plaines without fraudulent Policie 2. Reverent religion without rudenesse 3. Holy devotion without prophannesse 4. Humble confession without pride 5. Constant resolution without faintnes 6. Zealous integrity without corruption 7. A pilgrims life sober Contentment without Luxurie without love of the World The true Israelite is discerned 2. By exemption from fraud THere is a three-fold Fraud from which the true Israelite is free 1. Fraus iniqua the fraud of injustice deceiving others 2. Fraus stuha the fraud of folly deceiving themselves 3. Fraus impia the fraud of impiety deceiving the Lord. The first is in outward Conversation the second in the information of the Conscience the last in the profession of Religion If Nathaniels testimony from Christ saying a true Israelite without fraud be considered according to this difference of guile we shall more plainely perceive who is the true Israelite without fraud First therefore the fraud of couzenage or deceit in the matter of bargaining or trading or outward conversing one with another is hatefull to every true Israelite as being contrary 1. To Iustice 2. To Charity 3. To Piety To Iustice for St. Paul calls it Oppression 1 Thes 3.6 Let no man saith he oppresse or defraud his brother in any matter for the Lord is an avenger of all such things To Charity therefore the Apostle Eph. 4.25 exhorts Christians saying Wherefore cast of lying and speake the truth every man to his neighbour for we are members one of another T is the care of one member to helpe but not to hurt the other Contrary to Piety and Christian profession for St. Paul Col. 3.9 chargeth us saying Lye not one to another seeing yee have put of the old man with his works Now then how should not a true Israelite a true Christian man be ashamed of that worke which hath neither justice nor charity nor godlinesse in it The plainnesse and simplicity of faith in Christ admits neither of false weights false measures nor couzening trickes nor equivocating fraud This deceit is com to that height now that it is admired studied and practised as a great mystery and hee is rejected as a foole that hath it not What an injurious proverbe unto truth and upright dealing is that Plaine dealing is a Iewel but hee shall dye a beggar that useth it whether he shall dye a beggar or no I will not strive one thing I am sure of hee shall live a Saint All the wickednesse of this fraud is now put of with caveat emptor let the buyer looke to it O foolishnesse should the buier take heed of being deceived of suffering losse in his penny and the seller take no heed of being a deceiver and so to loose thereby the Grace of God the Honour of Truth the Hope of a better life Of this deceit speakes the Lord by the Prophet Ieremy Among my people are found wicked persons Iere. 5 26. that lay waite as he that setteth snares they have made a pit to catch men As a Cage is full of birds so are their houses full of deceit thereby they are become great and waxen rich First it is utterly a shame for us that the Lord should complaine that such persons are found among his people those that professe the knowledge of the Truth next very properly and significantly doth the Lord say that deceit is in their house as a bird in a Cage T' is there as imprisoned and cannot get forth they have got such an habit of Couzenage that they cannot leave it Yea their false swearing lying couzening trickes to draw in gain is become to bee a darling a delight unto them a bird that makes them sweet musicke and their shop is the Cage well is he that can get such a bird such a prentise boy that can tune his note artificially to deceive If thou bee'st a true Israelite thou wilt not make thy house a snare a pitfall to catch plaine men nor thy shop a Cage for that uncleane bird O rather let the voice of the Turtle Dove be hard in thy house Can. 2.12 mourning for sinne thankesgiving to God devout praiers comfortable instruction words of truth and love that is the true Israelites bird the true Christians musicke 2. Foolish fraud AS wee have seene the fraud of injustice from which the true Israelite is free so in the next place observe the fraud of folly by which the minde deceives it selfe from which the true Israelite is also exempted This deceit is in the information of the mind a couzenage of a mans owne heart of which St. Iames speakes Be ye doers of the word Iam. 1.22.26 and not hearers onely deceiving your owne selves and again in the same Chapter If any man saith he among you seeme religious and refraineth not his tongue but deceiveth his owne heart that mans religion is vaine Of this fraud there may be three branches observed 1. Vaine excuse to lessen sinne 2. A blasphemous cloake to cover sinne 3. A presumptuous security to lye in sinne 1. Vaine excuse FIrst it is a profitable sinne saith one it is the very means wherby I live O vaine folly O damnable fraud Is the certaine way to eternall death become the