34. Now this care of making good thy vow must not abide with thee some few dayes only and then be cast aside but it must continue with thee all thy dayes For if thou break thy vow it matters not whether sooner or latter Nay perhaps the guilt may in some respects be more if it be late for if thou have for a good while gone on in the observance of it that shews the thing is possible to thee and so thy after breaches are not of infirmity because thou canst not avoid them but of perversness because thou wilt not Besides the use of Christian-walking must needs make it more easie to thee For indeed all the difficulty of it is but from the custome of the contrary And therefore if after some acquaintance with it when thou hast overcome somwhat of the hardness thou shalt then give it over it will be most inexcusable Therefore be careful all the dayes of thy life to keep such a watch over thy life and so to avoid all occasions of temptations as may preserve thee from all wilful breaches of this vow 35. But though the obligation of every such single vow reach to the utmost day of our lives yet are we often to renew it that is we are often to receive the holy Sacrament for that being the means of conveying to us so great and unvaluable benefits and it being also a Command of Christ that we should do this in remembrance of him we are in respect both of reason and duty to omit no fit opportunity of partaking of that holy Table I have now shewed you what that reverence is which we are to pay to God in his Sacrament PARTITION IV. HONOUR due to Gods name Of Sinning against it Blasphemy Swearing Assertory Oaths Promissery Oaths Unlawful Oaths Of Perjury Of vain Oaths and the Sin of them c. § 1. THe last thing wherein we are to express our reverence to him is the honouring his name Now what this honouring of his name is we shall best understand by considering what are the things by which it is â—â—shonoured the avoiding of which will be our way of honouring it The first is all blasphemies or speaking any evil thing of God the highest degree whereof is cursing him or if we do not speak it with our mouths yet if we do it in our hearts by thinking any unworthy thing of them it is lookt on by God who sees the heart as the vilest dishonour But there is also a blasphemy of the actions that is when men who profess to be the servants of God live so wickedly that they bring up an evil report on him whom they own as their Master and Lord. This blasphemy the Apostle takes notice of Râ—m 2. 24. Where he tells those who protest to be observers of the Law That by their wicked actions the name of God was blasphemed among the Gentiles Those Gentiles were moved to think ill of God as the favour of sin when they saw those who called themselves his servants commit it A second way of dishonouring Gods name is by swearing and that is of two sorts either by false oaths or else by rash and light ones A false oath may also be of two kinds as first that by which I affirm somewhat or secondly that by which I promise The first is when I say such or such a thing was done so or so and comfirm this saying of mine with an oath if then I know there be not perfect truth in what I say this is a flat perjury a down right being forsworn Nay if I swear to the truth of that whereof I am only doubtful though the thing should happen to be true yet it brings upon me the guilt of perjury For I swear at a venture and the thing might for ought I knew be as well false as true whereas I ought never to swear to any thing the truth of which I do not certainly know 2. But besides this sort of oaths by which I affirm any thing there is the other sort that by which I promise somwhat And that promise may be either to God or Man when it is to God we call it a vow of which I have already spoken under the head of the Sacraments I shall now only speak of that to man this may become a false oath either at or after the time of taking it At the time of taking it is false if either I have then no real purpose of making it good or else take it in a sense different from that which I know he to whom I make the promise understands it for the use of oaths being to assure the persons to whom they are made they must be taken in their sense But if I were never so sincere at the taking the oath if afterwards I do not perform it I am certainly perjuâ—ed 3. The nature of an oath being then thus binding it neerly concerns us to look that the matter of our oaths be lawful for else we run our selves into a woful snare For Example suppose I swear to kill a man if I perform my oath I am guilty of murder if I break it of perjury And so I am under a necessity of sinning one way or other But there is nothing puts us under a greater degree of this unhappy necessity then when we swear two oaths whereof the one is directly cross and contradictory to the other For if I swear to give a man my whole estate and afterwards swear to give all or part of that estate to another it is certain I must break my oath to one of them because it is impossible to perform it to both and so I must be under a necessity of being forsworn And into this unhappy streight every man brings himself that takes any oath which crosses some other which he hath formerly taken which should make all that love either God or their own souls resolve never thus miserably to â—ntangle themselves by taking one oath cross and thwarting to another But it may perhaps here be asked what a person that hath already brought himself into such a condition shall do I answer he must first heartily repent the great sin of taking the unlawful oath and then stick only to the lawful which is all that is in his power towards the repairing his fault and qualifying him for Gods pardon for it 4. Having said this concerning the kinds of this sin of perjury I shall only add a few words to shew you how greatly Gods name is dishonoured by it In all oaths you know God is solemnly called to witness the truth of which is spoken now if the thing be false it is the basest affront and dishonour that can possibly be done to God For it is in reason to signifie one of these two things either that we believe he knows not whether we say true or no. And that is to make him no Gâ—d to suppose him to
me Blessed be the Lord God even the God of Israel which onely doth wondrous things And blessed be the Name of his Majesty for ever and all the earth shall be filled with his Majesty Amen Amen For DELIVERANCE from TROUBLE BE merciful unto me O Lord be merciful unto me for my Soul trusteth in thee and under the shadow of thy wings shall be my refuge until these calamities be overpast Deliver me O Lord from mine enemies for I flye unto thee to hide me O keep my Soul and deliver me let me not be confounded for I have put my trust in thee Mine eyes are ever looking unto the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of the net Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me for I am desolate and in misery The sorrowes of my heart are enlarged O bring thou me out of my troubles For the CHURCH O Be favourable and gracious unto Sion build thou the walls of Jerusalem O God wherefore art thou absent from us so long Why is thy wrath so hot against the sheep of thy pasture O think upon thy Congregation whom thou hast purchased and Redeemed of old Look upon the Tribe of thine Inheritance and Mount Sion where thou hast dwelt It is time for thee Lord to lay to thy hand for they have destroyed thy Law Arise O God and maintain thine own cause Deliver Israel O God out of all his troubles Brief heads of SELF-EXAMINATION Especially before the SACRAMENT Collected out of the foregoing Treatise concerning the breaches of our DUTY To GOD. NOt believing there is a God Not believing his Word Not believing it Practically so as to live according to our belief Despairing of Gods mercy so as to neglect duty Presuming groundlesly on it whilest we go on in wilful sin Not loving God for his own excellencies Not loving him for his goodness to us Not labouring to please him Not desiring to draw neer to him in his Ordinances Not longing to enjoy him in Heaven Not fearing God so as to keep from offending him Fearing man above him by committing sin to shun some outward suffering Not trusting on God in dangers and distresses Using unlawful means to bring us out of them Not depending on God for supply of our wants Immoderate care for outward things Neglecting to labour and expecting God should support us in our idleness Not looking up to God for a blessing on our honest endeavours Not having a high esteem of God Not submitting obediently to act his will Not patiently suffering it but murmuring at his corrections Not amending by them Not being thankful to him Not acknowledging his wisdom in choosing for us but having eager and impatient desires of our own Not honouring God by a reverend usage of the things that relate to him Behaving our selvs irreverently in his House Robbing God by taking things that are consecrated to him Profaning Holy times the Lords Day and the Feasts and Fasts of the Church Neglecting to read the Holy Scriptures not marking when we do read Being careless to get knowledg of our duty Chusing rather to continue ignorant then put our selves to the pains or shame of learning Placing Religion in hearing of Sermons without practising them Breaking our vow made at Baptism By resorting to witches and conjurers i. e. to the Devil By loving the pomps and vanities of the world and following its sinful customes By fulfilling the lusts of the flesh Profaning the Lords Supper By coming to it ignorantly without examination contrition and purposes of new life By behaving our selves irreverently at it without devotion and spiritual affection By neglecting to keep the promises made at it Profaning Gods Name by blasphemous thoughts or discourse Giving others occasion to blaspheme him by our vile and wicked lives Taking unlawful oaths Perjury Swearing in ordinary communication Not worshipping God Omitting prayers publick or private and being glad of a pretence to do so Asking unlawful things or to unlawful ends Not purifying our hearts from sin before we pray Not praying with Faith and Humility Coldness and deadness in prayer Wandring thoughts in it Irreverent gestures of body in prayer Neglecting the duty of Repentance Not calling our selves to daily account for our sins Not assigning any set or solemn times for humiliation and