by the loss of the Common-wealth or of many § 6. Direct 6. Therefore have a special regard to the Laws of the Countrey where you live both Direct 6. as to your Trade it self and as to the price of what you sell or buy For the Law is made for the publick benefit which is to be preferred before any private mans And when the Law doth directly or indirectly set rates upon labours or commodities ordinarily they must be observed or else you will commit two sins at once Injury and Disobedience § 7. Direct 7. Also have special respect to the common estimate and to the Market-price Though Direct 7. it be not alwayes to be our Rule yet ordinarily it must be a considerable part of it and of great regard § 8. Direct 8. Let not imprudent tinking make you seem more covetous than you are Some imprudent Direct 8. persons cannot tell how to make their markets without so many words even about a penny or a trifle that it maketh others think them covetous when it is rather want of wit The appearance of evil must be avoided I have known some that are ready to give a pound to a charitable use at a word who will yet use so many words for a penny in their bargaining as maketh them deeply censured and misunderstood If you see cause to break for a penny or a small matter do it more handsomely in fewer words and be gone And do not tempt the seller to multiply words because you do so § 9. Direct 9. Have no more to do in bargaining with others especially with censorious persons Direct 9. than you needs must For in much dealing usually there will be much misunderstanding offence censure and complaint § 10. Direct 10. In doubtful cases when you are uncertain what is lawful choose that side Direct 10. which is safest to the peace of your consciences hereafter though it be against your commodity and may prove the losing of your right Tit. 2. Cases of Conscience about Iustice in Contracts § 1. Quest. 1. MUst I alwayes do as I would be done by Or hath this Rule any Exceptions Quest. 1. Answ. The Rule intendeth no more but that your just self-denyal and love to others be duly exercised in your dealings with all And 1. It supposeth that your own will or desires be honest and just and that Gods Law be their Rule For a sinful will may not be made the rule of your own actions or of other mens He that would have another make him drunk may not therefore make another drunk And he that would abuse another mans Wife may not therefore desire that another man would lust after or abuse his Wife He that would not be instructed reproved or reformed may not therefore forbear the instructing or reproving others And he that would kill himself may not therefore kill another But he that would have no hurt done to himself injuriously should do none to others And he that would have others do him good should be as willing to do good to them 2. It supposeth that the matter be to be varyed according to your various conditions A Parent that justly desireth his child to obey him is not bound therefore to obey his child nor the Prince to obey his subjects nor the Master to do all the work for his servants which he would have his servants do for him But you must deal by another as you would regularly have them deal by you if you were in their case and they in yours And on these terms it is a Rule of Righteousness § 2. Quest. 2. Is a Son bound by the contract which his Parents or Guardians made for him in his Quest. 2. infancy Answ. To some things he is bound and to some things not The Infant is capable of being obliged by another upon four accounts 1. As he is the Parents own or a Masters to whom he is in absolute servitude 2. As he is to be Ruled by the Parents 3. As he is a Debtor to his Parents for benefits received 4. As he is an expectant or capable of future benefits to be enjoyed upon conditions to be performed by him 1. No Parents or Lord have an Absolute Propriety in any rational creature but they have a propriety secundum quid ad hoc And a Parents propriety doth in part expire or abate as the Son groweth up to the full use of reason and so hath a greater propriety in himself Therefore he may oblige his Son only on this account so far as his propriety extendeth and to such acts and to no other For in those his Will is reputatively his Sons will As if a Parent sell his Son to servitude he is bound to such service as beseemeth one man to put another to 2. As he is Rector to his Child he may by contract with a third person promise that his child shall do such acts as he hath power to command and cause him to do As to read to hear Gods Word â—o labour as he is able But this no longer than while he is under his Parents Government And so long Obedience requireth him to perform their contracts in performing their commands 3. The child having received his Being and maintenance from his Parents remaineth obliged to them as his Benefactors in the debt of gratitude as long as he liveth And that so deeply that some have questioned whether ever he can requite them which quoad valorem beneficii he can do only by furthering their salvation as many a child hath been the cause of the Parents conversion And so far as the Son is thus a debtor to the Parents he is obliged to do that which the Parents by contract with a third person shall impose upon him As if the Parents could not be delivered out of captivity but by obliging the Son to pay a great summ of money or to live in servitude for their release Though they never gave him any money yet he is bound to pay the summ if he can get it or to perform the servitude Because he hath received more from them even his being 4. As the Parents are both Owners secundum quid and Rulers and Benefactors to their child in all three respects conjunct they may oblige him to a third person who is willing to be his Benefactor by a conditional obligation to perform such conditions that he may possess such or such benefits And thus a Guardian or any friend who is fit to interpose for him may oblige him As to take a lease in his name in which he shall be bound to pay such a rent or do such a service that he may receive such a commodity which is greater Thus Parents oblige their children under Civil Governments to the Laws of the Society or Kingdom that they may have the protection and benefits of subjects In these cases the child can complain of no injury for it is for his benefit that he is obliged And the