meanes of life Is it gainefull Open thine eyes O thou vaine man and consider the summe of thy gaine thou gainest drosse and loosest the true treasure thou winnest the world loosest thine owne soule thou gettest earth and loosest heaven thou art joyned to Mammon and divided from God I but saith another my children will find the good of it my posterity will praise my doings O fraud Thou shalt be prays'd saith Chrysostome where thou art not and tormented where thou art What profits it thee to be commended of thy posterity for leaving riches and to bee condemned eternally for getting them Can thy sonnes pleasure on earth ease thy paine in hell Oh that the scales of this fraud would fall from the eyes of these earthly men that they might discerne between things that differ the riches of Gods grace and the drosse of this world that in the love of the one and contempt of the other they may truely say Christ is to us both in life and in death advantage Philip. 1.21 But I heare the Wanton put his trick upon us saying the sinne is full of delight and what is a man but his pleasure And is it true Is it a sport for thee to offend the everliving God Canst thou dally with the consuming fire with the Maiesty of GOD into whose whose hands to fall is a fearefull thing Woe be unto thee thou hast thy Comfort here And yet alas 't is but the Comfort of an hogge in a stye a bird in a cage thou laughest and sing'st in the midst of thy slavery 't is but from the teeth outward no sound Joy the worme of remorse gnawes thee within thou hast not a Crumme of true Consolation much lesse that continuall feast with the sonnes of GOD. I but it is a
force nor fraud shall remove his hold nor separate his heart from the love of GOD So the true Israelite Job Iob. 13.15 If he kill me I will still put my trust in him Luk. 18 39. So the poore blind man being checked cryed so much the more O sonne of David have mercy on me So the royall Prophet My heart is fixed O GOD my heart is fixed So the worthy Anselmus Come Lord Jesus for now I desire not my feete but to seeke thee nor my hands but to serve thee nor my knees but to worship thee nor my tongue but to praise thee nor my heart but to love thee Here is wisedome let the true Israelite keepe his hold none can blesse thee but he therefore let him not goe before hee blesse thee Sixtly observe Israels Integrity his Zeale his true love of Vertue and hatred of vice When he comes to give his blessings Gen. 49.3.6 remembring the sinne of his eldest sonne he gives him a token of disgrace Reuben saith he mine eldest sonne light as water thine honour is gone Comming to Simeon and Levi hee saith of them Simeon and Levi brethren in evill Into their secret let not my soule come my glory be not thou joyned with their Assembly See here the property of a true Israelite which brooks not sinne nor the dishonour of GOD in his owne family in his owne children in his first-borne wheresoever hee finds sinne without partiall affection he gives it his just disgrace rebuke and Curse This is the Zeale of the Israel of GOD. O beloved if the danger of sinne in our children in our family in our friends in all men be such that we may truely say of the infected heart as the children of the Prophets cryed out to Elisha 2 King 4.40 O Master Mors in olla death is in the pot death is in the house the heart except we could either worke a miracle or else would play with their destruction why should we cast in meale when wee have salt in our hands It is not the mea-ly-mouth that can cure the deadly wound of sinne but a sharpe proceeding to the wounding of the Conscience and confusion of security Observe hence also the faithfull and sound heart of a true Israelite that by no means will have fellowship with wickednes either by approbation imitation or commerce Into their secret saith he let not my soule come my glory be not thou joyned with their assembly We ought not to carry our selves indifferently unto the wicked but as S. Iude Iude 23. saith hate even the garment spotted by the flesh O when I thinke upon the brood of that Romish Cockatrice unnaturall traitors a generation of vipers more fit for the halter than the Altar that perfidious assembly of false Catholicks I judge him false no true Israelite to Church or State that in utter hatred of their impieties doth not breake forth into Israels zealous integrity Into their secret let not my soule come my glory be not thou ioyn'd with their assembly Seventhly observe Israels contempt of the world his Pilgrimage on earth who comming to Pharaoh and being asked of his age answered thus The whole time of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty yeeres Gen. 47.9 few and evill have the dayes of my life beene and I have not attained vnto the yeeres of the life of my fathers in the dayes of their pilgrimages See here what reckoning the true Israelite makes of this life here hee is a pilgrime and a stranger having as