impenitence and unworthiness frustrate these so inestimable mercies to me but qualifie me by thy grace to receive the full benefit of them O Lord I have abundant need of thee but am so clog'd with guilt so holden with the cords of my sins that I am not able to move towards thee O lose me from this band wherewith Satan and my own lusts have bound me and draw me that I may run after thee Lord thou seest daily how eagerly I pursue the paths that lead to death but when thou invitest me to life and glory I turn my back and forsake my own mercy How often hath this feast been prepared and I have with frivilous excuses absented my self or if I have come it hath been rather to defie then to adore thee I have brought such troops of thy professed enemies unrepented sins along with me as if I â—ame not to commemorate but renew thy passion crucifying thee afresh and putting thee to open shame and now of what punishment shall I be thought worthy who have thus trampled under foot the Son of God and counted the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing yet O merciful Jesu this blood is my onely râ—â—â—ge O let this make my atonement or I perish eternally wherefore didst thou shed it but to save sinners neither can the merit of it be overwhelmed either by the greatness or number of sins I am a sinner a great one O let me find its saving efficacy Be merciful unto me O God be merciful to me for my soul trusteth in thee and in the clefts of thy wound shall be my refuge until thy fathers indignation be overpast O thou who hast as my high Priest sacrificed for me intercede for me also and plead thy meritorious sufferings on my behalfe and suffer not O my Redeemer the price of thy blood to be utterly lost And grant O Lord that as the sins I have to be forgiven are many so I may love much Lord thou seest what faint what cold affections I have towards thee O warm and enliven them and as in this Sacrament that transcendent love of thine in dying for me is shewed forth so I beseech thee let it convey such grace into me as may enable me to make some returns of love O let this divine fire descend from heaven into my soul and let my sins be the burnt offering for it to consume that there may not any corrupt affection any accursed thing be shelterd in my heart that I may never again defile that place which thou hast chosen for thy temple Thou dyedst O dear Jesu to redeem me from all iniquity O let me not again sell my self to work wickedness but grant that I may approach thee at this time with most sincere and fixed resolutions of an entire reformation and let me receive such grace and strength from thee as may enable me faithfully to perform them Lord there are many old habituated diseases my soul groanes under Her mention thy most prevailing corruptions And though I lye never so long at the pool of Bethesda come never so often to thy table yet unless thou be pleased to put forth thy healing vertue they will still remain uncured O thou blessed Physician of souls heal me and grant I may now so touch thee that every one of these loath some issues may immediately stanch that these sicknesses may not be unto death but unto the glory of thy mercy in pardoning to the glory of thy grace in purifying so polluted a wretch O Christ hear me and grant I may now approach thee with such humility and contrition love and devotion that thou maist vouchsafe to come unto me and abide with me communicating to me thy self and all the merits of thy passion And then O Lord let no accusations of Satan oâ— my own conscience amaze or distract me buâ— having peace with thee let me also have peace in my self that this wine may make glad this bread of life may strengthen my heart and enable me cheerfully to run the way of thy Commandments Grant this merciful Saviour I beseech thee for thine own bowels and compassions sake EjACULATIONS to be used at the LORDS TABLE LOrd I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men Here recollect some of thy greatest sins If thou Lord shouldst be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it But with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous Redemption Behold O Lord thy beloved Son in whom thou art well pleased Hearken to the cry of his blood which speaketh better things then that of Abel By his Agony and bloody Sweat by his Cross and Passion good Lord deliver me O Lamb of God which takest away the sins of the world grant me thy Peace O Lamb of God which takest away the sins of the world have mercy upon me Immediately before Receiving THou hast said that he that eateth thy flesh and drinketh thy blood hath eternal life Behold the servant of the Lord be it unto me according to thy word At the Receiving of the Bread BY thy Crucified Body deliver me from this body of death At the Receiving of the Cup. O let this blood of thine purge my conscience from dead works to serve the living God Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean O touch me and say I will be thou clean After Receiving WHat shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits he hath done unto me I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Therefore blessing honour glory and power be to him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Amen I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous judgments O hold thou up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not A Thanksgiving after the Receiving of the Sacrament OThou Fountain of all goodness from whom every good and perfect gift cometh and to whom all honour and glory should be returned I desire with all the most fervent and inflamed affections of a grateful heart to blesse and praise thee for those inestimable mercies thou hast vouchsafed me Lord what is man that thou shouldst so regard him as to send thy beloved Son to suffer such bitter things for him But Lord what am I the worst of men that I should have any part in this atonement who have so oft despised him and his sufferings O the height and depth of this mercy of thine that art pleased to admit me to the renewing of that Covenant with thee which I have so often so perversly broken that I who am not worthy of that daily bread which sustains the body should be made partaker of this bread of life which nourishes the Soul and
