would now and then curse it lov'd to read Romances and Song Books But poor Conscience being stifled in a little time he gave content to the whole Family in that he could mumble over a few Prayers out of a Book And that in rhe second place he could Bowl drink Healths be Drunk and cry God damn him with any of them and there was indeed never a one in all the Family that hated True Godliness more than he for he made songs of him and scoffed jeered and derided him continually and made himself and others merry with his mean low and distressed condition and also stirr'd up all the Neighbourhood to find fault and quarrel with all those who were friends and true lovers of him Godliness now perceived he was like to have but cool Entertainment at this House having waited at Riches Gate till his patience was almost worn out began to think of a removal and to Travel to some other place but before he took his final farewel he was resolved to speak his mind freely to him thereby to leave him without any kind of excuse whatsoever and therefore addrest himself to him after this manner being at door ready to depart Godli Well Riches I see now very plainly you did but flatter me when you began to hearken to your poor Steward Conscience in order to the letting me into your House for evident it is you are grown far worse than before and have blinded his eyes by entertaining another who calls himself by my name instead of me but before I do depart I will shew you the great danger you are in and the cause of it the truth is you have got such a Crew of lose base and deceitful Servants that they will utterly undo you and bring upon you the eternal ruine of your poor soul which I design'd by my coming to you to save and make happy for ever for indeed whether you will believe it or no there was never any who entertained these graceless Villains and enemies of God but were for ever ruin'd by them at last nay and not only eternally hereafter in the World to come but many times externally here in this World therefore I advise you to do what you can to get rid of them and I will help you to far better Servants in their stead For first of all can you think it will be safe for you to keep Presumption still in your House since there is scarce a more deceitful and bloody Wretch in the World how many thousands of poor souls hath he impudently destroy'd by causing them to presume on the mercy of God and the death of Christ and yet live in Sin Pride and Covetousness and in a vile manner hating and contemning me that is to say True Godliness Doth not God say it is harder for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and yet you are perswaded by him to think it is an easie thing and doth not the Scripture say Except your righteousness do exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of God And yet he tells you that by doing a few good deeds or by giving a little of your great abundance to the Poor your state is good enough whereas many of the Pharisees did as to acts of Charity exceedingly out-do you nay doth not St. Paul say Though he gave all his goods to feed the Poor and his Body to be burned yet without Charity that is to say true love to God and Godliness he was nothing and yet you though you slight and contem God and Godliness are taught to presume on God's Mercy who hath notwithstanding positively said concerning you and such as you are He that made them will not save them and he that form'd them will shew them no favour Isa 27.11 And then as touching your Servant Vnbelief he is such a bloody and devouring Monster that he hath sent Millions to Hell by hindring them from believing what God hath said in his Word touching his Grace and Clemency to the truly penitent and of his wroth and vengeance to the Impenitent and unbelieving Soul he will not suffer you to believe nor give credit to that word If any man loves the World the love of the Father is not in him 1 John 1.15 Nor to that word neither Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God John 3.3 And he that believes not shall be damned Mark 16.16 And many like dreadful Sentences which he will not suffer you to regard nor give the least credit to and thus he teaches you to make God a Lyar for he hath said you shall without Repentance be damned and perish in your sins but he says ye shall be saved though ye live in your sins Thirdly as to what Ignorance says of getting Pardon of Sins for a piece of Money by sending for a Popish Priest he deserves to be cheated of his Soul that will hearken to such a blind Sot who can forgive Sin but God Shall any believe that Pardon which is the gift of God can be bought with Money Sure his Holiness never learn'd this Doctrine of St. Peter whose Successor he says he is for St. Peter said to such a one as thou art Thy money perish with thee Acts 8.20 Fourthly As concerning Pride whom you entertain and hug in your