the Apostle saith no induring City here but looking for one to come whose maker and builder is God If thou art not a stranger upon earth Heb. 11 10. thou art no true Israelite if thou hast set up thy rest here thy state is miserable for of such saith our Lord Woe bee unto them they have their comfort heere Luk. 6.24 The dove that was sent out of Noahs Arke could not bee satisfied with the carrion that the Crow seaz'd upon but finding no rest for the sole of her foote hasted to the Arke againe The true Israelites are so farre from being wedded to this world and to the vile pleasures thereof that they cry in their hearts with the Prophet David Psal 55.6 Oh that I had the wings of a dove that I might fly and be at rest Of this Pilgrims life speaks the Apostle 2 Cor. 7.29 Seeing the time is short it remaines that they which have wives be as though they had none they that weepe as though they wept not they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not they that buy as though they possessed not they that use this world as though they used it not for the fashion of this world goeth away hence David prayes Psal 119.19 I am a stranger upon earth O hide not thy Commandements from me and hence Saint Peter exhorteth 2 Pet. 2.11 I beseech you as pilgrims and strangers abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soule It is an undoubted truth a true Israelite is a pilgrime If then whilst thou dost walke here as a stranger thou beest contemptiblie questioned with as Jonas Ionas 1.8 by the mariners Whence comst thou where wast thou borne where dwelst thou what art thou whither tend'st thou comfort thy selfe with that testimoniall which the word of GOD doth afford every true Israelite If it be asked whence they come St. Peter answers that they are a people set at liberty from the spirituall Egipt that they should set forth the vertues of him that hath call'd them out of darknes into his marvelous light 1 Peter 2.9 if where they were borne Saint James shewes that they were borne from above Iam. 1.17.18 from the Father of lights borne as saith Saint John Iohn 1.13 not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God if where they dwell Saint Paul answers Col. 3.2.3 their conversation is hid with Christ in GOD by affection seekeing the things which are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God If what they are Saint John answers that they are now the sonnes of God and Saint Paul 1 Iohn 3.2 the lights of the World Phil. 1.15 If whither they goe shall we say as CHRIST to his Disciples whither they goe ye know Iohn 14.4 and the way ye know 't is like then too many may say we know not whither they goe how then should wee know the way therefore let the Apostle in the behalfe of all true Israelites declare their passage I saith he follow hard toward the marke Phi. 3.14 for the price of the high calling of GOD in Christ Iesus Here then whither they goe yee know toward the marke and for what for the price of the high calling of GOD and the way ye know CHRIST IESVS Thus in the imitation of Israel wee find seaven worthy ornaments of a true Israelite viz. 1. Vpright
common and receiv'd custome saith another too true and as the Scribes and Pharisees said seeing the multitude to follow Christ Doe ye not see how you prevaile nothing Loe all the world goes after him So these insult and object to Gods Ministers saying Doe you not see how you prevaile nothing with all your paines your labour is but lost men will not leave their pleasure in sinne their profit by deceit for all that you can say or doe and therefore let us doe as most doe O foolish deceit and will this wretch be damn'd for company Is the sin common why what though it be in the mouths of Kings in the reyns of Nobles in the hands of Iudges in the eyes of the Priests yet will that helpe nothing in the day of thine account nor can such example make any Royall Noble Just or Holy sinne Well said Eucherius to his Cozen Valerian Obsecro te alienum delictum semper ut opprobrium respice nunquam ut exemplum I beseech thee alwaies behold another mans fault as a shame to the doer but never as thy patterne Is sin customary why what though evill may plead for it selfe as the Romane Church doth Antiquity Vniversality Consent yet 't is no lesse blemish for thee to be infected with a customed and common sinne than to consort with an old and common whore But me thinkes I heare a swarme of naturall men buzzing about me and urging a conceit of humane frailty that flesh and blood can doe no otherwise deceiving themselves with Information out of St. Paul misunderstood Ro. 7. where the Apostle saith So in my mind I serve the Law of GOD but in my flesh the Law of Sinne. I am verily perswaded that this very fraud sends many thousands to hell For what in their account is the sin of humane frailty under burthen of which the Apostle groaned saying O wretched man that I am Looke into their bill of account