eat no more then will just keep us from starving but we may also eat whatsoever either for kind or quantity most tends to the health and welfare of them Now that eating which is agreeable to these ends is within the bounds of temperance as on the contrary whatsoever is contrary to them is a transgression against it He therefore that sets up to himself other ends of eating as either the pleasing of his taste or what is yet worse the pampering of his body that he may the better serve his lust he directly thwarts and crosses these ends of Gods for he that hath those aimes doth that which is very contrary to health yea and to life it self as appears by the many diseases and untimely deaths which surfetting and uncleanness daily bring on men 28. He therefore that will practice this vertue of temperance must neither eat so much nor of any such sorts of meat provided â—he can have other as may be hurtful to his health what the sorts or quantities shall be is impossible to set down for that differs according to the several constitutions of men some men may with temperance eat a great deal because their stomacks require it when another may be guilty of intemperance in eating but half so much because it is more then is useful to him And so also for the sort of meat it may be niceness and luxury for some to be curious in them when yet some degree of it may be necessary to the infirmities of a weak stomack which not out of wantonness but disease cannot eate the courser meats But I think it may in general be said that to healthful bodies the plainest meats are generally the most wholsome but every man must in this be left to judg for himself and that he may do it aright he must be careful that he never suffer himself to be enslaved to his palate for that will be sure tâ— satisfie its self whatever becomes of health or life 29. To secure him the better let him consider First How unreasonable a thing it is that the whole body should be subjected to this one sense of tasting that it must run all hazards only to please that But it is yet much more so that the diviner part the soul should also be thus enslaved and yet thus it is in an intemperate person his very soul must be sacrificed to this brutish appetite for the sin of intemperance though it be acted by the body yet the soul must share in the eternal punishment of it Secondly Consider how extreme short and vanishing this pleasure is it is gone in a moment but the pains that attend the excess of it are much more durable and then surely it agrees not with that common reason wherewith as men we are indued to set our hearts upon it But then in the third place it agrees yet worse with the temper of a Christian who should have his heart so purified and refined with the expectation of those higher and spiritual joyes he looks for in another world that he should very much despise these gross and brutish pleasures which beasts are as capable of as we and to them we may well be content to leave them it being the highest their natures can reach to but for us who have so much more excellent hopes it is an intolerable shame that we should account them as any part of our happiness Lastly the sin of Gluttony is so great and dangerous that Christ thought fit to give an especial warning against it take heed to your selves that your hearts be not overcharged with surfetting c. Luke 21. 34. And you know what was the end of the rich glutton Luke 16. He that had fared deliciously every day at last wants a drop of water to coole his tongue So much for that first sort of temperance that of eating PARTITION VIII Of Temperance in DRINKING False Ends of Drinking viz. Good Fellow-ship Putting away cares c. § 1. THe second is temperance in drinking and the ends of eating and drinking being much the same I can give no other direct rules in this then what were given in the former to wit that we drink neither of such sorts of liquor nor in such quantities as may not agree with the right ends of drinking the preserving of our lives and healths Only in this there will be need of putting in one caution for our understandings being in more danger to be hurt by drink then meat we must take care to keep that safe and rather not drink what we might safely in respect of our healths if it be in danger to distemper our reason This I say because it is possible some mens brains may be so weak that their heads cannot bear that ordinary quantity of drink which would do theâ—r bodies no harm And whoever is of this temper must strictly abstaâ—n from that degree of drink or that sort of it which he finds hath that effect yea though it do in other respects appear not only safe but useful to his health For though we are to preserve our healths yet we are not to do it by a sin as drunkenness most certainly is 2. But alas of those multitudes of drunkards we have in the world this is the case but of very few most of them going farr beyond what their health requires yea or can bear even to the utter destruction thereof And therefore it is plain men have set up to themselves some other ends of drinking then those allowable ones forementioned it may not be amisse a little to examine what they are and withal to shew the unreasonableness of them 3. The first and most owned is that which they call good fellowship One man drinks to keep another company at it But I would ask such a one whether if that man were drinking rank poison he would pledg him for company If he say he would not I must tell him that by the very same nay far greater reason he is not to do this For immoderate drinking is that very poison perhaps it doth not always work death immediately yet there want not many instances of its having done even that very many having died in their drunken fit but that the custome of it does usually bring men to their ends is past doubt and therefore though the poison work slowly yet it is still poison But however it doth at the present work that which a wise man would more abhor then death it works madness and frenzy turns the man into a beast by drowning that reason which should difference him from one Certainly the effects of drink are such that had being drunk been first enjoyned as a punishment we should have thought him a more then ordinary Tyrant that had invented it 4. A second end of drinking is said to be the maintaining of friendship and kindness amongst men But this is strangely unreasonable that men should do that towards the maintaining of friendship
