners Governârs and End and Benefactors 2. Eminently in Rulers of Men Parents and Princes who are Analogically sub-owners sub-rulers and sub-benefactors to their inferiors in various degrees By which it is discernable what it is that we are to Love in man and with what variety of kinds and degrees of Love as the Kinds and degrees of amiableness in the objects differ 40. Even the Sun and Moon and frame of Nature the Inanimates and Bruits must be Loved in that Degree Compared to Man and to one another as their Goodness before described that is the Impressions of the Divine perfections do more or less Gloriously appear in them and as they are adapted to him the ultimate end 41. As God is in this life seen but darkly and as in a Glass so also proportionably to be Loved For our Love cannot exceed our Knowledge 42. Yet it followeth not that we must Love him only as he appareth in his works which demonstrate him as effects do their cause For both by the said works improved by Reason and by his word we know that he is before his works and above them and so distinct from them as to transcend and comprehend and cause them all by a continual causality And therefore he must accordingly be Loved 43. It greatly hindereth our Love to God when we overlook all the intermediate excellencies between Him and us which are much better and therefore more amiable than our selves such as are before recited 44. The Love of the universe as bearing the liveliest Image or impress of their Cause is an eminent secondary Love of God and a great help to our Primary or Immediate Love of him Could we comprehend the Glorious excellency of the universal Creation in its matter form parts order and uses we should see so Glorious an Image of God as would unspeakably promote the work of Love 45. Whether the GLORY of God in HEAVEN which will for ever beatifie the beholders and possessors be the Divine Essence which is every where or a Created Glory purposely there placed for the felicity of holy spirits and
such a reward But he had rather have that reward of it self without Holiness 62. He may also Love and desire Christ as a means conceited to such an end And he may use much Religious duty to that end And he may forbear such sins as that End can spare lest they deprive him of his hoped-for felicity Yea he may suffer much to prevent an endless suffering 63. As Nature necessarily Loveth self and self-felicity God and the Devil do both make great use of this natural pondus or necessitating Principle for their several ends The Devil saith Thou Lovest Pleasure therefore take it and make provision for it God saith Thou lovest felicity and fearest misery I and my Love are the true felicity and adhering to sensual pleasure depriveth thee of better and is the beginning of thy misery and will bring thee unto worse 64. God commandeth man nothing that is not for his own good and forbiddeth him nothing which is not directly or indirectly to his hurt And therefore engageth self-love on his side for every act of our obedience 65. Yet this good of our own is not the highest nor all the good which God intendeth and we must intend but it is subordinate unto the greater good fore-mentioned 66. As a carnal man may have opinionative uneffectual convictions that God and his Love are his spiritual felicity better than sensual yea and that God is his ultimate End above his own felicity it self so the sanctifying of man consisteth in bringing up these convictions to be truly effectual and practical to renew and rule the Mind and Will and Life 67. Whether this be done by first knowing God as the Beginning and End above our selves and then knowing effectually that he is mans felicity or whether self-love be first excited to Love him as our own felicity and next we be carryed up to Love him for himself as our highest End it cometh all to one when the work is done And we cannot prove that God tyeth himself constantly to either of these methods alone But experience telleth us that the later is the usual way and that as Nature so Grace beginneth with the smallest seed and groweth upward towards perfection And that self-love and desire of endless felicity and fear of endless misery are the first notable effects or changes on a repenting soul. 68. And indeed the state of sin lyeth both in mans fall from GOD to SELF and in the mistake of his own felicity preferring even for Himself a sensible good before a spiritual and the Creature before the Creator And therefore he must be rectified in both 69. And the hypocrites uneffectual Love to God and Holiness is much discovered in this that as he loveth dead Saints and their Images and Holy-dayes because they trouble him not so he best loveth opinionatively and least hateth practically the Saints in Heaven and the Holiness that is far from him and God as he conceiveth of him as one that is in Heaven to glorifie men But he hateth practically though not professedly the God that would make him holy and deprive him of all his sinful pleasures or condemn him for them And he can better like Holiness in his Pastor neighbour or child than in Himself 70. Therefore sincerity much consisteth in the Love of self-holiness but not as for self alone but as carrying self and all to God 71. As the Sun-beams do without any interception reach the eye and by them without interception our sight ascendeth and extendeth to the Sun so Gods communicated Goodness and Glorious Revelation extend through and by all inferiour mediums to our understandings and our wills And our Knowledge and Love ascendeth and extendeth through all and by all again to God And as it were unnatural for the eye illuminated by the Sun to see it self only or to see the mediate creatures and not to see the Light and Sun by which it seeth nay it doth least see it self so is it unnatural for the soul to understand and Love it self alone which it little understandeth and should Love with self-denyal and the Creatures only and not to Love God by whom we know and Love the creature 72. It is possible to Love God and Holiness and Heaven as a conceited state and means of our sensual felicity and escape of pain and misery But to Love God as the true felicity of the Intellectual nature and as our spiritual Rest and yet to Love him only or chiefly for our selves and not rather for Himself as our highest end implyeth a contradiction The same I say of Holiness as Loved only for our selves The evidence whereof is plain in that it is Essential to God to be not only better than our selves and every creature but also to be the Ultimate End of all things to which they should tend in all their perfections And it is Essential to Holiness to be the souls devotion of it self to God as God and not only to God as our felicity Therefore to Love God only or chiefly for our selves is to make him only a means to our felicity and not our chief End and it is to make our selves Better and so more Amiable than God that is to be Gods our selves 73. This is much of the sense of the Controversie between the Epicureans and the sober Philosophers as is to be seen in Cicero c. The sober Philosophers said that Virtue was to be loved for it self more than for Pleasure Because if Pleasure as such be better than vertue as such than all sensual Pleasure would be better than Vertue as such The Epicureans said that not all pleasure but the pleasure of Vertue was the chief good as Torquatus his words in Cicero shew And if it had been first proved that a mans self is his just ultimate end as the finis cui or the personal end than it would be a hard question whether the Epicureans were not in the right as to the finis cujus or the Real end which indeed is but a medium to the personal cui But when it is most certain that no mans person is to be his own ultimate end as cui but God and then the Universe and societies of the world as beforesaid it is then easie to prove that the sober Philosophers were in the right and that no mans Pleasure is his ultimate end finis cujus Because no mans Pleasure is either such a demonstration of the Divine perfection as Vertue is as such nor yet doth it so much conduce to the common good of societies or mankind and so to the pleasing and glorifying of God And this way Cicero might easily have made good his cause against the Epicureans 74. Though no man indeed Love God as God who Loveth him not as Better than himself and therefore Loveth him not better and as his absolutely ultimate end and though no man desire Holiness indeed who desireth not to be devoted absolutely to God before and above himself yet is it very common to
have a false imperfect notion of God and Holiness as being the felicity of man and though not to deny yet to leave out the essential superlative notion of the Deity And it is more common to confess all this of God and Holiness notionally as was aforesaid and practically to take in no more of God and Holiness but that they are better for us than temporary pleasures And some go further and take them as better for them than any though perpetual meer sensual delights And so make the perfection of mans highest faculties practically to be their ultimate end And desire or Love God and Holiness defectively and falsly apprehended for themselves or their own felicity and not Themselves and their felicity and Holiness ultimately for God Which sheweth that though these men have somewhat overcome the sensual concupiscence or flesh yet have they not sufficiently overcome the SELFISH disposition nor yet known and Loved God as God nor Good as Good 75. Yet is it not a sin to Love God for our selves and our own felicity so be it we make him not a meer Means to that felicity as our absolutely ultimate End For as God indeed is 1. The efficient of all our Good 2. The Dirigent Cause that leadeth us to it 3. The End in which our felicity truly consisteth so is he to be Loved on all these accounts 76. If God were not thus to be Loved for our selves subordinated to him Thankfulness would not be a Christian duty 77. Our Love to God is a Love of Friendship and a desire of a kind of Union Communion or Adherence But not such as is between creatures where there is some sort of equality But as between them that are totally unequal the one infinitely below the other and absolutely subject and subordinate to him 78. Therefore though in Love of Friendship a Union of both parties and consequently a conjunct interest of both and not one alone do make up the ultimate End of Love yet here it should be with an utter disproportion we being obliged to know God as Infinitely Better than our selves and therefore to Love him incomparably more though yet it will be but according to the proportion of the faculties of the Lover 79. The purest process of Love therefore is first thankfully to perceive the Divine Efficiencies and to Love God as communicative of what we and all things are and have and shall receive and therein to see his perfect Goodness in Himself and to Love him as God for that Goodness wherein is nothing but the final Act which is our Love and the Final Object which is the Infinite Good so that the Act is mans from God but nothing is to be joyned with God as the absolutely final Object For that were to joyn somewhat with God as God 80. And though it be most true that this Act may be made the object of another Act and as Amesius saith Omnium gentium consensu dicimus Volo Velle so we may and must say Amo Amare I Love to Love God and the very exercise of my own Love is my Delight and so is my Felicity in the very Essential Nature of it being a complacency and being on the highest objective Good And also this same Love is my Holiness and so It and I are Pleasing unto God yet these are all consequential to the true notion of the final Act and circularly lead to the same again We must Love our Felicity and Holiness which consisteth in our Love to God but as that which subordinately relateth to God in which he is first glorified and then finally pleased and so from his Will which we delight to please we ascend to his total perfect Being to which we adhere by perfect Love In a word our Ultimate End of Acquisition and Gods own so far as he may be said to have an End is the pleasing of the Divine Will in his Glorification And our ultimate End of Complacency objectively is the Infinite Goodness of the Divine Will and Nature 81. There is therefore place for the Question Whether I must Love God or my self more or better as it is resolved But there is no place for the Question Whether I must Love God or my self Because God alloweth me not ever to separate them Though there is a degree of just self-lothing or self-hatred in deep Repentance Nor yet for the Question Whether I must seek Gods glory and pleasure or my own felicity for I must ever seek them both though not with the same esteem Yea I may be said to seek them both with the same Diligence because by the same Endeavour and act that I seek one I seek the other and I cannot possibly do any thing for one that doth not equally promote the other if I do them rightly preferring God before my self in my inward Estimation Love and Intention 82 Though it be essential to Divine Love and consequently to true Holiness to Love God for Himself and as Better than our selves or else we Love him not as God as is before said yet this is hardly and seldom perceived in the beginning in him that hath it Because the Love of our self is more Passionate and raiseth in us more subordinate passions of fear of punishment and desires of felicity and sorrow for hurt and misery c. Whereas God being Immaterial and Invisible is not at all an object of our sense but only of our Reason and our Wills and therefore not directly of sensitive Passionate Love Though consequently while the soul is united to the body its acting even on Immaterial objects moveth the lower sensitive faculties and the corporeal spirits Also God needeth nothing for us to desire for him nor suffereth nothing for us to grieve for though we must grieve for injuring him and being displeasing to his Will 83. I cannot say nor believe though till it be searched the opinion hath an enticing aspect that the Gospel faith which hath the promise of Iustification and of the Spirit is only a Believing in Christ as the Means of our felicity by Redemption and Salvation out of the principle of self-love alone and for no higher end than our said Felicity Because he is not believed in as Christ if he be not taken as a Reconciler to bring us home to God And we take him not to bring us to God as God if it be not to bring us to God as the Beginning and End of all things and as infinitely more Lovely than our selves And our Repentance for not Loving God accordingly above our selves must go along with our first justifying faith Therefore though we are Learners before we are Lovers and our Assent goeth before the Wills Consent yet our Assent that God is God and better than our selves must go together with our Assent that Christ is the Mediator to save us by bringing us to him And so must our Assent that this is salvation even to Love God above our selves and as better than our selves And
have it No nor with any perfection of your intellectual nature meerly as such and for your selves without the Pleasing and Glorifying God in it If you practically perceive that every thing is therefore and so far Good and Amiable as God shineth in it as its cause or as it conduceth to Glorifie him and Please his Will If accordingly you Love that person best on whom you perceive most of God and that is most serviceable to him though not at all beneficial to your self If you Love the wellfare of the Church the Kingdom the World and of the Heavenly society Saints Angels and Christ as the Divine Nature interest Image or impress maketh all Lovely in their several degrees and would rather be annihilated were it put upon your choice than Saints Angels Kingdoms Church should be annihilated If your hearts have devoted themselves and all that you have to God as his own to be used to his utmost service If your chief desire and endeavour in the world be to please his blessed will and in that will and the comtemplation of his infinite perfections you seek your rest If you desire your own everlasting happiness in no other kind but as consisting in the perfect sight of Gods Glory and in your perfect Loving of him and being pleasant or beloved to him and this as resting more in the Infinite Amiableness of God than the felicity which hence will follow to your selves though that also must be desired If now you deny your own glory for his Glory if your chief desire and endeavour be to Love him more and more and you Love your selves best when you Love him most In a word If nothing more take up your care than how to Love God more and nothing in the whole world your self or others seem more Amiable to your sober practical judgement and your wills than the Infinite Goodness of God as such If all this be so you have not only attained sincerity which is not now the question but this Divine nature and high confirmed Holiness Though withall you never so much desire your own salvation which is but to desire more of this Love And though your Nature have such a sensitive selfish desire of Life and Pleasure as is brought into subjection to this Divine Love If any be offended that so many propositions must be used in opening the case and say that they rather confound mens witts than inform them I Answer 1. The matter is high and I could not ascend by a shorter ladder Nor have I the faculty of climbing it per saltum stepping immediately from the lowest to the highest part If any will make the case plainer in fewer words and with less ado I shall thankfully accept his labour as a very great benefit when I see it 2. Either all these particulars are really diverse and really pertinent to the matter in question or not If not it is not blaming the number that will evince it but naming such particulars as are either unjustly or unnecessarily either distinguished or inserted And if it be but repeating the same things that is blamed I shall be glad if all these words and more would make such weighty cases clear and do confess that after all I need more light and am allmost stalled with the difficulties my self But if the particulars can be neither proved false nor needless but the Reader be only overset with multitude I would intreat him to be patient with other men that are more laborious and more capable of knowledge And let him know that if his difficulties do not rather engage him in a diligent search than tempt him to impatience and accusation I number him not only with the slothful contemners but therefore also with the enemies of knowledge even as I reckon the neglecters and contemners and accusers of Piety among its enemies But ere I end I must answer some Objections Object 1. Some will say Doth not every man Love God above himself and all while he knoweth him to be Better and so more Lovely For there is some Act of the will that answereth this of the understanding Answ. 1. You must know that the carnal mind is first captivated to carnal self and sensuality And therefore the most practical and powerful apprehensions of Goodness or Amiableness in every such person doth fasten upon Life and Pleasure or sensual prosperity And the sense having here engaged the mind and will the contrary conclusions that God is Best are but superficial and uneffectual like dreams and though they have answerable effects in the will they are but uneffectual velleities or wishes which are born down with far stronger desires of the contrary And though God be loved as one that is notionally conceived to be Best and Most to be Loved yet he is not loved Best or Most Yea though ordinarily the understanding say God is Best and Best to me and for me and Most to be loved when it cometh to volition or choice there is a secret apprehension which saith more powerfully hic nunc this sensible pleasure is Better for me and more eligible Why else is it chosen Unless you will say that the motion is principally sensitive and the force of the sensitive Appetite suspendeth all forcible opposition of the Intellect and so ruleth the Locomotive facultie it self But whether the Intellect be Active or but Omissive in it the sin cometh up to the same height of evil However it be it is most evident that while such men say God is most to be Loved they love him not most when they will not leave a lust or known sin for his Love Nor shew any such love but the contrary in their lives Object 2. But do not all men practically Love God best when they Love Wisdom Honesty and Goodness in all men Even in strangers that will never profit them And what is God but Wisdom Goodness and Greatness it self Answ. They first Idolize themselves and their sensual delights and then they Love such Wisdom Goodness and Greatness as is suitable to their self ish sensual lust and interest And it is not the Prime Good which is above them and to be preferred before them which they love as such but such Goodness as is fitted to their fleshly concupiscence and ends And therefore Holiness they Love not And though they love that which is never like to benefit them that is but as it is of the same kind with that which in others nearer them may benefit them and therefore is suitable to their minds and interest And yet we confess that the mind of man hath some principles of virtue and some footsteps and witnesses of a Deity left upon it But though these work up to an approbation of Good and a dislike of evil in the General notion of it and in particulars so far as it crosseth not their Lust yet never to prefer the Best things practically before their Lust And God is not Loved Best nor as God
of this but live as quietly and talk as pleasantly as if all were well with them and their souls were safe and their calling and election were made sure Alas if these souls were not hardned in sin we should see it in their tears or hear it in their complaints they would after Sermon sometime come to the Minister as they Acts 2. 37. Acts 16. 30. Sirs what must we do to be saved or we should see it in their lives or hear of it by report of others who would observe the change that grace hath made and Sermons would stick longer by them and not at best be turned off with a fruitless commendation and saying it was a good Sermon and there is an end of it Judge now by this true description which I have given you what a hardned sinner is And then the godly may so see cause to bewail the remnants of this mischief as yet to be daily thankful to God that they are not in the power of it § 10. Direct 7. Live if you can possibly under a lively quickning Ministry and in the company of Direct 7. seriâus lively Christianâ It is true that we should be deeply affected with the truths of God how coldly soever they be delivered But the question is not what is our duty but what is our disease and ãâ¦ã and the proper remedy All men should be so holy as not to need any exhortations to ãâã at all But shall Ministers therefore neglect such exhortations or they that need them ââââ away their âars Hear if possible that Minister that first feels what he speaks and so speaks what ââ feels as tendeth most to make you feel Isa. 58. 1 2. Cry aloud spare not lift up thy âââââ like a Trumpet and shew my people their transgressions and the house of Israel their sins Though ââcâââ seek me daily and delight to know my wayes as a Nation that did righteousness and forsook nât ââââ Orâinanceâ of their God God is the chief agent but he useth to work according to the ââââââ of the instrument O woful case to hear a dead Minister speaking to a dead people the living truths of the living God! As Christ said If the blind lead the blind both will fall into the ditch And if the dead must raise the dead and the ungodly enemies of a holy life must bring men to godliness and to a holy life it must be by such a power as once made use of clay and spittle to open the eyes of the blind It seems it was a Proverb in Christs dayes Let the dead bury their dead 2 ââââ 13 â1 But not Let the dead raise the dead God may honour the bones of the dead Prophet with the raising a Corps that is cast into its grave and toucheth them A meeting of a dead Minister and a dead people is like a place of graves and though it be a lamentable thing to hear a man speak without any life of life eternal yet God can concurr to the quickning of a soul. But sure we have no great reason to expect that ordinarily he should convert men so miraculously without the moral aptitude of means It is most incongruous for any man in his familiar discourse to speak without great seriousness and reverence of things concerning life eternal But for a Preacher to talk of God of Christ of Heaven and Hell as coldly and sleepily as if he were perswading men not to believe him or regard him that no more regards himself is less tolerable It is a sad thing to hear a man draw out a dreaming dull discourse about such astonishing weighty things and to speak as if it were the business of his art to teach men to sleep while the names of Heaven and Hell are in their ears and not to be moved while they hear the message of the living God about their life or death everlasting If a man tell in the Streets of a fire in the Town or a Souldier bring an Allarm of the enemy at the Gates in a reading or jeasting tone the hearers will neglect him and think that he believeth not himself I know it is not meer noise that will convert a soul A bawling fervency which the hearers may discern to be but histrionical and affected and not to come from a serious heart doth harden the auditors worst of all A rude unreverent noise is unbeseeming an Embassador of Christ But an ignorant saying of a few confused words or a sleepy recital of the most pertinent things do as little beseem them Christ raised not Lazarus by the lowdness of his voice But where the natural ears are the passage to the mind the voice and manner should be suitable to the matter Noise without seriousness and pertinent matter is like Gunpowder without Bullet that causeth sound and no execution And the weightiest matter without clear explication and lively application is like Bullet without Powder If you will throw Canon Bullets at the enemy with your hands they will sooner fall on your feet than on them And it is deadness aggravated by hypocrisie when a lifeless Preacher will pretend moderation as if he were afraid of speaking too lowd and earnestly leât he should awake the dead whom lightning and thunder will not awake and when he will excuse himself by accusing those that are not as drowzie or dead as he and would make men believe that seriousness is intemperate rage or madness If you are cast upon a cold and sleepy Minister consider the matter more than the manner But choose not such a one for the cure of hardness and insensibility of heart § 11. Direct 8. Take notice how sensible tender hearted Christians are of sins far less than those Direct 8. that you make a jeast of And how close those matters come to their hearts that touch not yours And have not you as much cause to be moved as they and as much need to lay such things to heart Did you but know what a trouble it is to them to be haunted with temptations to the unbelief and Atheism which prevaileth with you though they are far from choosing them or delighting in them Did you see how involuntary thoughts and frailâies make some of them aweary of themselves and how they even hate their hearts for believing no more and loving God no more and for being so strange to God and Heaven when yet there is nothing in the world so dear to them nor hath so much of their Estimation or Endeavour You would think sure that if such hearts had your sin and misery to feel they would feel it to their grief indeed unless the sin it self did hinder the feeling as it doth with you Let tender hearted Christians instruct you and not be witnesses against you § 12. Direct 9. Take heed of hardning Company Examples and Discoursâ To hear men rail and Direct 9. sââffe at Holiness and curse and swear and blaspheme the Name and Truth of God
in a divided heart and Direct 2â life See therefore that you serve God in singleness of heart or simplicity and integrity as being ââs alone Think not of serving God and Mammon A deep reserve at the heart for the world ââile Matth. 23 ââ ââââh 4. 2 3 4 5. Luke 1â 4â Matth. 6. 4â 2 Pet. 1. 1â Joh. 6. 27. they seem to give up themselves in Covenant to God is the grand Character of an Hypocrite Live as those that have One Lord and Master that all power stoopeth to and One End or Scâpe to which all other are but means and One work of absolute Necessity to do and one Kingdom to seek first and with greatest care and diligence to make sure of and that have your hearts and faces still one way and that agree with your selves in what you think and say and do A double heart and a double tongue is the fashion of the Hypocrite Psal. 12. 2. 1 Tim. 3. 8. He hath a heart for the world and pride and lust which must seem sometimes to be lifted up to ask forgiveness that he may sin with quietness and hope of salvation you would not think when you see him drop his Beads or lift up his hands and eyes and seem devoutly to say his prayers how lately he came from a Tavern or a Whore or a Lie or from scorning at serious godliness As Bishop Hall saith He seemeth to serve that ãâ¦ã m 2. 5. Jaââes 4. 1â Hoâ 10. 2. God at Church on Holy-dayes whom he neglecteth at home and ââweth at the Name of Jesus and sweareth prophanely by the Name of God Remember that there is but one God one Heaven for us one Happiness and one Way And this one is of such moment as calls for all the intention and attention of our souls and is enough to satisfie us and should be enough to call us off from all that would divert us A divided heart is a false and self-deceving heart Are there two Gods or is Christ divided While you grasp at both God and the world you will certainly lose one and it is like you will lose both To have two Gods two Rules two Heavens is to have no God no true Rule no Heaven or happiness at all Halt not therefore between two opinions If God be God obey him and love him If Heaven be Heaven be sure it be first sought But if thy Belly be ãâ¦ã 3. ââ thy God and the World be thy Heaven then serve and seek them and make thy best of thâm § 31. Direct 26. Take heed of all that fleshly policy or craft and worldly wisdom which is contrary ãâ¦ã 26. to the wisdom of the Word of God and would draw thee from the plain and open heartedness which godly sincerity requireth Let that which was Pauls rejoycing be yours that in simplicity and godly sincerity nât in fleshly wisdom you have had yâur conversation in the world Christianity renounceth not wisdom and âânest self-preservation But yet it maketh men plain-hearted and haters of crafty ââââdulent minds What is the famous hypocritical Religion superadded to Christianity and called ââââââ but that which Paul feared in his godly jealousie for the Corinthians lest as the Serpent begââleâ ââve by his sâbtility so their minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. A forsaking thâ Christian simplicity of DOCTRINE DISCIPLINE WORSHIP and CONVERSATION is the Hypocrisie of Religion and of liâe Equivocating and dishonest âhiââs and hiding beseemeth those that have an ill cause or an ill conscience or an ill Master whom they dââââ not trust and not those that have so good a cause and God as Christians have § 32. Direct 27. Remember how much of sincerity consisteth in seriousness and how much of Hypocrite Direct 27. the ãâ¦ã pleaââââg and ââââal Riâes and Ceremo ãâ¦ã of outward and ãâã holiness Over-great ãâ¦ã of traditions which âaââ of but âad âhe Church The ãâã of ãâ¦ã anâ ãâ¦ã aâd lucââ The ãâ¦ã goâd in ãâã which openeth a gate to ãâ¦ã and noveltieâ Lord ãâ¦ã describeth ââââila that he was a de ãâã of âlesh and ââââ âând yet Religione persuasion ãâã basque de Dâs a gente sua ãâã usque ad sâperstitionem addictââ ãâ¦ã 3â9 Pâal 78 37. 2 Cor. 7. 11. consisteth in seeming and dreaming and trifling in the things of God and our salvation see therefore that you keep your souls awake in a sensible and seriâus frame Read over the fifty Considerations which in the third Part of my Saints Rest I have given to convince you of the necessity of being serious See that there be as much in your faith as in your Creed and as much in your Hearts and Lives as in your Belief Remember that seeming and dreaming will not mortifie deep-rooted sâs nor conquer strong and subtile enemies nor make you acceptable to God nor save your sââls from his revenging justice Remember what a mad kind of prophaneness it is to jââst and ââifle about Heaven and Hell and to dally with the great and dreadful God Seeing all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conââââsation and godliness 2 Pet. 3. 11. You pray for an obedience answering the pattern of the heavenly society when you say Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven And will you be such Hypocrites as to pray that you may iâitate Saints and Angels in the purity and obedience of your hearts and lives and when you have done take up with shews and seemings and saying a few words and a lifeless Image of that Holiness which you never had yea and perhaps deride and persecute in others the very thing which you daily pray for O horrible abuse of the All-seeing God! Do you no more believe or fear his justice When the Apostle saith Gal. 6. 7. Be not deceived God is not mocked he intimââââth that Hypocrites go about to put a scorn on God by a Mock-religion though it is not he but themselves that will prove mocked in the end They offer God a deaf Nutt or an empty Shell or Caâk for a Sacrifice An Hypocrite differeth from a true Christian as a Fencer from a Souldier He playeth his part very formâlly upon a Stage with much applause but you may perceive that he is not in good sadness by his tâ flâng and formality and never killing any of his sins Would men shew no more of the great everlasting matters of their own proâest Belief in any seriousness of affection or endeavour than most men do if they were not Hypocrites Would they hate and scorn men for doing but that and part of that which they pray and profess to do themselves if they were not hypocrites Wo to the world because of Hypocrisie Wo to the carnal members of the Church Wo to Idol Shepheards and the seeming ãâã lifeless Christians of what Sect soever For God will not be mocked They
his own Master doth he stand or fall Men may step up into the throne of God and there presume to judge others according to their interests and passions but God will quickly pull them down and teach them better to know their places How like is the common censure of the world to the game of boyes that will hold an Assize and make a Judge and try and condemn one another in sport And have we not a greater Iudge to fear § 29. 3. It is God only that passeth the final sentence from whom there is no appeal to any other See Dr ââââs ãâã pag. 42 43. Ma ãâ¦ã ââ 1 Coâ 4. 3. But from humane judgement there lyeth an appeal to God Their judgement must be judged of by him Things shall not stand as now men censure them Many a bad cause is now judged good through the Multitude or Greatness of those that favour it And many a good cause is now condemned Many a one is taken as a Malefactor because he obeyeth God and doth his duty But all these things must be judged over again by him that hath denounced a Woâ to them that call evil Isa â 20. good and good evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness He that saith to the wicked thou art Righteous peâple shall curse him nations shall abhor him Prov. 24. 24. It were ill with the best of the servants of Christ if the judgement of the world must stand who condemn them as fools and hypocrites and what they list Then the Devils judgement would stand But he is the wise man that God will judge to be wise at last and he only is the happy man that God calls happy The erring judgement of a creature is but like an ignorant mans writing the names of several things upon an Apothecaries boxes If he write the names of Poysons upon some and of Antidotes on others when ãâ¦ã ãâ¦ã dâth nât ãâã the Maâquââ and Mummeââââ and triumphââf the âoââd haââo stately and gallanâ as candlâ-light doâh Lord ãâã Eâââây of Tââââ Why Lââs are Loved there are no such things within them they are not to be estimated according to those names How different are the names that God and the world do put upon things and persons now And how few now approve of that which God approveth of and will justifie at last How many will God judge heterodox and wicked that men judged orthodox and worthy of applause And how many will God judge orthodox and sincere that were called Hereticks and Hypocrites by men God will not verifie every word against his servants which angry men or contentious disputants say against them The learning or authority or other advantages of the contenders may now bear down the reasons and reputations of more wise and righteous men than they which God will restore and vindicate at last The names of Luther Zuinglius Calvin and many other excellent servants of the Lord are now made odious in the writings and reports of Papists by their impudent lies But God judgeth otherwise with more righteous judgement O what abundance of persons and causes will be justified at the dreadful day of God which the world condemned And how many will be there condemned that were justified by the world O blessed day most desirable to the just most terrible to the wicked and every Hypocrite How many things will be then set strait that now are crooked And how many innocents and saints will then have a resurrection of their murdered names that were buryed by the world in a heap of lies and their enemies never thought of their reviving O look to that final judgement of the Lord and you will take mens censures but as the shaking of a leaf § 30. 4. It is God only that hath power to execute his sentence to our Happinâss or Misery There is one Lawgivâr that is able to save and to destroy Iam. 4. 12. If he say to us Come ye blessed we shall be happy though Devils and men should curse us For those that he blesseth shall be blessed If he condemn to hell the applause of the world will âetch no man out nor give him ease A great name on earth or histories written in their applause or a guilded monument over their bones are a poor relief to damned souls And the barking of the wicked and their scorns on earth are no diminution to the joy or glory of the souls that shine and triumph with Christ. It is our Lord that hath the keys of death and Hell Rev. 1. 18. Please him and you are sure to scape though the Pope and all the wicked of the world should thunder out against you their most direful curses Woe to us if the wicked could execute all their malicious censures Then how many Saints would be in Hell But if it be God that justifie us how inconsiderable a matter is it who they are that condemn us Or what be their pretenses Rom 8. 33. § 31. Direct 5. Remember that the judgement of ungodly men is corrupted and directed by the Devil Direct 5. And to be over-ruled by their censures or too much to fear them is to be ovâr-ruled by the Devil and to be afraid of his censures of us And will you honour him so much Alas it is he that puts those thoughts into the minds of the ungodly and those reproachful words into their mouths To prefer the judgement of a man before Gods is odious enough though you did not prefer the Devils judgement § 32. Direct 6. Consider what a slavery you choose when you thus make your selves the servants of Direct 6. every man whose censures you fear and whose approbation you are ambitious of 1 Cor. 7. 23. Yee are bought with a price be not ye the servants of men that is Do not needlesly enthrall your selves Jam. 4. 4. What a task have men-pleasers They have as many Masters as beholders No wonder if it take them off from the service of God For the friendship of the world is enmity to God and he that will thus Oâââân let âe supââbus contemptuâ diââs ãâã peââlaâs ââ urâa ãâ¦ã malignitate pugnax contentione ventosus mendax vanitaâe non ââres a suspicioso timârâ a pertiâace vinci a deââcaâo fâstââirs Secec dâ Iâaâ 3. c. 8. be a friend of the world is in enemy to God They cannot serve two Masters God and the world You know men will condemn you if you be true to God It therefore you must needs have the favour of men you must take it alone without Gods favour A man pleaser cannot be true to God because he is a servant to the enemies of his service The wind of a mans mouth will drive him about as the chasâ from any duty and to any sin How servile a person is a Man-pleaser How many Masters hath he and how mean ones It perverteth the course of your hearts and lives and turneth all from God to this