confession or too seldom Not deeply considering our sins to beget contrition for them Not acting revenges on our selves by fasting and other acts of Mortification Outward Idolatry in worshipping of creatures Inward Idolatry in placing our love joy and other affections more on creatures then the Creator To our SELVES Being pufft up with high conceits of our selves In respect of natural parts as beauty wit c Of worldly riches and honours Of Grace Greedily seeking the praise of men Directing Christian Actions as prayer almes c. to that end Committing sins to avoid reproach from wicked men Disturbing our minds with anger and peevishness Not carefully examining what our estate towards God is Not trying our selves by the true rule i. e. our obedience to Gods Commands Not weighing the lawfulness of our actions before we venture on them Not examining our past actions to repent of the ill to give God the glory of the good Uncontentedness in our estates Greedy desires after honour and riches Seeking to gain them by sinful means Envying the condition of other men Being negligent in observing and resisting temptations Not improving Gods gifts outward or inward to his honour Abusing our natural parts as wit memory strength c. to sin Neglecting or resisting the motions of Gods Spirit Uncleanness adultery fornication unnatural lusts c. Uncleanness of the eye and hand Filthy and obscene talking Impure fancies and desires Heightning of lust by pampering the body Not labouring to subdue it by fasting or other severities Eating too much Making pleasure not health the enâ— of eating Being too curious or costly in meats Drunkenness Drinking more then is useful to our bodies though not to drunkenness Wasting the time or estate in good fellowship Abusing our strength of brain to the makeing others drunk Immoderate sleeping Idleness and negligence in our callings Using unlawful recreations Being too vehement upon lawful ones Spending too much time at them Being drawn by them to anger or covetousness Being proud of apparel Striving to go beyond our rank Bestowing too much time care or cost about it Abstaining from such excesses not out of conscience but covetousness Pinching our bodies to fill our purses To our NEIGHBOUR Being injurious to our Neighbour Delighting causlesly to grieve his mind Ensnaring his Soul in sin by command counsel enticement or example Affrighting him from Godliness by our scoffing at it Not seeking to bring those to Repentance whom we have led into sin Murder open or secret Drawing men to intemperance or other vices which may bring diseases or death Stirring men up to quarrelling and fighting Maiming or hurting the body of our Neighbour Fierceness and rage against him Coveting our
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
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
necessary for us according to that of the Psalmist The eyes of all wait upon thee O Lord and thou givest them meat in due season And our Saviour hath taught us to pray for our daily-bread thereby teaching us that we are to live in continual dependance upon God for it Yet I mean not by this that we should so expect it from God as to give up our selves to idleness and expect to â—e fed by miracle No our honest industry and labour is the means by which God ordinarily gives us the necessaries of this life and therefore we must by no means neglect that He that will not labour let him not eat sayes the Apostle 2 Thes. 3. 10. And we may believe God will pronounce the same sentence and suffer the slothful person to want even necessary food But when we have faithfully used our own endeavour then we must also look up to God for his blessing on it without which it can never prosper to us And having done thus we may comfortably rest our selves on his providence for such a measure of these outward things as he sees fittest for us 56. But if our condition be such that we are not able to labour and have no other means of bringing in the necessaries of life to our selves yet even then we are cherfully to rest upon God believing that he who feeds the Ravens will by some means or other though we know not what provide for us so long as he pleases we shall continue in this world and never in any case torment our selves with Carking and distrustful thoughts but as the Apâ—stle 1 Pet. 5. 7. Cast all our care on him who careth for us 57. This is earnestly prest by our Saviour Mat. 6. Where he abundantly shews the folly of this sin of distrust The place is a most excellent one and therefore I shall set it down at large Ver 25 Therefore I say unto you take no thought for your life what you shall eat or what you shall drink neither for your body what you shall put on is not the life more then meat and the body then rayment Behold the fowles of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barnes yet our heavenly Father feedeth them Are ye not much better then they which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature and why take ye thought for rayment consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arayed like one of these Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe you O ye of little Faith Therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or where with all shall we be clothed for after all these things do the Gentiles seck for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and then all these things shall be added unto you Take therefore no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of it self sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof I might add many other texts to this purpose but this is so full and convincing that I suppose it needless 58. All therefore that I shall say more concerning this duty is to put you in mind of the great benefits of it as first that by this trusting upon God you engage and hind him to provide for you Men you know think themselves highly concern'd not to fail those that depend and trust upon them and certainly God doth so much more But then Secondly there is a great deal of ease and quiet in the practice of this duty it delivers us from all those carkings and immoderate cares which disquiet our minds break our sleep and grieves even our very heart I doubt not but those that have felt them need not be told they are uneasie But then methinks that uneasiness should make us forward to imbrace the means for the removing of them and so we see it too often doth in unlawful ones men will cheat and steal and lie and do any thing to deliver themselves from the fear of want But alas they commonly prove but deceitful remedies They bring Gods curse on us and so are more likely to betray us to want then to keep us from it But if you desire a certain and unfailing cure for cares take this of relying upon God 59. For what should cause that man to fear want that knows he hath one that cares for him who is al-sufficient and will not suffer him to want what is fit for him If a poor man had but a faithful promise froâ— a wealthy person that he would never suffer him to want it is sure he would be highly cheered with it and would not then think fit to be as carking as he was before and yet a mans promise may fail us he may either grow poor and not be able or he may prove false and not be willing to make good his word But we know God is subject neither to impoverishing nor deceit And therefore how vile an injury do we offer to him if we dare not trust as much upon his promise as we would on that of a man yea and how great a mischief do we do our selves by loading our minds with a multitude of vexatious and tormenting cares when we may so securely cast our burden upon God I conclude this in the words of the Apostle Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God PARTITION II. Of HUMILITY Of Submission to Gods Wil in respect of Obeâ—ience of Patience in all sorts of sufferings and of HONOUR â—ue to God in several wayes in his House Possessions His Day Word Sacraments c. § 1. A Sixth duty to God is humility that is such a sense of our own meanness and his excellency as may work in us a lowly and unfeigned submission to him This submission is twofold First to his will Secondly to his Wisdom 2. The submission to his will is also of two sorts the submission either of obedience or patience That of obedience is our ready yielding our selves up to do his will so that when God hath by his command made known to 〈◊〉 what his pleasure is cheerfully and readily to set about it To enable us to this humility is exceeding necessary for a proud person is of all others the unaptest to obey and we see men never pay an obedience but where they acknowledg the person commanding to be some way above them And so it is here if we be not throughly perswaded that God is infinitely above us that we are vileness and nothing in comparison
thou enterest the Church remember that it is the house of God a place where he is in an especial manner present and therefore take the counsel of the wise man Eccles. 5. 1. And keep thy foot when thou goest into the house of God that is behave thy self with that godly awe and reverence which belongs to that great Majestie thou art before Remember that thy business there is to converse with God and therefore shut out all thoughts of the world even of thy most lawful business which though they be allowable at another time are here sinful How fearful a guilt is it then to entertain any such thoughts as are in themselves wicked It is like the treason of Judas who pretended indeed to come to kiss his Master buâ— brought with him a band of souldiers to apprehend him Mat. 26. We make shew in our coming to Church of serving and worshipping God but we bring with us a train of his enemies to provoke and despite him This is a wickedness that may outâ—ie the profaneness of these dayes in turnâ—ng Churches into stables for sinful and â—olluted thoughts are much the worst sort of â—beasts 14. The Second thing to which respect belongs is his revenue or income that is whatsoever is his peculiar possessions set apart for the maintenance of those that attend his service those were the Priests in time of the Law and Ministers of the Gospel now with us And what ever is thus set apart we must look on with such respect as not to dare to turn it to any other use Of this sort some are the free-will-offerings of men who have sometimes of their own accord given some of their goods or lands to this holy use and whatsoever is so given can neither by the person that gave it nor any other be taken away without great that sin of sacriledg 15. But besides these there was among the Jews and hath alwayes been in all Christian Nations something allotted by the Law of the Nation for the support and maintenance of those that attend the service of God And it is but just and necessary it should be so that those who by undertaking that Calling are taken off from the wayes of gaining a livelyhood in the world should be provided for by them whose souls they watch over And therefore it is most reasonable which the Apostle urges in this matter 1 Cor. 9. 