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A25801 The practical rule of Christian piety containing the summ of the whole duty of a true disciple of Christ. Written originally in Latin by Benedictus Aria Montanus, and translated into English by A. Lovel, M.A. Arias Montano, Benito, 1527-1598.; Lovell, Archibald. 1685 (1685) Wing A3679A; ESTC R214868 74,341 284

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I speak concerning Christ and the Church Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his Wife even as himself and the Wife see that she reverence her Husband Now those houses Domestick Discipline and families are most acceptable to God which are reared upon the Foundations of the fear of the Lord Repentance and Brotherly love where Children and Servants are both by institution and example instructed in the duties of Virtue and true Piety and taught to discharge the several offices of their stations to fear and reverence their Fathers and Masters and to submit to the Authority of the Master of the Family as appointed and established by the Laws of God Wherefore it ought to be the care and study both of Masters of Families and of Children and Servants That all should diligently discharge their several parts the one in commanding the others in obeying and all in mutual helping and assisting of one another in promoting the good of the Family the practice of Piety and the salvation of their Souls For so are Families enjoyned by the Holy Ghost to know and practise their duties Ephes 6. Children obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right Honour thy Father and thy Mother which is the first Commandment with Promise that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth And ye Fathers provoke not your Children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Servants be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ not with eye-service as Men-pleasers but as the Servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to Men knowing that whatsoever good thing any Man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free And ye Masters do the same things unto them forbearing threatning knowing that your Master also is in Heaven neither is there respect of persons with him Nor is it consistent with Christian Doctrine and Truth that Children who ought to be educated by their Parents in the fear of the Lord and in the knowledge and practice of Piety should be bred up in the Principles of corrupt and perverse Doctrine and led in the broad way that tends to destruction being from their infancy indulged and pampered in Pomp and Pride countenanced in Luxury Worldly Delights and Lustful Pleasures taught all the lewd Songs Sports and Exercises of the Age and made acquainted with the factious Principles Feuds and Animosities of their Parents which from their Cradle upward they pursue and promote seeing thereby it happens that the Children of Christians who ought to be holy and imitable examples to all the World of Religion Honesty Reverence and Piety towards God become the scandalous patterns of Dishonesty Uncleanness Irreverence and Impiety both against God and their Parents Servants and Domesticks also encouraged by the publick and private examples of wickedness both in societies abroad and families at home grow through the neglect of those who should punish and correct them proper instruments of Unfaithfulness Disobedience Robberies Thefts Oppressions and the disgrace of Families so that all those employments almost which in themselves are good and lawful run out of course and degenerate into corrupt Nuysances Now it is manifest that this perverseness and depravation of manners always happens when Christian People are not taught the pure simple true and severe Discipline of the Gospel or if they be taught it either through an inveterate habit of sinning wholly slight and neglect it or if they commend and approve it yet think it not so absolutely necessary as that they ought to prefer it before all other things that come in competition therewith and so receive the word that is sown by the Husband-man in stony or thorny ground But we ought greatly to fear and have a care that that complaint of the Lord may not seem to be uttered against us Jer. 5. A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the Land The Prophets prophesie falsely and the Priests bear rule by their means and my People love to have it so and what will ye do in the end thereof Now to conclude what sinner soever moved by the fear of the Lord shall seriously consider upon the wrath and indignation of God that he hath deserved and the severe and terrible Judgment to which he has made himself liable and shall again meditate in his own thoughts that Grace Mercy and the blessing of Heaven is ready prepared for him if he will but carefully and heartily endeavour to be cloathed with the Wedding Garment that is to follow the rule of Piety above described unless he be more than impious and given over to a reprobate sense there is no doubt but that he will turn with full purpose of heart and soul from Vice to Virtue from corruption to integrity from madness and folly to a sound mind and in a word from the slavery of the Devil to that merciful Lord who is so pleased with the serious and true Repentance of Sinners that with an Oath he has sworn he desires it and has freely promised his blessings to those who hope in his Mercy and turn to him with their heart As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live He that hath ears to hear let him hear and turn to Repentance if he desire to obtain mercy from the most High who healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds by whose grace assistance good will and pleasure we have written this practical Rule of Christian Piety for the instruction of our fellow-Christians hoping that the meditation and study thereof may be useful to them for obtaining salvation through the goodness of God to whom be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen It hath not been our purpose to set off this Christian Institution with the ornaments and flowrishes of exquisite Language and Rhetorick but rather in few and plain words to accommodate this Doctrine of Piety to the capacities of all Christians who might thereby more easily both learn and retain it it being our desire rather to deliver and teach useful and good sense than gay and painted words Now the sum of all that hath been said is shortly this That extraordinary and supernatural gifts and graces are promised to all Men who will believe and accept the same not only in this life but also more especially in that which is to come and the same purchased and conveyed to them by the virtue and efficacy of that wonderful mystery of the conception birth death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son of God who is ready to bestow them on every one who in the fear of the Lord obeys the holy dictates and precepts of the Law and is diligent and sincere in the practice of Brotherly-love and Charity For God requires that Men should fear obey worship and serve him and upon these