bosom as a sweet and beloved Friend he hath been the ruine of many Souls likewise nay and not only Men but Angels also for 't is thought he was the principal Agent who wrought their eternal destruction and from Heaven cast them down to Hell and of Angels of Light made them Devils But Sir pray remember that word Pride goes before Destruction and a haughty Spirit before a Fall What became of the great King of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar for entertaining this Fellow was it not Pride that brought him down with a vengeance and turned him a grazing to eat straw like Oxen Dan. 3.4 Moreover what became of Herod the Great who was so fond of this Companion Did he not bring God's heavy wrath upon him in such a fearful manner that a blessed Angel was sent to smite him with Death immediately and he was eaten of Worms Acts 12.23 Have you not read that the day cometh which shall burn as an Oven and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be stubble Mal. 4.1 This haughty Villain Pride is one of those seven things as Solomon shews which God hates Prov. 6.16 If you will not Riches be perswaded from hence to turn him out of your House even take what will follow Fifthly Vain-hope I know is one that hath kept up your spirits and spoke peace to you all along but he is fitly so called for he will leave you like a deceitful false-hearted and treacherous Friend when you come to fall into distress You hope to be saved and so did many thousands that are now in Hell but alas what
Age therefore gave him this following general Reply and departed Godliness Father Old-age it grieves me to find you thus blind and hardened in your evil waies and the rather because I see your enemy Death also standing with his Sword drawn here at your Door ready to enter in and Hell is at his heels Alas Death who now shakes his Sword over your head will soon sheath it in your heart What will you do who contemn True Godliness through Ignorance when you come to stand before God in Judgment there is but a little airy breathings between you and Eternal Burnings it 's better to have your eyes open on Earth to bewail your Sins than to have your eyes open in Hell to bewail your Sufferings though you will not let me in now who would make you happy yet you will not be able e'er long to keep Death out who will make you eternally miserable 'T is sad you will not see your danger till you cannot escape your danger As I now stand at your Door saying Open to me but am not let in so you e'er long will say Lord Lord open to you but you shall be kept out for none but those who receive me into their Hearts on Earth shall be received by Christ hereafter into Heaven Those who contemn Godliness here shall be condemned for their ungodliness hereafter Your poor deluded Soul who thinks its state so good without Grace and Regeneration will find it bad e'er long under wrath and condemnation For except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God John 3. 3. This is the day of Gods long-suffering but quickly will come the day of your long-suffering for He whose mercy you have abused while you live will let out His Vengeance against you to Eternity when you die much to the same purpose he spoke to him and with abundance of sorrow left him to perish in his sins How sad's the case of frail and mortal man Whose time is short its length is but a span In Youth he 's proud Ambition then so Raigns That he true Grace and Godliness disdains Virtue is then contemn'd 't is Vice which he Doth make his choice but yet does hope to be When Old-age comes another man for know He would have Heaven but not let the Earth go But when he 's old sin in him 's grown so strong He 's more adverse to Grace than are the Young Take heed you don't upon Old-age depend Least he deals by you like a Traiterous Friend CHAP. VII Shewing how True Godliness in his Travels chanc'd to fall into a certain Island where he met with a great number of cruel Enemies who conspired together to take away his Life and the Life of his Servants but their Grand Plot failing they contrived many Sham-plots to cast the whole Intreague upon his own Friends and Servants together with True Godliness's sad and grievous Lamentation TRue Godliness having Travelled as you have heard up and down in the World for many years and suffered divers hardships and grand Affronts and abuses at last came by the gracious Providence of God into a small Isle neither did he Travel alone but like a High-born Pirnce though in a state of Exile he had some Servants to attend and wait upon him who loved their Master as their own Souls yea and above their natural lives their Names were Heavenly New-man Innocency Humility Sincerity Temperance Sobriety Faithful New-obedience Hope-well True-love Blessed Experience Excellent Knowledg Christian Courage Vehement Desire Godly Zeal with many more Now after he had