11. If we have sown unto you spiritual things is it a great thing if we shal reap your carnal things That is the most unreasonable for men to grudg the bestowing a few carnal things the outward necessaries of this temporal life on them from whom they receive spiritual things even instruction and assistance towards the obtaining an eternal life 16. Now whatsoever is thus appointed for this use may by no means be imployed to any other And therefore those tithes which are here by Law allotted for the maintenance of the Ministry must by no means be kept back nor any tricks or shifts used to avoid the payment either in whole or in part For first it is certain that it is as truly theft as any other robbery can be Ministers having right to their tithes by the same Law which gives any other man right to his estate But then Secondly it is another manner of robbery then we think of it is a robbing of God whose service they were given to maintain and that you may not doubt the truth of this it is no more then God himself hath said of it Mal. 3. 8. Will a man rob God yet ye have robbed me yet ye say wherein have we robbed thee in tithes and offerings Here it is most plain that in Gods account the withholding tithes is a robbing of him And if you please you may in the next verse see what the gains of this robbery amounts to Yea are cursed with a curse A curse is all is gotten by it and common experience shews us that Gods vengeance doth in a remarkable manner pursue this sin of Sacriledg whether it be that of withholding tithes or the other of seizing on those possessions which have been voluntarily consecrated to God Men think to inrich themselves by it but it usually proves directly contrary this unlawful gain becomes such a Canker in the estate as often eates out even that we had a just title too And therefore if you love I will not say your souls but your estates preserve them from that danger by a strict care never to meddle with anything set a part for God 17. A Third thing wherein we are to express our reverence to God is the hallowing of the times set apart for his service He who hath given all our time requires some part of it to be paid back again as a rent or tribute of the whole Thus the Jews kept holy the seventh day and we Christians the Sunday or Lords day the Jews were in their Sabbath especially to remember the Creation of the world and we in ours the resurrection of Christ by which a way is made for us into that better world we expect hereafter Now this day thus set a part is to be imployed in the worship and service of God and that first more solemnly and publickly in the Congregation from which no man must then absent himself without a just cause and Secondly privatly at home in praying with and instructing our families or else in the yet more private duties of the closet a mans own private prayers reading meditating and the like And that we may be at leisure for these a rest from all our worldly business is commanded therefore let no man think that a bare rest from labour is all that is required of him on the Lords day but the time which he saves from the works of his calling he is to lay out on those spiritual duties For the Lords Day was never ordained to give us a pretence for idleness but only to change our imployment from worldly to heavenly much lesse was it meant that by our rest from our callings we should have more time free to bestow upon our sins as too many do who are more constant on that day at the Alehouse then the Church But this rest was commanded first to shadow out to us that rest from sin which we are bound to all the dayes of our lives And secondly to take us off from our worldly business and to give us time to attend the service of God and the need of our souls 18. And surely if we rightly consider it it is a very great benefit to us that there is such a set time thus weekly returning for that purpose We are very intent and busy upon the world and if there were not some such time appointed to our hands it is to be doubted we should hardly allot any our selves And then what a starved condition must these poor soules of ours be in that shall never be afforded a meal
whereas now there is a constant diet provided for them every Sunday if we will conscionably imploy it may be a festival day to them may bring them in such spiritual food as may nourish them to eternal life We are not to look on this day with grudging like those in Amos 8. 5. Who ask When will the Sabbath be gone that we may set forth wheat As if that time were utterly lost which were taken from our worldly business But we are to consider it as the gainfullest as tâ—e joyfullest day of the week a day of harvest wherein we are to lay up in store for the whole week nay for our whole lives 19. But besides this of the weekly Lords day there are other times which the Church hath set apart for the remembrance of some special mercies of God such as the Birth and Resurrectoon of Christ the Descent of the Holy Ghost and the like and these dayes we are to keep in that manner which the Church hath ordered to wit in the solemn worship of God and in particular thanksgiving for that special blessing we then remember And surely whoever is truely thankful for those rich mercies cannot think it too much to set apart some few dayes in a year for that purpose But then we are to look that our Feasts be truly spiritual by imploying the day thus holily and not make it an occasion of intemperance and discords as too many do who consider nothing in Christmas and other good times but the good cheers and jollity of them For that is doing despight in stead of honour to Christ who came to bring all purity and soberness in the world and therefore must not have that coming of his remembred in any other manner 20. Other dayes there are also set a part in memory of the Apostles and other Saints wherein we are to give hearty thanks to God for his graces in them particularly that they were made instruments of revealing to us Christ Iesus and the way of salvation as you know the Apostles were by their Preaching throughout the world And then farther we are to meditate on those Examples of holy life they have given us and stir up our selves to the imitation thereof And whoever does uprightly set himself to make these uses of these several holy dayes will have cause by the benefit he shall find from them to thank and not to blame the Church for ordering them 21. Another sort of dayes there are which we are likewise to observe and those are dayes of fasting and humiliation and whatever of this kind the Church injoynes whether constantly at set times of the year or upon any special and more sudden occasion we are to observe in such a manner as she directs that is not only in a bare abstaining from meat which is only the bodies punishment but in afflicting our soules humbling them deeply before God in a hearty confessing and bewailing of our own and the nations sins in earnest Prayers for Gods pardon and forgiveness and for the turning away of those judgments which those sins have called for But above all in turning our selves from our sins loosing the bands of wickedness as Isaiah speaks Chap. 58. 6. And exercising our selves in works of mercy dealing our bread to the hungry and the like as it there followes 22. Fourthly we are to express our reverence to God by honouring his Word and this we must certainly do if we do indeed honour him there being no surer sign of our dispising any person then the setting light by what he sayes to us as on the contrary if we value one every word he speaks will be of weight with us Now this word of God is expresly contained in the holy Scriptures the Old and New Testament where he speaks to us to shew us his Will and our duty And therefore to this Word of his we are to beare a wonderful respect to look upon it as the rules by which we must frame all the actions of our life and to that end to study it much to read in it as often as we can if it may be never to let a day pass us without reading or hearing some part of it read 23. But then that is not all We must not only read but we must mark what we read we must diligently observe what duties there are which God commands us to perform what faults they are which God there charges us not to commit together with the rewards promised to the one and the punishments threatned to the other When we have thus marked we must lay them up in our memory not so loosely and carelesly that they shall presently drop out again but we must so fasten them there by often thinking and meditating on them that we may have them ready for our use Now that use is the directing of our lives and therefore whenever we are tempted to the committing of any evil we are then to call to mind this is the thing which in such a Scripture is forbidden by God and all his vengeances threatned against it and so in like manner when any opportunity is offered us of doing good to remember this is the duty which I was exhorted to in such a Scripture and such glorious rewards promised to the doing of it and by these considerations strengthen our selves for resisting of the evil and performance of the good 24. But besides this of the written Word it hath pleased God to provide yet further for our instruction by his Ministers whose office it is to teach us Gods Will not by saying any thing contrary to the written word for whatsoever is so can never be Gods Will but by explaining it and making it easier to our understandings and then applying it to our particular occasions and exhorting and stirring us up to the practice of it all which is the end at which first their Catechizing and then their preaching aimeth And to this we are to bear also a due respect by giving diligent heed thereto not only being present at Catechizings and Sermons and either sleep out the time or think of somewhat else but carefully marking what is said to us And surely if we did but rightly consider how much it concern us we should conclude it very reasonable for us to do so 25. For First as to that of Catechizing it is the laying the foundation upon which all Christian Practice must be built for that is the teaching us our duty without which it is impossible for us to perform it And though it is true that the Sriptures are the Fountains from whence this knowledg of duty must be fetched yet there are many who are not able to draw it from this fountain themselves and therefore it is absolutely necessary it should be thus brought to them by others 26 This Catechizing is generally look't on as a thing belonging only to the youth and so indeed it ought not because the oldest are not to learn