Only by Rom 1â 1â Pride cometh contention Prov. 13. 10. He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife Prov. 28. 25. What is their wrath their scorns their railing and endeavouring to vilifie those that have offended them but the foam and vomit of their pride Proud haughty scorner is his name that dealeth in proud wrath Prov. 21. 24. § 68. Sign 17. A proud man is either an open or a secret boaster If he be ashamed to shew his Sign 17. Pride by âpon bââââing then he learneth the skill of setting out himself and making known his excellencies in a closer and more handsome way His own commendations shall not seem the design of his speech but to come in upon the by or before he was aware as if he thought of something else or it shall seem necessary to some other end and a thing that he is unavoidably put upon as against his will Or he will take on him to conceal it but by a transparent veil as some proud women hide their beauties Or he will conjoyn the mention of some of his infirmities but they shall be such as he thinks no matter of disgrace but like proud womens beauty-spots to set out the better part which they are proud of But one way or other either by ostentation or insinuation his work is to make known all that tendeth to his honour and to see that his goodness and wisdom and greatness be not unknown or unobserved And all because he must have mens approbation the hypocrites reward He is as buried if he be unknown Proud and boasters are joyned together Rom. 1. 30. 2 Tim. 3. 2. Theudas the deceiver boasted himself to be some body Acts 5. 36. Simon Magus gave out that himself was some great one and the people all gave heed to him from the least to the greatest saying This man is the great power of God Acts 8. 9 10. Such love the praise of men more than the praise of God John 12. 43. But the humble hath learned another kind of language not affectedly but from the feeling of their hearts to cry out I am vile I am unworthy to be called a child My sins are more than the hairs of my head And he hateth their vanity that by unseasonable or immoderate commendations endeavour to stir him up to pride and so to bring him to be vile indeed by proclaiming him to be excellent Much more doth he abhor to praise himself having learned Prov. 27. 2. Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth a stranger and not thine own lips He praiseth himself by Works and not by Words Prov. 31. 31. § 69. Sign 18. A proud man loveth honourable Names and Titles as the Pharisees to be called Sign 18. Rabbi Matth. 23. And yet they may have so much wit as to pretend that it is but to promote their service for the common good and not that they are so weak to care for empty names or else that they were forced to it by some bodies kindness without their seeking and against their wills § 70. Sign 19. Pride doth tickle the heart of fools with content and pleasure to hear themselves applauded Sign 19. or see themselves admired by the people or to hear that they have got a great reputation in the world or to be flockt after and cryed up and have many followers Herod loveth to hear in commendation of his Oration It is the voice of a God and not of a man It is a feast to the proud Acts 12. 22. to hear that men abroad do magnifie him or see that those about him do reverence and love and honour and idolize him Hence hath the Church been filled with busie Sect-masters even of those that seemed forwardest in Religion which was sadly prophesied of by Paul to the Ephesians Acts 20. 29 30. Two sorts of troublers under the name of Pastors pride hath in all Ages thrust upon the Church Devouring Wolves and dividing Sect-masters For I know this that after my departure shall grievous Wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them See also Rom. 16. 16 17. § 71. Sign 20. Pride maketh men censorious and uncharitable They extenuate other mens vertues Sign 20. and good works and suspect ungroundedly their sincerity A little thing serves to make them think or call a man an hypocrite Very few are honest or sincere or godly or humble or faithful or able or worthy in their eyes even among them that are so indeed or that they have cause to think so A slight conjecture or report seemeth enough to allow them to condemn or defame another They quickly see the Mote in a Brothers eye Their pride and fancy can create a thousand Hereticks or Schismaticks or hypocrites or ungodly ones that never were such but in the Court of their presumption Especially if they take men for their adversaries they can cast them into the most odious shape and make them any thing that the Devil will desire them But the humble are charitable to others as conscious of much infirmity in themselves which makes them need the tenderness of others They judge the best till they know the worst and censure not men until they have both evidence to prove it and a call to meddle with them having learned Matth. 7. 1 2 3 4. Iudge not that ye be not judged § 72. Sign 21. Pride causeth men to bate Reproof The proud are forward in finding faults in Sign 21. others but love not a plain Reprover of themselves Though it be a duty which God himself commandeth Lev. 19. 17. as an expression of love and contrary to hatred yet it will make a proud man to be your enemy Prov. 15. 12. A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him neither will he go unto the wise Prov. 9. 7 8. He that reproveth a scorner getteth himself shame and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot Reprove not a scorner lest be hate thee Rebuke a wise man and be will love thee It galleth their hearts and they take themselves to be injured and they will bear you a grudge for it as if you were their enemy If they valued or honoured you before you have lost them or angred them if you have told them of their faults If they love to hear a Preacher deal plainly with others they hate him when he dealeth so with them Herod will give away Iohns head when he hath first imprisoned him for telling him of his Sin though before he reverenced him and heard him gladly They can easily endure to be evil and do evil but not to hear of it As if a man that had the Leprosie loved the disease and yet hated him that telleth him that he hath it or would cure him of it This pride is the thing that hath made men so unprofitable to each other by
senâlis Quid ânâm absurdâus quam quo mi ãâ¦ã viae ãâ¦ã stat eo plus vâatici ãâ¦ã ere âi ãâ¦ã âat Maâ thou hast provided So is every one that layeth up Riches for himself and is not Rich towards God If If thou be rich to day and be in another world tomorrow had not poverty been as good Distracted soul Dost thou make so great a matter of it whether thou have much or little for so short a time and takest no more care either where thou shalt be or what thou shalt have to all eternity Dost thou say thou wilt cast this care on God I tell thee he will make thee care thy self and care again before he will save thee And why canst thou not cast the care of smaller matters on him when he commandeth thee Is it any great matter whether thou be Rich or poor that art going so fast unto another world where these are things of no signification Tell me if thou were sure that thou must die tomorrow yea or the next month or year wouldst thou not be more indifferent whether thou be Rich or Poor And look more after greater things Then thou wouldst be of the Apostles mind 2 Cor. 4. 18. We look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal Our eye of faith should be so fixed on invisible eternal things that we should scarce have leisure or mind to look at or once regard the things that are visible and temporal A man that is going to execution scarce looks at all the bussle or business that is done in Streets and Shops as he passeth by because these little concern him in his departing case And how little do the wealth and honours of the world concern a soul that is going into another world and knows not but it may be this night Then keep thy wealth or take it with thee if thou canst § 25. Direct 4. Labour to feel thy greatest wants which worldly wealth will not supply Thou Direct 4. hast sinned against God and money will not buy thy pardon Thou hast incurred his displeasure and money will not reconcile him to thee Thou art condemned to everlasting misery by the Law Prov. 11. 4. Riches ãâ¦ã fiâ not in the âay of wâath and money will not pay thy ransom Thou art dead in sin and polluted and captivated by the flesh and money will sooner encrease thy bondage than deliver thee Thy Conscience is ready to tear thy heart for thy willful folly and contempt of grace and money will not bribe it to be quiet Iudas brought back his money and hanged himself when Conscience was but once awaked Money will not enlighten a blinded mind nor soften a hard heart nor humble a proud heart nor justifie a guilty soul. It will not keep off a Feavor or Consumption nor ease the Gowt or Stone or Tooth-ache It will not keep off ghastly death but dye thou must if thou have all the world Look up to God and remember that thou art wholly in his hands and think whether he will love or favour thee for thy wealth Look unto the day of Judgement and think whether money will there bring thee off or the Rich speed better than the poor § 26. Direct 5. Be often with those that are sick and dying and mark what all their Riches will Direct 5. do for them and what esteem they have then of the world and mark how it useth all at last Then you shall see that it forsaketh all men in the hour of their greatest necessity and distress when they Jer. 17. 11. would cry to friends and wealth and honour if they had any hopes If ever you will help me let it be now If ever you will do any thing for me O save me from death and the wrath of God Jam. 5. 1 2 3. But alas such cryes would be all in vain Then O then one drop of mercy one spark of grace the smallest well gâounded hope of Heaven would be worth more than the Empire of Caesar or Alexander Is not this true sinner Dost thou not know it to be true And yet wilt thou cheat and betray thy soul Is not that best now which will be best then And is not that of little value now which will be then so little set by Dost thou not think that men are wiser then than now Wilt thou do so much and pay so dear for that which will do thee no more good and which thou wilt set no more by when thou hast it Doth not all the world cry out at last of the deceitfulness of riches and the vanity of pleasure and prosperity on Earth and the perniciousness of all worldly cares And doth not thy conscience tell thee that when thou comest to dye thou art like to have the same thoughts Chilon in Laârt p. 43. Damnum potius quam âuâpe lucrum eligendum nam id semel tantum dolori esse hâc semper thy self And yet wilt thou not be warned in time Then all the content and pleasure of thy plenty and prosperity will be past And when its past it s nothing And wilt thou venture on everlasting wo and cast away everlasting joy for that which is to day a dream and shadow and to morrow or very shortly will be nothing The poorest then will be equal with thee And will honest poverty or over-loved wealth be sweeter at the last How glad then wouldst thou be to have been without thy wealth so thou mightst have been without the sin and guilt How glad then wouldst thou be to dye the death of the poorest Saint Do you think that Poverty or Riches are liker to make a man loth to dye or are usually more troublesome to the Conscience of a dying man O look to the end and live as you dye and set most by that and seek that now which you know you shall set most by at last when full experience hath made you wiser § 27. Direct 6. Remember that Riches do make it much harder for a man to be saved and the love Direct 6. of this world is the commonest cause of mens damnation This is certainly true for all that Poverty also hath its temptations and for all that the poor are far more âumerous than the rich For even Socrates dixit Opes nobiâitates non solum nihil in se habere honestatis verum omne malum ex eis oboâiâi Laârt in Socrat the poor may be undone by the love of that wealth and plenty which they never get and those may perish for over-loving the world that yet never prospered in the world And if thou believe Christ the point is out of Controversie For he saith Luke 18. 24 25 26 27. How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God For it is easier for a Camel to go
that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up Therefore be ye also ready For in such an hour as ye think not the son of man cometh Mar. 13. 33. Take ye heed watch and pray for ye know not when the time is § 19. Direct 12. Never forget what attendance thou hast while thou art idling or sinning away thy Direct 12. Time How the patience and mercy of God are staying for thee And how Sun and Moon and all the creatures are all the while attending on thee And must God stand by while thou art yet a little longer abusing and offending him Must God stay till thy Cards and Dice and Pride and worldly unnecessary cares will dismiss thee and spare thee for his service Must he wait on the Devil and the world and the flesh to take their leavings and stay till they have done with thee Canst thou marvel if he make thee pay for this If he turn away and leave thee to spend thy time in as much vanity and idleness as thou desirest Must God and all his creatures wait on a careless sinner while he is at his fleshly pleasures Must life and time be continued to him while he is doing nothing that is worthy of his Life and time The long suffering of God did wait on the disobedient in the days of Noah 1 Pet. 3. 20. But how dear did they pay for the contempt of this forbearance § 20. Direct 13. Consider soberly of the ends for which thy life and Time are given thee by God Direct 13. God made not such a creature as man for nothing He never gave thee an hours Time for nothing The life and time of bruits and plants is given them to be serviceable to thee But what is thine for Dost thou think in thy Conscience that any of thy Time is given thee in vain When thou art sluging or idling or playing it away dost thou think in thy Conscience that thou art wisely and honestly answering the ends of thy Creation and Redemption and hourly preservation Dost thou think that God is so unwise or disregardful of thy Time and thee as to give thee more than thou hast need of Thou wilt blame thy Tailor if he cut out more cloath than will make thy garments meet for thee and agreeable to thy use And thou wilt blame thy Shoomaker if he make thy shoos too big for thee And dost thou think that God is so lavish of Time or so unskillful in his works of providence as to cut thee out more Time than the work which he hath cut thee out requireth He that will call thee to a reckoning for all hath certainly given thee none in vain If thou canst find an hour that thou hast âothing to do with and must give no account for let that be the hour of thy pastime But if thou knewest thy need thy danger thy hopes and thy work thou wouldst never dream of having Time to spare For my own part I must tell thee if thou have Time to spare thy case is very much different from mine It is the daily trouble and burden of my mind to see how slowly my work goes on and how hastily my Time and how much I am like to leave undone which I would fain dispatch How great and important businesses are to be done and how short that life is like to be in which they must be done if ever Methinks if every day were as long as ten it were not too long for the work which is every day before me though not incumbent on me as my present duty for God requireth not impossibilities yet exceeding desirable to be done It is the Work that makes the Time a mercy The Time is for the Work If my work were done which the good of the Church and my soul requireth what cause had I to be glad of the ending ââ my Time and to say with Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Remember then that God never gave thee one minute to spend in vain but thy very ease and rest and recreations must be but such and so much as fit thee for thy work and as helps it on and do not hinder it He redeemed and preserveth us that we might serve him in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our lives Luke 1. 74 75. § 21. Direct 14. Remember still that the Time of this short uncertain life is all that ever you shall Direct 14. have for your preparation for your endless life When this is spent whether well or ill you shall have no more God will not try those with another life on earth that have cast away and mispent See mâ Book called Now or Never this There is no returning hither from the dead to mend that which here you did amiss What good you will do must Now be done And what Grace you would get must Now be got And what preparation for Eternity you will ever make must Now be made 2 Cor. 6. 2. Behold now is the accepted time Behold now is the day of salvation Heb. 3. 7 13. Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts But exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardned by the deceitfulness of sin Have you but one life here to live and will you lose that one or any part of it Your Time is already measured out The glass is turned upon you Rev. 10. 5 6. And the Angel lifted up his hand to Heaven and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever that Time should be no longer Therefore whatever thy âand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor devise nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest Eccles. 9. 10. What then remaineth but that the Time being short and the fashion of these things passing away you use the world as if you used it not and redeem this Time for your eternal happiness 1 Cor. 7. 29. § 22. Direct 15. Remember still that sin and Satan will lose no time and therefore it concerneth Direct 15. you to lose none The Devil your adversary goeth about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5. 8. Be sober therefore and vigilant to resist him V. 7 9. If he be busie and you be idle if he be at work in spreading his Nets and laying his snares for you and you be at play and do not mind him it is easie to fore-tell you what will be the issue If your enemies be fighting while you sit still or sleep it is easie to prognosticate who will have the Victory The weeds of corruption are continually growing sin like a constant spring is still running The world is still enticing and the flesh is still inclining to it
nothing to disturb you or carry you into sin § 7. Direct 3. Dwell in the delightful Love of God and in the sweet contemplation of his Love in Christ Direct 3. and âowl over his tender mercies in your thoughts and let your conversation be with the Holy ones in Heaven and your work be Thanksgivings and Praise to God And this will habituate your souls to such a sweetness and mellowness and stability as will resist sinful passion even as heat resisteth cold § 8. Direct 4. Keep your Consciences continually tender and then they will check the first appearance Direct 4. of sinful passions and will smart more with the sin than your passionate natures do with the provocation A scared Conscience and a hardened senseless heart is to every sin as a man that 's fast asleep is to thieves They may come in and do what they will so they do not waken him But a tender Conscience is always awake § 9. Direct 5. Labour after wisdom strength of Reason and a solid judgement for Passion is cherished Direct 5. by folly Children are easily overthrown and leaves are easily shaken with every little wind when men keep their way and rocks and mountains are not shaken Women and children and old and weak and sick people are usually most passionate If a wise man should have a passionate nature he hath that which can do much to controle it When folly is a weathercock at the winds command § 10. Direct 6. See that the will be confirmed and resolute and then it will soon command down Direct 6. passion Men can do much against Passion if they will Nature hath set the will in the Throne of the soul It is the sinful connivance and negligence of the will which is the guilty cause of all the rebellion As the connivance of the commanders is the common cause of mutinies in an Army The will Sâe ãâã of Tranquility of mind either consenteth or is remisâ in its office and in forbidding and repressing the rage of passion When I say you can do it if you will you think this is not true because you are willing and yet passion yieldeth not to your wills command But I mean not that every kind of willingness will serve It is not a sluggish wish that will do it But if the will were resolute without any compliance or connivance or negligence in its proper office no sinful passion could remain For it is no further sin than it is voluntary either by the wills compliance or omission and neglect Therefore let most of your labour be to waken and confirm the will and then it will command down passion § 11. Direct 7. Labour after holy fortitude courage and magnanimity Great minds are above all Direct 7. troubles desires or commotions about little things A poor base low and childish mind is never quiet longer then it is rockt asleep or flattered § 12. Direct 8. Especially see that you want not self-denial and that worldliness and fleshly-mindedness Direct 8. be throughly mortified For sinful passion is the very breath and pulse of a selfish fleshly worldly mind It is not more natural for dogs to fight about a bone than for such to snarl and quarrel or be in some distempered Passion about their selfish carnal-interest Covetousness will not let the mind be quiet It s as natural for a selfish man to be under the power of sinful Passions as for a man to shake that hath an ague or to fear that is melancholy Fleshly men have a Canine appetite and feaverish thirst continually upon them after some flesh-pleasing toy or other § 13. Direct 9. Keep a Court of Iustice in your souls and call your selves daily to account and Direct 9. let no passion scape without such a censure as is due If Reason and Conscience thus exercise and maintain their authority and passion be every day soundly rebuked it will wither like a plant that is cropt as fast as it springeth § 14. Direct 10. Deliberate and foresee the end examine whether passion tend to that which will be Direct 10. approveable when its past Looking to the end doth shame all sinful passions They are blind and moved only by things present They cannot endure the sight of the time to come nor to be examined whether they go or where is their home § 15. Direct 11. Keep a continual apprehension of the danger and odiousness of sinful passions by Direct 11. knowing how full they are of the spawn of many other sins See the evil of them in the effects Mark what passion doth in others and your selves what abundance of evil thoughts and words and deeds do come from sinful passions § 16. Direct 12. Observe the immediate troublesome effects and the disorders of your soul and so Direct 12. turn the fruit of passions against themselves Mark how they discompose you and disturb your Reason and make your minds like muddyed waters and breed a diseased unquietness in you unfitting you for your work and breaking your peace so that you can neither know nor use nor enjoy your selves § 17. Direct 13. Let Death look your passions frequently in the face It hath a mortifying vertue Direct 13. and as it sheweth us the vanity of the creature so it taketh down those passions which creature-interest and deceit have caused It exciteth reason and restoreth it to its dominion and silenceth the rebellion of the senses A man that is to die to morrow and knoweth it would easilier repell to day a temptation to lust or covetousness or drunkenness or revenge than at another time he could have done One look into eternity will powerfully rebuke all carnal passions § 18. Direct 14. Remember still that God is present Will you behave your selves passionately before Direct 14. him When the presence of your Prince would calm you Shall God and his holy Angels see thee like a Bedlam lay by thy reason and mis-behave thy self § 19. Direct 15. Have still some pertinent scripture ready to rebuke thy passions That thou mayst Direct 15. say as Christ to Satan Thus it is written Speak to it in the name and word of God Though the bare words will not charm these evil spirits yet the authority will curb them For this word is quick 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. and powerful a discerner of the throughts Heb. 4. 12. mighty though God to the pulling down of stroââ holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringeth into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. § 20. Direct 16. Set Christ continually before you as your pattern who calleth you to learn of him Direct 16. to be meek and lowly Matth. 11. 29. Who desired not the wealth or glory of the world who loved his own that were in the world but loved not the things of the world who never was lifted up or sinfully
1 Pet. 2. 21 22 23 24. Isa. 53. cast down who never despised or envied man nor never feared man who never was over-merry or over-sad who being reviled reviled not again but was dumb as a lamb before the shearers § 21. Direct 17. Keep as far from all occasions of your passions as other duties will allow you And Direct 17. contrive your affairs and occasions into as great an opposition as may be to the temptation Run not into temptation if you would be delivered from evil Much might be done by a willing prudent man by the very ordering of his affairs God and Satan works by means let the means then be regarded § 22. Direct 18. Have a due care of your bodies that no distemper be cherished in them which causeth Direct 18. the distemper of the soul. Passions have a very great dependance on the temperament of the body And much of the cure of them lieth when it is possible in the bodyes emendation § 23. Direct 19. Turn all your passions into the right chanel and make them all Holy using them for Direct 19. God upon the greatest things This is the true cure The bare restraint of them is but a palliate cure like the easing of pain by a dose of opium Cure the fear of man by the fear of God and the Love of the creature by the Love of God and the cares for the body by caring for the soul and earthly fleshly desires and delights by spiritual desires and delights and worldly sorrow by profitable godly sorrow § 24. Direct 20. Controul the effects and frustrate your passions of what they would have and that Direct 20. will ere long destroy the cause Cross your selves of the things which carnal Love and desire would have Forbear the things which carnal mirth or anger would provoke you to and the fire will go out for want of fewel Of which more in the particulars Tit. 2. Directions against sinful Love of Creatures § 1. LOve is the Master Passion of the soul because it hath the chiefest Object even Goodness which Solus Amor facit hominem bonum vel malum Paul Sâaliger Thes. p. 721. is the object of the will And simple Love is nothing but Complacencie which is nothing but the simple Volition of Good And it is a Passionate Volition or Complacencie which we call the Passion of Love When this is Good and when its sinful I shewed before But yet because the one half of the cure here lieth in the conviction and it is so hard a thing to make any Lover perceive a sinfullness in his Love I shall first help you in the tryal of your Love to shew the sinfullness of it when I have first named the objects of it § 2. Any creature which seemeth Good to us may possibly be the object of sinful Love As Honor Greatness authority praises money houses lands cattle meat drink sleep apparel sports friends relations and life it self As for Lustful Love I shall speak of it anon Helps for discovering of sinful Love § 3. Direct 1. Make Gods interest and his word the standard to judge of all affections by That Direct 1. which is against the Love of God and would abate or hinder it yea which doth not directly or indirectly tend to further it is certainly a sinful Love And so is all that is against his word For the Love of God is our final act upon our ultimate end and therefore all that tends not to it is a sin against our very end and so against our nature and the use of our faculties § 4. Direct 2. Therefore whatever creature is Loved ultimately for it self and not for a higher end Direct 2. even for God his service his honour his relation to it or his excellencie appearing in it is sinfully loved For it is made our God when it is Loved ultimately for it self § 5. Direct 3. Suspect all Love to creatures which is very strong and violent and easily kindled and Direct 3. hardly moderated or quieted Though you might think it is for some spiritual end or excellencie that you Love any person or any thing yet suspect it if it be so easie and strong Because that which is truly and purely spiritual is against corrupted nature and comes from Grace which is but weak we find no such easiness to Love God and scripture and prayer and holiness nor are our affections so violent to these It s well if all the fewel and blowing we can use will keep them alive It s two to one that the flesh and the Devil have put in some of their fewel or gunpouder if it be fierce § 6. Direct 4. Suspect all that Love which selfishness and fleshly-interest have a hand in Is it some Direct 4. bodily pleasure and delight that you love so much Or is it a good book or other help for your soul We are so much apter to exceed and sin in carnal fleshly mindedness than in Loving what is good for our souls that there we should be much more suspicious If it be violent and for the body it s ten to one there is sin in it § 7. Direct 5. Suspect all that Love to creatures which your Reason can give no good account of nor Direct 5. shew you a justifiable cause If you Love one place or person much more than others and know not why but Love them because you cannot choose this is much to be suspected Though God may sometime kindle a secret Love between friends from an unexpressible unity or similitude of minds beyond what reason will undertake to justifie yet this is rare and commonly fansie or folly or carnality is the cause However it is more to be suspected and tryed than Rational Love § 8. Direct 6. Suspect all that fervent Love to any Creature which is hasty before sufficient tryal for Direct 6. commonly both persons and things have the best side outward and seem better at the first appearance than they prove Not but that a moderate Love may be taken up upon the first appearance of any excellency especially spiritual But so as to allow for a possibility of being deceived and finding more faultiness upon a fuller tryal than we at first perceive Have you dwelt in the house with the persons whom you so much admire and have you tryed them in their conversations and seen them tryed by crosses losses injuries adversity prosperity or the offers of preferment or plenty in the world you would little think what lurketh undiscovered in the hearts of many that have excellent parts till tryal manifest it § 9. Direct 7. Try your affections in prayer before God whether they be such as you dare boldly pray Direct 7. God either to increase or continue and bless and whether they be such as Conscience hath no quarrel against If they endure not this tryal be the more suspicious and search more narrowly The name and presence
of God in Prayer doth much dispel the frauds of carnal reasonings Yet persons who by Melancholy are cast into diseased fears and scrupulosities are uncapable of this way of tryal § 10. Direct 8. Consult with wise impartial persons and open your case to them without deceit Direct 8. before affection have gone so far as to blind you or leave you uncapable of help In this case if in any case the judgement of a stander by that 's faithful and impartial is usually to be preferred before your own For we are too near our selves and judgement will be bribed and byassed even in the best and wisest persons § 11. Direct 9. Yet cast not away all because you discover much excess or carnality in your affections Direct 9. For frequently there is a mixture both in the cause of Love and in the Love it self of good and evil And when you have but taken out all that was selfish and carnal and erroneous in the cause the carnal violent Love will cease but not all Love For still there will and must remain the moderate rational and holy Love which is proportioned to the creatures worth and merit and is terminated ultimately on God The separation being made this part must be preserved § 12. Direct 10. Meer Natural appetite in it self is neither morally good or evil But as it is well Direct 10. placed and ordered it is good and as unruled or ill-ruled it is evil Helps to mortifie sinful Love § 13. Direct 1. The greatest of all means to cast out all sinful Love is to keep the soul in the Love Direct 1. of God Jud. 21. wholly taken up in admiring him serving him praising him and rejoycing in him Nââââââ Love maketh manââââ âriendly Love perfectâth it much more Divine Love but waââon Love corrupteth and embaseth it Lord Bacoâ ââââ 10. of which see Chap. 3. Dir. 11. we see that they that are taken up in the Love and Service of one person are not apt to be taken much with any other But it is not only by diversion nor only by prepossessing and employing all our Love that the Love of God doth cure sinful Love but besides these there is also a Majesty in his objective presence which aweth the soul and commandeth all things else to keep their distance And there is an unspeakable splendour and excellency in him which obscureth and annihilateth all things else though they are more neer and clearly seen and known And there is a celestial kind of sweetness in his Love which puts the soul that hath tasted it out of relish with transitory inferiour goâd As he that hath conversed with wise and learned men will no more admire the wit of fools And as he that hath been employed in the Government of a Kingdom or the sublimest studies will be no more in love with Childrens games and paddling in the dirt § 14. Direct 2. The next help is to see that the Creature deceived you not and therefore that you be Direct 2. not rash and hasty but stay while you come neerer it and see it uncloathed of borrowed or affected ãâ¦ã âiâ Ita amandum quaââ odâo fi mu habâuââ plutimos enim esse malos Quam tamen ââââântiam Cicero in Lââio sapiente dâcit pâane indignum Amâcos seqâeâe quos âon âudeaââlâgâsââ ãâ¦ã ornaments and see it not only in the dress in which it appeareth abroad which often covereth great deformities but in its homely habit and night attire Bring it to the light and if it may be also see it when it hath endured the fire which hath taken off the paint and removed the dress Most of your inordinate Love to creatures is by mistake and rashness The Devil tricks them up and paints them that you may fall in love with them or else he sheweth you only the outside of some common good and hideth the emptiness or rottenness within Come nearer therefore and stay longer and prevent your shame and disappointments Is it not a shame to see you dote on that place or office or thing this year which you are weary of before the next Or to see two persons impatiently fond of each other till they are marryed and then to live in strife as aweary of each other How few persons or things have been too violently loved that were but sufficiently first tryed § 15. Direct 3. The next great help is to destroy self-love as carnâl and inordinate For this is the Parent life and root of all other sinful love whatever Why doth the Worldling over-love his wealth and the proud man his greatness and repute and the sensualist his pleasures but because they Direct 3. first over-love that flesh and self which all these are but the provision for Why doth a dividing Sectary over-value and over-love all the party or sect that are of his own opinion but because he first over-valueth and over-loveth himself why do you love those above their worth who think Sââ before Chap. 4 Pa â 7 highly of you and are on your side and use to praise you behind your back or that do you a good turn but because you first over-love your selves Why doth Lustful Love enflame you or the Love of meat and drink and sport and bravery carry you into such a gulf of sin but that first you over-love your fleshly pleasure what ensnareth you in fondness to any person but that you think they love you or are suitable to your carnal ends See therefore that you mortifie the flesh § 16. Direct 4. Still remember how jealous God is of your Love and how much he is wronged when Direct 4. any creature encroacheth upon his right 1. You are his own by Creation and did he give you Love to lay out on others and deny it to himself 2. He daily and hourly maintaineth you he giveth you every breath and bit and mercy that you live upon and will you love the creature with his part of your love 3. How dearly hath he bought your Love in your Redemption 4. He hath adopted you and brought you into the nearest relation to him that you may love him 5. He hath pardoned all your sins and saved you from Hell if you are his own that you may Love him 6. He hath promised you eternal glory with himself that you may Love him 7 His excellency best deserveth your love 8. His creatures have nothing but from him and were purposely sent to bespeak your love for him rather than for themselves And yet after all this shall they encroach upon his part If you say It is not Gods part that you give them but their own I tell you All that Love which you give the creature above its due you take from God But if it be such a Love to the creature as exceedeth not its worth and is intended ultimately for God and maketh you not Love him the less but the more it is not it that I am speaking
