together There is no room for repentance nor casting about for a way to escape them Death only must be your relief And therefore such a change of your condition should be seriously fore-thought on and all the troubles be foreseen and pondered § 40. 20. And if Love make you dear to one another your parting at death will be the more grievous And when you first come together you know that such a parting you must have Through all the course of your lives you may foresee it One of you must see the Body of your beloved turned into a cold and ghastly clod You must follow it weeping to the grave and leave it there in dust and darkness There it must lye rotting as a loathsome lump whose sight or smell you cannot endure till you shortly follow it and lye down your self in the same condition All these are the ordinary concomitants and consequents of Marriage easily and quickly spoken but long and hard to be endured No fictions but realities and less than most have reason to expect And should such a life be rashly ventured on in a pang of lust or such a burden be undertaken without fore-thought § 41. But especially the Ministers of the Gospel should think what they do and think again before Of Ministers Marriage they enter upon a married life Not that it is simply unlawful for them or that they are to be tyed from it by a Law as they are in the Kingdom of Rome for carnal ends and with odious effects But so great a hinderance ordinarily is this troublesome state of life to the Sacred Ministration which they undertake that a very clear call should be expected for their satisfaction That I be not tedious consider well but of these four things 1. How well will a life of so much care and business agree to you that have time little enough for the greater work which you have undertaken Do you know what you have to do in publick and private in reading meditating praying preaching instructing personally and from house to house And do you know of how great importance it is even for the saving of mens souls And have you time to spare for so much worldly cares and business Are you not charged 1 Tim. 4. 15. Meditate on these things give thy self wholly to them 2 Tim. 2. 4. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him that hath chosen him to be a Souldier Is not this plain Souldiers use not to look to Farms and Servants If you are faithful Ministers I dare confidently say you will find all your time so little for your proper work that many a time you will groan and say O how short and swift is time and O how great and slow is my work and duty 2. Consider how well a life of so great diversions avocations and distractions doth suit with a Mind devoted to God that should be alwayes free and ready for his service Your studies are on such great and mysterious subjects that they require the whole mind and all too little To resolve the many difficulties that are before you to prepare those suitable convincing words which may pierce and perswade the hearers hearts to get within the bosome of an hypocrite to follow on the Word till it attain its effect and to deal with poor souls according to their great necessity and handle Gods Word according to its Holiness and Majesty these are things that require Non bene fit quod occupato animo fit Hieron Epist. 553. ad Paulin. a whole man and are not employments for a divided or distracted mind The talking of Women and the crying of children and the cares and business of the world are ill preparations or attendants on these studies 3. Consider well whether a life of so great disturbance be agreeable to one whose Affections should be taken up for God and whose work must be all done not formally and affectedly with the lips alone but seriously with all the heart If your Heart and warm Affections be at any time left behind the life and power the beauty and glory of your work is lost How dead will your studies and praying and preaching and conference be And can you keep those Affections warm and vigorous for God and taken up with Heaven and Heavenly things which are disturbed with the cares and crosses of the world and taken up with carnal matters 4. And consider also how well that indigent life will agree to one that by charity and good works should second his Doctrine and win mens souls to the love of holiness If you feed not the bodies of the poor they will less relish the food of A single life doth well with Church-men for Charity will hardly water the ground where it must fill a pool Lord Bacon Essay 8. The greatest works and foundations have been from childless men who have sought to express the image of their minds that have none of their body So the care of posterity hath been most in them that had no posterity Lord Bacon Essay 9. He that hath a Wife and Children hath given hostages to Fortune For they are impediments to great Enterprises The best works and of greatest merit for the publick have proceeded from unmarried and childless men I◠Ibid. Essay 8. the soul Nay if you abound not above others in good works the blind malicious world will see nothing that is good in you but will say You have good words but where are your good works What abundance have I known hardned against the Gospel and Religion by a common fame that these Preachers are as covetous and worldly and uncharitable as any others And it must be something extraordinary that must confute such fame And what abundance of success have I seen of the labours of those Ministers who give all they have in works of Charity And though a rich and resolved man may do some good in a married state yet commonly it is next to nothing as to the ends now mentioned Wife and Children and Family-necessities devour all if you have never so much And some provision must be made for them when you are dead And the maintenance of the Ministry is not so great as to suffice well for all this much less for any eminent works of Charity besides Never reckon upon the doing of much good to the poor if you have Wives and Children of your own Such instances are rarities and wonders All will be too little for your selves Whereas if all that were given to the poor which goeth to the maintenance of your families you little know how much it would reconcile the minds of the ungodly and further the success of your Ministerial work § 42. Direct 3. If God call you to a married life expect all these troubles or most of them and make a particular preparation for each Temptation Cross and Duty which you must expect Think not that you are entring into
componere c. Acosta l. 4. c. 18 p. 418. his servants whose calling and daily business it must be as that which they are made for as the Sun is made to give light and heat to inferiour things Ephes. 2. 10. Matth. 5. 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Christ was far from their opinion that think all good works that are attributed to good men are dishonourabie to God 10. He is most beholden to God that is most exercised in good works The more we do the more we receive from him And our very doing it self is our Receiving For it is he that giveth us both to will and to do by his operation in us Phil. 2. 13. Even he without whom we can do nothing John 15. 5. 11. The obligation to good works that is to works of Piety Justice and Charity is essential to us as servants of the Lord We are practical Atheists if we do not works of piety to God we are rebells against God and enemies to our selves and unmeet for humane society if we do not the works which are good for our selves and for others if we have ability and opportunity This is our fruit which God expecteth and if we bear it not he will hew us down and cast us into the fire 12. Though doing no hurt will not serve turn without doing good yet it is not the same works that are required of all nor in the same degree but according to every mans talent and opportunities Matth. 25. 14 15 c. 13. God looketh not only nor principally at the external part of the work but much more to the Heart of him that doth it nor at the length of time but at the sincerity and diligence of his servants And therefore though he is so just as not to deny the Reward which was promised them to those that have born the burden and heat of the day yet is he so gracious and bountiful that he will give as much to those that he findeth as willing and diligent and would have done more if they had had opportunity Matth. 20. 12 13 14 15. You see in all this what our doctrine is about good works and how far those Papists are to be believed who perswade their ignorant Disciples that we account them vain and needless things Directions for faithful serving Christ and doing Good § 4. Direct 1. Be sure that you have that Holiness Iustice and Charity within which are the necessary Direct 1. Principles of good works For a good Tree will being forth good fruit and an evil Tree evil fruit Make the Tree good and the fruit good A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things As out of the Heart proceed evil works Matth. 15. 19 20. So out of the heart must good works come Matth. 7. 16 17 18 19 20. Can the dead do the works of the living Or the unhâ—ly do the works of holiness or the unrighteous do the works of justice or the uncharitable do the works of charity Will he do good to Christ in his members on earth who hateth them Or will he not rather imprison them than visit them in prison and rather strip them of all they have than feed and clothe them Or if a man should do that which materially is good from pride or other sinful principles God doth not accept it but taketh all sacrifice but as Carrion that is offered to him without the Heart § 5. Direct 2. Content not your selves to do some good extraordinarily on the by or when you are Direct 2. urged to it but study to do good and make it the Trade or business of your lives Having so many obligations and so great encouragements do what you do with all your might If you would know whether you are servants to Christ or to the Flesh the question must be which of these have the main care and diligence of our lives For as every carnal act will not prove you servants to the flesh so every good action will not prove you the servants of Christ. § 6. Direct 3. Before you do any work consider whether you can truly say it is a service of God Direct 3. and will be accepted by him See therefore that it be done 1. To his glory or to please him 2. And in obedience to his command Meer natural actions that have no moral good or evil in them and so belong not to morality these belong not to our present subject as being not the matter of rational or at least of obediential choice Such as the wâ—nking of the eye the setting of this foot forward first the taking of this or that meat or drink or instrument or company or action when they are equal and it is no matter of rational or obediential choice c. But every act that is to be done deliberately and rationally as matter of choice must be moralized or made good by doing it 1. To a â—ight end and 2. According to the rule Whether we eat or drink or whatever we do that is matter of rational choice must be done by us to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. 31. All works tend not alike to his glory but some more immediately and directly and others remotely But all must ultimately have this end Even Servants that labour in their painful work must do it as to the Lord and not only or ultimately to men not with eye-service as men-pleasers but as the servants of Christ from whom they must have their greatest reward or punishment Ephes. 6. 5 6 7 8. Col. 3. 22 23 24 25. All the comforts of food or rest or recreation or pleasure which we take should be intended to fit us for our Masters work or strengthen cheer and help us in it Do nothing deliberately that belongs to the government of Reason but Gods service in the world which you can say he set you on § 7. Direct 4. Set not duties of Piety Iustice or Charity against each other as if they had an enmity Direct 4. to each other but take them as inseparable as God hath made them Think not to offer God a Sacrifice Some think they merit by curing the hâ—â—â—â—s which they have caused themselves Sed nequitia est ut extâ—ahas mergere eveâ—tere ut suscites includere ut emittas Non enim beneficium injuriae sinis nec unquam id detraxisâ—e meritum est quod ipse qui detraxit intulerat Senec. de Benes of injury bribery fraud oppression or any uncharitable work And pretend not the benefit of men or the safety of Societies or Kingdoms for impiety against the Lord. § 8. Direct 5. Acquaint your selves with all the talents which you receive from God and what is Direct 5. the use to which they should
regionibus versabantur quae palatio triouta pendebaâ—t Et si forsitaâ— quisâ—â—aâ— ut moris est duâ— Dei popâ—lum admoâ—cret Pharaonem Nabuchodonosor Holosernum aut aliquem similem nominasâ—â—t Objiciebatâ—r illi quod in personam Râ—gâ—s ita dixissâ—t staâ—im exilio trad batur Hoâ— enim tempore persâ—cutionis genus agebatur hic apâ—rtè alibi occultè ut piorum nomen talibus insidiis inteâ—iret NB. Victor Uticens p. miâ—i 382. Abundance of Pastors were then banished from their Churches and many tormented and Augâ—stine himself dyed with fear saith Victor ib. p. 376. when he had written saiâ—h he two hundred thirty two Books besides innumerable Epistles Homilies Expositions on the Psalms Evangelists c. his children speak well of the wayes or followers of Christ I must confess till I had found the truth of it by experience I was not sensible how Impudent in belying and cruel in abusing the servants of Christ his worldly malicious enemies are I had read oft how early an Enmity was put between the Womans and the Serpents seed and I had read and wondered that the first man that was born into the world did murder his Brother for worshipping God more acceptably than himself because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous 1 John 3. 12. I had read the inference ver 13. Marvel not my brethren if the world hate you But yet I did not so fully understand that wicked men and Devils are so very like and so near of kin till the words of Christ Iohn 8. 44. expounded by visible demonstrations had taught it me Indeed the Apostle saith 1 Iohn 3. 12. that Cain was of that wicked one that is the Devil But Christ saith more plainly Ye are of your father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye will do He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him When he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the father of it Here note that cruel murdering and lying are the principal actions of a Devil and that as the Father of these he is the Father of the wicked who are most notoriously addicted to these two courses against the most innocent servants of the Lamb. How just is it that they dwell together hereafter that are here so like in disposition and action even as the Righteous shall dwell with Christ who bore his image and imitated his holy suffering life § 3. I conclude then that if thou wilt never turn to God and a holy life till wicked men give over belying and râ—proaching them thou maist as well say that thou wilt never be reconciled to God till the Devil be first reconciled to him and never love Christ till the Devil love him or bid thee love him or never be a Saint till the Devil be a Saint or will give thee leave and that thou wilt not be saved till the Devil be willing that thou be saved Direction 4. THat thy understanding may be enlightned and thy heart renewed be much and serious Direct 4. in Reading the Word of God and those Books that are fitted tomen in an unconverted state and especially in hearing the plain and searching preaching of the word § 1. There is a heavenly light and power and Majesty in the Word of God which in the serious Reading or hearing of it may pierce the heart and prick it and open it that corruption may go out and grace come in The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple The Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart Psal. 19. 7 8. Moreover by them it is that we are warned and in keeping of them there is great reward ver 11. The Eunuch was Reading the Scripture when Philip was sent to expound it to him for his conversion Acts 8. The preaching of Peter did prick many thousands to the heart to their conversion Acts 2. 37. The heart of Lydia was opened to attend to the preaching of Paul Acts 16. 14. The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit Heb. 4. 11. These weapons are mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 4. 5. Hâ—st thou often read and heard already and yet findest no change upon thy heart Yet read and hear again and again Ministers must not give over preaching when they have laboured without success Why then should you give over hearing or reading As the Husbandman laboureth and looketh to God for rain and for the blessing so must we and so must you Look up to God remember it is his Word in which he calleth you to Repentance and offereth you mercy and treateth with you concerning your everlasting happiness Lament your former negligence and disobedience and beg his blessing on his Word and you shall find it will not be in vain § 2. And the serious Reading of Books which expound and apply the Scriptures suitably to your case may by the blessing of God be effectual to your conversion I have written so many to this use my self that I shall be the shorter on this subject now and desire you to read them or some of them if you have not fitter at hand viz. A Call to the Unconverted A Treatise of Conversion Now or Never Directions for a sound Conversion A Saint or a Bruit A Treatise of Iudgement A Sermon against making light of Christ A Sermon of Christs Dominion Another of his Soveraignty c. Direction 5. F thou wouldst not be destitute of saving Grace let thy Reason be exercised about the Direct 5. matters of thy salvation in some proportion of frequent sober serious Thoughts as thou art convinced the weight of the matter doth require § 1. To have Reason is common to all men even the sleepy and distracted To use Reason is common to 1 Cor. 1â— 5. Pâ—a 4. 4 5 6 7. 1 Cor. 11. 28. The word â—t sâ—lf exciteth Reason and Preachers are by Reason to shame all sin as a thing unreasonâ—ble And the want of such exâ—â—tation by 〈…〉 and plâ—â—n instructing and the persons considering is a great cause of the worlds undoing For those Preachers that lay all the blame on the peoples stupidity or maligâ—â—â—â— I desire them to read a satisfactory answer in Acosta the Jesuite li. 4. c. 2 3 4. Few souls perish comparatively where all the means is used which should be used by their superiours for their salvation If every Parish had holy skilful laborious Pastors that would publickly and privately do their part great things might be expected in the world But saith Acosta Itaque praecipâ—a causa ad Ministros par
When ever the Spirit of God knocks at thy door thou art so taken up with other company or other business that thou canst not hear or wilt not open to him Many a time he hath been ready to teach thee but thou wast not at leisure to hear and learn Many a time he secretly jog'd thy conscience and checkt thee in thy sin and called thee aside to consider soberly about thy spiritual and everlasting state when the noise of foolish mirth and pleasures or the busles of encumbring cares and business have caused thee to stop thy ears and put him off and refuse the motion And if the abused Spirit of God depart and leave thee to thy beloved mirth and business and to thy self it is but just And then thou wilt never have a serious effectual thought of Heaven perhaps till thou have lost it nor a sober thought of Hell till thou art in it unless it be some despairing or some dull uneffectual thought § 2. O therefore as thou lovest thy soul do not love thy pleasure or business so well as to refuse to treat with the Spirit of God who comes to offer thee greater pleasures and to engage thee in a more important business O lay by all to hear a while what God and conscience have to say to thee They have greater business with thee than any others that thou conversest with They have better offers and motions to make to thee than thou shalt hear from any of thy old companions If the Devil can but take thee up a while with one pleasure one day and another business another day and keep thee from the work that thou camest into the world for till time be gone and thou art slipt unawares into damnation then he hath his desire and hath the end he aimed at and hath won the day and thou art lost for ever § 3. It 's like thou settest some limits to thy folly and purposest to do thus but a little while But when one Pleasure withereth the Devil will provide a fresh one for thee and when one business is over which caused thee to pretend Necessity another and another and another will succeed and thou wilt think thou hast such Necessity still till time is gone and thou see too late how grosly thou wast deceived Resolve therefore that whatever company or pleasure or business would divert thee that thou wilt not be befooled out of thy salvation nor taken off from minding the One thing Necessary If Company plead an interest in thee know of them whether they are better company than the Spirit of God and thy Conscience If Pleasure would detain thee enquire whether it be more pâ—re and durable pleasures than thou maist have in Heaven by hearkening unto grace If business still pretend Necessity enquire whether it be a greater business than to prepare thy soul and thy accounts for judgement and of greater Necessity than thy salvation If not let it not have the precedency If thou be wise do that first that must needs be done and let that stand by that may best be spared What will it profit thee to win all the world and lose thy soul. At least if thou durst say that thy Pleasure and business is better than Heaven yet might they sometime be forborn while thou seriously thinkest of thy salvation Direction 7. IF thou wouldst be converted and saved be not a malicious or pievish enemy to those Direct 7. that would convert and save thee Be not angry with them that tell thee of thy sin or duty as if they did thee wrong or hurt § 1. God worketh by instruments When he will convert a Cornelius a Peter must be sent for and willingly heard When he will recall and save a sinner he hath usually some publick Minister or private friend that shall be a messenger of that searching and convincing truth which is fit to awaken them enlighten them and recover them If God furnish these his instruments with compassion to your souls and willingness to instruct you and you will take them for your enemies and pievishly quarrel with them and contradict them and perhaps reproach them and do them a mischief for their good will what an inhumane barbarous course of ingratitude is this Will you be angry with men for endeavouring to save you from the fire of Hell Do they endeavour to make any gain or advantage by you or only to help your souls to Heaven Indeed if their endeavours did serve any ambitious 1 Pet. 5. 2 3 4. 2 Cor. 10. 4. 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. 2 Cor. 1. 24. 1 Cor. 4. 1. 2 Cor. 3 6. 11. 23. Joel 1. 9 13. 2 Cor 4. 5. Mark 10 44. Matth. 10. 27. â—uke 22. 24 25 26. design of their own to bring the world as the Pope and his Clergy would do under their own jurisdiction you had reason then to suspect their fraud But the truth is Christ hath purposely appointed his greatest Church-Officers to be but Ministers even the servants of all to rule and save men as Volunteers without any coercive Power by the Management of his powerful Word upon their consciences and to beseech and intreat the poorest of the flock as those that are not Lords over Gods heritage nor masters of their faith but their servants in Christ and helpers of their joy that so when ever we deliver our message to them they may see that we exercise not dominion over them and aim at no worldly honours or gain or advantage to our selves but at the meer conversion and saving of their souls whereas if he had allowed us to exercise authority as the Kings of the Gentiles and to be called Gracious Lords and to incumber our selves with the affairs of this life our doctrine would have been rejected by the generality of the world and we should alwayes have come to them on this great disadvantage that they would have thought that we sought not them but theirs and that we preached not for them but for our selves to make a prize of them As the Jesuites when they attempt the conversion of the Indians do still find this their great impediment the Princes and people suppose them to pretend the Gospel but as a means to subjugate them and their Dominions to the Pope because they tell them that they must be all subject to the Pope if they will be saved Now when Christ hath appointed a poor self-denying intreating Ministry against whom you can have none of these pretences to sloop to your feet with the most submissive intreaties that you would but turn to God and live you have no excuse for your own barbarous ingratitude if you will fly in their faces and use them as your enemies and be offended with them for endeavouring to save you You know they can hold their Tythes and Livings by smoothing and cold and general preaching as well as by more faithful dealing if not better You know they can get no worldly advantage by
As the Athenians that condemned Socrates to death and then lamented it and erected a Braâ—en Statue for his Memorial Acosta saith that he that will be a Pastor to the Indians must not only resist the Devil and the flesh but must resist the custome of men which is grown powerful by time and multitude and must oppose his breast to receive the darts of the envious and malevolent who if they see any thing contrary to their prophane fashion they cry out A Traytor an Hypocrite an Enemy Li. 4. c. 15. p. 404. It seems among Papists and Barbarians the Serpents seed do hiss in the same manner against the good among themselves as they do against us dye Or think whether they will not change their minds when death hath sent them into that world where there is none of these deceits And think whether thou shouldst be moved with that mans words that will shortly change his mind himself and wish he had never spoke such words § 7. 3. Observe well whether their own Profession do not condemn them and whether the very thing that they hate the godly for be not that they are serious in Practising that which these malignants themselves profess as their Religion And are they not then notorious Hypocrites To profess to believe in God and yet scorn at those that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. To profess faith in Christ and hate those that obey him To profess to believe in the Holy Ghost as the Sanctifier and yet hate and scorn his sanctifying work To profess to believe the day of Judgement and everlasting torment of the ungodly and yet to deride those that endeavour to escape it To profess to believe that Heaven is prepared for the Godly and yet scorn at those that make it the chief business of their lives to attain it To profess to take the holy Scriptures for Gods Word and Law and yet to scorn those that obey it To pray after each of the Ten Commandments Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this Law and yet to hate all those that desire and endeavour to keep them What impudent hypocrisie is joyned with this malignity Mark whether the greatest diligence of the most godly be not justified by the formal profession of those very men that hate and scorn them The difference between them is that the Godly Profess Christianity in good earnest and when they say what they believe they believe as they say But the ungodly customarily and for company take on them to be Christians when they are not and by their own mouths condemn themselves and hate and oppose the serious Practice of that which they say they do themselves believe PART II. The Temptations whereby the Devil hindereth mens Conversion with the proper Remedies against them § 1. THE Most Holy and Righteous Governour of the world hath so restrained Satan and all our enemies and so far given us Free-will that no man can be forced to sin against his will It is not sin if it be not positively or privatively voluntary All our enemies in Hell or Earth cannot make us miserable without our selves nor keep a sinner from true Conversion and Salvation if he do it not himself no nor compell him to one sinful thought or word or deed or omission but by tempting and entising him to be willing All that are Graceless are wilfully Graceless None go to Hell but those that chose the way to Hell and would not be perswaded out of it None miss of Heaven but those that did set so light by it as to prefer the world and sin before it and refused the holy way that leadeth to it And surely man that naturally loveth himself would never take so mad a course if his reason were not laid asleep and his understanding were not wofully deluded And this is the business of the Tempter who doth not drag men to sin by violence but draw and entice them by Temptations I shall therefore take it for the next part of my work to open these Temptations and tell you the Remedies § 2. Tempt 1. The first endeavour of the Tempter is in General to keep the sinner asleep in sin so that Tâ—â—pt 1. â—e shall be as a dead man that hath no use of any of his faculties that hath eyes and seeth not and ears but heareth not and a heart that understandeth not nor feeleth any thing that concerneth his peace The light Ephes 2. 1. Col 2 13. 1 Coâ— 15. 35. 1 Tim. 5. 6. Joeâ— 1. 5. that shineth upon a man asleep is of no use to him His work lyeth undone His friends and wealth and greatest concernments are all forgotten by him as if there were no such things or persons in the world You may say what you will against him or do what you will against him and he can do nothing in his own defence This is the case that the Devil most laboureth to keep the world in even in so dead a sleep that their Reason and their Wills their fear and hope and all their powers shall be of no use to them That when they hear a Preacher or read the Scripture or good Books or see the holy examples of the godly yea when they see the Grave and know where they must shortly lie and know that their souls must stay here but a little while yet they shall hear and see and know all this as men asleep that mind it not as if it concerned not them at all never once soberly Considering and laying it to heart § 3. Direct 1. For the Remedy against this deadly sin 1. Take heed of sleepy opinions or Doctrines Direct 1. and conceits which tend to the Lethargie of Security 2. Sit not still but be up and doing Stirring tends to shake off drowziness 3. Come into the light Live under an awakening Minister and in wakening company that will not sleep with you nor easily let you sleep Agree with them to deal faithfully with you and promise them to take it thankfully 4. And meditate oft on wakening considerations Think whether a sleepy soul beseem one in thy dangerous condition Canst thou sleep with such a load of sin upon thy soul Canst thou sleep under the thundering threatnings of God and the Curse of his Law with so many wounds in thy Conscience and Ulcers in thy soul If thy body were sick or in the case of Iob yea if thou hadst but an aking Tooth it would not let thee sleep And is not the guilt of sin a thing more grievous If Thorns or Toads and Adders were in thy Bed they would keep the waking And how much more odious and dangerous a thing is sin If thy body want but meat or drink or covering it will break 2 Tim. 2. 26. thy sleep And is it nothing for thy soul to be destitute of Christ and Grace A condemned man will be easily kept awake And if thou be unregenerate thou art already condemned
John 3. 18. 3. 5. Thou sleepest in Irons in the captivity of the Devil among the walking judgements of God in a life that is still expecting an end in a Boat that is swiftly carried to eternity just at the entrance of another world and that world will be Hell if Grace awake thee not Thou art going to see the face of God to see the world of Angels or Devils and to be a companion with one of them for ever And is this a place or case to sleep in Is thy Bed so soft thy dwelling so safe God standeth over thee man and dost thou sleep Christ is coming and death is coming and judgement coming and dost thou sleep Didst thou never read of the foolish Virgins that slept out their time and knockt and cryed in vain when it was too late Matth. 25. 5. Thou mightest wiselyer sleep on the Pinnacle of a Steeple in a Storm than have a soul asleep in so dangerous a case as thou art in The Devil is awake and is rocking thy Cradle How busie is he to keep off Ministers or Conscience or any that would awake thee None of thy enemies are asleep and yet wilt thou sleep in the thickest of thy foes Is the battle a sleeping time or thy race a sleeping time when Heaven or Hell must be the End While he can keep thee asleep the Devil can do almost what he liâ—t with thee He knows that thou hast now no use of thy eyes or understanding or power to resist him The Learnedst Doctor in his sleep is as unlearned actually as an Ideot and will dispute no better than an unlearned man This makes many learned men to be ungodly they are asleep in sin The Devil could never have made such a drudge of thee to do his work against Christ and thy soul if thou hadst been awake Thou wouldst never have followed his whistle to the Ale-house the Play-house the Gaming-house and to other sins if thou hadst been in thy wits and well awake Read Prov. 7. 23. 24. I cannot believe that thou longest to be damned or so hatest thy self as to have done as thou hast done to have a lived Godless a Graceless a Prayerless and yet a merry careless life if thy eyes had been opened and thou hadst known and feelingly known that this was the way to Hell Nature it self will hardly go to Hell awake But it 's easie to abuse a man that is asleep Thou hast Reason but didst thou ever awake it to one hours serious Consideration of thy endless state and present case O dreadful judgement to be given over to the Spirit of slumber Rom. 11. 8. Is it not high time now to awake out of sleep Rom. 13. 11. When the light is arisen and shines about thee When others that care for their souls are busily at work When thou hast slept out so much precious time already Many a mercy and perhaps some Ministers have been as Candles burnt out to light thee while thou hast slept How oâ—t hast thou been called already How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard Prov. 6. 9. 10. Yet thou hast thundering calls and allarums to awake thee God calls and Ministers call Mercies call and judgements call and yet wilt thou not awake The voice of the Lord is powerful full of Majesty breaketh the Cedars shaketh the Wilderness and yet cannot it awake thee Thou wilt not sleep about far smaller matters at meat or drink or in common talk or Market But O how much greater business hast thou to keep thee awake Thou hast yet an unholy soul to be renewed an ungodly life to be reformed an offended God to be reconciled to and many thousand sins to be forgiven Thou hast death and judgement to prepare for thou hast Heaven to win and Hell to scape Thou hast many a needful Truth to learn and many a holy duty to perform and yet dost thou think it time to sleep Paul that had less need than thou did watch and pray and labour day and night Acts 20. 31. 1 Thess. 3. 10. O that thou knewest how much better it is to be awake While thou sleepest thou losest the benefit of the Light and all the mercies that attend thee The Sun is but as a clod to a man asleep The world is as no world to him The beauty of Heaven and Earth are nothing to him Princes friends and all things are forgotten by him So doth thy sleep in sin make nothing of health and patience time and help Ministers Books and daily warnings O what a day hast thou for everlasting if thou hadst but a heart to use it What a price hast thou in thine hand Prov. 10. 5. Sleep not out thy day thy harvest time thy tide time They that sleep sleep in the night 1 Thess. 5. 7. Awake and Christ will give thee light Rom. 13. 12. Ephes. 5. 14. Awake to righteousness and sin not 1 Cor. 15. 34. O when thou seest the Light of Christ what a wonder will it possess thee with at the things which thou now forgettest What joy will it fill thee with and with what pity to the sleepy world But if thou wilt needs sleep on be it known to thee sinner it shall not be long If thou wilt wake no sooner death and vengeance will awake thee Thou wilt wake when thou seest the other world and seest the things which thou wouldst not believe and comest before thy dreadful Judge Thy damnation slumbereth not 2 Pet. 2. 3. There are no sleepy souls in Heaven or Hell all are awake there and the day that hath awakened so many shall waken thee Watch then if thou love thy soul lest thy Lord come suddenly and find thee sleeping Mark 13. 34 35 36 37. What I say to one I say to all Watch. § 4. Tempt 2. If Satan cannot keep the soul in a sleepy careless inconsiderate forgetfulness he would Tempt 2. make the unregenerate soul believe that there is no such thing as Regenerating Grace but that it is a fancied thing which no man hath experience of and he saith as Nicodemus How can these things be John 3. 4. He thinks that natural conscience is enough § 5. Direct 2. But this may be easily refuted by observing that Holiness is but the very Health and Direct 2. rectitude of the soul and is no otherwise supernatural than as Health to him that is born a Leper See 2 Cor. 5. 17. Gal. 6. 15. Gal. 4. 19. Joh. 3. 3. 5. 6. Matth. 18. 3. 1 Pet. 1. 23. It is the rectitude of Nature or its disposition to the use and end that it was made for Though Grace be called supernatural 1. Because it is not born with us and 2. Corrupted Nature is against it 3. And the End of it is the God of Nature who is above Nature 4. And the Revelation and other means are supernatural as Christs incarnation resurrection c. Yet both Nature and Scripture and experience tell you
to do evil Eccles. 8. 11. § 31. Direct 15. But alas how short is the prosperity of the wicked Read Psal. 73. 37. Delay Direct 15. is no forgiveness They stay but till the Assize And will that tempt you to do as they How unthankfully do sinners deal with with God! If he should kill you and plague you that would not please you And yet if he forbear you you are emboldened by it in your sin Thus his patience is turned against him But the stroke will be the heavier when it falls Dost thou think those men will alwayes flourish Will they alway domineer and revell Will they alwayes dwell in the houses where they now dwell and possess those Lands and be honoured and served as now they are O how quickly and how dreadfully will the case be changed with them O could you but foresee now what faces they will have and what heavy hearts and with what bitter exclamations they will at last cry out against themselves for all their folly and wish that they had never been deceived by prosperity but rather had the portion of a Lozarus If you saw how they are but fatted for the slaughter and in what a dolorous misery their wealth and sport and honours will leave them you would lament their case and think so great a destruction were soon enough and not desire to be partners in their lot § 32. Tempt 16. Another temptation is their own prosperity They think God when he prospereth Tempt 16. them is not so angry with them as Preachers tell them And it is a very hard thing in health and prosperity to lay to heart either sin or threatnings and to have such serious lively thoughts of the life to come as men that are wakened by adversity have and specially men that are familiar with death Prosperity is the greatest temptation to security and delaying repentance and putting off preparation for eternity Overcome prosperity and you overcome your greatest snare § 33. Direct 16. Go into the Sanctuary yea go into the Church-yard and see the End And Direct 1◠〈…〉 judge by those Skulls and Bones and dust if you cannot judge by the fore-â—â—â—â—ings of God what prosperity is Judge by the experience of all the world Doth it not leave them â—â—â—â— in sorrow at last Wo to the man that hath his portion in this life O miserable health and wealth and honour which procureth the death and shame and utter destruction of the soul Was not he in as prosperous a case as you Luke 16. that quickly cryed out in vain for a drop of water to cool his Tongue There is none of you so sensless as not to know that you must dye And must you dye Must you certainly dye and shall that day be no better prepared for Shall present prosperity make you forget it and live as if you must live here for ever Do you make so great difference between that which is and that which will be as to make as great a matter of it as others when it comes and to make no more of it when it is but coming O man what is an inch of hasty time How quickly is it gone Thou art going hence apace and almost gone Doth God give thee the mercy of a few dayes or years of health to make all thy preparations in for eternity and doth this mercy turn to thy deceit and dost thou turn it so much contrary to the ends for which it was given thee Wilt thou surfeit on Mercy and destroy thy soul with it Sense feeleth and perceiveth what now is but thou hast Reason to foresee what will be Wilt thou play in Harvest and forget the Winter § 34. Tempt 17. Another great Temptation to hinder Conversion is the example and countenance of Tempt 17. Great Ones that are ungodly when Landlords and men in power are sensual and enemies to a holy life and speak reproachfully of it their inferiours by the reverence which they bear to worldly wealth and greatness are easily drawn to say as they Also when men reputed Learned and Wise are of another mind and especially when subtile enemies speak that reproach against it which they cannot answer § 35. Direct 17. To this I spake in the end of the first Part of this Chapter No man is so great Direct 17. and wise as God See whether he say as they do in his word The greatest that provoke him can no more save themselves from his vengeance than the poorest beggars What work made he with a Pharaâ—h and got himself a name by his hard heartedness and impenitency He can send Worms to eat an arrogant Herod when the people cry him up as a God! Where are now the Caesars and Alexanders of the world The Rulers and Pharisees believed not in Christ Iohn 7. 48. Wilt not thou therefore believe in him The Governour of the Countrey condemned him to dye and wilt thou condemn him The Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord and his anointed saying let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us Psal. 2. 2 3. Wilt thou therefore joyn in the Conspiracy When he that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision He will break them with an iron rod and dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel unless they be wise and kiss the Son and serve the Lord with fear before his wrath be kindled and they perish Psal. 2. 4 9 10 11 12. If thy Landlord or Great ones shall be thy God and be honoured and obeyed before God and against him trust to them and call on them in the hour of thy distress and take such a salvation as they can give thee Teach not God what choice to make and whom to reveal his mysteries to He chooseth not alwayes the Learned Scribe nor the mighty man Christ himself saith Matth. 11. 25. I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to babes Read Mr. 〈…〉 sermon â—n 1 â—â—â—â— 1. 2â— Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight If this reason satisfie you not follow them and speed as they If they are Greater and Wiser than God let them be your Gods 1 Cor. 1. 26. You see your calling how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty and base things of the world and things that are despised hath God chosen and things that are not to bring to nought things that are It is another kind of Greatness Honour and Wisdom which God bestoweth on the poorest Saints than the world can give Worldlings will shortly be aweary of their portion
decent and editying determination of the outward circumstances of Religion and the right ordering of Worship is a needless thing or sinful or that a form of prayer in it self or when imposed is unlawful But let the Soul and Body of Religion go together and the alterable adjuncts be used as things alterable while the life of Holiness is still kept up Direct 19. PRomise not your selves long life or prosperity and great matters in the world lest it entangle Direct 19. your hearts with transitory things and engage you in ambitious or covetous designs and steal away your hearts from God and destroy all your serious apprehensions of Eternity § 1. Our own experience and the alterations which the approach of death makes upon the most doth sensibly prove that the expectation of a speedy change and reckoning upon a short life doth greatly help us in all our preparation and in all the work of Holiness through our lives Come to a man that lyeth on his death-bed or a prisoner that is to dye to morrow and try him with Nemini exploratum potest esse quomodo seâ—e habiturum sit corpus non dico ad annum sed ad vesperum Câ—ceâ—o 2. de fit Dii boni quid est in hominis vita diu Mihi ne diuturnum quidem quicquam videtur in quo est aliquid extremum Cum enim id advenit tum illud praeterâ—it eâ—fluxit tan tum remanet quod virtute recte factis fit consecutus hoâ—ae quidem â—edunt diâ—â— meâ—ses anni nec praeteritum tempus unquam revertitur nec quid sequatur sciri potest Cic. in Cat. Maj. Quem saepe transit casus aliquando invenâ— discourse of riches or honours or temptations to lust or drunkenness or excess and he will think you are mad or very impertinent to tell him of such things If he be but a man of Common Reason you shall see that he will more easily vilifie such temptations than many religious persons will do in their prosperity and health O how serious are we in repenting and perusing our former lives and casting up our accounts and asking What we shall do to be saved when we see that death is indeed at hand and time is at an end and we must away Every sentence of Scripture hath then some life and power in it Every word of Exhortation is savoury to us Every reproof of our negligence and sin is then well taken Every thought of sin or Christ or Grace or Eternity goes then to the quick Then time seems precious and if you ask a man whether it be better spent in Cards and Dice and Playes and Feastings and needless recreations and idleness or in prayer and holy conference and reading and meditating on the Word of God and the life to come and the holy use of our lawful labours How easily will he be satisfied of the truth and confute the Cavils of voluptuous time-wasters Then his judgement will easilier be in the right than Learning or Arguments before could make it In a word the expectation of the speedy approach of the soul into the presence of the Eternal God and of our entring into an unchangeable endless life of joy or torment hath so much in it to awaken all the powers of the soul that if ever we will be serious it will make us serious in every thought and speech and duty And therefore as it is a great mercy of God that this life which is so short should be as uncertain and that frequent dangers and sicknesses call to us to look about us and be ready for our change so usually the sickly that look for death are most considerate and it is a great part of the duty of those that are in youth and health to consider their frailty and the shortness and uncertainty of their lives and alwayes live as those that wait for the coming of their Lord. And we have great reason for it when we are certain it will be ere long and when we have so many perils and weaknesses to warn us and when we are never sure to see another hour and when time is so swift so quickly gone so unrecoverable and Nothing when it is past Common reason requireth such to live in a constant readiness to dye § 2. But if youth or health do once make you reckon of living long and make you put away the Nihil tam sirmum câ—â— periculum 〈◊〉 sâ—â— etiam â—â—â—â—vilido day of your departure as if it were far off this will do much to deceive and dull the best and take away the power of every truth and the life of every good thought and duty and all will be apt to dwindle into customariness and form You will hardly keep the faculties of the soul awake if you do not still think of death and judgement as near at hand The greatest Certainty of the greatest Change and the greatest Joy or Misery for ever will not keep our stupid hearts awake unless we look at all as near as well as certain This is plain in the common difference that we find among all men between their thoughts of death in health and when they see indeed that they must presently dye They that in health could think and talk of death with laughter or lightly without any awakening of soul when they come to dye are oftentimes as much altered as if they had never heard before that they are mortal By which it is plain that to live in the house of mirth is more dangerous than to live in the house of mourning and that the expectation of long life is a grievous enemy to the operations of grace and the safety of the soul. § 3. And it is one of the greatest strengtheners of your temptations to luxury ambition worldliness and almost every sin When men think that they shall have many years leisure to repent they are apt the more boldly to transgress when they think that they have yet many years to live it tempteth them to pass away Time in idleness and to loiter in their race and trifle in all their work and to over-value all the pleasures and honours and shadows of felicity that are here below He that hath his life in his House or Land or hath it for inheritance will set more by it and bestow more upon it than if he thought he must go out of it the next year To a man that thinks of liveing many years the favour of great ones the raising of his estate and name and family and the accommodations and pleasing of his flesh will seem great matters to him and will do much with him and will make self-denyal a very hard work § 4. Therefore though Health be a wonderful great mercy as Enabling him to duty that hath a heart to use it to that end yet it is by accident a very great danger and snare to the heart it self to turn it from the way of duty The best life
of honour than of obscurity and contempt of mens praises and applause than of their disprâ—â—ses slanders and repâ—â—â—â—h of preâ—erment and greatness than of a low and mean condition of a delicious than of lâ—ss tempting meats and drinks of curious costly than of mean and cheap and plain attire Let those that have hired out their reason to the service of their fleshly lusts and have delivered the Crown and Sâ—epter to their appetites think otherwise No wonder if they that have sold the birthright of their intellects to their senses for a meâ—s of Pottage for a Whore or a high place or a domineering power over others or a belly full of pleasant Meats or Liquors do deride all this and think it but a melancholy conceit more suitable to an Eremiâ—e or Anchorite than to men of society and business in the world As Heaven is the portion of serious believers and mortified Saints alone so it shall be proper to them alone to understand the doctrine and example of their Saviour and practically to know what it is to deny themselves and forsake all they have and take up their Cross and follow Christ and by the Spirit to mortifiâ— the deeds of the body Luke 14. 26 27 28 29 33. Rom. 8. 5 6 7 13. Col. 3. 1 2 3 4. Such know that millions part with God for Pleasures but none for Griefs and that Hell will be stored with those that preferred Wealth and Honour and Sports and gluttony drink and filthy lusts before the Holiness and happiness of believers but none will be damn ed for preferring poverty and disgrace and abstinence hunger and thirst and chastity before them It must be something that seemeth good that must entice men fâ—om the chiefest Good Apparent Evil is no fit bait for the Devils hook Men will not displease God to be themselves displeased nor choose present sorrows instead of everlasting joyes but for the pleasures of sin for a season many will despise the endless pleasures § 23. Direct 10. Meet every motion to disobedience with an Army of holy Graces with wisdom and Direct 10. fear and hatred and resolution with Love to God with Zeal and courage and quench every spark that falls upon your hearts befâ—re it break out into a flame When sin is little and in its infancy it is weak and easily resisted It hath not then turned away the mind from God nor quenched grace and disablâ—d it to do its office But when it s grown strong then grace grows weak and we want its help and want the sense of the presence and Attributes and truths of God to rebuke it O stay not till your hearts are gone out of hearing and stragled from God beyond the observance of his Calls The Habit of Obedience will be dangerously abated if you resist not quickly the acts of sin § 24. Direct 11. Labour for the clearest understanding of the Will of God that doubtfulness about Direct 11. your duty do not make you flag in your obedience and doubtfulness about sin do not weaken your detestation and resistance and draw you to venture on it When a man is sure what is his Duty it is a great help against all temptations that would take him off And when he is sure that a thing is sinful it makes it the easier to resist And therefore it is the Dâ—vils Method to delude the understanding and make men believe that duty is no duty and sin is no sin and then no wonder if duty be neglected and sin committed And therefore he raiseth up one false Prâ—phet or other to say to Ahab Go and prosper or to say There is no hurt in this To dispute for sin and to dispute against Duty And it is almost incredible how much the Devil hath got when he hath once but made it a matter of Controversie Then every hypocrite hath a cloke for his sin and a dose of Opium for his Conscience when he can but say It is a Controversie some are of one mind and some of another you are of that Opinion and I am of this Especially if there be wise and learned on both sides and yet more if there be Religious men on both sides And more yet if he have an equal number on his side And most of all if he have the major Vote as error and sin have commonly in the world If Ahab have but four hundred lying flattering Prophets to one Micaiah he will think he may hate him reproach him and persecute him without any sâ—â—â—â—ple of Conscience If it be made a Controversie whether Bread be Bread and Wine be Wine when we see and taste it some will think they may venture to subscribe or swear that they hold the Negative if their credit or livings or lives lie upon it much more if they can say It is the judgement of the Church If it be once made a Controversie whether perjury be a sin or whether a Vow materially lawful bind or whether it be lawful to equivocate or lye with a mental reservation for the truth or to do the greatest evil or speak the falsest thing with a true and good intent and meaning almost all the hypocrites in the Countrey will be for the sinful part if their fleshly interest require it And will think themselves wronged if they are accounted hypocrites lyâ—rs or perjured as long as it is but a Point of Controversie among learned men If it be once made a Controversie whether an Excommunicate King become a private man and it be lawful to kill him and whether the Pope may absolve the subjects of Temporal Lords from their Allegiance notwithstanding all their Oaths and if such Learned men as Zuarez Bellarmine Perron c. are for it to say nothing of Santarellus Mariana c. you shall have a Clement a Ravilliack a Faux yea too great choice of instruments that will be satisfied to strike the blow If many hold it may or must be dâ—ne some will be found too ready to do it especially if an approved General Council Lateran sub Innâ—c 3. Can. 3. be for such Papal absolution We have seen at home how many will be emboldned to pull down Government to sit in Judgement on their King and condemn him and to destroy their Brethren if they can but say that such and such men think it lawful If it were but a Controversie once whether drunkenness whoredom swearing stealing or any villany be a sin or not it would be committed more commonly and with much less regret of conscience Yea good men will be ready to think that modesty requireth them to be less censorious of those that commit it because in controverted cases they must suspect their own understandings and allow something to the judgement of dissenters And so all the Rules of Love and Peace and Moderation which are requisite in Controversies that are about small and difficult points the Devil will make use of and apply them all to the patronage of
thus you must do The eye maketh an easier and deeper impression on the imagination and mind than the ear doth Therefore Christs example should be much preached and studied It will be a very great help to us to have still upon our minds the Image of the Holy Life of Christ that we be affected as if we always saw him doing the holy actions which once he did Paul calls the Galathians foolish and bewitched that obeyed not the truth when Christ had been set forth as crucified among them evidently before their eyes Gal. 3. 1. Papists think that Images serve well for this turn But the Records of Scripture and the living Images of Christ whom they persecute and kill are farr more useful How much example is more operative than doctrine alone you may perceive by the enemies of Christ who can bear his holy doctrine when they cannot bear his holy Servants that practise that doctrine before their eyes And that which most stirs up their enmity hath the advantage for exciting the believers piety Let the Image of Christ in all his holy examples be allways lively written upon your minds 1. Let the great ones of the world remember that their Lord was not born of such as bore rule or were in worldly pomp and dignity but of persons that lived but meanly in the world however they were of the royal line How he was not born in a pallace but a stable and laid in a manger without the attendance or accommodations of the rich 2. Remember how he subjected himself unto his reputed Father and his Mother to teach all Children Luke â— 51. subjection and obedience 3. And how he condescended to labour at a Trade and mean imployment in the world to teach us that our Bodies as well as our Minds must express their obedience and have their ordinary imployment and to teach men to labour and live in a calling and to comfort poor labourers with assurance that God accepteth them in the meanest work and that Christ himself lived so before them and chose their kind of life and not the life of Princes and Nobles that live in Pomp and Ease and Pleasure 4. Remember how he refused not to submit to all the ordinances of God and to fullfil all righteousness and to be initiated into the solemn administration of his office by the Baptism of Iohn Mat. 3. 15 1â— 17. which God appoved by sending down upon him the Holy Ghost To teach us all to expect his Spirit in the use of his ordinances 5. Remember how he voluntarily begun his work with an encounter with the Tempter in the Wilderness upon his fasting and suffered the Tempter to proceed till he moved him to the most odious sin even to worship the Devil himself To teach us that God loveth tryed Servants and expecteth that we be not turned from him by temptations especially those that enter upon a publick ministry must be tryed men that have overcome the Tempter and to comfort tempted Christians who may remember that their Saviour himself was most blasphemously tempted to as odious sins as ever they were and that to be greatly tempted without consenting or yielding to the sin is so farr from being a sin in it self that it is the greatest honour of our obedience and that the Devil who molesteth and haunteth us with his temptations is a conquered enemy whom our Lord in person hath overcome 6. Remember how earnestly and constantly he preached not stories or jingles or subtile controversies but Repentance and faith and self-denial and obedience So great was his Love to souls that when he had auditors he preached not only in the Temple and Synagogues but in mountains and in a ship and any other convenient place and no fury of the Rulers or Pharises could silence him till his hour was come having his Fathers Commission And even to particular persons he vouchsafed by conference to open the Mysteries of Salvation To teach us to love and attend to John 3. 4. the plain and powerful preaching of the Gospel and not to forbear any necessary means for the honour of God and the saving of souls because of the enmity or opposition of malitious men but to work while it is day seeing the night is coming when none can work John 9. 4. 7. Remember how compassionate he was to mens bodys as well as to their souls going up and down with unwearied diligence doing good healing the blind and lame and deaf and sick and possessed and how all his miracles were done in charity to do good and none of them to do hurt So that he was but living walking LOVE and MERCY To teach us to know God in his Love and Mercy and to abound in Love and Mercy to our brethren and to hate the spirit of hurtfulness persecution and uncharitableness and to lay out our selves in doing good and to exercise our compassion to the bodys of men as well as to their souls according to our power 8. Remember how his Zeal and Love endured the reproach and resisted the opposition of his friends who went to lay hold on him as if he had been besides himself And â—ow he bid Peter Get Mat 3. 20 21 Mat. 16. 22 23. behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me for thou savourest not the things of God but those of men when in caâ—nal Love and wisdom he rebuked him for resolving to lay down his life saying Be it farr from thee this shall not be unto thee To teach us to expect that carnal Love and Wisdom in our nearest friends will rise up against us in the work of God to discourage us both from duty and from sufferings and that all are to be shaken off and counted as the instruments of Satan that would tempt us to be unfaithful to our trust and duty and to savour our selves by a sinâ—ul avoiding of the sufferings which God doth call us to undergo 9. Remember how through all his life he despised the Riches of the world and chose a life of poverty and was a companion of the meanest neither possessing nor seeking sumptuous houses or great attendance or spacious lands or a large estate He lived in a visible contempt of all the wealth and splendor and greatness of the world To teach us how little these little things are to be esteemed â—nd that they are none of the treasure and portion of a Saint and what a folly it is to be fond of â—â—â—â—h snares and diversions and temptations which make the way to Heaven to be to us as a needlâ—â—s â—yâ— 10. Observe how little he regarded the honour and applause of men how he made himself of no 〈…〉 6. 15 refutation 〈◊〉 took upon him the form of a Servant refusing to be made a King or to have a Kingdom of this â—â—â—â—ld Though he told malignant Blasphemers how greatly they sinned in dishonouring him yet did he not seek the honour of the world To teach