idly or to lie will find at first some difficulty to overcome their customs and live a mortified holy life yet grace will do it and prevail Especially in point of knowledge and ability of expression be not too hasty in your expectation but wait with patience in a faithful diligent use of means and that will be easie and delightful to you afterwards which before discouraged you with its difficulties § 3. 2. And God himself will have his servants and his graces tryed and exercised by difficulties He never intended us the Reward for sitting still nor the Crown of Victory without a fight nor a â—ight without an enemy and opposition Innocent Adam was unfit for his state of Confirmation and reward till he had been tryed by temptation Therefore the Martyrs have the most glorious Crown as having undergone the greatest tryal And shall we presume to murmur at the Method of God § 4. 3. And Satan having liberty to tempt and try us will quickly raise up Storms and Waves before us as soon as we are set to Sea which make young beginners often fear that they shall never live to reach the Haven He will shew thee the greatness of thy former sins to perswade thee that they shall not be pardoned He will shew thee the strength of thy passions and corruptions to make thee think they will never be overcome He will shew thee the greatness of the opposition and suffering which thou art like to undergo to make thee think thou shalt never persevere He will do his worst to meet thee with poverty losses crosses injuries vexations persecutions and cruelties yea and unkindness from thy dearest friends as he did by Iob to make thee think ill of God or of his service If he can he will make them thy enemies that are of thine own houshold He will stir up thy own Father or Mother or Husband or Wife or Brother or Sister or Children against thee to perswade or persecute thee from Christ Therefore Christ tells us that if we hate not all these that is cannot forsake them and use them as men do hated things when they would turn us from him we cannot be his Disciples Luke 14. 26. Matth. 10. Look for the worst that the Devil can do against thee if thou hast once lifted thy self against him in the Army of Christ and resolvest what ever it coâ—â— thee to be saved Read Heb. 11. But how little cause you have to be discouraged though Earth and Hell should do their worst you may perceive by these few Considerations 1. God is on your side who hath all your enemies in his hand and can rebuke them or destroy them in a moment O what is the breath or fury of dust or Devils against the Lord Almighty If God be for us who shall be against us Rom. 8. 32 33. Read often that Chapter Rom. 8. In the day when thou didst enter into Covenant with God and he with thee thou didst enter into the most impregnable Rock and Fortress and house thy self in that Castle of defence where thou maist modestly defie all adverse powers of Earth or Hell If God cannot save thee he is not God And if he will not save thee he must break his Covenant Indeed he may resolve to save thee not from affliction and persecution but in it and by it But in all these sufferings you will be more than Conquerors through Christ that loveth you that is It is far more desirable and excellent to conquer by patience in suffering for Christ than to conquer our Persecutors in the field by force of arms O think on the Saints triumphant boastings in their God Psal. 46. 1 2 3. God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore will we not fear though the earth be removed and though the Mountains be carryed into the midst of the Sea Psal. 56. 1 2 3 4 5. When his enemies were many and wrested his words daily and fought against him and all their thoughts were against him yet he saith What time I am afraid I will trust in thee In God will I praise his word In God have I put my trust I will not fear what flesh can do unto me Remember Christs charge Luke 12. 4. Fear not them that can kill the body and after that have no more that they can do But I will fore-warn you whom you shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him If all the world were on thy side thou might yet have cause to fear but to have God on thy side is infinitely more § 6. 2. Jesus Christ is the Captain of thy salvation Heb. 2. 