not be sollicitous for pins or fool-gawds And the hopes of a Lordship or a Kingdom will cure the desire of little things A man that needeth a Physicion for the Dropsie or Consumption will scarce long for Childrens balls or tops And methinks a man that is going to Heaven or Hell should have somewhat greater than worldly things to long for O what a vain and doting thing is a carnal mind that hath pardon and grace and Christ and Heaven and God to think of and that with speed before it be too late and can forget them all or not regard them and eagerly long for some little inconsiderable trifle as if they said I must needs taste of such a dish before I dye I must needs have such a house or a Child or friend before I go to another world O study what need thy distressed soul hath of a Christ and of peace with God and preparation for Eternity and what need thy darkened mind hath of more knowledge and thy dead and carnal heart of more life and tenderness and Love to God and communion with him Feel these as thou hast cause and the eagerness of thy carnal Desires will be gone § 4. Direct 2. Remember how much your carnal Desires do aggravate the weakness of your spiritual Direct 2. Desires and make the sin more odious and unexcusable Are you so eager for a Husband a Wife a Child for wealth for preferment or such things while you are so cold and indifferent in your Desires after God and grace and glory Your desires after these are not so earnest They make you not so importunate and restless They take not up your thoughts both day and night They set you not so much on contrivances and endeavours You can live as quietly without more grace or assurance of salvation or communion with God as if you were indifferent in the business But you must needs have that which you desire in the world or there is no quiet with you Do you consider what a horrible contempt of God and grace and Heaven is manifested by this Either you are Regenerate or unregenerate If you are Regenerate all your instructions and all your experiences of the worth of spiritual things and the vanity of things temporal do make it a heynous sin in you to be now so eager for those things which you have so often called vanity while you are so cold towards God whose Goodness you have had so great experience of Do you know no better yet the difference between the creature and the Creator Do you yet no better understand your necessities and interest and what it is that you live upon and must trust to for your everlasting blessedness and content If you are unregenerate as all are that Love any thing better than God what a madness is it for one that is condemned in Law to endless torments and shall be quickly there if he be not regenerate and justified by Christ to be thirsting so eagerly for this or that thing or person upon earth when he should presently bestir him with all his might to save his soul from endless misery How incongruous are these Desires to the good and bad § 5. Direct 3. Let every sinful Desire humble you for the worldliness and fleshliness which it discocovereth Direct 3. to be yet unmortified in you and turn your Desires to the mortifying of that flesh and concupiscence which is the cause If you did not yet love the world and the things that are in the world you would not 1 Ioh. 2. 15. be so eager for them If you were not too carnal and did not mind too much the things of the flesh you would not be so earnest for them as you are It should be a grievous thing to your hearts to consider what worldliness and fleshliness this sheweth to be yet there That you should set so much by the creature as to be unable to bear the want of it Is this renouncing the world and flesh The thing you need is not that which you so much desire but a better heart to know the Vanity of the Creature to be dead to the world and to be able to bear the want or loss of any thing in it and a fuller mortification of the flesh mortifying and not satisfying it is your work § 6. Direct 4. Ask your hearts seriously whether God in Christ be enough for them or not If Direct 4. they say no they renounce him and all their hope of Heaven For no man takes God for his God that takes him not for his portion and as enough for him If they say yea then you have enough to stop the mouth of your fleshly desires while your hearts confess that they have enough in God Should that soul that hath a filial interest in God and an inheritance in eternal life be eager for any conveniences and contentments to the flesh If God be not enough for you you will never have enough Turn to him more and know him better if you would have a satisfied mind § 7. Direct 5. Remember that every sinful Desire is a rebelling of your wills against the will of Direct 5. God and that it is his will that must govern and dispose of all and your wills must be conform to his yea that you must take pleasure and rest in the will of God Reason the case with your hearts and say who is it that is the Governour of the World and who is to rule me and dispose of my affairs Is it I or God whose will is it that must lead and whose must follow whose will is better guided Gods or mine either it is his will that I shall have what I desire or not If it be I need not be so eager for I shall have it in his time and way If it be not his will is it fit for me to murmur and strive against him Remember that your discontents and carnal desires are so many accusations brought in against God As if you said Thou hast not dealt well or wisely or mercifully by me I must have it better I will not stand to thy will and government I must have it as I will and have the disposal of my self § 8. Direct 6. Observe how your eager Desires are condemned by your selves in your daily prayers Direct 6. or else they make your prayers themselves condemnable If you pray that the will of God may be done why do your wills rebell against it and your desires contradict your prayers And if you ask no more than your daily bread why thirst you after more But if you pray as you desire Lord let my will be done and my self ish carnal desire be fulfilled for I must needs have this or that then what an abominable Prayer is this Desire as you must Pray § 9. Direct 7. Remember what Covenant you have made with God that you renounced the world Direct 7. and the flesh and took him
that hath given us the higher faculty requireth that we use it as well as the lower And remember that they are not meer co-ordinate faculties but the sensitive faculty is subordinate to the Intellectual And accordingly that which the sensible creature objectively revealeth through the sense unto the Intellect is something to which things sensible are subordinate Therefore if you stop in sensible things and see not the Principle which animateth them the Power which ordereth and ruleth them and the End which they are made for and must be used for you play the Beasts you see nothing but a dead carkass without the soul and nothing but a useless senseless thing You know nothing indeed to any purpose no not the creature it self while you know not the use and meaning of the creature but separate it from its Life and Guide and End § 15. Direct 12. First therefore see that you ever look upon all things sensible as the products of the Direct 12. will of the invisible God depending on him more than the Sunshine doth upon the Sun and never see or taââe a creature separatedly from God Will you know what a plant is and not know that it is the earth that beareth and nourisheth it Will you know what a Fish is and yet be ignorant that he liveth in the water Will you know what a branch or fruit is and yet not know that it groweth on the Tree The nature of things cannot be known without the knowledge of their causes and respective parts It is as no knowledge to know incoherent scraps and parcels To know a hand as no part of the body or an eye or nose without knowing a head or a body without knowing its life or soul is not to know it for you make it another thing It is the difference between a wise man and a fool that Sapiens respicit ad plura insipiâns ad pauciora A wise man looketh comprehensively to things as they are conjunct and takes all together and leaveth out nothing that is useful to his end but a fool seeth one thing and overseeth another which is necessary to the true knowledge or use of that which he seeth see God as the Cause and Life of every thing you see As a carkass is but a ghastly sight without the soul and quickly corrupteth and stinketh when it is separated so the Creature without God is an unlovely sight and quickly corrupteth and becomes a snare or annoyance to you God is the beauty of all that 's beautiful and the strength of all that 's strong and the glory of the Sun and all that is glorious and the wisdom of all that 's wise and the goodness of all that 's good as being the only original total cause of all You play the Brutes when you see the creature and overlook its Maker from whom it is whatsoever it is Will you see the Diall and overlook the Sun Remember it is the use of every Creature to shew you God and therefore it is the use of every sense to promote the knowledge of him § 16. Direct 13. See God as the Conductor orderer and disposer of all the creatures according to their natures as moved necessarily or freely and behold not any of the motions or events of the world without observing the interest and over-ruling hand of God Sense reacheth but to the effects and events but Reason and faith can see the first cause and disposer of all Again I tell you that if you look but on the particles of things by sense and see not God that setteth all together and doth his work by those that never dream of it you see but the several wheels and parcels of a Clock or Watch and know not him that made and keepeth it that setteth on the Poise and winds it up to fit his ends Ioseph could say God sent me hither when his Brethren sold him into Aegypt And David felt his Fathers Rod in Shimei's curse § 17. Direct 14. See God the End of every creature how all things are ordered for his service and Direct 14. be sure you stop not in any creature without referring it to a higher end Else as I have oft told you you will be but like a Child or illiterate person who openeth a Book and admireth the workmanship of the Printer and the order and well forming of the Letters but never mindeth or understandeth the subject sense or end Or like one that looketh on a comely picture and never mindeth either him that made it or him that is represented by it Or like one that gazeth on the Sign at an Inn-door and praiseth the workmanship but knoweth not that it is set there to direct him to entertainment and necessaries within And this folly and sin is the greater because it is the very end of God in all his works of Creation and Providence to reveal himself by them to the intellectual world And must God shew his Power and Wisdom and Goodness so wonderfully in the frame of the creation and in his daily general and particular providence and shall man that daily seeth all this overlook the intended use and end and so make all this glorious work as nothing or as lost to him Sense knoweth no End but its own Delight and the natural felicity of the sensitive creature such as things sensible afford But Reason must take up the work where sense doth end its stage and carry all home to him that is the End of all For OF Him and THROUGH Him and TO Him are all things to whom be Glory for ever Amen Rom. 11. 36. § 18. Direct 15. Besides the General Use and Ultimate End of every creature labour for a clear acquaintance Direct 15. with the particular Use and nearer End of every thing which you have to do with by which it is serviceable to your Ultimate End And suppose still you saw that special use as subserving your highest End as the Title written upon each creature As suppose upon your Bible it were written The Word of the Living God to acquaint me with himself and his will that I may please and glorifie and enjoy him for ever And upon your godly friend suppose you saw this Title written A Servant of God that beareth his Image and appointed to accompany and assist me in his service unto life everlasting Upon your meat suppose you saw this Title written The provisions of my Father sent me as from my Saviours hands not to gratifie my sensuality and serve my inordinate desires but to refresh and strengthen my body for his service in my passage to everlasting life So upon your Clothes your Servants your Goods your Cattel your Houses and every thing you have inscribe thus the proper use and end § 19. Direct 16. Know both the final and the mediate danger of every thing that you have to do Direct 16. with and suppose you still see them written upon every thing you see The final
and Love-songs and Romances and lascivious plays and the talk of wanton lust and dalliance 21. A self-provoking ear that hearkneth after all that others say against them which may kindle hatred or dislike or passion in them 22. A busie medling ear which loveth to hear of other mens faults or matters which concern them not and to hearken to twatlers and carry-tales and make-bates and to have to do with evil reports 23. A timerous cowardly unbelieving ear which trembleth at every threatning of man though in a cause which is Gods and he hath promised to justifie 24. An idle ear which can hearken to idle time-wasting talk and make the sins of twatlers your own All these ways and more you are in danger of sinning by the ear and becoming partakers in the sins of all whose sinful words you hear and of turning into sin the words of God and his servants which are spoken for your good § 3. Direct 3. Know when the hearing of evil and not hearing good is your sin that is 1. When it Direct 3. is not out of any imposed necessity but of your voluntary choice and when you might avoid it upon When hearing Evil is a sin lawful terms without a greater hurt and will not 2. When you hate not the evil which you are necessitated to hear and love not the good which through necessity you cannot hear but your hearts comply with your necessities 3. When you shew not so much disowning and dislike of the evil which you hear as you might do without an inconvenience greater than the benefit but make it your own by sinful silence or compliance 4. When you are presumptuous and fearless of your danger § 4. Direct 4. Know wherein the danger of such sinful hearing lieth As 1. In displeasing God Direct 4. who loveth not to see his children hearkning to those that are abusing him nor to see them playing too The danger of hearing boldly about fire or water nor to touch any stinking or defiling thing but calls to them Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you 2 Cor. 6. 16 17 18. 2. It is dangerous to your fantasie and memory which quickly receiveth hurtful impressions by what you hear If you should hear provoking words even against your wills yet it 's hard to escape the receiving of some hurtful impression by them And if you hear lascivious filthy words against your wills much more if willingly it 's two to one but they leave some thoughts in your minds which may gender unto further sin And it is dangerous to your passions and affections lest they catch fire before you are aware And it is dangerous to your understandings lest they be perverted and seduced and to your wills lest they be turned after evil and turned away from good and alas how quickly is all this done 3. It is dangerous to the speaker lest your voluntary hearing encourage him in his sin and hinder his repentance 4. And it is dishonourable to God and Godliness § 5. Direct 5. Do your best to live in such company where you shall hear that which is good and edifying Direct 5. and to escape that company whose conference is hurtful and corrupt Run not your selves into this When you are called into ill company temptation Be sure you have a call and your call must be discerned 1. By your office or place whether any duty of your office or relation bind you to be there 2. By your ends whether you be there as a Physicion to do them good as Christ went among sinners or to do the work of your proper calling or whether you are there out of a carnal man-pleasing or temporizing humour 3. By the measure of your abilities to attain those ends 4. By the measure of your danger to receive the infection 5. By the quality of your company and the probability of Good or Evil in the event § 6. Direct 6. When you are called into ill company go fortified with defensive and offensive arms as Direct 6. foreseeing what danger or duty you are like to be cast upon Foresee what discourse you are like to hear and accordingly prepare your selves Let your first preparation be to preserve your selves from the hurt and your next preparation to confute the evil and convince the sinful speaker or at least to preserve the endangered hearers if you have ability and opportunity If you are to hear a seducing heretical Teacher there is one kind of preparation to be made If you are to hear a beastly filthy talker there is another kind of preparation to be made If you are to hear a cunning Pharisee or malignant enemy of Godliness reproach or cavil or wrangle against the Scriptures or the ways of God there is another kind of preparation to be made If you are to hear but the senseless scorns or railings and bawlings of ignorant prophane and sensual sots there is another kind of preparation to be made To give you particular Directions for your preparations against every such danger would make my work too tedious But remember how much lieth upon your own preparations or unpreparedness § 7. Direct 7. Be not sinfully wanting in good discourse your selves if you would not be ensuared by Direct 7. bad discourse from others Your good discourse may prevent or divert or shame or disappoint their evil discourse Turn the stream another way And do it wisely that you expose not your selves and your cause to scorn and laughter And do it with such zeal as the cause requireth that you be not born down by their greater zeal in evil And where it is unfit for you to speak if it may be let your countenance or departure signifie your dislike and sorrow § 8. Direct 8. Specially labour to mortifie those sins which the unavoidable discourse of your company Direct 8. doth most tempt you to that where the Devil doth most to hurt you you may there do most in your own defense Doth the talk which you hear tend most to Heresie Seduction or to turn you from the truth Study the more to be established in the truth Read more books for it and hear more that is said by wise and godly men against the error which you are tempted to Is it to prophaneness or dislike of a holy life that your company tempt you Address your selves the more to God and give up your selves to holiness and let your study and practise be such as tendeth to keep your souls in relish with holiness and hatred of sin Is it Pride that their applauding discourse doth tempt you to Study the more the doctrine of Humiliation Is it lust that they provoke you to or is it drunkenness gluttony sinful recreations or excesses Labour the more in the work of mortification and keep the strictest guard where they assault you § 9. Direct 9. Be not
excess in whomsoever 4. And in curiosity of dyet a difference must be allowed The happier healthful man need not be so curious as the sick And the happy Plowman need not be so curious as state and expectation somewhat require the Noble and the Rich to be 5. And for length of time though unnecessary sitting out time at meat be a sin in any yet the happy poor man is not obliged to spend all out so much this way as the Rich may do 6. And it is not all delight in meat or pleasing As Isaac's pleasant meat Gen. 27. 7. the appetite that is a sin But only that which is made mens end and not referred to a higher end even when the Delight it self doth not tend to health nor alâcrity in duty nor is used to that end but to please the flesh and tempt unto excess 7. And it is not necessary that we measure the profitableness of quantity or quality by the present and immediate benefits but by the more remote sometimes so merciful is God that he alloweth us that which is truly for our good and forbiddeth us but that which doth us hurt or at least no good 8. All sin in eating is not Gluttony but only such as are here described § 5. II. The causes of Gluttony are these 1. The chiefest is an inordinate appetite together with a Non potest temperantiam laudare is qu summum bonum ponit in voluptate Est enim temperantia libidinum inimica Cicero Saith Aristotle He is temperate that takes pleasure to deny fleshly pleasure but he is intemperate that is troubled because he cannot have them Ethic. l. 2. c. 3. fleshly mind and will which is set upon Flesh-pleasing as its felicity They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh Rom. 8. 6 7. This Gulosity which Clemens Alexandrinus calleth The Throat-Devil and the Belly-Devil is the first cause § 6. 2. The next cause is The want of strong Reason faith and a spiritual appetite and mind which should call off the Glutton and take him up with higher pleasures even such as are more manly and in which his real Happiness doth consist They that are after the spirit do mind the things of the spirit Rom. 8. 6. Reason alone may do something to call up a man from this felicity of a beast as appeareth by the Philosophers assaults upon the Epicures but faith and love which feast the soul with sweeter delicates must do the cure § 7. 3. Gluttony is much increased by Use when the Appetite is used to be satisfied it will be the more importunate and impetuous whereas a custome of Temperance maketh it easie and makes excess a matter of no delight but burden I remember my self that when I first set upon the use of Cornario's and Lessius dyet as it is called which I did for a time for some special reasons it seemed a little hard for two or three dayes but within a week it became a pleasure and another sort or more was not desirable And I think almost all that use one dish only and a small quantity do find that more is a trouble and not a temptation to them so great a matter is use unless it be with very strong and labouring persons § 8. 4. Idleness and want of diligence in a calling is a great cause of Luxury and Gluttony Though labour cause a healthful appetite yet it cureth a beastly sensual mind An idle person hath leisure to think of his guts what to eat and what to drink and to be longing after this and that whereas a man that is wholly taken up in lawful business especially such as findeth employment for the mind as well as for the body hath no leisure for such thoughts He that is close at his studies or other calling hath somewhat else to think on than his appetite § 9. 5. Another incentive of Gluttony is the Pride of Rich men who to be accounted good House-keepers Socrates dixit eos qui praecocia magno emerent desparere se ad maturitatis tempus perventuros Laârt ia Socrat Cum vocasset ad coenam divites Zantippân modici puderet apparatus Bono inquit esto animo Nam siqui em modesti erunt frugique mensam non aspernabuntur sin autem intemperantes nulla nobis de hisce cura fuârit Idem ibid. Arebat alios vivere ut ederent se autem edere ut vivat Ibid. and to live at such rates as are agreeable to their Grandure do make their houses shops of sin and as bad as Ale-houses making their Tables a snare both to themselves and others by fullness variety deliciousness costliness and curiosity of Fare It is the honour of their Houses that a man may drink excessively in their Cellars when he please and that their Tables have excellent provisions for gluttony and put all that sit at them upon the tryal of their Temperance whether a bait so near them and so studiously fitted can tempt them to break the bounds and measure which God hath set them It is a lamentable thing when such as have the rule of others and influence on the common people shall think their honour lieth upon their sin yea upon such a constant course of sinning and shall think it a dishonour to them to live in sweet and wholsome Temperance and to see that those about them do the like And all this is either because they over-value the esteem and talk of fleshly Epicures and cannot bear the Censure of a Swine or else because they are themselves of the same mind and are such as Glory in their shame Phil. 3. 18 19. § 10. 6. Another incentive is the custome of urging and importuning others to eat still more and more as if it were a necessary act of friendship People are grown so uncharitable and selfish that they suspect one another and think they are not welcome if they be not urged thus to eat And those that invite them think they must do it to avoid the suspicion of such a sordid mind And I deny not but it is fit to urge any to that which it is fit for them to do and if we see that modesty maketh them eat less than is best for them we may perswade them to eat more But now without any due respect to what is best for them men think it a necessary complement to provoke others more and more to eat till they peremptorily refuse it But amongst the familiarest friends there is scarce any that will admonish one another against excess and advise them to stop when they have enough and tell them how easie it is to step beyond our bounds and how much more prone we are to exceed than to come short And so custome and complement is preferred before temperance and honest fidelity You 'll say what will men think of us if we should not perswade them to eat much more if we should desire them to eat no more I
Treason against their King or reviled Magistrates and Superiours and perhaps attempted and done mischief as well as spoken it If you are superiours how unfit are you to judge or govern Is it not lawful for any to appeal from you as the Woman did from Philip drunk to Philip sober You will be apter to abuse your inferiours than well to govern them Also Drunkenness destroyeth civility justice and charity It inflameth the mind with anger and rage It teacheth the tongue to curse and rail and slander It makes you unfaithful and uncapable of keeping any secret and ready to betray your chiefest friend as being master neither of your mind or tongue or actions Drunkenness hath made men commit many thousand murders It hath caused many to murder themselves and their nearest relations many have been drowned by falling into the water or broke their neâks with falling from their Horses or dyed suddenly by the suffocation of nature It draweth men to idleness and taketh them off their lawfull calling It maketh a multitude of thieves by breeding necessity and emboldening to Villany It is a principal cause of lust and filthiness and the great maintainer of whoredomes and taketh away all shame and fear and wit which should restrain men from this or any sin What sin is it that a drunken man may not commit no thanks to him that he forbeareth the greatest wickedness Cities and Kingdoms have been betrayed by Drunkenness Many a drunken Garrison hath let in the enemy There is no confidence to be put in a drunken man nor any mischief that he is secure from 12. Lastly Thou sinnest not alone but temptest others with thee to perdition It is the great crime of Ieroboam that he made Israel to sin The judgement of God determineth those men to death that not only do wickedness but have pleasure in them that do it Rom. 1. 32. And is not this thy case Art thou not Satans instrument to tempt others with thee to waste their Time and neglect their souls and abuse God and his creatures Yea some of you glory in your shame that you have drunk down your companions and carryed it away the honour of a sponge or a tub which can drink up or hold liquor as well as you And what is that man worthy of that would thus transform himself and others into such Monsters of iniquity § 55. IV. Next let us hear the drunkards excuses for even drunkenness will pretend to Reason and Obj. 1. men will not make themselves mad without an argument to justifie it 1. Saith the Tipler I take no mâre than doth me good you allow a man to eat as much as doth him good and why not to drink as much No man is fiââer to judge this than I For I am sure I feel it do me good Answ. What good dost thou mean man Doth it fit thee for holy thoughts or words or deeds Answ. Doth it help thee to live well or fit thee to die well Art thou sure that it tendeth to the health of thy bâdy Thou canst not so say without the imputation of folly or self-conceitedness when all the wise Physicions in the world do hold the contrary No it doth as Gluâtony doth It pleaseth thee in the drinking but it filleth thy body with crudities and flegme and prepareth for many Mortal sicknesses It maketh thy body like grounds after a flood that are covered with stinking slime or like fenny Lands that are drowned in water and bear no fruit or like grounds that have too much rain that are dissolved to dirt but are unfit for use It maketh thee like a leaking ship that must be pumpt and emptied or it will sink If thou have not Vomits or Purges to empty thee thou wilt quickly drown or suffocate thy life As Basil saith A drunkard is like a Ship in a Tempest when all the goods are cast over-boord to disburden it lest it âink Physicions must pump thee or disburden thee or thou wilt be drowned And all will not serve if thou hold on to fill it up again For intemperance maketh most diseases uncurable A Historian speaketh of two Physicions that differed in their Prognosticks about a Patient one forsook him as uncurable the other undertook him as certainly curable but when he came to his remedies he prescribed him so strict abstinence as he would not undergo and so they agreed in the issue when one judged him uncurable because intemperate and the other curable if he would be temperate Thou that feelest the drink do thee good dost little think how the Devil hath a design in it not only to have thy soul but to have it quickly that the mud walls of thy body being washt down may not hold it long And I must tell thee that thou hast cause to value a good Physicion for greater reasons than thy life and art more beholden to him than many others even that he may help to keep thy soul out of Hell a little longer to see if God will give thee repentance that thou mayest escape out of the snare of the Devil who taketh thee captive at his will 2 Tim. 2. 25 26. As Aelian writeth of King Antigonus that having great respect for Zeno the Philosopher he once met him when he was in drink and embracing him urged him to ask of him what he would and bound himself with many Oaths to give it him Zeno thanked him and the request he made to him was that he would go home and Vomit To tell him that he more needed to be disburdened of his drink than âe himself did need his gifts The truth is the good that thou feelest the drink do thee is but the present pleasing of thy appetite and tickling thy fantasie by the exhilerating vapours And so the Glutton and the Whoremonger and every sensual wretch will say that he feeleth it do him good But God bless all sober men from such a good So the Gamester feeleth the sport do him good but perhaps he is quickly made a Beggar by it It is Reason and faith and not thy appetite or present feeling that must tell thee what and how much doth thee good § 36. Obj. 2. But I have heard some Physicions say that it is wholsome to be Drunk sometimes Obj. 2. Answ. None but some Sot that had first drunk away his own understanding I have known Physicions Answ. that have been Drunkards themselves and they have been apt to plead for their own vice Q. May one be Mâdicinally Drunk But they quickly killed themselves and all their skill could not save their lives from the effects of their own Beastiality even as the knowledge and doctrine of a wicked Preacher will not save his soul if he live contrary to his Profession And what if the Vomiting of a Drunkard did him some good with all the harm Are there not easier safer lawfuller means enough to do the same good without the harm He is a Bruit
Laert. in Aristip. a man is such are his speeches such his works and such his life Therefore by vain or sinful words you tell men the vanity and corruption of your minds § 4. 3. Mens works have a great dependance on their words Therefore if their deeds be regardable their words are regardable Deeds are stirred up or caused by words Daily experience telleth us the power of speech A speech hath saved a Kingdom and a speech hath lost a Kingdom Great actions depend on them and greater consequents § 5. 4. If the men that we speak to be regardable words are regardable For words are powerful instruments of their good or hurt God useth them by his Ministers for mens conversion and salvation And Satan useth them by his Ministers for mens subversion and damnation How many thousand souls are hurt every day by the words of others Some deceived some puffed up some hardned and some provoked to sinful passions And how many thousand are every day edified by words either instructed admonished quickned or comforted Paul saith The weapons of our warfare are 2 Cor. 10. 4. mighty through God And Pythagoras could say that Tongues cut deeper than swords because they reach even to the soul Tongue sins and duties therefore must needs be great § 6. 5. Our Tongues are the Instruments of our Creators praise purposely given us to speak good of Psal. 66. 2. ââ 2 135. 3. 148. 13. â9 2. 100. his Name and to declare his works with rejoycing It is no small part of that service which God expects from man which is performed by the Tongue nor a small part of the end of our Creation The use of all our highest faculties parts and graces are expressively by the Tongue Our Wisdom and Knowledge our Love and Holiness are much lost as to the Honour of God and the good of others if not expressed The tongue is the Lanthorn or Casement of the soul by which it looketh out and shineth unto others Therefore the sin or duty of so noble an instrument are not to be made light of by any that regard the honour of our Maker § 7. 6. Our words have a great reflection and operation upon our own hearts As they come from them so they recoil to them as in prayer and conference we daily observe Therefore for our own good or hurt our words are not to be made light of § 8. 7. Gods Law and Iudgement will best teach you what regard you should have to words Christ telleth you that by your words you shall be justified and by your words you shall be condemned Matth. Matth. 12. 32. They who use but few words need not many Laws said Charyllus when he was asked why âyââââgus made so few Laws Pâât Apophâhâg p. 423. 12. 37. And it is words of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost which are the unpardonable sin Jam. 3. 2. If any man offend not in word the same is a perfect man and able to bridle the whole body v. 6. The tongue is a fire a world of iniquity so is the tongue amongst our members that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire of Hell Jam. 1. 26. If any man among you seem to be Religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart this mans Religion is vain 1 Pet. 3. 10. For he that will love life and see good dayes let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile Matth. 12. 36. But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement The third Commandment telleth us that God will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain And Psal. 15. 1 2 3. Speaking the truth in his heart and not backbiting with the tongue is the mark of him that shall abide in Gods Tabernacle and dwell in his holy Hill And the very work of Heaven is said to be the perpetual praising of God Rev. 14. 11. Judge now how God judgeth of your words § 9. 8. And some conjecture may be made by the judgement of all the world Do you not care your selves what men speak of you and to you Do you not care what language your children or servants or neighbours give you Are not words against the King treasonable and capital as well as deeds The wheel of affairs or course of nature is set on fire by words Jam. 3. 6. I may conclude then with Prov. 18. 21. Death and life are in the power of the tongue and Prov. 21. 23. Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from trouble § 10. Direct 2. Understand well and remember the particular duties of the Tongue For the meer Direct 2. restraint of it from evil is not enough And they are these 1. To glorifie God by the magnifying of The Duties of the Tongue his Name To speak of the praises of his Attributes and Works 2. To sing Psalms of Praise to him and delight our souls in the sweet commemoration of his excellencies 3. To give him thanks for the mercies already received and declare to others what he hath done for our souls and bodies for Plato Rectâ diceâe in quatuor scindit 1. Quid dicere oportet 2. Quam multa dicere 3. Ad quos 4. Quando sit dicendum Ea oportet dicere quae sint utilia dicenti auditori Nec nimis multa nec pauciora quam satis est Sâad peccântes seniores dicendum sit verba illi aetati congrua loquamur sin vero ad juniores dicândum sit majore autoritate uâamur in dicendo Laârt in Plat. his Church and for the world 4. To pray to him for what we want and for our brethren for the Church and for the conversion of his and our enemies 5. To appeal to him and swear by his Name when we are called to it lawfully 6. To make our necessary Covenants and Vows to him and to make open profession of our belief subjection and obedience to him before men 7. To preach his Word or declare it in discourse and to teach those that are committed to our care and edifie the ignorant and erroneous as we have opportunity 8. To defend the truth of God by conference or disputation and consute the false doctrine of deceivers 9. To exhort men to their particular duties and to reprove their particular sins and endeavour to do them good as we are able 10. To confess our own sins to God and man as we have occasion 11. To crave the advice and help of others for our souls and enquire after the will of God and the way to salvation 12. To praise that which is good in others and speak good of all men superiours equals and inferiors so far as there is just ground and cause 13. To bear witness to the truth when we are called
most pernicious confusion into the affairs of mankind Iâ Truth be excluded men cannot buy and sell and trade and live together It would It was one of the Roman Lawâ âaâ 12. Qui âaâsâm tâstâmonium dââââse convictus erit e saâo Taâpâiâ dejiciatur be sufficient to destroy their rational converse if they had no tongues But much more to have false tongues Silence openeth not the mind at all Lying openeth it not when it pretendeth to open it and falsly representeth it to be what it is not And therefore though you say that your Lyes do no such hurt yet seeing this is the nature and tendency of Lying as such it is just and merciful in the Righteous God to banish all Lying by the strictest Laws As the whole nature of Serpents is so far at enmity with the nature of man that we hate and kill them though they never did hurt us because it is in their nature to hurt us so God hath justly and mercifully condemned all lying because it 's nature tendeth to the desolation and confusion of the World and if any indulgence were given to it all iniquity and injustice would presently like an inundation overwhelm us all § 25. 7. Lying tendeth directly to perjury it self It is the same God that forbiddeth them both And when once the heart is hardened in the one it is but a step further to the other Cicero could observe that He that is used to lye will easily be perjured A sâared Conscience that tollerateth one will easily be brought to bear the other § 26. 8. There is a partiality in the Lyar that condemneth himself and the sin in another which in himself he justifieth For there is no man that would have another lye to him As Austin saith Hic autem homânes fallunâ falluntur Misericres suât cum mentiendo fallunt quam cum mentientibus credendo falluntur Uâque adeo tamen rationalis natura refugit falsitatem quantum potest devitat errorem ut falli nolint etiam quicunque amant fallere August Enchyrid c. 17. I have known many that would deceive but never any that would be deceived If it be good why should not all others lye to thee If it be bad why wilt thou lye to others Is not thy tongue under the same Law as theirs Dost thou like it in thy Children and in thy Servants If not it should seem much worse to thee in thy self as thou art most concerned in thy own actions § 27. 9. Iudge what lying is by thy own desire and expectation to be believed Wouldst thou not have men believe thee whether thou speak truth or not I know thou wouldst For the Lyar loseth his end if he be known to lye and be not believed And is it a reasonable desire or expectation in thee to have men to believe a Lye If thou wouldst be believed speak that which is to be believed § 28. 10. Lying maketh thee to be always incredible and so to be useless or dangerous to others For he that will lye doth leave men uncertain whether ever he speak truth unless there be better Evidence of it than his credibility As Aristotle saith A Lyar gets this by Lying that no body will believe him when he speaks the truth How shall I know that he speaketh true to day who lyed yesterday unless open Repentance recover his credibility Truth will defend it self and credit him that owneth it at last But falshood is indefensible and will shame its Patrons Saith Petrarch excellently Petrarâh l 1. de vit solit As Truth is immortal so a fiction and lye endureth not long Dissembled matters are quickly opened as the hair that is combed and set with great diligence is ruffled with a little blast of wind and the paint that is laid on the face with a deal of labour is washed off with a little sweat the craftyest lye cannot stand before the truth but is transparent to him that neerly looketh into it every thing that is covered is soon uncovered shadows pass away and the native colour of things remaineth It is a great labour to keep hidden long No man can long live under water he must needs come forth and shew the face which he concealed At the farthest God in the day of judgement will lay open all § 29. Direct 2. If you would avoid lying take heed of guilt Unclean bodies need a cover Direct 2. and are most ashamed to be seen Faultiness causeth Lying and Lying increaseth the fault When Sâepe delinquentibus promptissimum est mentiri Ciââr men have done that which they are afraid or ashamed to make known they think there is a necessity of using their art to keep it secret But wit and craft is no good substitute for honesty such patches make the rent much worse But because the corrupted heart of man will be thus working and flying to deceitful shifts prevent the cause and occasion of your lying Commit not the fault that needs a lye Avoiding it is much better than hiding it if you were sure to keep it never so close As indeed you are not for commonly truth will come to light It is the best way in the World to avoid lying to be innocent and do nothing which doth fear the light Truth and honesty do not blush nor desire to be hid Children and Servants are much addicted to this crime when their folly or wantonness or appetites or slothfulness or carelesness hath made them faulty they presently study a lye to hide it with which is to go to the Devil to intreat him to defend or cover his own works But wise and obedient and careful and diligent and conscionable Children and Servants have need of no such miserable shifts § 30. Direct 3. Fear God more than man if you would not be Lyars The excessive fear of man Direct 3. is a common cause of Lying This maketh Children so apt to lye to escape the rod and most persons Iââe veââtatââ Defeââor esse debeâ quâ cum râcteâââântâ loquâ non metuât nec erubeâââât Ambâ âyarâ are âaliant against God cowardâ against men Montaââa âsâ that are obnoxious to much hurt from others are in danger of Lying to avoid their displeasure But why fear you not God more whose displeasure is unspeakably more terrible Your Parents or Master will be angry and threaten to correct you But God threatneth to damn you and his wrath is a consuming fire No mans displeasure can reach your souls and extend to eternity will you run into Hell to escape punishment on Earth Remember whenever you are tempted to escape any danger by a lye that you run into a thousand fold greater danger and that no hurt that you escape by it can possibly be half so great as the hurt it bringeth It 's as foolish a course as to cure the tooth-ach by cutting off the head § 31. Direct 4. Get down your Pride and overmuch regard