and self obligations to God 38. It is a preferring of Time before Eternity and regarding things of a transitory nature and a moments pleasure before that which never shall have end The perâ—â—rtâ—â—â—â— and confusion of 〈…〉 39. It is a making a breach in the harmonie and order of the world As the dislocation or deformity of a particular member is the trouble and deformity of all the Body because the comliness and welfare of the whole containeth the comliness proportion and welfare of all the parts And as the dislocation or breaking of one part in a Watch or Clock is against the use of all the engine so every man being a part of the Kingdom of God doth by sin make a breach in the order of the whole and also giveth an ill example to other parts and makes himself unserviceable to the body and dishonoureth the whole body with the blot of Rebellion and le ts in judgement on the world and kindleth a consuming fire in the place where he liveth and is cruel and injurious to others 40. Sin is not only a preferring the Body before the Soul but it is also an Unmercifulness or Cruelty against our selves both soul and body and so is contrary to the true use of the indeleble principle of self-love For it is a wounding and abusing the Soul and defiling the Body in this life and a casting both on the wrath of God and into the flames of Hell hereafter or a dangerous venturing them into the way of endless damnation and despair and a contempt of those insufferable torments All these parts of malignity and poyson are intrinsecal to sin and found in the very Nature of it § 17. The common Aggravations of sin being written of by many and easily gathered from what is said of the nature of it I shall briefly name only a few 1. The Infinite perfection of God in all those blessed Attributes and Relations which sin is against is the Greatest Aggravation of sin 2. The unconceivable Glory of Heaven which is despised is a great aggravation of sin 3. So is the greatness of the Torments of Hell which sinners despise and venture on 4. So is the great Opposition that God hath made against sin having said and done so much against it and declared himself to hate nothing else immediately in the world 5. The clearness of evidence against it the nothingness of all that can be said for it is also a great aggravation of it 6. So is the fullness and fitness and power of all the Means in Creatures providences and Scriptures that is vouchsased the world against it 7. So is the experience and warning of all ages the repentings of the converted and the disowning it by almost all when they come to die Wonderful that the experience of the world for above five thousand years will teach them no more effectually to avoid so mortal pernicious a thing 8. The neerness to us also is an Aggravation It is not a distant evil but in our bowels in our very hearts we are bound so strictly to love our selves that it is a great aggravation to do our selves so great a mischief 9. The constant inhaesion of sin is a great aggravation that it is ever with us lying down and rising up at home and abroad we are never free from it 10. That it should poyson all our common mercies and corrupt all our duties is an aggravation But we shall take up some of these anon § 18. The special Aggravations of the sins of Gods own Children are these 1. They sin against See the Assemblâ—â— larger Catechism about aggravations of sin a neerer Relation than others do even against that God that is their Father by the new birth which is more heynous than if a stranger did it 2. They are Christs own members and it is most unnatural for his Members to rebel against him or do him wrong 3. They sin against more excellent operations of the spirit than others do and against a principle of Life within them 4. They sin against the differencing grace which appeared in their conversion God took them out of a world of sinners whom he past by when he could as well have sanctified them And should they so quickly thus requite him 5. They sin against the pardon and Iustification which they have already received Did God so lately forgive them all their former debts so many so great and heinous sins and that so freely to them when the procurement was so dear to Christ and should they so soon forget or so ill requite so great a mercy 6. They sin against a more serious Covenant which at their conversion they entred into with God than other men do 7. They sin against all the heart-breaking or humbling sorrows which they have tasted of at their conversion and since They have known more of the evil of sin than others in their sad experience of its sting 8. They sin against more knowledge than other men They have known more what sin is and what Christ is and what the will of God is than others and therefore deserve to be beaten with many stripes 9. They have oftner confessed sin than others and spoke odiously of it as the vilest thing and aggravated it to God and man 10. Their many Prayers against it and all their labour in hearing and reading and Sacraments and other means do aggravate it 11. They make a greater Profession of strict obedience and therefore sin against their own profession 12. They have renewed their Promises of obedience to God in prayer at Sacraments and at other times much more than others 13. They have had more experience than others of the goodness of obedience and of the comforts and benefits that attend it in the favour of God and communion with him therein 14. Their sins are aggravated by all the reproofs and exhortations which they have used to others to tell them how unreasonable and bad it is to provoke the Lord. 15. They sin under greater hopes of glory than others do and provoke that God with whom they hope to live for ever 16. The high Titles of love and praise which God doth give them in his Word do aggravate their sin That he should call them his treasure his peculiar people his jewels and the apple of his eye his sons and daughters and a holy people and Priests to God and boast of them as a people more excellent than their neighbours and after this they should sin against him 17. They have had audience with God the answer of prayers and many a deliverance and mercy in this life which others have not which aggravate their sins as being thus contemned and as obliging them more to God than others 18. They dishonour God more than any others by their sins His honour lyeth not so much upon the actions of the ungodly as on those that are nearest to him 19. They harden the wicked more than such sins in other men would
When the Nature and Name of God is so plainly â—ngraven upon them all It is a great part of a Christians daily busyness to see and admire God in his works and to use them as steps to ascend by to himself Psal 111. 2 3 4. The works of the â—â—rd â—â—e great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein His work is honâ—urable and glâ—â—iâ—us and his righteousness endureth for ever He hath made his wonderful works to be remembred Psal. 143. 5 I meditate on all thy works I muse on the works of thy hands Psal. 77. 12. I will meditate also of all thy works and talk of thy dâ—ings Psal. 92. 4 5 6. For thou Lord hast made me glad through thy work I will triumph in the works of thy hands A bruitish man knoweth not neither doth a fâ—ol understand this As the praising of Gods works so the observing of God in his works is much of the work of a holy soul. Psal. 145. 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 17. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised And his greatness is unsearchable One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts I will speak of the glorious honour of his Magisty and of thy wondrâ—us works And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts and I will declare thy greatness They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great Goodness and shall sing of thy righteousness All thy works shall praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works Rom. 1. 19 20. That which may be known of God is manifest to them For God hath shewed it to them For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made Even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse If we converse in the world as believers or rational creatures ought we should as oft as David repeat these words Psal. 107. O that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his wondrâ—us works to the Children of men And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoyâ—ing They that go down to the sea in ships that do busyness in great waters these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep verse 21 22 23 24. But this is a subject â—itter for a Volume of Physicks Theologically handled than for so short a touch What an excellent Book is the visible world for the daily studies of a holy soul Light is not more visible to the eye in the Sun than the Goodness of God is in it and all the creatures to the mind If I Love not God when all the word revealeth his Loveliness and every creature telleth me that he is Good what a blind and wicked heart have I O wonderful Wisdom and Goodness and Power which appeareth in every thing we see In every Tree and Plant and Flower In every Bird and Beast and Fish In every Worm and Fly and creeping thing In every part of the Body of Man or Beast Much more in the admirable composure of the whole In the Sun and Moon and Starrs and Meteors In the Lightning and Thunder the Air and Winds the Rain and Waters the Heat and Cold the Fire and the Earth Especially in the composed frame of all so far as we can see them set together In the admirable order and cooperation of all things In their times and seasons and the wonderful usefullness of all for man O how Glorious is the Power and Wisdom and Goodness of God in all the frame of nature Every creature silently speaks his Praise declaring Him to Man whose office is as the worlds High Priest to stand between them and the Great Creator and expresly offer him the praise of all Psal. 8. 3 4 5 6 9. When I consider the Heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Starrs which thou hast ordained What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him For thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the earth O that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and declare his wondrous works to the children of men The earth is full of the Goodness of the Lord Psal. 33. 5 6 7 8 9. Read Psalm 65. Thus Love God as appearing in the works of Nature § 27. Direct 10. Study to know God as he appeareth more clearly to sinners in his Goodness in the Direct 10. works of GRACE especially in his Son his Covenant and his Saints and there to Love him in the admiration of his Love Here Love hath made it self an advantage of our sin and unworthiness of our necessities and miseries of the Law and justice and the flames of Hell The abounding of sin and misery hath glorified abounding Grace That Grace which fetcheth sons for God from among the voluntary vassals of the Devil Which fetcheth Children of Light out of darkness and Living souls from among the dead and heirs for Heaven from the gates of Hell and brings us as from the Gallows to the Throne 1. A believing view of the Nature Undertaking Love Obedience Doctrine Example Sufferings Intercession and Kingdom of JESUS CHRIST must needs inflame the believers hearts with an answerable degree of the Love of God To look on a Christ and not Love God is to have eyes and not to see and to overlook him while we seem to look on him He is the liveliest Image of Infinite Goodness and the messenger of the most unsearchable astonishing Love and the purchaser of the most unvaluable benefits that ever were revealed to the sons of men Our greatest Love must be kindled by the Greatest revelations and communications of the Love of God And Greater Love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends John 15. 13. that is Men have no dearer and clearer a way to express their Love to their friends But that Love is aggravated indeed which will express it self as far for enemies But God commendeth his Love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us And if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Rom. 5. 8 9 10. Steep then that stiff and heardned heart in the blood of Christ and it will melt Come near with Thomas and by the passage of his wounds get near unto his heart and it will change thy unkind unthankful heart into the very nature of Love Christ is the best Teacher of the lesson of Love that
things and greatest interest of our souls being there will greatly raise us to the Love of God if any thing will do it To foresee how near him we shall be ere long and what a glorious proof we shall have of his good will and how our souls will be ravished everlastingly with his Love To think what hearts the blessed have that see his glory and live with Christ How full of love they are and what a delight it is to them thus to love must needs affect the heart of a Believer Lift up thy head poor drowsie sinner Look up to Heaven and think where thou must live for ever Think what the holy ones of God are doing Do they love God or do they not Must it not be then thy life and work for ever And canst thou forbear to love him now that is bringing thee to such a world of Love Thou wouldst love him more that would give thee security to possess a Kingdom which thou never sawest than him that giveth thee but some toy in hand And let it not seem too distant to affect thee The time is as nothing till thou wilt be there Thou knowest not but thou maist be there this night There thou shalt see the Maker of the worlds and know the mysteries of his wonderous works There thou shalt see thy blessed Lord and feel that love which thou readest of in the Gospel and enjoy the fruits of it for ever There thou shalt see him that suffered for thee and rose again whom Angels see and worship in his glory Thou shalt see there a more desirable sight than those that saw him heal the blind and lame and sick and raise the dead or those that saw him in his transfiguration or than those that saw him on the Cross or after his resurrection or than Stephen saw when he was stoned or Paul when he was converted yea more than it is like he saw when he was in his rapture in the third Heavens O who can think believingly on the life which we must there shortly live the glory which we must see the love which we must receive and the love which we must exercise and not feel the fire begin to flame and the Glass in which we see the Lord become a burning-glass to our affections CHRIST and HEAVEN are the Books which we must be often reading the Glasses in which we must daily gaze if ever we will be good proficients and practitioners in the Art of holy Love § 34. Direct 13. Exercise your souls so frequently and diligently in this way of Love that the Method Direct 13. of it may be familiar to you and the means and motives still at hand and you may presently be able to fall into the way as one that is well acquainted with it and may not be distracted and lâ—st in generals as not knowing where to fix your thoughts I know no Methods alone will serve to raise the dead and cause a carnal senseless heart to love the Lord But I know that many honest hearts that have the Spirit of Love within them have great need to be warned that they quench not the Spirit and great need to be directed how to stir up the grace which is given them and that many live a more dull or distracted uncomfortable life than they would do if they wanted not Skill and Diligence The soul is most backward to this highest work and therefore hath the greater need of helps And the best have so much need as that it is well if all will serve to keep up Loving and Grateful thoughts of God upon their minds And when every Trade and Art and Science requireth diligence exercise and experience and all are Bunglers at it at the first can we reasonably think that we are like to attain any high degrees with sleight and short and seldom thoughts § 35. Direct 14. Yet let not weak-headed or melâ—ncholly persons set themselves on those Methods Direct 14. or lengths of Meditation which their heads cannot bear lest the Tempter get advantage of them and abate their Love by making Religion seem a torment to them but let such take up with shorter obvious Meditations and exercise their Love in an active obediential way of living That is the best Physick that is fitted to the Patients strength and case And that 's the best Shoo that is meetest for the foot and not that which is the biggest or the finest It is a great design of Satan to make all duties grievous and burdensome to us and thereby to cast us into continual pain and fear and trouble and so destroy our delight in God and consequently our Love Therefore pretend not to disability for carnal unwillingness and laziness of mind but yet marr not all by grasping at more than you are able to bear Take on as you are able and increase your work if God increase your strength If a melancholly person crack his brain with immoderate unseasonable endeavours he will but disable himself for all § 36. Direct 15. Keep clear and hold fast the Evidences of thy Sincerity that thou maist perceive Direct 15. thy interest in the Love of God and resist the temptations which would hide his Love to thee and cause thee to doubt of it or deny it Satan hath not his end when he hath troubled thee and robbed thee of thy peace and comfort It is worse that he is seeking to effect by this His malice is more against God than against thee and more against God and thee in this point of Love than in any other grace or duty He knoweth that God esteemeth this most And he knoweth if he could kill thy love he kills thy soul. And he knoweth how natural it is to man to love those that love him and hate those that hate him be they never so excellent in themselves And therefore if he can perswade thee into despair and to think that God hateth thee and is resolved to damn thee he will not despair of drawing thee to hate God Or if he do but bring thee to fear that he loveth thee not he will think accordingly to abate thy love I know that a truly gracious soul keepeth up its love when it loseth its assurance and mourneth and longeth and seeketh in love when it cannot triumph and rejoyce in love But yet there are some prints left on the heart of its former apprehensions of the love of God And such souls exceedingly disadvantage themselves as to the exercises of love and make it a work of wondrous difficulty O it will exceedingly kindle love when we can see Gods surest Love-tokens in our hearts and look to the promises and say They are all mine and think of Heaven as that which shall certainly be our own and can say with Thomas My Lord and my God and with Paul that The life which I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God that loved me and gave himself for
thou but say This man is more powerful than God Or God cannot deliver me out of his hands If it be want or sickness or death which thou fearest what dost thou but say in thy heart that God either knoweth not what is best for thee so well as thou knowest thy self or else is not Powerful or Gracious enough to give it nor true enough to keep his promise He that believeth not makes God a lyar 1 Iohn 5. 10 11. § 13. Direct 6. Remember that Trusting God doth as it were oblige him and distrusting him doth Direct 6. greatly disoblige him especially when any thing else is trusted before him If any man trust you upon any encouragement given him by you you will take your selves obliged to be trusty to him and not to fail any honest trust But if he trust you not or trust another you will turn him off to those that he hath trusted God may say to thee Let them help thee whom thou hast trusted Thou trustedst not in me and therefore I fail not thy trust when I forsake thee § 14. Direct 7. Remember that thou must trust in God or in nothing For nothing is more sure Direct 7. nor more frequently experienced than that all things else are utterly insufficient to be our help Shall we choose a broken reed that we know before hand will both deceive and pierce us Wo to the man that hath no surer a foundation for his Trust than Creatures The greatest of them are unable and the Best of them are untrusty and deceitful How sad is thy case if God turn thee off to these for help in the hour of thy extremity Then wilt thou perceive that it is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in Princes Psal. 118. 8 9. The righteous shall see and fear and laugh at him Lo this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthned himself in his wickedness Psal. 52. 6 7. But they that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion that cannot be removed but abideth for ever Psal. 125. 1. Creatures will certainly deceive thy trust but so will not God § 15. Direct 8. Believe and remember the particular providence of God which regardeth the falling Direct 8. of a Sparrow on the ground and numbereth the very hairs of your heads Matth. 10. 30. And can you distrust him that is so punctually regardful of your least concernments that is alway present and watcheth over you You need not fear his absence disregard forgetfulness or insufficiency Doth he number your hairs and doth he not number your groans and prayers and tears How then doth he wipe away your tears and put them all as in his bottle Psal. 56. 8. Rev. 7. 17. § 16. Direct 9. Compare God with thy dearest and most faithful friend and then think how boldly Direct 9. thou caust trust that friend if thy life or wellfare were wholly in his hand and how much more boldly thou shouldst trust in God who is more wise and kind and merciful and trusty than any mortal man can be When thou art in want in prison in sickness and in pain expecting death think now if my life or health or liberty were absolutely in the power of my surest friend how quietly could I wait and how confidently could I cast away my fears though I had no promise what he would do with me For I know he would do nothing but what is for my good And is not God to be trusted in much more Indeed a friend would ease my pain or supply my wants or save my life when God will not But that is not because God is less kind but because he is more wise and better knoweth what tendeth to my hurt or good My friend would pull off the Plaister as soon as I complain of smart but God will stay till it have done the cure But sure God is more to be trusted for my real final good though my friend be forwarder to give me ease All friends may fail but Gâ—d 〈◊〉 faileth § 17. Direct 10. Make use of the natural Love of quietness and thy natural weariness of tormenting 〈◊〉 10. câ—res and feaâ—â— and sâ—rrows to move thee to cast thy self on God and quiet thy soul in trusting on him For God hath purposely made thy self and all things else insufficient unsatisfactory and vâ—xatious to theâ— that thou mightst be driven to rest on him alone when nothing else affords theâ—â—â—st Cares and fears and unquietness of mind are such Thorns and Bryars as nature cannot love â—â— be content with And you may be sure that you can no way be delivered from them but by trusting upon God And will you choose care and torment when so sure and cheap a way of case is sâ—t before you Who can endure to have fears torment him and cares feed daily upon his heart that may safely be delivered from it An ulcerated fâ—stered pained mind is a greater calaâ—ity than any bodily distress alone And if you be cast upon your own care or committed to the trust of any creature you can never rationally have peace For your own ease and comfort then betake your selves to God and cast all your care and burden on him who careth for you and knoweth perfectly what you want 1 Pet. 5. 7. Matth 6. 32. Read often Matth. 6. from â— 2â— How sweet an â—ase and quietness is it to the mind that can confidently trust in God How quiet is he from the storms of trouble and the sickness of mind which others are distressed with Isâ— 26. 3 4. Thou wilâ— keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thâ—e Trust â—â— in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jâ—hovah is everlasting strength Psal. 112. 7 8. He shall not be afraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord His heart is established â—e shall not be afraid Psal. 31. 19 20. O how great is thy goodness which thou hast lâ—id up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the Sons of men Thâ—u shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man thou shalt keep them secretly in thy pâ—viliâ—n from the strife of tongues 24. Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart â—â— ye that hope in the Lord Psal. 56. 3 4. What time I am afraid I will trust in thee In God I will prâ—ise his word In God have I put my trust I will not fear what flesh can do unto me How easie and sweet a life is this § 18. Direct 11. Remember that Distrust is a pregnant multiplying sin and will carry thee to all iniquity Direct 11. and miseâ—y if thou suffer it to prevail Distrusting God is but our entrance upon a life of error sin and wo It presently sets us on idolatrous confidence on
Gospel Leave out this Gratitude and it is no Evangelical Repentance And what is our saving faith in Christ but the Assent to the truth of the Gospel with a Thankful Acceptance of the good which it offereth us even Christ as our Saviour with the Benefits of his Redemption The Love to God that is there required is the Thankful Love of his Redeemed ones And the Love to our very enemies and the forgiving of wrongs and all the Love to one another and all the works of Charity there required are the exercises of Gratitude and are all to be done on this account because Christ hath loved us and forgiven us and that we may shew our thankful Love to him Preaching and Praying and Sacraments and publick praises and communion of Saints and obedience are all to be animated with Gratitude and they are no further Evangelically performed than Thankfulness is the very life and complexion of them all The dark and defective opening of this by Preachers gave occasion to the Antinomians to run into the contrary extream and to derogate too much from Gods Law and our Obedience But if we obscure the doctrine of Evangelical Gratitude we do as bad or worse than they Obedience to our Ruler and Thankfulness to our Benefactor conjoyned and co-operating as the Head and Heart in the Natural body do make a Christian indeed Understand this well and it will much incline your hearts to Thankfulness § 4. Direct 2. Let the greatness of the manifold mercies of God be continually before your eyes Direct 2. Thankfulness is caused by the due apprehension of the greatness of mercies If you either know them not to be mercies or know not that they are mercies to you or believe not what is said and promised in the Gospel or forget them or think not of them or make light of them through the corruption of your minds you cannot be thankful for them I have before spoken of Mercy in order to the kindling of Love and therefore shall now only recite these following to be alwayes in your memories 1. The Love of God in giving you a Redeemer and the Love of Christ in giving his life for us and in all the parts of our Redemption 2. The Covenant of Grace the pardon of all our sins the justification of our persons our adoption and title to eternal life 3. The aptness of means for calling us to Christ The gracious and wise disposals of providence to that end the gifts and compassion of our instructers the care of Parents and the helps and examples of the servants of Christ. 4. The efficacy of all these means â—he giving us to will and to do and opening of our hearts and giving us repentance unto life and the Spirit of Christ to mortifie our sins and purifie our nature and dwell within us 5. A standing in his Church under the care of faithful Pastors the liberty comfort and frequent benefit of his Word and Sacraments and the publick communion of his Saints 6. The company of those that fear the Lord and their faithful admonitions reproofs and encouragements the kindness they have shewed us for body or for soul. 7. The mercies of our Relations or habitations our estates and the notable alterations and passages of our lives 8. The manifold preservations and deliverances of our souls from errors and seducers from terrors and distress from dangerous temptations and many a soul-wounding sin and that we are not leâ—t to the errors and desires of our hearts to seared Consciences as forsaken of God 9. The manifold deliverances of our bodies from enemies hurts distresses sicknesses and death 10. The mercies of adversity in wholesome necessary chastisements or honourable sufferings for his sake and support or comfort under all 11. The communion which our souls have had with God in the course of our private and publick duties in Prayer Sacraments and Meditation 12. The use which he hath made of us for the good of others that our time hath not been wholly lost and we have not lived as burdens of the world 13. The mercies of all our friends and his servants which were to us as our own and our interest in the mercies and publick welfare of his Church which are more than our own 14. His patience and forbearance with us under our constant unprofitableness and provocations and his renewed mercies notwithstanding our abuse our perseverance untill now 15. Our hopes of everlasting Rest and Glory when this sinsul life is at an end Aggravate these mercies in your more enlarged meditations and they will sure constrain you to cry out Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies Psal. 102. 1 2 3 4. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his Courts with praise be thankful to him and bless his name For the Lord is good his Mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations Psal. 100. 4 5. The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy For as the Heaven is high above the Earth so great is his mercy to them that fear him Psal. 103. 8 11. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Psal. 136. 1 c. O give thanks unto the Lord call upon his name make known his deeds among the people sing ye unto him sing Psalms unto him talk ye of all his wondrous works glory ye in his holy name Let the heart of them rejoyce that seek him Psal. 105. 1 2 3. § 5. Direct 3. Be well acquainted with the greatness of your sins and sensible of them as they are Direct 3. the aggravation of Gods Mercies to you This is the main end why God will humble those that he will save Not to drive them to despair of mercy nor that he taketh pleasure in their sorrows for themselves But to work the heart to a due esteem of saving mercy and to a serious desire after it that they may thankfully receive it and carefully retain it and faithfully use it An unhumbled soul sets light by Christ and Grace and Glory It relisheth no spiritual mercy It cannot be thankful for that which it findeth no great need of But true humiliation recovereth our appetite and teacheth us to value mercy as it is Think therefore what sin is as I have opened to you Dir. 8. and think of your manifold aggravated sins and then think how great those mercies are that are bestowed on so great unworthy sinners Then mercy will melt your humbled hearts when you confess that you are unworthy to be called Sons Luke 15. and that you are not worthy to look up to Heaven Luke 18. 13. and that you are not worthy of the least
and all the secrets of the heart Psalm 44. 21. 94. 11. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world Acts 15. 18. His understanding is infinite Psalm 147. 5. What praise doth that Goodness and Mercy deserve which is diffused throughout all the world and is the life and hope and happiness of men and Angels His Mercy is Great unto the Heavens and his Truth unto the Clouds Psalm 57. 10. O how great is his Goodness to them that fear him Psalm 31. 10. and therefore how great should be his Praise Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord and who can shew forth all his Praise Psalm 106. 2. For great is the Glory of the Lord Psalm 138. 5. § 15. 2. It is the end of all Gods wondrous works and especially the end which man was made for that all things else might Praise him Objectively and men and Angels in estimation and expression that his Glorious excellency might be visible in his works and be admired and extolled by the rational creature For this all things were created and are continued For this we have our understanding and our speech This is the fruit that God expecteth from all his works Deny him this and you are guilty of frustrating the whole creation as much as in you lieth You would have the Sun to shine in vain and the Heavens and Earth to stand in vain and man and all things to live in vain if you would not have God have the praiâ—e and Glory of his works Therefore Sun and Moon and Starrs and Firmament are called on to Praise the Lord Psalm 148. 2 3 4. as they are the matter for which he must by us be praised O praise him therefore for his mighty acts Praise him according to his excellent greatness Psalm 150. 2. O that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and declare his wondrous works for the children of men Psalm 107. 8 c. Yea it is the end of Christ in the Redemption of the world and in saving his elect that God might in the Church in Earth and Heaven have the praise and glory of his grace Ephes. 1. 6 12 14. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that iâ— the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name Heb. 13. 15. And let the redeemed of the Lord say that his mercy endureth for ever Psalm 107. 2. For this all his Saints are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation a peculiar people that they should shew forth the praises of him that hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2. 5 9. § 16. 3. The Praise of God is the highest and noblest work in it self 1. It hath the highest object even the glorious excellencies of God Thanksgiving is somewhat lower as having more respect to our selves and the Benefits received But Praise is terminated directly on the perfections of God himself 2. It is that work that is most immediately neerest on God as he is Our end And as the end as such is better than all the means set together as such so are the final duties about the end greater than all the mediate duties 3. It is the work of the most excellent creatures of God the holy Angels They proclaimed the coming of Christ by way of Praise Luke 2. 13 14. Glory to God in the highest on earth peace Good-will towards men Psalm 103. 20. 148. 2. And as we must be equal to the Angels it must be in equal Praising God or else it will not be in equality of Glory 4. It is the work of Heaven the place and state of all perfection And that is best and highest which is nearest Heaven Where they rest not day nor night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Allmighty which was and is and is to come Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4. 8. 10. Rev. 19. 5. A voice came out of the throne saying Praise our God all ye his servants and ye that fear him both small and great verse 6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thundrings saying Allelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth Let us be glad and rejoyce and give honour to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready § 17. 4. It beseemeth us and much concerneth us to learn and exercise that work which in Heaven we must do for ever and that is to Love and joyfully Praise the Lord. For earth is but the place of our apprentiship for Heaven The preparing works of mortifying repentance must in their place be done but only as subservient to these which we must ever do When we shall sing the new song before the Lamb Thou art worthy For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and hast made us Kings and Priests unto our God Rev. 5. 9 10. Therefore the Primitive Church of believers is described as most like to Heaven Luke 24. 53. with great joy they were continually in the Temple Praising and blessing God O Praise the Lord therefore in the congregations of the Saints Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King Psalm 149. 1 2. Let the Saints be joyful in glory Let the high praises of God be in their mouths verse 5 6. § 18. 5. Though we are yet diseased sinners and in our warfare among enemies dangers and perplexities yet Praise is seasonable and suitable to our condition here as the greatest part of our duty which all the rest must but promote Pretend not that it is not fit for you because you are sinners and that humiliation only is suitable to your state For the design of your redemption the tenour of the Gospel and your own condition engage you to it Are they not engaged to Praise the Lord that are brought so near him to that end 1 Pet. 2 5. 9. that are reconciled to him To whom he hath given and forgiven so much 1 Tim. 1. 15. Tit. 3. 3 5. Psalm 103. 1 2 3. that have so many great and precious promises 2 Pet. 1. 4. that are the Temples of the Holy Ghost who dwelleth in them and sanctifieth them to God That have a Christ interâ—â—ding for them in the highest Rom. 8. 33 34. That are allways safe in the arms of Christ that are guarded by Angels and Devils and enemies forbidden to touch them further than their father sâ—eth necessary for their good That have the Lord for their God Psalm 33. 12. 4. 8. That have his Saints for their companions and helpers That have so many ordinances to help their souls And so
many creatures and comforts for their bodies That live continually upon the plenty of his Love That have received so much and are still receiving Should we not bless him every day with Praise that blesseth us every day with benefits Should we not praise the bridge that we go over The friend that we have tryed so oft And resolve as Psalm 145. 2. Every day will I bless thee I will praise thy name for ever and ever Psalm 63. 3 4. Because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee Thus will I bless thee while I lâ—â—e I will lift up my hands in thy name Are they not bound to praise him on earth that must reign with Christ for ever in Heaven Rom. 8. 17 33. Rev. 1. 5 6. Col. 1. 12. 1 Pet. 1. 4. 6. The Praises of God do exercise our highest Graces Praise is the very breath of Love and Ioy and Gratitude It tendeth to raise us above our selves and make our hearts to burn within us while the glorious name of God is magnified It hath the most pure and spiritual and elevating effect upon the soul and therefore tendeth most effectually to make us more holy by the encrease of these graces § 19. 7. To be much employed in the Praise of God doth tend exceedingly to the vanquishing of all hurtful doubts and fears and sorrows Ioy and Praise promote each other And this it doth 1. By keeping the soul near to God and within the warmth of his love and goodness Psal. 140. 13. 2. By the exercise of Love and Joy which are the cordial reviving strengthning graces Psal. 94. 19. 116. 1. 3. By dissipating distrustful vexing thoughts and diverting the mind to sweeter things Psal. 104. 34. 4. By keeping off the Tempter who usually is least able to follow us with his molestations when we are highest in the praises of our God 5. By bringing out the Evidences of our sincerity into the light while the chiefest graces are in exercise 2 Cor. 3 18. 6. And by way of Reward from God that loveth the Praises of his meanest servants And here I would commâ—nd this experiment to uncomfortable troubled souls that have not found comfort by long searching after evidence in themselves Exercise your selves much in the Praises of God This is a duty that you ☜ have no pretence against Against Thanksgiving for his grace you pretend that you know not that you have received his grace But to praise him in the excellency of his perfections his power and wisdom and goodness and mercy and truth is the duty of all men in the world While you are doing this you will feel your graces stir and feel that comfort from the face of God which you are not like to meet with in any other way whatsoever Evidences are exceeding useful to our ordinary stated peace and comfort But it is oft long before we confidently discern them and they are oft discerned when yet the soul is not excited to much sense of comfort and delight and we quickly lose the sight of evidences if we be not very wise and careful But a life of praise bringeth ☜ comfort to the soul as standing in the Sunshine bringeth light and warmth Or as labouring doth warm the body or as the sight and converse of our dearest friend or the hearing of glad tydings doth rejoyce the heart without any great reasoning or arguing the case This is the way to have comfort by feeling to be much in the hearty praises of the Lord When we come to Heaven we shall have our Joy by immediate Vision and the delightful exercise of Love and Praise And if you would taste the Heavenly Joyes on earth you must imitate them in Heaven as near as possibly you can And this is your work of nearest imitation § 20. 8. To live a life of praising God will make Religion sweet and easie to us and take off the wearisomness of it and make the work of God a pleasure to us Whereas they that set themselves only to the works of humiliation and leave out these soul-delighting exercises do cast themselves into exceeding danger by making Religion seem to them a grievous and undesirable life This makes men backward to every duty and do it heartlesly and easily yield to temptations of omission and neglect if not at last fall off through weariness whereas the soul that is daily employed in the high and holy Prayses of his God is still drawn on by encouraging experience and doth all with a willing ready mind § 21. 9. No duty is more pleasing to God than the cheerful Praises of his Servants He loveth your prayers tears and groans but your Praises much more And that which pleaseth God most must be most pleasing to his servants For to please him is their End This is the End of all their labour that whether present or absent they may be accepted of him 2 Cor. 5 9. So that it is a final enjoying and therefore a delighting duty § 22. 10. To be much employed in the Praises of God will acquaint the world with the nature of true Religion and remove their prejudice and confute their dishonourable thoughts and accusations of it and recover the honour of Christ and his holy wayes and servants Many are averse to a holy life because they think that it consisteth but of melancholly fears or scrupulosity But who dare open his mouth against the joyful praises of his Maker I have heard and read of several enemies and murderers that have broke in upon Christians with an intent to kill them or carry them away that finding them on their knees in prayer and reverencing the work so much as to stay and hear them till they had done have reverenced the persons also and departed and durst not touch the heavenly worshippers of God This life of praise is a continual pleasure to the soul clean contrary to a Melancholly life It is recreating to the Spirits and healthful to the body which is consumed by cares and fears and sorrows It is the way that yieldeth that mirth which doth good like a medicine and is a continual feast Prov. 17. 22. 15. 15. Therefore saith the Apostle Iames 5. 13. Is any merry Let him sing Psalms He cannot better exercise mirth than in singing praises to his God This keeps the soul continually on the wing desiring still to be nearer God that it may have more of these delights And so it overcomes the sense of persecutions and afflictions and the fears of death and is a most excellent cordial and companion in the greatest sufferings Was it not an excellent hearing to have been a witness of the joy of Paul and Silas when in the Prison and Stocks with their backs sore with scourges they sang at midnight the praises of the Lord Acts 16. 25. so that all the doors were opened and all the prisoners bonds were loosed that had been their auditors so great was Gods
in a divided heart and Direct 2â— life See therefore that you serve God in singleness of heart or simplicity and integrity as being â—â—s alone Think not of serving God and Mammon A deep reserve at the heart for the world â—â—ile Matth. 23 â—â— â—â—â—â—h 4. 2 3 4 5. Luke 1â— 4â— Matth. 6. 4â— 2 Pet. 1. 1â— Joh. 6. 27. they seem to give up themselves in Covenant to God is the grand Character of an Hypocrite Live as those that have One Lord and Master that all power stoopeth to and One End or Scâ—pe to which all other are but means and One work of absolute Necessity to do and one Kingdom to seek first and with greatest care and diligence to make sure of and that have your hearts and faces still one way and that agree with your selves in what you think and say and do A double heart and a double tongue is the fashion of the Hypocrite Psal. 12. 2. 1 Tim. 3. 8. He hath a heart for the world and pride and lust which must seem sometimes to be lifted up to ask forgiveness that he may sin with quietness and hope of salvation you would not think when you see him drop his Beads or lift up his hands and eyes and seem devoutly to say his prayers how lately he came from a Tavern or a Whore or a Lie or from scorning at serious godliness As Bishop Hall saith He seemeth to serve that 〈…〉 m 2. 5. Jaâ—â—es 4. 1â— Hoâ— 10. 2. God at Church on Holy-dayes whom he neglecteth at home and â—â—weth at the Name of Jesus and sweareth prophanely by the Name of God Remember that there is but one God one Heaven for us one Happiness and one Way And this one is of such moment as calls for all the intention and attention of our souls and is enough to satisfie us and should be enough to call us off from all that would divert us A divided heart is a false and self-deceving heart Are there two Gods or is Christ divided While you grasp at both God and the world you will certainly lose one and it is like you will lose both To have two Gods two Rules two Heavens is to have no God no true Rule no Heaven or happiness at all Halt not therefore between two opinions If God be God obey him and love him If Heaven be Heaven be sure it be first sought But if thy Belly be 〈…〉 3. â—â— thy God and the World be thy Heaven then serve and seek them and make thy best of thâ—m § 31. Direct 26. Take heed of all that fleshly policy or craft and worldly wisdom which is contrary 〈…〉 26. to the wisdom of the Word of God and would draw thee from the plain and open heartedness which godly sincerity requireth Let that which was Pauls rejoycing be yours that in simplicity and godly sincerity nâ—t in fleshly wisdom you have had yâ—ur conversation in the world Christianity renounceth not wisdom and â—â—nest self-preservation But yet it maketh men plain-hearted and haters of crafty â—â—â—â—dulent minds What is the famous hypocritical Religion superadded to Christianity and called â—â—â—â—â—â— but that which Paul feared in his godly jealousie for the Corinthians lest as the Serpent begâ—â—leâ— â—â—ve by his sâ—btility so their minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. A forsaking thâ— Christian simplicity of DOCTRINE DISCIPLINE WORSHIP and CONVERSATION is the Hypocrisie of Religion and of liâ—e Equivocating and dishonest â—hiâ—â—s and hiding beseemeth those that have an ill cause or an ill conscience or an ill Master whom they dâ—â—â—â— not trust and not those that have so good a cause and God as Christians have § 32. Direct 27. Remember how much of sincerity consisteth in seriousness and how much of Hypocrite Direct 27. the 〈…〉 pleaâ—â—â—â—g and â—â—â—â—al Riâ—es and Ceremo 〈…〉 of outward and 〈◊〉 holiness Over-great 〈…〉 of traditions which â—aâ—â— of but â—ad â—he Church The 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 an◠〈…〉 aâ—d lucâ—â— The 〈…〉 goâ—d in 〈◊〉 which openeth a gate to 〈…〉 and noveltieâ— Lord 〈…〉 describeth â—â—â—â—ila that he was a de 〈◊〉 of â—lesh and â—â—â—â— â—â—nd yet Religione persuasion 〈◊〉 basque de Dâ—s a gente sua 〈◊〉 usque ad sâ—perstitionem addictâ—◠〈…〉 3â—9 Pâ—al 78 37. 2 Cor. 7. 11. consisteth in seeming and dreaming and trifling in the things of God and our salvation see therefore that you keep your souls awake in a sensible and seriâ—us frame Read over the fifty Considerations which in the third Part of my Saints Rest I have given to convince you of the necessity of being serious See that there be as much in your faith as in your Creed and as much in your Hearts and Lives as in your Belief Remember that seeming and dreaming will not mortifie deep-rooted sâ—s nor conquer strong and subtile enemies nor make you acceptable to God nor save your sâ—â—ls from his revenging justice Remember what a mad kind of prophaneness it is to jâ—â—st and â—â—ifle about Heaven and Hell and to dally with the great and dreadful God Seeing all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conâ—â—â—â—sation and godliness 2 Pet. 3. 11. You pray for an obedience answering the pattern of the heavenly society when you say Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven And will you be such Hypocrites as to pray that you may iâ—itate Saints and Angels in the purity and obedience of your hearts and lives and when you have done take up with shews and seemings and saying a few words and a lifeless Image of that Holiness which you never had yea and perhaps deride and persecute in others the very thing which you daily pray for O horrible abuse of the All-seeing God! Do you no more believe or fear his justice When the Apostle saith Gal. 6. 7. Be not deceived God is not mocked he intimâ—â—â—â—th that Hypocrites go about to put a scorn on God by a Mock-religion though it is not he but themselves that will prove mocked in the end They offer God a deaf Nutt or an empty Shell or Caâ—k for a Sacrifice An Hypocrite differeth from a true Christian as a Fencer from a Souldier He playeth his part very formâ—lly upon a Stage with much applause but you may perceive that he is not in good sadness by his tâ— flâ—ng and formality and never killing any of his sins Would men shew no more of the great everlasting matters of their own proâ—est Belief in any seriousness of affection or endeavour than most men do if they were not Hypocrites Would they hate and scorn men for doing but that and part of that which they pray and profess to do themselves if they were not hypocrites Wo to the world because of Hypocrisie Wo to the carnal members of the Church Wo to Idol Shepheards and the seeming 〈◊〉 lifeless Christians of what Sect soever For God will not be mocked They
supposed Greatness when the Sign 1. Greatness of God should shew them their contemptible vileness and to magnifie themselves when they should magnifie their Maker It makes the strong man glory in his strength and the rich man in his wealth and the Conquerour in his Victories and Princes and Rulers and Lords of the Earth Jer. 9. 23 24. Psal. 49. 6. 2 Chron. 25. 19. in their Dominions and Dignities and power to do hurt or good to others and say as Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4. 30. Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the House of the Kingdom by the might of my power for the honour of my Majesty How hard is it to be Great and truly Humble and not to swell and be lifted up in Heart as they rise in Power This God abhorreth as unsuitable to worms and dust and injurious to his honour and will make them know that Power and Riches and Strength are his and that the Most High doth rule in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whom be will Dan. 4. 32. § 11. Sign 2. Pride causeth men to set up their supposed Worth and Goodness above or against the Sign 2. Lord So that they make themselves their principal End and practise that which some of late presume to teach that it is not God that can or ought to be mans End but himself alone As if we were made only for our selves and not for our Creator Pride makes men so considerable in their own esteem that they live wholly to themselves as if the world were to stand or fall with them If they be well all is well with them If they are to dye they take it as if the world were at an end They Ut lumen lunae in praesentia solis non apparet paâ—i ratione esse secundum in praesentia pâ—â—â—â— nec meritum nostrum praesente merito Christi Paul Scaâ—â—â—â—â— Tâ—â—â—â— â—3 74. â—e Mâ—â—do 〈◊〉 Epist. â— 14 value God but as they do their food or health or pleasure even as a means to their own felicity not as preferring him before themselves nor making him the chiefest in their End They love themselves much better than God And so far is man fallen from God to Himself that he feeleth himself disposed to this as strongly as that he taketh it to be his primitive nature and therefore warrantable and that it is impossible to go higher § 12. God is to be mans End though we can add nothing to him The highest Love supposeth no want in him that we love but an excellency of Glory Wisdom and Goodness to which all our How God is mans End faculties offer up themselves in Admiration Love and Praise not only for the Delights of these nor only tâ—at our persons may herein be happy but chiefly that God may have his due and his will may be pleased and fulfilled and because his Excellencies deserve all this from men and Angels When Idem sâ—nant sumâ—e aâ—ari esse finem ultimum at proculdubio Deus summe amandus est Uâ—um vero finem Aristoteles declaravit esse Usum virtutis in vita sancta integra Heâ—â—â—â—h Illust. in A istot we love a man of wonderful Learning and Wisdom and Meekness and Charity and Holiness and other Goodness it is not chiefly for our selves that we love him that we may receive something from him â—or we feel his Excellency command our Love though we were sure that we should never receive any thing from him Nor is the Delight of Loving him our chief end but a consequent or the lesser parâ— of our End For we feel that we Love him before we think of the Delight The Admiration Love and Praise of God our ultimate End hath no End beside their proper object For it is it self the final act even mans Perfection Amiableness magnetically attracteth Love If you ask an Angel why he loveth God he will say because he is infinitely amiable And though in such motions nature secretly aimeth at its own perfection and felicity and lawfully interesceth it self in this final motion yet the Union being of such as are infinitely unequal O how little do the glorified Spirits respect themselves in comparison of the blessed glorious God See what I said of this before Chap. 3. Direct 11. 15. § 13. Sign 3. Pride maketh men more desirous to be over-loved themselves than that God be Sign 3. loved by themselves or others They would fain have the eyes and hearts of all men turned upon them as if they were as the Sun to be admired and loved by all that see them § 14. Sign 4. Pride causeth men to depend upon themselves and contrive inordinately for themselves Sign 4. and trust in themselves as if they lived by their own wit and power and industry more than by the favour and providence of God Isa. 9. 9. Obad. 3. § 15. Sign 5. Pride makes men return the thanks to themselves which is due to God for the Sign 5. mercies which they have received God is thanked by them but in complement But they seriously Dan. 4. 30. Hab. 1. 16. Laâ—â—t in Tâ—al speaketh of the Oraâ—le of Deâ—phos adjudging the Tâ—â—pos to the Wisest So it was sent to Thales and from him to another till it came to Sâ—lon who sent it to the Oracle saying None is wiser than God So should we all send back to God the praise and glory of all that is ascribâ—d to us ascribe it to their care or skill or industry or power They sacrifice to their Net and say our hand our contrivance our power our good husbandry hath done all this § 16. Sign 6. Pride setteth up the wisdom of a foolish man against the infinite wisdom of God It Sign 6. makes men presume to judge their Judge and judge his Laws before they understand them and to Laâ—rt saith that Pythagoras first called himself a Philosopher Nullum enim hominum sed sâ—lum Deum esse sepienteâ— asserit Antea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicta quae nuâ—c Philosophia qui hanc profitebantur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellati Quicunque ad summam animi virtutem exâ—reverunt hos nunc honestiore vocabulo authore Pythagora Philosophos appellamus pag. 7. quarrell with all that they find unsuitable to their own conceits and say How improbable is this or that and how can these things be He that cannot undo a pair of Tarrying Irons or unriddle a Riddle till it be taught him which afterwards appeareth plain will question the truth of the Word of God about the most high unsearchable mysteries Proud men think they could mend Gods Word and they could better have ordered matters in the world and for the Church and for themselves and for their friends tha then providence of God hath done § 17. Sign 7. Pride maketh men set up their own Love and Mercy above the Love and Mercy of Sign 7. God Augustine mentioneth a sort of