if they be ignorant but because all children should be so instructed that it should be impossible for them to be ignorant when they come to years And it neerly concerns every Parent as they will free themselve from the guilt of their childrens eternal undoing that they be careful to see them instructed in all necessary things to which purpose it will be fit early to teach then some short Catechism of which sort none so fit as the Church-Catechism yet are they not to rest on these endeavours of their own but also to call in the Ministers help that he may build them up farther in Christian Knowledg 27. But alas it is too sure that parents have very much neglected this duty and by that means it is that such multitudes of men and women that are called Christians know no more of Christ or any thing that concerns their own soules then the mearest heathen 28. But although it were their Parents fault that they were not instructed when they were young yet it is now their own if they remain still ignorant and it is sure it will be their own ruine and misery if they willfully continue so Therefore whoever it be of what age or condition soever that is in this ignorant estate or in any such degree of it that he wants any part of necessary saving knowledg let him as he loves his soul as ever he would escape eternal damnation seek out for instruction let no fear of shame keep any from it for first it is certain the shame belongs only to the wilful continuing in ignorance to which the desire of learning is directly contrary and is so far from a shameful that it is a most commendable thing and will be sure to be so accounted by all wise and good men But Secondly suppose some prophane senseless people should deride it yet sure that shame were in all reason to be undergon joyfully rather then venture on that confusion of face which will at the day of judgment befal those who to avoidalittle false shame amongst men have gone on in a wilful ignorance of their duty which ignorance wil be so far from excusing any sins they shall commit that it adds one great heavy sin to all the rest even the dispising that knowledg which is offered to them How hainous a sin that is you may learn in the First Chapter of the Proverbs where hating knowledg ver 29. is said to be the thing that draws down those sad vengeances forementioned even Gods forsaking men laughing at their calamity in stead of helping them which is of all other conditions in the world the most miserable surely they are madly desperat that will run themselves into it 29. As for those who have already this foundation laid by the knowledg of the grounds of Christian Religon there is yet for them a farther help provided by Preaching And it is no more then needs for God knows those that understand their duty well enough are too apt to forget it nay sometimes by the violence of their own lusts to transgress it even when they do remember it and therefore it is very useful we should often be put in mind of it to prevent our forgetting and also often exhorted and assisted to withstand those lusts which draw us to those transgressions And to these purposes preaching is intended First to warn us to be upon our guard against our spiritual enemy and then to furnish us with weapons for the fight that is such means and helps as may best enable us to beat off temptations and get the victory over them 30. Since therefore this is the end of preaching we must not think we have done our duty when we have heard a Sermon though never so attentively but we must lay up in our hearts those instructions and advices we there meet with use them faithfully to that end of overcoming our sins Therefore when ever thou comest to the Physician of thy soul do as thou wouldst with the Physician of thy body thou comest to him not only to hear him talk and tell thee what will cure thee but also to do according to his directions and if thou dost not so here thou art as vain as he that expects a bare receipt from his Doctor shall cure him though he never make use of it Nay thou art much more vain and ridiculous for that though it do him no good will do him no harmâ— he shall be never the worse for having bin taught a medicine though he use it not but in these spiritual receipts it is otherwise if we use them not to our good they will do us a great deal of harm they will rise up in judgment against us and make our condemnation so much the heavier Beware therefore not to bring that danger upon thy self but when thou hast heard a Sermon consider with thy self what directions there were in it for enabling thee to eschew evil or to do good And if there were any thing especially concern'd thine own boâ—ome sin lay that close to thy heart and all the week after make it matter of meditâ—tion think of it even whilst thou art at thy work if thou wantest other time and not only think of it but â—et to the practice of it do what thou wert advised to for the subduing sins and quickning grace in thee Finally look carefully to practice the counsel of the Apostle Ia. 1. 22. Be ye doers of the word not hearers only deceiving your own soules to hope for good from the word without doing of it is it seems nothing but a deceiving our selves Let us never therefore measure our godliness by the number of Sermons which we hear as if the hearing many were a certain mark of a good Christian but by the store of fruit we bring forth by them without which all our hearing will serve but to bring us in that heavier portion of stripes which belongs to him that knows his Masters will and does it not Lu. 12. 47. But this reverence which is due to preaching we must not pay to all that is now a dayes called so for God knows there are many false Prophets gone out into the world as the Apostle speaks 1 Jo. 4 1. And now if ever is that advice of his necessary to trie the Spirits whether they be of God But what I have sayed I mean only of the preaching of those who first have a lawfull calling to the Office and secondly frame their doctrine according to the right rule the written word of God But if any man say he is not able to judg whether the doctrine be according to the Word or no let him at least try it by the common known rules of duty which he doth understand and if he find it a doctrine giving men liberty to commit those things which are by all acknowledged sins such as rebellion injustice unmercifulness uncleanness or the like he may conclude it is utterly contrary to God and
differ in kind and degree between one man and another But it is sure that he which receives least hath yet enough to imploy his whole life in praises to God And it will be very fit for every man to consider the several passages of this life and the mercies he hath in each received and so to gather a kind of list or Catalogue of them at least the principal of them which he may alwayes have in his memory and after with a thankful heart repeat before God 11. These are the several parts of prayer and all of them to be used both publickly and privately The publick use of them is first that in the Church where all meet to joyn in those prayers wherein they are in common concerned And this where the prayers are such as they ought to be we should be very constant at there being an especial blessing promised to the joynt requests of the faithful and he that without a necessary cause absents himself from such publick prayers cuts himself off from the Church which hath alwayes been thought so unhappy a thing that it is the greatest punishment the Governours of the Church can lay upon the worst offender and therefore it is a strange madness for men to inflict it upon themselves 12. A second sort of publick prayer is that in a family where all that are members of it joyn in their common supplications and this also ought to be very careful attended to first by the Master of the Family who is to look that there be such prayers it being as much his part thus to provide for the souls of his children and servants as to provide food for their bodies Therefore there is none even the meanest housholder but ought to take this care If either himself or any of his Family can read he may use some prayers out of some good book if it be the service book of the Church he makes a good choice if they cannot read it will then be necessary they should be taught without book some form of prayer which they may use in the Family for which purpose again some of the prayers of the Church will be very fit as being most easie for their memories by reason of their shortness and yet containing a great deal of matter But what choice soever they make of Prayers let them be sure to have some and let no man that professes himself a Christian keep so heathenish a Family as not to see God be daily worshipped in it But when the Master of a Family hath done his duty in this providing it is the duty of every member of it to make use of that provision by being constant and diligent at those Family-Prayers 13. Private or secret Prayer is that which is used by a man alone a part from all others wherein we are to be more particular according to our peculiar needs then in publick it is fit to be And this of private prayer is a duty which will not be excused by the performance of the other of publick They are both required and one must not be taken in exchange for the other And whoever is diligent in publick prayers and yet negligent in private it is much to be feared he rather seeks to approve himself to men then to God contrary to the command of our Saviour Mat. 6. Who enjoyns this private prayer this