Ephes. 5. 18 19. Be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Spirit speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord giving thanks alwayes for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Iesus Psal 119. 172. Psal. 49 3 3â 28. Christ 1 Pet. 4. 11. If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God Sinful omission of good discourse is the cause of sinful commission of vanity Specially when the heart it self is vain For as a man is so is he apt to speak 1 John 4. 5. They are of the world therefore speak they of the world Isa. 32. 6. For the vile person will speak villany and his heart will work iniquity to practise hypocrisie and to utter error against the Lord. § 34. Direct 5. Walk alwayes with God as in his presence and in the awe of his Laws and judgement Direct 5. that conscience may be kept awake and tender You will be restrained from vain talk if you perceive Jer. 8. 6. Prov. 6. 22. Psal. 7â 12. 105 2. 114. 27. 149. 11. that God is hearing you and if you remember that your tongue is under a Law and that for every idle word men shall give account in the day of judgement Matth. 12. 36 37. and that by your words you shall be justified or condemned If the Law of God were in your hearts Psal. 40. 8. and hidden there Psal. 119. 11. Your heart would be fixed Psal. 57. 7. His word then would be the rejoycing of your heart Psal. 119. 111. and your tongues would then be talking of judgement Psal. 37. 30. A tender conscience will smart more with an idle world than a seared senseless conscience with an Oath or lye or slander For the Fear of God is clean Psal. 19. 9. and by it men depart from evil Proverbs 16. 6. Be thou therefore in the fear of the Lord all the day long Prov. 23. 17. § 34. Direct 6. Avoid idleness if you would avoid idle talk The drones of the Commonwealth Direct 6. that have nothing else to do but visit and complement and prate of other mens matters and that 1 Tim. 5. 13. 1 Pet. 4. 15. can have while to sit whole hours together upon no business are they that are most guilty of idle chat Idle Gentlemen and Beggars and idle gossipping Women and Old men that are void of the fear of God and Children that have no business to do are they that can sit talking away their time to as little purpose as if they had been all the time asleep All idle persons swarm with the Vermine of idle thoughts and words § 36. Direct 7. If you would avoid idle talk avoid idle talkative companions or if you cannot Direct 7. avoid them answer them not but let them talk alone unless it be to reprehend them or turn them to Gaââulo non respondeâe convitium est more profitable talk For when you hear vanity it will incline you to speak vanity And these ungodly persons speak every one vanity to his neighbour as if their tongues were so their own that no Lord might controll them Psal. 12. 1 2 5 6. The Philosopher could say That which you would not hear do not speak and that which you would not speak do not hear Most are like Parrots that will oftest speak the words which they oftest hear How hard is it to avoid idle talk amongst idle talkers One vain word draws on another and there is no end § 37. Direct 8. Avoid vain works if you would avoid vain words For a man that engageth himself Direct 8. in vain employment doth lose all the words as vain which he useth about that employment What a life then do they live that have an unlawful Calling When their very business and Trade is sin the adjuncts the words about it must be sin and so all their lives are a continued sin I had rather therefore be the basest drudge than one of these men Especially Stage-players should think of this And those that spend whole hours yea half dayes if not nights in gaming and vain or sinful sports what abundance of idle words do they use about them Every cast of the Dice and every Card they play hath an idle word so that a sober man would be aweary and ashamed to hear them § 38. Direct 9. Plunge not your selves into excess of worldly business as some do that undertake more Direct 9. without necessity than they can discharge For such necessitate a variety of thoughts and words And all that are spent in serving them in those their vain employments are vain though the work for the matter of it be not vain § 39. Direct 10. Let not a vicious mind make that seem necessary or convenient which is vain Direct 10. Carnal hearts that are acquainted with no better things think nothing vain that pleaseth their sensual inclinations or which their carnal interest doth require A man-pleaser thinketh Civility obligeth him to observe his unnecessary visits and complements and to answer idle talkers and not sit silent by them noâ contradict them And so it must be a point of good manners to break the Law of God And as they think it uncivil not to pledge every drinker in his healths so not to answer every twatler in his talk § 40. Direct 11. Take heed of a proud self-conceited mind that thinks too well of your own discourse Direct 11. Gât but Humility and you will rather chooâe to hear than to speak But when all your fansies and Prov. 3. 7. 26. 12. 1 Cor. 3. 18. impertinânâies seem some excellent matters to you then you are with child till you are delivered of them and then all must reverence and silently attend your pride and folly or be taken as neglecters of you for disregarding it § 41. Direct 12. Avoid Passion and passionate companions For passion is talkative and will not be Direct 12. chââkt but resisteth the restraint of reason and multiplyeth words which are worse than vain Prov. 14. 17 1â 18. Eccles 7 8 9 § 42. Direct 13. Take heed of an inordinate jeasting vain For it habituateth the mind to foolish lâvity and knows no bounds and breeds idle words as thick as putrified flesh breeds Vermine And it is the greater sin because it is ordinary and with a certain pleasure and pride and glorying in vanity Direct 13. Eccles. 2. 2 Eccles. 7. 6. Epheâ 5. 4 and sinful levity and folly § 43 Direct 14. Understand particularly what service you have to do for God or men in every company you come in and so fit your words to the present duty and company For those words Direct 14. are vain and inconvenient in one company that are necessary or convenient in another If you be to Prov. 2â 17. Prov. 1â 1â
genuine 1. There is a zeal and activity meerly Natural which is the effect of an active temperature of body 2. There is an affected zeal which is hypocritical about things that are good when men speak and make an outward stir as if they were truly zealous when it is not so 3. There is a selfish zeal when a proud and selfish person is fervent in any matter that concerneth himself for his own opinions his own honour his own estate or friends or interest or any thing that is his own 4. There is a partial factioâs zeal when errour or pride or worldliness hath engaged men in a party and they think it is their duty or interest at least to side with the Sect or Faction which they have chosen they will be zealous for all the Mat. 23. 15. Opinions and wayes of their espoused Party 5. There is a superstitious Childish carnal zeal for small indifferent inconsiderable things Like that of the Pharisees and all such hypocrites for their Washings and Fastings and other ceremonious Observances 6. There is an envious malicious zeal against those that have the precedency and cross your desires or cloud your honour in the World or that contradict you in your conceits and ways such is that at large described Iam. 3. 7. There is a pievish contentious wrangling zeal that is assaulting every man who is not squared just to your conceits 8. There is a malignant zeal against the Cause and Servants of the Lord which carryeth men to persecute them See that you take not any of these or any such like for holy zeal § 3. If you should so mistake these mischiefs would ensue 1. Sinful zeal doth make men The mischiefs of false zeal doubly sinful As holy zeal is the fervency of our grace so sinful zeal is the intention and fervency of sin 2. It is an honouring of sin and Satan as if sin were a work and Satan a Master worthy to be fervently and diligently followed 3. It is the most effectual violent way of sinning making men do much evil in a little time and making them more mischievous and hurtful to others than other sinners are 4. It blindeth the judgement and maketh men take truth for falshood and good for evil and disableth Reason to do its office 5. It is the violent resister of all Gods means and teacheth men to rage against the truth that should convince them It stops mens ears and turns away their hearts from the Counsel which would do them good 6. It is the most furious and bloody persecutor of the Saints and Church of Jesus Christ It made Paul once exceeding mad against them Act. 26. 10 11. and shut them up in Prison and punish them in the Synagogues See Jam. 3. and câmpel them to blaspheam and persecute them even unto strange Cities and vote for their death Thus concerning zeal he persecuted the Church Phil. 4. 6. 7. It is the turbulent disquieter of all Societies A destroyer of Love a breeder and fomenter of contention and an enemy to order peace and quietness 8. It highly dishonoureth God by presuming to put his name to sin and errour and Rom. 10. 2. Act. 21. 20 22. to entitle him to all the wickedness it doth Such zealous sinners commit their sin as in the Name of God and fight against him ignorantly by his own pretended or abused authority 9. It is an impenitent way of sinning The zealous sinner justifieth his sin and pleadeth reason or Scripture for it and thinketh that he doth well yea that he is serving God when he is murdering his Servants Ioh. 16. 2. 10. It is a multiplying sin and maketh men exceeding desirous to have all others of the sinners mind The zealous sinner doth make as many sin with him as he can Yea if it be but a zeal for small and useless things or about small Controversies or Opinions in Religion 1. It sheweth a mind that 's lâmentably strange to the tenour of the Gospel and the mind of Christ and the practice of the great substantial things 2. It destroyeth Charity and peace and breedeth censuring and abusing others 3. It dishonoureth holy zeal by accident making the prophane think that all zeal is no better than the foolish passion of deceived men 4. And it disableth the persons that have it to do good even when they are zealous for holy truth and duty the people will think it is but of the same nature with their erroneous zeal and so will disregard them § 4. The signs of holy zeal are these 1. It is guided by a right Judgement It is a zeal for The signs of holy zeal Truth and Good and not for falshood and Evil Rom. 10. 2. 2. It is for God and his Church or cause and not only for our selves It consisteth with meekness and self-denyal and patience as to our own concernments and causeth us to prefer the interest of God before our own Numb 12. 3. Exod. 32. 19. Gal. 4. 12. Act. 13. 9 12. 3. It is always more careful of the substance than the circumstances It preferreth great things before small It contendeth not for small Controversies to Mat. 23. 22 23. Tit. 2. 14. the loss or wrong of greater truths It extendeth to every known truth and duty but in due proportion being hottest in the greatest things and coolest in the least It maketh men rather zealous of good works than of their controverted Opinions 4. Holy Zeal is alway charitable It is not cruel 2 Pet. 2. 7 8. ââââk 9. 4. 1 Cor. 5. and bloody nor of a hurting disposition Luk. 9. 55. but is tender and merciful and maketh men burn with a desire to win and save mens souls rather than to hurt their bodies 1 Cor. 13. Zeal against the sin is conjunct with Love and pity to the sinner 2 Cor. 12. 21. 5. Yet it excludeth that foolish pity which cherisheth the sin Rev. 2. 2. 1 King 15. 13. 6. True zeal is tender of the Churches Unity and Peace It is not a dividing tearing zeal It is first pure and then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits Jam. 3. 17. 7. True zeal is impartial and is Gân 38. 24. 2 Sam. 12. 5. as hot against our own sins and our Childrens and other relations sins as against anothers Mat. 7. 4. 8. True zeal respecteth all Gods Commandments and is not hot for one and contemptuous of another It aimeth at perfection and stinteth not our desires to any lower degree It maketh a man desirous to be like to God even Holy as he is Holy It consisteth principally in the fervour of our Love to God when false Zeal consisteth principally in censorious wranglings against other mens actions or opinions It first worketh towards good and then riseth up against the hindering-evil 9. It maketh 2 Cor. 8. 3. Act 18. 25. Exod. 36. 6. a man laborious in holy duty to God and diligent in
these houses yet Beza Grotius and many others acknowledge it to be meant of a family or dâmestick Church according to that of Tertullian ubi tres licet laici ibi Ecclesia yet I say not that such a family Church is of the same species with a particular organized Church of many families But it could not so much as Analogically be called a Church if they might not and must not pray together and praise God together for these therefore it fully concludeth Argument 10. If Rulers must teach their families the word of God then must they pray with them But they must teach them Therefore The Antecedent is fully proved by express Scripture already See also Psalms 78 4. 5. 6. Ministers must teach from house to house therefore Rulers themselves must do it Acts 5. 42. 20. 20. The Consequence is proved good 1. The Apostles prayed when they Preached or Instructed Christians in private Assemblies Acts 20. 36. and other places 2. We have special need of Gods Assistance in reading the Scriptures to know his mind in them and to make them profitable to us therefore we must seek it 3. The Reverence due to so holy a business requireth it 4. We are commanded in all things to make our requests known to God with Prayers Supplications and thanksgiving and that with all manner of prayer in all places without ceasing therefore specially on such occasions as the reading of Scriptures and instructing others And I think that few men that are convinced of the duty of reading Scripture and solemn instructing their families will question the duty of praying for Gods blessing on it when they set upon the work Yea a Christians own Conscience will provoke him reverently to begin all with God in the imploring of his acceptance and aid and blessing Argument 11. If Rulers of families are bound to teach their families to Pray then are they bound to Pray with them But they are bound to teach them to Pray Therefore In the foregoing Argument I speak of teaching in general Here I speak of teaching to Pray in special The Antecedent of the major I prove thus 1. They are bound to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Eph. 6. 44. Therefore to teach them to Pray and Praise God For the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord containeth that 2. They are bound to teach them the fear of the Lord and train them up in the way that they should go and that is doubtless in the way of Prayer and Praising God The Consequence Appeareth here to be sound in that men cannot be well and effectually taught to Pray without Praying with them or in their hearing herefore they that must teach them to Pray must Pray with them It is like Musick which you cannot well teach any man without playing or singing to him seeing teaching must be by practising And in most practical Doctrines it is so in some degree If any question this I appeal to Experience I never knew any man that was well taught by man to pray without practising it before them They that ever knew any such may have the more colour to object but I did not Or if they did yet so rare a thing is not to be made the ordinary way of our Endeavouâs no more than we should forbear teaching men the most curious Artifices by ocular demonstration because some Wits have learnt them by few words or of their own Invention They are cruel to Children and Servants that teach them not to pray by practice and example Argument 12. From 1 Tim. 4. 3 4 5. Meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer Here mark That all our Meat is to be received with thanksgiving not only with a disposition of thankfulness 2. That this is twice repeated here together expresly yea thrice in sense 3. That God created them so to be received 4. That it is made a Condition of the goodness that is the blessing of the Creature to our use 5. That the Creature is said to be sanctified by Gods Word and Prayer and so to be unsanctified to us before 6. That the same thing which is called thanksgiving in the two former verses is called Prayer in the last Else the consequence of the Apostle could not hold when he thus argues It s good if it ââ received with thanksgiving because it is sanctified by Prayer Hence I will draw these two Arguments 1. If families must with thanksgiving receive their meat as from God then is the thanksgiving of families a duty of Gods appointment But the former is true therefore so is the latter The Antecedent is plain All must receive their meat with thanksgiving Therefore families must They eat together therefore they must give thanks together And that Prayer is included in thanksgiving in this Text I manifested before 2. It is the Duty of families to use means that all Gods Creatures may be sanctified to them Prayer is the means to be used that all Gods Creatures may be sanctified to them Therefore it is the duty of families to use prayer Argument 13. From 1 Pet. 3. 7. Likewise ye Husbands dwell with them according to knowledge giving honour to the Wife as to the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered That Prayer which is especially hindered by ignorant and unkind converse is it that is especially meant here in this Text. But it is conjunct Prayer that is especially so hindered Therefore c. I know that secret personal prayer is also hindered by the same causes but not so directly and notably as conjunct prayer is With what hearts can Husband and Wife joyn together as one soul in prayer to God when they abuse and exasperate each other and come hot from chidings and dissentions This seemeth the true meaning of the Text And so the conjunct prayer of Husband and Wife being proved a duty who sometime constitute a family the same reasons will include the rest of the family also Arg. 14. From Col 3. 16 17. to Col. 4. 4. Let the word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord and whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Iesus giving thanks to God and the Father by him Wives submit your selves c. 4. 2. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving Hence I may fetch many arguments for family-prayers 1. It appeareth to be family prayers principally that the Apostle here speaketh of For it is families that he speaks to For in verse 16 17. he speaketh of prayer and thanksgiving and in the next words he speaketh to each family-relation Wives Husbands Children Parents Servants Masters And in the next words continuing his speech to the same
be desperate which is not Nor must we so easily deâist with so near a relation as with a stranger or a neighbour But yet Christs indulgence of not exposing our selves to be torn by Dogs and his Word trodden in the dirt by Swine doth extend to relations as well as others But then you must observe that she that is justly discouraged from sharp reproofs may yet have hope that gentle and humble perswasions may succeed And she that is discouraged from open or frequent or plain reproofs may yet have hope that secret or more seldome or more distant and general admonitions may not be lost And she that is discouraged from one way of doing him good may yet have many other wayes as to set some Minister whom he reverenceth to speak to him to put some suitable Book into his hand c. And she that is discouraged at the present ought not totally to despair but may make some more attempts hereafter either in some sickness or time of mortality or danger or affliction or when possibly time and consideration may have better prepared him to hear And in the mean time she is to continue all Conjugal affection and duty and a convincing winning course of life which may prove the most effectual reproof Quest. 5. What should a Woman do in controverted cases of Religion when her judgement and her Quest. 5. Husbands differ Answ. 1. Some make a controversie of that which with all good Christians or sober persons should be past controversie and some controversies are indeed of real if not insuperable difficulty 2. Some controversies are about important necessary things and some about things of lesser moment 3. Some are about meer Opinion or other mens practice and some about our own practice 1. In all differences of judgement the Wife must exercise such self-suspicion and modesty and submission as may signifie her due sense both of the weakness of her Sex and of her subjection to her Husband 2. In things indifferent she must in practice obey her Husband unless when superiour powers do forbid it and that in cases where their authority is greater 3. She may modestly give her reasons of dissent 4. She must not turn it to an unpeaceable quarrel or matter of disaffection or pretend any differences against her Conjugal duties 5. In dark and difficult cases she should not be peremptory and self-conceited nor importunate but if she have faith that is some more knowledge than he have it to her self in quietness and silence and seek further information lest she err 6. She must speak no untruth nor commit any known sin in obedience to her Husbands judgement 7. When she strongly suspecteth it to be sin she must not do it meerly in obedience to him but seek for better satisfaction For she is sure that he hath no power to force her to sin And therefore hath no more assurance of his power in that point than she hath of the lawfulness of the thing 8. But if she prove to be in the error she will sin on either side till she recover 9. If a Husband be in dangerous error she must wisely but unweariedly seek his reformation by her self or others Cases about Divorce and Separation Quest. 1. IS it lawful for Husband and Wife to be long absent from each other and how long and Quest. 1. in what Cases Answ. It is lawful to be absent either in the case of prayer which Paul mentioneth or in case of the needful affairs of their estates so long as may be no danger to either of them as to mental or corporal incontinency nor to any other hurt which will be greater than the benefits of their absence nor cause them to be guilty of the neglect of any real duty Therefore the cases of several persons do much differ according to the different tempers of their minds and bodies and affairs He that hath a Wife of a chaste contented prudent temper may stay many moneths or years in some cases when all things considered it tendeth to more good than hurt As Lawyers by their Callings are often necessitated to follow their Callings at Terms and Assizes And Merchants may be some years absent in some weighty cases But if you ask Whether the getting of money be a sufficient cause I answer that it is sufficient to those whose families must be so maintained and their Wives are easily continent and so the good of their gain is greater than any loss or danger that cometh by it But when Covetousness puts them upon it needlesly and their Wives cannot bear it or in any case when the hurt that is like to follow is greater than the good it is unlawful Quest. 2. May Husband and Wife be separated by the bare command of Princes If they make a Law Quest. 2. that in certain cases they shall part As suppose it to Ministers Iudges or Soldiers Answ. You must distinguish between the bare Command or Law and the Reasons and Ends of that Command and so between a Lawful Command and an Unlawful In some Cases a Prince may justly command a separation for a time or such as is like to prove for perpetuity and in some cases he may not If a King command a separation without sufficient cause so that you have no Motive but his Authority and the question is Whether formally you are bound to obedience I answer No Because what God hath joyned no man hath power to puâ asunder Nor can either Prince Pope or Prelate dispeâse with your Marriage Covenant In such a case it is as a Private act because God hath given them no authority for it and therefore their Commands or Laws are Nullities ãâã Only if a Prince say He that will be a Judge or a Justice shall part with his Wife it is lawful to leave the Office and so obey the Law But if he say to all Ministers of the Gospel you shall forsake your Wives or your Ministry they should do neither because they are Divinely obliged to both and he hath no power to forbid them or to dispense with that obligation But it may fall out that the Ends of the Command may be so great as to make it Lawful and then it must be obeyed both formally for the authority of the Prince and finally for the reasons of the thing As if the safety of the Commonwealth should require that Married persons be Souldiers and that they go far off yea though there be no likelihood of returning to their families and withal they cannot take their Wives with them without detriment or danger to their service In this case men must obey the Magistrate and are called by God to forsake their Wives as if it were by death Nor is it any violation of their Marriage Covenant because that was intended or meant to suppose the Exception of any such Call of God which cannot be resisted when it will make a separation Quest. 3. May Ministers leave their Wives to go
life and consequently rejected Christ as a Saviour and the Holy Ghost as a sanctifier and all the mercy which he offered you on these terms Quest. 8. If this hath been your case are you now unfeignedly grieved for it Not only because it hath brought you so near to Hell but also because it hath displeased God and deprived you of that Holy and comfortable life which you might all this while have lived and endangered all your hopes of Heaven Do you so far Repent as that your very Heart and Love is changed so that now you had rather have a Holy life on earth and the sight and enjoyment of God in the Heavenly Joyes for ever than to have all the pleasure and prosperity of this world Do you hate your sins and loath your self for them and truly desire to be made Holy Are you firmly Resolved that if God do recover you to health you will live a new and Holy life that you will forsake your fleshly worldly life and all your wilful sins and will set your self to learn the will of God and call upon him and live in the holy Communion of Saints and make it your chief care to please God and to be saved Quest. 9. Are you willing to these ends to Give up your self absolutely now to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as your Reconciled Father your Saviour and your Sanctifier to be sanctified and Iustified and saved from your sins and from the wrath of God and live to God in Love and Holiness And are you willing to bind your self to this by entring into this Covenant with God renouncing the Flesh the World and the Devil Either your Heart is willing and sincere in this Resolution and Covenant or it is not If it be not there is no hope that your sin should be pardoned and your soul be saved upon any other or easier terms And for all that God is merciful and Christ died for sinners it was never his intent to save one impenitent unsanctified soul But if your Heart unfeignedly consent to this I Matth. 28. 19 â0 2 Cor. 6. 10 17 18. have the commission of Christ himself to tell you that God will be your Reconciled God and Father and Christ will be your Saviour and the Holy Spirit will be your Sanctifier and Comforter and your sins are pardoned and your soul shall be saved and you shall dwell in Heaven with God for ever God did consent before you consented He shewed his Consent in purchasing and making and offering you this Covenant Shew your unfeigned Consent now by accepting it and giving up your self unreservedly to him and you have Christs Blood and Spirit and Sacrament to seal it to you The flesh and the world have deceived you but Trust in Christ upon his Covenant terms and he will never deceive you And now alas what pity is it that a soul that is in so miserable a case and is lost for ever if it have not help and speedy help should be deprived of all this Grace and Glory and only for want of Repenting and Consenting What pity is it that a soul that is ready to go into another world where mercy shall never more be offered it should rather go stupidly on to hell than Return to God and Accept his mercy Do but truly Repent and Consent to this Covenant and all the mercies of it are certainly yours God will be your God and Christ and the Spirit and pardon and Heaven and all are yours The Lord open and perswade your heart that you may not be undone and lost for ever for want of accepting the mercy that is offered you And now I know it would be comfortable to you if you could be fully assured that you are forgiven and shall be saved In a matter of such unspeakable moment how jâyful would a well-grounded certainty be to any man that hath the right use of his understanding I tell you therefore from God that there is no cause of your doubting on his part but only on your own There is no doubt to be made whether God be merciful nor whether Christ be a sufficient Saviour and sacrifice for your sins nor whether the Covenant be sure and promise of pardon and salvation to all true penitent believers be true All the doubt is whether your faith and Repentance be sincere or not And for that I can but tell you how you may know it and I shall open the Truth to you that I may neither Deceive you nor causlâsly Discomfort you If this Repentance and Change which you now profess and this Covenant which you have made Matth. 13. 19 20 21 22 23. Rom. 8. 7 8 9. Heb. 12. 14. Joh. 3. 3 5 6. Matth. 18. 3. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Eph. 6. 24. 1 Cor. 16. 22. Luk. 14. 26 27. with God 1. Do come only from a present fear and not from a changed renewed heart 2. And if your Resolutions be such as would not hold you to a holy life if you should recover but would die and fade away and leave you as were before when the fear is past then is it but a forced hypocritical Repentance and will not save you if you so die Though a Minister of Christ should Absolve you of all your sins and seal it by giving you the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ for all this you are lost for ever if you have no more For Absolution and the Sacrament are given you but on supposition that yâur faith and Repentance be sincere And if this Condition fail in you the Action of the holiest Minister in the world will never save you But 1. If your Repentance and Covenant come not only from a present fear but from a Renewed Heart which now Loveth God and Christ and Heaven and Holiness better than all the Honours and Riches and Pleasures of the flesh and world and had rather have them even on Gods terms 2. And if this change be such as if you should recover would hold you to a Holy Life and not die or dwindle into hypocritical formality when the fright is over then I can assure you from the word of God that if you die in this Repentance you shall certainly be saved And though Late Repentance have so many difficulties that it too seldom proveth true and sound and it is an unspeakable madness to cast our salvation on so great a hazard and to defer that till such a day as this which should be the principal work of all our lives and for which the greatest care and diligence is not too much Yet for all that when Conversion is indeed sincere it is alwayes acceptable how late soever And a returning prodigal shall find Luk. 15. 19 20 21 22. Joh. 6. 37. better entertainment with God than he could possibly expect And never will Christ cast out one soul that cometh to him in sincerity of heart The Lord give you such a Heart and all is yours Amen
your duty Rule 32. if you had not Vowed and to do that which would else have been your sin viz. If it be such a thing as is sin or duty but by some lesser accident which the accident of a Vow may preponderate or prevail against As if you swear to give a penny to a wandering beggar or to one that needeth it which by all circumstances would have been an unlawful mis-employing of that which should have been better used yet it seemeth to me your duty to do it when you have vowed it To cast away a cup of drink is a sin if it be causelesly But if you vow to do it it is hard to say that a man should rather be perjured than cast away a cup of drink or a penny or a pin The Jesuites think it lawful to exercise the Obedience of their Novices by bidding them sometime cast a cup of wine into the sink or do some such action which causelesly done were sin And shall not a Vow require it more strongly Suppose it would be your duty to pray or read at such or such an hour of the day as being fittest to your body and occasions yet if you have foolishly vowed against it it seemeth to me to be your duty to put it off till another time For perjury is too great a thing to be yielded to on every such small occasion Dr. Sanderson ubi supra giveth this instance If there be a Law that no Citizen elected Sanders pag. 73. to it shall refuse the office of a Praetor and he that doth refuse it shall be fined Cajus sweareth that he will not bear the office His oath is unlawful and disobedience would have been his sin if he were free yet it seems he is bound to pay his fine and disobey the precept of the Law rather than break his Vow § 55. Rule 33. There are so great a number of sins and duties that are such by accidents and Rule 33. circumstantial alterations and some of these greater and some less that it is a matter of exceeding great difficulty in morality to discern when they are indeed sins and duties and when not which must be by discerning the preponderancy of accidents and therefore it must be exceeding difficult to discern when a Vow shall weigh down any of these accidents and when not § 56. Rule 34. The exceeding difficulty and frequency of such cases maketh it necessary to those that Rule 34. have such entanglements of vows to have a very wise and faithful Counsellor to help them better to resolve their particular cases upon the knowledge of every circumstance than any book or general rules can do or any that are not so perfectly acquainted with the case And O what great ability is necessary in Divines that are employed in such works § 57. Rule 35. Thus also the case must be resolved whether an oath bind that hindereth a greater Rule 35. Good which I might do if I had not taken it In some cases it may bind As if I swear to acquaint none with some excellent medicine which I could not have known my self unless I had so sworn or in case that the breaking of the oath will do more hurt to me or others than the good comes to Sanders Prael 3. sect 12. which I omit or in case all things considered the doing of that good hic nunc is not my duty See Dr. Sanders of the difficulties here also pag. 78 79. § 58. Rule 36. No personal hurt or temporal loss is any sufficient cause for the violation of an oath Rule 36. He that taketh a false oath or breaketh a promissory oath for the saving of his life or a thousand Psal. 15. 4. Sanders pag. 80 81. mens lives or for lands or riches or Crowns and Kingdoms hath no considerable excuse for his perfidiousness and perjury all temporal things being such inconsiderable trifles in comparison of the will and pleasure of God and life everlasting That which will not justifie a Lye will much less justifie perjury § 59. Rule 37. If the matter of an oath prove only a Temptation to sin and not sin it self it must Rule 37. be kept But with the greater vigilancy and resolution As if a man have marryed a froward Wife that will be a Temptation to him all his life he is not disobliged from her § 60. Rule 38. If the matter of an Oath be such as maketh me directly the Tempter of my self or Rule 38. others it is a sin and not to be kept unless some greater good preponderate that evil For though it be no sin to be Tempted yet it is a sin to Tempt Though it be no sin to Tempt by a necessary tryal as a Master may lay money before a suspected servant to try whether he be a thief nor no sin to Tempt accidentally by the performance of a duty as a holy life doth accidentally Tempt a malignant person to hatred and persecution yet it is a sin to be Directly and needlesly a Tempter of our selves or others unto sin and therefore he that Voweth it must not perform it As if you had Vowed to perswade any to unchastity intemperance errour rebellion c. § 61. Rule 39. If the matter of an oath be such as accidentally layeth so strong a temptation before men Rule 39. especially before a multitude as that we may foresee it's exceeding likely to draw them into sin when Of Accidental Evil or Temptation Vowed there is no greater good to preponderate the evil of such a temptation it is a sin to do that thing though in performance of a Vow When actions are good or evil only by accident then Accidents must be put in the ballance against each other and the weightyest must preponderate As in matter of temporal commodity or discommodity it is lawful to do that action which accidentally bringeth a smaller hurt to one man if it bring a greater good to many or which hurteth a private person to the great good of the Common-wealth But it is not lawful to do that which clearly tendeth though but by accident to do more hurt than good As to sell powder and armes when we foresee it will be used against the King and Kingdom or to sell Ratsbane when you foresee it is like to be used to poison men Much more should the salvation of many or one be preferred before our temporal commodity and therefore for a lesser good we may not tempt men to evil though but accidentally As he that liveth where there is but little need of Taverns or Alehouses and the common use of them is for drunkenness it is unlawful for him there to sell Ale or Wine unless he can keep men from being drunk with it As if they take it home with them or be unruly he cannot For thus to be a foreknowing tempter and occasion unnecessarily is to be a Moral cause Two things will warrant a man