ECCLESIA ANGLICANA Read Pray The WHOLE DUTY of MAN Plainly layd down for the use of the meanest Reader with PRAYERS 〈…〉 Take heed and beware of false Prophets Matt. 7. The Practice of Christian Graces OR The WHOLE Duty OF Man LAID DOWN In a Plaine and Familiar WAY for the Use of All but especially the MEANEST READER Divided into XVII CHAPTERS ONE whereof being read every LORDS DAY the Whole may be read over THRICE in the YEAR WITH PRIVATE DEVOTIONS For Several OCCASIONS Viz. For MORNING EVENING SACRAMENT The SICK c. Times of PUB CALAMITIES London Printed by â— Maxwell for T. Garthwait at the little North door of S. Pauls 1658. Mr. GARTHVVAIT YOu needed not any Intercession to recommend this task to me which brought its Invitations and Reward with it I very willingly Read over all the sheets both of the Discourse and the Devotions annext and find great cause to bless God for both not discerning what is wanting in any part of either to render it with Gods blessing most sufficient and proper to the great End designed the Spiritual supplies and advantages of all those that shall be exercised therein The subject matter of it is indeed what the Title undertakes The whole Duty of Man Set down in all the Branches with those advantages of brevity and Partitions to invite and support and engage the Reader That Condescension to the meanest capacities but with all That weight of Spiritual Arguments wherein the best proficients will be glad to be assisted that it seems to me equally fitted for both sorts of Readers which shall bring with them a sincere desire of their own either present or future advantages The Devotion part in the conclusion is no way inferior being a most seasonable aid to every mans infirmities and hath extended it self very particularly to all our principal concernments The Introduction hath supplyed the place of a Preface which you seem to desire from me and leaves me no more to add but my Prayers to God That the Author which hath taken care to conveigh so liberal an Alms to the Corban so secretly may not miss to be rewarded openly in the visible power and benefit of this work on the hearts of the whole Nation which was never in more need of such supplies as are here afforded That His Allsufficient Grace will bless the seed sown and give an abundant encrease is the humblest request of March 7. 1657. Your assured Friend H. HAMMOND A TABLE Of the CONTENTS of the several CHAPTERS or PARTITIOâ—S in this Book Which according to this Division by Reading one of these Chapters every Lords Day the whole may be Read over Thrice in the year PARTITION 1. OF the Duty of Man by the light of Nature by the light of Scripture Of Faith the Promises of Hope of Love c. page 1. PARTITION 2. Of Humility of Submission to Gods Will in respect of Obedience of Patience in all sorts of Sufferings and of Honour due to God in several wayes in his House Possessions His Day Word Sacraments c. page 34. PARTITION 3. Of the Lords Supper Of Preparation before Receiving of Duties to be done at the Receiving and afterwards c. page 67. PARTITION 4. Honour due to Gods Name Of Sinning against it Blasphemy Swearing Assertory Oaths Promissory Oaths Vnlawful Oaths Of Perjury Of Vain Oaths and the Sin of them c. page 98. PARTITION 5. Of Worship due to Gods Name Of Prayer and its several parts Of Publick Prayers iâ— the Church in the Family Of Private Prayâ—er Of Repentance c. Of Fâ—sting page 109 PARTITION 6. Of Duties to our Selves Of Sobriety Humility The great Sin of Pride the Danger the Folly of this Sin Of Vain-Glory the Danger Folly Means to prevent it Oâ— Meekness the Means to obtain it c. page 136 PARTITION 7. Of Contentedness and the Contraries tâ— it Murmuring Ambition Covetoâ—sness Envy Helps to Contentedness Of Dutie which concern our Bodies Of Chastity Helpâ— to it Temperance Rules of Temperance iâ— Eating c. page 158. PARTITION 8. Of Temperance in Drinking False Ends oâ— Drinking viz. Good fellowship Putting away Cares c. page 177. PARTITION 9. Temperance in Sleep The Rule of it c. Of Recreation of Apparel page 197 PARTITION 10. Of Duties to our Neighbours Of Justice Negative and Positive Of the Sin of Murâ—her Of the Hainousness of it The Punishments of it And the Strange Discoveries thereof Of Maiming Wounds and stripes page 206. PARTITION 11. Of Justice about the Possessions of our Neighbour Against Injuring him as Concerning his Wife His Goods Of Malice Covetousness Oppression Theft Of Paying Debts c. page 226. PARTITION 12. Of Theft Stealing the Goods of our Neighbour Of Deceit in Trust in Traffick Of Restitution c. page 238. PARTITION 13. Of False Reports False Witness Slanders Whisperings Of Despising and Scoffing for Infirmities Calamities Sins c. Of Positive Justice Speaking the Truth Of Lying Of Humility and Pride Of Envy Detraction Of Gratitude c. page 251. PARTITION 14. Of Duty to Parents Magistrates Pastors c. Of the Duty of Parents to Children c. page 278. PARTITION 15. Of Duty to our Brethren and Relations Husband Wife Friends Masters Servants page 305. PARTITION 16. Other Branches of our Duty to our Neighbour Of Charity to Mens Souls Bodiesâ— Goods c. page 329. PARTITION 17. Of Charity Alms-giving c. Of Charity in respect of our Neighbours Credit Of Peace-making Of going to Law Of Charity to our Enemies c. Christian Duties both Possible and pleasant page 358. A TABLE of the PRAYERS Prayers for Morning 562 Prayers for Night 570 Collects for several Graces 577 A Paraphrase on the Lords Prayer 591 Pious Ejaculations out of the Book of Psalms 594 Brief heads of Examination before the Sacrament 598 Prayers before the Sacrament 613 Ejaculations at the Lords Table c 619 Prayers after the Sacrament 621 Prayers for the Sick 631 Ejaculations for the Sick 63â— Prayers for Publick Calamities 644 A PREFACE To the ensuing TREATISE Shewing the Necessity of Caring for the Soul § 1. THE only intent of this ensuing Treatise is to be a short plain direction to the very meanest Readers to behave themselves so in this world that they may be happy for ever in the next But because 't is in vain to tell men their duties till they be perswaded of the necessity of performing it I shall before I proceed to the particulars required of every Christian endeavour to win them to the practice of one general duty preparatory to all the rest and that is the consideration and care of their own Souls without which they will never think themselves much concern'd in the other 2. Man We know is made up of two parts a body and a soul The body only the husk or shell of the soul a lump of flesh subject to many diseases and pains while it lives and at last to death it self and