praying to our Father in secret from whom alone we are to expect our reward and not from the vain praises of men 14. Now this duty of Prayer is to be often performed by none seldomer then evening and morning it being most necessary that we should thus begin and end all our works with God and that not only in respect of the duty we owe him but also in respect of our selves who can never be either prosperous or safe but by committing our selves to him and therefore should tremble to venture on the perils either of day or night without his safeguard How much oftner this duty is to be performed must be judged according to the business or leisure men have where by business I mean not such business as men unprofitably make to themselves but the necessary business of a mans calling which with some will not afford them much time for set and solemn Prayer But even these men may often in a day lift up their hearts to God in some short Prayers even whilst they are at their work As for those that have more leisure they are in all reason to bestow more time upon this duty And let no man that can find time to bestow upon his vanities nay perhaps his sins say be wants leisure for prayer but let him now endeavour to redeem what he hath so mispent by imploying more of that leisure in this duty for the future And surely if we did but rightly weigh how much it is our own advantage to perform this duty we should think it wisdom to be as frequent as we are ordinarily solemn in it 15. For first it is a great honour for us poor woâ—mes of the earth to be allowed to speak so freely to the great Majesty of heaven if a King should but vouchsafe to let one of his meanest subjects talk familiarly and freely with him it would be looked on as a huge honour that man how despiseable soever he were before would then be the envy of all his neighbours and there is little question he would be willing to take all opportunities of receiving so great a grace But alas this is nothing to the honour is offered us who are allowed nay invited to speak to and converse with the King of Kings and therefore how forward should we in all reason be to it 16. Secondly it is a great benefit even the greatest that can be imagined for prayer is the instrument of fetching down all good things to us whether spiritual or temporal no prayer that is qualified as it ought to be but is sure to bring down a blessing according to that of the wise man Eccl. 35. 17. The Prayer of the humble pierceth the clouds and will not turn away till the highest regard it You would think him a happy man that had one certain means of helping him to what ever he wanted though it were to cost him much pains and labour now this happy man thou mayst be if thou wilt Prayer is the never-failing means of bringing thee if not all that thou thinkest thou wantest yet all that indeed thou dost that is all that God sees fit for thee And therefore be there never so much weariness to thy flesh in the duty yet considering in what continual want thou standest for something or other from God it is madness to let that uneasiness dishearten thee and keep thee from this so sure meanes of supplying thy wants 17. But in the third place this duty is in it self so far from being uneasie that it is very pleasant God is
a time very fit to renew our repentance but sure not proper to begin it and it is a most desperate madness for men to defer it till then For to say the middest of it it is the venturing our Souls upon such miserable uncertainties as no wise man would trust with any thing of the least value For first I would ask any man that means to repent at his death how he knows he shall have an hours time for it do we not daily see men snatch'd away in a moment and who can tell that it shal not be his own case But secondly suppose he have a more leisurely death that some disease give him warning of its approach yet perhaps he will not understand that warning but will still flatter himself as very often sick people do with hopes of life to the last and so his death may be sudden to him though it come by never so slow degrees But again thirdly if he do discern his danger yet how is he sure he shall then be able to repent Repentance is a grace of God not at our own command and it is just and usual with God when men have a long time refused and rejected that grace resisted all his cals and invitations to conversion and amendment to give them over at last to the hardness of their own hearts and not to afford them any more of that grace they have so despised Yet suppose in the fourth place That God in his infinite patience should still continue the offer of that grace to thee yet thou that hast resisted it may be thirty or forty or fifty years together how knowest thou that thou shalt put off that habit of resistance upon a sudden and make use of the grace afforded It is sure thou hast many more advantages towards the doing it now then thou wilt have then 31. For the first The longer sin hath kept possession of the heart the harder it will be to drive it out It is trne if repentance were nothing but a present ceasing from the acts of sin the death-bed were fittest for it for then we are disabled from committing most sins but I have formerly shewed you repentance contains much more then so there must be in it a sincere hatred of sin and love of God Now how unlikely is it that he which hath all his life loved sin cherisht it in his bosome on the contrary abhorred God and goodness should in an instant quite change his affections hate that sin he loved and love God and goodness which before he utterly hated 32. And secondly The bodily pains that attend a death-bed will distract thee and make thee unable to attend the work of repentance which is a business of such weight and difficulty as will employ all our powers even when they are at the freshest 33. Consider those disadvantages thou must then struggle with and then tell me what hope there is thou shalt then do that which now upon much easier terms thou wilt not But in the fifth place there is a danger behind beyond all these and that is that thâ— repentance which death drives a man to will not be a true repentance for in such a case it is plain it is onely the fear of hell puts him on it which though it may be a good beginning where there is time after to perâ—ect it yet where it goes alone it can never avail for Salvation Now that death-bed repentances are often onely of this sort is too likely when it is observed that many men who have seemed to repent when they have thought death approaching have yet after it hath pleased God to restore them to health been as wicked perhaps worse as ever they were before Which shews plainly that there was no reall change in them and then surely had such a man died in that seeming repentance God who tries the heart would not have accepted it which he saw was unsincere When all these dangers are layed together it will surely appear a most disperate adventure for any man to trust to a death-bed repentance Nor is it ever the less for that example of the penitent thief Luc. 23. 43. which is by many so much depended on For it is sure his case and ours differ widely he had never heard of Christ before and so more could not be expected of him then to embrace him as soon as he was tendred to him But we have had him offered nay prest upon us from our cradles and yet have rejected But if there were not this difference it is but a faint hope can be raised onely from a single example and another we find not in the whole Bible The Israelites we read were fed with Manna from Heaven but would you not think him stark mad that should out of expectation of the like neglect to provide himself any food Yet it is full as reasonable to depend upon this example as the other I conclude all in the words of the wiseman Eccl. 12. 1. Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth before the evil dayes come c. 34. To this duty of repentance fasting is very proper to be annexed The Scripture usually joyns them together among the Jews the great day of atonement was to be kept with fasting as you may see by comparing Levit. 16. 31. with Isa. 58. 5. and this by Gods especial appointment And in the Prophets when the people are called on to repent and humble themselves they are also called on to fast Thus it is Joel 2. 12. Therefore now thus saith the Lord turn ye unto me with all your hearts with fasting and with weeping c. Yea so proper hath fasting been accounted to humiliation that we see even wicked Ahab would not omit it in his 2 Kings 21. 27. Nor the Heathen Ninevites in theirs Jonah 3. 5. Nor is it less fit or less acceptable since Christ then it was before him For we see he supposes it as a duty sometimes to be performed when he gives directions to avoid vain-glory in it Mat. 6. 6. and also assures us that if it be performed as it ought not to please men but God it will surely be rewarded by him And accordingly â—e find it practised by the Saints Anna Luk. 2. 37. Served God with fastings and prayers where it is observable that it is reckoned as a service of God fit to be joyned with prayers And the Christians of the first times were generally very frequent in the practice of it Now though fasting be especially proper to a time of humiliation yet is it not so restrained to it but it may be seasonable whensoever we have any extraordinary thing to request from God Thus when Esther was to endeavour the deliverance of her people from destruction she all the Jews kept a solemn fast Esther 4. 16. and thus when Paul and Barnabas were to be ordained Apostles there was fasting joyned to prayer Acts 13. 3. And so