how contrary soever among themselves but they all pretended Gods authority and entitled him to their sin and called it his service and censured others as ungodly or less godly that would not do as bad as they St. Iames is put to confute them that thought this wisdom was from above and so did glory in their sin and lye against the truth when their wisdom was from beneath and no better than earthly sensual and deviliish For the wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of mercy c. James 3. 17. § 78. 12. Church divisions are unlike to our Heavenly state and in some regard worse than the Kingdom of the Devil for he would not destroy it by dividing it against it selâ Matth. 12. 26. O what a blessed harmony of united holy souls will there be in the Heavenly Ierusalem where we hope to dwell for ever There will be no discords envyings Sideings or contendings one being of this party and another of that but in the Unity of perfect Love that world of Spirits with joyful Eph. 4. 13 14 16. praise will magnifie their Creator And is a snarling envy or jarring discord the likely way to such an end Is the Church of Christ a Babâl of confusion Should they be divided party against party here that must be one in perfect Love for ever Shall they here be condemning each other as none of the children of the Most High who there must live in sweetest concord If there be shame in Heaven you will be ashamed to meet those in the delights of Glory and see them entertained by the Lord of Love whom you reviled and cast out of the Church or your communion causelesly on earth § 79. Remember now that Schism and making parties and divisions in the Church is not so small a sin as many take it for It is the accounting it a duty and a part of Holiness which is the greatest cause that it prospereth in the world And it will never be reformed till men have right apprehensions of the evil of it Why is it that sober people are so far and free from the sins of swearing drunkenness fornication and lasciviousness but because these sins are under so odious a character as helpeth them easily to perceive the evil of them And till Church-divisions be rightly apprehended as whoredom and swearing and drunkenness are they will never be well cured Imprint therefore on your minds the true Character of them which I have here laid down and look abroad upon the effects and then you will fear this confounding sin as much as a consuming Plague § 80. The two great causes that keep Divisions from being hated as they ought are 1. A charitable Two Hinderances of our true apprehensions of Schisme respect to the good that is in Church-dividers carrying us to overlook the evil of the sin judging of it by the Persons that commit it and thinking that nothing should seem odious that is theirs because many of them are in other respects of blameless pious conversations And indeed every Christian must so prudently reprehend the mistakes and faults of pious men as not to asperse the piety which is conjunct and therefore not to make their persons odious but to give the person all his just commendations for his piety while we oppose and aggravate his sin Because Christ himself so distinguisheth between the good and the evil and the person and the sin and loveth his own for their good while he hateth their evil and so must we And because it is the grand design of Satan by the faults of the godly to make their Persons hated first and their Piety next and so to banish Religion from the world And every friend of Christ must shew himself an enemy to this design of Satan But yet the sin must be disowned and opposed while the person is Loved according to his worth Christ will give no thanks for such Love to his children as cherisheth their Church-destroying sins There is no greater enemy to sin than Christ though there be no greater friend to souls Godliness was never intended to be a fortress for iniquity or a battery for the Devil to mount his Cannons on against the Church nor for a blind to cover the Powder-mines of Hell Satan never opposeth Truth and Godliness and Unity so dangerously as when he can make Religious men his instruments Remember therefore that all men are vanity and Gods interest and honour must not be sacrificed to theirs nor the most Holy be abused in reverence to the holiest of sinful men § 81. The other great hinderance of our due apprehension of the sinfulness of divisions is our too deep sense of our sufferings by superiours and our looking so much at the evil of persecutions as not to look at the danger of the contrary extream Thus under the Papacy the people of Germany at Luthers Reformation were so deeply sensible of the Papal cruelties that they thought by how many wayes soever men fled from such bloody persecutors they were very excusable And while men were all taken up in decrying the Roman Idolatry corruptions and cruelties they never feared the danger of their own divisions till they smarted by them And this was once the case of many good people here in England who so much hated the wickedness of the Prophane and the Haters of Godliness that they had no apprehensions of the evil of Divisions among themselves And because many prophanâ ones were wont to call sober godly people Schismaticks and Factious therefore the very names begân with many to grow into credit as if they had been of good signification and there had been really no such sin as schism and factiân to be feared Till God permitted this sin to break in upon us with such fury as had almost turned us into a Babel and a desolation And I am perswaded God did purposely permit it to teach his people more sensibly to know the evil of that sin by the efââcts which they would not know by other means And to let them see when they had reviled and ruined each other that there is that in themselves which they should be more afraid of than of any enemy without § 82. Direct 5. Own nât any cause which is an enemy to Love And pretend neither Truth nor Holiness Direct 5. nor Unity nor Order nor any thing against it The Spirit of Love is that one Vital Spirit which ãâ¦ã 9 ãâ¦ã 4. ãâ¦ã 2. ãâ¦ã 19. ââ 1 ãâ¦ã 1 ââââ 5 ãâ¦ã 2 ââââ 1. 7. Heb. 10. 24. ãâ¦ã 5. 6 13. doth animate all the Saints The increase âf Love is the powerful Balââme that healeth all the Churches wounds Though loveless lifeless Physicions think that all these wounds must be healed by the Sword And indeed the Weapon-salve is now become the proper cure It is the Sword that must be medicated that the wounds made by it may be healed The decayes of
men were before when once they converse together and grow acquainted they are more reconciled The reason is partly because they find less evil and more good in one another than before they did believe to be in them and partly because uncharitableness and malice being an ugly monster is bolder at a distance but ashamed of it self before your face And therefore the pens of the Champions of malice are usually more bitter than their tongues when they speak to you face to face Of all the furious adversaries that have raged against me in the later part of my life I remember not one enemy that I have or ever had that was ever familiar or acquainted with me And I have my self heard ill reports of many which by personal acquaintance I have found to be all false Keep together and either silence your differences or gently debate them yea rather chide it out than withdraw asunder Familiarity feedeth Love and Unity § 106. Direct 23. When ever you look at any corruption in the Church look also at the contrary exârâam Direct 23. and see and avoid the danger of one as well as of the other Be sure every error and Church-corruption hath its extream And if you do not see it and the danger of it you are the liker to run into it Look well on both sides if you would be safe § 107. Direct 24. Worship God your selves in the purest manner and under the most edifying Ministry Direct 24. that lawfully you can attain but be not too forward to condemn others that reach not to your measure or attain not so much happiness And deny not personal communion sometimes with Churches that are more blemished and fit for Communion And when you cannot joyn locally with them let them have the communion of your Hearts in faith and charity and prayer for each other I fear not here openly to tell the world that if I were turned loose to my own liberty I would ordinarily worship God in that manner that I thought most pure and agreeable to his Will and Word but I would sometimes go to the Churches of other Christians that were fit for Christian communion if there were such about me Sometime to the Independants sometime to the moderate Anabaptists sometime to such as had a Liturgie as faulty as that of the Greek or the Ethiopian Churches to shew by my practice what communion my heart hath with them all § 108. Direct 25. Take heed that you interess not Religion or the Church in Civil differences This Direct 25. error hath divided and ruined many famous Churches and most injuriously made the holy truth and worship of God to be a reproach and infamy among selfish partial carnal men When Princes and Since the writing of this I have published a Book called The Curt of Church-Divistoâs and a Defence of it which handle these things more fully States fall out among themselves they will needs draw the Ministers to their sides and then one side will certainly condemn them and call them all that self-interest and malice can invent And commonly when the controversie is only in point of Law or Politicks it is Religion that bears the blame of all and the differences of Lawyers and Statesmen must be charged upon Divines that the Devil may be able to make them useless as to the good of all that party that is against them and may make Religion it self be called Rebellion And O that God would maintain the Peace of Kingdoms and Kings and Subjects were all Lovers of peace the rather because the differences in States do cause so commonly divisions in the Church It would make a man wonder and a lover of History to lament to observe in the differences between the Pope and Henry the fourth and other Emperours how the Historians are divided one half commending him that the other half condemneth and how the Bishops and Churches were one half for the Pope and the other for the Emperour and one half still accounted Rebels or Schismaticks by the other though they were all of one Religion It is more to ruine the Church than Kingdoms that Satan laboureth so much to kindle Warrs and breed Civil differences in the world And therefore let him that loveth the Churches Peace be an obedient Subject and an enemy of Sedition and a Lover and defender of the Civil Peace and Government in the place that God hath set him in For this is pleasing unto God § 109. I know there are some that with too bloody and calamitous success have in most ages given other kind of Directions for the extirpation of Error Heresie and Schism than I have here given But God hath still caused the most wise and holy and charitable and experienced Christians Bââa Hist. Ecâlâsââib 1. cap. 26. Didicerat enim Rex Edilberth a Doctoribut auctoribusque suae salutis servitium Christi voluntarium non coactitium debeâe esse to bear their testimony against them And he hath ever caused their way of cruelty to turn to their own shame And though like Treasons and Robberies it seem for the time present to serve their turn it is bitterness in the end and leaveth a stinking memorial of their names and actions to posterity And the Treatises of Reconcilers such as our Halls Ushers Bergius Burroughs and many other by the delectable savour of Unity and Charity are sweet and acceptable to prudent and peaââable persons though usually unsuccessful with the violent that needed them Besides the fore-cited witness of Sr. Francis Bacon c. I will here add one of the most antient and one or two of this age whom the contrary-minded do mention with the greatest honour Iustin Martyr Dial. cum Tryph. doth at large give his judgement that a Judaizing Christian who thinketh it best to be circumciââd and keep the Law of Moses be suffered in his opinion and practice and admitted to the communion and priviledges of the Church and loved as one that may be saved in that way so be it he do not make it his business to perswade others to his way and teach it as necessary to salvation or communion For such he doth condemn King Iames by the Pen of Is. Causabone telleth Cardinal du Perron that His Majesty thinketh that for Concord there is no nearer way than diligently to separate things necessary from the unnecessary and to bestow all our labour that we may agree in the things necessary and that in things unnecessary there may be place given for Christian Liberty The King calleth these things simply necessary which either the Word of God expresly commandeth to be believed or done or which the antient Church did gather from the Word of God by necessary consequence Grotius Annot. in Matth. 13. 41. is so full and large upon it that I must intreat the Reader to peruse his own words where by arguments and authority he-vehemently rebuketh the Spirit of fury cruelty and uncharitableness which
place 2. And great haste allowed me not Time to transpose them If you say that in such a work I should take time I answer You are no competent judges unless you knew me and the rest of my work and the likelyhood that my time will be but short They that had rather take my Writings with such defects which are the effects of haste than have none of them may use them and the rest are free to despise them and neglect them Two or three Questions about the Scripture I would have put nearer the beginning if I could have time But seeing I cannot it 's easie for you to transpose them in the reading III. The resolution of these Cases so much avoideth all the extreams that I look they should be displeasing to all that vast number of Christians who involve themselves in the opinions and interests of their several sects as such and that hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons But there will be still a certain number of truly Catholick impartial Readers whose favourable acceptance I confidently prognosticate and who being out of the dust and noise and passions of contending sides and parties and their interests will see a self-evidencing Light in those solutions which are put off here briefly without the pomp of formal argumentation or perswading Oratory The eternal Light reveal himself to us by Christ who is the Light of the World and by the Illumination of the spirit and word of Light that we may walk in the Light as the Children of Light till we come to the World of Glorious Everlasting Light And what other defect soever our knowledge have if any man hath knowledge enough to kindle in him the Love of God the same is known of Him and therefore is Beloved by Him and shall be Blessed with and in Him for ever 1 Cor. 8. 1 2 3. CASES OF CONSCIENCE ABOUT Matters Ecclesiastical Quest. 1. How to know which is the true Church among all pretenders that a Christians Conscience may be quiet in his Relation and Communion I HAVE written so much of this already in four Books viz. one called The Safe Religion another called A Key for Catholicks another called The Visibility of the Church another called A true Catholick and the Catholick Church described that I shall say now but a little and yet enough to an impartial considerate Reader The terms must first be opened 1. By a Church is meant a Society of Christians as such And it is sometimes taken Narrowly for the Body or Members as distinct from the Head as the word Kingdom is taken for the Subjects only as distinct from the King And sometimes more fully and properly for the whole Political Society as constituted of its Head and Body or the Pars Imperans pars Subdita 2. The word Church thus taken signifieth sometime the Universal Church called Catholick which consisteth of Christ and his Body Politick or Mystical And sometime some Part only of the Universal Church And so it is taken either for a subordinate Political Part or for a Community or a Part considered as Consociate but not Political or as many particular Political Churches Agreeing and holding Concord and Communion without any Comon Head save the Universal Head 3. Such Political Churches are either of Divine Constitution and Policy or only of Humane 2. By Christians I mean such as Profess the Essentials of the Christian Religion For we speak of the Church as Visible 3. By True may be meant either Reality of Essence opposite to that which is not really a 1 Cor. 11. 3. 1 Cor. 12 12. Eph. 1. 22 23. 1 Cor. 6 15. 1 Cor. 12. 27. Eph. 4. 4 5. Matth. 28. 19 20. Church in this univocal acception or else Sound and Orthodox in the Integrals as opposite to erroneous and defiled with much enormity And now I thus decide that question Prop. 1. The True Catholick Church consisteth of Christ the Heâd and all Christians as his Body or the Members As the Kingdom consisteth of the King and his Subjects Prop. 2. As all the sincere Heart-Covenanters make up the Church as regenerate and mystical or invisible so that all that are Christened that is Baptized and profess Consent to all the Essentials of the Baptismal Covenant not having Apostatized nor being by lawful Power Excommunicated are Christians and make up the Church as Visible Prop. 3. Therefore there is but One Universal Church because it containeth all Christians and so Ephes. 4 4 5. 1 Cor. 1â 12. Mark 16 16. Rom 14. 1 6 7. 15. 1 3 4 leaveth out none to be the matter of another Prop. 4. It is not Ignorance or Error about the meer Integrals of Christianity which maketh them no Christians who hold the Essentials that is the Baptismal Covenant Prop. 5. That the Baptismal Covenant might be rightly understood and professed the Churches have still used the Creed as the explication of the Covenant in point of faith and taken it for 1 Cor. 15 1 2 c. the Symbol of the Christian Belief And no further profession of faith was or is to be required as Matth. 28. 19 20. necessary to the Being of Christianity Prop. 6. If proud Usurpers or Censurers take on them to excommunicate or unchristian or unchurch others without authority and cause this maketh them not to be no Christians or no Churches Rom. 14. 3 4. John that are so used Prop. 7. Therefore to know which is the true Catholick or Universal Church is but to know who Rom. 6 1 2 c. are Baptized-Professing-Christians Prop. 8. The Reformed Churches the Lutherans the Abassines the Copties the Syrians the Armenians Ephes. 4. 4. 5. the Jacobites the Georgians the Maronites the Greeks the Moscovites and the Romanists do all receive Baptism in all its visible Essentials and profess all the Essentials of the Christian Religion though not with the same Integrity Prop. 9. He that denyeth any one essential part in it self is so a Heretick as to be no Christian nor true member of the Church if it be justly proved or notorious that is none ought to take him Tit. 3. ââ 3 John for a Visible Christian who know the proof of his denying that essential part of Christianity or to whom it is notorious Prop. 10. He that holdeth the Essentials primarily and with them holdeth some error which by James 3 â Phi. 3. 15 16. Heb. 5. 1 2. unseen consequence subverteth some Essential point but holdeth the Essentials so much faster that he would forsake his error if he saw the inconsistence is a Christian notwithstanding And if the name Heretick be applicable to him it is but in such a sense as is consistent with Christianity Prop. 11. He that is judged a Heretick and no Christian justly by others must be lawfully T it 3. 10. Matth. 18. 15. cited and heard plead his Cause and be judged upon sufficient proof and not
expectat cuique ad resipiscendum non ista sufficiunt infatuatum se juxta Domini sententiam nullo unquam sale saliri posse demonstrat I will not English it lest those take encouragement by it who are bent to the other extream 7. Yet it will be a great offence if any censorious self-conceited person shall on this pretence set up his judgement of mens parts to the contempt of Authority or to the vilifying of worthy men and especially if he thereby make a stir and Schism in the Church instead of seeking his own edification 8. Yea if a Minister be weaker yea and colder and worse than another yet if his Ministry be competently fitted to edification he that cannot leave him and go to a better without apparent hurt to the Church and the souls of others by division or exasperating Rulers or breaking family â order or violating Relation duties must take himself to be at present denyed the greater helps that others have and may trust God in the use of those weaker means to accept and bless him because he is in the station where he hath set him This case therefore must be Resolved by a prudent comparing of the Good or Hurt which is like to follow and of the accidents or circumstances whence that must be discerned Quest. 10. What if the Magistrate command the people to receive one Pastor and the Bishops or Ordainers another which of them must be obeyed 1. THe Magistrate and not the Bishop or people unless under him hath the power and disposal See more of this after of the Circumstantials or Accidents of the Church I mean of the Temple the Pulpit the Tythes c. And he is to determine what Ministers are fit either for his own Countenance or Toleration and what not In these therefore he is to be obeyed before the Bishops or others 2. If a Pope or Prelate of a foreign Church or any that hath no lawful Jurisdiction or Government over the Church that wanteth a Pastor shall command them to receive one their command is null and to be contemned 3. Neither Magistrate nor Bishop as is said may deny the Church or people any Liberty which God in Nature or Christ in the Gospel hath setled on them as to the Reception of their proper Pastors 4. No Bishop but only the Magistrate can compell by the Sword the obedience of his commands 5. If one of them command the reception of a worthy person and the other of an intolerable one the former must prevail because of obedience to Christ and care of our souls 6. But if the persons be equal or both fit the Magistrate is to be obeyed if he be peremptory in his commands and decide the case in order to the peace or protection of the Church both because it is a lawful thing and because else he will permit no other 7. And the rather because the Magistrates Power is more past controversie than Whether any Bishop Pastor or Synod can any further than by counsel and perswasion oblige the People to receive a Pastor Quest. 11. Whether an uninterrupted Succession either of right Ordination or of Conveyance by Iurisdiction be necessary to the Being of the Ministry or of a true Church THe Papists have hitherto insisted on the necessity of successive right Ordination But Voâtius de desperata Causa Papatus hath in this so handled them and confuted Iansenius as hath indeed shewed the desperateness of that Cause And they perceive that the Papacy it self cannot be upheld by that way and therefore Iohnson alias Terret in his Rejoynder against me now concludeth that it is not for want of a successive Consecration that they condemn the Church of England but for want of true Iurisdiction because other Bishops had title to the places whilest they were put in And that successive Consecration which we take to include Ordination is not necessary to the being of Ministry or Church And it is most certain to any man acquainted in Church History that their Popes have had a succession of neither Their way of Election hath been frequently changed sometimes being by the people sometimes by the Clergy sometimes by the Emperours and lastly by the Cardinals alone Ordination they have sometime wanted and a Lay-man been chosen And oft the Ordination hath been by such as had no power according to their own Laws And frequent intercisions have been made sometime by many years vacancy when they had no Church and so there was none on Earth if the Pope be the Constitutive Head for want of a Pope sometime by long Schisms when of two or three Popes no one could be known to have more right than the other nor did they otherwise carry it than by power at last Sometimes by the utter incapacity of the possessors some being Lay-men some Hereticks and Infidels so judged by Councils at Rome Constance Basil and Eugenius the fourth continued after he was so censured and condemned and deposed by the General Council I have proved all this at large elsewhere And he that will not be cheated with a bare sound of words but will ask them whether by a succession of Iurisdiction they mean Efficient Conveying Iurisdiction in the Causers of his Call or Received Iurisdiction in the Office received will find that they do but hide their desperate Cause in Confusion and an insignificant noise For they maintain that none on earth have an Efficient Iurisdiction in making Popes For the former Pope doth not make his successor And both Electors Ordainers and Consecrators yea and the people Receiving they hold to be subjects of the Pope when made and therefore make him not by Jurisdiction giving him the power Therefore Iohnson tells me that Christ only and not man doth give the power and they must needs hold that men have nothing to do but design the person Recipient by Election and Reception and to Invest him ceremonially in the possession So that no Efficient Iurisdiction is here used at all by man And for Received Iurisdiction 1. No one questioneth but when that Office is received which is Essentially Governing he that receiveth it receiveth a Governing power or else he did not receive the Office If the question be only whether the Office of a Bishop be an Office of Iurisdiction or contain essentially a Governing power they make no question of this themselves So that the noise of Successive Jurisdiction is vanished into nothing 2. And with them that deny any Jurisdiction to belong to Presbyters this will be nothing as to their case who have nothing but Orders to receive They have nothing of sense left them to say but this That though the Efficient Iurisdiction which maketh Popes be only in Christ because no men are their Superiours yet Bishops and Presbyters who have Superiours cannot receive their power but by an Efficient Power of man which must come down by uninterrupted succession Answ. 1. And so if ever the Papal Office have an
of a distinct order the Reader must not expect that I here determine For 1. The Power is by Christ given to them as is before proved and in Tit. 1. 5. 2. None else are ordinarily able to discern aright the Abilities of a man for the sacred Ministry The people may discern a profitable moving Preacher but whether he understand the Scripture or the substance of Religion or be âound in the faith and not Heretical and delude them not with a form of well uttered words they are not ordinarily able to judge 3. None else are fit to attend this work but Pastors who are separated to the sacred office It requireth Act. 13. 2. Rom. 1. 1. 1 Tim. 4. 15. more time to get fitness for it and then to perform it faithfully than either Magistrates or people can ordinarily bestow 4. The power is no where given by Christ to Magistrates or people 5. It hath been exercised by Pastors or Church-officers only both in and ever since the Apostles dayes in all the Chuâches of the World And we have no reason to think that the Church hath been gathered from the beginââââ till now by so great an errour as a wrong conveyance of the Ministerial power III. The word Iurisdiction as applyed to the Church officers is no Scripture Word and in the common sence soundeth too bigg as signifying more power than the servants of all must claim For Isa. 33. 2â Jam. 4. 1â there is One Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy But in a moderate sence it may be tolerated As Jurisdiction signifieth in particular 1. Legislation 2. Or Judicial Process or Sentence 3. Or the Execution of such a sentence strictly taken so Ordination is no part of Jurisdiction But as Iurisdiction signifieth the same with the power of Government Ius Regendi in general so Ordination is an Act of Jurisdiction As the placing or choosing of Inferiour officers may belong to the Steward of a Family or as the Calling or authorizing of Physicions belongeth to the Colledge of Physicions and the authorizing of Lawyers to the Judges or Society or the authorizing of Doctors in Philosophy to the Society of Philosophers or to particular rulers Where note that in the three last instances the Learning or Fitness of the said Persons or Societies is but their Dispositio vel aptitudo ad potestatem exercendam but the actual Power of conveying authority to others or designing the Recipient person is received from the supream power of the Land and so is properly an Act of Authority here called Jurisdiction So that the common distinguishing of Ordination from Iurisdiction or Government as if they were totâ specie different is unsound IV. Imposition of hands was a sign like the Kiss of peace and the anointing of persons and like our kneeling in Prayer c. which having first somewhat in their nature to invite men to the use was become a common significant sign of a superiours benediction of an inferiour in those times and Countreys And so was here applyed ordinarily for its antecedent significancy and aptitude to this use and was not purposely Instituted nor had its significancy newly given it by Institution And so was not like a Sacrament necessarily and perpetually affixed to Ordination Therefore we must conclude 1. That Imposition of hands in Ordination is a decent apt significant sign not to be scrupled by any nor to be omitted without necessity as being of Scripture ancient and common use 2. But yet that it is not essential to Ordination which may be valid by any fit designation and separation of the person And therefore if it be omitted it nullifieth not the action And if the Ordainers did it by Letters to a man a thousand miles off it would be valid And some persons of old were ordained when they were absent V. I add as to the need of Ordination 1. That without this Key the office and Church doors would be cast open and every Heretick or Self-conceited person intrude 2. It is a sign of a proud unworthy person that will judge himself fit for so great a work and Act. 13. 2. Heb. 5. 4. 10. intrude upon such a conceit when he may have the Judgement of the Pastors and avoideth it 3. Those that so do should no more be taken for Ministers by the people than any should go for Christians that are not Baptized or for marryed persons whose marriage is not solemnized Quest. 20. Is Ordination necessary to make a man a Pastor of a particular Church as such And is he to be made a General Minister and a particular-Church-Elder or Pastor at once and by one Ordination I Have proved that a man may be made a Minister in general yea and sent to exercise it in Converting Infidels and baptizing them before ever he is the Pastor of any particular Church To which I add that in this General Ministry he is a Pastor in the universal Church as a Licensed Physicion that hath no Hospital or Charge is a Physicion in the Kingdom And 1. As Baptism is as such our Enterance into the universal Church and not into a particular so is Ordination to a Minister an enterance only on the Ministry as such 2. Yet a man may at once be made a Minister in general and the Pastor of this or that Church in particular And in Kingdoms wholly inchurched and Christian it is usually fittest so to do Lest many being ordained sine titulo idleness and poverty of supernumeraries should corrupt and dishonour the Ministry Which was the cause of the old Canons in this case 3. But when a man is thus called to both at once it is not all done by Ordination as such but his complicate Relation proceedeth from a complication of Causes As he is a Minister it is by Ordination And as he is The Pastor of this People it is by the conjunct causes of appropriation which are 1. Necessarily the Peoples Consent 2. Regularly the Pastors approbation and recommendation and reception of the person into their Communion 3. And sometimes the Magistrate may do much ââ oblige the people to consent 4. But when a man is made a Minister in general before he needeth no ãâã Ordination to fix him in a particular charge but only an Approbation recommendation particular Investiture and Reception For else a man must be oft ordained even as oft as he removeth But yet Imposition of hands may fitly be used in this particular Investiture though it be no proper ordination that is no collation of the office of a Minister in general but the fixing of one that was a Minister before Quest. 21. May a man be oft or twice Ordained IT is supposed that we play not with an ambiguous word that we remember what Ordination is And then you will see Cause to distinguish 1. Between entire true Ordination and the external act or words or ceremony only 2. Between one that was truly ordained before and one that
in a state of salvation that are not inherently sanctified And whether any fall from this Infant state of salvation Answ. OF all these great difficulties I have said what I know in my Appendix to Infant Baptism to Mr. Bedford and Dr. Ward and of Bishop Davenants judgement And I confess that my judgement agreeth more in this with Davenants than any others saving that he doth not so much appropriate the benefits of baptism to the children of sincere believers as I do And though by a Letter in pleading Davenants cause I was the occasion of good Mr. Gatakers printing of his answer to him yet I am still most inclined to his judgement Not that all the baptized but that all the baptized seed of true Christians are pardoned justified adopted and have a title to the Spirit and salvation But the difficulties in this case are so great as driveth away most who do not equally perceive the greater inconveniencies which we must choose if this opinion be forsaken that is that all Infants must be taken to be out of the Covenant of God and to have no promise of salvation Whereas surely the Law of Grace as well as the Covenant of Works included all the seed in their capacity 1. To the first of these Questions I answer 1. As all true believers so all their Infants do receive initially by the promise and by way of obsignation and Sacramental Investiture in Baptism a Ius Relationis a right of peculiar Relation to all the three persons in the blessed Trinity As to God as Matth. 28. 19 20. their reconciled Adopting Father and to Jesus Christ as their Redeemer and actual Head and Justifier so also to the Holy Ghost as their Regenerater and Sanctifier This Right and Relation 1 Cor. 12. 12 13. adhereth to them and is given them in order to future actual operation and communion As a Marriage Covenant giveth the Relation and Right to one another in order to the subsequent Communion Eph. 4. 4 5. and duties of a married life And as he that sweareth allegiance to a King or is listed into an Army or is entred into a School receiveth the Right and Relation and is so correlated as obligeth to the mutual subsequent Offices of each and giveth right to many particular benefits By this Right and Relation God is his own God and Father Christ is his own Head and Saviour and the Holy Spirit is his own Sanctifier without asserting what operations are already wrought on his soul but only to what future ends and uses these Relations are Now as these Rights and Relations are given immediately so those Benefits which are Relative and the Infant immediately capable of them are presently given by way of communion He hath presently the pardon of Original sin by virtue of the Sacrifice Merit and Intercession of Christ. He hath a state of Adoption and Right to Divine Protection Provision and Church-communion according to his natural Capacity and Right to everlasting life 2. It must be carefully noted that the Relative Union between Christ the Mediator and the baptized persons is that which in Baptism is first given in order of nature and that the rest do flow from this The Covenant and Baptism deliver the Covenanter 1. From Divine Displicency by Reconciliation with the Father 2. From Legal Penalties by Justification by the Son 3. From sin it self by the operations of the Holy Ghost But it is Christ as our Mediator-Head that is first given us in Relative Union And then 1. The Father Loveth us with Complacency as in the Son and for the sake of his first beloved 2. And the Spirit which is given us in Relation is first the Spirit of Christ our The Spirit is not given radically or immediately to any Christian but to Christ our Head alone and from Him to us Head and not first inherent in us So that by Union with our Head that Spirit is next united to us both Relatively and as Radically Inherent in the Humane Nature of our Lord to whom we are united As the Nerves and Animal Spirits which are to operate in all the body are Radically only in the Head from whence they flow into and operate on the members as there is need though there may be obstructions So the Spirit dwelleth in the Humane Nature of our Head and there it can never be lost And it is not necessary that it dwell in us by way of Radication but by way of Influence and Operation These things are distinctly and clearly understood but by very few and we are all much in the dark about them But I think however doctrinally we may speak better that most Christians are habituated to this perilous misapprehension which is partly against Christianity it self that the Spirit floweth immediatly from the Divine Nature of the Father and the Son as to the Authoritative or Potestative conveyance unto our souls And we forget that it is first given to Christ in his Glorified Humanity as our Head and radicated in Him and that it is the Office of this Glorified Head to send or communicate to all his members from Himself that Spirit which must operate in them as they have need This is plain in many Texts of Scripture Rom. 8. 32. He that spared not his own Son but gave him up for us all how shall be not also with him freely give us all things when he giveth him particularly to us 1 John 5. 11 12. And this is the record that God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath the life and he that hath not the Son hath not the life Rom. 8. 9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Eph. 1. 22 23. And gave him to be the Head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulness of him that filleth all in all John 15. 26. The Advocate or Comforter whom I will send unto you from the Father c. John 16. 7. If I depart I will send him unto you John 14. 26. The Comforter whom the Father will send in my Name Gal. 4. 6. And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father Gal. 2. 20. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me I know that is true of his Living in us Objectively and Finally but that seemeth not to be all Col. 3. 3 4. For ye are dead and your life is bid with Christ in God when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in Glory I know that in verse 3. by Life is meant Felicity or Glory But not only as appeareth by verse 4. where Christ is called Our Life Matth. 28. 19. All power is given unto me in Heaven and Earth ver 20. I am with you allwayes Joh. 13. 3. The Father hath given all things into his hands Joh. 17. 2
