Doctor HORNECK's SERMON Preached before the King and Queen At Whitehal Nov. 17. 1689. THE NATURE OF True Christian Righteousness IN A SERMON PREACHED before the King and Queen At WHITEHAL The 17th of November 1689. By ANTHONY HORNECK D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their MAJESTIES Published by Her Majesties Special Command In the Savoy Printed by E. Jones for Sam. Lowndes and Published by R. Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1689. Matth. V. xx For I say unto you That except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven A Preface or Introduction will be needless It 's enough that these Words are part of Christ's Famous Sermon on the Mount The Method I shall observe in handling them shall be this following to Enquire and Consider I. Who these Scribes and Pharisees were II. What their Righteousness was and wherein it consisted III. How and in what our Righteousness is to exceed their Righteousness IV. The danger if we do not ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven I. Who these Scribes and Pharisees were 1. The Pharisees You have often heard of Three Famous Sects among the Jews when Christ appeared in the World the Pharisees the Essenes and the Sadducees The Pharisees were an Order of Men who distinguished themselves from the Vulgar by certain Austerities and Mortifications and a seemingly preciser way of Living yet they convers'd and lived in Cities and Towns and were so far from avoiding that they seemed to affect Places where there was a great Concourse of People When they began or who was the first Founder of them is uncertain but it 's probable the Institution of the Nazarites of old and the Order of the Rechabites afterward or the strictness of the Hasideans might give occasion to this peculiar way of living though the Votaries in progress of time deviated and degenerated from those sober Patterns and as it was with Monckery in the Christian Church improved or rather abused the preceding pious and well-meant Self-Denials into Superstition The Essenes were a kind of Hermits who chose to dwell in the Country as far from Crouds as they could and though they had Procurators in Cities and populous Places to receive and entertain those of their Sect whose Occasions led them to pass that way yet their chief abode was in a Wilderness not far from Jericho from whence as they grew in number they dispers'd themselves and planted Colonies in other Places These were a Modester and Soberer sort of People and studied Self-Denial too but to better and greater Purposes than the Pharisees and therefore possibly it is that Christ passes no censure upon them because their Service for the most part was reasonable and in their Morals they came very near the Christian Institution and it 's likely that most of them turned Christians afterward being so well qualified and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prepared for that excellent Discipline and this might give occasion to Eusebius and others to think that the Essenes Philo speaks of were Christian Asceticks The Sadducees were Sensualists and Epicureans and denied the Being of another World pretended indeed to keep close to the Letter of the Law of Moses rejected Traditions and derided the Pharisees who were great Admirers of it but were Men loose and profane debaucht and cruel a temper agreeable enough to their Principle which was That Men die like Beasts and that there is no Resurrection of the Dead though it must be confess'd that these Impious Tenets took not much with the common People the Persons who espoused these Doctrines being chiefly Men of great Estates and Dignities who are apt without very great Circumspection from an over-admiration of Things Present and Visible to be drawn into contempt of Things Invisible and Eternal To return to the Pharisees the Men the Text speaks of this Order was subdivided into Seven Sects who all obliged themselves to several sorts of Austerities too tedious to be told here and so taking it seems were these External Rigors that there were Women Pharisees as well as Men Pharisees The Name Pharisee is as much as a Separatist for so the Pharisees were separating themselves from the rest of Mankind by an affected Piety which passed for great strictness in that Age and gave occasion to the Apostle to say That before his Conversion he lived after the strictest way of the Jewish Religion a Pharisee Act. xxvi 5. 