conditions gave us his promises to the performance of which he obliged himself out of meer grace and bounty And this is the duty which every Christian whether high or low learned or unlearned ought to know and practise But for all other things which Men may desire to know and learn relating either to their private capacities or to the rank and quality which they bear amongst Men and wherein they may be deceived mistaken and err since all Men are not competent Judges of such things we have purposely omitted them exhorting all and every one that having diligently considered and observed the abovementioned three heads they would keep that station wherein by right and Law they are placed not declining to the right or to the left from their common duty which being faithfully performed God of his goodness will impart to all what is necessary to be known and practised by every one in the place and degree that he is called to in society Now if any thing appear unseemly and not altogether so justifiable in the actions and conduct of others it is not the part of any private Man to Judg and Censure it or to endeavour any change or alteration in the Duties and Offices of others but to leave the care of that to the lawful Ministers and Magistrates and to pray the Lord of the Vineyard that he would send fit Labourers into his Vineyard and that he would advance protect and defend his own Harvest Without doubt the Lord will have pity on his inheritance and take care of the welfare and prosperity of his people and will highly approve that no Man for the fault or errour of another withdraw himself from the unity and concord of the established Church and Government but that every Man mind not what other people do but what be ought to do and perform himself and with heart and soul set about it FINIS
end the same shall be saved And no Man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God He that hath ears to hear let him hear God deceiveth no Man Let every one take heed then that he deceive not himself nor suffer himself to be deceived by others This is the plain sure and safe way that hath the promise of good success Repentance I mean which every one ought carefully to set about persist in and prosecute to the end This is the way that never deceived any Man but will certainly bring those that walk therein to eternal Salvation at last For it is written Psal 69. Psal 105. Your hearts shall live that seek God Seek the Lord and his strength seek his face ever more He that seeketh his face always in what manner soever he may end this mortal life yet his Son shall live Psal 9. For thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee The death of Lazarus was mean and obscure in the eyes of Men but that of the rich Man conspicuous and his Funeral pompous The rich Man died and was buried however the Soul of the former was received into Abraham's bosom when this Mans Soul was sent down into Hell Wherefore let those who either never set about the work of Repentance aright or put it off to the hour of death or often in their life-time begin it and as often again leave it off let them I say consider what ground they have to do so and what divine promise they can pretend to trust to for it is not in our power to command our time when we would and whether God will grant it to us according to our wishes is much to be doubted As 't is written Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy Statutes for their deceit is falshood No Doctor of the Christian Church for what I know ever taught us to put off and delay Repentance and amendment of life till the last day of living nor promised any happy success to those that did so nay St. Austin doubts of the condition of those delayers of serious Repentance till the hour of death and we have no reason but with St. Austin to doubt of the same Wo be to fearful hearts and faint hands and the sinner that goeth two ways Wo will be unto many to whom opportunity and the advantages of amending their lives has been offered and granted whilst they were alive and in health and whilst God waited for them and who still persisting in their wickedness their too late desire of Repentance will through their own fault be unprofitable to them Many instances of wicked Men who die without Repentance happen daily some snatcht away by sudden death others killed some cast away at Sea others slain in Battel or brought to their end by thunder lightning and many other ways who perhaps if their lives had been longer would have seriously set about the work of Repentance but it hath seemed otherwise to the Judgment and Decree of God who seeing he does all that is necessary for reclaiming of sinners is not always wont to superadd more than ought to be expected Mat. 11. Had God done the mighty works in Tyre and Sidon which he did in Chorazin and Bethsaida he knew that they would have repented in Sack-cloth and ashes And if the mighty works which were done in Capernaum had been done in Sodom it also upon the word of our Saviour would have remained until this day But seeing the Almighty had done for those places what was enough in his most righteous Judgment he was not willing to add more than was sufficient How many of those who have led a wicked and sinful life and still professed an inclination and desire to die well have either had the death they wished for or a blessed and happy end How every Man shall end his days depends not on himself but on the Counsel and Decree of God as it is written Psal 68. He that is our God is the God of Salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death But God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his Trespasses Most terrible also and yet most certain is that Sentence pronounced by divine Oracle Psal 34. Evil shall slay the wicked and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate But great are the Promises and hopes that the Scripture gives to those who love piety and are of a penitent and obedient heart which we should always have before our eyes The Lord redeemeth the Soul of his Servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate Let us then a little consider what these Men do who leaving off to after he had left his The Example of Abraham Country Kindred and Fathers House never returned again into Chaldea or Mesopotamia but travelled and So journed in several places according to the will and appointment of God spending his whole life even to death in the obedience of Gods commands and that he would not die nor be buried any where but there where he had received the Promises nor move a foot from those places wherein he was warned from Heaven to tarry and abide Wherefore the Holy Scripture admonishing those who are the true children of Abraham that is his spiritual Children who is called the Father of many Nations of their duty in imitation of their fathers example saith Isa 51. Hearken to me ye that follow after righteousness ye that seek the Lord look unto the rock whence ye are hewen and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged Look unto Abraham your Father and unto Sarah that bare you for I called him alone and blessed him and encreased him as being a Man who firmly believed and diligently obeyed God that called him Col. 3. So then they which be of the Faith and imitate the example of Abraham are blessed with faithful Abraham Wherefore my dear fellow Christians being furnished with all these precepts and instructions of God the Father and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and Master let us in the first place take diligent heed that we sin not For that indeed is best but because all the Sons of Adam are under sin the wisest counsel and most acceptable to God that can be given in the next place is that he who hath sinned would with all his heart and mind turn to God 1 John 2. for we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world If he be sought of us with a contrite and humble heart which the Lord himself declares To this Man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word Wherefore the Apostle St. John admonishes us saying 1 John 3. Beloved if our heart