Relation or a Right duly to receive the Sacrament that is To receive it understandingly and seriously at those seasons when by the Pastors it is administred 2. But if upon faults or accusations this Right be duly questioned in the Church it is become a controverted right and the possession or admission may by the Bishops or Pastors of the Church be suspended if they see cause while it is under tryall till a just decision 3. Though Infants are true members yet the want of natural capacity duly to receive maketh it unlawful to give them the Sacrament because it is to be Given only to Receivers and Receiving is more than eating and drinking It is Consenting to the Covenant which is the real Receiving in a moral sense or at least Consent professed So that they want not a state of right as to their Relation but a natural capacity to Receive 4. Persons at age who want not the Right of a stated Relation may have such actual Natural and Moral indispositions as may also make them for that time unmeet to Receive As Sickness Infection a Journey persecution scattering the Church a Prison And morally 1. Want of necessary knowledge of the nature of the Sacrament which by the negligence of Pastors or Parents may be the case of some that are but newly past their childhood 2. Some heinous sin of which the sinner hath not so far repented as to be yet ready to receive a sealed pardon or which is so scandalous in the Church as that in publick respects the person is yet unfit for its priviledges 3. Such sins or accusations of sin as make the persons Church-title justly Controverted and his Communion suspended till the case be decided 4. Such fears of unworthy Receiving as were like to hurt and distract the person if he should receive till he were better satisfied These make a man uncapable of present Reception and so are a barr to his plenary right They have still right to Receive in a due manner But being yet uncapable of that due Receiving they have not a plenary right to the thing 5. The same may be said of other parts of our duty and priviledges A man may have a Relative habitual or stated right to praise God and give him thanks for his justification and sanctification and adoption and to godly conference to exercises of humiliation c. who yet for want of present actual preparation may be uncapable and so want a plenary right 6. The understanding of the double preparation necessary doth most clearly help us to understand this case A man that is in an unregenerate state must be visibly cured of that state of utter ignorance unbelief ungodliness before he can be a member of the Church and lay a claim to its priviledges But when that is done besides this general preparation a particular preparation also to each duty is necessary to the right doing it A man must understand what he goeth about and must consider of it and come with some suitable affections A man may have right to go a journey that wants a Horse or may have a Horse that is not sadled He that hath clothes must put them on before he is fit to come into company He that hath right to write may want a pen or have a bad one Having of Gracious habits may need the addition of bringing them into such acts as are suitable to the work in hand Quest. 70. Is there any such thing in the Church as a rank or Classis or Species of Church members at age who are not to be admitted to the Lords Table but only to hearing the Word and Prayer between Infant members and adult confirmed ones Answ. SOme have excogitated such a classis or species or order for convenience as a prudent necessary thing Because to admit all to the Lords Table they think dangerous on one side And to cast all that are unfit for it out of the Church they think dangerous on the other side and that which the people would not bear Therefore to preserve the reverence of the Sacrament and to preserve their own and the Churches peace they have contrived this middle way or rank And indeed the controversie seemeth to be more about the title whether it may be called a middle order of meer Learners and Worshippers than about the Matter I have occasionally written more of it than I can here stay to recite And the accurate handling of it requireth more words than I will here use This breviate therefore shall be all 1. It is certain that such Catechumens as are in meer preparation to faith repentance and baptism are no Church-members or Christians at all and so in none of these ranks 2. Baptism is the only ordinary regular door of enterance into the visible Church and no man unless in extraordinary cases is to be taken for a Church-member or visible Christian till Baptized Two Objections are brought against this 1. The Infants of Christians are Church-members as such before baptism and so are believers They are baptized because members and not members by baptism Answ. This case hath no difficulty 1. A Believer as such is a member of Christ and the Church What makes a visible member invisible but not of the visible Church till he be an orderly Professor of that belief And this Profession is not left to every mans will how it shall be made but Christ hath prescribed and instituted a certain way and manner of profession which shall be the only ordinary symbol or badge by which the Church shall know visible members and that is baptism Indeed when baptism cannot be had an open profession without it may serve For Sacraments are made for Man and not Man for Sacraments But when it may be had it is Christs appointed Symbol Tessera and Church-door And till a person be baptized he is but Irregularly and initially a Professor As an Embrio in the Womb is a man or as a Covenant before the writing sealing and delivering is initially a Covenant or as persons privately contracted without solemn Matrimony are married or as a man is a Minister upon Election and Tryal before Ordination He hath only in all these cases the beginning of a title which is not compleat nor at all sufficient in foro Ecclesiâ to make a man Visibly and Legally A married man a Minister and so here a Christian. For Christ hath chosen his own visible badge by which his Church-members must be known 2. And the same is to be said of the Infant-title of the children of believers They have but an initial right before baptism and not the badge of visible Christians For there are three distinct gradations to make up their visible Christianity 1. Because they are their own and as it were parts of themselves therefore Believers have power and obligation to dedicate their children in Covenant with God 2. Because every believer is himself dedicated to God with all that is his own according
own part in such cases I would do thus 1. I would look at my ultimate end Gods Glory and at the next end the Good of souls and welfare Eph. 4. 12 14. 2 Cor. 10. 8. 13. 10. Rom. 14. 19. Rom. 15. 2. 1 Cor. 10. 23. 1 Cor. 14. 5 12 26. 2 Cor. 12. 19. of the Church and so at the Peoples Interest as it is the End of the Order of Magistracy and Ministry And I would take my self to be so obliged to that end as that no point of meer Order could disoblige me the End being better than the Means as such Therefore I would do all things to edification supposing that all Power of man is as Paul's was for Edification and not for destruction 2. But in judging of what is Best for the Church I must take in every accident and circumstance and look to many more than to a few and to distant parts as well as to those near me and to the time and ages to come as well as to the present and not go upon mistaken suppositions of the Churches good He that doth not see all things that are to be weighed in such a case may err by leaving out some one 3. I would obey the Magistrate formally for conscience sake in all things which belong to his Office And particularly in this case if it were but a Removal from place to place in respect to the Temple or Tythes or for the Civil peace or for the preservation of Church order in cases where it is not grosly injurious to the Church and Gospel 4. In cases which by Gods appointment belong to the Conduct of Bishops or Pastors or the Concord of Consociate Churches I would formaliter follow them And in particular if they satisfie me that the removal of me is an apparent injury to the Church As in the Arrians times when the Emperours removed the Orthodox from all the Great Churches to put in Arrians I would not obedientially and voluntarily remove 5. If Magistrates and Bishops should concur in commanding my remove in a case notoriously injurious and pernicious to the Church as in the aforesaid case to bring in an Arrian I would not obey formally for conscience sake supposing that God never gave them such a power against mens souls and the Gospel of Christ And there is no power but of God 6. But I would prefer both the Command of the Magistrate and the Direction of the Pastors before the meer will and humour of the people when their safety and welfare were not concerned in the case 7. And when the Magistrate is peremptory usually I must obey him Materially when I do it not formally in conscience to his meer Command Because though in some cases he may do that which belongeth not to his Office but to the Pastors yet his violence may make it become the Churches interest that I yield and give place to his wrath For as I must not Resist him by force so if I depart not at his Command it may bring a greater suffering on the Churches And so for preventing a greater evil he is to be submitted to in many cases where he goeth against God and without authority though not to be formally obeyed 8. Particular Churches have no such interest in their Ministers or Pastors as to keep them against their wills and the Magistrates and against the interest of the Universal Church as shall be next asserted I have spoken to this instance as it taketh in all other cases of difference between the Power of the Magistrate the Pastors and the peoples interest when they disagree and not as to this case alone Quest. 104. Is a Pastor obliged to his Flock for Life Or is it lawful so to oblige himself And may be remove without their Consent And so also of a Church-member the same questions are put THese four Questions I put together for brevity and shall answer them distinctly I. 1. A Minister is obliged to Christ and the Universal Church for Life durante vita with this exception if God disable him not 2. But as a Pastor he is not obliged to this or that flock for life There is no such command or example in Gods Word II. To the second 1. It is lawful to oblige our selves to a people for life in some cases conditionally that is If God do not apparently call us away 2. But it is never lawful to do it Absolutely 1. Because we shall engage our selves against God against his power over us and interest in us and his wisdom that must guide us God may call us whither he please And though now he speak not by supernatural revelation yet he may do it by providential alterations 2. And we shall else oblige our selves against the Universal Church to which we are more strictly bound than to any particular Church and whose good may oblige us to remove 3. Yea we may bind our selves to the hurt of that Church it self seeing it may become its interest to part with us 4. And we should so oblige our selves against our duty to authority which may remove us III. To the third question I answer 1. A Pastor may not causelesly remove nor for his own worldly commodity when it is to the hurt of the Church and hinderance of the Gospel 2. When he hath just cause he must acquaint the people with it and seek their satisfaction and consent 3. But if he cannot procure it he may remove without it As 1. When he is sure that the interest of the Gospel and Universal Church require it 2. Or that just authority doth oblige him to it The reasons are plain from what is said And also 1. He is no more bound to the people than they are to him But they are not so bound to him but they may remove on just occasion 2. If he may not remove it is either because God forbids it or because his own Contract with them hath obliged him against it But 1. God no where forbids it 2. Such a contract is supposed not made nor lawful to be made IV. As to the peoples case it needs no other answer 1. No member may remove without cause 2. Nor abruptly and uncharitably to the Churches dissatisfaction when he may avoid it But 3. He may remove upon many just causes private or publick whether the Church and Pastors consent or not so the manner be as becometh a Christian. Quest. 105. When many men pretend at once to be the true Pastors of a particular Church against each others title through differences between the Magistrates the Ordainers and the Flocks what should the people do and whom should they adhere to Answ. THis case is mostly answered before in Quest. 82. c. I need only to add these What Pastor to adhere to Rules of Caution 1. Do not upon any pretence accept of an Heretick or one that is utterly unfit for the Office 2. Do not easily take a Dividing Course or person but keep
non esse penes Regeâ sed aut penes Ordines aut certe penes id corpus quod Rex juncti constituunt ut Bodinus Suarezius Victoria aliique abunde demonstratunt Certum summum Imperium totum aliquid imperare non posse ideo tantum quod alter veteâ aut intercedat plane sunt ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to this or that or the other thing or not Nor whether it shall be exercised thus or thus by standing Courts or temporary Judges c. 3. Nor hath he named the person or family that shall rule § 6. Prop. 5. Though these in the constitution are determined of by explicite or implicite contract or consent between the Ruler and the Community yet by none of these three can the people be truly and properly said to Give the Ruler his Power of Government Not by the first or last for both those do but determine who shall be the Recipient of that power whether one or more and who individually Not the second for that is but a limiting or bounding or regulating the Governing power that it be not exercised to their hurt The bounding and regulating of their power is not the Giving them power The People having the strength cannot be ruled against their concordant wills And therefore if they contract with their Governours that they will be Ruled thus and thus or not at all this is not to Give them power Yet Propriety they have and there they may be Givers So that this Bounding or Regulating and Choosing the form and Persons and giving of their propriety is all that they have to do And the choosing of the Family or person is not at all a Giving the Power They are but sine quibus non to that They do but open the door to let in the Governour They do but name the family or man to whom God and not they shall Give the power As when God hath already determined what authority the Husband shall have over the Wife the Wife by choosing him to be her Husband giveth him not his power but only chooseth the man to whom God giveth it by his standing Law Though about the disposing of her estate she may limit him by pre-contracts But if she contract against his Goâernment it is acontradiction and null Nor if he abuse his power doth it at all fall into her hands If the King by Charter give power to a Corporation to choose their Mayor or other Officer they do but nominate the persons that shall receive it but it is the Kings Charter and not they that give him the power If a Souldier voluntarily list himself under the Kings General or other Commanders he doth but choose the man that shall command him but it is the Kings Commission that giveth him the power to command those that voluntarily so list themselves And if the authority be abused or forfeited it is not into the Souldiers hands but into the Kings § 7. Prop. 6. The Constituting-Consent or Contract of Ancestors obligeth all their posterity if Prop. 6. they will have any of the protection or other benefit of Government to stand to the constitution Else Governments should be so unsetled and mutable as to be uncapable of their proper End § 8. Prop. 7. God hath neither in nature or Scripture estated this Power of Government in whole or Prop. 7. in part upon the people of a meer Community much less on Subjects whether Noble or Ignoble So foolish and bad âs the ãâã tâo ãâ¦ã man shâuâd not endanger himself for his Countrey because wisdom is not to be cast away for the commodity of fools Laert. in Aristip. But a wise man must be wise for others and not only for himself Learned or unlearned the part of the Community or the whole body Real or Representative The people as such have not this Power either to Use or to Give But the absolute Soveraign of all the world doth communicate the Soveraign power in every Kingdom or other sort of Common-wealth from himself Immediately I say Immediately not without the Mediation of an Instrument signifying his will for the Law of Nature and Scripture are his Instrument and the Charter of Authority nor yet so Immediately as without any kind of medium for the Consent and Nomination of the Community before expressed may be Conditio sine qua non so far as aforesaid But it is so Immediately from God as that there is no immediate Recipient to receive the power first from God and convey it to the Soveraign § 9. Prop. 8. The Natural power of individual persons over themselves is tota specie different from Prop. 8. this Political or Civil Power And it is not the Individuals resignation of this Natural power of selfdisposal It was one of the Roman Laws of the twelve Tables Vendendi filium patri potestas esâo But this Law rather giveth the Father that power than declareth it to be naturally in him Nature alloweth him no other selling of him than what is for his Child 's own good unto one or more which is the efficient Cause of Soveraignty or Civil Power § 10. Prop. 9. If you take the word Law properly for the expression of a Rulers Will obliging Prop. 9. the Governed or making their duty and not improperly for meer Contracts between the Soveraign and the people then it is clear in the definition it self that neither Subjects nor the Community as such have any Legislative power Neither Nature nor Scripture hath given the people a Power of making Laws either by themselves or with the Soveraign Either the sole power or a part of it But the very Nature of Government requireth that the whole Legislative power that is the power of making Governing Laws belong to the summa Majestas or Soveraign alone Unless when the summa potestas is in many hands you compare the partakers among themselves and call one Party the Soveraign as having more of the Soveraignty than the rest For those that are no Governours at all cannot perform the chief act of Government which is the making of Governing-Laws But the people are no Governours at all either as a Community or as Subjects So that you may easily perceive that all the Arguments for a natural Democracy are built upon false suppositions and where ever the People have any part in the Soveraignty it is by the after-Constitution and not by Nature And that Kings receive not their Power from the peoples gift who never had it themselves to use or give but from God alone § 11. Prop. 10. Though God have not made an Universal determination for any one sort of Government against the rest whether Monarchy Aristocracy or Democracy because that is best for one people which may be worse for others yet ordinarily Monarchy is accounted better than Aristocracy and Aristocracy better than Democracy So much briefly of the Original of Power § 12. Object 1. But saith worthy Mr. Richard Hooker
Do you believe that both the Hearts and Lives of Kings and all their affairs are in the hand of God If not you are Atheists If you do then do you not think that God is fitter than you to dispose of them He that believeth will not make haste Deliverance from persecutions must be prayed and waited for and not snatcht by violence as a hungry dog will snatch the meat out of his masters hands and bite his fingers Do you believe that all shall work together for good to them that Love God Rom. 8. 28. And do you believe that the godly are more than Conquerours when they are killed all day and counted as sheep unto the slaughter v. 32 33 34 35. And do you believe that it is cause of exceeding joy when for the sake of righteousness you are hated and persecuted and all manner of evil is falsly spoken of you Matth. 5. 10 11 12. If you do not you believe not Christ If you do will you strive by sinful means against your own good and happiness and joy Will you desire to conquer when you may be more than Conquerours Certainly the use of sinful means doth come from secret unbelief and diffidence Learn to Trust God and you will easily be subject to your Governours § 34. Direct 11. Look not for too great matters in the world Take it but for that Wilderness Direct 11. which is the way to the promised land of rest And then you will not count it strange to meet with hard usage and sufferings from almost all 1 Pet. 4. 12 13. Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery tryal which is to try you as if some strange thing happened to you but rejoyce in that ye are Phil. 3. 7 8 11 12. partakers of the sufferings of Christ. Are you content with God and Heaven for your portion If not how are you Christians If you are you have small temptation to rebell or use unlawful means for earthly priviledges Paul saith he took pleasure in persecutions 2 Cor. 12. 10. Learn you to do so and you will easily bear them § 35. Direct 12. Abhor the popular spirit of envy which maketh the poor for the most part think odiously Direct 12. of the Rich and their superiours because they have that which they had rather have themselves I Univers Histor. p. 140. Dicas Imperatorem Orbâs Eââctetum Neronem Mâncipium irrisum esse summo fastigâo cum serviret dignus imperaret indignus nullumque esse malum quin aliqua boni gutta condiatur have long observed it that the poor labouring people are very apt to speak of the Rich as sober men speak of drunkards As if their very estates and dignity and greatness were a vice And it is very much to flatter their own Conscience and delude themselves with ungrounded hopes of Heaven When they have not the spirit of Regeneration and holiness to witness their title to eternal life they think their Poverty will serve the turn And they will ordinarily say that they hope God will not punish them in another world because they have had their part in this But they will easily believe that almost all Rich and Great men go to Hell And when they read Luke 16. of the Rich man and Lazarus they think they are the Lazarus'es and read it as if God would save men meerly for being poor and damn men for being Great and Rich when yet they would themselves be as Rich and Great if they knew how to attain it They think that they are the maintainers of the Common-wealth and the Rich are the Caterpillars of it that live upon their labours like drones in the hive or mice and vermine that eat the honey which the poor labouring Bees have long been gathering For they are unacquainted with the Labours and cares of their Governours and sensible only of their own This envyous spirit exceedingly disposeth the poor to discontents and tumults and rebellions but it is not of God Iam. 3. 15 16 17. § 36. Direct 13. Keep not company with envious murmurers at Government for their words fret Direct 13. like a canker and their sin is of an infecting kind What a multitude were drawn into the Rebellion Numb 16. of Corah who no doubt were provoked by the leaders discontented words It seemeth they were for Popularity Numb 16. 3 13 14. Ye take too much upon you seeing all the Congregation are holy every one of them and the Lord is among them wherefore then lift you up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey to kill us in the Wilderness except thou make thy self altogether a Prince over us Wilt thou put out the eyes of these men What confidence and what fair pretenses are here so probable and plausible to the people that it is no wonder that multitudes were carryed to rebellion by it Though God disowned them by a dreadful judgement and shewed whom he had chosen to be the Governours of his people § 37. Direct 14. Keep humble and take heed of Pride The humble is ready to obey and yield Direct 14. and not only to be subject to Magistrates but to all men even voluntarily to be subject to them that cannot constrain them 1 Pet. 5. 5. Be all of you subject one to another It is no hard matter for a twig to bow and for a humble soul to yield and obey another in any thing that is lawful But the Proud take subjection for vassalage and obedience for slavery and say Who is Lord over us Psal. 12. 6 7. Prov. 16. 18. 29. 23. Our tongues are our own what Lord shall controll us will we be made slaves to such and such Only from Pride cometh contention Prov. 13. 10. By causing impatience it causeth disobedience and sedition § 38. Direct 15. Meddle not uncalled with the matters of superiours and take not upon you to censure Direct 15. their actions whom you have neither ability fitness or authority to censure How commonly will every tradesman and labourer at his work be censuring the Counsels and Government of the King and speaking of things which they never had means sufficiently to understand Unless you had been upon the place and heard all the debates and consultations and understood all the circumstances and reasons of the business how can you imagine that at so great a distance you are competent judges Fear God and judge not that you be not judged If busie-bodies and medlers with other mens Maâ 7. 1 2 3 matters among equals are condemned 2 Thes. 3. 11. 1 Tim. 5. 13. 1 Pet. 4. 15. much more when they meddle and that censoriously with the matters of their Governours If you would please God know and keep your places as Souldiers in an Army which is their comly order and their strength § 39. Direct 16.
Sword in their own hands and not have put it into the Clergies hands to fulfill their wills by For 1. By this means the Clergy had escaped the odium of usurpation and domineering by which atheistical Politicians would make Religion odious to Magistrates for their sakes 2. And by this means greater unity had been preserved in the Church while one faction is not armed with the Sword to tread down the rest For if Divines contend only by dint of Argument when they have talkt themselves and others aweary they will have done But when they go to it with dint of Sword it so ill becometh them that it seldom doth good but the party often that trusteth least to their Reason must destroy the other and make their cause good by Iron arguments 3. And then the Romish Clergy had not been armed against Princes to the terrible concussions of the Christian world which Histories at large relate if Princes had not first lent them the Sword which they turned against them 4. And then Church Discipline would have been better understood and have been more effectual which is corrupted and turned to another thing and so cast out when the Sword is used instead of the Keys under pretence of making it effectual None but Consenters are capable of Church-communion No man can be a Christian nor Godly nor saved against his will And therefore Consenters and Volunteers only are capable of Church-discipline As a Sword will not make a Sermon effectual no more will it make Discipline effectual which is but the management of Gods Word to work upon the conscience So far as men are to be driven by the Sword to the use of means or restrained from offering injury to Religion the Magistrate himself is fittest to do it It is noted by Historians as the dishonour of Cyrill of Alexandria though a famous Bishop that he was the first Bishop that like a Magistrate used the Sword there and used violence against Hereticks and dissenters 5. Above all abuse not the name of Religion for the resistance of your lawful Governours Religion must be defended and propagated by no irreligious means It is easie before you are aware to catch the feavor of such a passionate zeal as Iames and Iohn had when they would have had fire from Heaven to consume the refusers and resisters of the Gospel And then you will think that any thing almost is lawful which doth but seem necessary to the prosperity of Religion But no means but those of Gods allowance do use to prosper or bring home that which men expect They may seem to do wonders for a while but they come to nothing in the latter end and spoil the work and leave all worse than it was before § 101. Direct 40. Take heed of mistaking the nature of that Liberty of the people which is truly Direct 40. valuable and desirable and of contending for an undesirable Liberty in its stead It is desirable to have 1 Pet. 2. 16. Gal. 5. 13. 2 Pet. 2. 19. Gal. 4. 26. 2 Cor. 3. 17. Liberty to do good and to possess our own and enjoy Gods mercies and live in peace But it is not desirable to have Liberty to sin and abuse one another and hinder the Gospel and contemn our Governours Some mistake Liberty for Government it self and think it is the peoples Liberty to be Governours And some mistake Liberty for an exemption from Government and think they are most free when they are most ungoverned and may do what their list But this is a misery and not a mercy and therefore was never purchased for us by Christ. Many desire servitude and calamity under the name of liberty Optima est Reipublicae forma saith Seneca ubi nulla Libertas deest nisi licentia pereundi As Mr. R. Hooker saith Lib. 8. p. 195. I am not of opinion that simply in Kings the Most but the Best limited power is best both for them and the people The Most limited is that which may deal in fewest things the best that which in dealing is tyed to the soundest perfectest and most indifferent Rule which Rule is the Law I mean not only the Law of Nature and of God but the National Law consonant thereunto Happier that people whose Law is their King in the greatest things than that whose King is himself their Law Yet no doubt but the Law-givers are as such above the Law as an Authoritative instrument of Government but under it as a man is under the obligation of his own Consent and Word It ruleth subjects in the former sense It bindeth the summam Potestatem in the later § 102. Direct 41. When you have done all that you can in just obedience look for your reward Direct 41. from God alone Let it satisfie you that he knoweth and approveth your sincerity You make it a holy work if you do it to please God and you will be fixed and constant if you take Heaven for your Reward which is enough and will not fail you But you make it but a selfish carnal work if you do it only to please your Governours or get preferment or escape some hurt which they may do you and are subject only in flattery or for fear of wrath and not for conscience sake And such obedience is uncertain and unconstant For when you fail of your hopes or think Rulers deal unjustly or unthankfully with you your subjection will be turned into passionate desires of revenge Remember still the example of your Saviour who suffered death as an enemy to Caesar when he had never failed of his duty so much as in one thought or word And are you better than your Lord and Master If God be All to you and you have laid up all your hopes in Heaven it is then but little of your concernment further than God is concerned in it whether Rulers do use you well or ill and whether they interpret your actions rightly or what they take you for or how they call you But it is your concernment that God account you Loyal and will judge you so and justifie you from mens accusations of disloyalty and reward you with more than man can give you Nothing is well done especially of so high a nature as this which is not done for God and Heaven and which the Crown of Glory is not the motive to I have purposely been the larger on this subject because the times in which we live require it both for the setling of some and for the confuting the false accusations of others who would perswade the world that our doctrine is not what it is when through the sinful practices of some the way of truth is evil spoken of 2 Pet. 2. 2. Tit. 2. A fuller resolution of the Cases 1. Whether the Laws of men do bind the Conscience 2. Especially smaller and Penal Laws THe word Conscience signifieth either 1. In general according to the notation of the word The knowledge of our own
Direct 2. exercise of your function but the promoting of Iustice for the righting of the just and the publick It was an ill time when Petr. Bles. said Officium officialium est bodie jura confundere lites suscitare transactiones rescindere dilationes innectere supprimere âeâiâatem fovere mendacium quaestum sequi aequitatem vendere inhiare actionibus versutiââ concinnare gâod and therein the pleasing of the most righteous God For your work can be to you no better than your End A baâe end doth debase your work I deny not but your competent gain and maintenance may be your lower end but the promoting of justice must be your higher end and sought before it The question is not Whether you seek to live by your Calling for so may the best nor yet Whether you intend the promoting of Iustice for so may the worst in some degree But the question is Which of these you prefer and which you first and principally intend He that looketh chiefly at his worldly gain must take that gain instead of Gods reward and look for no more than he chiefly intended For that is formally no Good work which is not intended chiefly to please God And God doth not Reward the servants of the world Nor can any man rationally imagine that he should reward a man with happiness hereafter for seeking after Riches here And if you say that you look for no Reward but Riches you must look for a Punishment worse than Poverty For the neglecting of God and your Ultimate End is a sin that deserveth the privation of all which you neglect and leaveth not your actions in a state of innocent indifferency § 5. Direct 3. Be not Counsellârs or Advocates against God that is against Iustice Truth or Innocency A bâd cause would have no Patrons if there were no bad or ignorant Lawyers It s a dear bought fee which is got by sinning especially by such a wilful aggravated sin as the deliberate Direct 3. pleading for iniquity or opposing of the Truth Iudas his gain and Aohitophels counsel will be too hot at last for conscience and sooner drive them to hang themselves in the review than afford them any true content As St. Iames saith to them that he calleth to weep and howl Bias fârâur in cââsis orandâs summus aâque vehemenââssimuâ ãâã bonam tamen in parâem ââcândi vââ exerâââ solâtum Laâtius â 53. âuâum est hâmines propter justitiam diligârâ non autem justitiam propter homines postpânere Gregor Reg. Justitia non novit patrem vel matrem Veritatem novit personam non novit Deum imitatur Cassian Plutarch saith that Callicratidas being offered a great summ of money of which he had great need to pay his Seamen if he would do an unjust act refused To whom saith Cleander his Counsellor Ego prosecto hoc accepissem si fuissem Callicratidas He answered Ego accepissem si fuissem Cleander for their approaching misery Your Riches are corrupted and your garments moth-eaten your Gold and Silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire ye have heaped treasure together for the last dayes What ever you say or do against truth and innocency and justice you do it against God himself And is it not a sad case that among profâssed Christians there is no cause so bad but can find an Advocate for a fee I speak not against just counsel to a man that hath a bad cause to tell him it is bad and perswade him to disown it Nor I speak not against you for pleading against excessive penalties or damages For so far your cause is good though the main cause of your Client was bad But he that speaketh or counselleth another for the defence of sin or the wronging of the innocent or the defrauding another of his right and will open his mouth to the injury of the just for a little money or for a friend must try whether that money or friend will save him from the vengeance of the Universal Judge unless faith and true repentance which will cause Confession and Restitution do prevent it The Romans called them Thieves that by fraud or plea or judgement got unlawful gain and deprived others of their right Lampridius saith of Alexander Severus Tanti eum stomachi fuisse in eos judices qui furtorum fama laborassent etiamsi damnati non essent ut si eos casu aliquo videret commotione animi stomachi choleram evomeret toto vultu inardescente ita ut nihil posset loqui And afterwards Severissimus judex contra fures appellans eosdem quotidianorum scelerum reos solos hostes inimiâosque reipublicae Adding this instance Eum notarium qui falsum causae brevem in confilio imperatorio retulisset incisis digitorum nervis ita ut nunquam posset scribere deportavit And that he caused Turinus one of his Courtiers to be tyed in the Market-place to a stake and choaked to death with smoak for taking mens money on pretence of furthering their suits with the Emperour Praecone dicente Fumo punitur qui vendidit fumum He strictly prohibited buying of Offices saying Necesse est ut qui emit vendat Ego vero non patiar mercatores potestatum quos si patiar damnare non possum The frowns or favour of man or the love of money will prove at last a poor defence against his Justice whom by injustice you offend Facile est justitiam homini justissimo defendere Cicâro The Poet could say Iustum tenacem propositi virum Non civium ardor prava jubentium Non vâltus instantis tyranni Mente quatit solida Horat. But if men would first be just it would not be so hard to bring them to do justly Saith Plautus Iusta autem ab injustiâ petere insipientia est Quippe illi iniqui jus ignorant neque tenent § 6. Direct 4. Make the cause of the innocent as it were your own and suffer it not to miscarry Direct 4. through your slothfulness and neglect He is a lover of money more than justice that will sweat in the cause of the Riâh that pay him well and will slubber over and starve the cause of the poor because he getteth little by them What ever your place obligeth you to do let it Vix potest negligere qui novit aequitatem nec facile erroris viâio sordescit quem doctrina purgaverit Cassiodor be done diligently and with your might both in your getting abilities and in using them Scaevola was wont to say ut lib. Pandect 42. tit refer Ius civile vigilantibus scriptum est non dormientibus Saith Austin Ignorantia judicis plerumque est calamitas innocentis And as you look every Labourer that you hire should be laborious in your work and your Physicion should be diligent in his employment for your health so is it as just that you be diligent