been for some considerable time in the said Island and had through his sweet and Heavenly and peaceable carriage got himself many Friends and Favourites having lived many years in good credit and esteem amongst them and no body thought or dreamt he had been in the least danger But in process of time on a sudden there being a little before arrived in the same Isle a great number of out-landish-men called by some Mahometans but their right name it seems was Babylonians being Natives of a great City that bears that Name * Now divers strange ridiculous Orders of men they had amongst them and all cruel enemies to True Godliness But one Order of them proved more subtile and implacable than the rest called Loyalatites being as 't is said the Spurious Off-spring of one Ignatius who were men of such base Spirits that they were content to become meer Pimps and Panders to a great Whore endeavouring alwaies to allure Kings Princes and mighty men to commit Fornication with her and if they could not effect that then they perswade Subjects to cast off their Allegiance to their Spiritual and Temporal Soveraign and to own the Usurpt Power and Jurisdiction of their Master the King of Babylon Now these men remembring what a great enemy True Godliness had been to them in the same Isle in former times and how he had forc'd them to pack up their Trumpery and be gone nay and not only so but also found that he had got a great number of the Inhabitants of the said Isle to side with him against their beloved Mistriss and great Goddess â—â—ana which they feared might stand in the way of her mounting the Saddle once again they maliciously and traiterously made a devellish Conspiracy to destroy True Godliness and all those who favoured him and to set up false and counterfeit Godliness in his stead and indeed so far they had proceeded in this hellish design that by the help of some deluded souls they had brought over to their party had not the all wise God who alwayes took care of his precious Darling Godliness by his most eminent and oâ—er-ruling Providence defeated the Conspiracy and discovered the Conspirators Godliness with his Servants and all his poor Friends would doubtless have had the greatest blow that he had met with for many Ages before but they being betrayed by one who seem'd to adhere to their Party who was privy to their horrible bloody and detestable intention having unknown to them a kindness for True Godliness and his dispised Friends and Servants whereupon the whole Island was inraged against these cruel Babylonians and called a Counsel together to search into the bottom of their Hellish design and so it happened that divers great Lords who had been poysoned with their bloody and detestable principles were found in the Conspiracy and were Attainted for High Treason for though their great design was to destroy True Godliness yet they as it seemed consulted also to destroy the Prince of the Country and all who were true Favourites of Godliness And in the conclusion one of the Lords in the Conspiracy had his Head cut off and divers of the Loyalatites or Ignatius's Off-spring were drawn hang'd and quartered Now one would have thought this eminent hand of God's Vengeance against them might have deterred them for ever attempting the ruine and utter overthrow of True Godliness any more
leaving all their abominable wickedness 'T is the idle Soul that suffers hunger who shall beg at harvest and have nothing though there is Bread and enough to spare for you in Gods House yet they will not suffer you to seek out for it but cause you to cry yet a little sleep yet a little slumber yet a little foldidg of the hands to sleep Is it not sad notwithstanding your House is on fire and you like to be burnt in your Bed yet cannot through this base Sloth and Idleness rise up you are just ready to drop into Hell and yet will not endeavour to deliver your own Soul O remember that Word Take the slothful and unprofitable Servant and bind him hand and foot and cast him into utter darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth And then secondly as to Light-fingers he is a Thief and if you follow his Dictates he will bring you to the Gibbet besides no Thief shall enter into the Kingdom of God Thirdly Wasteful his Brother for all his Huffing is almost as bad as he 't was this vain Fellow that brought the poor Prodigal to eat husks with the swine 't is he not only causes you to waste and foolishly spend your money when you have got a little but also your precious time which should be improved for the good of your poor perishing Soul Poverty can it do you any harm to be taught to become a better Husband and not to consume the little you sometimes get amongst Riotous Company which might be a great comfort to your poor Wife and Children also I will appeal to my Neighbour Morality whether there is any ground for you to refuse