10. and hath gone before thee this Securus ego â—um de Christo Deâ— domino meo Haec Regi dicatis Subigat ignibus adigat bestiis excrucieâ— omnium tormentoâ—um generibus si cessero fâ—ustra sum in Ecclesiâ— Catholica baptizatus Nam si haec praesens vita sola esset aliam quae vera est non speraremus aeternam nec ita facerem ut modicum temporaliâ—er gloriarer ingratus existerâ—m qui suam fidem mihi contulâ—t Creatori Victorianus ad Hunnerychum in Vict. Utic p. 461. Victor Uti eusis saith that before the persecution of Hunnerychus these Visions were seen 1. All the Lights put out in the Church and a darkness and stink succeeded 2. The Church filled with abundance of Swine and Goats 3. Another saw a great heap of Corn unwinnowed and a sudden Whirlwind bâ—ew away all the Chaff and after that one came and cast out all the stricken dead and useless Corn till a very little heap was left 4. Another heard one cry on the top of a Mount Migrate Migrate 5. Another saw great Stones cast from Heaven on the Earth which â—lamed and destroyed But he hâ—d himself in a Chamber and none of them could touch him Pag. 405. Sed hoc aedificium ubi construâ—r visus est diabolus statim illud destruere digâ—atus est Christus Id. ib. way himself and hath conquered for thee and now is engaged to make thee Conquerour And darest thou not go on where Christ doth lead the way He was perfected through suffering himself and will see that thou be not destroyed by it Canst thou draw back when thou seest his steps and his blood § 7. 3. Thou art not to conquer in thy own strength but by the Spirit of God and the power of that grace which is sufficient for thee and his strength which appeareth most in our weakness 2 Cor. 12. 9. And you can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth you Phil. 4. 13. Be of good cheer he hath overcome the world John 16. 33. § 8. 4. All that are in Heaven have gone this way and overcome such oppositions and difficulties Iâ— ib saith that an Aâ—â—â—â—an Bishop being put over a City all that could take Ship fled
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 â—nd 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 Dâ—st 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. Hammâ—nd 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 cavâ—llers 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 â—â—re 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 leâ—t 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
callings to take them up Some of them make it their chief excuse that they do it to pass away the time Blind wretches that are so near eternity and can find no better uses for their Time To these I spoke before Chap. 5. Part. 1. § 20. 5. Another cause is the wicked neglect of their dutys to their own families making no conscience of loving their own relations and teaching them the fear of God nor following their business and so they take no pleasure to be at home The company of wife and children and servants is no delight to them but they must go to an ALE-house or Tavern for more suitable company Thus one sin bringeth on another § 21. 6. Another cause is the ill management of matters at home with their own Consciences when they have brought themselves into so terrible and sad a case that they dare not be much alone nor soberly think of their own condition nor seriously look towards another world but fly from themselves and seek a place to hide them from their consciences forgetting that sin will find them out They run to an ALE-house as Saul to his musick to drink away melancholy and drown the noise of a guilty self-accusing mind and to drive away all thoughts of God and Heaven and sin and Hell and death and judgement till it be too late As if they were resolved to be damned and therefore resolved not to think of their misery nor the remedy But though they dare venture upon Hell it self the sots dare not venture upon the serious thoughts of it Eeither there is a Hell or there is none If there be none why shouldst thou be afraid to think of it If there be a Hell as thou wilt find it if thou hold on but a little longer will not the feeling be more intollerable than the thoughts of it And is not the forethinking on it a necessary and cheap prevention of the feeling O how much wiser a course were it to retire your selves in secret and there to look before you to eternity and hear what conscience hath first to say to you concerning your life past your sin and misery and then what God hath to say to you of the remedy You 'll one day find that this was a more necessary work than any that you had at the ALE-house and that you had greater business with God and Conscience than with your idle companions § 22. 7. Another cause is the custom of pledging those that drink to you and of drinking healths by which the Laws of the Devil and the ALE-house do impose upon them the measures of excess and make it their duty to disregard their duty to God So lamentable a thing it is to be the tractable slaves of men and intractable rebels against God! Plutarck mentions One that being invited to a feast made a stop when he heard that they compelled men to drink after meat and askt whether they compelled them to eat too Apprehending that he went in danger of his belly And it seems to be but custom that maketh it appear less ridiculous or odious to constrain men to drinking than to eating § 23. 8. Another great cause of excess is the Devils way of drawing them on by degrees He doth not tempt them directly to be drunk but to drink one cup more and then another and another so that the worst that he seemeth to desire of them is but to drink a little more And thus as Solomon saith of the fornicator they yield to the flatterer and go on as the Ox to the slaughter and as the Fool to the correction of the stocks till a dart strike through his liver as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life Prov. 7. 