desiring the converse and company of superiours than inferiours and to live like those that are a step above us than those that are a step below us are signs as significant of Pride as the Robes of a Judge or a Doctor are of their dignities and degrees I am sure Humility hath learnt this lesson Rom. 12. 16. Mind not high things but condescend to men of low estate be not wise in your own eyes As for the ridiculous effeminate fashions and deportment of some men and the spots and paintings and nakedness and other antick fashions of some women and the many hours which they daily waste in dressings and adornings and preparing themselves for the sight of others they are the badges of so foolish and worse than childish a sort of pride that I will not trouble my self and the Reader in reprehending them Manly pride is ashamed of such toyes Let the Patrons of them please their Patients by proving them lawful while they have no wiser work to do and when they have done let them go on to prove that it is lawful for sober persons to wear such Irons as they do in Bedlam and that such Chains as they in Newgate wear are no signs of a prisoner and that it is lawful for an honest woman to wear a Harlots habit If the proud have no more wit than to wear the badges of their childishness or distraction and shew then shame to all they meet and make themselves as ridiculous as men that lay aside their Breeches and wear Side-coats again like children I will leave them to themselves and will not now trouble them with any longer contradiction Sign 26. § 77. Sign 26. Proud persons are ashamed and troubled if any necessity force them to go lower in apparel or provisions or deportment than others do of their degree To shew you that it is not as a Duty that Decency is regarded by them but as the ornaments of pride else they would be quiet when Providence maketh it cease to be their duty They are not so much ashamed of sin and the neglect of God and their salvation as they are to be seen in sordid attire or in a poor and homely garb Beggars and servants shew here that they are as proud as Lords What abundance of them go but seldome to Church and give this as a reason I wanted cloaths As if they would neglect their souls their God their greatest duty rather than do it in such Clothes as they do their common work Doth Christ appoint you to give him the meeting that by his Ministers he may instruct you for salvation and that you may ask and receive the pardon of your sins and will you disappoint him and refuse to come for want of better clothes Sure you do not think that these are the Wedding Garment which he requireth you to bring You would beg if you were naked or in rags and will you not come to beg of God because you have no better clothes Do you set more by the reputation of your clothes than the means of your salvation How little do such wretches set by God and by his mercy now that will shortly on their death-beds cry for Mercy without any such regard of clothes Naked they come into the world and naked they must go out and yet they will turn their backs on the Worship of God for want of clothes They are not ashamed nor afraid to be ungodly and to forsake their duty but they are ashamed of torn or poor attire What say they shall we make our selves ridiculous When their pride and ungodliness is cause of a thousand fold more shame We read of thousands even of the poor that crowded after Christ to hear him but of none that staid at home for want of clothes when it is like they had no better than yours § 78. Sign 27. If a proud man be wronged he looketh for great submission before he will forgive Sign 27. you must lye down at his feet and make a very full confession and behave your self with great submission especially if the Law be in his hands And he is prone to revenge and cruel in his revenge But if he have wronged others he is hardly brought to confess that he wronged them and more hardly to humble himself for reconciliation and ask them forgiveness when a humble person is ready to let go his right for peace and easily forgiveth and easily stoopeth to ask forgiveness § 79. Sign 28. Lastly Pride maketh men inordinately desire to have an honourable memorial Sign 28. kept of their names when they are dead if they are persons that rise to the hopes of such a remembrance Many a monument hath Pride erected Many a Book it hath written to this end Anaâ—agoras in â—aert p. 8â— Cum vidisteâ— Mausoâ— sepulchrum Monumentum inquit pretiosum lapidibus ornatum divitiarum imago Many a good work materially it hath done and made it bad by such a base intention Many a Hospital and Alms-house and School-house it hath built And many a pound it hath given to charitable uses in pretension but to proud and selfish uses in intention Not that any should causelesly suspect anothers ends or blemish the deserved honour of good works which it is lawful ordinately to regard But we should suspect our own hearts and take heed of so horrible a sin which would turn the excellentest parts and works into poyson or corruption And remember how heinous a thing it is for a man to be laying proud designs when he is turning to the dust and going to appear before his Judge yea to set up the monuments of his Pride over his rotten flesh and bones And to shew that he dyeth in so great a sin without repentance by endeavouring that as much as may be of it may survive when he is dead and gone If such wicked ends do sometime offer to intrude into necessary excellent works an honest heart must abhor them and cast them out and beg forgiveness and not for that forbear his work nor refuse the comfort of his more sincere desires and intents But such good works do sink the hypocrite into Hell that are principally done as a service to Pride to leave a name on earth behind him § 80. Thus I have been long in shewing you the signs of Pride because the discovery is a great part of the cure Not that every proud person hath all these signs For every one hath not the same temptations or occasion to shew it But every one hath some and many of these And he that hath any one of them hath a sign of Pride And again I say that for all this our Reputation as it subserveth the Honour of God and our Religion and our brethrens good must be carefully by all just means preserved and by necessary defences vindicated from calumniators Though we must quietly bear whatever infamy or slander we are tryed with § 81. Direct 3. Having understood
than a heavenly portion for children and friends and rejoyce more in their bodily than their spiritual prosperity and are troubled more for their poverty than their ungodliness or sin 16. When we can see our brother have need and shut up the bowels of our compassion or can part with no more than meer superfluities for his relief when we cannot spare that which 1 Tim 6. 17 18. Mal. 3. 8 9. Judg. 7. 21. makes but for our better being when it is necessary to preserve his Being it self or when we give unwillingly or spâ—â—ingly 17. When we will venture upon sinful means for gain as lying over-reaching deceiving flattering or going against our Consciences or the Commands of God 18. When we are too much in expecting liberality from others and think that all we buy of should sell cheaper Duâ— râ—s maxime homines ad maleficium impellunt Luxuries avaritia 〈◊〉 1. ad Heâ—en Corrupti sunt depravatique mores admiratione divitiarum Idem 2. Offâ—â— Nihil est tam sanctum quod non violaâ—i nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit Cicero 2. in Verreâ— When Alexander sent Phocion an hundred tâ—lents â—e asked why he rather sent it to him than all the rest of the Atâ—enians He answered Because he took him to be the only honâ—st man in Aâ—â—eas whereupon Pâ—ocion returned it to him again intreating him to give him leave to be honest still to us than they can afford and consider not their loss or want so that we have the gain nor are contented if they be never so bountiful to others if they be not so to us 19. When we make too much ado in the world for riches taking too much upon us or striving for preferment and flattering great ones and envying any that are preferred before us or get that which we expected 20. When we hold our money faster than our innocency and cannot part with it for the sake of Christ when he requireth it but will stretch our consciences and sin against him or forsake his cause to save our estates Or will not part with it for the service of his Church or of our country when we are called to it 21. When the Riches which we have are used but for the pampering of our flesh and superfluous provision for our posterity and nothing but some inconsiderable crums or driblets are imployed for God and his servants nor used to further us in his service and towards the laying up of a treasure in Heaven These are the signs of a worldly covetous wretch § 7. V. The counterfeits of liberality or freedom from covetousness which deceive the worldling are such as these 1. He thinks he is not Covetous because he hath a necessity of doing what he doth for more Either he is in debt or he is poor and scarcely hath whereon to live And the poor think that none are worldlings and covetous but the Rich. But he may love riches that wanteth them as much as he that hath them If you have a necessity of labouring in your callings you have no necessity of loving the world or of caring inordinately or of being discontented with your estate Impatience under your wants shews a love of the world and flesh as much as other mens bravery that possess it § 8. 2. Another thinks he is not a worldling because if he could but have necessaries even food and rayment and conveniencies for himself and family he would be content and it is not riches or great matters that he desireth But if your hearts are more set upon the getting of these necessaries or little It was one of â—hiâ—ons sayings Lapideis cotibus aurum examinari aâ—ro autem bonorum malorumque hominum mentem cujusmodi sit comprobaâ—â— i. e. As the touchstone trveth Gold so Gold tryeth mens minds whether they be good or bad Laâ—â—â—â—us iâ—â—â—â—â— p. 43. things than upon the preparing for death and making sure of the Heavenly treasure you are miserable worldlings still And the poor man that will set his heart more upon a poor and miserable life than upon heaven is more unexcusable than he that setteth his heart more upon Lordships and Honours than upon Heaven Though both of them are but the slaves of the world and have as yet no treasure in Heaven Math. 6. 19 20 21. And moreover you that are now so covetous for a little more if you had that would be as covetous for a little more still and when you had that for a little more yet You would next wear better cloathing and have better fare and next you would have your house repaired and then you would have your land enlarged and then you would have something more for your children and you would never be satisfied You think otherwise now but your hearts deceive you You do not know them If you believe me not judge by the case of other men that have been as confident as you that if they had but so much or so much they would be content but when they have it they would still have more And this which is your pretense is the common pretence of allmost all the covetous For Lords and Princes think themselves still in as great necessity as you think your selves As they have more so they have more to do with it and usually are still wanting as much as the poor The question is not How much you desire but to what use And to what end and in what order § 9. 3. Another thinks he is not covetous because he coveteth not any thing that is his neighbours They think that covetousness is only a desiring that which is not our own But if you love the world and worldly plenty inordinately and covet more you are covetous worldlings though you wish it not from another It is the worldly mind and love of wealth that is the sin at the root The ways of getting it are but the branches § 10. 4. Another thinks he is no worldling because he useth no unlawful means but the labour of his calling to grow rich The same answer serves to this The love of wealth for the satisfying of the flesh is unlawful whatever the means be And is it not also an unlawful means of getting to neglect God and your souls and the poor and shut out other duties for the world as you often do § 11. 5. Another thinks he is no worldling because he is contented with what he hath and coveteth no more When that which he hath is a full provision for his fleshly desires But if you over-love the world and delight more in it than God you are worldlings though you desire no more He is described by Christ as a miserable worldly fool Luke 12. 19 20. that saith Soul take thy ease eat drink and be merry thou hast much goods laid up for many years To overlove what you have is worldliness as well as to desire more § 12. 6. Another thinks he is no worldling
through a Needles eye than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God And they that heard it said Who then can be saved And he said The things which are impossible with men are possible with God So Luke 6. 24 25. But wo unto you that are rich for you have received your consolation Wo unto you that are full for ye shall hunger Make but sense of these and many such like Texts and you can gather no less than this from them that Riches make the way to Heaven much harder and the salvation of the ☜ rich to be more difficult and rare proportionably than of other men And Paul saith 1 Cor. 1. 26. Not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called And the Lovers of riches though they are poor must remember that it is said 1 Tim. 6. 10. That the Love of money is the root of all evil And 1 John 2. 15. Love not the world nor the things that are in the world For if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Do you believe that here lyeth the danger of your souls and yet can you so love and choose and seek it Would you have your salvation more difficult and doubtful and impossible with men You had rather choose to live where few dye young than where most dye young and where sicknesses are rare than where they are common If you were sick you had rather have the Physicion and Medicines and Dyet which cure most than those which few are cured by If the Countrey were beset with Thieves you had rather go the way that most scape in than that few scape in And yet so it may but please your flesh you will choose that way to Heaven that fewest scape in and you will choose that state of life which will make your salvation to be most hard and doubtful Doth your Conscience say that this is wisely done I know that if God put Riches into your hand by your Birth or his blessing on your honest labours you must not cast away your Masters talents because he is austere but by a holy improvement of them you may further his service and your salvation But this is no reason why you should ovâ—r-love them or desire and seek so great a danger Believe Christ heartily and it will quench your Love of Riches § 28. Direct 7. Remember that the more you have the more you have to give account for And Direct 7. â—f the day of Judgement be dreadful to you you should not make it more dreadful by greatning your own accounts If you desired Riches but for the service of your Lord and have used them for him and can tâ—uly give in this account that you laid them not out for the needless pleasure or pride of the flâ—sh but â—o furnish your selves and families and others for his service and as near as you â—â—uld employ them according to his will and for his use then you may expect the reward of good and faithful servants But if you desired and used them for the pride and pleasure of your selves while you lived and your posterity or kindred when you are dead dropping some inconsiderable â—râ—ms for God you will then find that Mammon was an unprofitable Master and Godliness with content Pâ—â—v 3. 14 1 â—â—m 6 â— 6. would have been greater gain § 29. Direct 8. Remember how dear it costeth men thus to hinder their salvation and greaten their Direct 8. danger and accounts What a deal of precious Time is lost upon the world by the Lovers of it which might have been improved to the getting of Wisdom and Grace and making their calling and election 〈…〉 2 sure If you had believed that the gain of holy wisdom had been so much better than the gaining of Gold as Solomon saith Prâ—v 3. 14. you would have laid out much of that time in labouring to understand the Scriptures and preparing for your endless life How many unnecessary Thoughtâ— have you cast away upon the world which might better have been laid out on your greater concernments How many â—ares and vexations and passions doth it cost men to overload themselves with worldly provisions Like a foolish travellâ—r who having a dayes journey to go doth spend all the day in gathering together a load of mâ—at and clothes and money more than he can carry for fear of wanting by the way or like a foolish runner that hath a race to run for his life and spends Saith Plutarâ—h 〈…〉 â—â—â—â—n Alexanâ—er wept because he was not Lord of the world when Câ—atâ—s having but a Wall â—â— and a thred-bare Cloke spent his whole life in mâ—râ—h and joy as if it had been a continual festival holy-day Psal. 37. 16. Prov 16. 8. the time in which he should be running in gathering a burden of pretended necessaries You have all the while Gods work to do and your souls to mind and judgement to prepare for and you are tiring and vexing your selves for unnecessary things as if it were the top of your ambition to be able to say in Hell that you dyed rich 1 Tim. 6. 5 6 7 8 9 10. Godliness with contentment is great gain For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we can carry nothing out And having food and raiment let us be therewith content But they that will be Rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition For the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred or been seduced from the â—aith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows Piercing sorrows here and damnation hereafter are a very dear price to give for money For saith Christ himself What shall it profit a man to gain all the world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul that is What money or price will recover it if for the love of gain he lose it Mark 8. 36 37. Prov. 15. 27. He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house but he that hateth gifts shall live Do you not know that a godly man contented with his daily bread hath a far sweeter and quietter life and death than a self-troubling worldling You may easily perceive it Prov. 15. 16. Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith § 30. Direct 9. Look much on the life of Christ on earth and see how strangely he condemned worldliness Direct 9. by his example Did he choose to be a Prince or Lord or to have great possessions lands or money or sumptuous buildings or gallant attendance and plentiful provisions His housing you â—uke 9 58. may read of Matth. 8. 20. Fâ—xes have holes and the Birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay
for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed The night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light let us walk honestly as in the day not in ryoting and drunkeness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying but put ye on the Lord Iesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof 3. Time must be Redeemed from things indifferent and lawful at another time when things necessary do require it He that should save mens lives or quench a fire in his house or provide for his family or do his Masters work will not be excused if he neglect it by saying that he was about an indifferent or a lawful business Natural rest and sleep must be parted with for Time when necessary things require it Paul Preached till midnight being to depart on the morrow Act. 20. 7. The Lamenting Church calling out for Prayer saith Arise cry out in the night in the beginning of the watches pour out thy heart like water before the fac◠of the Lord Lam. 2. 19. Cleanthes Lamp must be used by such whose Sun-light must be otherwise employed 4. Time must be Redeemed from worldly business and commodity when matters of greater weight and commodity do require it Trades and Plow and profit must stand by when God calls us by necessity or otherwise to greater things Martha should not so much as trouble her self in providing meat for Christ and his followers to eat when Christ is offering her food for her soul and she should with Mary have been hearing at his feet Luk. 10. 42. Worldlings are thus called by him Isa. 55. 1 2 3. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the water Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfyeth not hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness 5. Time must be Redeemed from smaller Duties which in their season must be done as being no duties when they hinder Greater duty which should then take place It is a duty in its time and place to shew respect to neighbours and superiours and to those about us and to look to our family affairs but not when we should be at Prayer to God or when a Minister should be Preaching or at his necessary studies Private Prayer and Meditation and visiting the sick are duties But not when we should be at Church or about any greater duty which they hinder The Directions contemplative for Redeeming Time § 8. Direct 1. Still keep upon thy Heart by Faith and Consideration the lively sense of the Greatness Direct 1. and absolute necessity of that work which must command thy Time remembring who setteth thee on work and on what a work he sets thee and on what terms and what will be the end It is God that calleth thee to labour And wilt thou stand still or be doing other things when God expecteth duty from thee Moses must go to Pharaoh when God bids him go Ionas must go to Nineve when God bids him go yea Abraham must go to Sacrifice his Son when God bids him go And may you go about your fleshly pleasures when God commandeth you to his service He hath appointed you a work that is worth your Time and all your labour to know him and serve him and obey him and to seek everlasting life How diligently should so excellent a work be done and so blessed and glorious a master be served especially considering the unutterable importance of our diligence we are in the race appointed us by our Maker and are to Run for an immortal Crown It 's Heaven that must be now won or lost And have we Time to spare in such a race We are fighting against the enemies of our salvation The question is now to be resolved whether the Flesh the World and the Devil or We shall win the day and have the victory And Heaven or Hell must be the issue of our warfare And have we Time to spare in the midst of such a fight when our very loss of Time is no small part of the enemies conquest Our most wise Omnipotent Creator hath been pleased to make this present life to be the trying preparation for another resolving that it shall go with us all for ever according to our preparations here And can we play and loyter away our Time that have such a work as this to do O miserable sensless souls do you believe indeed the Life everlasting and that all your lives are given you now to resolve the question whether you must be in Heaven or Hell for ever Do you believe this Again I ask you Do you believe this I beseech you ask your Consciences over and over whether you do indeed believe it Can you believe it and yet have Time to spare what find Time to play away and game away and idle and prate away and yet believe that this very Time is given you to prepare for life eternal and that salvation or damnation lyeth on the race which now even now you have to run Is not such a man a Monster of stupidity If you were asleep or mad it were the more excusable to be so sensless But to do thus awake and in your wits O where are the brains of those men and of what metal are their hardened hearts made that can idle and play away that Time that little Time that only Time which is given them for the everlasting saving of their souls Verily firs if sin had not turned the ungodly part of the world into a Bedlam where it is no wonder to see a man out of his wits people would run out with wonder into the Streets to see such a monster as this as they do to see mad men in the Country where they are rare and they would call to one another Come and see a man that can trifle and sport away his Time as he is going to Eternity and is ready to enter into another world Come and see a man that hath but a few dayes to win or lose his soul for ever in and is playing it away at Cards and Dice or wasting it in doing nothing Come and see a man that hath hours to spare and cast away upon trifles with Heaven and Hell before his eyes For thy souls sake consider and tell thy self If thy estate in the world did lye upon the spending of this day or week or if thy life lay on it so that thou must live or dye or be poor or rich sick or well as thou spendest it wouldst thou then waste it in dressings or complement or play and wouldst thou find any to spare upon impertinent triflings Or rather wouldst thou not be up betime and about thy business and turn by thy games and thy diverting company and disappoint thy idle visiters
and let them find that thou art not to be spoken with nor at leisure to do nothing but wilt rather seem uncivil and morose than be undone And wouldst thou do thus for a transitory prosperity or life and doth not life eternal require much more will thy weighty business in the world resolve thee to put by thy friends thy play-fellows and sports and to shake off thy idleness and should not the business of thy salvation do it I would desire no more to confute the distracted Time-wasters when they are disputing for their idle sports and vanities and asking what harm is in Cards and Dice and stage-plays or tedious feasts or complementing adorning idleness than if I could help them to one sight of Heaven and Hell and make them well know what greater business they have to do which is staying for them while they sleep or play If I were just now in disputing the case with an idle Lady or a sensual belly-slave or gamester and he were asking me scornfully what hurt is in all this if one did but knock at his door and tell him The King is at the door and calls for you it would make him cast away his game and his dispute Or if the house were on fire or a Child faln into fire or water or Thieves breaking in upon them it would make the Ladies cast by the other Lace or Ribband Or if there were but a good bargain or a Lordship to be got they could be up and going though sports and game and gawdery were cast off And yet the foresight of Heaven and Hell though one of them is even at the door will not do as much with them Because Heaven is as nothing to an unbeliever or an inconsiderate sensless wretch And as it is nothing to them when it should move them it shall be nothing to them when they would enjoy it Say not Recreation must be used in its season I know that necessary whetting is no letting But God and thy own Conscience shall tell thee shortly whether thy Recreation feastings long dressings and idleness were a necessary whetting or refreshment of thy Body to fit it for that work which thou wast born and livest for or whether they were the Pastimes of a voluptuous fleshly bruit that lived in these pleasures for the love of pleasure Verily if I lookt but on this one unreasonable sin of Time-wasting it would help me to understand the meaning of Luk. 15. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Prodigal is said to Come to himself and that conversion is the bringing a man to his wits § 9. Direct 2. Be not a stranger to the condition of thy own soul but look home till thou art acquainted Direct 2. what state it is in and what it is in danger of and what it wanteth and how far thou art behind hand in thy provisions for immortality and then be an idle Time-waster if thou canst Could I but go down with thee into that dungeon Heart of thine and shew thee by the light of truth what is there could I but let in one convincing beam from Heaven which might fully shew thee what a condition thou art in and what thou hast to do with thy remaining Time I should have no need to dispute thee out of thy childish fooleries nor to bid thee be up and doing for thy soul no more than to bid thee stir if a Bear were at thy back or the house in a flame about thy ears Alas our ordinary Time-wasters are such as are yet unconverted carnal wretches and are all the while in the power of the Devil who is the chief master of the sport and the greatest gainer They are such as are utter strangers to the regenerating sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost and are yet unjustified and under the guilt of all their sins and certain to be with Devils in Hell for ever if they die thus before they are converted This is true sinner and thou wilt shortly find it so by grace or vengeance though thy blind and hardened heart now rise against the mention of it And is this a case for a man to sit at cards and dice in or to sport and swagger in The Lord have mercy on thee and open thy eyes before it is too late or else thy Conscience will tell thee for ever in another manner than I am telling thee now that thou hadst need to have better improved thy Time and hadst greater things to have spent it in What for a man in thy case in an unrenewed unsanctified unpardoned state to be thus casting away that little Time which all his hopes lie on and in which if ever he must be recovered and saved O Lord have mercy on such sensless souls and bring them to themselves be fore it be too late I tell thee man an enlightened person that understandeth what it is and hath escaped it would not for all the Kingdoms of the world be a week or a day in thy condition for fear lest death cut off his hopes and shut him up in Hell that very day He durst not sleep quietly in thy condition a night lest death should snatch him away to Hell and canst thou sport and play in it and live securely in a sensual course O what a thing it is to be hoodwinkt in misery and to be led asleep to Hell who could perswade men to live thus awake and go dancing to Hell with their eyes open O if we should but imagine a Peter or a Paul or any of the blessed to be again brought into such a case as one of these unsanctified sinners and yet to know what now they know what would they do would they feast and game and play and trifle away their time in it or would they not rather suddenly bewail their former mispent time and all their sins and cry day and night to God for mercy and fly to Christ and spend all their time in Holiness and obedience to God! Alas poor sinner do but look into thy heart and see there what thou hast yet to do of greater weight than trimming and playing I almost tremble to think and write what a case thou art in and what thou hast to do while thou livest as if thou hadst Time to spare If thou know not I will tell thee and the Lord make thee know it Thou hast a hardened heart to be yet softened and an unbelieving heart to be brought to a lively powerful Belief of the word of God and the unseen world Thou hast an unholy Heart and life to be made Holy if ever thou wilt see the face of God Heb. 12. 14. Matth. 18. 3. Ioh. 3. 3 5 6. Thou hast a Heart-full of sins to be mortified and subdued and an unreformed life to be reformed And what abundance of particulars do these Generals contain Thou hast a pardon to procure through Jesus Christ for all the sins that ever thou didst commit and all the duties which ever thou
didst omit Thou hast an offended God to be reconciled to and for thy estranged soul to know as thy Father in Jesus Christ what abundance of Scripture truths hast thou to learn which thou art ignorant of How many holy duties as Prayer Meditation holy conference c. to learn which thou art unskilful in and to perform when thou hast learned them How many works of Justice and Charity to mens souls and bodies hast thou to do How many needy ones to relieve as thou art able and the sick to visit and the naked to cloath and the sad to comfort and the ignorant to instruct and the ungodly to exhort Heb. 3. 13. Heb. 10. 25. Ephes. 4. 29. what abundance of duty hast thou to perform in thy Relations to Parents or Children to Husband or Wife as a Master or a Servant and the rest Thou little knowest what sufferings thou hast to prepare for Thou hast Faith and Love and Repentance and patience and all Gods graces to get and to exercise daily and to increase Thou hast thy accounts to prepare and assurance of salvation to obtain and Death and Judgement to prepare for what thinks thy heart of all this work Put it off as lightly as thou wilt it is God himself that hath laid it on thee and it must be done in time or thou must be undone for ever And yet it must not be thy toyl but thy delight This is appointed thee for thy chiefest recreation Look into the Scripture and into thy Heart and thou wilt find that all this is to be done And dost thou think in thy Conscience that this is not greater business than thy gawdy dressings thy idle visits or thy needless sports which is more worthy of thy Time § 10. Direct 3. Remember how gainful the Redeeming of Time is and how exceeding comfortable Direct 3. in the review In Merchandize or any trading in husbandry or any gaining course we use to say of a man that hath grown rich by it that he hath made use of his Time But when Heaven and communion with God in the way and a life of holy strength and comfort and a death full of joy and hope is to be the gain how cheerfully should Time be Redeemed for these If it be pleasant for a man to find himself thrive and prosper in any rising or pleasing employment How pleasant must it be continually to us to find that in redeeming Time the work of God and our souls do prosper Look back now on the Time that is past and tell me which part is sweetest to thy thoughts However it be now I can tell thee at death it will be an unspeakable comfort to look back on a well spent life and to be able to say in humble sincerity My time was not cast away on worldliness ambition idleness or fleshly vanities or pleasures but spent in the sincere and laborious service of my God and making my calling and election sure and doing all the good to mens souls and bodies that I could do in the world It was entirely devoted to God and his Church and the good of others and my soul What a joy is it when going out of the world we can in our place and measure say with our blessed Lord and pattern John 17. 4 5. I have Glorified thee on earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do and now O Father glorifie me with thy self Or as Paul 1 Tim. 4. 6 7 8. I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Iudge shall give And 2 Cor. 1. 12. For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdâ—m we have had our conversation in the world It s a great comfort in sickness to be able to say with Hezekiah Isa 38. 3. Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight O Time well spent is a precious cordial to a soul that is going to its final sentence and is making up its last and general accounts Yea the reviews of it will be joyful in Heaven which is given though most freely by the Covenant antecedently yet as a Reward by our most righteous judge when he comes to sentence men according to that Covenant § 11. Direct 4. Consider on the contrary how sad the review of ill spent time is and how you will Direct 4. wish you had spent it when it is gone Hast thou now any comfort in looking back on thy despised hours I will not so far wrong thy understanding as to question whether thou know that thou must die But thy sin alloweth me to ask thee Whether at thy dying hour it will be any comfort to thee to remember thy pastimes And whether it will then better please thee to find upon thy account so many hours spent in doing good to others and so many in prayer and studying the Scriptures and thy Heart and in preparing for death and the life to come so many in thy calling obediently managed in order to eternity or to hear so many hours spent in idleness and so many in needless sports and plays hawking and hunting courting and wantonness and so many in gathering and providing for the flesh and so many in satisfying its greedy lusts Which reckoning doth thy Conscience think would be most comfortable to thee at the last I put it to thy own Conscience if thou were to die to morrow how thou wouldst spend this present day Wouldst thou spend it in idleness and vain pastimes Or if thou were to die this day where wouldst thou be found and about what exercises Hadst thou rather death found thee in a Play-house a Gaming-house an A L E house in thy fleshly jollity and pleasure Or in a holy walking with thy God and serious preparing for the life to come Perhaps you 'l say that If you had but a day to live you would lay by the labours of your calling and yet that doth not prove them sinful But I answer There is a great difference between an evil and a small unseasonable Good If death found thee in thy honest calling holily managed Conscience would not trouble thee for it as a sin And if thou rather choose to die in prayer it is but to choose a greater duty in its season But sure thou wouldst be loth on another account to be found in thy Time-wasâ—â—ing pleasures And Conscience if thou have a Conscience would make thee drâ—ad it as a sâ—n Thou wilt not wish at death that thou hadst never laboured in thy lawful calling though thou wouldst be found in a more seasonable work But thou wilt wish then if thou
understand thy self that thou hadst never lost one minutes Time and never known those sinful vanities and temptations which did occasion it O spend thy Time as thou wouldst review it § 12. Direct 5. Go hear and mark how other men at Death do set by Time and how they wish then Direct 5. that they had spent it It is hardly possible for men in health especially in prosperity and security to Imagine how pretious Time appeareth to an awakened dying man Ask them then whether liâ—e be too long and men have any Time to spare Ask them then whether slugging or working playing or praying be the better spending of our Time Both Good and Bad saints and sensualists do use then to be high esteemers of Time O then what would an ungodly unprepared sinner give for some of the Time which he used before as nothing worth Then the most Holy servants of Christ are sensible how they sinned in lâ—sing any of their Time O then how earnestly do they wish that they had made much of every minute And they that did most for God and their souls that they had done much more Now if they were to pray over their prayers again how earnestly would they beg And how much more good would they do if Time and talents were restored I knew familiarly a most holy grave and Râ—vâ—rend Divine who was so affected with the words of a Godly woman wâ—o at her death did often and vâ—â—â—â—mâ—ntly cry out O Call Time again O Call Time again that the sense of it seemed to remain on his heart and appear in his praying preaching and conversation to his death Now you have Time to cast away upon every nothing But then you will say with David Pâ—alm 89. 47. Remember how short my Time is And as Hagar sate down and wept when her water was spent Gen. 21. 15 16. So then you will lament when Time is gone or just at an end that you set no more by it while you had it O sleepy sinner Thy heart cannot now conceive how thou wilt set by Time when thou hearest the Physicion say You are a dead man and the Divine say you must prepare now for another world When thy heart saith All my daies are gone I must live on earth no more all my preparing time is at end Now what is undone must be undone for ever O that thou hadst now but the esteem of Time which thou wilt have then or immediately after Then O pray for me that God will recover me and try me once again O then how I would spend my time And is it not a most incongruous thing to see the same persons now idle and toy away their time and perhaps think that they do no harm who know that shortly they must cry to God O for a little more Time Lord to do the great work that 's yet undone A little more Time to make sure of my salvation May not God then tell you you had Time till you knew not what to do with it You had so much Time that you had many and many an hour to spare for idleness and vanity and that which you were not ashamed to call Pastime § 13. Direct 6. Remember also that when Iudgement comes God will call you to account both for Direct 6. every hour of your mispent Time and for all the Good which you should have done in all that time and did it not If you must give account for every idle word then sure for every idle hour Matth. 12. 36. And if we must be judged according to all the talents we have received and the improvement of them required of us then certainly for so precious a talent as our Time Mat. 25. And how should that man spend his Time that believeth he must give such account of all Even to the most just and Holy God who will judge all men according to their works and cause them all to reap as they have sowed O spend your Time as you would hear of it in Judgement § 14. Direct 7. Remember how much time you have lost already and therefore if you are not impenitent Direct 7. and insensible of your loss it will provoke you to redeem with the greater diligence the remnant which mercy shall vouchsafe you How much lost you in childhood youth and riper age How much have you lost in ignorance How much in negligence How much in fleshly pleasure and vanity How much in worldliness and many other sins O that you knew but what a loss it was if it had been but one year or week or day Do you think you have spent your Time as you should have done And as beseemed those that had such work to do If not do you repent of it or do you not If you do not you have no hope to be forgiven If you do Repent you will not sure go on to do the same Who will believe that he Repents of gaming revelling or other idle loss of time who doth so still while he professeth to Repent He that hath lost the beginning of the day must go the faster in the end if he will perform so great a journey Can you remember the hours and years that you have mispent in the follies of childhood and the vanities of inconsiderate youth and yet still trifle and not be provoked by penitent shame and fear to diligence Have you not yet cast away enough of such a precious treasure but you will vilifie also the little which remains § 15. Direct 8. Remember the swift and constant motion of your neglected Time What hast it Direct 8. makes And never stays That which was here while you spake the last word is gone before you can speak the next Whatever you are doing or saying or thinking of its passing on without delay It stayeth not while you sleep Whether you remember and observe it and make use of it or not it glides away It stayeth not your leisure It hasteth as fast while you play as while you work while you sin as when you repent No Monarch so potent as to command it a moment to attend his will We have no more Ioshuas to stop the Sun It is above the jurisdiction of the Princes of the earth It will not hear them if they command or request it to delay its hast but the smallest moment Crowns and Kingdoms would be no price to hiâ—e it to loiter but while you draw another breath Your lives are not like the cloaths of the Israelites in the wilderness that wax not old But like the provisions of the Gibeonites worn and wasted while you are passing but a little way And is Time so swift and you so slow Will you stand still and see it pass away as if you had no use for it no work to do nor no account to give § 16. Direct 9. Consider also how unrecoverable Time is when its past Take it now or it s lost for Direct 9. ever All
evil Who will thank you for giving Physick or food or clothing to the dead Or pitying the poor when it is too late In Time all this may be accepted § 32. Direct 5. Remember that if thou omit the season thou art left to uncertainties both for time Direct 5. and means and grace Lose this Time and for ought thou knowest thou losest all Or if thou have Time it may be curst with barrenness and never fruit may more grow on it Preachers may be taken from thee and gracious company may be taken from thee Helps and means may be turned into hinderances and opposition and strong temptations And then you will find what it was to neglect the season Or if you have the continuance of all helps and means how know you that God will set in by his grace and bless them to you and move your hearts He may resolve that if you resist him now his Spirit shall strive with you no more If while it is called to day you will harden your hearts he may resolve to leave you to the hardness of Pharaoh and to get himself a name upon you and use you as vessels of wrath prepared by your neglect and obstinacy for destruction § 33. Direct 6. Bethink you how all the Creatures keep their proper seasons in the service which Direct 6. God hath appointed them for you The Sun riseth and setteth in its season and keepeth its diary and Deut. 28. 12. Jer. 5. 24. Jer. 33. 20. annual course and misseth not a minute So do the other Coelestial motions You have day and night and seed time and harvest Summer and Winter Spring and Fall and all exactly in their seasons Jer. 8. 7. Yea the Stork in the Heavens knoweth her appointed time and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the judgement of the Lord. Shall only man neglect his season § 34. Direct 7. Consider how you know and observe the season for your worldly labours and should Direct 7. you not much more do so in greater things You will not Plow when you should Reap nor do the work of the Summer in the Winter You will not lye in bed all day and go about your business in the night You will be inquisitive that you may be skilful in the seasons for your benefit or safety in the world and should you not much more be so for a better world Matth. 16. 3. O ye hypocrites ye can discern the face of the skie but can ye not discern the signs of the times As at Harvest you look Luk. 10. 10 for the fruit of your Land so doth God in season expect fruit from you Mark 12. 2. The godly are like a tree a Tree that 's planted by the Rivers side which bringeth forth its fruit in season Psal. 1. 3. shall worldlings know their season and shall not we § 35. Direct 8. Consider how vigilant the wicked are to know and take their season to do evil And Direct 8. how much more should we be so in doing good Seducers will take the opportunity to deceive The Thief and the Adulterer will take the season of secresie and darkness The Ambitious and Covetous will take the season for profit and preferment The Malicious watch their seasons of revenge And have we not more need and more encouragement than they Is it Time for them to be building their Hag. 1 2 3. own houses and growing great by covetousness and oppression and is it not Time for you to be honouring God and providing for your endless life They cannot sleep unless they do Evil Prov. 4. 16. and can you sleep securely while your Time passeth away and your work is undone § 36. Direct 9. Remember that the Devil watcheth the season of Temptation to destroy you He Direct 9. prevaileth much by taking the time when he seeth you disarmed forgetting God in secure prosperity fittest to hearken to his temptations The same temptations out of season might not prevail And will you let your enemy out do you § 37. Direct 10. Consider how earnest you are with God in your necessities and distress not only to relieve Direct 10. and help you but to do it speedily and in season You would rather have him prevent the season 1 Sâ—m 13 8 9. than to let it pass You are impatient till deliverance come and can hardly stay the time till it be ripe When you are in pain and sickness you would be delivered speedily you are ready to cry How long Lord how long And as David Psal. 102. 13. The time yea the set time is come Psal. 40. 17. Psal. 70. 5. Lev. 26. 4. Jer. 5. 24. Make no long tarrying O my God! It would not satisfie you if God should say I will ease you of your pain the next year Why then should you neglect the Time of duty and use so many delays with God He giveth you all your mercies in their season why then do you not in season give up your selves to his love and service when you have his promise that you shall reap in due season if you do not saint Gal. 6. 9. Tit. 3. Directions Practical for Redeeming Time § 38. Direct 1. THE first point in the art of Redeeming Time is to dispatch first with greatest Direct 1. care and diligence the greatest works of absolute necessity which must be done or else we are undone for ever First see that the great work of a sound conversion or sanctification be certainly wrought within you Make sure of your saving interest in Christ get proof of your adoption and peace with God and right to everlasting life Be able to prove to your Consciences from the word of God and from your Regenerate Heavenly hearts and lives that your souls are justified and safe and may comfortably receive the news of death when ever it shall be sent to call you hence And then when you have done but this much of your work you will incur no such loss of Time as will prove the loss of your souls or happiness Though still there is much more work to do for your selves and others yet when this much is soundly done you have secured the main If you lose the Time in which you should be renewed by the spirit of Christ and in which you should lay up your treasure in Heaven you are lost for ever Be sure therefore that you look first to this And then if you lose but the Time in which you might have grown rich or got preferment your loss is tolerable you know the worst of it You may see to the end of it Yea if you lose the Time in which you should increase in Holiness and edifie others the loss is grievous but yet it will not lose you Heaven Therefore as Solomon directeth the Husbandman Prov. 24. 27. Prepare thy work without and make it fit for thy self in the
your souls undone if impious slothfulness be predominant Prov. 15. 19. The way of the slothful man is as a hedge of thorns but the way of the righteous is made plain You seem still to go through so many difficulties that you will never make a successful journey of it Yea when he is in duty the slothful is still losing Time He prayeth as if he prayed not and laboureth as if he laboured not as if the fruit of holiness past away as hastily as worldly pleasures He is as slow as a Snail and rids so little ground and doth so little work and so poorly resisteth opposition that he makes little of it and all is but next to sitting still and doing nothing It is a sad thing that men should not only lose their time in sinful pleasures but they must lose it also in reading and hearing and praying by doing all in a heartless drowsiness Thus he also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster Prov. 18. 9. If he begin in the Spirit and for a Spurt seem to be in earnest he flags and tireth and endeth in the flâ—sh Proverbs 12. 27. The slothful rosteth not that which he took in hunting but the subâ—tance of a diligent man is precious If he see and confess a vice he hath not a heart to rise against it and resolutely resist it and use the means by which it must be overcome Prov. 24. 30 31 32 33 34. I went by the field of the slothful and by the Vineyard of the man void of understanding and â—o it was all grown over with Thorns and Nettles had covered the face thereof and the stone wall thereof was broken down Then I saw and considered it well I looked upon it and received instruction Yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth and thy want as an armed man Shake off then this unmanly sluggishness Remember that you run for the immortal Crown and therefore see that you lose no time and look not at the things that are behind that is do not cast an eye or lend an ear Phâ—â— â— 11 12 13 14 15. to any person or thing that would call you back or stop you Heaven is before you Judg. 18. 9. We have seen the Land and behold it is very good and are ye still be not slothful to go and to enter and possess the Land as the five Danite Spies said to their brethren Abhor a sluggish habit of mind Go cheerfully about what you have to do and do it diligently and with your might Even about your lawful worldly business it is a Time-wasting sin to be slothful If you are servants or labourers you rob your Masters and those that hire you who hired you to work and not to be idle Whatever you are you rob God of your service and your selves of your precious Time and all that you might get therein It 's they that are lazie in their Callings that can find no Time for holy duties Ply your business the rest of the day and you may the better redeem some time for prayer and reading Scripture Work hard on the Week dayes and you may the better spend the Lords day entirely for your souls Idle persons servants or others do cast themselves behind hand in their work and then say they have no time to pray or read the Scripture Sloth robbeth multitudes of a great part of their lives Prov. 19. 15. Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep and an idle soul shall suffer hunger You cannot say No man hath hired you when you are askt Why stand you idle Matth 20. 3 6. See how sharply Paul reproveth idleness 2 Thess. 3. determining that they that will not work should not eat and that they be avoided as unfit for Christian society And 1 Tim. 5. 13. he sharply rebuketh some Women that learn to be idle wandring about from house to house And Rom. 12. 11. Not slothful in business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord. A painful diligent person is still redeeming time while he doth that which is good and a slothful person is alwayes losing it § 51. Th. 2. The second Thief or Time-waster is Excess of sleep Necessity cureth most of the Thief 2. poor of this but many of the rich are guilty of it If you ask me What is excess I answer All that is more than is needful to our health and business So much as is necessary to these I reprehend not And therefore the infirm may take more than the healthful and the old more than the young And those that find that an hours sleep more will not hinder them but further them in their work so that they shall do the more and not the less as being unfit without it may use it as a means to the after improvement of their Time But when sluggish persons spend hours in bed which neither their health nor labours need meerly out of a swinish love of sleep yea when they will have no work to do or Calling to employ them but what shall give place to their sleepy disease and think they may sleep longer than is necessary because they are rich and can afford it and have no necessary business to call them up these think they may consume their pretious time and sin more and wrong their souls more because God hath given them more than others As if their servant should plead that he may sleep more than others because he hath more wages than others O did these drowsie wretches know what work they have to do for God and their poor souls and those about them it would quickly awake them and make them stir Did they but know how earnestly they will shortly wish that they had all those hours to spend again they would spend them better now than in drowziness Did they but know what a woful account it will be when they must be answerable for all their time to say we spent so many hours every week or morning in excess of sleep They would be rowsed from their Stie and find some better use for their time which will be sweeter in the review when Time is ended and must be no more § 52. Th. 3. The next Thief or Time-waster is inordinate adorning of the body The poor may Thief 3. thank God that they are free also from the temptations to this and can quickly dress them and go about their business But many Ladies and Gallants are so guilty of this Vice that I wonder conscience Nosti mores mulierum Dum moliÌ„un tur dum comuntur annus est Tâ—reat is so patient with them O poor neglected undrest souls O filthy consciences never cleansed from your pollutions by the Spirit or blood of Christ Have you not better use for precious hours than to be washing and pinning and dressing and curling and spotting and powdering till ten or eleven
a clock in the morning when honest labourers have done one half of their dayes work While you are in health were not six a clock in the morning a fitter hour for you to be drest that you might draw near to the most Holy God in holy prayer and read his Word and set your souls and then your families in order for the duties of the following day I do not say that you may go no neaâ—er than poor labouring people or that you may bestow no more time than they in dressing you But I say that for your souls and in your callings you are bound by God to be as diligent as they and have no more Time given you to lose than they and that you should spend as little of it in neatifying you as you can and be sensible that else the loss is your own And that abundance of precious hours which your Pride consumeth will lye heavy one day upon your consciences And then you shall confess I say you shall confess it with aking hearts that the duties you owed to God and man and the care of your souls and of your families should have been preferred before your appearing neat and spruce to men If you have but a journey to go you can rise earlier and be sooner drest but for the good of your souls and the redeeming of your precious time you cannot O that God would but shew you what greater work you have to do with those precious hours and how it will cut your hearts to think of them at last If you lay but hopelesly sick of a Consumption you would be cured it is like of this proud disease and bestow less of your time in adorning the flesh which is hasting to the grave and rottenness And cannot you now see how time and life consumes and what cause you have with all your care and diligence to use it better before it is gone I know they that are so much worse than childish as prodigally to cast away so many hours in making themselves fine for the sight of men and be not ashamed to come forth and shew their sin to others will scarce want words to excuse their crime and prove it lawful be they sense or non-sense But conscience it self shall answer all when Time is gone and make you wish you had been wiser You know not Ladies and Gallants how precious a thing Time is You little feel what a price your selves will set upon it at the last You little consider what you have to do with it you see not how it hasteth and how near you stand to vast eternity you little know how despised Time will look a wakened Conscience in the face Or what it is to be found unready to dye I know you lay not to heart these things For if you did you could not I say you could not so lightly cast away your time If all were true that you say that indeed your place and honour requireth that your precious morning hours be thus spent I profess to you I should pity you more than Gally-slaves and I would bless me from such a place and honour and make haste into the course and company of the poor and think them happy that may better spend their time But indeed your excuses are frivolous and untrue and do but shew that Pride hath prevailed to captivate your Reason to its service For we know Lords and Ladies as great as the rest of you though alas too few that can quickly be up and drest and spend their early hours in prayer and adorning their souls and can be content to come forth in a plain and incurious attire and yet are so far from being derided or thought the worse by any whose judgement is much to be regarded that they are taken justly for the honour of their order And if it were not that some few such keep up the honour of your ranck I will not tell you how little in point of Morality it would be honoured § 53. Th. 4. Another Time-wasting Thief is Unnecessary pomp and curiosity in retinue attendance Thief 4. â—ouse furniture provision and entertainments together with excess of complement and ceremony and servitude to the humours and expectations of Time-wasters I crowd them all together because they are all but wheels of the same Engine to avoid prolixity Here also I must prevent the cavils of the guilty by telling you that I reprove not all that in the rich which I would reprove if it were in the poor I intend not to levell them and judge them by the same measure The rich are not so happy as to be so free as the poor either from the temptation or the seeming necessity and obligation Let others pity the poor I 'le pity the Rich who seem to be pinched with harder Necessities than the poor even this seeming Necessity of wasting their precious Time in complement curiosity and pomp which the happy Poor may spend in the honest labours of their Callings wherein they may at once be profitable to the Common-wealth and maintain themselves and meditate or confer of holy things But yet I must say that the Rich shall give an account of Time and shall pay dear for that which unnecessary excesses do devour And that instead of envying the state and curiosity of others and seeking to excell or equal them to avoid their obloquy they should contract and bring down all customs of excess and shew their high esteem of Time and detestation of Time-wasting curiosity and imitate the most sober grave and holy and be a pattern to others of employing Time in needful great and manly things I say Manly for so childish is this Vice that men of gravity and business do abhor it and usually men of Vanity that are guilty of it lay it all on the Women as if they were ashamed of it or it were below them What abundance of precious Time is spent in unnecessary state of attendance and provisions What abundance under pretence of cleanliness and neatness is spent in needless curiosity about rooms and furniture and accommodations and matters of meer pride vain-glory and ostentation covered with the honest name of decency What abundance is wasted in entertainments and unnecessary visits complements ceremony and servitude to the humours of men of Vanity I speak not for nastiness and uncleanness and uncomeliness I speak not for a Cynical morosity or unsociableness When Conscience is awakened and you come to your selves and approaching death shall better acquaint you with the worth of Time you will see a mean between these two Nimia omnia nimium exhibâ—nâ— negotium and you will wish you had most feared the Time-wasting prodigal extream Methinks you should freely give me leave to say that though Martha had a better excuse than you and was cumbered about many things for the entertainment of such a guest as Christ himself with all his followers who lookt for no curiosity yet Mary is more