and you shall find cursing swearing gluttony drunkennesse couzenage fornication lying hatred and revenge ranked as the sinnes of their infirmity and humane frailty Loe here Salomons sluggard that cryes yet a little sleep yet a little slumber slumber and sleepe infirmity and impiety all is one all but little and all too little for him But O good God! shall we imagine that the holy Apostle did in his flesh serve the Law of sinne after this manner And was hee indeed a couzener a lyer a fornicator a drunkard God forbid There are indeed sinnes of infirmity against which the godly man hath a continuall conflict As concupiscence motions unto evill idle words inconsiderate passions surreptions sinne stealing upon us before wee are aware propter inadvertentiam as the schools speake for want of due circumspection but that sinne which hath the consent of the heart and is done with purpose and deliberation as fornication revenge lying couzenage treason and such like must not be counted infirmities but iniquities and such abominations as cannot stand with the grace of Christ but doth quench the spirit and so long as they are continued by any there is no Seale of salvation in him The Apostle then in the place forenamed doth not meane that he serves in his flesh the law of sinne by actuall and voluntary corruption but by naturall and involuntary Concupiscence which though hee is compeld to obey in respect of evill motions arising yet neither doth his mind consent nor his actions conforme unto them 2. Blaspemous cloake for sinne AS some deceive themselves in lessening their wickednesse by a vaine excuse as ye have observ'd already so there are ungodly men crept in which father all their sinne upon the force of Gods decree affirming a necessity of their sinning through the inclination and secret working of God who say they doth determinate their wills to evill and so every one of their sinnes is their destinie and could never have been avoyded But this is a foolish and damnable fraud seeing that St. Iames faith Iam. 1.13 that God cannot bee tempted with evill and that it is against the very nature and goodnesse of God to infuse evill or to incline the heart to sinne and against the justice of God and his truth who both protesteth that he would not the death of a sinner and also cannot justly damne that in another to which as they say he himselfe inclineth the heart yea by a powerfull decree inforceth it God indeed ordereth and limiteth the corrupt will of man prone of it selfe to evill suffering it to be carried to this sin and not to that according to his wisedome and good pleasure and although God justly leaves men for their unthankefulnes and rebellion in the snare of the Devill yet he neither inclineth nor enforceth them to sinne Some have wrote to make this Spiders webbe whom I will not name for I had rather hide than hit them affirming absurdly that the ancient Fathers gave but a frigid a cold answere when they said that God hardened men by desertion forsaking their rebellious minds and by permission giving way to Sathan to seduce insnare and overcome men Yea one saith Adulterium est opus Dei Adultery is of Gods working another Deus movet latronem ad occidendum God sets on a thiefe to kill which speeches they understand not to be in respect of Gods permission without whose leave nothing can be done nor in respect of that generall ayde and sustentation of the power of God in whom we live and move and have our being but they conceive God particularly and necessarily to incline the Adulterer and the thiefe to their villany by a speciall motion and by a fatall decree Whereby the very nature of sinne is taken away and the filthines therof because as they conceive God hath so deepe an hand in it that it is found to be his speciall worke But from this fraud the true Israelite is free who acknowledgeth that of the Prophet O see Perditio tua ex te Israel thy destruction O Israel comes of thy selfe and that of St. Paul Ye did runne well Gal. 5.8 who did hinder you 't is not the perswasion of him that called you 3. Presumptuous security to lye in sinne YOu have seene how foolishly men deceave themselves by lessening their sinnes by vaine excuse or covering their wickednesse by blasphemous conceit of Gods inclination and fatall decree inforcing their sinne now observe how also many deceive themselves by a secure presuming that continuance in sinne shall never hurt them because of their confidence in the grace of Christ The Apostle 1 Cor. 6.9 notably confoundeth their grosse deceit Know ye not saith hee that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God be not deceived neither fornicatours nor idolaters nor adulterers nor wantons nor buggerers nor theeves nor covetous persons nor drunkards nor raylers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdome of God What doth the Apostle terrifie here and teach not Is it not rather a fearefull doctrine Are