2. The Scribes These were in the Nature of Secretaries or Clerks or Publick Notaries to the Sanhedrin or Great Council of the Jews which Council in those Days consisting of Sadducees and Pharisees these Two Factions had their distinct Secretaries or Notaries as appears from Act. xxiii 9. The Scribes or Advocates who were of the Pharisees side having entirely addicted themselves to their Cause and Service were of the same Opinion with the Pharisees in all things stifly maintaining their Doctrines Principles and Traditions and being commonly Men of Learning were in equal esteem with the Pharisees the rather because what the Pharisees boldly and proudly asserted the Scribes endeavoured to prove from Records and Monuments of Antiquity and such Writings as they judged proper for their purpose I know some think they were the Elders of the Sanhedrin and the Chief Expositors of the Law but if we compare the Account the Scripture gives of them with what the Talmudists say of them they seem to have been such Men as I have described them nor did their Office and Learning debar them from being Interpreters of the Law but qualifie them rather for that Employment In a word What the Canonists are and have been of late Years to the Pope the same were the Scribes to the Pharisees defending their pretended Rights and Priviledges and Authority and Traditions with all the Zeal and Passion as is common to Men who designedly espouse an Interest or Faction and indeed one Egg is not liker another than Pharisaism and Popery are as were an easie Matter to prove in several Instances but that I have more material Thing to tell You. Let us go on therefore and II. Consider What their Righteousness was and wherein it consisted And to understand the Mystery of it I shall in the first place represent to You the Particulars of their Righteousness as they are Recorded by the Evangelists and then shew wherein it was defective that we may be the better able to distinguish and see how our Righteousness is to exceed theirs 1. The Particulars of their Righteousness and they were these following They gave Alms Matth. vi 2. They pray'd Matth. vi 5. and pray'd very long Matth. xxiii 14. They fasted and when they fasted disfigured their Faces and looked ruefully Matth. vi 16. They fasted two days in a week Luc. xviii 12. They praised God and gave him thanks for his Mercies Luc. xviii 12. They were no scandalous Offenders Extortiorers Unjust
all this and You will undoubtedly exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees 3. In Humility not only in having a just Sense of our Errors and many Infirmities which render us unworthy to appear before God without the Assistance and Intercession of a Mediator not only in abhorring our selves for those many defects which cleave to our best Services not only in accusing our selves before the All-seeing Eye as Wretched Naked Poor Blind and Miserable from a Sense of his Infinite Majesty and Purity but also in having low and humble Thoughts of our Religious Performances acknowledging that by the Grace of God we are what we are and that by the Influence of that Grace those Performances are wrought and confessing from the Heart when we have done all that we are Commanded to do that we are unprofitable Servants and have done no more then what was our Duty to do This humble Temper the Scribes and Pharisees were very great strangers to who look'd upon their Religious Services as Things which God was obliged in Honour and Equity to look upon and Reward Pride Self-Conceitedness and Self-Admiration mingling with almost all they did and they did not would not know what a contrite and humble Heart meant and what it was to lie low before God with a deep Sense of their Un-worthiness and of the great Imperfection of their Services and though they Fasted often yet that was not so much to arrive to an humble Sense of their Corruptions and Infirmities as to increase their Merits and to do Things which might Challenge Gods kinder Inclinations and this was the Rock against which these Men stumbled And as they were unacquainted with true Humility toward God so they understood not what it was to condescend to Men of low Estate In Humility therefore we are to exceed them in Humility toward God and Man for as there is nothing that separates more betwixt the Creator and the Creature than Pride and Self-Conceitedness for which reason God is said to behold the Proud afar off so nothing unites Heaven and Earth God and the Soul more than Humility for thus saith the High and Lofty One who inhabiteth Eternity I dwell in the High and Holy Place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit Es. lvii 15. 4. In Charity or a compassionate Temper toward all sorts of distressed Persons I say all sorts for that of the Pharisees was narrow and sneaking and confined to People of their own Sect. I need not tell you that Charity consists not only in giving Alms that 's but one part of it nay it may happen so that it may not be so much as a part of it according to the case St. Paul puts 1 Cor xiii 3. where he makes it possible for a Man to bestow all his Goods to Feed the Poor and yet to have no Charity Had Almsgiving been all the Charity that was necessary to Salvation the Scribes and Pharisees had been considerable Men for they were free and liberal enough of their Purses toward Men of their own Party but Charity is a larger and nobler Virtue if it be of the true Eagle-kind an unfeigned Love of God is the cause of it and the effect is ever answerable to the Beauty which produces it St. Paul hath given so genuine a Character of it 1 Cor. xiii that it 's impossible to mistake the Nature of it except Men be willfully Blind It extends its Arms not only to all sorts of Objects whether Friends or Foes whether Relations or Strangers but as far as its Ability reaches