thoughts a world of work If God be not in all the thoughts of the ungodly Psal. 10. 4. it is because he is not in his heart He may be nigh their mouths but is far from their reins Jer. 12. 2. Do those men believe themselves or would they be believed by any one that is wise who say they Love God above all and yet neither think of him nor love to think of him but are unwearied in thinking of their wealth and honours and the pleasures of their flesh Consider this ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psal. 50. 22. § 5. Direct 5. Soundly understand the wonderful mysterie of mans Redemption and know Iesus Direct 5. Christ and you need not want employment for your thoughts For in him are hid all the Treasures of 5. Jesus Christ and all the work of Redemption wisdom and knowledge Col. 2. 3. He is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. If the study of Aristotle Plato Plotinus and their numerous followers and Commentators can find work for the thoughts of men that would know the works of God or would be accounted good Philosophers even for many years together or a great part of their lives what work then may a Christian find for his thoughts in Jesus Christ who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanâ—â—â—â—fication and redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Col. 1. 19. And therefore in him there is fulness of matter for our meditations As Paul determined to know nothing or make ostentation of no other knowledge but Christ crucified 1 Cor. 2. 2. So if your thoughts had nothing to work upon many years together but Christ crucified they need not stand still a moment for want of most suitable and delightful matter The mysterie of the Incarnation alone may find you work to search and admire many ages But if thence you proceed to that world of wonderful matter which you may find in his Doctrine Miracles example sufferings temptations victories resurrection ascension and in his Kingly Prophetical and Priestly Offices and in all the benefits which he hath purchased for his stock O what full and pleasant work is here for the daily thoughts of a believer The soul may dwell here with continual delight till it say with Paul Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Therefore daily bow your knees to the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ of whâ—m the whole family in Heaven and earth is named that he will grant you according to the Riches of his Glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that being rooted and grounded in Love you may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God Ephes. 3. 14. to 20. § 6. Direct 6. Search the holy Scriptures and acquaint your selves well with the Oracles of God Direct 6. which are able to make you wise unto salvation and you will find abundant matter for your thoughts If you cannot find work enough for your minds among all those heights and depths those excellencies and difficulties it is because you never understood them or never set your hearts to search them What mysterious Doctrines how sublime and heavenly are there for you to meditate on as long as you live What a perfect Law a system of precepts most spiritual and pure What terrible threatnings against offenders are there to be matter of your meditations What wonderful histories of Love and Mercy What holy examples What a treasury of precious promises on which lyeth our hope of life eternal What full and free expressions of grace What a joyful act of pardon and oblivion to penitent believing sinners In a word the character of our inheritance and the Law which we must be governed and judged by is there before us for our daily Meditation David that had much less of it than we saith O how I love thy Law it is my meditation all the day Psal. 119. 97. And God said to Ioshua 1. 8. This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou maist observe to do according to all that is written therein And Moses commanded the Israelites that these words should be in their hearts and that they teach them diligently to their children and talk of them when they sate in their houses and when they walked by the way and when they lay down and when they rose up and to write them on the posts of their houses and on their gates c. that they might be sure to remember them Deut. 6. 7. § 7. Direct 7. Know thy self well as thou art the work of God and in thy self thou wilt find Direct 7. abundant matter for thy meditations There thou hast the natural Image of God to mediate on and 7. Our 〈…〉 as we are Gods wâ—â—k admire even the noble faculties of thy understanding and free will and executive power And thou hâ—st his Moral or Spiritual Image to meditate on if thou be not unregenerate even thy holy Wisdom Will and Power or thy holy Light and Love and Power with promptitude for holy practice and all in the Unity of holy Life And there thou hast his Relative Image to meditate See my Book of the 〈…〉 on even thy being 1. The Lord or Owner 2. The Ruler 3. The Benefactor to the inferiour creatures and their End O the world of mysteries which thou carriest continually about thee in that little room What abundance of wonders are in thy body which is fearfully and wonderfully made And the greater wonders in thy soul Thou art thy self the clearest glass that God is to be seen in under Heaven as thou art a man and a Saint And therefore the worthiest matter for thy own Meditations except that holy Word which is thy Rule and the Holy Church which is but a coalition of many such What a shame is it that almost all men do Live and dye such strangers to themselves as to be utterly unacquainted with the innumerable excellencies and mysteries which God hath laid up in them and yet to let their thoughts run out upon vanities and toyes and complain of their barrenness and want of matter to feed their better Meditations § 8. Direct 8. Be not a stranger to the many sins and wants and weaknesses of thy soul and thou Direct 8. never needest to be empty of matter for
of the Letters Syllables and Words without understanding the sense and end yet those that with holy and illuminated minds come thither to behold the footsteps of the Great and Wise and bountiful Creator may find not only matter to employ but to profit and delight their thoughts They may be rapt up by the things that are seen into the Sacred admirations reverence Love and praise of the glorious Maker of all who is unseen And thus to the sanctified all things will be sanctified and the study of common things will be to them Divine and Holy § 11. Direct 11. Be not a stranger to or neglectful disregarder of the wonders of providence in Direct 11. Gods administrations in the world and thou wilt find store of matter for thy thoughts The dreadfulness 11. Providence about the World of Iudgements the delightfulness of mercies the mysteriousness of all will be matter of daily search and admiration to thee Think of the strange preservations of the Church of a people hated by all the world how such a flock of Lambs is kept in safety among so many ravenous Wolves Think of Gods sharp afflictions of his offending people of his severe consuming judgements exercised sometimes upon the wicked when he means to set up here and there a monument of his justice for the warning of presumptuous sinners Go see how the wicked are deceived by befooling pleasures Prov. 1. 52. and how the prosperity of fools destroyeth them how they flourish to day as a green Bay-tree â—â—â—â—â—7 or as the flower of the field and then go into the Sanctuary and see their end how to morrow they are cut down and withered and the place of their abode doth know them no more Go see how God delighteth to abase the proud and to scatter them in the imagination of their hearts to put down the mighty from their seats and to exalt them of low degree to fill the hungry with good things and to send the Rich empty away Luk. 1. 51 52 53. How great are his signs and how mighty are his wonders His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom Dan. 4. 3. He ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will vers 26. 32. For wisdom and might are his and he changeth the times and the seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings he giveth wisdom to the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding Dan. 2. 20 21 22. He revealeth the deep and secret things he knoweth what is in darkness and the light dwelleth with him The Lord is known Psâ—â— 1â—5 â—â— Sâ—e Pâ—â—â—â— 1â—4 1â—5 1â—6 107. 122. 124 135. 136. 145. 1â—7 1â—8 14â— by the judgements which he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hand Psal. 9. 16. Mâ—rk how the upright are afflicted daily and how the feet of violence trample on them and yet how they rejoyce and adhere to that God who doth afflict them and pitty and pray for their miserable persecutors and oppressors and how all things do work together for their good Rom. 8. 28. Wonderful are all the works of God sought out of them that have pleasure therein Psal. 111. 2. The Histories of former ages and the observation of the present may shew thee a world of matter for thy thoughts § 12. Direct 12. Understand all the lineaments and beauty of Gods Image upon a holy soul the Direct 12. excellency and use of every Grace and the harmony of all and thou wilt have store of profitable matter 12. Gods Image for thy thoughts Know the nature of every Grace and the place and order of it and the office use and exercise of it and the means and motives the opposites dangers and preservatives of it Know it as Gods Image and see and Love thy Maker and Redeemer and Regenerator in it Know how God loveth it and how useful it is to our serving and honouring him in the world and how deformed and vile a thing the soul is that is without it Know well what Faith is what wisdom and prudence are what Repentance and humility and mortification are what Hope and fear and desire and obedience and meekness and temperance and sobriety and chastity and contentation and justice and self-denyal are especially know the nature and force of Love to God and to his servants and to neighbours and to enemies Know what a holy resignation and devotedness to God is and what is watchfulness diligence zeal fortitude and perseverance patience submission and peace Know what the worth and use the helps and hinderances of all these are and then your Thoughts will not be idle § 13. Direct 13. If thou be not a stranger to the spirit of grace or a neglecter of his daily motions Direct 13. and perswasions and operations on thy heart the attendance and improvement of them will keep thy thoughts 13. The daily moâ—ions of the spirit from rusty idleness and a vagrant course It is not a small matter to be daily entertaining so noble a guest and daily observing the offers and motions of so great a benefactor and daily receiving the gifts of so bountiful a Lord and daily accepting his necessary helps and daily obeying the saving precepts of so great and beneficent a God! If you know how insufficient you are without him to will or to do to perform or to think or purpose any good and that all your sufficiency is of him If you knew that it is the great skill and diligence requisite in all that will Sail successfully to the desired Phil. 2. 13. 2 Cor. 3. 5. 2 Cor. 12. 9. Land of Rest to know the Winds of the Spirits helps and to set all your Sails to the right improvement of them and to bestir you while such gales continue you would find greater work than wandering for your thoughts § 14. Direct 14. Be not ignorant or neglective of that frame and course of holy duty to God and Direct 14. man in which all your lives should be employed and you cannot want matter to employ your thoughts 14. All our Duty to God and Man upon Your pulse and breath and natural motions will hold on whether you think of them or not But so will not moral holy motion for that must be rational and voluntary You have all the powers of soul and body to exercise either upon God or for God You must know him fear him love him obey him trust him worship him pray to him praise him give thanks to him bewail your sins and hear his Word and reverently use his Name and Day And is not the understanding and learning how to do all this and the seasonable serious practice of it all sufficient to keep the Thoughts from idleness O what a deal of work doth a serious Christian find for his thoughts about some one of these about praying aright or hearing or receiving the Sacrament
the Holy Ghost to lead men by obedience to felicity Behold it with reverence as a Letter or Message sent from Heaven and as a thing of grand importance to your souls When you meditate of any Grace think on it as a part of the Image of God implanted and actuated by the Holy Ghost to advance the soul into communion with God and prepare it for him When you meditate on any Duty remember who commandeth it and whom you are chiefly to respect in your obedience and what will be the end of obeying or disobeying When you meditate on any sin remember that it is the defacing or privation of Gods image and the rebell that riseth up against him in all his attributes to depose him from the Government of the soul and of the world and foresee the End to which it tendeth Take in God if you would feel Life and Power in all that you meditate on § 21. Direct 7. Let your ordinary Meditations be on the Great and Necessary things and think Direct 7. less frequently on the less Necessary matters Meditation is but a means to a further end It is to work some good upon the soul Use therefore those subjects which are most powerful and fit to work it Great truths will do great works upon the heart They are usually the surest and most past controversie and doubt There is more weight and substance and power in one Article of the Creed or one Petition in the Lords Prayer or one Commandment in the Decalogue to benefit the soul than in abundance of the controverted opinions which men have troubled themselves and others with in all ages As one purse of Gold will buy more than a great quantity of Farthings Meditating on Great and weighty truths makes Great and weighty Christians And meditating inordinately on light and controverted opinions makes light opinionative contentious professors Little things may have their time and place but it must be but little time and the last place except when God maketh any little thing to be the matter of our lawful calling and employment as all the common matters of the world are little And then they may have a larger proportion of our time though still they must have the lowest place in our estimation and in our hearts § 22. Direct 8. When ever you are called to meditate on any smaller truth or thing see that you Direct 8. take it not as separated from the greater but still behold it as connexed to them and planted and growing in them and receiving their life and beauty from them so that you may still preserve the life and interest of the greatest matters in your hearts and may not mortifie the least and turn it into a deceit or idol We are to climb upwards and not to descend downwards and therefore we begin at the body of the Tree and so pass up to the few and greatest boughs and thence to the smaller numerous branches which as they are hard to be discerned numbred and remembred so are they not all strong enough to bear us but are fitted rather to be looked on than trodden and rested on But if you take them not as growing from the greater boughs but cut them off they lose their life and beauty and fruitfulness If all the Controversies in the Church had been managed with due honour and preservation of Holiness Charity Unity Peace and greater truths and if all the circumstantials in Religion had been ordered with a salvo and due regard and just subsâ—rviency to the power and spirituality of holy Worship the Christian world would have had more Life and strength and fruitfulness and less imagery unholy ludicrous complement and hypocrisie § 23. Direct 9. Let the end and order of your meditations be first for the setling of your judgements Direct 9. and next for the resalving and setling of your wills and thirdly for the reforming and bettering of your lives and but in the fourth place after all these for the raising of your holy passions or lively feeling which must have but its proper room and place But indeed where some of these are done already they may be supposed and we may proceed to that which is yet to do As if you know what is sin and duty but do it not your meditation must be not to make you know what you knew not but first to consider well of what you know and set the powerful truth before you and then labour hereby to bring your wills to a fixed Resolution of obedience But if it be a Truth whose principal use is on the Will and Affections as to draw up the heart to the Love of God by the meditating on his attractive excellencies then the most pains must there be taken Of which see Chap. 3. Direct 11. § 24. Direct 10. Turn your cogitations often into soliloquies methodically and earnestly preaching Direct 10. to your own hearts as you would do on that subject to others if it were to save their souls As this will keep you in order from rambling and running out and will also find you continual matter Of this see the third part of my Saints Rest more fully For method is a wonderful help both to invention memory and delight so it will bring things soonest to your affections An earnest pleading of convincing reasons with our own Hearts is a powerful way to make the fire burn and to kindle desire fear love hatred repentings shame sorrow joy resolution or any good effect Convictions upbraidings expostulations reprehensions and self-perswasions may be very powerful when a dull way of bare thinking is but like a dull way of preaching without any lively application which little stirs the hearers Learn purposely of the liveliest Books you read and of the best and liveliest Preachers you hear to preach to your hearts and use it orderly and you will find it a most powerful way of meditating § 25. Direct 11. Turn your meditations often into ejaculatory prayers and addresses unto God For Direct 11. that will keep you reverent serious and awake and make all the more powerful because the more Divine When you meditate on sin turn sometimes to God by penitent lamentation and say Lord what a wretch and rebell was I to entertain such an enemy of thine into my heart and for nothing to offend thee and violate thy Laws O pardon O cleanse me O strengthen me Conquer and â—ast out this odious enemy of thee and me So when you are seeking to excite or exercise any grace send up a fervent request to God to shew his Love and power upon thy dead and sluggish heart and to be the principal agent in a work which is so much his own Prayer is a most holy duty in which the soul hath so nearly to do with God that if there be any holy seriousness in the heart it will be thus excited A dull and wandring mind will bear some reverence to God and therefore
crime 12. Their Consciences are quick in telling them of sin and putting them upon any dejection as a duty but they are dead to all duties that tend to consolation as to Thanksgiving for mercies Praises of God meditating on his Love and grace and Christ and promises Put them never so hard on these and they feel not their duty nor make no conscience of it but think it is a duty for others but unsuitable to them 13. They alway say that they cannot believe and therefore think they cannot be saved Because that commonly they mistake the nature of faith and take it to be a Believing that they themselves are forgiven and in favour with God and shall be saved And because they cannot believe this which their disease will not suffer them to believe therefore they think that they are no believers whereas saving faith is nothing but such a Belief that the Gospel ☜ is true and Christ is the Saviour to be trusted with our souls as causeth our Wills to Consent that he be ours and that we be his and so to subscribe the Covenant of Grace Yet while they thus consent and would give a world to be sure that Christ were theirs and to be perfectly holy yet they think they believe not because they believe not that he will forgive or save them 14. They are still displeased and discontended with themselves just as a pievish froward person is apt to be with others see one that is hard to be pleased and is finding fault with every thing that they see or hear and offended at every one that comes in their way and suspicious of every body that they see whispering and just so is a Melancholy person against himself suspecting displeased and finding fault with all 15. They are much addicted to solitariness and weary of company for the most part 16. They are given up to fixed musings and long poring thoughts to little purpose so that deep musings and thinkings are their chief employments and much of their disease 17. They are much averse to the labours of their callings and given to idleness either to lye in bed or sit thinking unprofitably by themselves 18. Their thoughts are most upon themselves like the mill-stones that grind on themselves when they have no grist so one thought begets another Their thoughts are taken up about their thoughts when they have been thinking irregularly they think again what they have been thinking on They meditate not much on God unless on his wrath nor Heaven nor Christ nor the state of the Church nor any thing without them ordinarily but all their thoughts are contracted and turned inwards on themselves self-troubling is the sum of their thoughts and lives 19. Their thoughts are all perplexed like ravelled Yarn or Silk or like a man in a maze or wilderness or that hath lost himself and his way in the night He is poring and groping about and can make little of any thing but is bewildred and moithered and entangled the more full of doubts and difficulties out of which he cannot find the way 20. He is endless in his scruples afraid lest he sin in every word he speaketh and in every thought and every look and every meal he eateth and all the Cloaths he weareth And if he think to amend them he is still scrupling his supposed amendments He dare neither travel nor stay at home neither speak nor be silent but he is scrupling all as if he were wholly composed of self perplexing scruples 21. Hence it comes to pass that he is greatly addicted to superstition to make many Laws to himself that God never made Col. 2. 18 19 20 21 22 23. him and to ensnare himself with needless Vows and resolutions and hurtful austerities Touch not taste not handle not and to place his Religion much in such Outward self-imposed tasks to spend so many hours in this or that act of devotion to wear such cloaths and forbear other that are finer to forbear all dyet that pleaseth the appetite with much of the like A great deal of the Perfection of Popish devotion proceeded from Melancholy though their Government come from Pride and Covetousness 22. They have lost the power of Governing their thoughts by Reason so that if you convince them that they should cast out their self-perplexing unprofitable thoughts and turn their thoughts to other subjects or be vacant they are not able to obey you They seem to be under a necessity or constraint They cannot cast out their troublesome thoughts They cannot turn away their minds They cannot think of Love and mercy They can think of nothing but what they do think of no more than a man in the Tooth-ache can forbear to think of his pain 23. They usually grow hence to a disability to any private prayer or meditation Their thoughts are presently cast all into a confusion when they should pray or meditate They scatter abroad a hundred wayes and they cannot keep them upon any thing For this is the very point of their disease a distempered confused fantasie with a weak reason which cannot govern it Sometime terrour driveth them from Prayer they dare not hope and therefore dare not pray and usually they dare not receive the Lords Supper here they are fearfullest of all And if they do receive it they are cast down with terrours fearing that they have taken their own damnation by receiving unworthily 24. Hence they grow to a great aversness to all holy duty Fear and dispair make them go to prayer hearing reading as a Bear to the stake And then they think they are haters of God and Godliness imputing the effects of their disease to their souls when yet at the same time those of them that are Godly would rather be freed from all their sins and be perfectly holy than have all the riches or honour in the world 25. They are usually so taken up with busie and earnest thoughts which being all perplexed do but strive with themselves and contradict one another that they feel it just as if something were speaking within them and all their own violent thoughts were the pleadings and impulse of some other And therefore they are wont to impute all their fantasies either to some extraordinary actings of the Devil or to some extraordinary motions of the spirit of God And they are used to express themselves in such words as these It was set upon my heart or it was said to me that I must do thus and thus and then it was said I must not do this or that and I was told I must do so or so And they think that their own imagination is something talking in them and saying to them all that they are thinking 26. When Melancholy groweth strong they are almost alwayes troubled with hideous Blaspheamous temptations against God or Christ or the Scripture and against the immortality of the soul which cometh partly from their own fears which make them think most against their
Idolatry of the Israelites it is as they feared their Idols of Wood and Stone To fear them shewed that they took them for their Gods 2 Kings 17. 38 39. Dan. 6. 26. § 7. Direct 7. Consider that it is a folly to be inordinately fearful of that which never did befall Direct 7. thee and never befalleth one of many hundred thousand men I mean any terrible appearance of the Devil Thou never sawest him nor hearest credibly but of very few in an age that see him besides Witches This fear therefore is irrational the danger being utterly improbable § 8. Direct 8. Consider that if the Devil should appear to thee yea and carry thee to the top of Direct 8. a Mountain or the pinnacle of the Temple and talk to thee with blasphemous temptations it would be no other than what thy Lord himself submitted to who was still the dearly beloved of the Father Matth. 4. One sin is more terrible than this § 9. Direct 9. Remember that if God should permit him to appear to thee it might turn to thy very Direct 9. great advantage by killing all thy unbelief or doubts of Angels and Spirits and the unseen world It would sensibly prove to thee that there is indeed an unhappy race of Spirits who envy man and seek his ruine and so would more convince thee of the evil of sin the danger of souls the need of godliness and the truth of Christianity And it is like this is one cause why the Devil no more appeareth in the world not only because it is contrary to the ordinary Government of God who will have us live by faith and not by fight but also because the Devil knoweth how much it would do to destroy his Kingdom by destroying Infidelity Atheism and security and awakening men to faith and fear and godliness The Fowler or the Angler must not come in sight lest he spoil his Game by frighting it away § 10. Direct 10. If it be the spiritual temptations and molestations only of Satan which you fear Direct 10. remember that you have more cause to fear your selves for he can but tempt you and if you do not more against your selves than all the Devils in Hell can do you will never perish And if you are willing to accept and yield to Christ you need not inordinately fear either Satan or your selves For it is in the name and strength of Christ and under his conduct and protection that you are to begin and finish your warfare And the Spirit that is in us is greater and stronger than the Spirit that is in the world and that molesteth us 1 Iohn 4. 4. And the Father that giveth us to Christ is greater than all and none can pluck us out of his hands John 10. 29. And the God of peace will tread down Satan under our feet Rom. 16. 20. If it were in his power he would molest us daily and we had never escaped so far as we have done Our daily experience telleth us that we have a Protector Directions against the sinful fear of men and sufferings by them § 1. Direct 1. Bottom thy soul and hopes on Christ and lay up thy treasure in Heaven be not a Direct 1. worldling that liveth in hope of happiness in the creature and then thou art so far above the fear of men Omma Christe tuâ— superant tormenta ferendo Tollere quae nâ— queunt haec toleraâ—e queunt His vita â—aruisse fâ—uâ— est posâ—isse potiri Et superasse paâ—â— est superesse mori as knowing that thy treasure is above their reach and thy foundation and fortress safe from their assaults It is a base hypocritical worldly heart that maketh you immoderately afraid of men Are you afraid lest they should storm and plunder Heaven Or lest they cast you into Hell or lest they turn God against you or lest they bribe or over-awe your Judge No no these are none of your fears No you are not so much as afraid lest they hinder one of your prayers from prevailing with God nor lest their Prison walls and chains should keep out God and his Spirit from you and force you from your communion with him You are not afraid lest they forcibly rob you of one degree of grace or heavenly mindedness or hopes of the life to come If it be lest they hinder you from these by tempting or affrightning you into sin which is all the hurt they can do your souls then you are the more engaged to cast away the fears of their hurting your bodies because that is their very temptation to hurt your souls No it is their hurting of your flesh the diminishing your estates the depriving you of your liberty or worldly accommodations or of your Ad tribunal aeternum judicis justâ— provocatio salva est â—â— solet is perperam judicata resemderâ— Pâ—tra â—h Dial. 66. li. 2. lives which is the thing you fear And doth not this shew how much your hearts are yet on earth and how much unmortified worldliness and fleshliness is still within you and how much yet your hearts are false to God and Heaven O how the discovery should humble you to find that you are yet no more dead to the things of the world and that the Cross of Christ hath yet no more crucified it to you to find that yet the fleshly interest is so powerful in you and the interest of Christ and Heaven so low That God seemeth not enough for you and that you cannot take Heaven alone for your portion but are so much afraid of losing earth O presently search into the bottom of this corruption in your hearts and lament your worldliness and hypocrisie and work it out and set your hearts and hopes above and be content with God and Heaven alone and then this inordinate fear of man will have nothing left to work upon § 2. Direct 2. Set God against man and his wisdom against their policy and his Love and mercy Direct 2. against their malice and cruelty and his power against their impotency and his truth and omniscience and righteousness against their slanders and lies and his promises against their threatnings and then if yet thou art inordinately afraid of man thou must confess that in that measure thou believest not in God If God be not wise enough and good enough and just enough and powerful enough to save thee so far as it is â—est for thee to be saved then he is not God Away with Atbeism and then fear not man § 3. Direct 3. Remember what man is that thou art afraid of He is a bubble raised by Providence Direct 3. to 〈…〉 ut the world and for God to honour himself by or upon He is the meer product Joâ— 13. â—5 Psal. 1. 5 6. 68. 2. Psal. 73 20. Job 20. 8. Victor uticâ—â—â—â— saith of Au gustine that he dyed of fear Nunc illud eloquentiae quod ubertim per omnes
not tarry Now the Iust shall live by faith but if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him § 10. Direct 10. When you are delivered from the power of the Devil himself what cause have you Direct 10. to fear his instruments Can they do more than he If Goliah the Champion and the General be overcome the common Souldiers are not like to overcome us § 11. Direct 11. Are you better than your Lord Look to him and be confirmed Matth. 10. 24. Direct 11. The disciple is not above his Master nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of his houshold Heb. 12. 1 2 3. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking to Iesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds § 12. Direct 12. Be of good cheer our Lord hath overcome the world John 16. 33. And shall we Direct 12. fear mordinately a conquered world Yea he overcame it by suffering to shew us that by suffering we shall overcome it He triumphed over principalities and powers greater than mortals on the Cross Col. 2. 15. And therefore all power in Heaven and Earth is given to him Matth. 28. 19. and he is Lord both of the dead and living Rom. 14. 9. and is made head over all things to the Church Ephes. 1. 21 22. And so though for his sake we be killed all the day long and counted as sheep to the slaughter yet in all these things we are more than conquerours through him that loved us that is we have a nobler victory than if we conquered them by the sword § 13. Direct 13. Think how little your suffering is in comparison of what your sin deserved and Direct 13. your Lord hath freely saved you from Should a man grudge at the opening of a Vein for his health who deserved to have lost his life Can you remember Hell which was your due and yet make a great matter of any thing that man can do against you § 14. Direct 14. Remember that to sin through fear of suffering is to leap into Hell to scape a Direct 14. little pain on earth Are you afraid of man Be more afraid of God Is not God more terrible It is a fearful thing to fall into his hands for he is a consuming fire Heb. 10. 31. 26 27 29. Heb. 12. 29. O hear your Lord Luke 13. 4 5. And I say to you my friends Be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him It their fire be hot remember that Hell is hotter and that God is the best friend and the dreadfullest enemy § 15. Direct 15. Remember that you shall suffer and it s like as much even here from God if you Direct 15. scape by sin your sufferings from men If you sin to scape death you shall dye when you have done And O how quickly And how much more joyful is it to dye for Christ than a little after unwillingly to part with that life which you denyed to part with for your Lord And what galls will you feel in your guilty conscience both in life and at your death So that even in this life your fear would drive you into greater misery § 16. Direct 16. Think of the dangerous effects of your immoderate fear It is the way with Peter Direct 16. to deny your Lord Yea the way to Apostasie or any wickedness which men shall drive you to by terrors If you were where the Turk is now tyrannizing among Christians if you overcome not your fear he might overcome your fidelity and make you turn from Jesus Christ And that is the sin Qui propter â—â—â—â—â—â—â—â—â—â—â—â—iâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prodâ—â—â—â— est 〈…〉 Dâ—alâ—g de Statu Eccl. which the Apostle so dreadfully describeth Heb. 10. 26 27 29. If we sin wilfully that is wilfully renounce our Lord after the acknowledgement of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a fearful looking for of judgement and fire which shall devour the adversary O how many have been drawn by the fear of men to wound their consciences neglect their duties comply with sin forsake the truth dishonour God and undo their souls And often in this life they do as poor Spira did who by sinning through the fear of man did cast himself into melancholy and self-murdering despair Your fear is a more dangerous enemy to you than those that you fear are Prov. 29. 25 26. The fear of man bringeth a snare but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe Many seek the Rulers favour but every mans judgement cometh of the Lord. Fear is given to preserve you Use it not to destroy you § 17. Direct 17. Believe and remember Gods special providence extending to every hair of your Direct 17. head and also the guard of Angels which he hath set over you Matth. 10. 29 30. Are not two Sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father But the very hairs of your head are numbered Fear ye not therefore ye are of more value than many Sparrows O that this were well believed and considered Psal. 34. 7. The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them § 18. Direct 18. Think what a vile dishonour it is to God to have his creature even breathing dirt Direct 18. to be feared more than him As if he were less powerful to do good or hurt to you than man and Sâ—e Isa. 7. 4. 35 4 41. 1â— 13. 42. 2 â— 54 4. â—er 5. 22. were not able or willing to secure you so far as to see that no man shall ever be a loser by him or any thing which he suffereth for his cause Isa. 57. 11. And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared that thou hast lyed and hast not remembred me nor laid it to thy heart Have I not held my peace even of old and thou fearest me not How did Daniel and the three Confessors honour God but by fearing him more than the King and the flaming Fornace Saying We are not careful to answer thee in this â—â—â—â—s dicam tanto est melius juâ—â—e etiam damnari quam injuste ab 〈…〉 i quanto est pâ—jus impuniâ—um crimen quam pumtum in
pardonable and may consist with true grace so a Venial sin may be in an unsanctified person materially where it is not pardoned that is e. g. his wandering thought or passion is a sin of that sort that in the Godly is consistent with true grace But as Venial signifieth a sin that is pardoned or pardonable without a regeneration or conversion into astate of life from astate of death so Venial sin is in no unregenerate unjustified person but is only the Infirmities of the Saints and thus I here speak of it In a word that sin which actually consisteth with habitual repentance and with the hatred of it so far that you had rather he free from it than commit or keep it and which consisteth with an unfeigned consent to the Covenant that God be your Father Saviour and Sanctifier and with the Love of God above all is but an infirmity or venial sin But to know from the nature of the sin which those are requireth a Volume by it self to direct you only § 19. Direct 8. Understand how necessary a faithful Minister of Christ is in such cases of danger and Direct 8. difficulty to be a guide to your Consciences and open your case truly to them and place so much confidence in their judgement of your state as their office and abilities and faithfulness do require and set not up your timerous darkened perplexed judgements above theirs in cases where they are fitter to judge Such a Guide is necessary both as appointed by Christ who is the Author of his office and in regard of the greatness and danger and difficulty of your case Do you not feel that you are insufficient for your selves and that you have need of help sure a soul that 's tempted to Despair may easily feel it You are very proud or blindly self conceited if you do not And you may easily know that Christ that appointed them their office requireth that they be both used and trusted in their office as far as Reason will allow And where there is no office yet Ability and faithfulness deserve and require credit of themselves Why else do you trust Physicions and Lawyers and all artificers in their several professions and arts as far as they are reputed able and faithful I know no man is to be believed as infallible as God is but man is to be believed as man And if you will use and trust your spiritual guide but so far as you use and trust your Physicion or Lawyer you will find the great benefit if you choose aright § 20. Direct 9. Remember when you have sinned how sure and sufficient and ready a remedy you have Direct 9. before you in Iesus Christ and the Covenant of grace and that it is Gods design in the way of Redemption not to save any man as innocent that none may glory but to save men that were first in sin and misery and fetch them as from the gates of hell that Love and mercy may be magnified on every one that is saved and grace may abound more by the occasion of sins abounding Rom. 5. 15 20. Not that any should continue in sin because Grace hath abounded God forbid Rom. 6. 1. But that we may magnifie that grace and mercy which hath abounded above our sins and turn the remembrance of our greatest sins to the admiration of that great and wonderful mercy To magnifie mercy when we see the greatness of our sin and to Love much because much is forgiven this is to please God and answer the very design and end of our Redemption But to magnific sin and extenuate mercy and to say My sin is greater than can Luk. 7. 47. be forgiven this is to please the Dâ—vil and to cross Gods design in the work of our Redemption Is your disease so great that no other can cure it It is the fitter for Christ to honour his office upon and God to honour his Love and mercy on Do but come to him that you may have life and you shall find that no greatness of sin past will cause him to refuse you nor no infirmities which you are Joh. 5. 40. Luk. 15. 20 22 23. willing to be rid of shall cause him to disown you or cast you out The Prodigal is not so much as upbraided with his sins but finds himself before he is aware in his Fathers arms cloathed with the best Robes the Ring and Shooes and joyfully entertained with a Feast Remember that there is enough in Christ and the promise to pardon and heal all sins which thou art willing to forsake § 21. Direct 10. Take heed of being so blind or proud in thy humility as to think that thou Direct 10. canst be more willing to be a servant of Christ than he is to be thy Saviour or more willing to have grace than God is to give it thee or more willing to come home to Christ than he is to receive and wellcome thee Either thou art willing or unwilling to have Christ and grace to be sanctified and freed from sin If thou be willing Christ and his grace shall certainly be thine Indeed if thou wouldst have pardon without Holiness this cannot be nor is there any promise of it But if thou wouldst have Christ to be thy Saviour and King and his spirit to be thy sanctifier and hadst rather be perfect in Love and Holiness than to have all the Riches of the World then art thou in sincerity that which thou wouldst be in perfection Understand that God accounteth thee to be what thou truly desirest to be The great work of Grace lyeth in the renewing of the will If the will be sound the Man is sound I mean not the conquered uneffectual Velleity of the wicked that wish they could be free from Pride sensuality gluttony drunkenness lust and covetousness without losing any of their beloved honour wealth or pleasure that is when they think on it as the way to Hell they like not their sin but wish they were rid of it but when they think of it as pleasing their fleshly minds they love it more and will not leave it because this is the prevailing thought and will So Iudas was unwilling to sell his Lord as it was the betraying of the innocent and the way to Hell but he was more willing as it was the way to get his hire So Herod was unwilling to kill Iohn Baptist as it was the murder of a Prophet but his willingness was the greater as it was the pleasing of his Damosel and the freeing himself from a troublesome reprover But if thy willingness to have Christ and perfect Holiness be more than thy unwillingness and more than thy willingness to keep thy sin and enjoy the honour wealth and pleasures of the world than thou hast an undoubted sign of uprightness and that Love to Grace and desire after it which nothing but Grace it self doth give And if thou art thus willing it is
men though never so sound and rational be certainly deceived in this we know not when they are not deceived and there can be no certainty of faith or knowledge For if you say that the Church telleth us that sense is deceived in this and only in this Deny not sense with the Papists I answer If it be not first granted that sense as so stated is certain in its apprehension there is no certainty then that there is a Church or a man or a world or what the Church ever said or any member of it And if sense be so fallible the Church may be deceived who by the means of sense doth come to all her knowledge To deny faith is the property of an Infidel To deny Reason is to deny Humanity and is fittest for a mad man or a Beast if without reason reason could be denyed But to deny the certainty of sense it self and of all the senses of all sound men and that about the proper objects of sense this sheweth that ambition can make a Religion which shall bring man quite below the Beasts and make him a Mushrome that Rome may have subjects capable of her Government and all this under pretence of honouring faith and saving souls Making God the destroyer of nature in order to its perfection and the deceiver of nature in order to its ☜ edification § 12. Direct 10. Sense must not be made the Iudge of matters that are above it as the proper objects Direct 10. of faith and reason nor must we argue negatively from our senses in such cases which God in nature never brought into their Court. We cannot say that there is no God no Heaven no Hell no Angels no souls of men because we see them not We cannot say I see not the Antipodes nor other Kingdoms of the world and therefore there is no such place so we say as well as the Papists that sense is no Judge whether the spiritual body of Christ be present in the Sacrament no more than whether an Angel be here present But sense with reason is the Judge whether bread and Wine be there present or else humane understanding can judge of nothing Christ would have had Thomas to have believed without seeing and feeling and blesseth those that neither see him nor feel and yet believe but he never blesseth men for believing contrary to the sight and feeling and taste of all that have sound senses and understandings in the world Their instance of the Virgins conception of Christ is nothing contrary to this For it belongeth not to sense to judge whether a Virgin may conceive Nor will any wise mans Reason judge that the Creator who in making the world of nothing was the only cause cannot supply the place of a partial second cause in Generation They might more plausibly argue with Aristotle against the Creation it self that ex nihilo nihil fit but as it is past doubt that the infallibility of sense is nothing at all concerned in this so it is sufficiently proved by Christians that God can create without any pre-existent matter Reason can see much further than sense by the help of sense and yet much further by the help of Divine Revelation by faith To argue Negatively against the conclusions of Reason or Divine Revelation from the meer negation of sensitive apprehension is to make a Beast of man We must not be so irrational or impious as to say that there is nothing but what we have seen or felt or tasted c. If we will believe others who have seen them that there are other parts of the world we have full Reason to believe the sealed testimony of God himself that there are such superiour worlds and powers as he hath told us We have the use of sense in hearing or seeing Gods revelation and we have no more in receiving mans report of those Countreys which we never saw § 13. If they will make it the Question whether the sense may not be deceived I answer we doubt not by distance of the objects or distempers or disproportions of it self or the Media it may But if the sense it self and all the means and objects have their natural soundness aptitude and disposition it is a contradiction so say it is deceived for that is to say it is not the sense which we suppose it is If God deceive it thus he maketh it another thing It is no more the same nor will admit the same definition But however it is most evident that the senses being the first entrance or inlet of knowledge the first certainty must be there which is presupposed to the certain judgement of the intellect But if these err all following certainty which supposeth the certainty of the senses is destroyed And this error in the first reception like an error in the first concoction is not rectified by the second And if God should thus leave all men under a fallibility of sense he should leave no certainty in the world and I desire those that know the definition of a lye to consider whether this ☞ be not to feign God to lye in the very frame of nature and by constant lyes to rule the world when yet it is impossible for God to lye And if this Blasphemy were granted them yet it would be mans duty still to judge by such senses as he hath about the objects of sense For if God have made them fallible we cannot make them better Nor can we create a Reason in our selves which shall not presuppose the judgement of sense or which shall-supply its ordinary natural defects So that the Roman faith of Transubstantiation denying the reality of Bread and Wine doth not only unman the world but bring man lower than a Beast and make sense to be no sense and the world to be governed by natural deceit or lyes and banish all certainty of faith and reason from the Earth and after all ☞ with such wonderful enmity to charity as maketh man liker the Devil than else could easily be believed they sentence all to Hell that believe not this and decree to burn them first on earth and to depose Temporal Lords from their dominions that favour them or that will not exterminate them from their Lands and so absolve their Subjects from their Allegiance and give their Dominions to others All this you may read in the third Canon of the Laterane General Council under Innocent 3. § 14. Direct 11. Look not upon any object of sense with sense alone nor stop not in it but let reason Direct 11. begin where sense doth end and alwayes see by faith or reason the part which is invisible as well as the sensible part by sense By that which is seen collect and rise up to that which is unseen It God had given us an eye or ear or taste or feeling and not a mind then we should have exercised no other faculty but what we had But sure he
much to a common reformation III. The Greatness of the sin of Gluttony § 15. To know the Greatness of the sin is the chief part of the cure with those that do but believe Rom. 16. 17 18. They serve not the Lord Iesus but their own Bâ—llies that there is a God I shall therefore next tell you of its nature effects and accidents which make it great and therefore should make it odious to all § 16. 1. Luxury and Gluttony is a sin exceeding contrary to the Love of God It is Idolatry It hath the Heart which God should have And therefore Gluttons are commonly and well called Belly-Gods and God-bellys because that Love that â—are that delight that service and diligence which God should have is given by the Glutton to his Belly and his throat He Loveth the pleasing of his Appetite better than the Pleasing of God His dishes are more delightful to him than any holy exercise is His thoughts are more frequent and more sweet of his belly than of God or Godliness His care and labour is more that he may be pleased in meats and drinks than that he may secure his salvation and be justified and sanctified And indeed the Scripture giveth them this name Phil. 3. 19. whose end is destruction whose God is their Belly who glory in their shame who mind earthly things being enemies to the Cross of Christ that is to bearing the Cross for Christ and to the Crucifying of the flesh and to the mortifying suffering parts of Religion Nay such a devouring Idol is the Belly that it swalloweth up more by Intemperance and excess than all other Idols in the world do And remember that the very life of the sin is in the Appetite and Heart when a mans Heart is set upon his Belly though he fare never so hardly through necessity he is a Glutton in Heart When you make a Great matter of it ☜ what you shall eat and drink as to the delight and when you take it for a great loss or suffering if you fare hardly and are troubled at it and your thoughts and talk are of your belly and you have not that Indifferency whether your fare be course or pleasant so it be wholsom as all Temperate persons have this is the Heart of Gluttony and is the Hearts forsaking of God and making the Appetite its God § 17. 2. Gluttony is self-murder Though it kill not suddenly it killeth surely Like the dropsie It is a common saying that â—ula plures occidit quam gladius Quicquid avium volitat quicquid piscium natat quicquid ferarum discurrit nostris sâ—pelitur ventribus Quaeâ—e nunc â—ur subito moriamur Quia mortibus viviâ—us Senec. Hierome saith that he had read of some that had been sick of the Arthritis and Podagra that were cuâ—â—d by being brought to poverty by confiscation of their estates and so brought to a poor dyeâ— which killeth as it filleth by degrees Very many of the wisest Physicions do believe that of those that over-live their Child-hood there is scarce one of twenty yea or of a hundred that dyeth but Gluttony or excess in eating or drinking is a principal cause of their death though not the most immediate cause It is thought to kill a hundred to one of all that dye at Age. And it will not let them dye easily and quickly but tormenteth them first with manifold diseases while they live You eat more than nature can perfectly concoct and because you feel it not trouble you or make you sick you think it hurts you not whereas it doth by degrees first alter and vitiate the temperament of the blood and humours making it a crude unconcocted unnatural thing unfit for the due nutrition of the parts turning the nourishing mass into a burdensom excrementitious mixture abounding with Saline or tartareous matter and consisting more of a pituitous slime or redundant serosity than of that sweet nutrimental milk of nature quickened with those spirits and well proportioned heat which should make it fit to be the Oyl of life And our Candle either sparkleth away with Salt or runs away because there is some Thief in it or goeth out because the Oyle is turned into Water or presently wasteth and runs about through the inconsistent softness of its Oyl Hence it is that one part is tainted wieh corruption and another consumeth as destitute of fit nutriment and the vessels secretly obstructed by the grossness or other unfitness of the blood to run its circle and perform its offices are the cause of a multitude of lamentable diseases The frigid distempers of the Brain the soporous and comatous effects the Lethargy Carus and Apoplexy the Palsie Convulsion Epilepsie Vertigo Catarhs the Head-ache and oft the Phrensie and Madness come all from these effects of gluttony and excess which are made upon the blood and humours The Asthma usually and the Phthisis or Consumption and the Pleurisie and Peripneumony and the Hemoptoick passion often come from hence Yea the very Syncopes or Swooning Palpitations of the heart and Faintings which men think rather come from weakness do usually come either from oppression of nature by these secret excrements or Putrilaginous Blood or else from a weakness contracted by the inaptitude of the blood to nourish us being vitiated by excess The loathing of meat and want of appetite is ordinarily from the crudities or distempers caused by this excess yea the very Canine appetite which would still have more is caused by a vitiousness in the humours thus contracted The Pains of the Stomach Vomitings the Cholera Hickocks Inflamations Thirsts are usually from this cause The Wind Colick the Iliack Passion Loosness and Fluxes the Tenesmus and Ulcers the Worms and other troubles in those parts are usually from hence The obstructions Châ—ysostome saith the difference betwixt famine and excess is that famine kills men sooner out of their pain and excess doth putrifie and consume them by long and painful sicknesses in Hâ—br Hom. 29. of the Liver the Jaundice Inflamations Abscessus and Ulcers Schirrhus and Dropsie are commonly from hence Hence also usually are Inflammations Pains Obstructions and Schirrhus of the Spleen Hence commonly is the Stone Nephritick torments and Stoppages of Urine and Ulcers of the Reins and Bladder Hence commonly is the Scorbute and most of the Feavers which are found in the World and bring such multitudes to the grave Even those that immediately are caused by Colds distempers of the Aire or Infections are oft caused principally by long excess which vitiateth the humours and prepareth them for the disease Hence also are Gouts and Hysterical affects and diseases of the eyes and other exteriour parts So that we may well say that Gluttony enricheth Landlords filleth the Churchyards and hasteneth multitudes untimely to their ends Perhaps you 'll say that the most temperate have diseases To which experience teacheth me to answer that usually Children are permitted to be Voracious and
Gluttonous either in quantity or in quality eating raw Fruits and things unwholsom and so when Gluttony hath bred the disease or laid in the matter than all the temperance that can be used is little enough to keep it under all their life after And abundance that have been brought to the doors of death by excess have been preserved after many years to a competent age by abstinence and many totally freed from their diseases Read Cornario's Treatise of himself and Lessius and Sr. William Vaughan c. Though yet I perswade none without necessity to their exceeding strictness Judge now what a murderer Gluttony is and what an enemy to mankind § 18. 3. Gluttony is also a deadly enemy to the mind and to all the noble employments of Reason As smoak â—â—â—â—eth away the â—ees from their Hive â—aith Basil â—â— Iâ—jâ—â— Sâ— glâ—ttoâ—y expâ—â—â—â—th aâ—â—â—â—iritual gifts and excellent endowments of mind both Religious Civil and artificial It unfits men for any close and serious studies and therefore tends to nourish ignorance and keep men fools It greatly unfits men for hearing Gods Word or reading or praying or meditating or any holy work and makes them have more mind to sleep or so undisposeth and dulleth them that they have no life or fitness for their duty but a clear head not troubled with their drowsie vapours will do more and get more in an hour than a full bellied Beast will do in many So that Gluttony is as much an enemy to all Religious and manly studies as drunkenness is an enemy to a Garrison where the drunken Souldiers are disabled to resist the Enemy § 19. 4. Gluttony is also an enemy to diligence in every honest Trade and Calling for it dulleth Saith Basil A Ship heavy laden is unfit to sail so a full belly to any duty the Body as well as the Mind It maketh men heavy and drowsie and slothful and go about their business as if they carried a Coat of Lead and were in Fetters They have no vivacity and alacrity and are fitter to sleep or play than work § 20. 5. Gluttony is the immediate symptome of a carnal mind and of the damnable sin of flesh-pleasing before described And a carnal mind is the very summ of iniquity and the proper name of an unregenerate state It is enmity against God and neither is nor can be subject to his Law so that they that are thus in the flesh cannot please God and they that walk after the flesh shall dye Rom. 8. 6 7 8 13. The filthiest sins of Leachers and Misers and Thieves are but to please the flesh And who serveth it more than the Glutton doth § 21. 6. Gluttony is the breeder and feeder of all other lusts Sine Cerere Bacchâ— friget venus Semper saâ—uriâ—atâ— juncta est â—aâ—â—ivia Hiâ—â—on It pampereth the flesh to feed it and make it a sacrifice for lust As dunging the ground doth make it fruitful especially of Weeds so doth Gluttony fill the mind with the Weeds and Vermine of filthy thoughts and filthy desires and words and deeds § 22. 7. Gluttony is a base and beastly kind of sin For a man to place his happiness in the pleasure Ventri obedientes animalium numero computantur not â—ominum Sâ—nec of a Swine and to make his Reason serve his throat or sink into his Guts as if he were but a Hogshead to be filled and emptyed or a Sink for Liquor to run through into the chanel or as if he were made only to carry meat from the Table to the Dunghill how base a kind of life is this yea many beasts will not eat and drink excessively as the Gluttonous Epicure will do § 23. 8. Gluttony is a Prodigal consumer and devourer of the creatures of God What is he worthy of that would take meat and drink and cast it away into the chanell nay that would be It is Chrysostoms saying iâ— Hebr. Hom. 29. at a great deal of cost and curiosity to get the pleasantest meat he could procure to cast away The Glutton doth worse It were better of the two to throw all his excesses into the Sink or Ditch for then they would not first hurt his body And are the Creatures of God of no more worth Are they given you to do worse than cast them away Would you have your Children use their provisions thus § 24. 9. Gluttony is a most unthankful sin that takes Gods mercies and spews them as it were in his face and carryeth his provisions over to his enemy even to the strengthening of fleshly lusts Jer. 5. 7. and turneth them all against himself You could not have a bit but from his liberality and blessing and will you use it to provoke him and dishonour him § 25. 10. Gluttony is a sin which turneth your own mercies and wealth and food into your Magna pars libertatis est bene moratus venter Sâ—â—ec snare and to your deadly ruine Thou pleasest thy throat and poysonest thy soul. It were better for thee a thousand times that thou hadst lived on scraps and in the poorest manner than thus to have turned thy plenty to thy damnable sin Deut. 6. 11 12. When thou shalt have eaten and be full then beware lest thou forget the Lord. Prov. 30. 9. Feed me with food convenient for me lest I be full and deâ—y thee and say Who is the Lord Psal. 75. 29 30. So they did eat and were well filled for he gave them their own desire they were not estranged from their lust § 26. 11. Gluttony is a great Time-wasting sin What a deal of time is spent in getting the money that is laid out to please the throat and then by servants in preparing for it and then in long sitting at meat and feastings and not a little in taking Physick to carry it away again or to ease or cure the diseases which it causeth besides all the time which is lost in languishing sickness or cut off by untimely death Thus they live to eat and eat to frustrate and to shorten life § 27. 12. It is a Thief that robbeth you of your estates and devoureth that which is given When a friâ—â—d of Socrates complained to him What a dear place is this Wine will cost so much and Honey so much and Purple so much Socrates took him to the Meal-Hall Lo saith he you may buy here half a Seâ—tare of good Meal for a half peny which boyled in water was hiâ— meat God be thanked the Market is very cheap Then he took him to an Oyl-shop where a measure Chaenix was sold for two brass dodkins Then he led him to a Brokers shop where a man might buy a Suit of Clothes for â—en drams You see quoth he that the penny worths are reasonable and things good cheap throughout the City Plâ—â—arch de Traâ—quil Anim. pag. 153. you for better uses and for which you must give account to God It is