then 't is so far from being valued that 't is not to be endured above ground but layed to rott in the Earth Yet to this viler part of us we perform a great deal of care all the labour and toil we are at is to maintain that But the more precious part the Soul is little thought of no care taken how it fares but as if it were a thing that nothing concerned us is left quite neglected never consider'd by us 3. This carelesnesse of the Soul is the root of all the sin we commit and therefore whosoever intends to set upon a Christian course must in the first place amend that To the doing wherof there needs no deep learning or extraordinary parts the simplest man living that is not a natural fool hath understanding enough for it if he will but act in this by the same rules of common reason whereby he proceeds in his worldly business I will therefore now briefly set down some of those motives which use to stir up our care of any outward thing and then apply them to the Soul 4. There be four things especially which use to awake our care the first is the worth of the thing the second the usefulnesse of it to us when we cannot part with it without great damage and mischief the third the great danger of it the fourth the likelyhood that our care will not be in vain but that it will preserve the thing cared for 5. For the first we know our care of any worldly thing is answerable to the worth of it What is of greatest price we are most watchful to preserve and most fearful to lose no man locks up dung in his chest but his money or what he counts precious he doth Now in this respect the Soul deserves more care then all the things in the world besides for 't is infinitly more worth First in that is made after the image of God it was God that breathed into man this breath of life Gen 27. Now God being of the greatest excellency and worth the more any thing is like him the more it is to be valued But 't is sure that no creature upon the earth is at all like God but the Soul of man and therefore nothing ought to have so much of our care Secondly the Soul never dies We use to prize things according to their durablenesse what is most lasting is most worth Now the Soul is a thing that will last for ever when Wealth Beauty Strength nay our very bodies themselves fade away the Soul still continues Therefore in that respect also the Soul is of the greatest worth and then what strange madnesse is it for us to neglect them as we do We can spend Days and Weekes and Moneths and Years nay our whole lives in hunting after a little wealth of this world which is of no durance or continuance â—nd in the mean time â—et this great durable treasure our Souls be stoâ—â— from us by the Divel 6. A second motive to our care of any thing is the usefulnesse of it to us or â—he great mischief we shall have by the â—osse of it Common reason teaches us â—his in all things of this life If our â—aires fall we do not much regard 〈◊〉 because we can be well enough withâ—ut them But if we are in danger to lose our eyes or limbs we think all the care we can take little enough to prevent it because we know it will be a great misery But certainly there is no misery to be compared to that misery that followes the losse of the Soul 'T is true we cannot lose our Souls in one sense that is so lose them that they shall cease to be but we may so lose them in another that we shall wish to lose them even in that That is we may lose that happy estate to which they were created and plunge them into the extremest misery In a word we may lose them in Hell whence there is no fetching them back and so they are lost for ever Nay in this consideration our very bodies are concerned those darlings of ours for which all our care is layed out for they must certainly after death be raised again and be joyned again to the soul and take part with it in whatever state if then our care for the body take up all our time and thoughts and leave us none to bestow on the poor Soul it is sure the Soul will for want of that care be made for ever miserable But it is as sure that that very body must be so too And therefore if you have any true kindnesse to your body shew it by taking care of your Souls Think with your selves how you will be able to endure everlasting burnings if a small spark of fire lighting on the least part of the body be so intolerable what will it be to have the whole cast into the hottest flames and that not for some few howres or days but for ever so that when you have spent many thousand of years in that unspeakable torment you shall be no neerer comâ—ng out of it then you were the first day you went in think of this I say and think this withall that this will certainly be the end of neglecting the Soul and therefore afford it some care if it be but in pity to the body that must bear a part in its miseries 7. The third Motive to the care of any thing is its being in danger now a thing may be in danger two wayes first by enemies from without This is the case of the sheep which is still in danger of being devoured by wolves and we know that makes the Shepheard so much the more watchful over it Thus is it with the soul which is in a great deal of danger in respect of its enemies Those we know are the World the Flesh and the Divel which are all such noted enemies to it that the very first act we do in behalfe of our Souls is to vow a continual war against them This we all do in our Baptism and whoever makes any truce with any of them is false not only to his Soul but to his vow also becomes a forsworn creature A consideration well worthy our laying to heart But that we may the better understand what danger the Soul is in let us a little consider the quality of these enemies 8. In a war you know there are divers things that make an enemy terrible The first is subtilty and cunning by which alone many victories have been won and in this respect the Divel is a dangerous adversary he long since gave sufficient proof of his subtlety in beguiling our first parents who yet were much wiser then we are and therefore no wonder if he deceive and cheat us Secondly the watchfulness and diligence of an enemy makes him the more to be feared and here the Divel exceeds it is his trade business to destroy us and he is no loiterer