it will be very fit for us whensoever we have need of any extraordinary directions or assistance from God whether concerning our temporal or spiritual concernments thus to quicken our prayers by fasting But above all occasions this of humiliation seems most to require it for besides the advantage of kindling our zeal which is never more necessary then when we beg for pardon of sins fasting carries in it somewhat of revenge which is reckoned as a special part of repentance 2 Cor. 7. 11. For by denying our bodies the refreshment of our ordinary food we do inflict somewhat of punishment upon our selves for our former excesses or whatever other sins we at that time accuse our selves of which is a proper effect of that indignation which every sinner ought to have against himself And truly he that is so tender of himself that he can never find in his heart so much as to miss a meal by way of punishment for his faults shews he is not much fallen out with himself for committing them and so wants that indignation which the Apostle in the forenamed text mentions as a part of true repentance 35. There is no doubt but such Holy revenges upon our selves for sins are very acceptable to God yet we must not think that either those or any thing else we can doe can make satisfaction for our offences for that nothing but the blood of Christ can do And therefore on that and not on any of our performances we must depend for pardon Yet since that blood shall never be applyed to any but penitent sinners we are as much concern'd to bring forth all the fruits of repentance as if our hopes depended on them onely 36. How often this duty of fasting is to be performed we have no direction in Scripture That must be allotted by mens own piety according as their health or other considerations will allow But as it is in humiliation the frequenter returns we have of set times for it the better so is it likewise in fasting the ofâ—ner the better so it be not hurtful either to our healths or to some other duty required of us Nay perhaps fasting may help some men to more of those times for humiliation then they would otherwise gain For perhaps there are some who cannot without a manifest hinderance to their calling allow a whole day to that work yet such a one may at least afford that time he would otherwise spend in eating And so fasting will be doubly useful towards such a mans humiliation both by helping him in the duty and gaining him time for it 37. I have now gone through the first branch of our duty to God to wit the acknowledging him for our God The second is the having no other Of which I need say little as it is a forbidding of that grosser sort of heathiness Idolatry the worshipping of Idols which though it were once common in the world yet is now so rare that it is not likely any that shall read this will be concerned in it Onely I must say that to pay divine worship to any creature be it Saint or Angel yea or the Image of Christ himself is a transgression against this second branch of our duty to God it being the imparting that to a creature which is due onely to God and therefore is strictly to be abstained from 38. But there is another sort of Idolatry of which we are generally guilty and that is when we pay those affections of love fear trust and the like to any creature in a higher degree then we do to God For that is the setting up that thing whatsoever it is for our God And this inward kind of Idolatry is that which provokes God to jealousy as well as the outward of worshipping an Idol I might inlarge much upon this but because some severals of it have been toucht on in the former discourse I suppose it needless And therefore shall now proceed to the second head of duty that to our selves PARTITION VI. Of DUTIES to our SELVES Of Sobriety other Humility the great Sin of PRIDE the Danger the Folly of this Sin Of VAIN GLORY the Danger Folly The Means to Prevent it Of MEEKNES the Means to obtain it c. § 1. THis duty to our selves is by St. Paul in the foremetioned text Tit. 2 12. summed up in this one word soberly Now by soberly is meant our keeping within those due bounds which God hath set us My business will therefore be to tell you what are the particulars of this sobriety And that first in respect of the soul secondly in respect of the body the sobriety of the soul stands in a right governing its passions and affections and to that there are many vertues required I shall give you the particulars of them 2 The first of them is humility which may well have the prime place not only in respect of the excellency of the vertue but also of it usefulness towards the obtaining of all the rest This being the foundaâ—ion on which all others must be built And he that hopes to gain them without this will prove but like that foolish builder Christ speaks of Luke 6. 49. Who built his house on the sand Of the humility towards God I have alreadâ— spoken and shewed the necessity of it I am now to speak of humility as it concerns our selves which will be found no less necessary then the former 3. This humility is of two sorts the first is the having a mean and low opinion of our selves the second is the being content that others should have so of us The first of these is contrary to pride the other to vain glory And that both these are absolutely necessary to Christians I am now to shew youâ— which will I conceive best be done by laying before you first the sin secondly the danger and thirdly the folly of the contrary vices 4. And first for pride the sin of it is so great that it cast the Angels out of heaven and therefore if we may judg of sin by the punishment it was not only the first but the greatest sin that ever the Divel himself hath bin guilty of But we need no better proof of the hainousness of it then the extreme hatefulness of it to God which besides that instance of his punishing the Divel we may frequently find in the Scriptures Prov. 16. 5. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. And again Chap. 6. 16. Where there is mention of several things the Lord hates a proud look is set as the first of them So Jam. 4. 7. God resisteth the proud and divers other texts there are to the same purpose which shew the great hatred God bears to this sin of pride Now since it is certain God who is all goodness hates nothing but as it is evil it must needs follow that where God hates in so great a degree there must
jealous tendernesse and watchfulnesse over their souls which we ought to have of our own It will therefore be very fit for all that have enter'd any strict friendship to make this one special article in the agreement that they shall mutually admonish and reprove each other by which means it will become such an avowed part of their friendship that it can never be mistaken by the reproved party for censoriousness or unkindness 23. Fourthly To these several parts of kindness must be added that of Prayer we must not only assist our friends our selves in what we can but we must call in the Almighty aid to them recommending them earnestly to God for all his blessings both spiritual temporal 24. Lastly We must be constant in our friendships and not out of a slightness of humour grow weary of a friend only because we have had him long This is great injustice to him who if he have behaved himself well ought the more to be valued by how much the longer he has continued to do so And it is great folly in our selves for it is the casting away the greatest treasure of humane life for such certainly is a tryed friend The wisest of men gives warning of it Prov. 27. 16. Thine own friend and thy fathers friend forsake not Nay farther 't is not every light offence of a friend that should make thee renounce his friendship there must be some allowance made to the infirmities of men and if thou hast occasion to pardon him somewhat to day perhaps thou maist give him opportunity to requite thee to morrow therefore nothing but unfaithfulness or incorrigible vice should break this band 25. The last relation is that between Masters and Servants both which owe a duty to each other That of the servant is first obedience to all lawful commands this is expresly required by the Apostle Eph. 6. 6. Servants obey in all things your Masters c. and this obedience must not be a grumbling and unwilling one but ready and cheerful as he there proceeds to exhort ver 7. with good will doing service and to help them herein they are to consider that it is to the Lord and not unto men God has commanded servants thus to obey their Masters and therefore the obedience they pay is to God which may well make them do it cheerfully how harsh or unworthy soever the Master be especially if what the Apostle farther urgeth ver 8. be considered that there is a reward to be expected from God for it 26. The second duty of the servant is faithfulness and that may be of two sorts one as supposed to eye service the other to purloyning or defrauding The first part of faithfulness is the doing of all true service to his Master not only when his eye is over him and he expect punishment for the omission but at all times even when his Master is not likely to discern his failing and that servant that doth not make conscience of this is far from being a faithful servant this eye-service being by the Apostle set opposite to that singleness of heart which he requires of servants Eph 6. 5. 6. The second sort of faithfulness consists in the honest managery of all things intrusted to him by his Master the not wasting his goods as the unjust steward was accused to have done Lu. 16. whether by careless embezelling of them or by converting any of them to his own use without the allowance of his Master This latter is that purloyning of which the Apostle warnes servants Tit. 2. 10. And is indeed no better then arrant theft of this kind are all those ways that the servant hath of gaining to himself by the loss and damage of his Master as the being bribed to make ill bargains for him and many the like Nay indeed this sort of unfaithfulness is worse then common theft by how much there is a greater trust reposed the betraying whereof adds to the crime As for the other sort of unfaithfulness that of wasting though without gain to themselves it differs not much in effect from this the Master may lose as much by the one as by the other and then what odds is it to him whether he be robb'd by the covetousness or negligence of his servant and it is still the same breach of trust with the former for every Master is supposed to intrust his affairs as well to the care as the honesty of his servant for t' would be little advantage to the Master to be secured that his servant would not himself cheat him whilst in the mean time he would by his carelesness give opportunity to others to do it therefore he that does not carefully look to his Masters profâ—t deceâ—ves his trust as well as he that justly provides for his own A third duty of a servant is patience and meekness under the reproofs of his Master not answering again as the Apostle exhorts Tit. 2. 9 That is not making such surely and rude replies as may encrease the Masters displeasure A thing too frequent among servants even in the justest reprehensions whereas St. Peter directs them patiently to suffer even the most undeserved correction even when they do well and suffer for it 1 Pet. 2. 