21 22 23. § 24. III. The Greatness of this sin appeareth in what is said before of Gluttony More specially 1. Think how base a master thou dost serve being thus a slave to thy throat What a beastly thing it is and worse than beastly for few beasts but a swine will be forced to drink more than doth them good How low and poor is that mans reason that is not able to command his throat § 25. Think how thou consumest the creatures of God that are given for service and not for gulosity and luxury The earth shall be a witness against thee that it bore that fruit for better uses which tion misspendestâ—on thy sin Thy Servants and Cattle that labour for it shall be witnesses against thee Thou 〈◊〉 the creatures of God as a sacrifice to the Devil for Drunkenness and Tipling is his serâ—â—â—â— It were less folly to do as Diogenes did who when they gave him a large cup of wine threw it under the table that it might do him no harm Thou makest thy self like Caterpillers and Foxes and wolves and other destroying creatures that live to do mischief and consume that which should 〈◊〉 man and therefore are pursued as unfit to live Thou art to the common-wealth as Mice in the Gâ—â—nary or Weeds in the Corn. It is a great part of the work of faithful Magistrates to weed out such as thou § 26. 3. Thou robbest the poor consuming that on thy throat which should maintain them If thou have any thing to spare it will comfort thee more at last to have given it to the needy than that a greedy thoat devoured it The covetous is much better in this than the Drunkard and Luxurious Prov. 1â— 2â— Prov 14 21. 2â— 1â— 3â— 14 â—2 9. â—8 â—7 For he is a gatherer and the other is a scatterer The Common-wealth maintaineth a double or trâ—ble charge in such as thou art As the same pasture will keep many Sheep which will keep but one Horse so the same country may keep many temperate persons which will keep but a few Gluttons and Drunkards The worldling makes provision cheaper by getting and sparing but the Drunkard and Glutton make it dearer by wasting The covetous man that scrapeth together for himself doth oft-times gather for one that will pity the poor when he is dead Prov. 28. 8. But the Drunkard and Riotous devour it while they are alive One is like a Hog that is good for something at lâ—â—â—â— though his feeding yield no profit while he liveth The other is like devouring vermine that leave nothing to pay for what they did consume The one is like the Pike among the fishes who payeth when he is dead for that which he devoured alive But the other is like the sink or chanel that repayeth you with nothing but stink and dirt for all that you cast into it § 27. 4. Thou drawest poverty and ruine upon thy self Besides the value which thou wastest God usually joyneth with the prodigal by his judgements and scattereth as fast as he Prov. 21. 17. He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man he that loveth wine and oyl shall not be rich There is that 〈…〉 a
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— â—aâ— 12. Qui â—aâ—sâ—m tâ—stâ—monium dâ—â—â—â—se convictus erit e saâ—o Taâ—pâ—iâ— 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 sâ—ared 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 homâ—nes fallunâ— falluntur Misericres suâ—t cum mentiendo fallunt quam cum mentientibus credendo falluntur Uâ—que 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 Petrarâ—h 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 Sâ—epe delinquentibus promptissimum est mentiri Ciâ—â—r 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 Iâ—â—e veâ—â—tatâ—â— Defeâ—â—or esse debeâ— quâ— cum râ—cteâ—â—â—â—ntâ— loquâ— non metuâ—t nec erubeâ—â—â—â—t Ambâ— â—yarâ— are â—aliant against God cowardâ— against men Montaâ—â—a â—sâ— 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
be guilty of the blood and calamities of an unjust War that a wise man will rather be abused as a Neuter than run himself into the danger of such â— case § 4. Direct 4. When Necessity forceth you to go forth in a just War do it with such humiliation Direct 4. and unwillingness as beseemeth one that is a Patient a Spectator and an Actor in one of the sorest of Gods temporal judgements Go not to kill men as if you went to a Cock-fight or a Bear-baiting Make not a sport of a common calamity Be not insensible of the displeasure of God expressed in so great a judgement What a sad condition is it to your selves to be imployed in destroying others If they be good how sad a thought is it that you must kill them If they are wicked how sad is it that by killing them you cut off all their hopes of mercy and send them suddenly to Hell How sad an employment is it to spoil and undo the poor inhabitants where you come To cast them into terrors to deprive them of them of that which they have long been labouring for To prepare for famine and be like a consuming pestilence where you come Were it but to see such desolations it should melt you into compassion much more to be the executioners your selves How unsuitable a work is it to the grace of Love Though I doubt not but it is a service which the Love of God our Countrey and our Rulers may sometimes justifie and command yet as to the Rulers and Masters of the business it must be a very clear and great necessity that can warrant a War And as to the Souldiers they must needs go with great regret to kill men by thousands whom they Love as themselves He that Loveth his neighbour as himself and blesseth and doeth good to his persecuting enemy will take it heavily to be employed in killing him even when necessity maketh it his duty But the greatest calamity of War is the perniciousness of it to mens souls Armies are commonly that to the soul as a City infected with the Plague is to the body The very Nurseries and Academies of pride and cruelty