for them whose cause you undertake and where God who is the Lover of Justice doth require it § 7. Direct 5. Be acquainted with the temptations which most endanger you in your place and Direct 5. go continually armed against them with the true remedies and with Christian faith and watchfulness and resolution You will keep your innocency and consequently your God if you see to it that you love nothing better than that which you should keep No man will chaffer away his commodity for any thing which he judgeth to be worse and less useful to him Know well how little friends or wealth will do for you in comparison of God and you will not hear them when they speak against God Luke 14. 26. 17. 33. When one of his friends was importunate with P. Rutilius to do him an unjust courtesie and angrily said What use have I Chilon in Laert p. 43. mihi saith Sibi non esse conscium in tota vita ingratitudinis una tamen re se modice moveri quod cum semel inter amicos illi judicandum esset neque contra jus agere aliquid vellet persuaserit amico judicium à se provocaret ut sic nimirum utrumque legem amicum servaret This was his injustice of which we repented of thy friendship if thou wilt not grant my request he answered him And what use have I of thy friendship if for thy sake I must be urged to do unjustly It is a grave saying of Plutarch Pulchrum quidem est justitia regnum adipisci pulchrum etiam regno justitiam anteponere Nam virtus alterum ita illustrem reddidit ut regno dignus judicaretur alterum ita magnum ut id contemnerit Plut. in Lycurg Numa But specially remember who hath said What shall it profit a man to win all the world and lose his soul And that Temptations surprize you not be deliberate and take time and be not too hasty in owning or opposing a cause or person till you are well informed As Seneca saith of Anger so say I here Dandum semper est tempus Veritatem enim dies aperit Potest poena dilata exigi cum non potest exacta revocari It s more than a shame to say I was mistaken when you have done another man wrong by your temerity CHAP. V. The Duty of Physicions NEither is it my purpose to give any occasion to the learned men of this honourable profession to say that I intermeddle in the mysteries or matters of their art I shall only tell them and that very briefly what God and Conscience will expect from them § 1. Direct 1. Be sure that the saving of mens lives and health be first and chiefly in your Intention Direct 1. before any gain or honour of your own I know you may lawfully have respect both to your maintenance and honour But in a second place only as a far lesser good than the lives of men If money be your Ultimate end you debase your profession which as exercised by you can be no more to your honour or comfort than your own intention carryeth it It is more the End than the Means that ennobleth or debaseth men If gain be the thing which you chiefly seek the matter is not very great to you whether you seek it by medicining men or beasts or by lower means than either of them To others indeed it may be a very great benefit whose lives you have been a means to save but to your selves it will be no greater than your intention maketh it If the honouring and pleasing God and the publick good and the saving of mens lives be really first and highest in your desires then it is God that you serve in your profession Otherwise you do but serve your selves And take heed lest you here deceive your selves by thinking that the Good of others is your end and dearer to you than your gain because your Reason telleth you it is better and ought to be preferred For God and the publick good are not every mans end that can speak highly of them and say they should be so If most of the world do practically prefer their carnal prosperity even before their souls while they speak of the World as disgracefully as others and call it Vanity how much more easily may you deceive your selves in preferring your gain before mens lives while your tongue can speak contemptuously of gain § 2. Direct 2. Be ready to help the poor as well as the rich Differencing them no further than the Direct 2. publick good requireth you to do Let not the health or lives of men be neglected because they have no money to give you Many poor people perish for want of means because they are discouraged from going to Physicions through the emptiness of their purses In such a case you must not only help them gratis but also appoint the cheapest Medicines for them § 3. Direct 3. Adventure not unnecessarily on things beyond your skill but in difficult cases perswade Direct 3. your patients to use the help of abler Physicions if there be any to be had though it be against your own commodity So far should you be from envying the greater esteem and practice of abler men and from all unworthy aspersions or detraction that you should do your best to perswade all your patients to seek their counsels when ever the danger of their lives or health requireth it For their Lives are of greater value than your gain So abstruse and conjectural is the business of your profession that it requireth very high accomplishments to be a Physicion indeed If there concur not 1. A natural strength of Reason and sagacity 2. And a great deal of study reading and acquaintance with the way of excellent men 3. And considerable experience of your own to ripen all this you have cause to be very fearful and cautelous in your practice lest you sacrifice mens lives to your ignorance and temerity And one man that hath all these accomplishments in a high degree may do As over-valuing mens own understandings in Religion is the ruine of souls and Churches so overvalluing mens âaw unexperienced apprehensions in Physick costeth multitudes their lives I know not whether a âew able judicious experienced Physâcions cure more oâ the rest kill more more good than a hundred smatterers And when you are conscious of a defect in any of these should not reason and conscience command you to perswade the sick to seek out to those that are abler than your selves Should mens lives be hazzarded that you may get by it a little fordid gain It is so great a doubt whether the ignorant unexperienced sort of Physicions do cure or hurt more that it hath brought the vulgar in many Countreys into a contempt of Physicions § 4. Direct 4. Depend on God for your direction and success Earnestly crave his help and blessing in Direct 4. all your undertakings Without this all
think their own understanding and stability is sufficient to preserve them do shew by their pride that they are near a fall 1 Cor. 10. 2. The company of sensual persons at Stage-playes Gaming inordinate playes and wanton dalliance For this is to bring your Tinder and Gunpowder to the fire And the less you fear it the greater is your danger § 24. Direct 7. Look more at the good that is in others than at their faults and falls The Flye Direct 7. that will fall on none but the galled ulcerous place doth feed accordingly Is a professor of Religion Covetous Drunk or other wayes scandalous Remember that it is his Covetousness or drunkenness that is bad Reprove that and fly from it and spare not But Religion is good Let that therefore be commended and imitated Leave the Carrion to Dogs and Crows to feast upon But do you choose out the things that are commendable and mind and mention and imitate those § 25. Direct 8. Lastly Think and speak as much against the sin and danger of taking-scandal as Direct 8. against the sin and danger of giving it When others cry out These are your religious people Do you cry out as much against their malignity and madness who will dislike or reproach Religion for mens sins Which is to blame the the Law-makers or Laws because they are broken or to fall out with Health because many that once were in health fall sick or to find fault with eating because some are lean or with clothing because some are cold Open to your selves and others what a wicked and perillous thing this is to fall out with Godliness because some are ungodly that seemed godly Many cry out against Scandal Scandal that never think what a heinous sin it is to be scandalized or to suffer mens sins to be a scandal to you and to be the worse because that others are so bad No one must differ from them in an opinion or a fashion of apparel or in a mode or form of Worship but some are presently scandalized Not knowing that it is a greater sin in them to be scandalized than in the other by such means supposing them to be faulty to give them the occasion Do you know what it is to be scandalized or offended in the Scripture sense It is not meerly to be displeased or to dislike anothers actions as is before said But it is to be drawn into some sin or hindered from some duty or stopt in the course of Religion or to think the worse of truth or duty or a godly life because of other mens words or actions And do you think him a good Christian and a faithful or constant friend to godliness who is so easily brought to quarrel with it Or is so easily turned from it or hindered in it Some pievish childish persons are like sick stomachs that no meat can please you cannot dress it so curiously but they complain that it is naught or this ayleth it or that ayleth it when the fault is in themselves Or like children or sick persons that can scarce be toucht but they are hurt Do you think that this sickliness or curiosity in Religion is a credit to you This is not the tenderness of Conscience which God requireth to be easily hurt by other mens differences or faults As it is the shame of many Ladies and Gentlewomen to be so curious and troublesomely neat that no servant knoweth how to please them so is it in Religion a sign of your childish folly and worse to be guilty of such proud curiosity that none can please you who are not exactly of your mind and way All men must follow your humours in gestures fashions opinions formalities and modes or else you are troubled and offended and scandalized As if all the world were made to please and humour you Or you were wise enough and great and good enough to be the rule of all about you Desire and spare not that your selves and all men should please God as exactly as is possible But if the want of that exactness in doubtful things or a difference in things disputable and doubtful among true Christians do thereupon abate or hinder your Love or estimation of your brethren or communion with them or any other Christian duty or tempt you into censoriousness or contempt of your brethren or to Schism Persecution or any other sin it is you that are the great offenders and you that are like to be the sufferers and have cause to lament that sinful aptness to be thus scandalized CHAP. XIV Directions against soul-murder and partaking of other mens sins THE special Directions given Part 3. Ch. 22. to Parents and Masters will in this case be of great use to all others But because it is here seasonable to speak of it further under the sixth Commandment and the matter is of greatest consequence I shall 1. Tell you how men are guilty of soul-murder 2. And then give you some General Directions for the furthering of mens salvation 3. And next give you some special Directions for Christian Exhortation and Reproofs § 1. 1. Men are guilty of soul-murder by all these wayes 1. By preaching false soul-murdering doctrine such as denyeth any necessary point of faith or holy living such as is opposite to a holy life or to any particular necessary duty such as maketh sin to be no sin which call good evil and evil good wich putteth darkness for light and light for darkness § 2. 2. By false application of true doctrine indirectly reflecting upon and disgracing that holiness of life which in terms they preach for By prevarication undermining that cause which their office is appointed to promote As they do who purposely so describe any vice that the hearers may be drawn to think that strict and Godly practices are either that sin it self or but a Cloak to hide it § 3. 3. By bringing the persons of the most religious into hatred by such false applications reflections or secret insinuations or open calumnies Making men believe that they are all but Hypocrites or Schismaticks or seditious or fanatical self-conceited persons Which is usually done either by impudent slanders raised against some particular men and so reflected on the rest or by the advantage of factions controversies or Civil Wars or by the falls of any professours or the crimes of Hypocrites whereupon they would make the World believe that they are all alike As if all Christs family were to be judged of by Peters fall or Iudas falshood And the odious representation of Godly men doth greatly prevail to keep others from Godliness and is one of the Devils most successful means for the damnation of multitudes of souls § 4. 4. The disgrace of the persons of the Preachers of the Gospel doth greatly further mens damnation For when the people think their Teachers to be Hypocrites Covetous Proud and secretly as bad as others they are very like to think accordingly of their doctrine
the Preacher hath publickly delivered the Word of God to the Assembly if you would so far second him as in your daily converse to set it home on the hearts of those that you have opportunity to discourse with how great an assistance would it be to his success Though he must teach them publickly and from house to house yet is it not possible for him to be so frequent and familiar in daily conference Act. 20. with all the ignorant of the place as those that are still with them may be You are many and he is but one and can be but in one place at once Your business bringeth you into their company when he cannot be there Oh Happy is that Minister who hath such a people who will daily preach over the matter of his publick Sermons in their private conference with one another Many hands make quick work This would most effectually prevail against the powers of darkness and cast out Satan from multitudes of miserable souls § 11. Mot. 11. Yea when Ministers are wanting through scarcity persecution or unâaithfulness and negligence the peoples holy profitable conference would do much towards the supplying of that want There have few places and ages of the World been so happy but that learned able faithful Pastors have been so few that we had need to pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send forth more And it is nothing unusual to have those few silenced or hindered from the Preaching of the Gospel by the factions or the malignity of the World And it is yet more common to have ignorant or ungodly persons in that office who betray the peoples souls by their usurpation impiety or slothfulness But if in all such wants the people that fear God would do their part in private conference it would be an excellent supply Ministers may be silenced from publick preaching when you cannot be silenced from profitable discourse § 12. Mot. 12. It is a duty that hath many great advantages for success 1. You may choose your season If one time be not fit you may take another 2. You may choose the person whom you find to have the greatest necessity or capacity and where your labour is likelyest to take 3. You may choose your subject and speak of that which you find most suitable There is no restraint nor imposition upon you to hinder your liberty in this 4. You may choose your arguments by which you would enforce it 5. Interlocutory conference keepeth your auditors attentive and carryeth them on along with you as you go And it maketh the application much more easie by their neerness and the familiarity of the discourse when Sermons are usually heard but as an insignificant sound or words of course 6. You may at your pleasure go back and repeat those things which the hearer doth not understand or doth forget which a Preacher in the Pulpit cannot do without the censure of the more curious auditors 7. You may perceive by the answers of them whom you speak to what particulars you need most to insist on and what objections you should most carefully resolve and when you have satisfied them and may proceed all which it is hard for a Minister to do in publick Preaching And is it not a great sin to neglect such an advantageous duty § 13. Mot. 13. And it should somewhat encourage you to it that it is an unquestionable duty when many other are brought into Controversie Ministers Preach under the regulation of humane Laws and Canons and it is a great Controversie with many whether they should Preach when they are silenced or forbidden by their superiours But whether you may speak for God and for mens salvation in your familiar conference no man questioneth nor doth any Law forbid it § 14. Mot. 14. Hath not the fruitful conference of others in the dayes of your ignorance done good to you Have you not been instructed convinced perswaded and comforted by it What had become of you if all men had let you alone and past you by and left you to your selves And doth not Justice require that you do good to others as others have done to you in the use of such a tryed means § 15. Mot. 15. Consider how forward the Devils servants are to plead his cause How readily and fiercely will an ignorant drunken sot pour out his reproaches and scorns against Religion and speak evil of the things which he never understood How zealously will a Papist or Heretick or Schismatick promote the interest of his sect and labour to proselyte others to his party And shall we be less zealous and serviceable for Christ than the Devils servants are for him and do less to save souls than they will do to damn them § 16. Mot. 16. Nay in the time of your sin and ignorance if you have not spoken against Religion nor taught others to curse or swear or speak in ribbald filthy language yet at least you have spent many an hour in idle fruitless talk And doth not this now oblige you to shew your Repentance by more fruitful conference Will you since your Conversion speak as unprofitably as you did before § 17. Mot. 17. Holy conference will prevent the guilt of foolish idle talk Men will not be long silent but will talk of somewhat And if they have not profitable things to talk of they will prate of vanity All the foolish chat and frothy jeasts and scurrilous ribbaldry and envious backbiting which taketh up mens time and poisoneth the hearers is caused by their want of edifying discourse which should keep it out The rankest wits and tongues will have most weeds if they be not cultivated and taught to bear a better crop § 18. Mot. 18. Your tongues will be instrumental to publick good or publick hurt When filthy vain and impious language is grown common it will bring down common plagues and judgements And if you cross not the custome you seem to be consenters and harden men in their sin But holy conference may at least shew that some partake not of the evil and may free them from the Plague if they prevail not with others so far as to prevent it Mal. 3. 16 17 18. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and thought upon his name And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own Son that serveth him § 19. Mot. 19. Consider what great necessity there is every where of fruitful edifying speech 1. In the multitude of the ignorant and the greatness of their ignorance 2. The numbers of the sensual and obstinate 3. The power of blindness and of every sin What root it hath taken in the most of men 4. The multitude of baits which are every where before them
Because it will be scandalous when the fault is known by him that buyeth it § 6. Quest. 6. What if the fault was concealed from me when I bought it or if I was deceived Quest. 6. or over-reacht by him that sold it me and gave more than the worth may I not repair my loss by doing as I was done by Answ. No no more than you may cut anothers purse because yours was cut You must do as you would be done by and not as you are done by What you may do with the same man that deceived you is a harder question But doubtless you may not wrong an honest man because you were wronged by a knave § 7. Object But it is taken for granted in the Market that every man will get as much as he can have and that Caveat emptor is the only security and therefore every man trusteth to his own wit and not to the sellers honesty and so resolveth to run the hazard Answ. It is not so among Christians nor Infidels who profess either truth or common honesty If you come among a company of Cut-purses where the match is made Look thou to thy purse and I will look to mine and he that can get most let him take it then indeed you have no reason to trust another But there are no Tradesmen or Buyers who will profess that they look not to be trusted or will say I will lye and deceive you if I can Among Thieves and Pirats such total distrust may be allowed But among sober persons in Civil Societies and Converse we must in reason and charity expect some truth and honesty and not presume them to be all lyars and deceivers that we may seem to have allowance to be such ourselves Indeed we trust them not absolutely as Saints but with a mixture of distrust as fallible and faulty men And so as to trust our own circumspection above their words when we know not the persons to be very just But we have no cause to make a Market a place of meer deceit where every one saith Trust not me and I will not trust thee but let us all take one another for cheaters and lyars and get what we can Such censures favour not of Charity or of Just intentions § 8. Quest. 7. What if I foresee a plenty and cheapness in a time of dearth which the buyer foreseeth Quest. 7. not as if I know that there are Ships coming in with store of that commodity which will make it cheap am I bound to tell the buyer of it and hinder my own gain Answ. There may be some instances in trading with enemies or with Rich men that regard not such matters or with men that are supposed to know it as well as you in which you are not bound to tell them But in your ordinary equal trading when you have reason to think that the buyer knoweth it not and would not give so dear if he knew it you are bound to tell him Because you must love your neighbour as your self and do as you would be done by and not take advantage of his ignorance § 9. Quest. 8. If I foresee a dearth may I not keep my commodity till then Quest. 8. Answ. Yes unless it be to the hurt of the Common-wealth as if your keeping it in be the cause of the dearth and your bringing it forth would help to prevent it § 10. Quest. 9. May one use many words in buying and selling Quest. 9. Answ. You must use no more than are true and just and useful but there are more words needful with some persons who are talkative and unsatisfied than with others § 11. Quest. 10. May I buy as cheap as I can get it or give less than the thing is worth Quest. 10. Answ. If it be worth more to you than the Market price through your necessity you are not bound to give above the market price If it be worth less to you than the market price you are not bound to give more than it is worth to you as suited to your use But you must not desire nor seek to get anothers goods or labour for less than it is worth in both these respects in common estimate and to you § 12. Quest. 11. May I take advantage of anothers Necessity to buy for less than the worth or sell Quest. 1â for more As e. g. a poor man must needs have money suddenly for his goods though he sell them but for half the worth and I have no need of them Am I bound to give him the worth when I have no need and when it is a great kindness to him to give him any thing in that straight So also when I have no desire to sell my Horse and anothers necessity maketh him willing to give more than he is worth may I not take it Answ. To the first case You must distinguish between an act of Iustice and of Charity and between your need of the thing and the worth of it to you Though you have no need of the poor mans goods yet if you buy them both Justice and Charity require that you give him as much as they are worth to you though not so much as they are worth in the market yea and that you buy them of him in his necessity For if you give him but what they are worth to you you are no loser by it And you should do another good when it is not to your own hurt or loss By what they are worth to you I mean so much as that you âe no loser As if it be meat or drink though you have no present need perhaps you will shortly have need and if you buy not that you must buy as much of somewhat else In strict Iustice you may be a saver but not a gainer by buying of the poor in their necessity 2. But if you buy a durable commodity for less than it is worth you should take it but as a pledge and allow the seller liberty to redeem it if he can that he may get more after of another 3. And to the poor in such necessity Charity must be exercised as well as Iustice. Therefore if you are able to lend them money to save them the loss of underselling you should do it I account that man only able who hath money which no greater service of God requireth And if you are not able your self you should endeavour to get some others to relieve him if you can without a greater inconvenience And for the second case it is answered before You may not take more than it is worth ever the more for anothers necessity nor in any other case than you might have done it in if there had been no such necessity of his § 13. Quest. 12. May I not make advantage of anothers ignorance or error in bargaining Quest. 12. Answ. Not to get more than your commodity is worth nor to get his goods for less than the
deal with a Tenant as rich or richer than your self or with one that needeth not your mercy or is no fit object of it 2. And if it be Land that no man can by custome claim equitably to hold on lower terms and so it is no injury to another nor just scandal then you may lawfully raise it to the full worth Sometimes a poor man setteth a House or Land to a rich man where the scruple hath no place Quest. 3. May a Landlord raise his Rents though he take not the full worth Quest. 3. Answ. He may do it when there is just reason for it and none against it There is just reason for it when 1. The Land was much underset before 2. Or when the Land is proportionably improved 3. Or when the plenty of money maketh a greater summ to be in effect no more than a lesser heretofore 4. Or when an increase of persons or other accident maketh Land dearer than it was But then it must be supposed 1. That no Contract 2. Nor Custome 3. Nor Service and Merit do give the Tenant any equitable right to his better penny-worth And also that Mercy prohibite not the change Quest. 4. How much must a Landlord set his Land below the full worth that he may be no oppressor Quest. 4. or unmerciful to his Tenants Answ. No one proportion can be determined of because a great alteration may be made in respect to the Tenants ability his merit to the time and place and other accidents Some Tenants are so rich as is said that you are not bound to any abatement Some are so bad that you are bound to no more than strict Justice and common humanity to them Some years like the last when a longer drowth than any man alive had known burnt up the Grass disableth a Tenant to pay his Rent Some Countreys are so scarce of money that a little abatement is more than in another place But ordinarily the common sort of Tenants in England should have so much abated of the fullest worth that they may comfortably live on it and follow their labours with cheerfulness of mind and liberty to serve God in their families and to mind the matters of their salvation and not to be necessitated to such toil and care and pinching want as shall make them liker Slaves than Free-men and make their lives uncomfortable to them and make them unfit to serve God in their families and seasonably mind eternal things Quest. 5. What if the Landlord be in debt or have some present want of money may be not then raise Quest. 5. the Rent of those Lands which were under-let before Answ. If his pride pretend want where there is none as to give extraordinary portions with his daughters to erect sumptuous buildings c. this is no good excuse for oppression But if he really fall into want then all that his Tenants hold as meer gifts from his liberality he may withdraw as being no longer able to give But that which they had by custome an equitable title to or by contract also a legal title to he may not withdraw And yet all this is his sin if he brought that poverty culpably on himself it is his sin in the cause though supposing that cause the raising of his Rent be lawfulâ But it is not every debt in a rich man who hath other wayes of paying it which is a true necessity in this Case And if a present debt made it necessary only at that time it is better by Fine or otherwise make a present supply than thereupon to lay a perpetual burden on the Tenants when the cause is ceased Quest. 6. What if there be abundance of honest people in for greater want than my Tenants are Quest. 6. yea perhaps Preachers of the Gospel and I have no other way to relieve them unless I raise my Rents Am I not bound rather to give to the best and poorest than to others Answ. Yes if it were a case that concerned meer giving But when you must take away from one to give to another there is more to be considered in it Therefore at least in these two cases you may not raise your Tenants Rents to relieve the best or poorest whosoever 1. In case that he have some equitable title to your Land as upon the easier Rent 2. Or in case that the scandal of seeming injustice or cruelty is like to do more hurt to the interest of Religion and mens souls than your relieving the poor with the addition would do good which a prudent man by collation of probable consequents may satisfactorily discern But if it were not only to preserve the comforts but to save the lives of others in their present famine nature teacheth you to take that which is truly your own both from your Tenants and your Servants and your own mouths to relieve men in such extream distress and Nature will teach all men to judge it your duty and no scandalous oppression But when you cannot relieve the ordinary wants of the poor without such a scandalous raising of your Rents as will do more harm than your alms would do good God doth not than call you to give such Alms but you are to be supposed to be unable Quest. 7. May I raise a Tenants Rent or turn him out of his House because he is a bad man by a Quest. 7. kind of penalty Answ. A bad man hath a title to his Own as well as a good man And therefore if he have either legal or equitable title you may not Nor yet if the scandal of it is like to do more hurt than the good can countervail which you intend Otherwise you may either raise his Rent or turn him out if he be a wicked profligate incorrigible person after due admonition Yea and you ought to do it lest you be a cherisher of wickedness If the Parents under Moses Law were bound to accuse their own Son to the Judges in such a case and say This our Son is stubborn and rebellious he will not obey our voice he is a glutton and a drunkard and all the men of the City must stone him till he dye to put away evil from among them Deut. 21. 18 19 20 21. Then surely a wicked Tenant is not so far to be spared as to be cherished by bounty in his sin It is the Magistrates work to punish him by Governing Justice But it is your work as a prudent Benefactor to withhold your gifts of bounty from him And I think it is one of the great sins of this age that this is not done it being one of the notablest means imaginable to reform the Land and make it happy if Landlords would thus punish or turn out their wicked incorrigible Tenants It would do much more than the Magistrate can do The vulgar are most effectually ruled by their interest as we rule our Dogs and Horses more by the Government of their bellies than
the cost which is laid out for needless pomp and Inst. 6. oâtentation of greatness or curiosity in keeping a numerous retinue and in their gallantry and in keeping many Horses and costly furniture and attendance Quest. 7. When is a costly retinue and other pompous furniture to be accounted Prodigality Quest. 7. Answ. Not when they are needful to the honour of Magistracy and so to the Government of the Common-wealth Nor when it is made but a due means to some lawful end which answereth the cost But when it is either the fruits and maintenance of Pride or exceedeth the proportion of mens estates or especially when it expendeth that which better and more necessary uses call for It is a most odious and enormous crime to waste so many hundred or thousand pounds a year in the vanities of pomp and fruitless curiosities and need-nots while the publick uses of the State and Church are injured through want and while thousands of poor families are rackt with cares and pinched with necessities round about us § 13. Inst. 7. Another way of Prodigality is that which is called by many keeping a good house Inst. 7. that is in unnecessary abundance and waste of meat and drink and other provisions Quest. 8. When may great house-keeping be accounted prodigality Quest. 8. Answ. Not when it is but a convenient work of charity to feed the poor and relieve the distressed or entertain strangers or to give such necessary entertainment to equals or superiours as is before described But when the truest relief of the poor shall be omitted and it may be poor Tenants wracked and opprest to keep up the fame and grandeur of their abundance and to seem magnificent and praised by men for great house-keepers The whole and large estates of many of the rich and great ones of the world goeth this way and so much is devoured by it as starveth almost all good works § 14. Inst. 8. Another way of Prodigality is Cards and Dice and other gaming in which whilest Inst. 8. men desire to get that which is anothers they lose and waste their own § 15. Inst. 9. Another act of Prodigality is giving over-great portions wiâh children It being a Inst. 9. sinful waste of our Masters stock to lay it out otherwise than he would have us and to serve our pride and self-interest in our children instead of him Quest. 9. When may our childrens portions be accounted prodigality or too great Quest. 9. Answ. Not when you provide for their comfortable living according to your estates and give them that due proportion which consisteth with the discharge of other duties But when all that men can get is thought little enough for their children and the business of their lives is to live in fulness themselves as long as they can and then to leave that to their posterity which they cannot keep themselves When this gulf of self-pampering and providing the like for children devoureth almost all that you can gather and the poor and other needful uses are put off with some inconsiderable pittance And when there is not a due proportion kept between your provision for your children and the other duties which God requireth of you Psal. 49. 7 8 9 11 13. Their inward thought is that their houses shall be perpetuated and their dwelling places to generations they call their Lands after their own names This their way is their folly yet their posterity approve their sayings Psal. 73. 12. Behold these are the Ungodly who prosper in the world they increase in riches Psal. 17. 14. They have their portion in this life They are full of children or their children are full and they leave the rest of their substance to their babes A Parent that hath an heir or other children so wise religious and liberal as that they are like to be more charitable and serviceable to good uses than any other whom he can trust with his estate should not only leave such children sufficient for themselves but enable them as much as he can to do good For they will be more faithful Trustees to him than strangers But a Parent that hath but common and untrusty children should do all the good he can himself and what he would have done when he is dead he must commit to them that are more trusty and allow his children but their proper maintenance And Parents that have debauched wicked ungodly children such as God commanded them to cause to be put to death Deut. 21. should allow them no more than their daily bread if any thing at all which is their own to dispose of § 16. Inst. 10. Also to be careless in many small expences or losses because they are but little things Inst. 10. and to let any such thing be cast away is sinful prodigality Quest. 10. How far is it a duty to be frugal in small matters and the contrary a sin Quest. 10. Answ. We must not over-value any thing great or small nor be sparing out of covetousness nor yet in an imprudent way which seemeth to signifie baseness and worldliness when it is not so Nor must we be too tinking in bargaining with others when every pââny which we get by it is lost to one that needeth it more But we must see that nothing of any ââââ be lost through satiety negligence or contempt For the smallest is part of Gods gifts and talents given us not to cast away but to use as he would have us And there is nothing that is good so small but some one hath need of it or some good use or other may be made of it Even Christ when he had fed thousands by a miracle yet commanded his Disciples to gather up the broken bread or fragments that nothing be lost John 6. 12. which plainly sheweth that it is a duty which the richest man that is is not exempted from to be frugal and a sin in the greatest Prince to be wasteful of any thing that is good But this must not be in sordid covetousness but in obedience to God and to do good to others He is commendable who giveth liberally to the poor out of his abundance But he is much more commendable who is a good husband for the poor as worldlings are for themselves and frugally getteth and saveth as much as he can and denyeth all superfluities to himself and all about him that he may have the more to give to pious and charitable uses § 17. Inst. 11. Idleness also and negligence in our Callings is sinful wastefulness and prodigality Inst. 11. When either the pride of Gentility maketh people think themselves too good to labour or to look after the matters of their families or slothfulness maketh them think it a life too toilsome for their flesh to bear Prov. 18 9. He that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster These drones consume that which others labour for but are no
and Dice and Stage-playes and so much on Hounds and needless pleasures c. Or rather So much to promote the preaching of the Gospel so much to set poor children to Prentice or to School so much to relieve distressed families c. Let Matth. 25. be well read and your account well thought on § 27. Direct 5. Keep an account of your expences and peruse them before a Fast or a Sacrament Direct 5. and ask conscience how it judgeth of them Yea ask some holy prudent friend Whether such proportions are allowable before God and will be comfortable to you in the day of your extremity If you are but willing to be cured such means as these will not be in vain CHAP. XXII Cases and Directions against injurious Law-Suits Witnessing and Iudgement Tit. 1. Cases of Conscience about Law-Suits and Proceedings Quest. 1. IN what cases is it lawful to go to Law with others Quest. 1. Answ. 1. In case of necessary defence when the Plaintiff doth compell you to it 2. When you are entrusted for Orphans or others whom you cannot otherwise right 3. When your Children or the Church or poor whom you should do good to are like to suffer iâ you recover not your talent that God hath trusted you with for such uses from the hands of unjust men And they refuse all just arbitrations and other equal means which might avoid such suits 4. When your own necessity constraineth you to seek your own which you cannot get by easier means 5. When your forbearance will do more hurt by encouraging Knaves in their injustice than it will do good 6. When ever your cause is just and neither Mercy peace nor the avoiding of scandal do forbid it That is when it is like to do more good than harm it is then a lawful course But it is unlawful to go to Law 1. When you neglect just arbitrations patience and other needful means to avoid it 2. When your Cause is unjust 3. When you oppress the poor by it 4. When it is done in Coveâousness revenge or pride 5. When the scandal or hurt to your Brother is like to be a greater harm than the righting of your self is like to do good Then must you not go willingly to Law Quest. 2. May I sue a poor man for a debt or trespass Quest. 2. Answ. 1. If he be so poor as that he cannot pay it nor procure you satisfaction the Suit is vain and tendeth but to cruelty 2. If he have no means to pay but that which will deprive him of food and rayment and the necessaries of his life or comfort you may not sue him unless it be for the supply of as great necessities of your own or in a trust for Orphans where you have no power to remit the debt yea and for them no cruelty must be used 3. If your forbearance be like to make him ableâ by his diligence or other means you should forbear if possible 4. But if he be competently able and refuse to pay through knavery and injustice and you have better wayes to use that money if scandal forbid not you may seek by Law to recover your own from him Quest. 3. May I sue a Surety whose interest was not concerned in the case Quest. 3. Answ. If his poverty make it not an act of cruelty nor scandal prohibite it you may Because he was willing and declared his consent that you should have the debt of him if the principal pay not To become Surety is to consent to this And it is no injury to receive a mans money by his own consent and Covenant He knew that you had not lent it but on those terms and you had reason to suppose that he who would undertake to pay another mans debt had sufficient reason for it either in relation or counter-security But as you must use mercy to the principal debtor in his poverty so must you also to the surety Quest. 4. May I sue for the use of money as well as for the principal Quest. 4. Answ. This dependeth on the Case of Usury before resolved In those cases in which it may not be taken it may not be sued for Nor yet when the scandal of it will do more harm than the money will do good But in other cases it may be sued for on the terms as the Rent of Lands may Quest. 5. May Law-Suites be used to disable or humble an insolent wicked man Quest. 5. Answ. You may not take up an ill cause against him for any such good end But if you have a good cause against him which otherwise you would not have prosecuted you may make use of it to disable him from doing mischief when really it is a probable means thereto and when neither scandal nor other accidents do prohibite it Quest. 6. May a rich man make use of his friends and purse in a just cause to bear down or tire Quest. 6. out a poorer man that hath a bad cause Answ. Not by bribery or any evil means For his proceeding must be just as well as his cause But if it be an obstinate knave that setteth himself to do hurt to others it is lawful to make use of the favour of a righteous Judge or Magistrate against him And it is lawful to humble him by the length and expensiveness of the Suit when that is the fittest means and no unjust action is done in it Still supposing that scandal prohibit it not But let no proud or cruel person think that therefore they may by purse and friends and tedious Law-Suits oppress the innocent and attain their own unrighteous wills Quest. 7. May one use such forms in Law-Suits as in the literal sense are gross untruths in Declaratitions Quest. 7. Answers or the like Answ. The use of words is to express the mind And common use is the interpreter of them If they are such words as the notorious common use hath put another sense on than the literal one they must be taken in the sense which publick use hath put upon them And if that publick sense be true or Quest. 8. false accordingly they may or may not be used Quest. 8. May a guilty person plead not guilty or deny the fact Answ. Common use is the interpreter of words If the common use of those words doth make their publick sense a lye it may not be done But if the forinsick common use of the denyal is taken to signifie no more but this Let him that accuseth me prove it I am not bound to accuse my self or In foro I am not guilty till it be proved then it is lawful to plead Not-guilty and deny the fact except in cases wherein you are bound to an open confession or in which the scandal will do more hurt than the denyal will do good Quest. 9. Is a man ever bound to accuse himself and seek Iustice against himself Quest. 9. Answ. 1. In many cases a