and opportunity offers it self to all sorts of Distresses It doth not only Feed and give Drink and Cloath and Visit but Admonish too and Reprove and Teach and Entreat and Counsel and Advise and help and assist and sometimes Correct and Punish It embraces Enemies and like the wounded Earth receives even those that cut and digg'd it into its Bosom and like the kind Balsom Tree heals those that made Incisions upon it It Judges favourably of Pious Heathens much more of Pious Christians though differing from it in Opinion it Damns none whom God hath not Damned in a word it works no Evil to its Neighbour but is ready unto every good Word and Work. And in this Charity we are to exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees 5. In Universality of Obedience or in making Conscience of the several Commands of the Gospel of one as well as of another Then we exceed them without any danger of being over much Righteous when at the same time that we are fervent for Circumstances in Gods Worship we are not forgetful of the substantial part of Religion when we do not let our Publick Devotion justle out our private nor the private the publick when we do not make the Practice of one Precept an argument to justifie our neglect of another nor excuse our not doing Good by our not committing of Evil but are impartial in our Obedience and cheerfully submit not only to the gentler but harder Injunctions of the Gospel not only to such as are agreeable but to those also which are contrary to our natural Temper and Inclination The Pious Christian will not easily get the better of the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees except his Obedience becomes larger and spreads more than theirs Had these Men carried on their Obedience to that Extent I speak of as St. Paul a Pharisee and the Son of a Pharisee afterward did there would not have been greater Men in the World then they and the Proverb which was unjustly made concerning them would not have been altogether Palse viz. If there were but two Men to be Saved the one would be a Scribe the other a Pharisee And these are the particulars in which our Righteousness is to exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees If it doth not we shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Danger and the Last Part which will deserve our Examination IV. The Danger Except Your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees Ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven This Word one would think should rouze every Soul here present and put us all upon a serious Inquiry Whether our Righteousness doth actually exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees If it doth not we hear our Doom And can any Man think Christ was very serious in saying so without being concerned how to prevent and escape that fatal Exit All Ye that have any Care of your Salvation and beleive another World and know what the Terrors of the Lord mean and what it is not to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Awake awake why should you not when Your Great Redeemer calls and take this Threatning into serious Consideration Either it will be fulfilled or not If it will not be fulfilled where is Christ's Veracity If it be where is Your Security I say unto You
Thus the Commination begins which shews the Thing is firm and like the Laws of Medes and Persians unalterable Our Master even He whom we believe to be God as well as Man hath spoke the Word He that is Truth it self hath said it and thus it must be nor will all the Intreaties of Men and Angels oblige him to depart from his peremptory Declaration You that hear and now read all this cannot pretend Ignorance that you did not know the dreadful Consequence of this Neglect We suggest we intimate so much to you we pull you by the Sleeve we proclaim these Words in your Ears as poor as mean as inconsiderable Creatures as we are I would to God they might sink into your Hearts We beg of You to lay aside your Divertisements and your Businesses for a while and allow this Threatning some Attention of Mind If you go no farther in your Righteousness than these unhappy Men did not all your Cries at last Lord Lord open to us Not all your Tears and Calls Lord have Mercy upon us Not all your Arguings and Pleadings with God Not all your Dying Groans not all your Mournful Accents will open the Kingdom of Heaven to you If you go no farther than these Men by this Rule of Christ you must inevitably be Miserable and all your Wealth and Grandeur and Estates and Relatives cannot help you If you go no farther you sink into a State of Hypocrisie and I need not tell you that the Portion of Hypocrites is a very sad Portion for it is to be cast into outward Darkness where there is Howling and Gnashing of Teeth so saith your Master and mine Matth. xxiv 51. In speaking to You I speak to Christians even to Men who believe that to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven is beyond all the Bliss that this or Ten Thousand Worlds do afford and that not to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven is to be Wretched and Miserable Odious and