and drunkenness and whoredome and robbery and licentiousness and the bane of Piety and common Civility and Humanity Not that every Souldier cometh to this pass the hottest Pestilence killeth not all But O how hard is it to keep up a life of faith and godliness in an Army The greatness of their business and of their fears and cares doth so wholly take up their minds and talk that there is scarce any room found for the matters of their souls though unspeakably greater They have seldome leisure to hear a Sermon and less to pray The Lords Day is usually taken up in matters that concern the lives and therefore can pretend necessity So that it must be a very resolute confirmed vigilant person that is not alienated from God And then it is a course of life which giveth great opportunity to the Tempter and advantage to temptations both to errors in judgement and vitiousness of heart and life He that never tryed it can hardly conceive how difficult it is to keep up piety and innocency in an Army If you will suppose that there is no difference in the Cause or the Ends and Accidents I take it to be much more desirable to serve God in a Prison than in an Army and that the condition of a Prisoner hath far less in it to tempt the foolish or to afflict the wise than a military Excepting those whose life in Garrisons and lingring Wars doth little differ from a state of peace I am not simply against the lawfulness of War Nor as I conceive Erasmus himself though he saw the sinfulness of that sort of men and use to speak truly of the horrid wickedness and misery of them that thirst for blood or rush on Wars without necessity But it must be a very extraordinary Army that is not constituted of Wolves and Tygers and is not unto common honesty and piety the same that a Stews or Whore-house is to chastity And O how much sweeter is the work of an honest Physicion that saveth And though I ignore not that it is a much more fashionable and celebrated practice in young Gentlemen to kill men than to cure them and that mistaken mortals think it to be the noblest exercise of vâ—rtue to destroy the noblest workmanship of nature and indeed in some few cases the requisiteness and danger of destructive vaâ—ouâ— may makâ— its actions become a virtuous Patriot yet when I consider the character given of our great Master and Exemâ—lar that he went ab uâ— doing good and healing all manner of sicknesses I cannot but think such an employment worthy of the very noblest of lâ—â— Discipâ—es Mr. Boyles Experiment Philos p. 303 304. mens lives than of a Souldier whose vertue is shewed in destroying them Or a Carpenters or Masons that adorneth Cities with comely buildings than a Souldiers that consumeth them by fire § 5. Direct 5. Be sure first that your cause be better than your lives and then resolve to venture Direct 5. your lives for them It is the hazarding of your Lives which in your Calling you undertake And therefore be not unprepared for it but reckon upon the worst and be ready to undergo what ever you undertake A Souldiers life is unfit for one that dare not dye A Coward is one of the most pernicious murderers He verifieth Christs saying in another sense He that saveth his life shall lose it While men stand to it it is usually but few that dye because they quickly daunt the enemy and keep him on the defensive part But when once they rowt and run away they are slain on heaps and fall like leaves in a windy Autumn Every Coward that pursueth them is emboldned by their fear and dare run them through or shoot them behind that durst not so near have looked them in the face and maketh it his sport to kill a fugitive or one that layeth down his weapons that would flye himself from a daring presence Your cowardly fear betrayeth the cause of your King and Countrey It betrayeth the lives of your fellow Souldiers while the running of a few affrighted dastards lets in ruine upon all the rest And it casteth away your own lives which you think to save If you will be Souldiers resolve to conquer or to dye It is not so much skill or strength that conquereth as boldness It is Fear that loseth the day and fearlesness that winneth it The Army that standeth to it getteth the Victory though they fight never so weakly For if you will not run the enemy will And if the lives of a few be lost by courage it usually saveth the lives of many Though wisdom still is needful in the Conduct And if the cause be not worth your lives you should not meddle with it § 6. Direct 6. Resolve
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-â—ead for such sins as false witnessing and false judging and oppressing and injuâ—ing 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
consenting to it which is Repentance and saith being the very condition of the present reception of these benefits And therefore it is that the antient Writers still affirmed that all the Baptized were regenerated justified and adopted Whether an adult person be truly fit for Baptism Lege quamplutima veterum testimonia in D. Gatakero contra Davenantium de Baptismo or not the Pastor that baptizeth is to judge And he must see the credible signs of true faith and repentance before he baptize him which are no other than his understanding voluntary sober profession of consent to the Baptismal Covenant But when he is baptized and professeth to stand to that Covenant once made he is to be judged a godly person by all the Church-members who have not sufficient proof of the contrary Because if he be sincere in what he did and still professeth he is certainly godly And whether he be sincere or not he himself