appliable to this love of God let us not love in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth 43. A Fourth duty to God is Fear this arises from the consideration both of his Justice and his Power his Justice is such that he will not clear the wicked his Power such that he is able to inflict the sorest punishments upon them that this is a reasonable cause of fear Christ himself tells us Mat. 10. 18. Fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell Many other places of Scripture there are which commend to us this duty as Psal. 2. 11. Serve the Lord with fear Psal. 34. 9. Fear the Lord yea that be his Saints Pro. 9. 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and divers the like and indeed all the threatnings of wrath against sinners which we meet with in the Scripture are only to this end to work this fear in our hearts 44. Now this fear is nothing else but such an awful regard of God as may keep us from offending him This the wise man tells us Prov. 16. 17. The fear of the Lord is to depart fâ—om evil so that none can be said truly to fear God that is not thereby withheld from sin this is but answerable to that common fear we have towards man whoever we know may hurt us we wil beware of provoking therefore if we be not as wary of displeasing God it is plain we fear men more then we do him 45. How great a madness this is thus to fear men above God will soon appear if we compare what man can do to us with that which God can And first it is sure it is not in the power of man I might say Divels too to do us any hurt unless God permit and suffer them to do it so that if we do but keep him our friend we may say with the Psalmist The Lord is on my side I fear not what man can do unto me For let their malice be never so great he can restrain and keep them from hurting us nay he can change their minds towards us according to that of the wise man Pro. 16. 7. When a mans wayes please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him A notable example of this we have in Jacob Gen. 32. who whem his brother Esau was coming against him as an enemy God wonderfully turned his heart so that he met him with all the expressions of brotherly kindness as you may read in the next Chapter 46. But Secondly suppose men were left at liberty to do thee what mischief they could Alas their power goes but a little way they may perhaps rob thee of thy goods it may be they may take away thy liberty or thy credit or perchance thy life too but that thou knowest is the utmost they can do But now God can do all this when he pleases and that which is infinitely more his vengeance reaches even beyond death it self to this eternal Misery both of body and soul in hell in comparison of which death is so considerable that we are notto look upon it with any dread Fear not them that kill the body and after that have no more that they can do saith Christ Luk. 12. 4. And then immediately adds But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him In which words the comparison is set between that greatest ill we can suffer from man the loss of life and those sadder evils God can inflicton us and the latter are found to be the only dreadful things and therefore God only to be feared 47. But there is yet one thing farther considerable in this matter which is this it is possible we may transgress against men and they not know it I may perhaps steal my neighbours goods or defile his wife and keep it so close that he shall not suspect me and so never bring me to punishment for it but this we cannot do with God he knows all things even the most secret thoughts of our hearts and therefore though we commit a sin never so closely he is sure to fit us and will as surely if we do not timely repent punish us eternally for it 48. And now surely it cannot but be confest that it is much safer displeasing men then God yet alas our practice is as if we believed the direct contrary there being nothing more ordinary with us then for the avoiding of some present danger we fear from men to rush our selves upon the indignation of God And thus it is with us when either to save our estates or credits or our very lives we commit any sin for that is plainly the chusing to provoke God rather then man 49. But God knows this case of the fear of men is not the only one wherein we venture to displease him for we commit many sins to which we have none of this temptation nor indeed any other as for instance that of common swearing to which there is nothing either of pleasure or profit to invite us Nay many times we who so fear the mischiefs that other men may do to us that we are ready to buy them off with the greatest sins do our selves bring all those very mischiefs upon us by sins of our own chusing Thus the careless prodigal robs himself of his estate the deceitful dishonest man or any that lives in open notorious sin deprives himself of his credit and the drunkard glutton brings diseases on himself to the shortning his life And can we think we do at al fear God when that fear hath so little power over us that though it be backt with the many present mischiefs that attend one sin it is not able to keep us from them surely such men are so far from fearing God that they rather seem to defie him resolve to provoke him whatsoever it cost them either in this world or the next Yet so unreasonably partial are we to our selves that even such as these wil pretend to this fear you may examine multitudes of the most gross scandalous sinners before you shall meet with one that will acknowledg he fears not God It is stranâ—e it should be possible for men thus to cheat themselves but however it is certain we cannot deceive God he will not be mockâ— and therefore if we will not now so fear as to avoid sin we shall one day fear when it will be too late to avoid punishment 50. A Fifth duty to God is that of trusting in him that is depending and resting on him and that is first in all dangers Secondly in all wants We are to rest on him in all our dangers both spiritual and temporal Of the first sort are all those temptations by which we are in danger to be drawn to sin And in this respect he hath