a costly sin and consumeth more than would serve to many better purposes How great a part of the riches of most Kingdoms are spent in Luxury and Excess § 28. 13. It is a sin that is a great enemy to the common good Princes and Common-wealths have reason to hate it and restrain it as the enemy of their safety Men have not money to defray the publick charges necessary to the safety of the Land because they consume it on their Guts Armies and Navies must be unpaid and Fortifications neglected and all that tendeth to the glory of a people must be opposed as against their personal interest because all is too little for the throat No great works can be done to the honour of the Nation or the publick good no Schools or Almshouses built and endowed no Colledges erected no Hospitals nor any excellent work because the Guts devour it all If it were known how much of the Treasure of the Land is thrown down the Sink by Epicures of all degrees this sin would be frowned into more disgrace § 29. 14. Gluttony and Excess is a sin greatly aggravated by the Necessities of the poor Whâ—â— an incongruity is it that one member of Christ as he would be thought should be feeding himself deliciously every day and abounding with abused superfluities whilst another is starving and pining in a Cottage or begging at the door and that some families should do worse than cast their delicates and abundance to the Dogs whilst thousands at that time are ready to famish and are fain to feed on such unwholsome food as killeth them as soon as Luxury kills the Epicure Do these men believe that they shall be judged according to their feeding of the poor Or do they take themselves Matth â—5 â— to be members of the same body with those whose sufferings they so little feel 1 Cor. 12 26. It may be you 'll say I do relieve many of the poor But are there not more yet to be relieved As long as there are any in distress it is the greater sin for you to be luxurious Deut. 15. 7. If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren in thy land thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thy hand against thy poor brother but thou shalt open thy hand wide unto him c. Nay how often are the poor oppressed to satisfie luxuâ—iâ—us appetites Abundance must have hard bargains and hard usage and toil like Horses and scarce be able to get bread for their families that they may bring in all to belly-god Landlords who consume the fruit of other mens labours upon their devouring flesh § 30. 15. And it is the heinouser sin because of the common calamities of the Church and Servants of Christ throughout the world One part of the Church is oppressed by the Turk and another by the Pope and many Countreys wasted by the cruelties of Armies and persecuted by proud impious enemies and is it fit then for others to be wallowing in sensuality and gluttony Amos 6. 1 3 4 5 6. Wo to them that are at ease in Zion Ye that put far away the evil day and cause the seat of violence to come near That lye upon beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches and eat the Lambs out of the flock and the Calves out of the midst of the stall that châ—unt to the sound of the Viol That drink Wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief oyntments but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph It is a time of great humiliation and are you now given up to fleshly luxury Read Isa. 22. 12 13 14. And in that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and to mourning and to baldness and to girding with sackcloth and behold joy and gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating Flesh and drinking Wine let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye dye saith the Lord of Hosts § 31. 16. Luxury is a sin most unseemly for men in so great misery and incongruous to the state of the Gluttonous themselves O man if thou hadst but a true sight of thy sin and misery of death and judgement and of the dreadful God whom thou dost offend thou wouldst percieve that fasting and prayer and tears become one in thy condition much better than glutting thy devouring flesh What a man unpardoned unsanctified in the power of Satan ready to be damned if thus thou dye for so I must suppose of a Glutton for such a man to be taking his fleshly pleasure For a Dives to be faring sumptuously every day that must shortly want a drop of water to cool his tongue is as foolish as for a Thief to feast before he goeth to hanging yea and much more For you might yet prevent your misery and another posture doth better beseem you to that end Fasting and crying mightily to God is fitter to your state See Ionah 3. 8. Ioel 1. 14. Ioel 2. 15. § 32. 17. Gluttony is a sin so much the greater by how much the more Will and Delight you have in the committing of it The sweetest most voluntary and beloved sin is caeteris paribus the greatest And few are more pleasant and beloved than this § 33. 18. Those are the worst sins that have least Repentance But Gluttony is so far from being truly Repented of by the luxurious Epicure that he loveth it and careth and contriveth how to commit it and buyeth it with the price of much of his estate § 34. 19. It is the greater sin because it is so frequently committed Men live in it as their daily practice and delight They live for it and make it the end of other sins It is not a sin that they seldom fall inâ—â— â—ut it is almost as familiar with them as to eat and drink Being turned into Beasts they live like Beasts continually § 35. 20. Lastly It is a spreading sin and therefore is become common even the sin of Countreys of rich and poor For both sorts love their bâ—llies though both have not the like provision for them And they are so far from taking warning one of another that they are encouraged one by another and the sin is scarce noted in one of a hundred that daily liveth in it Nor is there almost any that reprove it or help one another against it unless by impoveâ—â—shing each other but most by perswasions and examples do encourage it though some much more than others So that by this time you may see that it is no rare noâ— venial little sin § 36. And now you may see also that it is no wonder if no one of the Commandments expresly forbid this sin not only because it is a sin against our selves directly but also because it is against every one almost of the Commandments And think not that either Riches or Poverty will excuse it when even
full exposition what we ascribe to it But as some scrupulous Brethren in Scotland gratifie the Papists by rejecting the Oath of Supremacy which is the most thorny hedge against them and this while they cry out against Popery so others would gratifie the Papists by suggesting that we give too much to the Bible and adore it when the very sum of Englands Protestantism is their just ascribing to the Holy Scriptures its sufficiency as to all things necessary to salvation Thus Satan undoeth still by overdoing IV. Object Laying on the hand and kissing the Book seem of the same nature with the Cross in Object Baptism and other significant Ceremonies And an Oath is part of the Worship of God Therefore not to be taken with these Ceremonies or else will seem to justifie the other Answ. 1. Significant words gestures or actions are not therefore evil because they are significant Answ. unless bruitishness be a Vertue Nor because any call them by the name of Ceremonies else that name might be put on any thing by an enemy to deprive us of our liberty Therefore I can judge of no Ceremony by that General name alone till it be named it self in specie 2. Of the Cross in Baptism see my Disputations of Church-Government of Ceremonies written long ago There are these notorious differences in the Case 1. The Cross is an Image used in Gods Worship Though not a Permanent yet a Transient Image and used as an Image of the Cross of Christ though but in Water or Oyle And God hath more specially forbidden Images used in his Worship than he hath done a Professing significant Word Gesture or Action which is no Image nor used as such 2. The Cross seemeth to be a third Sacrament of the Covenant of Grace while it is used as a Symbol of Christianity and a dedicating Sign as the Canon calleth it by which before the Church there is made a solemn self-obligation as Sacramentally to Renounce the Devil the World and the Flesh and manfully to fight under Christs banner as his faithful servants and souldiers to our lives end Implying our trust and hope in Christ crucified for the benefits of his death So that if it be not a compleat third Sacrament it hath so much of that which is proper to a Sacrament like the Sacramentum Militare whence the name came into the Church that for my part I dare not use it though I presume not to censure those that do nor to condemn all other uses of the Cross which the Antients abounded in as sudden particular professing Signs much below this solemn covenanting use And as I think the King would not take it well when he hath made the Star the Badge of the Knights of the Garter if any Subject will presume to make another Symbolum Ordinis though yet many a significant Gesture or Act may be used without offence So I fear Christ would not take it well of me if I presume to make or use another Symbole or Tessera of Christianity Especially with so much of a Covenanting Sacramental Nature But what 's this to things or Gestures significant of no such kind You see then the difference of these Cases But if you were able to prove the Cross as harmless as the Swearing Ceremony I would be for the Cross and not against the laying the hand on the Book and kissing it For 1. I am not of their mind that form their judgment of other particulars to suit with their preconceived opinions of things of the same rank or quality nor make the Interest of my former conceptions to be the measure of my after judging 2. Nor do I think it so great an honour to be strict in my opinions as dishonour to be superstitious and to add to Gods Law by saying that he forbiddeth what he doth not or to be affectedly singular in denying lawful things with a Touch not taste not handle not c. Nor do I esteem him to be the wisest best or holiest person who is narrowest or strictest in his opinions but who is Rightest nor him that maketh most things to be sins but him that committeth least sin which is such indeed nor him that maketh most Laws to himself and others but him that best obeyeth Gods Laws Quest. 1. MAy one that scrupleth thus swearing himself yet Commissioned give an Oath thus to another Quest. that scrupleth it not Answ. 1. If the thing be as is proved lawful his scruple will not make him innocent in neglecting Answ. the duty of his place 2. If the substance of the Oath were lawful and only the Mode or Ceremony were sinful as suspected then 1. If the Commissioner must himself particularly command that Mode it were unlawful for him to do it 2. But if he only command and give the Oath as an Oath leaving the Mode without his Approbation or Command to the Taker and the Law he may so give the Oath And thus Christians in all Ages have taken it for Lawful to make Covenants even with Infidels and Idolaters and to take a Turks Oath by Mahomet when it is only the Oath that we demand and the Mode is his own which we had rather be without and give no approbation of And if a King may thus demand an Infidels or Idolaters Oath as God himself doth mens duty when he knoweth that they will sin in doing it much more may one do so in case of a doubtful Ceremony which he is neither the author nor approver of But I think this in question is lawful fit and laudable § 7. III. As to the case of Taking Gods Name in vain which for brevity I joyn with swearing How Gods Name is taken in vain it is done 1. Either in the grossest and most hainous sort 2. Or in a lower sort 1. The grossest sort of taking Gods Name in vain is by Perjury or calling him in for witness to a lye For among the Jews Vanity and a Lye were words frequently taken in the same signification 2. But the lower sort of taking Gods Name in vain is when it is used lightly unreverently contemptuously jeastingly or See Dr. Haâ—â—oâ—ds Pract. Catâ—ch on the thâ—rd Commandment Jer. 5. 2. Lev. 19. 12. without just cause And in these also there is prophaneness and a very great sin which is aggravated according to the Degree of the contempt or prophanation It is a great sin unreverently in common talk to make a by-word of saying O Lord or O God or O Iesus or God help us or Lord have mercy on us or God send this or that or any way to take Gods Name in vain But to use it in jears and scorns at Religion or make Play-books or Stage-playes with such prophane contemptuous jears is one of the greatest villanies that mans tongue can be guilty of against his Maker Of which anon § 8. IV. Direct 1. For the avoiding of all this prophaneness in swearing and taking the Name of
2 Sam. 7. 13 Deut. 14 23. Psal. 14â— 1 2. Isa. â—6 8 13. Psal. 86. 9 12. 135. 13. Cant. 1. 3. John 12. 28. of his holy Name and what terrible threatnings he hath denounced against the prophaneners of it and what judgements he hath executed on them Lev. 19. 12. Ye shall not swear by my Name falsly neither shalt thou prophane the Name of thy God I am the Lord. So Lev. 18. 21. And of the Priests it is said Lev. 21. 6. They shall be holy unto their God and not prophane the Name of their God So Lev. 22. 2. v. 31 32. Therefore shall ye keep my commandments and do them I am the Lord Neither shall ye prophane my holy Name but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel I am the Lord which hallow you Deut. 28. 58 59. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this Law that are written in this Book that thou maist fear this glorious and fearful Name THE LORD THY GOD then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful and the plagues of thy seed Great plagues and of long continuance and sore sicknesses and of long continuance Worshipping God and trusting in him is called A walking in his Name and calling upon his Name See Mic. 4. 5. Psal. 99. 6. The place of his publick Worship is called The place where he putteth or recordeth his Name Exod. 20. 24. Deut. 12. 5 11 21. Isa. 29. 23. They shall sanctifie my Name and sanctifie the holy One of Jacob and shall fear the God of Israel Isa. 48. 11. For how should my Name be polluted and I will not give my glory to another God telleth Moses and Moses telleth Aaron when his two Sons were slain I will be sanctified in them that come nigh unto me and before all the people I will be glorified Lev. 10. 3. So Lev. 24. 10 14. A man that in striving with another blasphemed and cursed was stoned to death And in the third Commandment it is terrible enough that God saith The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain § 19. 10. Dost thou not use to say the Lords Prayer and therein Hallowed be thy Name Matth. Luke 11. 2. 6. 9. And wilt thou prophane that Name which thou prayest may be Hallowed Is it Hallowing it to swear by it and use it unreverently and vainly in thy common talk Or will God endure such Hypocrisie as this or regard such Hypocritical prayers § 20. 11. Thy customary swearing is an uncharitable accusation of the hearers as if they were so incredulous that they would not believe a man without an Oath and so prophane that they delight in the prophanation of the Name of God which is the grief of every honest hearer § 21. 12. Thou accusest thy self as a person suspected of lying and not to be believed For among honest men a word is credible without an Oath Therefore if thou were but taken for an honest man thy bare word would be believed And by swearing thou tellest all that hear thee that thou supposest thy self to be taken for a person whose word is not to be believed And what need hast thou to tell this so openly to others if it be so § 22. 13. And by swearing thou declarest the suspicion to be true and that indeed thou art not to be believed so far art thou from making thy sayings more credible by it For he that hath so little conscience and fear of God as to swear prophanely can hardly be thought a person that makes any conscience of a lye For it is the same God that is offended by the one as by the other A swearer warranteth you to suspect him for a lyar § 23. 14. Both swearing and taking Gods Name in vain are the greater sins because you have no stronger a Temptation to them Commonly they bring no honour but shame They bring no sensual pleasure to the senses as gluttony and drunkenness and uncleanness do And usually they are committed without any profit to entice men to them You get not the worth of a penny by your sin so that it is hard to find what draweth you to it or why you do it unless it be to shew God that you fear him not and unless you intend to bid defiance to him and do that which you think will offend him in meer despight So that one would think a very little grace might serve to cure such a fruitless sin And therefore it is a sign of gracelesness § 24. 15. How terribly dost thou draw Gods vengeance upon thy self Cursing thy self is a begging for vengeance Prophane swearing is a prophane contemptuous appeal to the judgement of God And darest thou even in thy sins appeal to the Iudgement of God Dost thou fear it no more To this judgement then thou shalt go But thou wilt quickly have enough of it and find what it was for stubble to appeal to the consuming fire Heb. 12. 29. § 25. Direct 3. Remember Gods presence and keep his fear upon thy heart and remember his judgement Direct 3. to which thou art hastening and keep a tender conscience and a watch upon thy tongue and then thou wilt easily escape such a sin as this Darest thou abuse Gods Name before his face § 26. Direct 4. Write over thy doors or bed where thou maist oft read it the third Commandment or Direct 4. some of these terrible passages of holy Scripture Matth. 5. 34 35 36 37. I say unto you swear not at all neither by Heaven Nor by the Earth Nor by thy Head But let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil Jam. 5. 12. Above all things my brethren swear not neither by the Heavens neither by the earth nor any other Oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest ye fall into condemnation or hypocrisie as Dr. Hammond thinks it should be read Zech. 5. 3. Every one that sweareth shall be cut off Jer. 23. 10. Because of swearing the Land mourneth Hos. 4. 2. Think well on such Texts as these § 27. Direct 5. Love God and honour him as God and thou canst not thus despise and abuse his Direct 5. Name Thou wilt reverence and honour the name of that person that thou lovest and reverencest and honourest It is atheism and want of Love to God that makes thee so prophane his Name § 28. Direct 6. Punish thy self after every such Crime with such a voluntary mulct or penalty as Direct 6. may help to quicken thy observation and remembrance If none execute the Law upon thee which is twelve pence an Oath lay more on thy self and give it to the poor Though you are not bound to do justice on your selves you may medicinally help to cure your selves by that which hath a rational aptitude thereto Tit. 3. Special Directions against Lying and Dissembling § 1. THat you may know what Lying
that some have but little temptation to in comparison of others and some have need of a great deal of care and resolution to escape it 1. Those are most subject to this sin who have a flegmatick constitution or dulness of spirits or other bodily indisposition to cherish it Such therefore should strive the more against it and not give way to any sloth which they are able to resist Though their bodies are like a dull or tired Horse they must use the rod and spur the more Such heavy persons are more given also to sleep than others are and yet they may resist it and rise early if they will though they have a greater sluggishness than others to overcome So though they are more undisposed to labour than more active persons are yet if they will do their best they may go as far as their strength of body will enable them And this they should the rather strive to do unless they have a disease that labour is hurtful to because that custome doth much to the encreasing or decreasing their bodily undispofedness Plaâ—â—nâ—m traduâ—t cum â—â—disset quâ—ndam aâ—eis ludentâ—m increpasse cum ille Quam me in parvis reprehendis diceret respodisse At est consuetudo non parva res â—aert in Pâ—at and labour is the most effectual means to cure them of that fleshly heaviness which unfitteth them for their labour § 27. 2 Those that have been unhappily bred up in Idleness have great cause to Repent of their sinful life that 's past and to be doubly diligent to Overcome this sin If their Parents have so far been their enemies they should not continue enemies to themselves Though usually the Children of the Rich and Proud have this for their peculiar original sin and are very unhappy in their Parentage and Education in comparison of the Children of wise and humble and industrious Parents yet their own understanding and willingness by the help of grace may overcome it If your Parents had trained you up to live by siâ—aling could not you leave it if you will when you come to know that God forbiddeth it so though they have bred you up in idleness and done their part to undo you both in soul and body to make your souls a sty for sin and your bodies a skinful of diseases yet if you will do your part you may be recovered at least as to your souls and custome may conquer the fruits of custome You cannot do worse than to go on and spend the rest of your life in sin If Caâ—imathus in Attila reporteth that when certain Players came before Attila to shew â—he agility of their Bodies in their Exercises he was offâ—nded to see such able active bodies no better imployed and commanded them to be exercised in shooting and other military acts which â—when they could not do be commanded that they should have no meat but what they got by hunting at a great distance and so exercised them till they became excellent Soldiers p. 353. you had been still-born or murdered in your Infancy it had been no sin for you to have lain idle in the common Earth But to teach a living soul to be idle and to train up the living to a Conformity to the dead save only that they eat and spend and sin and carry their Ornaments on their backs when the dead have theirs for a standing Monument this was great cruelty and treachery in your Parents But you must not therefore be as cruel and treacherous against your selves § 28. 3. Those that abound in wealth and have no need to labour for any bodily provisions should be specially watchful against this sin Necessity is a constant spurr to the poor except those that live upon begging who are the second rank of Idle persons in the Land But the Rich and Proud are under a continual temptation to live idly For they need not to rise early to labour for their bread They need not work hard for Food or Rayment They have not the cryes of their hungry Children to rowze them up They have plenty for themselves and family without labour and therefore they think they may take their case But it is a sad case with poor souls when the Commands of God do go for nothing with them or cannot do as much to make them diligent as poverty or want could do And when Gods Service seemeth to them unworthy of their labour in comparison of their own It may be God may bring you unto a necessity of labouring for your daily bread if you so ill requiâ—e him for your plenty But it 's better that your idleness were cured by grace than by necessity For when you labour only for your own supplies your own supplies are your reward But when you labour in true obedience to God it 's God that will reward you Col. 3. 23 24. I do with very much love and honour think of the industrious lives of some Lords and Ladies that I know who hate idleness and vanity and spend their time in diligent labours suitable to their places But it is matter of very great shame and sorrow to think and speak of the lives of too great a number of our gallants To how little purpose they live in the World If they take a true account of their lives as God will make Ni sis bonus aleator probus chartarius scortator improbus potator strenuus prosusor audaâ— decoctor conslator aeris alieni deinde scabie ornatus Galliâ—a vix quisquam te credet Equitem Erasm. Colloq pag. 483. See more of this Ch. 5. and read Luk. 16. and Jam. 5. them wish they had done when he calls them to account how many hours think you will be found to have been spent in any honest labour or diligent work that is worthy of a Christian or a member of the Common-wealth in comparison of all the rest of their time which is spent in bed in dressing in ornaments in idle talk in playing in eating in idle wanderings and visits and in doing nothing or much worse How much of the day doth idleness consume in comparison of any profitable work O that God would make such know in time how dreadful a thing it is thus to imitate Sodom that was punished with the vengeance of eternal fire Ezek. 16. 49. Jud. 7. instead of imitating Christ. As for idle beggars they read not Books and therefore I shall not write for them They are in this more happy than the idle Gentry that the Law compelleth them to work and leaveth them not to themselves § 29. 4. Those persons that live in idle company have special cause to fear this sin For such will entangle you in idleness and greatly hinder you from conscionable diligence § 30. 5. Those Servants that live in great mens houses and are kept more for pomp and state than service having little to do should specially take heed of the sin of idleness Many such take it for
melodious praise § 34. Quest. 5. Doth not your Conscience tell you that your delight is more in your plays and Quest. 5. games than it is on God And that these sports do no way increase your delight in God at all but more unfit and undispose you And yet every blessed mans delight is in the Law of the Lord and in it he meditâ—teth day and night Psal. 1. 2. And do you do so § 35. Quest. 6. Do you bestow as much Time in Praying and reading the word of God and meditating Quest. 6. on it as you do in your sports and recreations Nay do you not shuffle this over and put God off with a few hypocritical heartless words that you may be at your sports or something which you love better § 36. Quest. 7. Doth not Conscience tell thee that this pretious Time might be much better Quest. 7. spent in the works that God hath appointed thee to do And that thy sinful soul hath need enough to spend it in far greater matters Doth it become one that hath sinned so long and is so unassured of pardon and salvation and near another world and so unready for it to sit at Cards or be hearing a Stage-play when he should be making ready and getting assurance of his peace with God § 37. Quest. 8. Wouldst thou be found at Cards or Plays when Death cometh If it were this Quest. 8. day hadâ—â— thou not rather be found about some holy or some profitable labour § 38. Quest. 9. Will it be more comfort to thee when thou art dying to think of the time which Quest. 9. thou spentst in Cards and Plays and Vanity or that which thou spentst in serving God and preparing for eternity § 39. Quest. 10. Darest thou pray to God to bless thy Cards and Dice and Plays to the good of Quest. 10. thy soul or body Would not thy Conscience tell thee that this were but a mocking of God as praying for that which thou dost not intend and which thy pleasures are unfit for And yet no recreation is lawful which you may not thus lawfully pray for a blessing on § 40. Quest. 11. If you were sure your selves that you sin not in your games or sports are you Quest. 11. sure that your Companions do not That they have no lust or vanity of mind at Stage-plays no Covetousness or sinful pleasure or passion at Cards or Dice If you say we are not bound to keep all other men from sin I answer You are bound to do your best towards it And you are bound not to contribute willingly to their sin And you are bound to forbear a thing indifferent though not a duty to avoid Rom. 14. 21. 1 Cor. 8. 13. the scandalizing or tempting of another If Paul would never eat flesh while he lived rather than make a weak person offend should not your sports be subject to as great Charity He saith It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor any thing whereby thy weak brother stumbleth or is offended or made weak Object Then we must give over our meat and drink and cloaths and all Answ. It followeth not that we must forsake our Duty to prevent another mans sin because we must forsake our pleasure in things indifferent If you knew what sin is and what it is to save or lose ones soul you would not make a sport of other mens sin nor so easily contribute to their damnation and think your sensual pleasure to be a good excuse Rom. 15. 1 2 3. In such cases we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak that is to compassionate them as we do children in their weakness and not to please our selves to their hurt Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification that is prefer the edifying of anothers soul before the pleasure of your bodies For even Christ pleased not himself If Christ lost his life to save men from sin will not you lose your sport for it § 41. Quest 12. What kind of men are they that are most addicted to thy games and plays and Qâ—â—â—â— 12. 〈…〉 what kind of men are they that avoid them and are against them Are there not more Fornicators Drunkards Swearers Cursers Coveters of other mens mony and prophane neglecters of God and their souls among Gamesters and Players than among them that are against them Judge by the fruits § 42. And what I say to idle Gamesters is proportionably to be said to Voluptuous Youths that run after Wakes and May-games and Dancings and Revellings and are carried by the Love of sports and pleasure from the Love of God and the care of their Salvation and the Love of Holiness and the Love of their Callings and into idleness riotousness and disobedience to their Superiors For the cure of this Voluptuousness besides what is said Chap. 4. Part 9. Consider § 43. 1. Dost thou not know that thou hast higher delights to mind And are these toyes beseeming a noble soul that hath Holy and Heavenly matters to delight in § 44. 2. Dost thou not feel what a plague the very pleasure is to thy affections How it bewitchâ—th thee and befooleth thee and maketh thee out of Love with Holiness and unfit for any thing that 's good § 45. 3. Dost thou know the worth of those pretious hours which thou playest away Hast thou no more to do with them Look inwards to thy soul and forward to eternity and bethink thee better § 46. 4. Is it sport that thou most needest Dost thou not more need Christ and Grace and Pardon and preparation for Death and Judgement and assurance of Salvation Why then are not these thy business § 47. 5. Hast thou not a God to obey and serve And doth he not allway see thee And will He Eccles. 11. 9. not judge thee Alas thou knowest not how soon Though thou be now merry in thy youth and thy Heart cheer thee and thou walk in the ways of thy heart and the sight of thy eyes yet know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement § 48. 6. Observe in Scripture what God judgeth of thy ways Tit. 3. 3. We our selves were 1 Pâ—â—â— 14 15. 2. 11 12. sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures 2 Tim. 2. 22. Fly youthful lusts but follow after righteousness faith charity peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart Read 1 Pet. 4. 1 2 3 4. 2 Pet. 3. 3. 1 Tim. 3. 4. Lovers of pleasure more than Lovers of God § 49. 7. You are but preparing for your future sorrow either by Repentance or destruction And the greater is your pleasure now the greater will be your sorrow and shame in the review Having spoken this much for the cure of sinful sports I proceed to direct the more sober in their recreations § 50. Direct 2. When you
and temperature of your children which is a great advantage for the choosing and applying of the best remedy 8. You have opportunity of watching over them and discerning all their faults in time But if a Minister speak to them he can know no more what fault to reprehend than others tell him or the party will confess You may also discern what success your former exhortations had and whether they amend or still go on in sin and whether you should proceed to more severe remedies 9. You have opportunity of speaking to them in the most familiar manner which is better understood than the set speech of a Minister in the Pulpit which few of them mark or understand You can quicken their attention by questions which put them upon answering you and so awaken them to a serious regard of what you say 10. You are so frequently with them that you can repeat your instructions and drive them home that what is not done at one time may be done at another Whereas other men can seldom speak to them and what is so seldome spoken is easily neglected or forgotten 11. You have power to place them under the best means and to remove many impediments out of their way which usually frustrate other mens endeavours 12. Your example is near them and continually in their sight which is a continual and powerful Sermon By all these advantages God hath enabled you above all others to be instruments of your Childrens good and the first and greatest promoters of their salvation § 6. Motive 6. Consider how great a Comfort it would be to you to have your children such as you Motive 6. may confidently hope are the children of God being brought to know him and love and serve him through your own endeavours in a pious education of them 1. You may love your children upon an higher account than as they are yours even as they are Gods adorned with his Image and quickned with a divine celestial life And this is is to love them with a higher kind of Love than meer Natural affection is It would rejoyce you to see your children advanced to be Lords or Princes But O how much greater cause of joy is it to see them made the members of Christ and quickned by his Spirit and sealed up for life eternal 2. When once your children are made the children of God by the Regeneration of the Spirit you may be much more free from care and trouble for them than before Now you may boldly trust them on the care of their heavenly Father who is able to do more for them than you are able to desire He loveth them better than you can love them He is bound by promise to protect them and provide for them and to see that all things work together for their good He that clotheth the Lillies of the fields and suffereth not the young Lions or Ravens to be unprovided for will provide convenient food for his own children though he will have you also do your duty for them as they are your children While they are the children of Satan and the servants of sin you have cause to fear not only lest they be exposed to miseries in this world but much more lest they be snatched away in their sin to Hell Your children while they are ungodly are worse than among Wolves and Tygâ—rs But when once they are renewed by the Spirit of Christ they are the charge of all the blessed Trinity and under God the charge of Angels Living or dying they are safe For the Eternal God is their portion and defence 3. It may be a continual comfort to you to think what a deal of drudgery and calamity your child is freed from To think how many Oaths he would have sworn and how many lyes and curses he would have uttered and how bâ—aftly and fleshly a life he would have lived how much wrong he would have done to God and men and how much he would have pleased the Devil and what torments in Hâ—ll he must have endured as the reward of aâ—â—â—â— and then to think how mercifully God hath prevented all this and what service he may do God in the world and finally live with Christ in glory What a joy is this to a considering believing Parent that taketh the mercies of his children as his own 4. Religion will teach your children to be more dutiful to your selves than Nature can teach them It will teach them to Love you even when you have no more to give them as well as if you had the wealth of all the world It will teach them to honour you though you are poor and contemptible in the eyes of others It will teach them to obey you and if you â—all into want to relieve you according to their power It will â—it them to comfort you i st the time of your sickness and distress when ungodly children will be as thorns in your feet or eyes and cut your hearts and prove a greater grief than any enemies to you A gracious child will bear with your weaknesses when a Châ—m will not cover his Fathers nakedness A gracious Child can pray for you and pray with you and be a blessing to your house when an ungodly Child is fitter to curse and prove a curse to those he liveâ— with 5. And is it not an exceeding joy to think of the everlasting happiness of your Child and that you may live togâ—ther in Heaven for ever When the foresâ—en misâ—ry of a gracâ—lâ—ss Child may grieve you when ever you look him in the face 6. Lastly It will be a great addition to your joy to think that God blessed your diligent instructions and made you the instrument of all that good that is done upon your children and of all that good that is done by them and of all the happiness they have for ever To think that this was conveyed to them by your means will give you a larger share in the delights of it § 7. Motive 7. Remember that your Childrens Original sin and misery is by you and therefore in Motive 7. juâ—â—ice you that have undone them are bound to do your best to save them If you had but conveyed a leprosiâ— or some hereditary Disease to their bodies would you not have done your best to cure them O that you could do them but as much good as you do them hurt It is more than Adamâ— sin that runneth down into the natures of your Children yea and that bringeth judgements on them And even Adams sin cometh not to them but by you § 8. Motive 8. Lastly Consider what exceeding great need they have of the utmost help you can afford Motive 8. them It is not a corporal disease an easie enemy a tolerable that we call unto you for their helpâ—â— But it is against Sin and Satan and Hell fire It is against a body of sin not one but many â—oâ— small but pernicious having seized upon the heart
strait or penurious therefore she will dispose of it without his consent this is thievery disobedience and injustice Quest. But as the case standeth with us in England hath the Wife a joint propriety or not Quest. 1. Answ. Three wayes at least she may have a propriety 1. By a reserve of what was her own before which however some question it may in some cases be done in their agreement at marriage 2. By the Law of the Land 3. By the Husbands consent or donation What the Law of the Land saith in this case I leave to the Lawyers But it seemeth to me that his words at Marriage with all my worldly goods I thee endow do signifie his consent to make her a joynt-proprietor And his consent is sufficient to the collation of a title to that which was his own Unless any can prove that Law or custome doth otherwise expound the words as an empty formality and that at the contract this was or should be known to her to be the sense And the Laws allowing the wife the third part upon death or separation doth intimate a joynt-propriety before Quest. 2. If the Husband live upon unlawful gain as cheating stealing robbing by the high-way c. Quest. 2. is not the wife guilty as a joynt proprietor in retaining such ill-gotten goods if she know it And is she bound to accuse her Husband or to restore such goods Answ. Her duty is first to admonish her husband of his sin and danger and endeavour his repentance in the mean time disclaiming all consent and reception of the goods And if she cannot prevail for his Repentance Restitution and Reformation she hath a double duty to perform the one is to help them to their goods whom he hath injured and robbed by prudent and just means The other is to prevent his robbing of others for the time to come But how these must be done is the great difficulty 1. If she foresee or may do that either by her husbands displeasure or by the cruel revenge of the injured party the hurt of discovering the fraud or robbery will be greater than the good then I think that she is not bound to discover it But by some secret indirect way to help the owner to his own if it may be done without a greater hurt 2. To prevent his sin and other mens future suffering by him she seemeth to me to be bound to reveal her husbands sinful purposes to the Magistrate if she can no other way prevail with him to forbear My reasons are Because the keeping of Gods Law and the Law of the Land and the publick order and good and the preventing of our Neighbours hurt by Robbery or fraud and so the interest of honesty and right is of greater importance than any duty to her Husband or preservation of her own peace which seemeth to be against it But then I must suppose that she liveth under a Magistrate who will take but a just revenge For if she know the Laws and Magistrate to be so unjust as to punish a fault with death which deserveth it not she is not to tell such a Magistrate but to preserve her Neighbours safety by some other way of intimation If any one think that a Wife may in no case accuse a husband to the hazzard of his life or estate let them 1. Remember what God obliged Parents to do against the lives of incorrigible Children Deut. 21. 2. And that the honour of God and the lives of our Neighbours should be preferred before the life of one offender and their estates before his estate alone 3. And that the light of Reason telleth us that a Wife is to reveal a Treason against the King which is plotted by a Husband and therefore also the robbing of the Kings Treasury or deceiving him in any matter of great concernment And therefore in due proportion the Laws and common good and our Neighbours welfare are to be preserved by us though against the nearest relation Only all due tenderness of the life and reputation of the Husband is to be preserved in the manner of proceedings as far as will stand with the interest of justice and the common good Quest. 3. May the Wife go hear Sermons when the Husband forbiddeth her Quest. 3. Answ. There are some Sermons which must not be heard There are some Sermons which may be heard and must when no greater matter doth divert us And there are some Sermons which must be heard whoever shall forbid it Those which must not be heard are such as are Heretical ordinarily and such as are superfluous and at such times when greater duties call us another way Those which may be heard are either occasional Sermons or such Lectures as are neither of Necessity to our selves nor yet to the owning of God and his publick Worship One that liveth where there are daily or hourly Sermons may hear them as oft as suiteth with their condition and their other duties But in this case the Command of a Husband with the inconveniences that will follow disobeying him may make it a duty to forbear But that we do sometimes publickly owne Gods Worship and Church-Ordinances and receive Ministerial teaching for our Edification is of double necessity that we dâ—ny not God and that we betray not or desert not our own souls And this is especially necessary ordinarily on the Lords Dayes which are appointed for these necessary uses And here the Husband hath no power to forbid the Wife nor should she formally obey his prohibition But yet as affirmatives bind not ad semper and no duty is a duty at every season so it is possible that on the Lords Day it may extraordinarily become a duty to forbear Sermons or Sacraments or other publick Worship As when any greater duty calleth us away As to quench a fire and to save mens lives and to save our Countrey from an enemy in a time of War and to save our own lives if we knew the assembly would be assaulted or to preserve our liberty for greater service Christ â—et us to learn the meaning of this Lesson I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice In such a case also a mischief may be avoided even from a Husband by the omission of a duty at that time when it would be no duty for this is but a transposition of it But this is but an act of prudent self-preservation and not an act of formal obedience Quest. 4. If a Woman have a Husband so incorrigible in Vice as that by long tryal she findeth that Quest. 4. speaking against it maketh him worse and causeth him to abuse her is she bound to continue her disswasion or to fâ—rbear Answ. That is not here a duty which is not a means to do some good And that is no means which we know before hand is like iâ— not certain to do no good or to do more harm We must not by weariness laziness or â—ensoriousness take a case to
them not tyrannically but in tenderness and love and command them nothing that is against the Laws of God or the good of their souls Use not wrath and unmanlike fury with them nor any over-severe or unnecessary rebukes or chastisements Find fault in season with prudence and sobriety when your passions are down and when it is most likely to do good If it be too little it will embolden them in doing ill If it be too much or frequent or passionate it will make them sleight it and despise it and utterly hinder their repentance They will be taken up in blaming you for your rashness and violence instead of blaming themselves for the fault § 2. Direct 2. Provide them work convenient for them and such as they are fit for Not such or Direct 2. so much as to wrong them in their health or hinder them from the necessary means of their salvation Nor yet so little as may cherish their idleness or occasion them to lose their pretious time It is cruelty to lay more on your horse than he can carry or to work your Oxen to skin and bones Prov. 12. 10. A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast much more of his servant Especially put not your servants on any labour which hazardeth their health or life without true necessity to some greater end Pity and spare them more in their health than in their bare labour Labour maketh the body sound but to take deep colds or go wet of their feet do tend to their sickness and death And should another mans Life be cast away for your commodity Do as you would be done by if you were servants your selves and in their case And let not their labours be so great as shall allow them no time to pray before they go about it or as shall so tire them as to unfit them for Prayer or instruction or the Worship of the Lords day and shall lay them like blocks as fitter to lie to sleep or rest themselves than to pray or hear or mind any thing that is good And yet take heed that you suffer them not to be idle as many great men use their Serving men to the undoing of their souls and bodies Idleness is no small sin it self and it breedeth and cherisheth many others Their time is lost by it and they are made unfit for any honest employment or course of life to help themselves or any others § 3. Direct 3. Provide them such wholsome food and lodging and such wages as their service doth Direct 3. deserve or as you have promised them Whether it be pleasant or unpleasant let their food and Col. 4. 1. lodging be healthful It is so odious an oppression and injustice to defraud a servant or labourer of his wages yea or to give him less than he deserveth that methinks I should not need to speak much against it among Christians Read Iam. 5. 1 2 3 4 5. and I hope it will be enough § 4. Direct 4. Use not your servants to be so bold and familiar with you as may tempt them to Direct 4. despise you nor yet so strange and distant as may deprive you of opportunity of speaking to them for their spiritual good or justly lay you open to be censured as too magisterial and proud Both these extreams have ill effects but the first is commonest and is the disquiet of many families § 5. Direct 5. Remember that you have a charge of the souls in your family and are as a Priest Direct 5. and Teacher in your own house and therefore see that you keep them to the constant worshipping of God especially on the Lords day in publick and private and that you teach them the things that concern their salvation as is afterward Directed And pray for them daily as well as for your selves § 6. Direct 6. Watch over them that they offend not God Bear not with ungodliness or gross sin in Direct 6. your family Read Psal. 101. Be not like those ungodly masters that look only that their own work be done and bid God look after his work himself and care not for their servants souls because they care not for their own and mind not whether God be served by others because they serve him not unless with hypocritical lip-service themselves § 7. Direct 7. Keep your servants from evil company and from being temptations to each other as Direct 7. far as you can If you suffer them to frequent Alehouses or riotous assemblies or wanton or malignant company when they are infected themselves they will bring home the infection and all the house may fare the worse for it And when Iudas groweth familiar with the Pharisees he will be seduced by them to betray his Master You cannot be accountable for your servants if you suffer them to be much abroad § 8. Direct 8. Go before them as examples of holiness and wisdom and all those virtues and duties Direct 8. which you would teach them An ignorant or a swearing cursing railing ungodly Master doth actually teach his servants to be such and if his words teach them the contrary he can expect but little reverence or success § 9. Direct 9. Patiently bear with those tolerable fâ—ailties which their unskilfulness or bodily temperature Direct 9. or other infirmity make them lyâ—ble to against their wills A willing mind is an excuse for many frailties much must be put up when it is not from wilfulness or gross neglect make not a greater matter of every infirmity or fault than there is cause Look not that any should be perfect upon earth Reckon upon it that you must have servants of the progeny of Adam that have corrupted natures and bodily weaknesses and many things that must be born with Consider how faultily you serve your Heavenly Master and how much he daily beareth with that which is amiss in you and how many faults and oversights you are guilty of in your own employment and how many you should be overtaken with if your were in their stead Eph. 6. 9. And ye Masters do the same things to them forbearing threatning knowing that your master also is in Heaven neither is there respect of persons with him Col. 4. 1. Masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal c. § 10. Direct 10. See that they behave themselves well to their fellow servants of which I shall speak Direct 10. anon Tit. 2. Directions to those Masters in foraign Plantations who have Negro's and other Slaves being a solution of several Cases about them Direct 1. UNderstand well how far your Power over your slaves extendeth and what limits Direct 1. God hath set thereto As 1. Sufficiently difference between Men and Bruits Remember that they are of as good a kind as you that is They are reasonable Creatures as well as you and born to as much natural liberty If their sin have enslaved them to you yet Nature
read Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this Law And the command of Authority is not a contemptible obligation § 7. 6. It is granted by all that more than this is due to God and the life that is in every Christian telleth him that it is a very great mercy to us not only to servants but even to all men that one day in seven they may disburden themselves of all the cares and business of the world which may hinder their holy communion with God and one another and wholly apply themselves to learn the will of God And nature teacheth us to accept of mercy when it is offered to us and not dispute against our happiness § 8. 7. Common experience telleth us that where the Lords Day is more holily and carefully observed Knowledge and Religion prosper best and that more souls are converted on those dayes than on all the other dayes besides and that the people are accordingly more edified And that where ever the Lords Day is ordinarily neglected or mispent Religion and Civility decay and there is a visible lamentable difference between those places and families and the other § 9. 8. Reason and experience telleth us that if men werâ— leâ—t to themselves what Time they should appoint for Gods publick Worship in most plâ—â—es it would be so little and disordered and uncertain that Religion would be for the most part banished out of the now Christian world Therefore there being need of an Universal Law for it it is probable that such a Law there is And if so it can be by none but God the Creator Redeemer and Holy Ghost there being no other Universal Governour and Law-giver to impose it § 10. 9. All must confess that it is more desirable for Unity and Concord sake that all Christians hold their holy Assemblies on one and the same day and that all at once through all the world do worship God and seek his Grace than that they do it some on one day and some on another § 11. 10. And all that ever I have conversed with confess that if the holy spending of the Lords Day be not necessary it is lawful and therefore when there is so much to be said for the Necessity of it too to keep it holy is the safest way Seeing this cannot be a sin but the contrary may And Licâ—nce is encouragement enough to accept so great a mercy All this set together will satisfie a man that hath any spiritual sense of the concernments of his own and others souls § 12. Object But you will say That besides the name it is yet a controversie whether the whole day Object should be spâ—nt in holy exercises or only so much as is meet for publick communion it being not found in antiquiâ—y that the Churches used any further to observe it Answ. No sober man denyeth that works of necessity for the preservation of our own or other mens Answ. lives or health or goods may be done on the Lords Day so that when we say that the whole day is to be spent holily we exclude not eating and sleeping nor the necessary actions about Worship as the Priesâ—s in the Temple are said to break the Sabbath that is the external rest and to be blameless But otherwise that it is the whole day is evident in the Arguments produced The antient Histories and Canons of the Church speak not of one part of the day only but the whole All confess that when Labour or sinful sports are forbidden it is on the whole day and not only on a part And for what is alledged of the custome of the antient Church I answer 1. The antienâ—est Churches spent almost all the day in publick Worship and Communion They begun in the morning and continued without parting till the evening The first part of the day being spent in teaching the Catechumens they were then dismissed and the Church continued together in preaching and praying but especially in those laudatory Eucharistical Offices which accompany the celebration of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. They did not then as Gluttons do now account it fasting to forbear a dinner when they supped yea feasted at night It being not usual among the Romans to eat any dinners at all And they that spent all the day together in publick Worship and Communion you may be sure spent noâ— part of it in Dancing nor Stage-playes nor worldly businesses 2. And Church History giveth us but little account what particular persons did in private nor can it be expected 3. Who hath brought us any proof that ever the Church approved of spending any part of the day in sports or idleness or unnecessary worldly business Or that any Churches or persons regardable did actually so spend it 4. Unless their proof be from those many Canons of our own and other Churches that command the holy observation of it and forbid these playes and labours on it which I confess doth intimate that some there were that needed Laws to restrain them from the violation of it 5. Again I say that seeing few men will have the faces to say that playes and games or idleness are a duty on that day it will suffice a holy thankful Christian if he have but leave to spend all the day for the good of his soul and those about him and if he may be reading and meditating on the Word of God and praying and praising him and instructing his family while others waste that time in vanity especially to servants and poor men that have but little other leisure all the year to seek for knowledge or use any such helps for their salvation As to a poor man that is kept hungry all the Week a bare liberty of feasting with his Landlord on the Lords day would satisfie him without a Law to constrain him to it so is it here with a hungry soul. § 2. Direct 2. Remember that the work of the day â—â— in general to keep up knowledge and Religion Direct 2. in the world and to own and honour our Creater Redeemer and Regenerater openly before all and to have communion with God through Christ in the Spirit by Receiving and Exercising his Grace in order to our Communion with him in Glory Let these therefore well understood â—e your Ends and in these be you exercised all the day and stick not hypocritically in bodily rest and outward duties Remember that it is a day for heart-work as well as for the exercise of the tongue and ear and knees and that your principal business is with Heaven Follow your hearts therefore all the day and see that they be not idle while your bodies are exercised Nothing is done if the Heart do nothing § 3. Direct 3. Remember that the special work of the day is to celebrate the memorial of Christs Direct 3. Resurrection and of the whole work of mans Redemption by him Labour therefore with all diligence