Contemptible beyond Expression and to Groan in Torments to Eternal Ages This is the Notion You have of these Things as You own Your selves Christians Men Fathers and Brethren Do you believe the Prophets Do you believe the Apostles Do you believe the Son of God that came into the World to save Sinners I know you believe and surely this is Motive sufficient to suffer the Word of Exhortation If therefore any of you have hitherto laid the stress of your Devotion upon the External Task and been Strangers to the inward frame of Mind which is in the sight of God of great Price If you have been Zealous for small little inconsiderable Things in Matters of Religion and have wilfully neglected the more Substantial and Self-Denying part of it If you have been Selfish in your Acts of Piety and Righteousness and been Devout and Good for Wordly Ends more than from a Sense of your Duty If you have taken some carc to Purifie your outward Man from Clamorous and Scandalous Sins and have been careless of rectifying what is amiss within you even of subduing that immoderate Love of the World and Pride and Revengefull Thoughts and Desires and Anger and wrathful Temper and other secret Sins which do so easily beset you If you have thought it your Duty to observe some of the greater Commandments of the Gospel and made no Conscience of the lesser All this Fabrick must be pulled down undone and unravell'd and you must turn over a new Leaf and apply your selves to a true Gospel Life and Temper else there is no entring into the Kingdom of Heaven Flatter not your selves with the Merits and Sufferings and Death of Christ Jesus for poor Sinners I grant I own this is a very Glorious and comfortable Truth and there is no sincere Beleiver but confesses to thy Praise and Glory O Blessed Jesu That there is no Name under Heaven given whereby Men may be Saved but thine alone But still it is this exceeding the Scribes and Pharisees in their Righteousness that must give you a Title to the benesits of the Death of Jesus Christ By this the Pardon of your Sins which was purchased by that Death must be sued out and applied and rendred comfortable to your Souls and if the Death of Christ doth not kill in you that Hypocrisie and Partiality which made the Righteousness of the Pharisees defective that Death cannot will not profit you All the Christian World knows that the design of Christ's dying for Sinners was That they which Live should not henceforth Live unto themselves but unto him that Died for them and rose again They are the express Words of the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. v. 15. and it is as certain that you cannot Live unto him that Died for you except your Righteousness be a Righteousness without Guile and therefore beyond that of the Scribes and Pharisees I suppose you are sensible that Christ cannot contradict himself when he spake these Words He knew he was to Die for Sinners yet to these Sinners for whom he was to Die he protests Except your Righteousness shall exceed c. And therefore certainly the Mercies of his Death cannot clash with our Duty and whoever means to enjoy the benefits of that Death must Die to the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and a Righteousness more Rational an Evangelical Righteousness must Live in him even that which St. Paul speaks of Phil. iii 9. And that 's the Life of God as it is called Ephes. iv 18. If we are to exceed these Men in their Righteousness we must do more than they did and if we do more can we do less than what hath been hinted in the preceding Particulars of Sincerity Simplicity Humility Charity and Universality of Obedience for these Qualifications rectifie what was amiss in the Righteousness of these Men and set us in the right way from which those Self-Conceited Men deviated and wandred in a Wilderness of Vulgar Errours Should any of you be so Unfortunate what I say here is nothing but a plain and easie Comment upon the Commination of the Text I say should any of you be so unfortunate as to come before the Gate of the Kingdom of Heaven and be denied entrance there how like a Thunderbolt would this strike you and yet I see not how it is possible to prevent it if these Words of Christ make no impression upon you or do not oblige you to go beyond these Men in their Acts of Devotion and Piety Their Righteousness was an External Mechanical starcht kind of Righteousness it was not Free not Natural and they took no care to reform their Thoughts Desires Lusts Affections and such Things as Human Laws take no notice of and it 's to be feared that this is the Disease of too great a number of Christians Nay Thousands there are which do not come up to so much as the Negative Virtues of the Scribes and Pharirisees They were no Drunkards no Swearers no Whoremongers no Adulterers and yet how