Sedition among the people and accounting them as the filth and off-scouring of the world That zeal which murdered and destroyed many hundred thousand of the Waldenses and Albigenses and thirty thousand or forty thousand in one French Massacre and two hundred thousand in one Irish Massacre and which kindled the Marian Bonefires in England and made the Powder Mine and burnt the City of London and keepeth up the Inquisition I say that zeal will certainly think it a service to the Church that is their Sect to write the most odious lyes and slanders of Luther Zuinglius Calvin Beza and any such excellent servants of the Lord. So full of horrid impudent lyes are the writings of not one but many Sects against those that were their chief opposers that I still admonish all posterity to see good evidence for it before they believe the hard sayings of any factious Historian or Divine against those that are against his party It is only men of eminent conscience and candour and veracity and impartiality who are to be believed in their bad report of others except where notoriety or very good evidence doth command belief above their own authority and veracity A siding factious zeal which is hotter for any Sect or party than for the common Christianity and Catholick Church is alwayes a railing a lying and a slandering zeal and is notably described Iames 3. as earthly sensual and devilish causing envy strife and confusion and every evil work Direct 4. Observe well the Commonness of this sin of backbiting that it may make you the more afraid Direct 4. of falling into that which so few do scape I will not say among high and low rich and poor Court and Countrey how common is this sin but among men professing the greatest zeal and strictness in Religion how few make conscience of it Mark in all companies that you come into how common it is to take liberty to say what they think of all men yea to report what they hear though they dare not say that they believe it And how commonly the relating of other mens faults and telling what this man or that man is or did or said is part of the chatt to waste the hour in And if it be but true they think they sin not Nay nor if they did but hear that it is true For my part I must profess that my conscience having brought me to a custome of rebuking such backbiters I am ordinarily censured for it either as one that loveth contradiction or one that defendeth sin and wickedness by taking part with wicked men And all because I would stop the course of this common vice of evil-speaking and backbiting where men have no call And I must thankfully profess that among all other sins in the world the sins of SELFISHNESSE PRIDE and BACKBITING I have been most brought to hate and fear by the observation of the commonness of them even in persons seeming godly Nothing hath fixed an apprehension of their odiousness so deeply in me nor engaged my heart against them above all other sins so much as this lamentable experience of their prevalence in the world among the more Religious and not only in the prophane Direct 5. Take not the honesty of the person as sufficient cause to hear or believe a bad report of Direct 5. others It is lamentable to hear how far men otherwise honest do too often here offend Suspect evil speakers and be not over-credulous of them Charity thinketh not evil not easily and hastily believeth it Lyars are more used to evil speaking than men of truth and credit are It is no wrong to the best that you believe him not when he backbiteth without good evidence Direct 6. Rebuke backbiters and encourage them not by hearkning to their tales Prov. 25. 23. Direct 6. The north wind driveth away rain So doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue It may be they think themselves religious persons and will take it for an injury to be driven away with an angry countenance But God himself who loveth his servants better than we is more offended at their sin and that which offendeth him must offend us We must not hurt their souls and displease God by drawing upon us the guilt of their sins for fear of displeasing them Tell them how God doth hate backbiting and advise them if they know any hurt by others to go to them privately and tell them of it in a way that tendeth to their repentance Direct 7. Use to make mention of the good which is in others except it be unseasonable and will Direct 7. seem to be a promoting of their sin Gods giâts in every man deserve commendations And we have allowance to mention mens vertues oftner than to mention their vices Indeed when a bad man is praised in order to the disparagement of the good or to honour some wicked cause or action against truth and godliness we must not concur in such malitious praists But otherwise we must commend that which is truly commendable in all And this custome will have a double benefit against backbiting It will use your own tongues to a contrary course and it will rebuke the evil tongues of others and be an example to them of more charitable language Direct 8. Understand your selves and speak often to others of the sinfulness of evil speaking and Direct 8. backbiting Shew them the Scriptures which condemn it and the intrinsecal malignity which is in it as here followeth Direct 9. Make conscience of just reproof and exhorting finners to their faces Go tell them of Direct 9. it privately and lovingly and it will have better effects and bring you more comfort and cure the sin of backbiting Tit. 3. The Evil of Backbiting and Evil Speaking § 1. 1. IT is forbidden of God among the heinous damning sins and made the character of a notorious wicked person and the avoiding of it is made the mark of such as are accepted of God and shall be saved Rom. 1. 29 30. it is made the mark of a reprobate mind and joyned with murder and hating God viz. full of envy debate deceit malignity whisperers backbiters Psal. 15. 2 3. Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle Who shall dwell in thy holy hill He that backbiteth not with his tongue nor doth evil to his neighbour nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour And when Paul describeth those whom he must sharply rebuke and censure he just describeth the factious sort of Christians of our times 2 Cor. 12. 20. For I fear lest when I come I shall not find you such as I would and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not Lest there be debates envyings wraths strifes backbitings whisperings swellings tumults Ephes. 4. 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another and tender hearted § 2. 2. It is
a sin which gratifieth Satan and serveth his malice against our neighbour He is malitious against all and speaking evil and doing hurt are the works which are suitable to his malignity And should a Christian make his tongue the instrument of the accuser of the brethren to do his work against each other § 3. 3. It signifieth want of Christian Love For love speaketh not evil nor openeth mens faults without a cause but covereth infirmities Much lâss will it lye and slander others and carry about uncertain reports against them It is not to do as you would be done by And how essential Love is to true Christianity Christ himself hath often told us § 4. 4. It is a sin which directly serveth to destroy the hearers Love and consequently to destroy their souls If the backbiter understood himself he would confess that it is his very end to cause you to hate or abate your love to him whom he speaketh evil of He that speaketh good of a man representeth him amiable For amiableness and goodness are all one And he that speaketh evil of a man representeth him hateful or unlovely For hatefulness unloveliness and evil are all one And as it is not the natural way of winning love to intreat and beg it and say I pray you love this person or that thing but to open the goodness of the thing or person which will command love So is it not the natural way to stir up hatred by intreating men to hate this man or that but to tell how bad they are which will command hatred in them that do believe it Therefore to speak evil of another is more than to say to the hearers I pray you hate this man or abate your love to him And that the killing of Love is the killing or destroying of mens souls the Apostle Iohn doth frequently declare § 5. 5. And it tendeth also to destroy the Love and consequently the soul of him that you speak evil of For when it cometh to his hearing as one way or other it may do what evil you have reported of him behind his back it tendeth to make him hate you and so to make him worse § 6. 6. It is a great make-bate and peace-breaker where ever it is practised It tendeth to set people together by the ears When it is told that such a one spake evil of you in such a place there are then heart-burnings and rehearsals and sidings and such ensuing malice as the Devil intended by this design § 7. 7. They that use to speak evil of others behind their backs its ten to one will speak falshoods of them when they do not know it Fame is too ordinarily a lyar and they shall be lyars who will be its messengers How know you whether the thing that you report is true Is it only because a credible person spake it But how did that person know it to be true Might he not take it upon trust as well as you And might he not take a person to be credible that is not And how commonly doth faction or interest or passion or credulity make that person incredible in one thing who is credible in others where he hath no such temptation If you know it not to be true or have not sufficient evidence to prove it you are guilty of lying and slandering interpretatively though it should prove true because it might have been a lye for ought you knew § 8. 8. It is gross injustice to talk of a mans faults before you have heard him speak for himself I know it is usual with such to say O we have heard it from such as we are certain will not lye But he is a foolish and unrighteous Judge that will be peremptory upon hearing one party only speak and knoweth not how ordinary it is for a man when he speaketh for himself to blow away the most confident and plausible accusations and make the case appear to be quite another thing You know not what another hath to say till you have heard him § 9. 9. Backbiting teacheth others to backbite Your example inviteth them to do the like And sins which are common are easily swallowed and hardly repented of Men think that the commonness justifieth or extââââatâth the fault § 10. 10. It encourageth ungodly men to the odious sin of backbiting and sâandering the most religious righteous person It is ordinary with the Devils family to make Christs faithfullest servants their table-talk and the objects of their reproach and scorn and the song of drunkards What abundance of lyes go currant among such malignant persons against the most innocent which would all be shamed if they had first admitted them to speak for themselves And such slanders and lyes are the Devils common means to keep ungodly men from the love of godliness and so from repentance and salvation And backbiting Professors of Religion encourage men to this For with what measure they mete it shall be measured to them again And they that are themselves evil spoken of will think that they are warranted to requite the backbiters with the like § 11. 11. It is a sin which commonly excludeth true profitable reproof and exhortation They that speak most behind mens backs do usually say least to the sinners face in any way which tendeth to his salvation They will not go lovingly to him in private and set home his sin upon his conscience and exhort him to repentance but any thing shall serve as a sufficient excuse against this duty that they may make the sin of backbiting serve instead of it And all is out of carnal self-saving They fear men will be offended if they speak to their faces and therefore they will whisper against them behind their backs § 12. 12. It is at the least but idle talk and a mis-spending of your time What the better are the hearers for hearing of other mens mis-doings And you know that it no whit profiteth the person of whom you speak A skilful friendly admonition might do him good But to neglect this and talk of his faults unprofitably behind his back is but to aggravate the sin of your uncharitableness as being not contented to refuse your help to a man in sin but you must also injure him and do him hurt CHAP. XXIV Cases and Directions against Censoriousness and unwarrantable Iudging Tit. 1. Cases of Conscience about Iudging of others Quest. 1. AM I not bound to judge truly of every one as he is Answ. 1. There are many that you are not bound to meddle with and to Quest. 1. pass any judgement at all upon 2. There are many whose faults are secret and their virtues open And of such you cannot judge as they are because you have no proof or evidence to enable you You cannot see that which is latent in the heart or done in darkness 3. You neither ought on pretence of charity nor can believe an evident known untruth of any man Quest. Doth not charity
measures every man on earth is a false Worshipper that is he offereth God a worship some way faulty and imperfect and hath some sin in his worshipping of God And sin is a thing that God requireth not but forbiddeth even in the smallest measures Quest. 9. Which must I judge a true Church of Christ and which a false Church Quest. 9. Answ. The Universal Church is but one and is the whole society of Christians as united to Christ their only Head And this cannot be a false Church But if any other set up an Usurper as the Universal Head and so make another Policy and Church this is a false Church formally or in its policy But yet the members of this false Church or policy may some of them as Christians be also members of the true Church of Christ And thus the Roman Church as Papal is a false Catholick Church haveing the Policy of an Usurper but as Christians they may be members of the true Catholick Church of Christ. But for a particular Church which is but part of the Universal that is a true Church considered meerly as an ungoverned Community which is a true part of the Catholick prepared for a Pastor but yet being without one But that only is a true Political Church which consisteth of Professed Christians conjoyned under a true Pastor for Communion in the profession of true Christianity and for the true worshipping of God and orderly walking for their mutual assistance and salvation Quest. 10. Whom must we judge true Prophets and Pastors of the Church Quest. 10. Answ. He is a true Prophet who is sent by God and speaketh truth by immediate supernatural revelation or inspiration And he is a false Prophet who either falsly saith that he hath Divine revelations or inspiration or prophesieth falshood as from God And he is a true Pastor at the bar of God who is 1. Competently qualified with abilities for the Office 2. Competently disposed to it with willingness and desire of success And hath right ends in undertaking and discharging it 3. Who hath a just admission by true Ordination of Pastors and Consent of the flock And he is to be accounted a true Pastor in foro Ecclesiae in the Churches judgement whom the Church judgeth to have all these qualifications and thereupon admitteth him into possession of the place till his incapacity be notorious or publickly and sufficiently proved or he be removed or made uncapable Tit. 2. Directions for the Cure of sinful Censoriousness Direct 1. MEddle not at all in judging of others without a call Know first whether it be any Direct 1. of your work If not be afraid of those words of your Judge Matth. 7. 1 2 3 4 5. Iudge not that ye be not judged For with what judgement you judge you shall be judged c. And Rom. 14. 4. Who art thou that judgest another mans servant To his own Master he standeth or falleth And vers 10. 13. But why dost thou judge thy brother Or why dost thou set at nought thy brother We shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ Every one of us shall give account of himself to God Let us not therefore judge one another any more 1 Cor. 4. 3 4 5. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of mans judgement Therefore judge nothing before the time till the Lord come who both will bring to light the bidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts Col. 2. 16. Let no man judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new Moon or Sabbath Quest. But when have I a call to Iudge another Answ. You may take the answer to this from the answer to Quest. 10. Chap. 23. Tit. 1. 1. If your Office or place require it as a Magistrate Pastor Parent Master Tutor c. 2. If the safety of the Church or your neighbour do require it 3. If the good of the sinner require it that you may seek his repentance and reformation 4. If your own preservation or welfare or any other duty require it Direct 2. Keep up an humble sense of your own faults and that will make you compassionate to Direct 2. others He that is truly vile in his own eyes is least inclined to vilifie others And he that judgeth himself with the greatest penitent severity is the least inclined to be censorious to his brother Pride is the common cause of censoriousness He that saith with the Pharisee I fast twice a week and pay tythe of all that I have I am no adulterer c. will also say I am not as other men nor as this Publican when the true penitent findeth so much of his own to be condemned that he smiteth on his own breast and saith God be merciful to me a sinner The prouder self-conceited sort of Christians are ever the most censorious of their neighbours Direct 3. Be much therefore at home in searching and watching and amending your own hearts Direct 3. and then you will find so much to do about your selves that you will have no mind or leisure to be censuring others Whereas the superficial hypocrite whose Religion is in externals and is unacquainted with his heart and Heaven is so little employed in the true work of a Christian that he hath leisure for the work of a censorious Pharisee Direct 4. Labour for a deep experimental insight into the nature of Religion and of every duty Direct 4. For no men are so censorious as the ignorant who know not what they say whilest experienced persons know those difficulties and other reasons which calm their minds As in common business no man will sooner find fault with a Workman in his work than idle praters who least understand it So is it commonly in matters of Religion Women and young men that never saw into the great mysteries of Divinity but have been lately changed from a vicious life and have neither acquaintance with the hard points of Religion nor with their own ignorance of them are the common proud censurers of their brethren much wiser than themselves and of all men that are more moderate and peaceable than themselves and are more addicted to Unity and more averse to Sects and separations than they Study harder and wait till you grow up to the experience of the aged and you will be less censorious and more peaceable Direct 5. Think not your selves fit Iudges of that which you understand not And think not proudly Direct 5. that you are liker to understand the difficulties in Religion with your short and lazy studies than those that in reading meditation and prayer have spent their lives in searching after them Let not pride make you abuse the Holy Ghost by pretending that he hath given you more wisdome in a little time and with little means and diligence than your betters have by the
a man choose for a matter of trust Quest. 2. Answ. As the matter is One that hath wisdom skill and fidelity through conscience honesty friendship or his own apparent interest Quest. 3. In what cases may I commit a secret to another Quest. 3. Answ. When there is a necessity of his knowing it or a greater probability of good than hurt by it in the evidence which a prudent man may see Quest. 4. What if another commit a thing to me with charge of secresie and I say nothing to him and so Quest. 4. promise it not Am I bound to secresie in that case Answ. If you have cause to believe that he took your silence for consent and would not else have committed it to you you are obliged in point of fidelity as well as friendship except it be with robbers or such as we are not bound to deal openly with and on terms of equality Quest. 5. What if it be a secret but I am under no Command or Promise at all about it Quest. 5. Answ. You must then proceed according to the Laws of Charity and Friendship and not reveal that which is to the injury of another without a greater cause Quest. 6. What if it be against the King or State or common good Quest. 6. Answ. You are bound to reveal it so far as the safety of the King or State or common good requireth it Yea though you swear the contrary Quest. 7. What if it be only against the good of some third ordinary person Quest. 7. Answ. You must endeavour to prevent his wrong either by revealing the thing or disswading from it or by such means as prudence shall tell you is the meetest way by exercising your love to one without doing wrong to the other Quest. 8. What if a man secretly entrust his estate to me for himself or children when he is in debt Quest. 8. to defraud his Creditors Answ. You ought not to take such a trust And if you have done it you ought not to hold it but resign it to him that did entrust you Yea and to disclose the fraud for the righting of the Creditors except it be in such a case as that the Creditor is some such vicious or oppressing person as you are not obliged to exercise that act of charity for or when the consequents of revealing it will be a greater hurt than the righting of him will compensate especially when it is against the publick good Quest. 9. What if a delinquent entrust me with his estate or person to secure it from penalty Quest. 9. Answ. If it be one that is prosecuted by a due course of Justice cujus poena debetur reipublicae whose punishment the common good requireth the case must be decided as the former You must not take nor keep such a trust But if it be one whose Repentance giveth you reason to believe that his impunity will be more to the common good than his punishment and that if the Magistrate knew it he ought to spare or pardon him in this case you may conceal his person or estate so be it you do it not by a lye or any other sinful means or such as will do more hurt than good Quest. 10. What if a friend entrust me with his estate to secure it from some great taxes or tributes to Quest. 10. the King May I keep such a trust or not Answ. No if they be just and legal taxes for the maintenance of the Magistrate or preservation of the Common-wealth But if it were done by a Usurper that had no authority or done without or beyond authority to the oppressing of the subject you may conceal his estate or your own by lawful means Quest. 11. What if a man that suffereth for Religion commit his person or estate to my trust Quest. 11. Answ. You must be faithful to your trust 1. If it be true Religion and a good cause for which he suffereth 2. Or if he be falsly accused of abuses in Religion 3. Or if he be faulty but the penalty intended from which you secure him is incomparably beyond his fault and unjust Supposing still that you save him only by lawful means and that it be not like to tend to do more hurt than good to the cause of Religion or the Common-wealth Quest. 12. What if a Papist or other erroneous person entrust me being of the same mind to educate Quest. 12. his Children in that way when he is dead and afterwards I come to see the errour must I perform that trust or no Answ. No 1. Because no trust can oblige you to do hurt 2. Because it is contrary to the primary intent of your friend which was his Childrens good And you may well suppose that had he seen his errour he would have entrusted you to do accordingly You are bound therefore to answer his primary intention and truly to endeavour his Childrens good Quest. 13. But what if a man to whom another hath entrusted his Children turn Papist or Heretick Quest. 13. and so thinketh errour to be truth what must he do Answ. He is bound to turn back again to the truth and do accordingly Obj. But one saith this is the truth and another that And he thinketh he is right Answ. There is but one of the contraries true Mens thinking themselves to be in the right doth not make it so And God will not change his Laws because they misunderstand or break them Therefore still that which God bindeth them to is to return unto the truth And if they think that to be truth which is not they are bound to think otherwise If you say They cannot It is either not true or it is long of themselves that they cannot And they that cannot immediately yet mediately can do it in the due use of means Quest. 14. What if I foresee that the taking of a trust may hazard my estate or otherwise hurt me and Quest. 14. yet my dying or living friend desireth it Answ. How far the Law of Christianity or friendship oblige you to hurt your self for his good must be discerned by a prudent considering what your obligations ââe to the person and whether the good of your granting his desires or the hurt to your self is like to be the greater and of more publick consequence And whether you injure not your own Children or others by gratifying him And upon such comparison prudence must determine the case Quest. 15. But what if afterward the trust prove more to my hurt than I foresaw Quest. 15. Answ. If it was your own fault that you foresaw it not you must suffer proportionably for that fault But otherwise you must compare your own hurt with the Orphanes in case you do not perform the trust And consider whether they may not be relieved another way And whether you have reason to think that if the Parent were alive and knew your danger he would expect
c. because the changes may be such which God will make as shall make that way to be one year necessary which before was not and so change your duty We cannot prescribe to God what way he shall appoint us for the future to use his talents in His Word bids us prefer the greatest good but which is the greatest his providence must tell us 8. He that hath no more than is necessary to the very preservation of his own life and his families is not bound to give to others unless in some extraordinary case which calleth him to prefer a greater and more publick good And he that hath no more than is needful to the comfortable support of himself and family is not bound to relieve those that have no greater wants than himself And his own necessity is not to be measured meerly by what he hath but by the use he hath for it For a Magistrate or one that is engaged in publick works may have as much need of many hundreds a year as a private man of many pounds 9. Those that have many children to provide for or poor kindred that nature casteth on them cannot give so much proportionably to other poor as those are bound to do that have few or none For these are bound to give all except their personal necessaries to publick pious or charitable works because God calleth not for it any other way 10. To pamper the flesh is a sin as well in the Rich as in the Poor The Rich therefore are bound not only to give all that the flesh can spare when it s own inordinate desires are satisfied but to deny themselves and mortifie the flesh and be good husbands for God and studiousness to retrench all unnecessary expences and to live Laboriously and Thriftily that they may have the more to do good with It is a great extenuation of the largest gifts as to Gods esteem when they are but the leavings of the flesh and are given out of mens abundance and when we offer that to God that costeth us nothing As Christ doth purposely determine the case Luke 21. 1 2 3 4. comparing the Rich mans gifts with the Widows two mites he said Of a truth I say unto you that this poor Widow hath cast in more than they all For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had that is all the stock she had before-hand though she had need of it her self It is a very considerable thing in our charity how much mortification and self-denyal is expressed in it and how much it costeth our own flesh to give to others And therefore they that think they are excused from doing good to others as long as they have any need of it themselves and will give nothing but what they have no need of it being not of absolute necessity to their lives do offer a sacrifice of no great value in the eyes of God What then shall we say of them that will not give even out of their abundance and that which without any suffering they may spare 11. The first and principal thing to be done by one that would give as God would have him is to get a truly charitable heart which containeth all ââese parts 1. That we see God in his needy creatures and ââ his cause or work that needs our help 2. That we be sensible of his abundant love in Christ to us in giving pardon and eternal life and that from the sense of this our thankful hearts are moved to do good to others 3. That therefore we do it ultimately as to Christ himself who taketh that which is done for his cause and servants as done to him Matth. 25. 40. 4. That we conquer the cursed sin of selfishness which makes men little regard any but themselves 5. That we love our Neighbours as our selves and love most where there is most of God and goodness and not according to self-interest And that as members of the same Body we take our brethrens wants and sufferings as our own and then we should be as ready to help them as our selves 6. That we know the vanity of worldly riches and be not earthly-minded but regard the interest of God and our souls above all the treasures of the world 7. That we unfeignedly believe the promises of God who hath engaged himself to provide for us and everlastingly to reward us in glory with himself If these seven qualifications be wrought upon the Heart good works will plentifully follow Make but the Tree good and the fruit will be good But when the Heart is void of the root and life which should produce them the Iudgement will not be perswaded that so much is necessary and required of us and the will it self will still hang back and be delaying to do good and doing all pinchingly and hypocritically with unwillingness and distrust No wonder if good works are so rare when it is evident that to do them sincerely and heartily as our Trade and business it is necessary that the whole soul be thus renewed by faith and love and self-denyal and mortification and by a Heavenly hope and mind They are the fruits and works of the new creature which is alas too rare in the world For we are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them Ephes. 2. 10. Therefore our first and chiefest labour should be to be sure that we are furnished with such hearts and then if we have wherewith to do good such hearts will be sure to do it Such hearts will best discern the time and measure as a healthful mans appetite will in eating For they will take it for a mercy and happiness to do good and know that it is they that give that are the great receivers It is but a little money or alms that the poor receive of us but it is Gods acceptance and favour and reward that wâ receive which is in this life a hundred fold in value and in the world to come eternal life Matth. 19. 29. But if we have but little or nothing to give such a heart is accepted as if we had given as much as we desire to give so that if you have a heart that would give thousands if you had it God will set down upon your account so many thousands given in desire Your two mites shall be valued above all the superfluities of sensual worldlings For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. 8. 12. But God taketh not that for a willing mind which only saith I would give if I should suffer nothing by it my self or were sure I should not want But that which saith I will serve God as well as I can with my estate while I have it and deny my
that the fleshly mind which is enmity against God should be ready to do good to the spiritual and holy servants of God Gen. 3. 15. Rom. 8. 6 7 8. Or that a selfish man should much care for any body but himself and his own When Love is turned into the hatred of each other upon the account of our partial interests and opinions and when we are like men in war that think he is the bravest most deserving man that hath killed most when men have bitter hateful thoughts of one another and set themselves to make each other odious and to ruine them that they may stand the faster and think that destroying them is good service to God who can look for the fruits of Love from damnable uncharitableness and hatred or that the Devils tree should bring forth holy fruit to God 4. And then when Love is well-spoken of by all even its deadly enemies lest men should see their wickedness and misery and is it not admirable that they see it not the Devil hath taught them to play the Hypocrites and make themselves a Religion which costs them nothing without true Christian Love and Good works that they may have something to quiet and cheat their consciences with One man drops now and then an inconsiderable gift and another oppresseth and hateth and destroyeth and slandereth and censureth that he may not be thought to hate and ruine without cause and when they have done they wipe their mouths with a few Hypocritical prayers or good words and and think they are good Christians and God will not be avenged on them One thinks that God will save him because he is of this Church and another because he is of another Church One thinks to be saved because he is of this opinion and party in Religion and another because he is of that One thinks he is religious because he saith his prayers this way and another because he prayeth another way And thus dead Hypocrites whose hearts were never quickened with the powerful Love of God to love his servants their neighbours and enemies do perswade themselves that God will save them for mocking and flattering him with the service of their deceitful lips while they want the Love of God which is the root of all Good and are possessed with the Love of money which is the root of all evil 1 Tim. 6. 10. and are Lovers of pleasures more than God 2 Tim. 3. 4. They will joyn themselves forwardly to the cheap and outside actions of Religion but when they hear much less than One thing thou yet wantest sell all that thou hast and distribute to the poor and thou shalt have a treasure in Heaven they are very sorrowful because they are very rich Luk. 18. 22 23. Such a fruitless love as they had to others Iam. 2. such a fruitless Religion they have as to themselves For pure Religion and undefiled before God is to visit the fatherless and widows in their adversity and to keep your selves unspotted from the world James 1. 27. See 1 Joh. 2. 15. 3. 17. Whâsâ hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother hath need and shutteth up his bowels of compâssion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him There are specially three Texts that describe the case of sensual uncharitable Gentlemen 1. Luk. 16. A Rich man cloathed in purple and silk for so as Dr. Hammond noteth it should rather be translated and fared sumptuously every day you know the end of him 2. Ezek. 16. 49. Sodoms sin was Pride fulness of bread and abundance of idleness neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy 3. James 5. 1 to 7. Go to now ye rich men weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon you Ye have lived in pleasure on earth and been wanton ye have nourished your hearts as in or for the day of slaughter Ye have condemned and killed the just and he doth not resist you And remember Prov. 21. 13. Whoso stoppeth his cars at the cry of the poor he also shall cry himself and shall not be heard And Jam. 2. 13. He shall have judgement without mercy that shewed no mercy and mercy rejoyceth against judgement Yea in this life it is oft observable Prov. 11. 24. There is that scattereth and yet increaseth and there is that with-holdeth more than is meet but it tendeth to poverty Tit. 2. Directions for works of Charity Direct 1. LOve God and be renewed to his image and then it will be natural to you to do good Direct 1. and his Love will be in you a fountain of good works Direct 2. Love your Neighbours and it will be easie to you to do them all the good you can As it Direct 2. is to do good to your selves or Children or dearest friends Direct 3. Learn self-denyal that selfishness may not cause you to be all for youââlelves and be Satans Direct 3. Law of Nature in you forbidding you to do good to others Direct 4. Mortifie the flesh and the vices of sensuality Pride and Curiosity Gluttony and drunkenness Direct 4. are insatiable gulfs and will devour all and leave but little for the poor Though there be never so many poor families which want bread and clothing the Proud person must first have the other silk Gown or the other ornaments which may set them out with the forwardest in the mode and fashion and this house must first be handsomelyer built and these rooms must first be neatlier furnished and these Children must first have finer cloaths Let Lazarus lye never so miserable at the door the sensualist must be cloathed in purple and silk and fare deliciously and sumptuously daily Luke 16. The glutton must have thâ dish and cup which pleaseth his appetite and must keep a full Table for the entertainment of his companions that have no need These insatiable vices are like Swine and Dogs that devour all the Childrens bread Even vain recreations and gaming shall have more bestowed on them than Church or poor as to any voluntary gift Kill your greedy vices once and then a little will serve your turns and you may have wherewith to relieve the needy and do that which will be better to you at your reckoning day Direct 5. Let not self isâness make your Children the inordinate objects of your charity and provision Direct 5. to take up that which should be otherwise employed Carnal and worldly persons would perpetuate their vice and when they can live no longer themselves they seem to be half alive in their posterity and what they can no longer keep themselves they think is best laid up for their Children to feed them as full and make them as sensual and unhappy as themselves So that just and moderate provisions will not satisfie them but their Childrens Portions must be as much as they can get and almost all their Estates are sibi suis for themselves and theirs And