is the best and regular Judge or discerner so far as to put in his claim to Baptism which the Pastor is obliged not to deny him without disproving him And the Pastor is Judge as to his actual admittance And therefore the people have nothing necessarily to do but know whether he be baptized and stand to his baptism For which they are to take him as sincere Unless by his notorious discovery of the contrary they can disprove him These are not only the true terms of Church-communion but of Love to the godly And though this goeth hardly down with some good men who observe how few of the baptized seem to be seriously religious and therefore they think that a Visible Church member as such is not at all to be accounted sincere that is to be believed in his profession and that we owe him not the special love which is due to the godly but only a common love due only to professors without respect to their sincerity Yet this opinion will not hold true Nor is a profession required without respect to the truth or falshood of it the credibility of it being the very reason that it is requisite Nor is it any other faith or consent to the Covenant below that which is sincere and saving which must be professed by all that will be taken for Church-members And though those that are of the contrary opinion are afraid leâ—t this will occasion too much strictness in the Pastors in judging whose Profession is credible and consequently will countenance separation in the people yet God hath provided a sufficient remedy against that fear by making every man the opener of his own heart and tying us by the Law of Nature and of Scripture to take every mans Profession for credible which is sober understanding and voluntary unless they can disprove it or prove him a lyar and perfidious and incredible And whereas it is a latitude of Charity which bringeth them to the contrary opinion for fear lest the incredible professors of Christianity should be all excluded from the Visible Church yet indeed it is but the Image of Charity to bring Catechumens into the Church as to set the Boys of the lowest Form among them that are in their Greek and to deny all special Christian Love to all Visible members of the Church as such and to think that we are not bound to take any of them as Disputations of Right to Sacraments such to be sincere or in the favour of God or justified for fear of excluding those that are not But of this I have written largely in a Treatise on this subject Quest. 5. Must we take all Visible-Church-members alike to be godly and love them equally Quest. 5. Answ. No There are as many various degrees of credit due to their profession as there are various degrees of credibility in it Some manifest their sincerity by such full and excellent evidences in a holy life that we are next to certain that they are sincere And some make a profession so ignorantly so coldly and blot it by so many false Opinions and Vices that our fear of them may be greater than our hope Of whom we can only say that we are not altogether hopeless of their sincerity and therefore must use them as godly men because we cannot prove the contrary but yet admonish them of their danger as having much cause to fear the worst And there may be many notorious wicked men in some Churches through the Pastors fault for want of Discipline And these for order sake we must assemble with but not dissemble with them and our own consciences so as to take them for godly men when the contrary is notorious nor yet to admit them to our familiarity The Pastor hath the keys of the Church but we have the keyes of our own houses and hearts Quest. 6. Must we love all equally that seem truly godly the strong and the weak Quest. 6. Answ. No he that loveth men for their holiness will love them according to the degrees of their holiness as far as he can discern it Quest. 7. Must we love him more who hath much grace or holiness and is little useful for want of Quest. 7. gifts or him that hath less grace and eminent useful gifts Answ. They must both be loved according to the diversity of their goodness He that hath most grace is best and therefore most to be loved in himself But as a Means to the conversion of souls and the honour of God in the good of others the man that hath the most eminent gifts must be most loved The first is more loved in and for his own goodness The second is more lovely propter aliud as a means to that which is more loved than either of them Quest. 8. Must we love him as a godly man who liveth in any great or mortal sin Quest. 8. Answ. Every man must be loved as he is If by a mortal sin be meant a sin inconsistent with the Love of God and a state of grace then the question is no question it being a contradiction which is in question But if by a great and mortal sin be meant only this or that act of sinning and the question be Whether that act be mortal that is inconsistent with true grace or not Then the particular act with the circumstances must be considered before that question can be answered Murder is one of the most heinous sins And one man may be guilty of it out of deliberate habituate malice and another through a sudden passion and another through meer inadvertency carelesness and negligence Stealing may be done by one man presumptuously and by another meerly to save the life of himself or his children These will not equally prove a man in a state of death and without true grace And which is a mortal sin inconsistent with the life of Grace and which not is before spoken to and belongeth not to this place Only I shall say that the sin be it great or