20. But the patient suffering of rebuke is not all that is required of servants in this matter they must also mend the fault they are rebuked for and not think they have done enough when they have though never so dutifully given the Master the hearing 28. A fourth duty of a servant is diligence he must constantly attend to all those things which are the duties of his place and not give himself to idleness and sloth nor yet to company keeping gameing or any other disorderly course which may take him off from his Masters business All these are necessary duties of a servant which they are carefully and conscionably to perform not so much to escape the Masters anger as Gods who will certainly call every one of them to an account how they have behaved themselves towards their earthly Masters 29. Now on the other side there are some things also owing from the Masters to their servants As first the Master is bound to be just to them in performing those conditions on which they were hired such are commonly the giving them food and wages and that Master that withholds these is an oppressor 30. Secondly The Master is to admonish and reprove the servant in case of fault and that not only in faults against them wherein few Masters are backward but also and more especially in faults against God whereat every Master ought to be more troubled then at those which tend only to his own loss or inconvenience the dishonour of God and the hazard of the meanest mans soul being infinitely more worthy our disquiet then any thing of the other kind can be And therefore when Masters are presently on fire for any little negligence
or fault of a servant towards themselves and yet can without trouble see them run into the greatest sins against God 't is a sign they consider their own concernments too much and Gods glory and their servants souls too little This is too commonly the temper of Masters they are generally careless how their servants behave themselves towards God how disorder'd and profane their families are and therefore never bestow any exhortation or admonition to perswade them to vertue or draw them from vice such Masters forget that they must one day give an account how they have governed their families It is certainly the duty of every Ruler to endeavour to advance piety and godliness among all those that are under his charge and that as well in this lesser dominion of a family as in the greater of a Realm or Nation Of this David was so careful that we see he professes Psal. 101. 7. That no deceitful person should dwell in his house that he that told lies should not tarry in his sight so much he thought himself bound to provide that his family might be a kind of Church an assembly of Godly upright persons And if all Masters would endeavour to have theirs so they would besides the eternal reward of it hereafter find a present benefit by it there worldly business would thrive much the better for if their servants were brought to make conscience of their wayes they would then not dare either to be negligent or false 31. But as it is the duty of Masters to admonish and reprove their servants so they must also look to do it in a due manner that is so as may be most likely to do good not in passion and rage which can never work the servant to any thing but the despising or hating him but with such sober and grave speeches as may convince him of his fault and may also assure him that it is a kind desire of his amendment and not a willingness to wreck his own rage which makes the Master thus to rebuke him 32. A third duty of the Master is to set good example of honesty and godliness to his servants without which 't is not all the exhortations or reproofs he can use will ever do good for else he puls down more with his example then t is possible for him to build with the other and 't is madness for a drunken or profane Master to expect a sober and godly family 33. Fourthly the Master is to provide that his servants may not want means of being instructed in their duty as also that they may daily have constant times of worshipping God publickly by having prayers in the family but of this I have spoken before under the head of Prayer and therefore shall here say no more of it 34. Fifthly The master in all affairs of his own is to give reasonable and moderate commands not saying greater burdens on his servants then they are able to bear particularly not requiring so much work that they shall have no time to bestow on their souls as on the other side he is not to permit them to live so idely as may make them either uselesse to him or may betray themselves to any ill 35. Sixthly The Master is to give his servants encouragement in well doing by using them with that bounty and kindness which their faithfulness aud diligence and piety deserves And finally in all his dealing with them he is to remember that himself hath as the Apostle saith Eph. 6. 9. A Master in heaven to whom he must give account of the usage of his meanest servant on earth Thus have I briefly run through those several relations to which we owe a particular duty and so have done with that first branch of duty to our neighbours that of Justice PARTITION XVI Other Branches of our DUTY to our Neighbour Of CHARITY to mens Sâ—uls Bodies Gooâ—s c. THE second branch of Duty to our Neighbours is Charity or Love This is the great Gospel-duty so often injoined us by Christ the New Commandment as himself calls it Jo. 13 34. That ye love one another this is again repeated twice in one Chapter John 15 12. 17. and the first Epistle of St. John is almost wholly spent in the perswasion to this one duty by which we may see 't is no matter of indifference but most strictly required of all that profess Christ. Indeed himself has given it as the badge and livery of his Disciples John 13. 35. By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another This Charity may be considered two waies first in respect of the affections secondly of the actions Charity in the affections is a sincere kindness which disposes us to wish all good to others and that in all their capacities in the same manner that justice obliged us to wish no hurt to any man in respect either of his Soul his Body his Goods or his Credit so this first part of Charity binds us to wish all good to them in all these And first for the Soul If we have any the least spark of Charity we cannot but wish all good to mens Souls Those precious things which Christ thought worth the ransoming with his own blood may surely well challenge our kindness and good wishes and therefore if we do not thus love one another we are far from obeying that Command of loving as he hath loved for 't was the Souls of men which he loved so tenderly and both did and suffered so much for Of this love of his to Souls there are two great and special effects the first the purifying them here by his grace the second the making them everlastingly happy in his glory and both these we are so far to copy out in our kindness as to be earnestly desirous that all men should arrive to that purity and holiness here which may make them capable of eternal happiness hereafter It were to be hoped that none that himself carried a Soul about him could be so cruel to that of another mans as not sincerely to wish this did not experience shew us there are some persons whose malice is so divelish as to reach even to the direâ—â— contrary the wishing not onely the sin but the damnation of others Thus may you have some who in any injury or oppression they suffer make it their onely comfort that their enemies will damn themselves by it when alas that should to a Christian be much more terrible then any suffering they could bring upon him He that is of this temper is a disciple of Satans not of Christ it being directly contrary to the whole scope of that grand Christian precept of loving our neighbours as our selves For 't is sure no man that beleeves there is such a thing as damnation wishes it to himself Be he never so fond of the wayes that lead to it yet he wishes that may
among us there being nothing more common then to see men make large professions to those who as soon as their back are turned they either deride or mischief Fifthly it casts out all mercenariness and self-seeking 't is of so noble and generous a temper that it dispises all projectings for gain or advantage love seeketh not her own 1 Cor. 13. 5. And therefore that huckstering kind of love so much used in the world which places it self only there where it may fetch in benefit is very far from this charity Lastly It turns out of the heart all malice and desire of revenge which is so utterly contrary to it that it is impossible they should both dwell in the same brest 't is the property of love to bear all things 1 Cor. 13. 7. To endure the greatest injuries without thought of making any other return to them then prayers and blessings and therefore the malicious revengeful person is of all others the greatest stranger to this charity 'T is true if this vertue were to be exercised but towards some sort of persons it might consist with malice to others it being possible for a man that bitterly hates one to love another but we are to take notice that this charity must not be so confined but must extend and stretch it self to all men in the world particularly to enemies or else it is not that divine charity commended to us by Christ. The loving of friends and benefactors is so low a pitch that the very Publicans and sinners the worst of men were able to attain to it Mat. 5. 46 And therefore 't is not counted rewardable in a Disciple of Christ No he expects we should soar higher and therefore hath set us this more spiritual and excellent precept of loving of enemies Mat. 5. 44. I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you and whoever does not thus will never be owned by him for a disciple We are therefore to conclude that all which hath been said concerning this Charity of the affections must be understood to belong as well to our spitefullest enemy as our most obliging friend But because this is a duty to which the froward nature of man is apt to object much 't will not be amiss to insist a little on some considerations which may inforce it on us And first consider what hath been already toucht on that it is the Command of Christ both in the Text above mentioned and multitudes of others there being scarce any precept so often repeated in the New Testament as this of loving and forgiving of enemies Thus Eph. 4. 