many that profess themselves Illuminated by the Gospel of Christ are so and worse than so and if even those who do not exceed the Righteousness of these Men shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven how shall those that are not so good as they And but that Unbelief and Stupidity reigns so much in the Hearts of Men certainly here is enough to fright them from the Carnal Life they lead There stands before the Gate of the Kingdom of Heaven an Angel with a Flaming Sword as much as there did before the Gate of Paradise to keep out all those who voluntarily chuse Death before Life and do not you chuse Death before Life when you had rather forfeit your share in the Kingdom of Heaven then exceed the Scribes and Pharisees in their Righteousness Surely it must be a dismal and deplorable Condition when Men have flattered themselves all their Life time with hopes of entring into the Kingdom of Heaven to find themselves at last thrust out and may not this be the condition of some of you And is not the very possibility of it enough to oblige you to Purifie and Cleanse your Righteousness and to take care that none of the Leven of the Scribes and Pharisees stick to it Here on Earth Men Fight for a great Estate and venture Fortune Friends Interest Honesty Life and all Strange The Kingdom of Heaven should lie under that Misfortune that Men must be entreated to enter into it and yet will not be prevailed with after all to enter Yes you 'll say we all are very ready to enter into it were it not for the hard Conditions that are required and do you really think the Conditions so hard Would you think them so if you lay Howling in Eternal Flames Certainly nothing would seem hard then and why should it seem so now when it is evident and apparent you are in danger of those Flames Behold God is ready and willing to succour to assist to support and to strengthen you that your Righteousness may Triumph over Righteousness of these Hypocrites The same Spirit the same Grace the same Influences the same Assistances he hath afforded to St. Paul to St. Peter to Lydia to Martha to Mary to Magdalene to the Jaylour to the Penitent Publican to Zachaeus to others the same he offers to you all But then if these kind offers be slighted and rejected and a Farm a Yoak of Oxan or some thing worse be preferr'd before it it is not God so much that deprives you of the Kingdom of Heaven as you your selves Were you actually possess'd of this Kingdom of Heaven you would wonder at the Folly and Madness of Men who can complain that the Conditions are hard when such a Glory such a Bliss such a Kingdom is to be had a Kingdom for which the Apostles and the Primitive Beleivers whose Faith and Constancy we Admire forsook Father and Mother and Lands and Houses and all that was dear to them in this World. I could give you such a Description of that Kingdom as should make all the Glories of this World look pale and dim and dark in Comparison of it But I forbear Were such Considerations as these made use of in the cool of the Day I mean when your Thoughts are cool and composed and the Grace of God upon your Endeavours earnestly implored they would inspire you with Courage Invincible to go not only beyoud Heathens and Philosophers but beyond Scribes and Pharisees in Righteousness and in the serious Exercises of Virtue and Self-Denial It 's possible you may not remember all the Motives I have given you but one thing you will be able to Remember which contains all that I have said and that 's the Text and therefore I repeat it once more Except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven FINIS Numb 6. 2. Jerem. 35. 2. Euseb. Hist. l. 2. c. 16. 17. Vide Lights in Matth. II 4. Maldonâ—in c 2. Matth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. l. 1. adv Haer. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. Ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk 17. 10. Joh. 15. 14.
the Heart and the Soul. Such Acts of Piety and Devotion as were stately and savour'd of Pomp and served to attract the Eyes of Spectators they were for and of this Nature were all their External Severities and Rigors and Revenges they used upon themselves But as to Mortifying their inward Pride and Rancour and Hatred and Malice and Covetousness and love of the World they were so great Strangers to it that they did not think it part of their Religion which makes Christ tell them Thou blind Pharisee cleanse first that which is within the Cup and Platter that the out side of them may be clean also Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees for ye are like unto whited Sepulchres which appear fair unto Men but within are full of Rotten Bones even so ye appear outwardly Righteous unto Men but within are full of Covetousness Matth. xxiii 26 27. 