they can wound and pierce without all remorse and yet with the adulteress Prov. 30. 20. say they have done no wickedness but glory of their friendly behaviour to those whom they thus betray to eternal ruine for whomsoever thou hast drawn to any sin thou hast done thy part to ascertain to those endless flames And then think with thy self how base a treachery this is thou wouldst call him a treacherous villain that should while he pretends to embrace a man secretly stab him but this of thine is as far beyond that as the soul is of more value then the body and hell worse then death And remember yet farther that besides the cruelty of it to thy poor brother it is also most dangerous to thy self it being that against which Christ hath pronounced a woe Mat. 18. 7. ver 6. he tells us that whoever shall offend that is draw into sin any of those little ones it were bettter for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea Thou maist plunge thy poor brother into perdition but as it is with wrestlers he that gives another a fall commonly falls with him so thou art like to bear him company to that place of torment 10. Let therefore thy own and his danger beget in thee a sense of the greatness of this 〈◊〉 this horrid peece of injustice to the precious soul of thy neighbour Bethink thy self seriously to whom thou past bin thus cruel whom thou hast enticed to drinking advised to rebellion alured to lust stirred up to rage whom thou hast assisted or encouraged in any ill course or discouraged and disheartned by thy profane scoffings at piety in general or at any conscionable strict walking of his in particular and then draw up a bill of indictmtnt accuse and condemn thy self as a Cain a murderer of thy brother heartily and deeply bewail all thy guilts of this kind and resolve never once more to be a stumbling block as St. Paul calls it Rom. 14. in thy brothers way 11. But this is not all there must be some fruits of this repentance brought forth now in all sins of injustice restitution is a necessary fruit of repentance and so it is here thou hast committed an act perhaps many of high injustice to the soul of thy brother thou hast robbed it of its innocency of its title to heaven thou must now endeavour to restore all this to it again by being more earnest and industrious to win him to repentance then ever thou wert to draw him to sin use now as much art to convince him of the danger as ever thou didst to flatter him with the pleasures of his vice in a word countermine thy self by using all those methods and means to recover him that thou didst to destroy him and be more diligent and zealous in it for 't is necessary thou shouldst both in regard of hâ—m and thy self First in respect of him because there is in mans nature so much a greater promptness and readiness to evil then to good that there will need much more pains and diligence to instil the one into him then the other besides the man it supposed to be already accustomed to the contrary which will add much to the difficulty of the work then in respect of thy self if thou be a true penitent thou wilt think thy self obliged as St. Paul did to labour more abundantly and wilt be ashamed that when thou art trading for God bringing back a soul to him thou shouldst not pursue it with more earnestness then while thou wert an agent of Satans besides the remembrance that thou wert a means of bringing this poor soul into this snare must necessarily quicken thy diligence to get him out of it So much for the first part of negative justice in respect of the souls of our brethren 12. The second concerns the bodies and to those also this justice binds thee to do no wrong nor violence Now of wrongs to the body there may be several degrees the highest of them is killing taking away the life this is forbid in the very letter of the sixth Commandment Thou shalt do no murder 13. Murder may be committed either by open violence when a man either by sword or any other instrument takes away anothers life immediately and directly or it may be done secretly and tracherously as David murdered Vriah not with his own sword but with the sword of the Children of Ammon 2 Sam. 11. 17. And Jezabel Nâ—both by a false accusation 1 Kin 21. 13. And so divers have committed this sin of murder by poison false witness or some such concealed ways The former is commonly the effect of a sudden rage the latter hath several originals sometimes it proceeds from some old malice fixt in the heart towards the person sometimes from some covetous or ambitious desires such a one stands in a mans way to his profit or preferment and therefore he must be removed and somtimes again it is to cover shame as in the case of strumpets that murder their infants that they may not betray their filthiness But besides these more direct ways of killing there is another and that is when by our perswasions and enticements we draw a man to do that which tends to the shortning of his life and is apparent to do so he that makes his neighbour drunk if by that drunkenness the maâ—â—â—ome by any mortal hurt which he would have escaped if he had been sober he that made him drunk is not clear of his death or if he die not by any such sudden accident yet if drinking cast him into a disease and that disease kill him I know not how he that drew him to that excess can acquit himself of his murder in the eys of God though humane Laws touch him not I wish those who make it their business to draw in customers to that trade of debauchery would consider it There is yet another way of bringing this guilt upon our selves and that is by inciting and stirring up others to it or to that degree of anger and revenge which produces it As that sets two persons at variance or seeing them already so blowes the coales if murder ensue he certainly hath his share in the guilt which is a consideration that ought to affright all from having any thing to do in the kindling or encreasing of contention 14. Now for the hainousness of this sin of murder I suppose none can be ignorant that it is of the deepest dye a most loud crying sin This we may see in the first act of this kind that ever was committed Abels blood cryed from the earth as God tels Cain Gen. 4. 10. Yea the guilt of this sin is such that it leaves a stain even upon the land where it is committed such as is not to be washt out but by the blood of the murderer as appears Deut. 19. 12 13. The