in the sense of your natural sin and misery to stir up the lively sense of the wonderful Love of God and our Redeemer and to spend all the day in the special exercises of Faith and Love And seeing it is the Christian weekly festival or day of Thanksgiving for the greatest mercy in the world spend it as a day of Thanksgiving should be spent especially in Ioyful Praises of our Lord and let the huâ—bling and instructing exercisâ—s of the day he all subordinate to these laudatory exercises I know that much time must be spent in teaching and warning the ignorant and ungodly because their poverty and labours hinder them from other such opportunities and we must speak to them then or not at all But if it were not for their meer necessity and if we could as well speak to them other dayes of the Week the Churches should spend all the Lords Day in such praises and thanksgivings as are suitable to the ends of the institution But seeing that cannot be expected methinks it is desirable that the antient custome of the Churches were more imitated and the morning Sermon being fuited to the state of the more ignorant and unconverted that the rest of the day were spent in the exercises of Thanksgiving to the Joy and encouragement of believers and in doctrine suited to their state And yet I must add that a skilfull Preacher will do both together and so declare the Love and Grace of our Redeemer as by a meet application may both draw in the ungodly and comfort those that are already sanctified and raise their hearts in Praise to God § 4. Direct 4. Remember that the Lords day is appointed specially for publick worship and personal Direct 4. Communion of the Churches therein see therefore that you spend as much of the day as you can in this publick worship and Church-communion especially in the celebration of that Sacrament which is appointed for the memorial of the death of Christ untill his coming 1 Cor. 11. 25 26. This Sacrament in the Primitive Church was celebrated every Lords day yea and ofter even ordinarily on every other day of the week when the Churches assembled for Communion And it might be so now without any hinderance to Preaching or Prayer if all things were ordered as they should be For those Prayers and instructions and exhortations which are most suited to this Eucharistical action would be the most suitable Prayers and Sermons for the Church on the Lords dayes In the mean time sâ—e that so much of the day as is spent in Church-communion and publick worship be accordingly improved by you and be not at that time about your secret or family services but take only those hours for such private duties in which the Church is not assembled And remember how much the Love of Saints is to be exercised in this Communion and therefore labour to keep alive that Love without which no man can celebrate the Lords day according to the end of the institution § 5. Direct 5. Understand how great a mercy it is that you have leave thus to wait upon God for the receiving and exercise of grace and to cast off the distracting thoughts and businesses of the world and Direct 5. what an opportunity is put into your hand to get more in one day than this world can affâ—rd you all your lives And therefore come with gladness as to the receiving of so great a mercy and with desire after it and with hope to speed and not with unwillingness as to an unpleasant task as carnal hearts that Love not God or his Grace or Service and are aweary of all they do and glâ—d when it is done as the Ox that is unyoaked Isa. 58. 13 14. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a Delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own waies nor finding thine own pleasuâ—e nor speaking thine own words then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord The affection that you have to the Lords day much sheweth the temper of the heart A holy person is glad when it cometh as loving it for the holy exercises of the day A wicked carnal heart is glad of it only for his carnal ease but weary of the spiritual duties § 6. Direct 6. Avoid both the extreams of Prophaneness and Superstition in the point of your external rest And to that end Observe 1. That the work is not for the day but the day for the holy Direct 6. work As Christ saith Mark 2. 27. The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath It is appointed for our good and not for our hurt 2. The outward rest is not appointed for it self but as a means to the freedom of the mind for inward and spiritual employments And therefore all those outward and common labours and discourses are unlawful which any way distract the mind and hinder either our outward or inward attendance upon God and our edification 3. And whatever it was to the Jews no common words or actions are unlawful which are no hinderance to this communion and worship and spiritual edification 4. Yea those things that are necessary to the support of nature and the saving of the Life or health or estate and goods of our selves or our neighbours are needful duties on that day Not all those works which are truly charitable for it may be a work of mercy to build Hospitals or make Garments for the poor or Till their ground but such works of mercy as cannot be put off to another day and such as hinder not the duties of the day 5. The same word or action on the Lords day which is unlawful to one man may be lawful to another as being no hinderance yea a duty to him As Christ saith The Priests in the Temple break or prophane the Sabbath that is the outward rest but not the command and are blameless Matth. 12. 15. And the Cook may lawfully be employed in dressing meat when it were a sin in another to do it voluntarily without need 6. The Lords day being to be kept as a day of Thanksgiving the dressing of such meat as is fit for a day of Thanksgiving is not to be scrupled The primitive Christians in the Apostles time had their Love-feasts constantly with the Lords Supper or after on the Evening of the day And they could not feast without dressing meat 7. Yet that which is lawful in it self must be so done as consisteth with care and compassion of the souls of servants that are employed about it that they may â—e deprived of no more of their spiritual benefit than needs 8. Also that which is lawful must sometimes be forborn when it may by scandal tempt others that are loose or weak to do that which is unlawful not that the meer displeasing of the erroneous should put us out of the right
that the Preacher would have marked and because the understanding of that will much help you to understand all the rest which dependeth on it and relateth to it § 6. Direct 6. Mark most those things which are of greatest weight and â—nâ—eâ—â—ent to your souls And Direct 6. do not â—ix upon some little sayings and by discourses or witty sentences like Children thâ—â— bring home some scraps and words which they do but play with § 7. Direct 7. Learn first your Catechisms at home and the great Essential points of Religion Direct 7. contained in the Creâ—d the Lords Prayer and the Ten Commandments And in your Hearing first labour to get a clearer understanding of these And then the lesser branches which grow out of these will be the better understood You can scarce bestow too much care and pains in learning these great essential points It is the fruitfullest of all your studies Two things further I here advise you to avoid 1. The hasly climbing up to smaller points which some call Higher before you have well received these and the receiving of those higher points independently without their due respect to these which they depend upon 2. The feeding upon dry and barren Controversies and delighting in the chaffe of â—ingling words and impertinent unedifying things or discourses about to â—â—aliâ—â—es and circumstances § 8. Direct 8. Meditate on what you hear when you come home till you better understand it Direct 8. Psal. 1. 2. § 9. Direct 9. Enquire where you doubt of those that can resolve and teach you It sheweth a Direct 9. careless mind and a contempt of the Word of God in most people and servants that never come to ask the resolution of one doubt from one weeks or years end to another though they have Passors or Masters that have ability and leisure and willingness to help them Matth. 13. Mark 4. 10. When Christ was alone they that were about him with the twelve asked him the meaning of his Parable § 10. Direct 10. Read much those holy Books which treat best of the doctrine which you would Direct 10. understand § 11. Direct 11. Pray earnestly for wisdom and the illumination of the spirit Ephes. 1. 18. Act. Direct 11. 26. 18. Jâ—m 1. 5. § 12. Direct 12. Conscionable Practising what you know is an excellent help to understanding Direct 12. Joh. 7. 17. Tit. 2. Directions for Remembering what you Hear THat want of Memory which cometh from Age and decay of Nature is not to be cured Nor should any servant of Christ be overmuch troubled at it Seeing Christ will no more cast off his servants for that than he will for age or any sickness But for that want of memory which is curable and is a fault I shall give you these Directions following § 1. Direct 1. It greatly helpeth Memory to have a full Understanding of the matter spoken which you would remember And ignorance is one of the greatest hinderances to Memory Common experience telleth you this how easily you can remember any discourse which you throughly understand For your very knowledge by invention will revive your memory And how hard it is to remember any words which are insignificant or which we understand not Therefore labour most for a clear understanding according to the last Directions § 2. Direct 2. A deep awakened affection iâ— a very powerful help to memory We easily remember any thing which our estates or lives lye on when trifles are neglected and soon forgotten Therefore labour to get all to your hearts according to the next following Directions § 3. Direct 3. Method is a very great help to memory Therefore be acquainted with the Preachers Method And then you are put into a path or tract which you cannot easily go out of And therefore it is that Ministers must not only be Methodical and avoid prolix confused and involved discourses and that malicious pride of hiding their Method but must be as oft in the use of the same method as the Subject will bear and choose that method which is most easie to the hearers to understand and remember and labour to make them perceive your tract § 4. Direct 4. Numbers are a great help to memory As if the Reasons the Uses the Motives the Signes the Directions be six or seven or eight when you know just the number it helpeth you much to remember which was the first second third c. § 5. Direct 5. Names also and signal words are a great help to memory He may remember one word that cannot remember all the sentence And that one word may help him to remember much of the rest Therefore Preachers should contrive the force of every Reason Use Direction c. as much as may be into some one emphatical word And some do very profitably contrive each of those words to begin with the same Letter which is good for memory so it be not too much strained and put them not upon greater inconveniences As if I were to direct you to the chiefest Helps to your salvation and should name 1. Powerful Preaching 2. Prayer 3. Prudence 4. Piety 5. Painfulness 6. Patience 7. Perseverance though I opened every one of these at large the very names would help the hearers memory It is this that maketh Ministers that care more for their peoples souls than the pleasing of curious ears to go in the common road of Doctrine Reason Uses Motives Helps c. and to give their Uses the same titles of Information Reproof Exhortation c. And yet when the Subject shall direct us to some other method the hearers must not be offended with us For one Method will not serve exactly for every Subject and we must be loth to wrong the Text or Matter § 6. Direct 6. It is a great help to memory often in the time of hearing to call over and repeat to your selves the names or heads which have been spoken The mind of man can do two things at once You may both hear what is said and recall and repeat to your selves what is past Not to stand long upon it but oft and quickly to name over e. g. the Reasons Uses Motives c. To me this hath been next to understanding and Affection the greatest help of any that I have used For otherwise to hear a Head but once and think of it no more till the Sermon is done would never serve my turn to keep it § 7. Direct 7. Grasp not at more than you are able to hold lest thereby you lose all If there be more particulars than you can possibly remember lay hold on some which most concern you and let go the rest Perhaps another may rather take up those which you leave behind Yet say not that it is the Preachers fault to name more than you can carry away For 1. Then he must leave out his enlargement much more and the most of his Sermon for it 's like you leave
Christ and his Disciples But walk with the most Holy and blameless and charitable that live upon that truth which others talk of and are seeking to please God by the wisdom which is first pure and then peaceable and gentle Jam. 3. 17 18 when others are contending for their several sects or seeking to please Christ by killing him or censuring him or slandering him in his servants Ioh. 16. 2 3. Matth. 25. 45. 40. Direct 8. § 8. Direct 8. Keep a just account of your Practice Examine your selves in the end of every day and week how you have spent your time and practised what you were taught and judge your selves before God according at you find it Yea you must call your selves to account every hour what you are doing and how you do it whether you are upon Gods work or not And your hearts must be watcht and followed like unfaithful servants and like loitering Scholars and driven on to every duty like a dull or tired horse § 9. Direct 9. Above all set your hearts to the deepest contemplations of the wonderful Love of God Direct 9. in Christ and the sweetness and excellency of a holy life and the certain incomprehensible glory which it tendeth to that your souls may be in Love with your dear Redeemer and all that is holy and Love and obedience may be as natural to you And then the practice of holy doctrine will be easie to you when it is your delight § 10. Direct 10. Take heed that you receive not ungrounded or unnecessary prejudices against the Direct 10. person of the Preacher For that will turn away your heart and lock it up against his doctrine And therefore abhor the spirit of uncharitableness cruelty and faction which alway bendeth to the suppressing or vilifying and disgracing all those that are not of their way and for their interest And be not so blind as not to observe that the very design of the Devil in raising up divisions among Christians is that he may use the tongues or hands of one another to vilifie them all and make them odious to one another and to disable one another from hindering his Kingdom and doing any considerable service to Christ. So that when a Minister of Christ should be winning souls either he is forbidden or he is despised and the hearers are saying O he is such or such a one according to the names of reproach which the Enemy of Christ and Love hath taught them CHAP. XX. Directions for profitable Reading the holy Scriptures § 1. SEeing the diversity of mens tempers and understandings is so exceeding great that it is impossible that any thing should be pleasing and suitable to some which shall not be disliked and quarrelled with by others and seeing in the Scriptures there are many things hard to be understood which the unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3. 16. and the Word is to some the savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2. 16. You Mar. 4. 24. have therefore need to be careful in Reading it And as Christ saith Luke 8. 18. Take heed how you hear so I say Take heed how you read § 2. Direct 1. Bring not an evil heart of Unbelief Open the Bible with holy Reverence as the Book Direct 1. Read Chap. 3. Dir. 1. and against Unbelief Tom. 1. of God indited by the Holy Ghost Remember that the Doctrine of the New Testament was revealed by the Son of God who was purposely sent from Heaven to be the Light of the world and to make known to men the Will of God and the matters of their salvation Bethink you well if God should but send a Book or Letter to you by an Angel how reverently you would receive it How carefully you would peruse it and regard it above all the Books in the world And how much rather should you do so by that Book which is indited by the Holy Ghost and recordeth the doctrine of Christ himself whose authority is greater than all the Angels Read it not therefore as a common Book with a common and unreverent heart but in the dread and Love of God the Author Direct 2. § 3. Direct 2. Remember that it is the very Law of God which you must live by and be judged by at last And therefore read it with a full Resolution to obey what ever it commandeth though flesh and men and Devils contradict it Let there be no secret exceptions in your heart to baulk any of its Precepts and shift off that part of obedience which the flesh accounteth difficult or dear § 4. Direct 3. Remember that it is the Will and Testament of your Lord and the Covenant of most Direct 3. full and gracious Promises which all your Comforts and all your hopes of pardon and everlasting life are built upon Read it therefore with Love and great delight Value it a thousand fold more than you would do the letters of your dearest friend or the Deeds by which you hold your Lands or any thing else of low concernment If the Law was sweeter to David than honey and better than thousands of Gold and Silver and was his delight and meditation all the day O what should the sweet and pretious Gospel be to us Direct 4. § 5. Direct 4. Remember that it is a Doctrine of unseen things and of the greatest Mysteries and therefore come not to it with arrogance as a Iudge but with Humility as a Learner or Disciple And if any thing seem difficult or improbable to you suspect your own unfurnished understanding and not the sacred Word of God If a Learner in any Art or Science will suspect his Teacher and his Books when ever he is stalled or meeteth with that which seemeth unlikely to him his pride would keep possession for his ignorance and his folly were like to be uncurable Direct 5. § 6. Direct 5. Remember that it is an Universal Law and Doctrine written for the most ignorant as well as for the curious and therefore must be suited in plainness to the capacity of the simple and yet have matter to exercise the most subtile wits and that God would have the style to savâ—ur more of the innocent weakness of the instruments than the matter Therefore be not offended or troubled when the style dâ—th seem less polite than you might think beseemed the Holy Ghost nor at the plainness of some parts or the mysteriousness of others But adore the wisdom and tender condescension of God to his poor creatures § 7. Direct 6. Bring not a carnal mind which savoureth only fleshly things and is enslaved to those Direct 6. sins which the Scripture doth condemn For the carnal mind is enmity against God and neither is nor can be subject to his Law Rom. 8. 7 8. And the things of God are not discerned by the meer natural man for they are foolishness to him and they must be spiritually
Understandings and Charity to be both exceeding low § 7. Quest. 7. Must we alwayes pray according to the Method of the Lords Prayer and is it a sin Quest. 7. to do otherwise Answ. 1. The Lords Prayer is first a Rule for your Desires And it is a sin if your Desires follow not that Method If you do not begin in your Desires with God as your Ultimate End and if you first Desire not his Glory and then the flourishing of his Kingdom and then the Obeying of his Laws and herein the publick welfare of the world before and above your particular benefit And it is a sin if you desire not your Daily Bread or necessary support of Nature as a lower mercy in order to your higher spiritual mercies and if you desire not pardon of sin as a means to your future sanctity duty and felicity and if you desire not these as a means to the glory of God and take not his Praises as the highest part of your Prayers But for the Expressing of these Desires particular occasions may warrant you oft-times to begin in another order As when you pray for the sick or pray for directions or a blessing before a Sermon or some particular work you may begin and end with the subject that is before you as the prayers of holy men in all ages have done 2. You must distinguish also as between Desires and Expressions so between an Universal and a Particular Prayer The one containeth all the parts of prayer and the other is but about some one subject or part or but some few This last being but one or few particular Petitions cannot possibly be uttered in the Method of an Universal Prayer which hath all the parts There is no one Petition in the Lords Prayer but may be made a prayer it self and then it cannot have the other Petitions as parts 3. And you must distinguish between the even and ordinary case of a Christian and his extraordinary case when some special reason affection or accident calleth him to look most to some one particular In his even and ordinary case every universal prayer should be expressed in the Method of the Lords Prayer But in cases of special reason and inducement it may be otherwise § 8. Quest. 8. Must we pray alwayes when the Spirit moveth us and only then or as Reason guideeth Quest. 8. us Answ. There are two sorts of the Spirits motions The one is by extraordinary inspiration or impulse as he moved the Prophets and Apostles to reveal new Laws or precepts or events or to do some actions without respect to any other command than the Inspiration it self This Christians are not now to expect because experience telleth us that it is ceased or if any should pretend to it as not yet ceased in the prediction of events and direction in some things otherwise indifferent yet it is most certain that it is ceased as to Legislation For the spirit it self hath already given us those Laws which he hath declared to be perfect and unchangeable till the end of the world The other sort of the spirits working is not to make new Laws or Duties but to Guide and quicken us in the doing of that which is our Duty before by the Laws already made And these are the motions that all true Christians must now expect By which you may see that the Spirit and Reason are not to be here dis-joyned much less opposed As Reason sufficeth not without the spirit being dark and asleep so the spirit worketh not on the Will but by the Reason He moveth not a man as a beast or stone to do a thing he knoweth not why but by illumination giveth him the soundest Reason for the doing of it And Duty is first Duty before we do it And when by our own sin we forfeit the special motions or help of the spirit duty doth not thereby cease to be duty nor our omission to be sin If the spirit of God teach you to discern the meetest season for prayer by considering your affairs and when you are most free this is not to be denyed to be the work of the spirit because it is rational as phanatick enthusiasts imagine And if you are moved to pray in a crowd of business or at any time when Reason can prove that it is not your duty but your sin the same Reason proveth that it was not the spirit of God that moved you to it For the spirit in the heart is not contrary to the spirit in the Scripture Set upon the duty which the spirit in the Scripture commandeth you and then you may be sure that you obey the spirit otherwise you disobey it Yea if your hearts be cold prayer is a likelyer means to warm them than the omission of it To ask whether you may pray while your hearts are cold and backward is as to ask whether you may labour or come to the fire before you are warm Gods spirit is liker to help you in Duty than in the neglect of it § 9. Quest. 9. May a man pray that hath no Desire at all of the Grace which he prayeth for Quest. 9. Answ. No because it is no prayer but Dissembling and dissembling is no duty He that asketh for that which he would not have doth lye to God in his hypocrisie But if a man have but cold and common desires though they reach not to that which will prove them evidences of true grace he may pray and express those desires which he hath § 10. Quest. 10. May a man pray that doubteth of his interest in God and dare not call him Father Quest. 10. as his Child Answ. 1. There is a common Interest in God which all mankind have as he is Good to all and as Psal. 42. 9. 22. 1. â—on 2. 4. Jâ—r 31. 9. Luk. 15. 12 17 19. Mal. 2. 10. his mercy through Christ is offered to all And thus those that are not regenâ—rate are his Children by Creation and by participation of his mercy And they may both call him Father and pray to himself though yet they are unregenerate 2. God hath an interest in you when you have no special interest in him Therefore his command must be obeyed which bids you pray 3. Groundless doubts will not disoblige you from your duty else men might free themselves from almost all their obedience § 11. Quest. 11. May a wicked or unregenerate man pray and is he accepted Or is not his prayer Quest. 11. abominable to God Answ. 1. A wicked man as a wicked man can pray no how but wickedly that is he asketh only Act. 15. 17. 1â— 27. 8. 22. Isa. 55. 6. Psal. 14. 4. for things unlawful to be asked or for lawful things to unlawful ends and this is still abominable to God 2. A wicked man may have in him some good that proceedeth from common grace and this he may be obliged to exercise and so by prayer
among those that cannot pray Iohn and Christ taught their Disciples Mat. 6. Luk. 11. to pray Tit. 4. Special Directions for secret Prayer § 1. Direct 1. LET it be in as secret a place as conveniently you can that you may not be Direct 1. disturbed Let it be done so that others may not be witnesses of it if you can avoid it and yet take it not for your duty to keep it unknown that you pray secretly at all for that will be a snare and scandal to them § 2. Direct 2. Let your voice be suited to your own help and benefit if none else hear you If it be Direct 2. needful to the orderly proceeding of your own thoughts or to the warming of your own affections you may use a voice But if others be within hearing it is very unfit § 3. Direct 3. In secret let the matter of your prayers be that which is most peculiarly your own Direct 3. concernment or those secret things that are not fit for publick prayer or are there passed by Yet never forgetting the highest interest of Christ and the Gospel and the World and Church § 4. Direct 4. Be less sollicitous about words in secret than with others and lay out your care about Direct 4. the heart For that 's it that God most esteemeth in your prayers § 5. Direct 5. Do not through carnal unwillingness grow into a neglect of secret prayer when you Direct 5. have time Nor yet do not superstitiously tye your selves to just so long time whether you are fit or at leisure from greater duties or not But be the longer when you are most fit and vacant and the shorter when you are not To give way to every carnal backwardness is the sin on one side and to resolve to spend so long time when you do but tire your selves and sleep or business or distemper maketh it a lifeless thing is a sin on the other side Avoid them both § 6 Direct 6. A melancholy person who is unfit for much solitariness and heart-searchings must be much Direct 6. short if not also seldomer in secret prayers than other Christians that are capable of bearing it And they must instead of that which they cannot do be the more in that which they can do As in joyning with others and in short ejaculations besides other duties but not abatâ—ing their piety in the main upon any pretence of curing melancholy CHAP. XXIV Brief Directions for Families about the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. OMitting those things which concern the publick administration of this Sacrament for the Reasons before intimated Tom 2. I shall here only give you some brief Directions for your private duty herein § 1. Direct 1. Understand well the proper ends to which this Sacrament was instituted by Direct 1. Christ and take heed that you use it not to ends for which it never was appointed The true ends Q. What are the Ends of the Sacramâ—nâ— Matth. 26. 28. Mar. 14. â—4 Luâ— â—2 â—0 1 Cor. 11. 25. Heb. 9. 15 16 â—â— 1â— 1 Cor. 10. 16 24. Joh. 6. 32 35 51 58. are these 1. To be a solemn commemoration of the Death and Passion of Jesus Christ to keep it as it were in the eye of the Church in his bodily absence till he come 1 Cor. 11. 24 25 26. 2. To be a solemn renewing of the holy Covenant which was first entred in Baptism between Christ and the Receiver And in that Covenant it is on Christs part a solemn delivery of Himself first and with Himself the Benefits of Pardon Reconciliation Adoption and right to life eternal And on mans part it is our solemn acceptance of Christ with his Benefits upon his terms and a Delivering up our selves to Him as his Redeemed ones even to the Father as our Reconciled Father and to the Son as our Lord and Saviour and to the Holy Spirit as our Sanctifier with Professed Thankfulness for so great a benefit 3. It is appointed to be a lively objective means by which the spirit of Christ should work to stir up and exercise and increase the Repentance Faith Desire Love Hope Ioy Thankfulness and new-obedience of Believers by a lively Representation of the evil of sin the infinite Love of God in Christ the firmness of the Covenant or promise the greatness and sureness of the mercy given and the blessedness purchased and promised to us and the great obligations that are laid upon us And that herein Believers might be solemnly called out to the most serious exercise of all these 1 Cor. 11. 27 28 29 31. 1 Cor. 10. 16 17 â—1 1 Cor. 11. 25 26. 2 Cor. 6. 14. Act 2 42 46. 20. 7. graces and might be provoked and assisted to stir up themselves to this Communion with God in Christ and to pray for more as through a sacrificed Christ. 4. It is appointed to be the solemn profession of Believers of their Faith and Love and Gratitude and obedience to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and of continuing firm in the Christian Religion And a badge of the Church before the world 5. And it is appointed to be a signe and means of the Unity Love and Communion of Saints and their readiness to communicate to each other § 2. The false mistaken ends which you must avoid are these 1. You must not with the Papists think that the end of it is to turn Bread into no bread and Wine into no wine and to make them Really the true Body and blood of Jesus Christ. For if sense which telleth all men that it is still Bread and wine be not to be believed then we cannot believe that ever there was a Gospel or an Apostle or a Pope or a man or any thing in the world And the Apostle expresly calleth it Bread three times in three verses together after the consecration 1 Cor. 11. 26 27 28. And he telleth us that the use of it is not to make the Lords Body really present but to shew the Lords death till be come that is As a visible representing and commemorating sign to be instead of his bodily presence till he come § 3. 2. Nor must you with the Papists use this Sacrament to sacrifice Christ again really unto the Father to propitiate him for the quick and dead and ease souls in Purgatory and deliver them out Rom. 6. 9. 1 Cor. 15. 3. 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Heb. 9. 26. 10. 12 26. Heb. 9. 24. of it For Christ having dyed once dyeth no more and without killing him there is no sacrificing him By once offering up himself he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified and now there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin Having finished the sacrificing work on earth he is now passed into the Heavens to appear before God for his Redeemed ones § 4. 3. Nor is it any better than odious impiety to receive the Sacrament to
that you must there exercise II. What there is objectively presented before you in the Sacrament to exercise all these Graces III. At what seasons in the administration each of these inward works are to be done § 47. I. The Graces to be exercised are these besides that holy fear and reverence common to all Worship 1. A humble sense of the odiousness of sin and of our undone condition as in our selves and a displeasure against our selves and loathing of our selves and melting Repentance for the sins we have committed as against our Creator and as against the Love and Mercy of a Redeemer and against the holy Spirit of Grace 2. A hungring and thirsting desire after the Lord Jesus and his Grace and the favour of God and communion with him which are there represented and offered to the soul. 3. A lively faith in our Redeemer his death resurrection and intercession and a trusting our miserable souls upon him as our sufficient Saviour and help And a hearty Acceptance of him and his benefits upon his offered terms 4. A Ioy and gladness in the sense of that unspeakable mercy which is here offered us 5. A Thankful heart towards him from whom we do receive it 6. A fervent Love to him that by such Love doth seek our Love 7. A triumphant Hope of life eternal which is purchased for us and sealed to us 8. A willingness and resolution to deny our selves and all this world and suffer for him that hath suffered for our Redemption 9. A Love to our Brethren our neighbours and our enemies with a readiness to relieve them and to forgive them when they do us wrong 10. And a firm Resolution for future obedience to our Creator and Redeemer and Sanctifier according to our Covenant § 48. II. In the naming of these Graces I have named their Objects which you should observe as distinctly as you can that they may be operative 1. To help your Humiliation and Repentance you bring thither a loaden miserable soul to receive a pardon and relief And you see before you the sacrificed Son of God who made his soul an offering for sin and became a Curse for us to save us who were accursed 2. To draw out your Desires you have the most excellent gifts and the most needful mercies presented to you that this world is capable of Even the Pardon of sin the Love of God the Spirit of Grace and the hopes of Glory and Christ himself with whom all this is given 3. To exercise your Faith you have Christ here first represented as crucified before your eyes and then with his benefits freely given you and offered to your Acceptance with a Command that you refuse him not 4. To exercise your Delight and Gladness you have this Saviour and this Salvation tendered to you and all that your souls can well desire set before you 5. To exercise your Thankfulness what could do more than so great a Gift so dearly purchased so surely sealed and so freely offered 6. To exercise your Love to God in Christ you have the fullest manifestation of his attractive Love even offered to your eyes and taste and heart that a soul on earth can reasonably expect in such wonderful condescension that the greatness and strangeness of it surpasseth a natural mans belief 7. To exercise your Hopes of Life Eternal you have the price of it here set before you you have the Gift of it here sealed to you and you have that Saviour represented to you in his suffering who is now there reigning that you may remember him as expectants of his Glorious Coming to judge the world and glorifie you with himself 8. To exercise your self-denyal and resolution for suffering and contempt of the world and fleshly pleasures you have before you both the greatest Example and Obligation that ever could be offered to the world when you see and receive a Crucified Christ that so strangely denyed himself for you and set so little by the world and flesh 9. To exercise your Love to Brethren yea and enemies you have his example before your eyes that Loved you to the death when you were enemies And you have his holy servants before your eyes who are amiable in him through the workings of his Spirit and on whom he will have you shew your Love to himself 10. And to excite your Resolution for future Obedience you see his double Title to the Government of you as Creator and as Redeemer and you feel the obligations of Mercy and Gratitude and you are to renew a Covenant with him to that end even openly where all the Church are witnesses So that you see here are powerful objects before you to draw out all these Graces and that they are all but such as the work requireth you then to exercise § 49. III. But that you may be the readier when it cometh to practice I shall as it were lead you by the hand through all the parts of the administration and tell you when and how to exercise every grace and those that are to be joyned together I shall take together that needless distinctness do not trouble you 1. When you are called up and going to the Table of the Lord exercise your Humility Desire and Thankfulness and say in your hearts What Lord dost thou call such a wretch as I What! me that have so oft despised thy mercy and wilfully offended thee and preferred the filth of this world and the pleasures of the flesh before thee Alas it is thy wrath in Hell that is my due But if Love will choose such an unworthy guest and Mercy will be honoured upon such sin and misery I come Lord at thy call I gladly come Let thy will be done and let that mercy which inviteth me make me acceptable and gratiously entertain me and let me not come without the wedding garment nor unreverently rush on holy things nor turn thy mercies to my bane § 50. 2. When the Minister is confessing sin prostrate your very souls in the sense of your unworthiness and let your particular sins be in your eye with their heinous aggravations The whole need not the Physicion but the sick But here I need not put words into your mouths or minds because the Minister goeth before you and your hearts must concurr with his Confessions and put in also the secret sins which he omitteth § 51. 3. When you look on the Bread and Wine which is provided and offered for this holy use remember that it is the Creator of all things on whom you live whose Laws you did offend and say in your hearts O Lord how great is my offence who have broken the Laws of him that made me and on whom the whole Creation doth depend I had my Being from thee and my daily bread and should I have requited thee with disobedience Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son § 52. 4. When the
of God you will easily be assured that you love them When you strongly hate sin and live in universal constant obedience you will easily discern your Repentance and obedience But weak grace will have but weak assurance and little consolation § 12. Direct 3. Set your selves with all your skill and diligence to destroy every sin of heart Direct 3. and life and make it your principal eare and business to do your duty and please and honour God in your place and to do all the good you can in the world and trust God with your souls as long as you wait upon him in his way If you live in wilful sin and negligence be not unwilling to be reproved and delivered If you cherish your sensual fleshly lusts and set your hearts too eagerly on the world or defend your unpeaceableness and passion or neglect your known duty to God or man and make no Conscience of a true reformation it is not any enquiries after signes of grace that will help you to assurance You may complain long enough before you have case while such a thorn is in your foot Conscience must be better used before it will speak a word of sound well grounded peace to you But when you set your selves with all your care and skill to do your Duties and please your Lord he will not let your labour be in vain He will take care of your peace and comfort while you take care of your duty And in this way you may boldly trust him Only think not hardly and falsly of the Goodness of that God whom you study to serve and please § 13. Direct 4. Be sure whatever condition you are in that you understand and hold fast and Direct 4. improve the General grounds of Comfort which are common to mankind so far as they are made known to them and they are three which are the Foundation of all our comfort 1. The Goodness and Mercifulness of God in his very Nature 2. The sufficiency of the satisfaction or sacrifice of Christ. 3. The universality and freeness and sureness of the Covenant or promise of pardon and salvation to all that by final impenitence and unbelief do not continue obstinately to reject it or to all that unfeignedly Repent and Believe 1. Think not meanly and poorly of the infinite Goodness of God Psal. 103 8 11 17. 89. 2. 86. 5 15. 25. 10. 119. 64. 138. 8. 1â—6 5. Even to Moses he proclaimeth his name at the second delivery of the Law The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin Exod. 34. 6 7. His mercy is over all his works It is great and reacheth to the Heavens It is firm and endureth for ever And he hath pleasure in those that hope in his mercy Psal. 147. 11. 100. 5. 33. 18. 57. 10. 108. 4. 2. Extenuate not the Merits and Sacrifice of Christ but know that never man was damned for want of a Christ to dye and be a sacrifice for his sin but only for want of Repentance and faith in him Ioh. 3. 16. 3. Deny not the universality of the conditional promise of pardon and salvation to all that it is offered to and will accept it on the offerers terms And if you do but feel these three foundations firm and stedfast under you it will encourage every willing soul. The Love of God was the cause of our Redemption by Christ Redemption was the foundation of the Promise or new Covenant And he that buildeth on this threefold foundation is safe § 14. Direct 5. When you come to try your particular Title to the blessings of the Covenant be Direct 5. sure that you well understand the condition of the Covenant and look for the performance of that condition in your selves as the infallible Evidence of your title And know that the condition is nothing but an unfeigned Consent unto the Covenant Or such a Belief of the Gospel as makeeth you truly willing of all the mercies offered in the Gospel and of the Duties required in order to those mercies And That nothing depriveth any man that heareth the Gospel of Christ and pardon and salvation but obstinate unwillingness or refusal of the mercy and the necessary annexed duties Understand this well and then peruse the Covenant of Grace which is but to take God for your God and Happiness your Father your Saviour and your Sanctifier and then ask your hearts whether here be any thing that you are unwilling of and unwilling of in a prevailing degree when it is greater than your willingness And if truly you are willing to be in Covenant with your God and Saviour and Sanctifier upon these terms know that your Consent or Willingness or Acceptance of the mercy offered you is your true performance of the Condition of your title and consequently the infallible evidence of your title even as Marriage Consent is a title-condition to the person and priviledges And therefore if you find this your doubts are answered You have found as good an evidence as Scripture doth acquaint us with And if this will not quiet and satisfie you you understand not the business nor is it Reason or Evidence that can satisfie you till you are better prepared to understand them But if really you are unwilling and will not consent to the terms of the Covenant then instead of doubting be past doubt that you are yet unsanctified And your work is presently to consider better of the terms and benefits and of those unreasonable reasons that make you unwilling till you see that your happiness lyeth upon the business and that you have all the reason in the world to make you willing and no true Reason for the withholding of your Consent And when the light of these considerations hath prevailed for your Consent the match is made and your Evidence is sure § 15. Direct 6. Iudge not of your hearts and Evidences upon every sudden glance or feeling Direct 6. but upon a sober deliberate examination when your minds are in a clear composed frame And as then you find your selves record the judgement or discovery and believe not every sudden inconsiderate appearance or passionate fear against that Record Otherwise you will never be quiet or resolved but carryed up and down by present sense The case is weighty and not to be decided by a sudden aspect nor by a scattered or a discomposed mind If you call your unprovided or your distempered understandings suddenly to so great a work no wonder if you are deceived You must not judge of colours when your eye is blood-shotten or when you look through a coloured Glass or when the object is far off It is like casting up a long and difficult account which must be done deliberately as a work of time and when it is so done and the summs
subscribed if afterwards you will question that account again you must take as full a time to do it and that when you are as calm and vacant as before and not unsettle an exact account upon a sudden view or a thought of some one particular Thus must you trust to no examinations and decisions about the state of your souls but those that in long and calm deliberation have brought it to an issue § 16. Direct 7. And in doing this neglect not to make use of the assistance of an able Direct 7. faithful Guide so far as your own weakness makes it necessary Your doubting sheweth that you are not sufficient to dispatch it satisfactorily your selves The Question then is What help a wiser man can give you Why he can clearlier open to you the true nature of Grace and the marks that are infallible and the extent of the Grace and tenour of the Covenant and he can help you how to trace your hearts and observe the discoveries of good or evil in them he can shew you your mistakes and help you in the application and tell you much of his own and others experiences And he can pass a strong Conjecture upon your own Case in particular if he be one that knoweth the course of your lives and is intimately acquainted with you For Sin and Grace are both expressive operative things like Life that ordinarily will stir or Fire that will be seen Though their judgement cannot be infallible of you and though for a while Hypocrisie may hide you from the knowledge of another yet ficâ—a non diâ— c. ordinarily Nature will be seen and that which is within you will shew it self so that your familiar acquaintance that see your lives in private and in publick may pass a very strong conjecture at your state whether you sâ—t your selves indeed to please God in sincerity or no. Therefore if possible choose such a man to help you as is 1. Able 2. Faithful and 3. Well acquainted with you And undervalue not his judgement § 17. Direct 8. When you cannot attain to a Certainty of your case undervalue not and Direct 8. neglect not the Comforts which a bare probability may afford you I know that a Certainty in so weighty a case should be earnestly desired and endeavoured to the uttermost But yet it is no small comfort which a likelihood or hopefulness may yield you Husband and Wife are uncertain every day whether one of them may kill the other And yet they can live comfortably together because it is an unlikely thing and though it be possible it is not much to be feared All the comforts of Christians dependeth not on their Assurance It is but few Christians in the world that reach to clear Assurance For all the Papists Lutherans and Arminians are without any Certainty of their salvation because they think it cannot be had And all those Jansenists or Protestants that are of Augustines judgement are without Assurance of salvation though they may have assurance of their Justification and Sanctification Because their judgement is that the justified and sanctified though not the Elect may fall away And of those that hold the Doctrine of Perseverance how few do we find that can say they are certain of their sincerity and salvation Alas not one of very many And yet many thousands of these do live in some peace of Conscience and quietness and comfort in the hopefulness and probabilities to which they have attained § 18. Direct 9. Resolve to be much in the great delightful duties of Thanksgiving and the Direct 9. Praise of God and to spend a considerable part ordinarily of all your prayers herein especially to spend the Lords Day principally in these And thus you will have three great advantages 1. The very actings of Love and Thanks and Joy will help you to comfort in a nearer way than arguments and self-examination will do even in a way of feeling as the fire maketh you warm 2. The custome of exercising those sweetest graces will habituate your souls to it and in time wear out the sadder impression 3. God will most own you in those highest duties § 19. Direct 10. Mark well how far your doubtings do help or hinder you in your sanctification Direct 10. So far as they turn your heart from God and from the Love and sweetness of a holy life and unfit you for thankfulness and chearful obedience so far you may be sure that Satan is gratified by them and God displeased and therefore they should be resisted But so far as they keep you humble and obedient and make you more tenderly afraid of sin and quicken your desires of Christ and grace so far God useth them for your benefit And therefore be not too impatient under them but wait on God in the use of his means and he will give his comforts in the fittest season Many an one hath sweet assurance at his death or in his sufferings for Christ when he needed it most that was fain to live long before without it Especially take care 1. That you miss not of Assurance through your own neglect 2. And that your doubtings work no ill effects in turning away your hearts from God or discouraging you in his service and then you may take them as a tryal of your patience and they will certainly have a happy end CHAP. XXVI Directions for Declining or Backsliding Christians and about Perseverance THe case of Backsliders is so terrible and yet the mistakes of many Christians so common in thinking unjustly that they are backsliders that this subject must be handled with the greater care And when I have first given some Directions for the Cure I shall next give some to others for Prevention of so sad a state § 1. Direct 1. Understand well wherein Backsliding doth consist the sorts and the degrees of it that so you may the more certainly and exactly discern whether it be indeed your case or not To this end I shall here open to you I. The several sorts of Backsliders II. The several steps or degrees of backsliding III. The signs of it § 2. I. There are in general three sorts of Backsliders 1. Such as decline from the Truth by the error of their Understanding 2. Such as turn from the Goodness of God and Holiness by the corruption of their Will and Affections 3. Such as turn from the Obedience of God and an upright conversation by the sinfulness of their lives The first sort containeth in it 1. Such as decline to Infidelity from Faith and doubt of the Truth of the Word of God 2. Such as decline only to error about the meaning of the Scriptures though they doubt not of the Truth of them This corrupted Iudgement will presently corrupt both Heart and Life § 3. The second sort Backsliders in Heart containeth 1. Such as only lose their Affections to Good their complacency and desire and lose their averseness and zeal against
â—ordidst garb of a cold and careless heart and life 10. When you grow hottest about some Controverted smaller matters in Religion or studious of the interest of some private opinion and party which you have chosen more than of the interest of the common Truths and Cause of Christ. 11. When in joyning with others you rellish more the fineness of the speech than the Spirit and weight and excellency of the matter and are impatient of hearing of the wholsomest truths if the speaker manifest any personal infirmity in the delivery of them And are weary and tired if you be not drawn on with novelty variety or elegancy of speech 12. When you grow more indifferent for your company and set less by the company of serious godly Christians than you did and are almost as well pleased with common company and discourse 13. When you grow more impatient of reproof for sin and love not to be told of any thing in you that is amiss but love those best that highliest applaud you 14. When the renewing of your Repentance is grown a lifeless cursory work When in preparation for the Lords Day or Sacrament or other occasions you call your selves to no considerable account or make no greater a matter of the sins which you find on your account than if you were almost reconciled to them 15. When you grow more uncharitable and censorious to brethren that differ from you in tolerable points and less tender of the names or welfare of others and love not your neighbour as your selves and do not as you would be done by 16. When you grow less compassionate to the ungodly world and less regardful of the common interest of the Universal Church and of Jesus Christ throughout the earth and grow more narrow private-spirited and confine your care to your selves or to your party 17. When the hopes of Heaven and the Love of God cannot content you but you are thirsty after some worldly contentment and grow eager in your desires and the world groweth more sweet to you and more amiable in your eyes 18 When sense and appetite 1 Cor. 7. 31. and fleshly pleasure is grown more powerful with you and you make a great matter of them and cannot deny them without a great deal of striving and regret as if you had done some great exploit if you live not like a beast 19. When you are more proud and impatient and are less able to bear disesteem and slighting and injuries from men or poverty or sufferings for Christ and make a greater matter of your losses or crosses or wrongs than beseemeth one that is dead to the flesh and to the world 20. Lastly When you had rather dwell on Earth than be in Heaven and are more unwilling to think of death or to prepare for it and expect it and are less in love with the coming of Christ and are ready to say of this sinful life in flesh It is good to be here All these are signs of a declining state though yet you are not come to apostacy § 15. But the signs of a mortal damnable state indeed are found in these following degrees 1. When a man had rather have worldly prosperity than the â—avour and fruition of God in Heaven Signs of a graceless state 2. When the interest of the flesh can do more with him than the interest of God and his soul and do more rule and dispose of his heart and life 3. When he had rather live in sensuality than in Holiness And had rather have leave to live as he list than have a Christ and Holy Spirit to sanctifie and cure him or at least will not be cured on the terms proposed in the Gospel 4. When he loveth not the means that would recover him as such The nearer you come to this the more dangerous is your case § 16. And these following signs are therefore of a very dangerous signification 1. When the Dangerous signs of impenitency pleasure of sinful prosperity and delights doth so far over-top the pleasures of holiness that you are under trouble and weariness in holy duties and at ease and merry when you have your sinful delights 2. When no perswasion of a Minister or friend can bring you so throughly to repent of your open scandalous sins as to take shame to your selves in a free confession of them even in the open Assembly if you are justly called to it to condemn your selves and give warning to others and glorifie the most Holy God But you will not believe that any such disgraceful confession is your duty because you will not do it 3. When you cannot bring your hearts to a full Resolution to let go your sin but though Conscience worry and condemn you for it you do but sleightly purpose hereafter to amend but will not presently resolve 4. When you will not be perswaded to consent to the necessary effectual means of your recovery as to abstain from the bait and temptation and occasion of sin Many a Drunkard hath told me he was willing to be reformed but when I have desired them then to consent to drink no Wine or Ale for so many months and to keep out of the place and to commit the Government of themselves for so many months to their Wives or some other friend that liveth with them and to drink nothing but what they give them they would not Consent to any of this and so shewed the hypocrisie of their professed willingness to amend 5. When sin becometh easie and the Conscience groweth patient with it and quiet under it 6. When the judgement taketh part with it and the tongue will plead for it and justifie or extenuate it insteâ—d of repenting of it These are dangerous signs of an impenitent unpardoned miserable soul. And the man is in a dangerous way to this 1. When he hath plunged himself into such engagements to sin that he cannot leave it but it will cost him very dear as it will be his shame to confess it or his undoing in the world to forsake it or a great deal of cost and labour must be lost which his ambitious or Covetous projects have cost him It will be hard breaking over so great difficulties 2. When God letteth him alone in sin and prospereth him in it or doth not much disturb him or afflict him This also is a dangerous case § 17. By all this you may perceive that those are no signes of a backsliding state which some False signs of declining poor Christians are afraid are such As 1. When poverty necessitateth them to lay out more of their time and thoughts and words about the labours of their callings than some richer persons do 2. When age or sickness causeth their memories to decay so that they cannot remember a Sermon so well as heretofore 3. When age or sickness taketh off the quickness and vigor of their spirits so that they have not the lively affections in prayer or holy
and accordingly your speech must be mixt and tempered and your counsels or comforts given with the Conditions and Suppositions exprest § 13. Quest. But what order would you have us observe in speaking to the ignorant and ungodly Quest. 5. when the time is so short Answ. 1. Labour to awaken them to a lively sense of the change which is at hand that they may Answ. understand the necessity of looking after the state of their souls 2. Then shew them what are the terms of salvation and who they are that the Gospel doth judge to salvation or damnation 3. Next advise them to try which of these is their condition and to deal faithfully seeing self-flattery may undo them but can do them no good 4. Then help them in the tryal q. d. If it have been so or so with you then you may know that this is your case 5. Then tell them the Reasons of your fears if you fear they are unconverted or of your hopes if you hope indeed that it is better with them 6. Then exhort them conditionally if they are yet in a carnal unsanctified state to lament it and be humbled and penitent for their sinful and ungodly life 7. And then tell them the Remedy in Christ and the Holy Ghost and the Promise or Covenant of Grace 8. And lastly tell them their present duty that this Remedy may prove effectual to their salvation And if you have so much interest or authority as maketh it fit for you excite them by convenient questions so far to open their case as may direct you and as by their answers may shew whether they truly resolve for a holy life if God restore them and whether their hearts indeed be changed or not § 14. Direct 7. If you are not able to instruct them as you should read some good Book to Direct 7. them which is most suitable to their case Such as Mr. Perkins Right art of Dying well The Practice of Piety in the Directions for the Sick Mr. Ed. Lawrences Treatise of Sickness or what else is most suitable to them And because most are themselves unable for counselling the sick aright and you may not have a fit Book at hand I shall here subjoyn a brief Form or two for such to Read to the Sick that can endure no long discourse And other books will help you to forms of Prayer with them if you cannot pray without such help § 15. Direct 8. Iudge not of the state of mens souls by those carriages in their sickness which Direct 8. proceed from their diseases or bodily distemper Many ignorant people judge of a man by the manner of his dying If one die in calmness and clearness of understanding and a few good words they think that this is to die like a Saint Whereas in Consumptions and oft in Dropsies and other such Chronical diseases this is ordinary with good and bad And in a Feaver that 's violent or a Phrensie or Distraction the best man that is may die without the use of Reason Some diseases will make one blockish and heavy and unapt to speak and some consist with as much freedom of speech as in time of health The state of mens souls must not be judged of by such accidental unavoidable things as these § 16. Direct 9. Be neither unnaturally sensless at the death of friends nor excessively dejected or afflicted Direct 9. To make light of the Death of Relations and friends be they good or bad is a sign of a very vitious nature that is so much selfish as not much to regard the Lives of others And he that regardeth not the Life of his friends is little to be trusted in his lower concernments I speak not this of those persons whose temper alloweth them not to weep For there may be as deep a regard and sorrow in some that have no tears as in others that abound with them But I speak of a naughty selfish nature that is little affected with any ones concernments but its own § 17. Yet your grief for the death of friends must be very different both in degree and kind 1. For ungodly friends you must grieve for their own sakes because if they dyed such they are lost for ever 2. For your Godly friends you must mourn for the sake of your selves and others because God hath removed such as were blessings to those about them 3. For choice Magistrates and Ministers and other instruments of publick good your sorrow must be greater because of the common loss and the judgement thereby inflicted on the World 4. For old tryed Christians that have overcome the world and lived so long till age and weakness make them almost unserviceable to the Church and who groan to be unburdened and to be with Christ your sorrow should be least and your joy and thanks for their happiness should be greatest But especially abhor that nature that secretly is glad of the death of Parents or little sorrowful because that their estates are faln to you or you are enriched or set at liberty by their death God seldom leaveth this sin unrevenged by some heavy judgements even in this life § 18. Direct 10. To overcome your inordinate grief for the death of your relations consider these Direct 10. things following 1. That excess of sorrow is your sin And sinning is an ill use to be made of your Help against excessive grief for the Death of friends affliction 2. That it tendeth to a great deal more It unfitteth you for many duties which you are bound to as to Rejoice in God and to be Thankful for mercies and cheerful in his Love and Praise and Service And is it a small sin to unfit your selves for the greatest duties 3. If you are so troubled at Gods disposal of his own what doth your Will but rise up against the will of God as if you grudged at the exercise of his Dominion and Government that is that he is God! Who is wisest and Best and fittest to dispose of all mens lives Is it God or you Would you not have God to be the Lord of all and to dispose of Heaven and earth and of the lives and Crowns of the greatest Princes If you would not you would not have him to be God If you would is it not unreasonable that you or your friends only should be excepted from his disposal 4. If your friends are in Heaven how unsuitable is it for you to be overmuch mourning for them when they are rapt into the highest Joyes with Christ and Love should teach you to rejoice with them that rejoice and not to mourn as those that have no hope 5. You know not what mercy God Isa. 57. 1. shewed to your friends in taking them away from the evil to come you know not what suffering Phil. 1. 2◠23. the Land or Church is falling into or at least might have faln upon themselves nor what sins they might have