5. Though they own'd professed and taught the Law of Moses yet in effect they preferr'd their wild and phantastick Traditions before it Not to mention their common Proverb That the Words of the Scribes i. e. of their Traditionary Divines were more Lovely than the Words of the Law where it was so that the Law and the Tradition clasht they Interpreted the Law by the Tradition not the Tradition by the Law and hearken'd more to the dictate and suggestion of a groundless and whimsical Tradition then to an express Text of the Written Word of God as is evident from what Christ tells them Matth. xv 3. Why do ye Transgress the Commandment of God by your Tradition for God Commanded saying Honour thy Father and thy Mother and he that Curses Father and Mother let him die the Death but ye say Whosoever shall say to his Father or to his Mother though ready to Starve and Perish for want of Necessaries it is Corban it is a Gift I have Dedicated it to the Temple by whatsoever thou mightest be profitted by me and Honour not his Father or his Mother he shall be Free. Thus have ye made the Commandment of God of no effect by your Tradition Indeed where Men invent new Doctrines and Articles of Faith there the good Old Word of God will do them no Service but they are forced to make and run to Traditions and broken Cisterns which can hold no Water 6. To Sum up all They were very severe and strict in keeping some Commandments of God but very supine and negligent as to others They hated Extortion but were Malicious to a Prodigy they would not be Drunk but were abominably Proud they were for giving Alms to People of their own Sect but look'd upon it as Sinful to releive a poor Samaritan They were for strictness of Life before People and Spectators but loose and wicked in Secret they abhorred Adultery but were Slaves to Ambition and Vain-Glory They bound heavy burthens on other Mens Shoulders but would not touch them with one of their Fingers and while they pressed a severe observance of the Sabbath Day forgot they were to rest from Sin and Envy as well as from servile Labour Matth. xii 12 13 14. Indeed this was one of their pernicious Traditionary Principles That if a Man or Woman were but industrious in the Practice of any one Command of God though they neglected the other Precepts that service was sufficient to entitle them to a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Portion of the Blessed in another World. To be short they served God at the best by halves were quick-sighted as Eagles in spying out other Mens faults but blind as Moles in discovering their own and while they divided their Affections betwixt God and the World allow'd the World the far greater share These were the Distempers and Diseases of the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and how we are to exceed them is the third particular I am to speak to III. Except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and how or in what Things we are to exceed them is soon guess'd at for 't is evident from the preceding Discourse that it must be in Sincerity in Simplicity in Humility in Charity and in Universality of Obedience 1. In Sincerity in being that within which we seem to be without Christ is not against external Devotion hath no dislike of an outward Profession never declared against decent external Ceremonies but he requires we should be Devout and Serious within as well as without and take care that what we do without do arise from a sense of God within and that a rellish of Spiritual Things in the Soul within do put us upon Devotion without that the Heart and the Lips and the Hands be all of a piece and moreover that we use the same diligence to Mortifie our inward Lusts which we use to restrain our selves from evil Actions in Company or in the presence of Men. In a Word that we do not only pretend to Religion but Practice it not only talk and dispute and entertain our selves with Speculations and Discourses of it but Live up to the Holy Rules of it not only make Profession of it but shew out of a good Conversation our good Works with Meekness of Wisdom as it is said Jam. iii. 13. 2. In Simplicity and having pure and holy Ends in our Religious Actions and particularly in our Religious Severities and Self-Denials ends suitable to the Holiness of God and the Edification of our Neighbours in a word ends Rational and such as may be justified before God and Man. This is part of the single Eye we read of Matth. vi 22. Indeed the Ends and Designs of Actions make a strange alteration in their Worth and Value render them either Good or Bad either Commendable or Abominable either Sacrifices of Righteousness or Sacrifices of Fools Christ is so far from discouraging his Followers from Religious Self-Denials and Severities that his Doctrine and Discipline presses nothing more insomuch that the greater Your Self-Denials are the better Christians You are But the right end is the thing our Master presses and insists upon Fast and Pray and continue in Prayer a long time spend whole hours in it if Your Strength and Sense and Affections will serve give Alms and give very liberally deny Your selves in a Thousand Vanities the World doats upon Mortifie Your Bodies in a decent manner but take heed of secret hopes of Meriting by all this and of secret Designs either to promote Your Worldly Profit and Interest or to gain the Commendations and Admiration of Your Neighbours or to make God amends for some Sins You are loath to part withal Have no Worldly Ends in all this but let a Sense of Your Duty and Your Gratitude to God and and an earnest desire to Crucifie the Flesh to die to the World to imitate the Saints of Old to encourage Your selves in a Spiritual Life and to prepare for Heaven and Happiness Let these be the Principles and Motives that put You upon