instrument by whom to do it more successfully There cannot be a nobler study then how to benefit mens Souls and therefore where the direct means are improper 't is fit we should whet our wits for attaining of others Indeed 't is a shame we should not as industriously contrive for this great spiritual concernment of others as we do for every worldly trifling interests of our own yet in them we are unwearied and trye one means after another till we compass our end But if after all our serious endeavours the obstinacy of men do not suffer us or themselves rather to reap any fruit from them if all our wooings and intreatings of men to have mercy on their own Souls will not work on them yet be sure to continue still to exhort by thy example Let thy great care and tenderness of thy own Soul preach to them the value of theirs and give not over thy compassions to them but with the Prophet Jer. 13. 17. Let thy Soul weep in secret for them and with the Psalmist Let rivers of waters run down thy eyes because they keep not Gods Law Psal. 119. 136. Yea with Christ himself weep over them who will not know the things that belong to their peace Luk. 19. 42. And when no importunities with them will work yet even then cease not to importune God for them that he will draw them to himself Thus we see Samuel when he could not disswade the people from that sinful purpose they were upon yet he professes notwithstanding that he will not cease praying for them nay he lookt on it as so much a duty that it would be sin in him to omit it God forbid sayes he that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you 1 Sam. 12. 23. Nor shall we need to fear that our prayers shall be quite lost for if they prevail not for those for whom we pour them out yet however they will return into our own bosomes Psal. 35. 13. we shall be sure not to miss of the reward of that Charity In the second place we are to exercise this Active Charity towards the bodies of our Neighbours we are not onely to compassionate their pains and miseries but also to do what we can for their ease and relief The good Samaritan Luke 10. had never been proposed as our pattern had he not as well helped as pitied the wounded man 'T is not good wishes no nor good words neither that avail in such cases as St. James tells us If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them Depart in peace be ye warmed and filled notwithstanding ye give him not those things that are needful for the body what doth it profit Jam. 2. 15. 16. No sure it profits them nothing in respect of their bodies and it will profit thee as little in respect of thy Soul it will never be reckoned to thee as a Charity This releeving of the bodily wants of our brethren is a thing so strictly required of us that we find it set down Mat. 25. as the especial thing we shall be tried by at the Last Day on the omission whereof is grounded that dreadful sentence ver 41. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divel and his Angels And if it shall now be asked what are the particular acts of this kind which we are to perform I think we cannot better inform our selves for the frequent and ordinary ones then from this Chapter where are set down these severals the giving meat to the hungry and drink to the thirsty harbouring the stranger clothing the naked and visiting the sick and imprisoned By which visiting is meant not a bare coming to see them but so coming as to comfort and relieve them for otherwise 't will be but like the Levite in the Gospel Lu. 10. who came and looked on the wounded man but did no more which will never be accepted by God These are common and ordinary exercises of this charity for which we cannot want frequent opportunities But besides these there may sometimes by Gods especial providence fall into our hands occasions of doing other good offices to the bodies of our neighbours we may sometimes find a wounded man with the Samaritan and then 't is our duty to do as he did we may sometimes find an innocent person condemned to death as Susanna was and then are with Daniel to use all possible endeavour for their deliverances This case Solomon seems to refer to Prov. 24. 10. If thou forbear to deliver him that it drawn unto death and them that are ready to be slain if thou sayst behold we know it not doth not he that pondereth the heart consider and he that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it shall not he render to every man according to his deeds we are not lightly to put off the matter with vain excuses but to remember that God who knows our most secret thoughts will severely examine whether we have willingly omitted the performance of such a charity sometimes again nay God knowes often now a dayes we may see a man that by a course of intemperance is in danger to destroy his health to shorten his dayes and then it is a due charity not only to the soul but to the body also to endeavour to draw him from it It is impossible to set down all the possible acts of this corporal charity because there may sometimes happen such opportunities as none can foresee we are therefore alwayes to carry about us a serious resolution of doing whatever good of this kind we shall at any time discern occasion for and then whenever that occasion is offered we are to look on it as a call as it were from heaven to put that resolution in practice This part of charity seems to be so much implanted in our natures as we are men that we generally account them not only unchristian but inhumane that are void of it and therefore I hope there will not need much perswasion to it since our very nature inclines us but certainly that very consideration will serve hugely to encrease the guilt of those that are wanting in it For since this command is so agreeable even to flesh and blood our disobedience to it can proceed of nothing but a stubbornesse and resistance against God who gives it PARTITION XVII Of CHARITY Alms giving c. Of Charity in respect of our Neighbours Credit c. Of PEACE-MAKING Of going to Law Of Charity to our Enemies c. CHRISTIAN-DUTIES both l'OSSIBLE and PLEASANT § 1 THE third way of expressing this Charity is towards the goods or estate of our neighbour we are to endeavour his thriving and prosperity in these outward good things and to that end be willing to assist and farther him in all honest wayes of improving or preserving them by any neighbourly and friendly office Opportunities of this do many times