32. Be ye kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another and again Col. 3. 13. Forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye So also 1 Pet. 3. 9. Not rendring evil for evil nor railing for railing but contrariwise Blessing A whole volume of Texts might be brought to this purpose but these are certainly enough to convince any man that this is strictly required of us by Christ and indeed I think there are few that ever heard of the Gospel but know it is so The more prodigiously strange is it that men that call themselves Christians should give no degree of obedience to it nay not onely so but even publickly avow and profess the contrary as we daily see they do it being ordinary to have men resolve and declare that they will not forgive such or such a man and no consideration of Christs Command can at all move them from their purpose Certainly these men understand not what is meant by the very word Christian which signifies a Servant and Disciple of Christ and this Charity is the very badg of the one the lesson of the other and therefore 't is the greatest absurdity and contradiction to profess themselves Christians and yet at the same time to resist this so express Command of that Christ whom they own as their Master If I be a Master saith God where is my fear Mal. 1. 6. Obedience and reverence are so much the duties of Servants that no man is thought to look on him as a Master to whom he payes them not Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I say saith Christ Luk. 6. 46. The whole world is divided into two great Families Christs and Satans aâ—d the obedience each man payes signifies to which of these Masters he belongs if he obey Christ to Christ if Satan to Satan Now this sin of malice and revenge is so much the dictate of that wicked spirit that there is nothing can be a more direct obeying of him 't is the taking his livery on our backs the proclaiming whose servants we are What ridiculous impudence is it then for men that have thus entred themselves of Satans Family to pretend to be the Servants of Christ Let such know assuredly they shall not be owned by him but at the great day of accompt be turned over to their proper Master to receive their wages in fire and brimstone A second consideration is the example of God this is an argument Christ himself thought fit to use to impress this duty on us as you may see Luk 6. 35 36. where after having given the Command of Loving enemies he incourages to the practice of it by telling that it is that which will make us the Children of the Highest that is 't will give us a likeness and resemblance to him as children have to their Parents for he is kind to the unthankful and the evil And to the same purpose you may read Mat. 5. 45. He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust And sure this is a most forcible consideration to excite us to this duty God we know is the fountain of perfection and the being like to him is the summe of all we can wish for and though it was Lucifers fall his ambition to be like the most high yet had the likeness he affected been onely that of Holyness and Goodness he might still have been an Angel of light This desire of imitating our Heavenly Father is the especial mark of a child of his Now this kindness and goodness to enemies is most eminently remarkable in God and that not onely in respect of the temporal mercies which he indifferently bestowes on all his sun and rain on the unjust as in the Text forementioned but chiefly in his spiritual mercies We are all by our wicked works Col. 1. 21. Enemies to him and the mischief of that enmity would have fallen wholly upon our selves God had no motive besides that of his pity to us to wish a reconciliation yet so farr was he from returning our enmity when he might have revenged himself to our eternal ruine
his needs require and our abilities will permit They want much of this charity who clap up poor debtors in prison when they know they have nothing to answer the debt which is a great cruelty to make another miserable when nothing is gained to our selves by it 10. Fourthly We should give liberally we must not be strait handed in our alms and give by such pitiful scantlings as will bring almost no relief to the receiver for that is a kind of mockery 't is as if one should pretend to feed one that is almost famisht by giving him a crumb of bread such doles as that would be most ridiculous yet I fear 't is too neer the proportion of some mens almes such men are below those Disciples we read of who knew only the Baptism of John for 't is to be observed that John Baptist who was but the fore-runner of Christ makes it a special part of his Doctrine that he that hath two coats should impart to him that hath none Luk. 3. 11. He sayes not he that hath some great Wardrobe but even he that hath but two coats must part with one of them from whence we may gather that whatsoever is above not our vanity but our need should thus be disposed of when our brethrens necessity requires it But if we look into the first time of the Gospel we shall find Christianity far exceeded this proportion of Johns the converts assigned not a part only but frankly gave all to the use of the brethren Acts 4. and though that being upon an extraordinary occasion will be no measure for our constant practice yet it may shew us how prime and fundamental part of Christâ—anity this of charity is that at the very first founding of the Church such vast degrees of it were practised and if we farther coâ—sider what precepts of love are given us in the Gospel even to the laying down our lives for the brethren 1 Io. 3. 16. We cannot imagine our goods are in Gods account so much more precious then our lâ—ves that he would command us to be prodigal of the one and yet allow us to be sparing of the other 11. A multitude of Arguments might be brought to recommend this bounty to all that profess Christ I shall mention onely two which I find used by St. Paul to the Corinthians on this occasion The first is the example of Christ 2 Cor. 7. 9. For ye know the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ who though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich Christ emptyed himself of all that glory and greatness he injoied in Heaven with his Father and submitted himself to a life of much meanness and poverty onely to enrich us And therefore for shame let us not grudge to empty our Coffers to lessen somewhat of our heaps to relieve his poor members The second is the expectation of reward which will be more or less according to the degrees of our Almes 2 Cor. 9. 6. He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully We think him a very improvident husband-man that to save a little seed at present sowes so thin as to spoil his crop and the same folly 't will be in us if by the sparingness of our Almes we make our selves a lank harvest hereafter lose either all or a great part of those rewards which God hath provided for the liberal Alms-Giver What is the proportion which may be called a liberal giving I shall not undertake to set down there being degrees even in liberality one may give liberally and yet another give more liberally then he besides liberality is to be measured not so much by what is given as by the ability of the giver A man of a mean estate may give less then one of a great and yet be the more liberal person because that little may be more out of his then the greater is out of the others Thus we see Christ pronounces the poor widow to have given more to the Treasury then all the rich men Luk. 21. 3. not that her two mites were more then their rich gifts but that it was more for her she having left nothing behind whereas they gave out of their abundance what they might easily spare Every man must herein judge for himself we see the Apostle though he earnestly press the Corinthians to bounty yet prescribes not to them how much they shall give but leaves that to their own brests 2 Cor. 9. 7. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart so let him give But let us still remember that the more we give provided we do not thereby fail in the support of those that most immediately depend on us the more acceptable it will be to God and the more rewardable by him And to secure the performance of the duty of Almes-giving whatever the proportion be we may do very well to follow the advice St. Paul gives the Corinthians in this matter 1 Cor. 16. 2. Vpon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him If men would do thus lay by somewhat weekly in store for this works of Charity it were the surest way not to be unprovided of somewhat to give when an occasion offered it self and by giving so by little and little the expence would become less sensible and so be a means to prevent those grudgings and repinings which are apt to attend men in greater disbursments And sure this were in other respect also a very proper course for when a trades-man casts up his weekly account and sees what his gains have been 't is of all others the most seasonable time to offer this tribute to God out of what he hath by his blessing gained If any will say they cannot so well weekly reckon their gains as by longer spaces of time I shall not contend with them for that precise time let it be done monthly or quarterly so it be done But that somewhat should still be laid by in bank for these uses rather then left loose to our sudden Charities is sure very expedient and I doubt not whoever will make trial of it will upon experience acknowledge it to be so 12. The fourth exercise of our Charity is towards the credit of our Neighbour and of this we may have many occasions sometimes towards the innocent and sometimes also towards the guilty If one whom we know to be an innocent person be slandered and traduced Charity binds us to do what we may for the declaring his innocency and delivering him from that false imputation and that not onely by witnessing when we are called to it but by a voluntary offering our testimony on his behalf or if the accusation be not before a Court of Justice and so there be no place for that our more solemn testimony but that it be onely a slander tost from one