and shadow of felicity the world puts off its followers with How they act their parts as Players on a stage and they that in a dream or Mask did yesterday seem Princes Lords or Conquerours to day are buryed in a darksome grave And they that yesterday seemed great and rich to day have no more of their furniture or possessions than a Coffin and a Winding-sheet and a place to hide their lothesome flesh And they that yesterday were merry and jovial and in health and honour to day lye groaning in painful misery and are leaving their dear bought beloved riches never to be delightful to them any more How little doth it concern them that must dwell in Heaven or Hell for ever whether they live in wealth or poverty in honour or shame in a Palace or a Cottage in pain or pleasure for so short a time as this transitory life which is almost at an end as soon as it is begun How many millions of dying Parents have cryed out of the world as VANITY and VEXATION and yet their besotted posterity admire it and through the love of it lose their souls and everlasting hopes They boast or rejoyce in the multitude of their Riches as if their houses would continue for ever though in their honour they abide not but are like the beasts that perish and death feedeth on them when like sheep they are laid in the grave And though this their way is their folly yet their posterity approve their sayings and follow them by the same sin to the same Perdition Psal. 49. 6 7 10 11 12 13 14 17 19 20. And is this a world for a holy soul to be in love with Hath it merited our affections Doth it love us so much or use us so well that we should be lothe to leave it Iohn 15. 18 19 20. As it loved our Lord it will love his followers As it used him it will use us if he restrain it not Is a blinded Bedlam world a malitious cruel and ungodly world a false perfidious deceitful world a place for 1 John 2. 15. John 15. 17 18 19 20. a Saint to be lothe to leave O blessed be that Love that Blood that Grace which hath provided better for us And shall we be unwilling to go to so sweet a Feast and to partake of a happiness which cost so dear Come on then Dear Friend and faint not at the last and fear not to encounter with the King of Post illam pugnâ—m tâ—â—umphabimus Victoâ—es eâ—m nostro Signiâ—ero in vita aeterna Diu in Christum credidi Desidero jam finem fide ut non â—mplius credam in eum sed videam eum in quem credidi ut gustem quam suavis sit Dominus palpem manibus Dominum meum Deum meum Ibi vocabor Abraham qui laetatur videns diem Christi Exper us sum quod in â—âc vitâ peccatum sit omnia in omnibus Experiar etiam aliam vitam ubi est Dominus omnia in omnibus Abr. Bâ—choltze rfâ—â—â—â—ate Abr. Scâ—lâ—eto ia Cuâ—ic vitae suae pag. 15. fears It is the last enemy and it is a conquered enemy Conquer this and you have no more to conquer Lift up your head and look to your Victorious Reigning Lord Gird up the loins of your mind and let faith and patience hold out yet a little while and play well this last part and all 's your own If the Tempter now assault your faith and sinking flesh do give him any advantage abhorr his blasphemies and cry for help to him that conquered him Do you think yonder high and spacious 1. mansions are uninhabited When every part of Sea and Land hath its inhabitants Why have those blessed Angels been so long employed in ministring for you but to let you know that your souls are not so distant from them but that they are glad of familiarity with you and you may be like them Luke 20. 26. or equal with them in felicity Nature hath put you out of doubt that there is a God of Infinite Eternal Being Power Wisdom and Goodness who is the Efficient Dirigent and Final Cause of all the Creator and Governour of the world And the same Nature hath put you out of doubt that All that his Creatures have or can do is due to him from whom they have it and that so far as you are capable to Know and Love and Serve him that you should employ your faculties herein And nothing is more undenyable to you than that it is our Duty to Love and Serve our God with all our heart and soul and might And it is as clear to you that neither are these Powers given us in vain nor this Duty required of us in vain nor yet that mans Natural highest Duty is made to be the way of his misery and undoing And sure that way which turneth the mind from sensual pleasures and casteth a man on the 2. malice and cruelty of the world and engageth him in so much duty which both the flesh and the world are utter enemies to would be his misery and torment if there were no Rewards and Punishments hereafter and no future Judgement to set all strait that seemed crooked in the judgements of men If all the intrinsick evidences of credibility in the Sacred Word were not sufficient If all the cntecedent Evidences of Prophecy were too little If the concomitant Evidence of all the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles and other of his servants with his own Resurrection and Ascension did seem too distant from you yet mark what subsequent continued Evidences it hath pleased God to bring even to your very sense to assure you of the truth of his Gospel and of the life to come Whence 3. cometh that Universal unreasonable enmity which in all Generations and Nations of the world from Cain and Abel till this day is found in the Carnal against the Spiritual holy seed Even a Seneca telleth us of it among Heathens against that remnant of vertue and temperance and sobriety that was found in the better sort of men Could all mankind be thus infected and hate a Saint that never hurt them much more than those that themselves confess to be most vitious if the fall of Adam were not true Have we a whole world before our eyes that are visibly polluted with that irrational Leprosie and yet shall we doubt whether our common Father was sick of that disease And do you not see that 4 the Gospel where ever it is heartily entertained doth renew the soul and change the life and make the man to be another man not only amending some little things that were amiss but making us new creatures and turning the bent of heart and life another way Though the carnal nominal Christian that never heartily received the Gospel do differ from a Heathen but in opinion and formality yet serious Christians are other men and so transformed as that their holy desires
5. 9 10. Rev. 4. 11 8. Rev. 15. 3. Heb. 12. 9. Matth. 6. 13. thâ—u not said Behold I come quickly Even so Come Lord and let the great Marriage day of the Lamb make haste when thy Spouse shall be presented spotless unblamable and glorious and the glory of God in the New Jerusalem shall be Revealed to all his holy ones to delight and glorifie them for ever In the mean time Remember Lord thy promise Because I live therefore shall ye live also And let the dead that dye in thee be blessed And thou that art made a quickning Spirit and art the Lord and Prince of life and hast said that not a hair of our heads shall perish Gather our departing souls unto thy self into the Heavenly Jerusalem and Mount Zion the City of the living God and to the Myriads of holy Angels and to the general Assembly and Church of the first born and to the perfected Spirits of the just where thou wilt make us Kings and Priests to God whom we shall See and Love and Praise for ever For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things and for his pleasure they are and were created And O thou the blessed God of Love the Father of Spirits and King of Saints receive this unworthy Member of thy Son into the heavenly Chore which sing thy Praise who rest not saying night and day Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty who Is and Was and Is to Come For Thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen The End of the Second TOME A Christian Directory The Third Part. Christian Ecclesiasticks OR DIRECTIONS TO PASTORS PEOPLE About Sacred Doctrine Worship and Discipline and their mutual Duties With the Solution of a multitude of Church-Controversies and Cases of Conscience By RICHARD BAXTER 1 Cor. 12. 25 27 28. That there should be no Schism in the body but the Members should have the same care one for another Now ye are the Body of Christ and Members in particular And God hath set some in the Church first Apostles c. Eph. 4. 3 4 12 c. Endeavouring to keep the Unity of the SPIRIT in the bond of Peace There is one Body one Spirit one Hope one Lord one Faith one Baptism Not One Ministerial Head one God * And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Till we all come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ That we henceforth be no more Children tossed to and fro and carryed about with every wind of doctrine by the cogging or sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive But keeping the Truth in Love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ From whom the whole body compacted and cemented together by every joynt of supply according to its power in proportion of each part worketh increase of the body to the edifying of it self in Love 1 Tim. 3. 15. That thou maist know how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the House of God which is the Church of the living God as A pillar and basis of the truth 1 Thess. 5. 12 13. We beseech you brethren to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their work sake and be at peace among your selves LONDON Printed by Robert White for Nevill Simmons at the Sign of the Princes-Arms in St. Pauls Church-yard 1673. Reader THat this part and the next are Imperfect and so much only is written as I might and not as I would I need not excuse to thee if thou know me and where and when I live But some of that which is wanting if thou desire thou maist find 1. In my Universal Concord 2. In my Christian Concord 3. In our Agreement for Catechising and my Reformed Pastor 4. In the Reformed Lyturgie offered to the Commissioned Bishops at the Savoy Farewel A Christian Directory TOM III. Christian Ecclesiasticks CHAP. I. Of the Worship of God in general § 1. THAT God is to be Worshipped solemnly by man is confessed by Qui totos dies precabantur immolabant ut sui liberi sibi superstites essent Superstitiosi sunt appellati quod nomen paâ—uit postea latius Qui autem omnia quae ad cultum Deorum pertinerent diligenter pertractarent tanquam relegerent sunt dicti Religiosi ex relegendo ut elegantes ex eligendo à diligendo diligentes ex intelligendo intelligentes Superstitiosi Religiosi alterum vitii nomen alterum laudis Cicer. nat Deor. lib. 2. pag. 73 74. all that acknowledge that there is a God But about the Matter and Manner of his Worship there are no small dissensions and contentions in the world I am not now attempting a reconciliation of these contenders The sickness of mens minds and wills doth make that impossible to any but God which else were not only possible but easie the terms of reconciliation being in themselves so plain and obvious as they are But it is Directions to those that are willing to worship God aright which I am now to give § 2. Direct 1. Understand what it is to worship God aright lest you offer him Vanity and sin for Direct 1. Worship The worshipping of God is the direct acknowledging of his Being and Perfections to his honour Indirectly or consequentially he is acknowledged in every obediential act by those that truly obey and serve him And this is indirectly and participatively to worship him And therefore all things are Holy to the Holy because they are Holy in the use of all and Holiness to the Lord is as it were written upon all that they possess or do as they are Holy But this is not the worship which we are here to speak of but that which is Primarily and Directly done to glorifie him by the acknowledgement of his excellencies Thus God is worshipped either inwardly by the soul alone or also outwardly by the body expressing the worship of the soul. For that which is done by the Body alone without the concurrence of the Heart is not true worship but an Hypocritical Image or shew of it equivocally called Worship The inward worship of the Heart alone I have spoken If they that serve their God with meer word and ceremony and mimâ—ca actions were so served themselves they might be â—ilâ—â—ced with Aristâ—ppâ—â— his defence of his gallantry and sumptuâ—uâ— fare Si vituâ—â—randum ait hoc essâ—t in celebritatibus deorum profectò non fieret Laert. iâ— Aristip. So Plato allowed drunkenness only in the Feasts oâ— Baâ—châ—s of in the former Tome The outward or expressive worship
Offer of pardon to all that it is revealed to But it is an Actual Pardon to those that come in and conferreth on them the benefits of the Act as if they were named in it and is their very Title to their pardon of which their Consent is the Condition and the Condition being performed the Pardon or Collation of the benefit becometh particular and actual without any new act it being the sense of the Law it self or Conditional Grant that so it should do So as to the reality of the Internal Covenant-interest and benefits Iustification and Adoption it is ours by vertue of this Universal Conditional Covenant when we perform the condition But as to our Title in foro Ecclesiae and the due solemnization and Investiture it is made ours when Gods Minister applyeth it to us in Baptism by his Commission As the Rebel that was fundamentally pardoned by the Act of Oblivion must yet have his personal pardon delivered him by the Lord Chancellor under the Great Seal In this sense Ministers are the instruments of God not only in declaring us to de pardoned but in Delivering to us the pardon of our sins and solemnly investing us therein As an Attorney delivereth possession to one that before had his fundamental Title Thus God entreth into Covenant with man § 10. VI. The Qualifications of absolute Necessity to the Validity of our Covenant with God in Quis vero non doleat Baptismo plerosque adultos initio passim nostro tempore non raro ante persundi quam Christianam Catechesin vel mediocriter tenâ—ant neque an flagitiosae superstitiosae vitae poenitenâ—ia tangantur neque vero id ipsum quod accipiunt an velint accipere satis constet Acosta l. 6. c. 2. p. 520. Nisi peâ—ant instent Christianae vitae professione donandi non sunt Idem p. 521. And again While ignorant or wicked men do hasten any how by right or wrong by guile or force to make the barbarous people Christians they do nothing else but make the Gospel a scorn and certainly destroy the deserters of a rashly undertaken faith Id. ibid. p. 522. foro interiore are these 1. That we understand what we do as to all the Essentials of the Covenant For ignorantis non est consensâ—s 2. That it be our own act performed by our Natural or Legal selves that is some one that hath power so far to dispose of us as Parents have of their children 3. That it be Deliberate sober and rationall done by one that is compos mentis in his wits and not in Drunkenness madness or incogitancy 4. That it be seriously done with a real intention of doing the thing and not histrionically ludicrously or in jeast 5. That it be done entirely as to all essential parts for if we leave out any essential part of the Covenant it is no sufficient consent As to consent that Christ shall be our Iustifier but not the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier 6. That it be a Present consent to be presently in Covenant with God For to Consent that you will be his servants to morrow or hereafter but not yet is but to purpose to be in Covenant with him hereafter and is no present covenanting with him 7. Lastly It must be a Resolved and Absolute Consent without any open or secret Exceptions or Reserves § 11. VII The Fruits of the Covenant which God reapeth though he need nothing is the Pleasing of his Good and Gracious Will in the exercise of his Love and Mercy and the Praise and Glory of his Grace in his peoples Love and Happiness for ever The fruits or Benefits which accrew to man are unspeakable and would require a Volume competently to open them Especially that God is our God and Christ our Saviour Head Intercessor and Teacher and the Holy Ghost is our Sanctifier and that God will regard us as his own and will protect us preserve us and provide for us and will govern us and be our God and Joy for ever that he will Pardon us Justifie and Adopt us and Glorifie us with his Son in Heaven § 12. Direct 2. When you thus understand well the Nature of the Covenant labour to understand the special Reasons of it The Reasons of the Matter of the Covenant you may see in the fruits and benefits now mentioned But I now speak of the Reason of it as a Covenant in genere and such a Covenant in specie 1. In General God will have man to receive Life or Death as an Accepter and Keeper or a Refuser or Breaker of his Covenant because he will do it not only as a Benefactor or Absolute Lord but also as a Governour and will make his Covenant to be also his Law and his Promise and Benefits to promote obedience And because he will deal with man as with a free agent and not as with a bruit that hath no choosing and refusing power conducted by Reason Mans life and death shall be in his own hands and still depend upon his own will though God will secure his own Dominion interest and ends and put nothing out of his own power by putting it into mans nor have ever the less his own will by leaving man to his own will God will at last as a Righteous Judge determine all the world to their final Joy or Punishment according to their own choice while they were in the flesh and according to what they have done in the Body whether it be good or evil Matth. 25. Therefore he will deal with us on Covenant-terms § 13. 2. And he hath chosen to Rule and Judge men according to a Covenant of Grace by a Redeemer and not according to a rigorus Law of works that his Goodness and Mercy may be the fullâ—er manifested to the sons of men and that it may be easier for man to Love him when they have so wonderful demonstrations of his Love And so that their service here and their work and happiness hereafter may consist of Love to the Glory of his Goodness and the Pleasure of his Love for ever § 14. Direct 3. Next understand rightly the nature use and ends of Baptism Baptism is to the Direct 3. mutual Covenant between God and man what the solemnization of Marriage is to them that do before Consent or what the Listing a Souldier by giving him Colours and writing his name is to one that Consented before to be a Souldier In my Universal Concord p. 29 30. I have thus described it See the Râ—formed â—â—yturgiâ— pag. 68. External Baptism what Baptism is a holy Sacrament instituted by Christ in which a person professing the Christian faith or the Infant of such is Baptized in water into the Name of the Father the Son and Holy Ghost in signification and solemnization of the holy Covenant in which as a Penitent Believer or the seed of such he giveth up himself or is by the Parent given up to God the Father Son and Holy
many Christian Nations that it is lawful to break their Oathes and promises to their lawful Lords and Rulers or their Vows to God and to undertake by defending or owning this to justifie all those Nations that shall be guilty of this Perjury and perfidiousness O what a horrid crime is this what a shame even unto humane nature and how great a wrong to the Christian name § 10. Direct 9. Understand and remember these following Rules to acquaint you how fâ—r a vow is Direct 9. obligatory which I shall give you for the most part out of Dr. Sanderson because his decisions of these cases are now of best esteem § 11. Rule 1. The General Rule laid down Numb 30. 2 3. doth make a Vow as such to be obligatory Rule 1. though the party should have a secret equivocation or intent that though he speak the words to deceive another yet he will not oblige himself Such a reserve not to oblige himself hindereth not the obligation but proveth him a perfidious hypocrite D. Sanders pag. 23. Iuramentum omne ex suâ naturâ est obligatorium Ita ut si quis juret non intendens se obligare nihilominus tamen suscipiendo juramentum ipso facto obligetur that is If he so far understand what he doth as that his words may bear the definition of an oath or Vow Otherwise if he speak the words of an Oath in a strange language thinking they signifie something else or if he spake in his sleep or deliration or distraction it is no Oath and so not obligatory § 12. Rule 2. Those conditions are to be taken as intended in all Oathes whether exprest or no Ride 2. which the very nature of the thing doth necessarily imply unless any be so bruitish as to express the See Dr. Sanders p. 47. 197. contrary And these are all reducible to two heads 1. A natural and 2. A moral Impossibility 1. Whoever sweareth to do any thing or give any thing is supposed to mean If I live and if I be not disabled in my body faculties estate If God make it not impossible to be c. For no man can be supposed to mean I will do it whether God will or not and whether I live or not and whether I be able or not 2. Whoever Voweth or sweareth to do any thing must be understood to mean it If no change of Providence make it a sin or if I find not contrary to my present supposition that God forbiddeth it For no man that is a Christian is to be supposed to mean when he Voweth I will do this though God forbid it or though it prove to be a sin especially when men therefore Vow it because they take it to be a duty Now as that which is sinful is morally Impossible so there are divers ways by which a thing may appear or become sinful to us 1. When we find it forbidden directly in the Word of God which at first we understood not 2. When the change of things doth make that a sin which before was a duty of which may be given an hundred instances As when the change of a mans estate of his opportunities of his Liberty of his parts and abilities of objects of customes of the Laws of Civil Governours doth change the very matter of his duty Quest. § 13. Quest. But will every change disoblige us If not what change must it be seeing Casuists Answ. use to put it as a condition in general Rebus sic stantibus Answ. No it is not every change of Cicero dâ— Iâ—g lib. 1. Proveth that Right is founded in the Laâ— of Nature mâ—re than in mans Laws else saith â—e men may make evil good and good evil and make Adâ—lâ—â—ry Perjurâ— â— just b 〈…〉 g a Law for them things that disobligeth us from the bonds of a Vow For then Vows were of no considerable signification But 1. If the very Matter that was Vowed or about which the Vow was do cease Cessante materiâ cessat obligatio As if I promise to teach a pupil I am disobliged when he is dead If I promise to pay so much money in Gold and the King should â—orbid Gold and change his coyne I am not obliged to it 2. Cessante termino vel correlato cessat obligatio If the party dye to whom I am bound my personal obligation ceaseth And so the conjugal bond ceaseth at death and civil bonds by civil death 3. Cessante fine cessat obligatio If the use and end wholly cease my obligation which was only to that use and end ceaseth As if a Physicion promise to give Physick for nothing for the cure of the Plague to all the poor of the City when the Plague ceaseth his end and so his obligation ceaseth 4. Cessante personâ naturali relaâ—â cessat obligatio personalis When the natural person dyeth the obligation ceaseth I cannot be â—bliged to do that when I am dead which is proper to the living The subject of the obligation ceasing the Accidents must cease 5. Cessante relatione vel personâ civili cessat obligatio talis quâ tâ—lis The obligation which lay on a person in any Relation meerly as such doth cease when that Relation ceaseth A King is not bound to Govern or protect his subjects if they trayterously depose him or if he cast them off and take anothor Kingdom as when H. 3. of France left the Kingdom of Pâ—land nor are subjects bound to Allegiance and obedience to him that is not indeed their King A Judge or Justice or Constable or Tutor is no longer bound by his oath to do the offices of these Relations than he continueth in the Relation A divorced Wife is not bound by her conjugal vow to her Husband as before nor masters and servants when their relations cease nor a Souldier to his General by his military Sacrament when the Army is disbanded or he is cashiered or dismist Rule 3. § 14. Rule 3. No Vows or promises of our own can dissolve the obligation laid upon us by the Law of God For we have no co-ordinate much less superiour authority over our selves Our self-obligations are but for the furthering of our obedience Rule 4. § 15. Rule 4. Therefore no Vows can disoblige a man from any present duty nor justifie him in the committing of any sin Vows are to engage us to God and not against him If the matter which we vow be evil it is a sin to Vow it and a sin to do it upon pretence of a Vow Sin is no acceptable sacrifice to God § 16. Rule 5. If I vow that I will do some duty better I am not thereby disobliged from doing it at Rule 5. all when I am disabled from doing it better Suppose a Magistrate seeing much amiss in Church How often perjury hath ruined Christian Princes and States all History doth testifie The ruine of the Roman Empire by the Goths was
by this means Alaâ—iâ—us having leave to live quietly in France Sâ—â—lico comes in perniciem Reipub. Gothos pertentans dum eos insidiis aggredi cuperet belâ—â— summam Saulo pagano dâ—â—â—â— commisit qui ipso sacratissimo die Paschae Gothis nil â—ale suspicantibus super eos irrâ—it magnamque eorum partem prostravit Nam primum perturbati Gothi ac propter Religionem cedentes demum arma corripiunt victoremque vir uâ—e pâ—tiori prâ—steâ—nunt exercitum Hinc in rabâ—â—m furoris excitaâ—tur Câ—pâ—um iter deserenâ—eâ— Romam contendunt petere cuncta igne serr que vastantes Nec mora venientes uâ—bem capiunâ— devastant incendunt c. Paul Diaconus lib. 3. and Commonwealth doth Vow a Reformation and Vow against the abuses which he findeth If now the peoples obstinacy and rebellion disable him to perform that Vow it doth not follow that he must lay down his Scepter and cease to Govern them at all because he cannot do it as he ought if he were free So if the Pastors of any Church do Vow the Reformation of Church abuses in their places if they be hindred by their Rulers or by the people it doth not follow that they must lay down their callings and not Worship God publickly at all because they cannot do it as they would and ought if they were free as long as they may worship him without committing any sin Gods first obligation on me is to Worship him and the second for the manner to do it as near his order as I can Now if I cannot avoid the imperfections of Worship though I vowed it I must not therefore avoid the worship it self as long as corruptions destroy not the very nature of it and I am put my self upon no actual sin For I was bound to Worship God before my Vows and in order of nature before my obligation de modo And my Vow was made with an implyed condition that the thing were possible and lawful And when that ceaseth to be possible or lawful which I vowed I must nevertheless do that which still remaineth possible and lawful To give over Gods solemn Worship with the Church is no Reformation To preâ—er no-worship before Imperfect-worship is a greater Deformation and corruption than to prefer Imperfect-worship before that which is more perfect And to prefer a worship imperfect in the manner before no-church worship at all is a greater Reformation than to prefer a more perfect manner of worship before a more imperfect and defective To Worship God Decently and in order supposeth that he must be worshipped And he that doth not worship at all doth not worship him decently If a Physicion Vow that he will administer a certain effectual Antidote to all his Patients that have the Plague and that he will not administer a certain less-effectual preparation which some Apothecaries through Covetousness or Carelesness had brought into common use to the injury of the sick His Vow is to be interpreted with these exceptions I will do it if I can without dishonesty or a greater mischief I will not administer the sophisticated antidote when I can have better I Vow this for my Patients benefit and not for their destruction Therefore if the Sophisticated antidote is much better than none and may save mens lives and the Patients grow wilful and will take no other or Authority forbid the use of any other the Physicion is neither bound to forsake his Calling rather than use it nor to neglect the life of his Patients If their lives indeed lye upon his care and they may not be in some good hopes without him and the good of many require him not to neglect a few But he must do what he can when he cannot do what he would and only shew that he consenteth not to the sophistication § 17. Rule 6. Though he that voweth a lawful thing must be understood to mean If it continue Rule 6. possible and lawful yet if he himself be the culpable cause that afterwards it becometh unpossible or unlawful he violateth his Vow He that voweth to give so much to the poor and after prodigally wasteth it and hath it not to give doth break his Vow which he doth not if fire or thieves deprive him of it against his will He that Voweth to Preach the Gospel if he cut out his own tongue or culpably procure another to imprison silence or hinder him doth break his Vow which he did not if the hinderance were involuntary and insuperable Consent doth make the impedition his own act § 18. Rule 7. In the taking and keeping of Oaths and Vows we must deal simply and openly without Rule 7. equivocations and deceit Psal. 84. 3 4. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall Sanders pag. 30 31. stand in his holy place He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soul to vanity nor sworn deceitfully He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation § 19. Rule 8. He that jugleth or stretcheth his Conscience by fraudulent shifts and interpretations Rule 8. afterward is as bad as he that dissembleth in the taking of the oath To break it by deceit is as bad Sanders p. 32 33 34 35 ad 4â— as to take it in deceit Psal. 15 1 4. Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not Saith Dr. Sanderson Ista mihi aut non cogitare c. It seemeth to me that the greater part of the men of these times either think not of these things or at least not seriously who fear not at large and in express words without going about to swear to all that whatever it be which is proposed to them by those that have power to hurt them yea and they take themselves for the only wise men and not without some disdain deride the simplicity and needless fear of those that lest they hurt their Consciences forsooth do seek a knot in a rush and oppose the forms prescribed by these that have power to prescribe them And in the mean time they securely free themselves from all crime and fear of perjury and think they have looked well to themselves and their Consciences if either when they swear like Iesuits they can defend themselves by the help of some tacite equivocation or mental reservation or subtile interpretation which is strained and utterly aliene from the words or else after they have sworn can find some chink to slip through some cunning evasion as a wise remedy by which they may so elude their oath as that keeping the words the sence may by some Sophisin be eluded and all the force of it utterly enervated The ancient Christians knew not this Divinity nor the sounder Heathens this moral Philosophy Far otherwise saith Augustine They are perjured whâ— keeping the words deceive the expectation of those they swear to And otherwise saith Cicero
Tim. 1. 4. James 3. 1 Cor. 3. 3. For ye are yet carnal for whereas there is among you envying zeal and strife and divisions or parties or factions are ye not carnal and walk as men For while one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos are ye not carnal Phil. 2. 1 2 3 4. If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same Love of one accord of one mind Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves Rom. 16 17 18. Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions or parties and offences or scandals contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them Abundance more such Texts may be recited § 49. II. The great Benefits of the Concord of Christians are these following 1. It is necessary The Benefits of Concord to the very Life of the Church and its several members that they be all One Body As their Union with Christ the Head and Principle of their life is principally necessary so Unity among themselves is secondarily necessary for the conveyance and reception of that Life which floweth to all from Christ. For though the Head be the Fountain of Life yet the nerves and other parts must convey that life unto the members And if any member be cut off or separated from the Body it is separated also from the Head and perisheth Mark well those words of the Apostle Ephes. 4. 3. to 16. Endeavouring to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace There is one Body and one Spirit even as ye are called in one Hope of your calling One Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all But unto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. And be gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangeliâ—ts and some Pastors and Teachers For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the Edifying of the Body of Christ till we all come in the Unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ that speaking the truth in Love we may grow up into him in all things which is the Head even Christ From whom the whole Body fitly joyned together and compacted by every joynt of supply according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the Body to the edifying of it self in Love See here how the Churches Unity is necessary to its life and increase and to the due nutrition of all the parts § 50. 2. The Unity of the Church and the Concord of Believers is necessary to its strength and safety for Christ also strengtheneth as well as quickneth them by suitable means Wo to him that is alone But in the Army of the Lord of Hosts we may safely march on when straglers are catcht up or killed by the weakest enemy A threefold cord is not easily broken Enemies both spiritual and corporal are deterred from assaulting the Church or any of its members while they see us walk in our Military Unity and Order In this posture every man is a blessing and defence unto his neighbour As every Souldier hath the Benefit of all the conduct wisdom and valour of the whole Army while he keepeth in his place so every weak Christian hath the use and benefit of all the Learning the Wisdom and Gifts of the Church while he keepeth his station and walketh orderly in the Church The hand the eye the ear the foot and every member of the Body is as ready to help or serve the whole and every other particular member as it self But if it be cut off it is neither helpful nor to be helped O what a mercy is it for every Christian that is unable to help himself to have the help of all the Church of God their directions their exhortations their Love their prayers their liberality and compassion according to their several abilities and opportunities As infants and sick persons have the help of all the rest of the family that are in health § 51. 3. Unity and Concord as it proceedeth from Love so it greatly cherisheth and increaseth Peace containeth infinite blessings I strengtheneth faith It kindleth Charity The outward peace of the Church distilleth into peace of conscience and it turneth the writing and reading of Controversies into treatises of Mortification and Devotion Id. ibid. Against procuring Unity by sanguinaâ—y persecutions see Lord Bacon Essay 3. Surely there is no better way to stop the rising of new Sects and Schisms than to reform abuses to compound the smaller differences to proceed mildly and not with sanguinaâ—y persecutions and rather to take off the principal authors by winning and advancing them than to â—nrage them by violence and bitterness Lord Bacon in his Essay 58. Ita hominis non implet justitiam Dei And it was a notable observation of a wise Father that those which held and persuaded pressure of Consciences were commonly interessed there in themselves for their own ends Id. Ess. 3. p. 19. Love even as the laying of the Wood or Coals together is necessary to the making of the fire which the separating of them will put out Holy Concord cherisheth holy converse and communion And holy communion powerfully kindleth holy Love When the servants of Christ do see in each other the lustre of his Graces and hear from each other the heavenly language which floweth from a Divine and heavenly mind this potently kindleth their affections to each other and maketh them close with those as the sons of God in whom they find so much of God Yea it causeth them to Love God himself in others with a reverent admiring and transcendent Love when others at the best can Love them but as men Concord is the womb and soil of Love although it be first its progeny In quietness and peace the voice of peace is most regarded § 52. 4. Unity and Concord is the Churches Beauty It maketh us amiable even to the eye of nature and venerable and terrible even to the eye of malice A concord in sin is no more honour than it is for conquered men to go together in multitudes to prison or captivity or for beasts to go by droves unto the slaughter But to see the Churches of Christ with one heart and soul acknowledging their Maker and Redeemer and singing his Praise as with one voice and living together in Love and Concord as those that have one Principle one Rule one nature one work one Interest and Hope and End this is the truly beauteous symmetry and delectable harmony Psal. 133. Behold how good
and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell even together in unity It is like the pretious oyntment upon the head that ran down upon the heard even Aarons beard that went down to the skirts of his garment As the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion for there the Lord commanded the blessing even life for evermore The Translators well put this as the Contents of this Psalm The benefit of the communion of Saints § 53. 5. The concord of Believers doth greatly conduce to the successes of the Ministery and propagation of the Gospel and the conviction of unbelievers and the conversion and salvation of ungodly souls When Christ prayeth for the Unity of his Disciples he redoubleth this argument from the effect or end that the world may believe that thou hast sent me and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them c. Joh. 17. 21 23. Would this make the world believe that Christ was sent of God Yes undoubtedly if all Christians were reduced to a Holy Concord it would do more to win the Heathen world than all other means can do without it It is the Divisions and the wickedness of professed Christians that maketh Christianity so contemned by the Mahometanes and other Infidels of the world And it is the Holy Concord of Christians that would convince and draw them home to Christ. Love and Peace and concord are such vertues as all the world is forced to applaud notwithstanding natures enmity to good When the first Christian Church were all with one accord in one place and continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread from house to house partook of food with gladness and singleness of heart and when the multitude of believers were of one heart and of one soul c. Act. 2. 1 46. 4. 32. then did God send upon them Act. 2. 41. Act. 4. 33. the Holy Ghost and then were three thousand converted at a Sermon And with great power gave the Apostles witness of the Resurrection of the Lord Iesus and great grace was upon them all How our Concord would promote the Conversion of Infidels Our Concord in Religion hath all these advantages for the converting of unbelievers and ungodly men 1. It is a sign that there is a constraining evidence of truth in that Gospel which doth convince so many A concurrent satisfaction and yielding to the truth is a powerful testimony for it 2. They see then that Religion is not a matter of worldly Policy and design when so many men of contrary interests do embrace it 3. And they see it is not the fruit of a Melancholy constitutions when so many men of various temperatures entertain it 4. They may see that the Gospel hath Power to conquer that self-love and self interest which is the most potent thing in vitiated nature Otherwise it could never make so many unite in God as their common interest and end 5. They may see that the Gospel and spirit of Christ is stronger than the devil and all the allurements of the flesh and world when it can make so many agree in the renouncing of all earthly vanities for the hopes of everlasting life 6. They will see that the Design and doctrine of Christianity is Good and excellent beseeming God and desirable to man when they see that it doth produce so good effects as the Love and Unity and Concord of manking 7. And it is an exceeding great and powerful help to the Conversion of the World in this respect because it is a thing so conspicuous in their sight and so intelligible to them and so approved by them They are little wrought on by the doctrine of Christ alone because it is visible or audible but to few and understood by fewer and containeth many things which nature doth distaste But the holy Concord of Believers is a thing that they are more able to discern and judge of and do more generally approve The HOLY CONCORD of Christians must be the CONVERSION of the unbelieving world if God have so great a mercy for the world which is a consideration that should not only deter us from ☜ Divisions but make us zealously study and labour with all our interest and might for the healing of the lamentable Divisions among Christians if we have the hearts of Christians and any sense of the interest of Christ. § 54. 6. The Concord of Christians doth greatly conduce to the ease and peace of particular Believers The very exercise of Love to one another doth sweeten all our lives and duties We sail towards Heaven in a pleasant Calm with wind and tide when we live in Love and peace together How easie doth it make the work of Godliness How light a burden doth Religion seem when we are all as of one heart and soul § 55. 7. Lastly Consider whether this be not the likest state to Heaven and therefore have not in it the most of Christian excellency and perfection In Heaven there is no discord but a perfect consort of glorified spirits harmoniously loving and praising their Creator And if Heaven be desirable holy Concord on earth is next desirable § 56. III. On the contrary consider well of the Mischiefs of Divisions 1. It is the killing of The Mischiefs of Division the Church as much as lyeth in the dividers or the wounding it at least Christs Body is One and it is sensible and therefore Dividing it tendeth directly to the destroying it and at least will cause its smart and pain To Reform the Church by Dividing it is no wiser than to cut out the Liver or Spleen or Gall to cleanse them from the filth that doth obstruct them and hinder them in their office you may indeed thus cleanse them but it will be a mortal cure As he that should Divide the Kingdom into two Kingdoms dissolveth the old Kingdom or part of it at least to erect two new ones so he that would divide the Catholick Church into two must thereby destroy it if he could succeed or destroy that part which divideth it self from the rest Can a member live that is cut off from the Body or a branch that is separated from the tree § 57. Quest. O but say the Romanists why then do you cut off your selves from us The Division Quest. is made by you and we are the Church and you are dead till you return to us How will you know which part is the Church when a Division is once made Answ. Are you the Church Are you the Answ. Whether Papists or Protestants are Schismaticks only Christians in the World The Church is all Christians united in Christ their Head You traiterously set up a new usurping Head and proclaim your selves to be the whole Church and condemn all that are not subjects to your new Head We keep our station and disclaim his Usurpation and deny subjection to
carnal mind is enmity against God and is not subject to his Law nor can be Rom. 8. 7. And they that are in the flesh cannot please God v. 8. And you may easily conceive what work will be made in the Ship when an enemy of the Owner hath subtilly possessed himself of the Pilots place He will charge all that are faithful as mutineers because they resist him when he would carry all away And if an enemy of Christ shall get to be Governour of one of his Regiments or Garrisons all that are not Traytors shall be called Traytors and cashiered that they hinder not the treason which he intendeth And as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit even so it is now But what saith the Scripture cast out the bond-woman and her son c. Gal. 4. 29 30. It is not the sacred office of the Ministry nor the profession of the same religion that will cure the enmity of a carnal heart against both Holiness and the Holy seed The whole business of the world from age to age is but the management of that war proclaimed at sins first entrance into the World between the seed of the woman and the Serpent And none of the serpents seed are more cruel or more successful Gen. 3. 15. than those of them that creep into the Armies of Christ and especially that get the conduct of his Regiments Neither Brotherhood nor Unity of profest Religion would hold the hands of Poetae nunquam perturbarunt Respublicas Oratores non raro Buchoâ—tz malignant Cain from murdering his Brother Abel The same Religion and father and family reconciled not scoffing Ishmael to Isaac or prophane Esau to his brother Iacob The family of Christ and an Apostles office did not keep Iudas from being a Traytor to his Lord. If carnal men invade the Ministry they take the way of ease and honour and worldly wealth and strive for Dominion and who shall be the greatest and care not how great their Power and Iurisdiction is nor how little their profitable work is and their endeavour is to fit all matters of Worship and discipline to their ambitious covetous ends and the spiritual Worshipper shall be the object of their hate And is Acosta l. 6. c. 23. p. 579. Nothing so much hurteth this Church as a rabble of hirelings and self-seekers For what can natural men that scarce have the Spirit do in the cause of God A few in number that are excellent in vertue will more promote the work of God But they that come hither being humble and lovers of souls taking Christ for their pattern and bearing in their bodies his Cross and death shall most certainly find heavenly treasures and inestimable delights But when will this be When men cease to be men and to savour the things of men and to seek and gape after the things of men With men this is utterly impossible but with God all things are possible Because this is hard in the eyes of this people shall it therefore be hard in my eyes saith the Lord Zech. 10. pag. 580. I may say to some Ministers that cry out of the schismatical disobedience of the people as Acosta doth to to those that cryed out of the Indians dulness and wickedness It is long of the Teachers Deal with them in all possible love and tenderness away with Covetousness Lordliness and Cruelty give them the example of an upright life open to them the way of truth and teach them according to their capacity and diligently hold on in this way who ever thou art that art a Minister of the Gospel and saith he as ever I hope to enjoy thee O Lord Jesu Christ I am perswaded the harvest will be plentiful and joyful l. 4. p. 433. passim But saith he we quickly cease our labours and must presently have hasty and plenteous fruit But the Kingdom of God is not such Verily it is not such but as Christ hath told us like seed cast into the earth which groweth up by degrees we know not how p. 433 434. Hieroms case is many anothers Concivit odia perditorum Oderunt eum haeretici quia eos impugnare non desinit Oderunt Clerici quia vitam eorum insectatur crimina Sed plane eum boni omnes admirantur diligunt Posthumianus in Sulp. Severi Dialog 1. And Dial. 2. Martinus in Medio caetu conversatione populorum inter Clericos dissidentes inter Episcopos saevientes cum fere quotidianis scandalis huic atque inde premeretur inexpugnabili tamen adversus omnia virtute fundatus stetit Nec tamen huic crimini miscebo populares soli illum Clerici soli nesciunt Sacerdotes nec immerito Nosce illum invidi noluerunt quia si virtutes illius nossent suorum vitia cognovissent it any wonder if the Churches of Christ be torn by Schism and betrayed to prophaneness where there are such unhappy guides § 85. Direct 8. In a special manner take heed of pride Suspect it and subdue it in your selves Direct 8. and do what you can to bring it into disgrace with others Only by Pride cometh contention Prov. How the Jesuites have hereby distracted the Church read Mariana Archiâ—pisc Pragensis Censur de Bull. Iesâ—it Daâ— Hospital ad Reges c. Auâ— Ardingbelli Paradoxa Iesuitica Galindus Giraldus c. Arcana Iesuit 13. 10. I never yet saw one schism made in which Pride conjunct with Ignorance was not the cause nor never did I know one person forward in a schism to my remembrance but Pride was discernably his disease I do not here intend as the Papists to charge all with Schism or Pride that renounce not their understandings and choose not to give up themselves to a beastial subjection to Usurpers or their Pastors he that thinks it enough that his Teacher hath Reason and be a man instead of himself and so thinketh it enough that his Teacher be a Christian and Religious must be also content that his Teacher alone be saved But then he must not be the Teacher of such a damning way But by Pride I mean a plain over-valuing of his own understanding and Conceits and Reasoningâ— quite above all the Evidences of their worth and an undervaluing and contempt of the judgements and reasonings of far wiser men that had evidence enough to have evinced his folly and â—rror to a sober and impartial man Undoubtedly it is the Pride of Priests and people that hath so lâ—mensably in all ages â—orn the Church He that readeth the Histories of Schisms and Church-confusions and marketh the effects which this age hath shewed will no more doubt whether Pride were the cause than whether it was the wind that blew down Trees and houses when he seeth them one way overturned by multitudes where the tempest came with greatest force Therefore a Bishop must be no Nâ—vice lâ—st being lifted up with pride 〈◊〉
a quarrelsome disposition but only as evidence constraineth you to dissent And then remember that we are all imperfect and faulty men must needs perform a faulty worship if any For it cannot be better than the agent Direct 8. When you meet with a word in a Sermon or Prayer which you do not like let it not Direct 8. stop you and hinder your fervent and peaceable proceeding in the rest as if you must not joyn in that which is good if there be any faulty mixture in it But go on in that which you approve and thank God that pardoneth the infirmities of others as well as your own Direct 9. Conform your selves to all the Lawful gestures and customes of the Church with which Direct 9. you joyn You come not thither proudly to shew the Congregation that you are wiser in the circumstances of worship than they nor needlesly to differ from them much less to harden men into a scorn of strictness by seeing you place Religion in singularities in lawful and indifferent things But you come to exercise Love peace and Concord and with one mind and mouth to glorifie God Stand when the Church standeth sit when the Church sitteth kneel when the Church kneeleth in cases where God doth not forbid it Direct 10. Take heed of a customary formal sensless heart that tolerateth it self from day to day Direct 10. to do holy things in a common manner and with a common dull and careless mind For that is to prophane them Call in your Thoughts when they attempt to wander stir up your hearts when you feel them dull Remember what you are about and with whom it is that you have to do and that you tread on the dust of them who had such opportunities before you which are now all gone and so will yours You hear and pray for more than your lives Therefore do it not as in jeast or as asleep Direct 11. Do all in faith and Hope Believe what you may get of God in prayer and by an Direct 11. obedient hearing of his word Would you not go cheerfully to the King if he had promised you to grant whatever you ask Hath not God promised you more than Kings can give you Oh it is an unbelieving and a despairing heart that turneth all into dead formality Did you but Hope that God would do all that for you which he hath told you he will do and that you might get more by prayer than by your trades or projects or all your friends you would go to God with more earnestness and more delight Direct 12. Apply all the Word of God to your selves according to its usefulness Ask as you Direct 12. go How doth this concern me this reproof this mark this counsel this comfort this exhortation this direction Remember as much as you can but especially the most practical useful parts Get it home so deep upon your hearts that it may not easily slide away Root it by close application as you go that affection may constrain you to remember it Direct 13. Above all Resolve to obey what God shall make known to be his will Take heed lest Direct 13. any wilful sin should escape the power of the Word and should ordinarily go away with you as it Act. 10. 33. 1 Sam. 3. 9 10. Prov. 8. 34. Ezek. â—3 4. Psal. 66. 18. Psal. 5. 5. Dan. 4. 27. Prov. 10. 29. 28. 9. Psal. 50. 16 17 18. 125. 5. 1 Sam. 15. 22. 2 Tim. 2. 19. Mat. 7. 23 Luk. 13. 2â— Joh. 1â— 3 4 27. came Careless hearing and careless living tend most dangerously to a hardened heart and a forsaken state If you regard iniquity in your heart God will not hear your prayers The sacrifice of the wicked is abominable to him The foolish shall not stand in his sight he hateth all the workers of iniquity He that turneth away his ear from hearing that is obeying the Law even his prayer is abominable To the wicked saith God What hast thou to do to take my Covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and hast cast my words behind thee Obedience is better than sacrifice He that nameth the name of Christ must depart from iniquity or else God will not find his mark upon him nor take him to be one of his Christs sheep know his voice and follow him and to them he will give eternal life But if you had Preacht or done miracles in his name he will say to you Depart from me I know you not if ye be workers of iniquity Look therefore to your foot to your heart and life when you go to the house of God and be more ready to hear his Law that must govern you that you may know his will and do it than to offer the sacrifice of fools that is disobedient sinners that think by sacrifices and outside worship to get pardon for an unholy life and to reconcile God to them in their sins not knowing that thus they add sin to sin Eccleâ— â— â— 2 3 4. If you seek God daily and delight to know his wayes as a Nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God If you ask of him the ordinances of justice sound doctrine regular worship strict discipline and take delight in approaching to God If you humble your Isa. 5â— 1 2 3. souls with frequent fasts and yet live in a course of wilful disobedience you labour in vain and aggravate your sins and Preachers had need to lift up their voices and be lowder Trumpets to tell you of your sins than to other men But if ye will wash you and make you clean and put away the evil of your doings cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgement relieve the oppressed c. Isa. 1. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20. You may then come with boldness and confidence unto God Otherwise to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices your oblations will be vain and your incense abominable If ye be wilâ—ing and obedient you shall be blessed but if ye refuse and rebel ye shall be destroyed for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it If you do well shall you not be accepted but if ye do evil Gen. 4. 7. Prov. 14. 34. Num. 32. 23. sin lyeth at the door Let your profession be never so great and your parts and expressions never so Scraphical sin is a reproach to any people And if you would hid your selves from justice in the purest Church among the holiest people and the most numerous and longest prayers be sure that your sin will find you out Your secret lust your covetous over-reaching your secret gluttony or Jam 1. 22. â—â—m 2. 13. tipling much more your crimson sins will surely find you out Alas what â—hen will those miscreants do whose sins are scarlet bloody persecutions under pretence Ezek. 7. 19. Jâ—r 7. 23. 11. 4