God and bewâ—â—â— of Asa's sin who sought to the Physicions and not to the Lord 2 Chr. 6. 12. Dispose also betimes of thy temporal affaires by making thy will and setting all things in such order as thou meanest finally to leave them in and defer it not till thy sickness grow more violent for then perhaps thou shalt not have such use of thy reason as may fiâ— thee for it or if thou have it will be thâ—n much more seasonable to imploy thy thoughts on higher things on the world thou art going to rather then that thou art about to leave we cannot carry the things of this world with us when we go hence and it is not fit we should carry the thoughts of them Therefore let those be early dispatched that they may not disturb thee â—t last A Prayer for a sick Person O MERCIFUL and Righteous Lord the God of health and of â—â—ckness of life and of death I most unfeignedly acknowledg that my great abuse of those many days of strength and wellfare which thou hast afforded me hath most justly deserved thy present visitation I desire O Lord humbly to accept of this punishment of mine iniquity and to bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him And O thou merciful Father who designest not the ruine but the amendment of those whom thou scourgest I beseech thee by thy grace so to sanctifie this correction of thine to me that this sickness of my body may be a means of health to my soul make me dâ—ligent to search my heart and do thou O Lord enable me to discover every accursed thing how closely soever concealed there that by the removal thereof I may make way for the removal of this punishment Heal my soul O Lord which hath sinned against thee and then if it be thy blessed will heal my body also restore the voice of joy and health unto my dwelling that I may live to praise thee and to bring forth fruits of repentance But if in thy wisdome thou hast otherwise disposed if thou have determined that this sickness shall be unto death I beseech thee to fit and prepare me for it give me that sincere and earnest repentance to which thou hast promised mercy and pardon weane my heart from the world and all its fading vanities and make me to gasp and pant after those more excellent and durable joyes which are at thy right hand for ever Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me and in all the pains of my body in all the agonies of my spirit let thy comforts refresh my soul and enable me patiently to waite till my change come And grant O Lord that when my earthly house of this Tabernacle is dissolved I may have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens And that for his sake who by his precious blood hath purchased it for me even Jesus Christ. A THANKSGIVING for RECOVERY O GRACIOUS Lord the God of the spirits of all flâ—sh in whose hand my time is I praise and magnifie thee that thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption and restored me to health again it is thou alone O Lord that hast preserved my life from destruction thou hast chastned and corrected me but thou hast not given me over unto death O let this life which thou hast thus graciously spared be wholy consecrated to thee Behold O Lord I am by thy mercy made wâ—ole O make me strictly careful to sin no more least a worse thing come unto me Lord let not this reprieve thou hast now given me make me secure as thinking that my Lord delayeth his coming but grant me I beseech thee to make a right use of this long suffering of thine and so to imploy every minute of that time thou shalt allow me that when thou shalt appear I may have confidence and not be ashamed before thee at thy coming Lord I have found by this approach towards death how dreadful a thing it is to be taken unprepared O let it be a perpetual admonition to me to watch for my Masters coming And when the pleasures of sin shal present themselvs to entice me O make me to remember how bitter they will be at the last O Lord hear me and as thou hast in much mercy afforded me time so grant me also grace to work out my own salvation to provide oyl in my lamp that when the Bridgroom cometh I may go in with him to the marriage Grant this I beseech thee for thy dear Sons sake A Prayer at the approach of death O ETERNAL and everliving God who first breathedst into man the breath of life and when thou takest away that breath he dyes and is turned again to his dust look with compassion on me thy poor creature who am now drawing neer the gates of death and which is infinitely more terrible the bar of judgment Lord my own heart condemns me and thou art infinitely greater then my heart and knowest all things The sins I know and remember fill me with horrour but there are also multitudes of others which I either observed not at the time or have since carelesly forgot which are all present to thee Thou settest my misdeeds before thee and my secret sins in the light of thy countenance and to what a mountainous heap must the minutely provocations of so many years arise How shall one so ungodly stand in thy Judgment or such a sinner in the Congregation of the Righteous And to add yet more to my terrour my very repentance I fear will not abide the tryal my frequent relapses heretofore have sufficiently witnessed the unsincerity of my past resolutions And then O Lord what can secure me that my present dislikes of my sins are not rather the effects of my amazing danger then of any reall change and O Lord I know thou art not moâ—ked nor wilt accept of any thing that is not perfectly sincere O Lord when I consider this fearfulness and trembling comes upon me and an horrible dread overwhelmeth me my flesh trembleth for fear of thee and my heart is wounded within me But O Lord one deep calleth upon another the depth of my misery upon the depth of thy mercy Lord save now or I perish eternally O thou who willest not that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance bring me I beseech thee though thus late to a sincere Repentance such as thou wilt accept who tryest the heart Create in me O God a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me Lord one day is with thee as a thousand years O let thy mighty Spirit work in me now in this my last day whatsoever thou seest wanting to fit me for thy mercy and acceptation Give me a perfect and entire hatred of my sins and enable me to present thee with that sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart which thou hast promised not