to entertain me because I teach you to be content with mean things hard fare and do put you upon hard labour and not to run into debt unless you knew which way to pay it Ignorance is a Murtherer and hath destroyed millions of Souls though there was a time indeed when God seemed to wink at him i. e. did not lay as it were his hands immediately upon him but now he is left altogether inexcusable because God hath afforded you a sufficiency of Light to bring you to the true knowledg of Salvation the necessity of Faith and True Godliness if you would escape the damnation of Hell Vnbelief I found the other day with Riches and indeed I am come to no Bodies door but I find him within I gave a plain Character of him then to which I refer you if you have a mind to know what a dangerous person he is but however take one word or two in answer to what he saies to you against me he affirms that all my promises are fictious being unseen things they have no reallity in them or things that you can never attain unto if you could yet they could not answer your present necessities If you will give credit to such a notorious Liar Murtherer and Blasphemer who certainly in a slie and treacherous manner seeks to stab you at the heart who can help it Are Christ's Promises of Grace and Peace here and Glory hereafter because not seen with external Eyes fictions He will tell you also ere long if you will believe him there is no God nor Devil Heaven nor Hell because not seen with visible eyes he may suggest the one to you as well as the other Come Poverty thousands of my Children by blessed experience have found my Promises no fictions nor idle fancies but things full of reality marrow and fatness O taste and see how good the Lord is And why may not you obtain these glorious good things viz. Union and Communion with God Pardon of Sin Peace of Conscience and Joy in the Holy Ghost as well as others They were commonly given in the time of the Gospel to the Poor Come Poverty these things are thine as sure as God is in Heaven if thou wilt but let me in poor Lasarus understood them and experienced the sweetness of them and shall to Eternity And then lastly have you no need of these good things of mine because they may not so directly answer your outward necessity Are not the necessities of your Soul more to be minded than to get store of Meat Drink Clothes Silver and Gold What are all these things to the love and favour of God an Interest in Christ and to have a Right to the Kingdom of Heaven How soon alas may your Life be gone and what good will those things do you do you not see they perish in the using And as they are corruptible so likewise they can never satisfie nor fill the desires of your Soul nor do they suit the necessities thereof Consider can any of these things make thy Soul happy Can Gold or Silver enrich it or the rarest worldly dainties feed it or Wine chear it No Poverty if thou hadst the things of this World in never so great abundance yet till thou lettest me in and makest me thy chief Companion thy Soul would be miserable What is it to have plenty of all good things and no God no Christ no Pardon no Peace but contrarywise the Curse of God Horror of Conscience and Hell at last Thou wilt Poverty become more happy if thou dost open the door to me and thou and I dwell together than the proudest and haughtiest Monarh in the World thy Comforts inward Peace and Joy will excell theirs and thy Riches be more abundant in Quantity besides the rare and excellent Quality of them nay and thy Glory will be far more transcendent and besides 't will abide with thee to the daies of Eternity As touching Carping Care he hath almost broke thy heart already he will not let thee sleep a nights he by telling thee of thy wants and necessities sadly disturbs thy mind but never helped thee to a Farthing in all his life and why shouldst thou hearken to him any longer he is thy utter Enemy as well as mine Hear what the Lord Christ saith Who by taking thought can add one Cubit unto his Stature Mat. 6.27 He has even eat up thy very Spirits and weakned thy Body marr'd thy Senses especially the Spiritual Senses of thy Soul so that thou canst not think one serious thought all the day for him nay when Sloth and Idleness will let thee go to hear Gods Word he follows thee thither too and so confounds thy mind with wandring Cogitations that all thy devotion is spoiled you can profit nothing Therefore I beseech you do what you can to thrust him out Distrust That faithless Fellow sets on this base Wrerch Carping-Care to perplex thy mind and this is not all for he tells thee if thou turnest Light-fingers out of door thou wilt certainly go a begging Come Poverty they are a pack of cursed Villains set on by their great Master Apollyon to bring thee to shame as if there was no waies to live but by breaking of Gods Commandment Thou shalt not steal and