luxury but rather condemn them The Christian Doctrine that advises those who would be saved not to trust to Riches commending Honesty Modesty Temperance Innocence Continence Mercy Bounty Liberality and the other Duties of Piety and Religion and on the contrary detesting and disswading from the opposite vices as Pride and Haughtiness Delights and Pleasures Injuries Robberies and Oppression of the Poor detaining or Cheating the Labourers Wages Usury Monopolies enhaunsing of prices and every thing else that is either disgraceful to the doer hurtful to our Christian Brethren or inconsistent with the publick good in the Judgment of God himself For he who reckons all Christians his Brethren and Children of one Common Father the Just Merciful and Bountiful God and shall know that they stand in need of his help ought to assist them partly by giving and partly by lending without any hope of profit benefit or interest and thereby magnifie God the Father who hath enabled him to shew that kindness to his Brethren which the liberal goodness of God hath promised to recompense with a sure and excellent reward For so it is written Luke 6. Do good and lend hoping for nothing again and your reward shall be great and ye shall be the children of the highest for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil Be ye therefore Merciful as your Father also is Merciful To this duty of beneficence enjoyned by Christ to his Disciples we may add that strict command of God Deut. 15. If there be among you a poor Man of one of thy brethren within any of thy Gates in thy Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart saying the seventh year the year of release is at hand and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother and thou givest him nought and he cry unto the Lord against thee and it be sin unto thee Thou shalt surely give him and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him because that for that thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto For the poor shall never cease out of the Land therefore I command thee saying Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother to thy poor and to thy needy in the Land The sincere Disciples of Christ ought to set before their eyes and think on that command of God that is backed with so many reasons commended by so many promises and armed with so many threatnings against the neglecters of it and freely bestow and lend according to their abilities avoiding what in them lies that sentence pronounced by the Holy Ghost against the rich Men of this World and not in good works Jam. 5. Go to now ye rich Men weep and houl for your miseries that shall come upon you Your riches are corrupted and your Garments are Moth-eaten your Gold and Silver is Cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire ye have heaped treasure together for the last days Behold the hire of the Labourers which have reaped dawn your Fields which is of you kept back by Fraud erieth and the cries of them which have reaped are entred into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth Ye have lived in pleasure on the Earth and been wanton ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter Consonant to this sentence is that dreadful commination of Christ Luke 6. Wo unto you that are rich for ye have received your consolation Wo unto you that are full for ye shall hunger wo unto you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep And is it not a very terrible sentence that is pronounced and with an asseveration confirmed by our Saviour against rich Men Mat. 19. Verily I say unto you that a rich Man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And again I say unto you it is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of God The reason of this difficulty the Holy Ghost affirms to be because the desire and love of riches deceives Men and turns them often out of the streight road of Equity and Justice For he that desires to be rich hastens to be so but then what respect is there to the Law what fear or shame in him who sets his soul upon wealth nay plenty and opulency when once it is acquired debauches both Men and Women from an innocent modest and honest way of living into luxury vanity and pomp into pride and strife and into other violations of the divine commandments and contempt of Christian simplicity setting off enormous vices with great and plausible names so prone is the sinful appetite of Man to abuse even the advantages and blessings of earthly things a fault carefully to be avoided as the Apostle admonisheth 1 Tim. 6. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown Men in destruction and perdition for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows And therefore that good Men may be ware of that deceitfulness of riches Psal 62. The holy Ghost by the mouth of the Prophet gives this admonition If riches encrease set not your heart upon them Nor is the holy Doctrine of our Lord and Master The duty of Merchants and Tradesmen more remiss or obscure in informing all those who live and endeavour to get Estates by Traffick and Trades For such are taught by the fear of the Lord the study of Repentance and Brotherly Love to deceive no Man not to adulterate or change diminish or increase their goods and commodities nor to neglect any thing that relates to them which the nature of the goods require not to change and raise their prices nor to deal fraudulently in weights and measures for the holy Scriptures assure us that all such frauds and cheats argue a contempt of divine Justice Christian simplicity and uprightness and are extremely offensive to the supreme Judge of all Men. Prov. 11. A false ballance is abomination to the Lord but a just weight is his delight And again Prov. 20. Divers weights and divers measures both of them are alike abomination to the Lord. Nor is that custom of cheating and circumventing our brethren by false prices and oaths and a cunning wheadle of words less abominable to God as it is written Amos 8. Hear this O ye that swallow up the needy even to make the poor of the Land to fail saying when will the new Moon