7. 26. 13. Mat. 23. 14. Mar. 1â— 40. Exod. 6. 30. Deuâ— 7. 12. 11. 13. 13. 18. 15. 5. 26. 17. 28. 1. Psal. 81. 8 9 10 11 12. of promoting unity and obedience and the Catholick Church while the Cloak or Cover of it is but the thin transparent Spider-web of humane Traditions and numerous Ceremonies and childish complementing with Goâ— And when they have nothing but the prayers of a long Liturgie to cover the effects of their earthly sensual and diabolical zeal and wisdom as St. Iames calls it 3. 15 16. and to concâ—ct the Widdows houses which they devour and to put a reverence upon the office and work which they labour all the week to render reproachful by a sensual luxurious idle life and by perfidious making merchandize of souls As ever you care what becometh of your souls take heed lest sin grow bold under Prayers and grow familiar and contemptuous of Sermons and holy speeches and lest you keep a custome of Religious exercises and wilful sins For oh how doth this harden now and wound hereafter He is the best hearer that is the holiest liver and faithfullest obeyer Direct 14. Be not a bare hearer of the Prayers of the Pastor whether it be by a Liturgie or Direct 14. without For that is but hypocrisie and a sin of omission You come not thither only to hear prayers but to pray And kneeling is not praying but it is a profession that you pray And will you be prayerless even in the house of Prayer and when you profess and seem to pray and so add hypocrisie to impiety I fear many that seem Religious and would have those kept from the Sacrament that Pray not in their Families do very ordinarily tolerate themselves in this gross omission and mocking of God and are Prayerless themselves even when they seem to Pray Direct 15. Stir up your hearts in a special manner to the greatest alacrity and joy in speaking Direct 15. and singing the Praises of God The Lords day is a day of Joy and Thanksgiving and the Praises of God are the highest and holyest employment upon Earth And if ever you should do any thing with all your might and with a joyful and triumphing frame of soul it is this Be glad that you may joyn with the Sacred Assemblies in heart and voice in so Heavenly a work And do not as some humersome pievish persons that know not the danger of that proud disease fall to quarreling with Davids Psalms as unsuitable to some of the hearers or to nauseate every failing in the Metâ—â— so as to turn so holy a duty into neglect or scorn for alas such there are near me where I dwell nor let prejudice against melody or Church-musick if you dwell where it is used possess you with a spleneâ—ick disgust of that which should be your most joyful work And if you know how much the incorporate soul must make use of the body in harmony and in the joyful praises of Iehovah do not then quarrel with lawful helps because they are sensible and corporeal Direct 16. Be very considerate and serious in Sacramental renewings of your Covenant with God Direct 16. O think what great things you come thither to Receive And think what a holy work you have to See Mâ— Rawlâ—â—s Book of Sacramental Covenanting do And think what a Life it is that you must promise So solemn a Covenanting with God and of so great importance requireth a most holy reverent and serious frame of soul. But yet let not the unwarrantable differencing this Ordinance from Gods praises and the rest seduce you into the common errours of the times I mean 1. Of those that hence are brought to think that the Sacrament should never be received without a preparatory day of humiliation above the preparation for an ordinary Lords days work 2. And therefore receive it seldom whereas the primitive Churches never spent a Lords day together without it 3. Those that turn it into a perplexing terrifying thing for fear of being unprepared when it should be their greatest comfort and when they are not so perplexed about their unpreparâ—dness to any other duty 4. Those that make so great a difference betwixt this and Church-prayers praises and other Church-woâ—ship as that they take this Sacrament only for the proper work and priviledge of Church-members And thereupon turn it into an occasion of our great contentions and divisions while they fly from Sacramental Communion with others more than from Communion in the other Church-worship O what hath our subtle enemy done against the Love Peace and Unity of Christians especially in England under pretence of Sacramental purity Direct 17. Perform all your Worship to God as in heart-Communion with all Christs Churches Direct 17. upon Earth Even those that are faulty though not with their faults Though you can be present but with one yâ—â— consent as present in spirit with all and separate not in heart from any one any further than they separate from Christ. Direct 18. Accordingly let the Interest of the Church of Christ be very much upon your heart Direct 18. and pray as hard for it as for your self Direct 19. Yâ—â— remember in all what Relation you have to the Heavenly Society and Chore and Direct 19. think how they Worship God in Heaven that you may strive to imitate than in your degree Of which more anâ—n Direct 20. Let your whole course of life after savour of a Church-frame Live as the servants of Direct 20. that God whâ—m you Worship and as ever before him Live in the Love of those Christians with whom you have Communion and do not quarrel with them at home nor despise nor persecute them with whom you joyn in the Worshipping of God And do not needlesly open the weaknesses of the Minister to prejudice others against him and the Worship And be not Religious at the Church alone for then you are not truly Religious at all CHAP. X. Directions about our Communion with Holy Souls Departed and now with Christ. THE oversight and neglect of our duty concerning the souls of the blessed now with Christ I have said more of â—his since in my â—â—â—â—e of Faith doth very much harden the Papists in their erroneous excesses here about And if we will ever reduce them or rightly confute them it must be by a judicious asserting of the Truth and observing so much with them as is our duty and commending that in them which is to be commended and not by running away from truth and duty that we may get for enough from them and errour For errour is an ill way of confuting errour The practical Truth lyeth in these following Precepts § 1. Direct 1. Remember that the departed souls in Heaven are part and the noblest part of the Body Direct 1. of Christ and family of God of which you are inferiour members and therefore that you owe
them greater Love and Honour than you ow 〈…〉 ny Saints on Earth Eph. 3. 15. The whole â—â—â—â—ly in Heaven and Earth is named of Christ. Those are the happiest and noblest paâ—â—s that are most pure and perfect and dwell in the highest and most glorious habitations nearest unto Christ yea with him If Holiness be lovely the most Holy are the most lovely We have many obligations therefore to Love them more than the Saints on earth They are more excellent and amiable and Christ Loveth them more And if any be Honourable it must especially be those spirits that are of greatest excellencies and perfections and advanced to the greatest Glory and nearness to their Lord. Make Conscience therefore of this as your duty not only to Love and Honour blessed souls but to Love and Honour them more than those that are yet on Earth And as every Duty is attended with Benefiâ— so we shall find this exceeding great benefit in the performance of this duty that iâ— will incline our â—earts to be the more Heavenly and draw up our Desires to the society which we so much Love and Honour § 2. Direct 2. Remember that it is a part of the life of faith to see by it the Heavenly Society of Direct 2. the blessed and a part of your Heavenly Conversation to have frequent serious and delightful thoughts Heb. 11. 1. of thâ—se Crowned souls that are with Christ. Otherwise God would never have given us such descriptions of the Heavenly Ierusalem and told us so much of the Hosts of God that must inhabit it for ever that must come from the East and from the West and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God When it is said that our conversatiâ—n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. the meaning extendeth both to our Relation Priviledges and Converse We are Denizâ—ns or Citizens of the Heavenly Society and our title to their happiness is our highest Priviledge and Honour and therefore our daily business is there and our sweetest and most serious converse is with Christ and all those blessed spirits Whatever we are doing here our Eye and Heart should still be there For we look not at the temporal things which are seen but at the eternal things which are not seen 2 Cor. 4. 18. A wise Christian that hath forsaken the Kingdom of darkness will be desirous to know what the Kingdom of Christ is into which he is translated and who are his fellow Subjects and what are their several ranks and dignities so far as tendeth to his congruous converse with them all And how should it affect us to find that we are come unto Mount Zion and unto the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the Iudge of all and to the spirits of Iust men made perfect and to Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant Heb. 12. 22 23 24. Live then as the members of this society and exclude not the chief members from your thoughts and converse though our local visible communion be only with these rural inferiour inhabitants and not with the Courtiers of the King of Heaven yet our Mental Communion may be much with them If our home and treasure be there with them our Hearts will be there also Mat. 6. 21. § 3. Direct 3. It is the will of God that the Memory of the Saints be honoured on earth when they are Direct 3. dead It is some part of his favour which he hath promised to them Prov. 10. 7. The memory of the just is blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot Matth. 26. 13. Verily I say unto you wheresoever this Gospel shall be Preached in the whole world there shall also this that this woman hath done be told for a memorial of her The history of the Scripture recordeth the Lives of the Saints to their perpetual honour And God will have it so also for the sake of his abused servants upon earth that they may see that the slanders of malicious tongues shall not be able to obscure the glory of his Grace and that the lies of the ungodly prevail but for a moment And God will have it so for the sake of the ungodly that they may be ashamed of their malicious enmity and lyes against the godly while they perceive that the departed Saints do leave behind them a surviving testimony of their sanctity and innocency sufficient to confound the venemous calumnies of the Serpents Seed Yea God will have the Names of his eminent servants to be honoured upon earth for the honour of their Head and of his Grace and Gospel so that while malice would cast dishonour upon Christ from the meanness and failings of his servants that are alive the memory of the dead who were once as much despised and slandered shall rise up against them to his honour and their shame And it is very observable how God constraineth the bitter enemies of Holiness to bear this Testimony for the honour of Holiness against themselves that many who are the cruelest persecutors and murderers of the Living Saints do honour the Dead even to excess How zealous are the Papists for the multitude of their Holy dayes Concil Later sub Innoc. 3. can 3. and the honouring of their Names and Relicts and pretending many Miracles to be wrought by a very touch of their Shrines or Bones whilest they revile and muder those that imitate them and deprive Temporal Lords of their Dominions that will not exterminate them Yea while they burn the living Saints they make it part of their crime or Heresie that they honour not the Dayes and Relicts of the Dead so much as they To shew us that the things that have been shall be and that wickedness is the same in all generations Matth. 23. 29 30 31 32 33. Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites because ye build the Tâ—mbes of the Prophets and garnish the Sepulchres of the righteous and say If we had been in the dayes of our fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets wherefore ye be witnesses to your selves that ye are the Children of them which killed the Prophets Filâ— ye up then the measure of your fathers Ye Serpents ye generation of Vipers how can ye escape the damnation of Hell I know that neither did the Pharisees nor do the Papists believe that those whom they murdered were Saints but Deceivers and Hereticks and the troublers of the World But if Charity be the grace most necessary to salvation then sure it will not keep any man from damnation that he had malice and uncharitableness sufficient to perswade him that the members of Christ were Children of the Devil But thus God will force even the persecutors and haters of his Saints to honour them And
inconsistent with Christianity or the Essentials of the Ministry we may well presume of many of them they would not receive it Therefore as an error which consequentially contradicteth some essential article of faith nullifieth not his Christianity who first and fastest holdeth the faith and would cast away the error if he saw the contradiction as Davenant Morton and Hall have shewed Epist. Conciliat So is it to be said as to practical error in the present case They are their grievous errors and sins but for ought I see do not nullifie their office to the Church As a Mass-Priest he is no Minister of Christ As an Anabaptist is not as a Rebaptizer nor a Separatist as a Separater nor an Antinomian or any erroneous person as a Preacher of that error But as a Christian Pastor ordained to preach the Gospel baptize administer the Lords Supper pray praise God guide the Church he may be The same answer serveth to the Objection as it extendeth to the erroneous Doctrines which they preach which are but by Consequence against the Essentials of Religion 2. But it is a greater doubt Whether any power of the Ministry can be conveyed by Antichrist or from him And whether God will own any of Antichrists administrations Therefore seeing they profess themselves to have no office but what they receive from the Pope and Christ disowning his usurpation the same man cannot be the Minister of Christ and Antichrist as the same man cannot be an officer in the Kings Army and his Enemies But this will have the same solution as the former If this Antichrist were the open professed enemy to Christ then all this were true Because their corrupt additions would not by dark consequences but so directly contain the denyal of Christianity or the true Ministry that it were not possible to hold both But as our Divines commonly note Antichrist is to sit in the Temple of God and the Popes Treason is under pretence of the greatest service and friendship to Christ makeing himself his Vicar General without his Commission So that they that receive power from him do think him to be Christs Vicar indeed and so renounce not Christ but profess their first and chief relation to be to him and dependance on him and that they would have nothing to do with the Pope if they knew him to be against Christ. And some of them write that the Power or Office is immediately from Christ and that the Pope Ordainers and Electors do but design the person that shall receive it Because else they know not what to say of the Election and Consecration of the Pope himself who hath no superiour And the Spanish Bishops in the Council of Trent held so close to this that the rest were fain to leave it undetermined so that it is no part of their Religion but a doubtful opinion Whether the power of Bishops be derived from the Pope though they be Governed by him But as to the other the case seemeth like this If a subject in Ireland usurp the Lieutenancy and tell all the people that he hath the Kings Commission to be his Lieutenant and command all to submit to him and receive their places from him and obey him And the King declareth him a Traytor antecedently only by the description of his Laws and maketh it the duty of the subjects to renounce him Those now that know the Kings will and yet adhere to the Usurper though they know that the King is against it are Traytors with him But those from whom he keepeth the knowledge of the Laws and who for want of full information believe him to be really the Kings Lieutenant and specially living where all believe it but yet would renounce him if they knew that he had not the Kings Commission These are the Kings subjects though in ignorance they obey an Usurper And on this account it is that A. Bishop Usher concluded that An ignorant Papist might be saved but the Learned hardly But when the Learned through the disadvantages of their Education are under the same ignorance being Learned but on one side to their greater seduction the case may be the same The same man therefore may receive an Office from Christ who yet ignorantly submitteth to the Pope and receiveth corrupt additions from him But suppose I be mistaken in all this yet to come to the second Question II. Whether Baptism and Ordination given by them be Nullities I answer no on a further account 1. Because that the Ministry which is a nullity to the receiver that is God will punish him Matâ—h 7. 23 24 2â— as an Usurper may yet perform those Ministerial Acts which are no Nullities to the Church Else Phil. 1. 15 16 17. how confused a case would all Churches be in For it is hard ever to know whether Ministers have all things essential to their Office Suppose a man be ignorant or an Heretick against some essential Mark 9. 40. Article of faith or suppose that he feigned Orders of Ordination when he had none or that he was ordained by such as really had no power to do it or suppose he pretended the consent of the majority of the people when really the greater part were for another If all thâ—s be unknown his Baptizing and other administrations are not thereby made Nullities to the Church though they be sins in him The Reason is because that the Church shall not suffer nor lose her right for another mans sin When the fault is not theirs the loss and punishment shall not be theirs He that is found in possession of the place performeth valid administration to them that know not his usurpation and are not guilty of it Otherwise we should never have done Re-baptizing nor know easily when we receive any valid administrations while we are so disagreed about the Necessaries of the Office and Call and when it is so hard in all things to judge of the Call of all other men 2. And as the Papists say that a private man or woman may baptize in extremity so many Learned Protestants think that though a private mans Baptism be a sin yet it is no nullity though he were known to be no Minister And what is said of Baptism to avoid tediousness you may suppose said of Ordination which will carry the first case far as to the Validity of the Ministry received by Papists Ordination as well as of Baptism and Visible Christianity received by them For my part God used Parsons Book of Resolution corrected so much to my good and I have known so many eminent Christians and some Ministers converted by it that I am glad that I hear none make a controversie of it whether the conversion faith or Love to God be valid which we receive by the Books or means of any Papist Quest. 4. Whether it be necessary to believe that the Pope is the Antichrist IT is one question Whether he be Antichrist and another Whether it be necessary
Covenant of Grace When a man Receiveth the Lords Supper unworthily in scorn in drunkenness or impenitency much more without any right as Infidels he doth eat and drink damnation or judgement to himself and maketh his sin greater Therefore he that gets a Child Baptized unworthily and without right doth not therefore infallibly procure his salvation 7. Because the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 7. 14. Else were your Children unclean but now are they holy and the Scripture giveth this priviledge to the Children of the faithful above others whereas the contrary opinion levelleth them with the seed of Infidels and Heathens as if these had right to salvation by meer Baptism as well as the others 8. Because else it would be the greatest act of Charity in the world to send Souldiers to catch up all Heathens and Infidels Children and Baptize them which no Christians ever yet thought their duty Yea it would be too strong a temptation to them to kill them when they had done that they might be all undoubtedly saved Obj. But that were to do evil that good might come by it Answ. But God is not to be so dishonoured as to be supposed to make such Laws as shall forbid men the greatest good in the World and then to tempt them by the greatness of the benefit to take it to be no evil As if he said If Souldiers would go take up a million of Heathens Children and Baptize them it will put them into an undoubted state of salvation But yet I forbid them doing it And if they presently kill them lest they sin after they shall undoubtedly be saved but yet I forbid them doing it I need not aggravate this temptation to them that know the power of the Law of nature which is the Law of Love and good works and how God that is most Good is pleased in our doing good Though he tryed Abraham's obedience once as if he should have killed his Son yet he stopt him before the execution And doth he ordinarily exercise mens obedience by forbidding them to save the souls of others when it is easily in their power Especially when with the adult the greatest labour and powerfullest Preaching is frequently so frustrate that not one of many is converted by it 9. Because else God should deal with unaccountable disparity with Infants and the Adult in the same ordinance of Baptism It is certain that all Adult persons Baptised if they dyed immediately should not be saved Even none that had no right to the Covenant and to Baptism such as Infidels Heathens Impenitent persons Hypocrites that have not true Repentance and faith And why should Baptism save an Infant without title any more than the Adult without title I still suppose that some Infants have no title and that now I speak of them alone Obj. But the Church giveth them all right by Receiving them Answ. This is to be farther examined anon If you mean a particular Church perhaps they are Baptized into none such Baptism as such is a Reception only into the Universal Church as in Eunuchs case Act. 8. appeareth If you mean the Universal Church it may be but one single ignorant man in an Infidel Countrey that Baptizeth And he is not the Universal Church Yea perhaps is not a lawfully called Minister of that Church However this is but to say that Baptism giveth Right to Baptism For this Receiving is nothing but Baptizing But there must be a Right to this Reception if baptism be a distinguishing Ordinance and all the world have not right to it Christ saith Matth. 28. 19. Disciple me all Nations baptizing them They must be initially made Disciples first by Consent and then be Invested in the visible state of Christianity by Baptism 10. If the Children of Heathens have right to baptism and salvation thereby it is either 1. As they are men and all have right or 2. Because the parents give them right 3. Or because remote ancestors give them right 4. Or because the universal Church gives them right 5. Or because a particular Church giveth them right 6. Or because the Sponsors give them right 7. Or the Magistrate 8. Or the Baptizer But it is none of all these as shall anon be proved II. But as to the second question I answer 1. It will help us to understand the case the better if we prepare the way by opening the case of the Adult because in Scripture times they were the most famous subjects of Baptism And it is certain of such 1. That every one outwardly Baptized is not in a state of salvation That no hypocrite that is not a true penitent believer is in such a state 2. That every true penitent believer is before God in a state of salvation as soon as he is such And before the Church as soon as he is baptized 3. That we are not to use the word Baptism as a Physical term only but as a moral Theological term Because words as in Law physick c. are to be understood according to the art or science in which they are treated of And Baptism taken Theologically doth as Essentially include the Wills consent or Heart-Covenanting with God as Matrimony includeth marriage consent and as a man containeth the soul as well as the body And thus it is certain that all truly Baptized persons are in a state of salvation that is All that sincerely consent to the Baptismal Covenant when they profess consent by Baptism but not hypocrites 4. And in this sense all the Ancient Pastors of the Churches did concur that Baptism did wash away all sin and put the baptized into a present right to life eternal as he that examineth their Writings will perceive not the outward washing and words alone but when the inward and outward parts concur or when by true faith and repentance the Receiver hath right to the Covenant of God 5. In this sense it is no unfit language to imitate the Fathers and to say that the truly baptized are in a state of Justification adoption and salvation unless when mens misunderstanding maketh it unsaâ—e 6. The sober Papists themselves say the same thing and when they have said that even ex opere operato Baptism saveth they add that it is only the meet Receiver that is the penitent believer and no other of the adult So that hitherto there is no difference 2. Now let us by this try the case of Infants concerning which there are all these several opinions among Divines 1. Some think that all Infants baptized or not are saved from Hell and positive punishment but are not brought to Heaven as being not capable of such joyes 2. Some think that all Infants dying such are saved as others are by actual felicity in Heaven though in a lower degree Both these sorts suppose that Christs death saveth all that reject 〈…〉 not and that Infants reject it not 3. Some think that all unbaptized Infants do suffer the poenam damni and are shut out
Ministers of Christ or Lay men If Lay men their actions are unlawful If Ministers they are Commissioned officers of Christ themselves and it is the work of their own office which they do and it is they that shall have the reward or punishment But if preaching to all these Churches or giving to all these persons in a thousand Parishes the Sacraments c. were the Bishops or Archbishops work that is which they are obliged to do then they would sin in not doing it But if they are the Governours only of those that are obliged 〈◊〉 do it and are not obliged to do it themselves then Governing the doers of it is only their work And therefore it is but equivocally said that the work is theirs which others and not they are obliged to do and that they do their work per alios when they do but Govern those others in doing their own work Of this read the Lord Bacons Considerations and Grotius de Imper. summ Potest Cirâ—a Sacra who soundly resolve the case against doing the Pastoral work per alium Quest. 59. May a Lay man preach or expound the Scriptures Or what of this is proper to the Pastors office Answ. 1. NO doubt but there is some Preaching or Teaching and Expounding which a Lay man may use So did Origen so did Constantine so may a King or Iudge on the Bench so may a Parent to his Children and a Master to his family and a Schoolmaster or Tutor to his Scholars 2. It is not any one Method or Sermon-fashion which is proper to a Minister and forbidden to a Lay man That Method which is most meet to the Matter and hearers may be used by one as well as by the other 3. It is not the meer publickness of the Teaching which must tell us what is unlawful for a Lay man For Writing and Printing are the most publick wayes of Teaching And these no man taketh to be forbidden the Laity Scaliger Causabon Grotius Erasmus Constantine King Iames the Lord Bacon and abundance more Lay men have done the Church great service by their Writings And Judges on the Bench speak oft Theologically to many But that which is proper to the Ministers or Pastors of the Church is 1. To make a stated office of it and to be separated set a part devoted or consecrated and appropriated to this sacred work and not to do it occasionally only or sometimes or on the by but as their Calling and the Employment of their lives 2. To do it as Called and Commissioned Ministers of Christ who have a special nunciative and Teaching Authority committed to them And therefore are in a special manner to be heard according to their special Authority 3. To be the stated Teachers of particular Churches as their Pastors and Guides Though they may sometime permit a Lay man when there is cause to Teach them pro tempore These three are proper to the Ministerial and Pastors office But for the regulating of Lay mens Teaching 1. They must statedly keep in their families or within their proper bounds 2. They must not presume to go beyond their abilities especially in matters dark and difficult 3. They must not thrust themselves without a just call and need into publick or numerous meetings as Teachers nor do that which savoureth of Pride or Ostentation or which tendeth to cherish those vices in others 4. They must not live or Preach as from under the Government of the Church Pastors But being members of their flocks must do all as under their lawful oversight and guidance much less must they proudly and schismatically set up themselves against their lawful Pastors and bring them into Act. 20. 30. Heb. 13 7 17 24. 1 Thes. 5. 12 13. 1 Tim. 5. 17. contempt to get themselves reputation and to draw away Disciples after them 5. Times and places must be greatly distinguished In Infidel or grosly ignorant Countreys where through the want of Preachers there is a true necessity men may go much further than in Countreys where Teachers and knowledge do abound Quest. 60. What is the true sense of the distinction of Pastoral power in foro interiore exteriore rightly used Answ. 1. NOt as if the Pastors had any power of the sword or outward force or of mens Bodies or Estates immediately For all the Pastoral power is Immediately on the soul and but secondarily on the body so far as the perswaded soul will move it Reason and Love and the Authority of a messenger of Christ are all the power by which Bishops or Pastors as such can work in foro interiore vel exteriore They Rule the body but by Ruling the soul. 2. But the true use of the distinction is only to serve instead of the usual distinction of Publick and personal obligation It is one thing to satisfie a mans private Conscience about his own personal case or matters And another thing to oblige the whole Church or a particular person of his duty as a member of the society to the rest When the Pastor Absolveth a penitent person in foro interiore that is in his own Conscience he delivereth him a discharge in the name of Christ on Condition he be truly penitent Else not But in foro exteriore he actually and absolutely restoreth him to his visible state of Church Communion The rest of the members perhaps may justly think this man unlike to prove a true penitent And then in foro interiore they are not bound to believe him certainly penitent or pardoned by God But in foro exteriore that he is restored to Church Communion and that for order sake they are bound to hold Communion with him they are bound internally to believe So that it comes neer the sense of the distinction of the secret Iudgement of God and Conscience and Church judgement Quest. 61. In what sense is it true that some say that the Magistrate only hath the External Government of the Church and the Pastors the Internal Answ. 1. NOt as External and Internal are opposed in the nature of the Action For the Voice of the Pastor in Preaching is External as well as the Kings 2. Not as they are opposed in the manner of Reception For the Ears of the Auditors are external Recipients from the Preacher as well as from the King 3. Not as distinguishing the parts that are to obey the duties commanded and the sins forbidden as if the King ruled the Body only and the Pastor the soul. For the soul is bound to obey the King or else the Body could not be bound to obey him unless by cords And the Body must obey the Preacher as well as the soul. Murder drunkenness swearing lying and such other external Vices are under the Pastors power to forbid in Christs name as well as the Kings 4. Not as if all the external parts or actions of Religion were exempted from the Pastors power For preaching praying reading Sacraments Church-assemblies are external parts
cannot dispense with us for not Loving our Neighbours or not shewing mercy to the poor oâ— saving the lives of the neâ—dy in 〈◊〉 and diâ—â—ress Else they that at last shall hear I was hungry aâ—d yâ—â—â—â—â— mâ— not I was nâ—ked and ye 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—â—â—â—â— I was in prison and ye visited me not might oft say â—â—â—◠〈…〉 〈◊〉 Magistrates for bad â—s Yet a lâ—ssâ—r Moral duty may be forbidden by the Magistrate for the sake of a greater because then it is no duty indeed and may be forborn if he forbid it not As to save one manâ— liâ—â— iâ— it would prove the death of a multitude or to save one mans house on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—o woâ—lâ—â—â—â—â—â—any Therefore 10. Iâ— is lawful and â— dâ—â—â—â— to for â—â—â—â— some certain â—â—â—â— or number of Sermons Prayers or Sacraments c. when â—â—â—â—er the present â—se of them would apparently pâ—oâ—â—re more hâ—rt than good o◠〈…〉 forbear 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â— like to prâ—â—â—â—â— moâ—â— good than the doing of them For they are all for our Edification and are made for man and not man for them though for God As if forbearing this dâ—y 〈◊〉 pâ—â—â—â—uâ—â—â—â—â—â— liâ—â—â—â—y for many dayes serviâ—e afterward c. 〈…〉 at the 〈◊〉 oâ—â—an to forsake or forbear our Calling and duty when it is to bâ— judged Necessary to the honour of God to the good of the Church and of mens souls that is whâ—n aâ—â—in 〈◊〉 case Dan. 6. our Religion it self and our owning the true God doth seeâ— suspended by the suspence of our duty Or when the multitude of ignorant hardened â—â—godly souls and the want of fit men for number and quality doth put it past Controversie that our work is greatly necessary 12. Those that are not Immediately called by Christ as were the Apostles but by men being yet Mat. â—8 20. Râ—m 10. 14. 1 â—or 9. 16. â—â—â—â— â— 4â— 10. 4â— â—â—â—m 4 1 2. â—â—â—â— 8 4 12. 1â— 3â— statedly obliged to the death when they are called may truly say as Paul Necessity is laid upon me and woe â—e to me if I preach not the Gospel 13. Papists and Protestants concurr in this judgement Papists will preach when the Law forbids them And the judgement of Protestants is among others by Bishop Bilson of subjection and Bishop Andrews Tortur Tort. plainly so asserted 14. But all that are bound to preach are not bound to do it to the same number nor in the same manner as they have not the same opportunity and call Whether it shall be in this place or that to more or fewer at this hour or that are not determined in Scripture nor alike to all 15. The Temples tythes and such adjuncts of Worship and Ministry are at the Magistrates dispose and must not be invaded against his Laws 16. Where any are obliged to Preach in a forbidden discountenanced state they must study to do it with such prudence caution peaceableness and obedience in all the Lawful circumstantials as may tend to maintain peace and the honour of Magistracy and to avoid temptations to sedition and unruly passions Quest. 81. May we lawfully keep the Lords day as a fast Answ. NOt ordinarily Because God hath made it a day of thanksgiving And we must not pervert it from the use to which it was appointed by God But in case of extraordinary necessity it may be done As 1. In case that some great judgement call us so suddenly to humiliation and fasting as that it cannot be deâ—erred to the next day As some sudden invasion fire sickness c. Luk. 6. 5. 13. â—â— Maâ— 2. In case by persecution the Church be denyed liberty to meet on any other day in a time when publick fasting and prayer is a duty 3. In case the people be so poor or servants Children and Wives be so hardly restrained that they cannot meet at any other time It is lawful in such cases because Positives give way to Moral or Natural duties caeteris paribus and lesser duties unto greater The Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath Quest. 82. How should the Lords day be spent in the main Answ. I Have so far opened that in the Family-directions that I will now only say 1. That Eâ—charistical worship is the great work of the day And that it should be kept as a day of publick Psal. 92. 1 2 3 4 5. Psal. 118. 1 2 3 15 19 23 24 27 28 29. Act. 20. 7 9. Rev. 1. 10. Act. 24. 14 25 26 c. Psal. 16. 7 8 9 10. 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Thanksgiving for the whole work of Redemption especially for the Resurrection of our Lord. 2. And therefore the celebration of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was alwayes a chief part of its observation in the primitive Churches Not meerly for the Sacrament sake but because with it was still joyned all the Laudatory and Thanksgiving worship And it was the Pastors work so to pray and praise God and preach to the people as tendeth most to possess their souls with the liveliest sense of the Love of the Father the Grace of the Son and the Communion of the holy Spirit on the account of our Redemption 3. Though confession of sin and humiliation must not be the chief work of the day yet it may and must come in as in due subordination to the chief 1. Because there are usually many persons present who are members only of the visible Church and are not fit for the Laudatory and rejoycing part 2. Because while we are in the flesh our sâ—lvation is imperfect and so are we and much sin still remaineth which must be a grief and burden to believers And therefore while sin is mixt Psal. 2. 9 10 11. Heb. 12. 28 29. with grace Repentance and sorrow must be mixed with our Thanksgivings and we must rejoyce with trembling And though we receive a Kingdom which cannot â—e moved yet must our acceptable service of God be with reverence and Godly fear because our God is a consuming fire 3. Our sin and misery being that which we are saved from doth enter the definition of our salvation And without the sense of theâ— we can never know aâ—ight what mercy is nor ever be truly glad and thankful But yet take heed that this subordinate duty be not pretended for the neglecting of that Thanksgiving which is the work of the day Quest. 83. May the people bear a Vocal part in Worship or do any more than say Amen Answ. YEs The people should say Amen that is openly signifie their consent But the meaning 1 Cor. 14. Psal. 150. 81 2 3. 98. 5. 94. 1 2 3 c. 105. 7. 2 c. 145. thoughout Col. 3 16. is not that they must do no more nor otherwise express their consent saving by that single word For 1. There is no Scripture which forbiddeth more 2. The people bear an equal part in singing the Psalms which are prayer and praise
and instruction 3. If they may do so in the Psalms in Metre there can no reason be given but they may lawfully do so in the Psalms in prose For saying them and singing them are but modes of utterance both are the speaking of Prayer and praise to God And the ancient singing was liker our saying than to our tunes as most judge 4. The primitive Christians were so full of the zeal and Love of Christ that they would have taken it for an injury and a quenching of the spirit to have been wholly restrained from bearing their part in the praises of the Church 5. The use of the tongue keepeth awake the mind and stirreth up Gods graces in his servants 6. It was the decay of zeal in the people that first shut out Responses while they kept up the ancient zeal they were inclined to take their part vocally in the Worship And this was seconded by the pride and usurpation of some Priests thereupon who thought the people of God too prophane to speak in the assemblies and meddle so much with holy things Yet the very remembrance of former zeal caused most Churches to retain many of the words of their predecessours even when they lost the Life and spirit which should animate them And so the same words came into the Liturgies and were used by too many customarily and in formality which their ancestors had used in the fervour of their souls 6. And if it were not that a dead hearted formal people by speaking the Responses carelesly and hypocritically do bring them into disgrace with many that see the necessity of seriousness I think few good people would be against them now If all the serious zealous Christians in the assembly speak the same words in a serious manner there will appear nothing in them that should give offence If in the fulness of their hearts the people should breakout into such words of prayer or confession or praise it would be taken for an extraordinary pang of zeal and were it unusual it would take exceedingly But the better any thing is the more loathsome it appeareth when it is mortified by hypocrisie and dead formality and turned into a mockery or an affected scenical act But it is here the duty of every Christian to labour to restore the Life and spirit to the words that they may again be used in a serious and holy manner as heretofore 7. Those that would have private men pray and prophesie in publick as warranted by 1 Cor. 14. Ye may all speak c. do much contradict themselves if they say also that Lay man may say nothing but Amen 8. The people were all to say Amen in Deut. 27. 15 16 18 19 20 c. And yet they oftentimes said more As Exod. 19. 8. in as solemn an Assembly as any of ours when God himself gave Moses a Sermon in a form of words to Preach to the people and Moses had repeated it as from the Lord it being the Narrative of his mercies the command of obedience and the promises of his great blessings upon that condition all the people answered together and said All that the Lord hath spoken we will do The like was done again Exod. 24. 3. And Deut. 5. 27. And lest you should think either that the Assembly was not as solemn as ours or that it was not well done of the people to say more than Amen God himself who was present declared his approbation even of the words when the speakers hearts were not so sincere in speaking them as they ought vers 28 29. And the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spake unto me and the Lord said unto me I have heard the voice of the words of this people They have well said all that they have spoken O that there were such a heart in them Obj. But this is but a speech to Moses and not to God Answ. I will reciâ—e to you a form of prayer which the people themselves were to make publickly to God Deut. 26 13 14 15. Then shalt thou say before the Lord thy God I have brought away the ☞ hallowed things out of my house and also have given them to the Levite and to the stranger to the fatherless and the Widow according to all thy Commandments which thou hast commanded me I have not transgressed thy Commandments neither have I forgotten them I have not eaten thereof in my mourning neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use nor given ought thereof for the dead but I have â—earkened to the voice of the Lord my God and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me Look down from thy holy habitation from Heaven and bless thy people Israel and the Land which thou hast given us as thou swarest unto our Fathers a Land that floweth with milk and honey Is not here a full form of Prayer to be used by all the people And remember that Ioseph and Mary and Christ himself were under this Law and that you never read that Christ found fault with the peoples speech nor spake a word to restrain it in his Churches In Lev. 9. 24. When all the people saw the Glory of the Lord and the fire that came out from it and consumed the burnt Offering they shouted and fell on their faces which was an acclamation more than bare Amen 2 King 23. 2 3. King Iosiah went up into the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah c. And the Priests and the Prophets and all the people both small and great and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the Covenant And the King stood by a pillar and made a Covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his Commandments c with all their heart and all their soul c. and all the people stood to the Covenant Where as a King is the speaker it 's like that the people used some words to express their consent 1 Chron. 16. 35 36. When David delivered a Psalm for a form of praise in which it is said to the people v. 35. And say ye save us O God of our salvation and gather us together and deliver us from the Heathen that we may give thanks to thy holy name and glory in thy praise blessed be the Lord God of Israel for ever and ever All the people said Amen and praised the Lord. Where it is like that their praising the Lord was more than their Amen And it is a command Psal. 67. 3 5. Let all the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee And he that will limit this to single persons or say that it must not be Vocally in the Church or it must be only in metre and never in prose or only in tunes and not without must prove it lest he be proved an adder to Gods word But it would be tedious to recite all the repeated sentences in the Psalms
order to our Absolution and Communion 4. Especially so far as is necessary to subdue our fleshly lusts and tame our bodies and bring them into a due subjection to our faith and to avoid our sin for the time to come And also by 2 Cor. 7. 9 10 11. 1 Cor. 9 27. Col. 1. 5 6. Rom. 13 13 14. the exercise of sober mortification prudently to keep under all our worldly phantasies and love of this present world without unfitting our selves for duty 5. And so far as is needful by such mortification to fit us for fervent prayer especially by fasting on dayes of humiliation and to help us in our meditations of death and judgement and to further our heavenly contemplations and conversation 6. The greatest difficulty is Whether any self-revenge be lawful or due which is answered by Psal. 69. 10. Lev. 16. 29 31. â—3 27 32. Numb 29. 7. 30. 13. Ezra 8. 21. what is said already None such as disableth us for Gods service is lawful But true Repentance is an anger or great displeasure with our selves for sin and a hatred of sin and loathing of our selves for it And to judge condemn and afflict our own souls by a voluntary self-punishing is but that exercise of justice on our selves which is fit for pardoned sinners that are not to be condemned by the Lord and indeed the just exercise of Repentance and displeasure against our selves On which accounts of sober self-revenge we may cherish such degrees of godly sorrow fasting course cloathing as Sackcloth and denying our selves the pleasures of this world as shall not be hurtful but helpful to our duty And if great and heinous sinners have of old on these terms exceeded other men in their austerities and self-afflictings we cannot condemn them of superstition unless we more particularly knew more cause for it But popishly to think that self-afflicting without respect to Isa. 58. 5. such causes or necessities is a meritorious perfection fit for others is superstition indeed And â—o think as many of the Melancholy do that self-murder is a lawful self-revenge is a heinous sin and leadeth to that which is more heinous and dangerous Quest. 101. Is it lawful to observe stated times of fasting imposed by others without extraordinary occasion And particularly Lent Answ. REmember that I here meddle not with the question how far it is lawful for Rulers to 2 Chron. 20 3. Ezâ—a 8. 21. Jonah 3. 5. Zech. 8. 19. Joel 2. 15. Read Dallaeus Treatise de Iejuniis impose such Fasts on others save only to say 1. That it is undoubtedly fit for Kings to do it by Precepts and Churches by Consent in extraordinary cases of defection sin or judgements 2. That it is undoubtedly sinful usurpation for either Pope or any pretended Ecclesiastical Universal Rulers to impose such on the Universal Church Because there are no Universal Rulers Or for a neighbour Bishop by usurpation to impose it on a neighbour Church 3. And that it is sinful in all or many Churches to make by their Agreements such things to be necessary to their Union or Communion with their neighbour Churches so that they will take all those for Schismaticks that differ from them in such indifferent things But as to the Using of such fasts omitting the imposing I say I. 1. Thâ—â— so great and extraordinary a duty as holy fasting must not be turned into a meer Isa. 58. 3 5 6 7 8. formality oâ— ceremony 2. No particular man must be so observant of a publick commanded anniversary fast as for it to neglect any duty commanded him by God which is inconsistent with it As to rejoyce or keep a day of Thanksgiving in Lent upon an extraordinary obliging cause To keep the Lords day in Lent as a day of Thanksgiving and Rejoycing To preserve our own health c. It is not lawful in obedience to man to fast so much or use such dyet as is like to destroy our lives or health These being not so far put into the power of man Nor can man dispence with us as to the duty of self-preservation If God himself require us not to offer him our lives and health needlesly as an acceptable Sacrifice nor ever maketh self-destruction our duty no nor any thing that is not for mans own good then we are not to believe without very clear proof that either Prince or Prelates have more power than ever God doth use himself 3. Such an Anniversary fast as is meet for the remembrance of some sin or judgement if commanded is to be kept both for the Reason of it and for the Authority of the Commander For 1. It is not unlawful as Anniversary For 1. It is not forbidden and 2. There may be just occasion Some arbitrarily keep an anniversary fast on the day of their Nativity as I have long done and some on the day that they fell into some great sin and some on the day of the death of a friend or of some personal domestick or National Calamity and none of this is forbidden 2. And that which is not unlawful in it self is not therefore unlawful to be done because it is commanded seeing obedience to superiours is our duty and not our sin unless in sinful things 4. Whether it be lawful or meet to commemorate Christs sufferings by anniversary fasts is next to be considered II. As for Lent in particular We must distinguish 1. Between the antient Lent and the later Lent 2. Between keeping it on a Civil account and on a Religious 3. Between true fasting and change of dyet 4. Between the Imitation of Christs fourty dayes fasting and the meer Commemoration of it Which premised I conclude 1. The keeping a true Fast or Abstinence from food for fourty dayes on what account soever being impossible or self-murder is not to be attempted 2. The Imitation of Christ in his fourty dayes fasting is not to be attempted or pretended to Because his miraculous works were not done for our imitation And it is presumption for us to pretend to such a power as is necessary to Miracles or yet to make any Essayes at such an imitation any more than at the raising of the dead 3. The pretending of a fast when men do but change their dyet Flesh for Fish Fruit Sweet-meats c. is but hypocritical and ridiculous Most poor labourers and temperate Ministers do live all the year on a more flesh-denying dyet and in greater abstinence than many Papists do in Lent or on their fasting dayes And what a ridiculous dispute is it to hear e. g. a Calvin that never eateth but one small meal a day for many years to plead against the keeping of the Popish fasts and their Clergy call him voracious and carnal and an Epicure and plead for fasting as holy mortification who eat as many meals and as much meat on a Lent day or fasting day as Calvin did in three feasting dayes and drink as much Wine in
cannot do with greater assemblies yea and to omit some assemblies for a time that we may thereby have opportunity for more which is not formal but only material obedience 4. But if it be only some circumstances of Assembling that are forbidden us that is the next case to be resolved Quest. 110. Must we obey the Magistrate if he only forbid us Worshiping God in such a place or Countrey or in such numbers or the like Answ. WE must distinguish between such a determination of Circumstances modes or accidents What if we be forbidden only Place Numbers c. as plainly destroy the worship or the end and such as do not For instance 1. He that â—aith You shall never assemble but once a year or never but at midnight or never above six or seven minutes at once c. doth but determine the circumstance of Time But he doth it so as to destroy the worship which cannot so be done in consistency with its ends But he that shall say You shall not meet till nine a clock nor stay in the night c. doth no such thing So 2. He that saith You shall not assemble but at forty miles distance one from another or you shall meet only in a room that will hold but the twentieth part of the Church or you shall never Preach in any City or popular place but in a Wilderness far from the inhabitants c. doth but determine the circumstance of Place But he so doth it as tends to destroy or frustrate the work which God commandeth us But so doth not he that only boundeth Churches by Parish bounds or forbâ—deth inconvenient places 3. So he that â—aith You shall never meet under a hundred thousand together or never above five or six doth but determine the accident of Number But he so doth it as to destroy the work and end For the first will be impossible And in the second way they must keep Church assemblies without Ministers when there is not so many as for every such little number to have one But so doth not he that only saith You shall not meet above ten thousand nor under ten 4. So he that saith You shall not hear a Trinitarian but an Arrian or you shall hear only one that cannot preach the essentials of Religion or that cryes down Godliness it self or you shall hear none but such as were ordained at Ierusalem or Rome or none but such as subscribe the Council of Trent c. doth but determine what person we shall hear But he so doth it as to destroy the work and end But so doth not he that only saith You shall hear only this able Minister rather than that 2. I need not stand on the application In the later case we owe formal obedience In the former we must suffer and not obey For if it be meet so to obey it is meet in obedience to give over Gods worship Christ said when Mat. 10. 13. Maâ— 16. 15. Maâ— 28. 19. 1 Tim. 2. 4. 2 Tim. 2. 25 26. 4. 1 2 â— they persecute you in one City flee to another But he never said If they forbid you Preaching in any City or populous place obey them He that said Preach the Gospel to every Creature and to all Nations and all the World and that would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth doth not allow us to forsake the souls of all that dwell in Cities and populous places and Preach only to some few Cottingers elsewhere No more than he will allow us to Love pity and relieve the bodies only of those few and take none for our Neighbours that dwell in Cities but with Priest and Levite to pass them by Quest. 111. Must Subjects or servants forbear weekly Lectures Reading or such helps above the Lords dayes worship if Princes or Masters do command it Answ. 1. THere is great difference between a meer subject or person governed and a servant slâ—ve or child 2. There is great difference between such as are hindered by just cause and real necessities and such as are hindered only through prophane malignity 1. Poor people have not so much leisure from their callings as the Rich And so providing for their families may at that time by necessity become the greater and the present duty 2. So may it be with Souldiers Judges and others that have present urgent work of publick consequence when others have no such impediment 3. He that is the child or slave of another or is his own by propriety is more at his power than he that is only a subject and so is but to be Governed in order to his own and the common good 4. A servant that hath absolutely hired himself to another is for that time neer the condition of a slave But he that is hired but with limitations and exceptions of Liberty exprest or understood hath right to the excepted liberty 5. If the King forbid Judges Souldiers or others whose labours are due to the publick to hear Sermons at the time when they should do their work Or if Parents or Masters so forbid Children and servants they must be obeyed while they exclude not the publick Worship of the Lords own day nor necessary Prayer and duty in our private daily cases 6. But he that is under such bondage as hindereth the needful helps of his soul should be gone to a freer place if Lawfully he can But a Child Wife or such as are not free must trust on Gods help in the use of such means as he alloweth them 7. A Prince or Tutor or Schoolmaster who is not a Proprietor of the person but only a Governour is not to be obeyed formally and for Conscience sake if he forbid his Subjects or Scholars such daily or weekly helps for their salvation as they have great need of and have no necessity to forbear such as are hearing or assembling with the Church on the week dayes at convenient time Reading the Scriptures daily or good Books accompanying with men fearing God praying c. Because God hath commanded these when we can perform them Quest. 112. Whether Religious Worship may be given to a Creature and what Answ. WHile the terms of the Question remain ambiguous it is uncapable of an answer 1. By Worship is meant either Cultus in genere any honour expressed to another Or some special act of honour We must understand the Question in the first General sense or else we cannot answer it till men tell us what Acts of honouring they mean 2. By Religious is meant either in general that which we are bound to by God or is done by virtue of a Religious that is a Divine obligation and so is made part of our Religion that is of our obedience to God Or else by Religious is meant Divine or that which is properly due to God The question must be taken in the first general sense or else it is no question but
Sacrifice and Altars therefore we may use the same in Greek And our Translation or English names are not intolerable If Priest come from Presbyter I need not prove that If it do not yet all Ministers are subordinate to Christ in his Priestly Office as essentially as in the rest And Rev. 1. 6. 5. 10. 20. 6. it is said that we are or shall be made Priests of God and unto God And 1 Pet. 2. 5. we are an holy Priesthood and ver 9. a royal Priesthood If this be said of all then especially of Ministers And the word Sacrifice is used of us and our offered Worship 1 Pet. 2. 5. Heb. 13. 15 16. Phil. 4. 18. Ephes. 5. 2. Rom. 12. 1. And Heb. 13. 10. saith We have an Altar whereof they partake not c. And the word is frequently used in the Revelations Chap. 6. 9. 8. 3 5. 16. 7 c. in relation to Gospel times We must not therefore be quarrelsome against the bare names unless they be abused to some ill use 4. The antient Fathers and Churches did ever use all these words so familiarly without any question or scruple raised about them either by the Orthodox or any Hereticks that at present I can remember to have ever read of that we should be the more wary how we condemn the bare words lest thence we give advantage to the Papists to make them tell their followers that all Antiquity was on their side Which were very easie for them to prove if the Controversie were about the Names alone Extreams and passionate imprudence do give the adversaries great advantages 5. The names of Sacrifice and Altar were used by the Antient Churches not properly but meerly in allusion to the Jewish and Heathen Sacrifices and Altars together with a tropical use from the Christian reasons of the Names As the Lords Supper is truly the Commemoration of Christs Sacrifice And therefore called by Protestants A Commemorative Sacrifice so that our Controversie with the Papists is not Whether it may be called a Sacrifice But whether it be only the Sacrament of a Sacrifice or a Sacramental Commemorative Sacrifice or also a Real proper Sacrifice of the very body and blood it self of Christ. For we acknowledge That This is a Sacrifice is no more tropical a speech than This is my body and blood 6. Yet it must be noted that the Scripture useth the word Sacrifice about our selves and our Thanksgivings and prayses and works of Charity rather than of the Lords Supper and the word Priests of all men Lay or Clergy that offer these foresaid Sacrifices to God Though the antient Doctors used them familiarly by way of allusion of the Sacrament and its administrators 7. In a word as no Christian must use these or any words to false ends or senses or deceiving purposes nor yet to scandal so out of these cases the words are lawful And as the Fathers are not to be any further condemned for using them than as the words which they foresaw not have given advantage to the Papists to bring in an ill sense and doctrine so those that now live in Churches and Countreys where the publick professed doctrine doth free them from the suspicion of a Popish ill sense should not be judged nor quarrelled with for the terms But all sober Christians should allow each other the liberty of such phrases without censoriousness or breach of charity or peace Quest. 123. May the Communion-Tables be turned Altar-wise and Railed in And is it lawful to come up to the Rails to Communicate Answ. THe answer to this is mostly the same with that to the foregoing question 1. God hath given us no particular Command or prohibition about these circumstances but the General Rules for Unity Edification Order and Decency Whether the Table shall stand this way or that way here or there c. he hath not particularly determined 2. They that turn the Table Altar-wise and Rail it in out of a design to draw men to Popery or in a scandalous way which will encourage men to or in Popery do sin 3. So do they that Rail in the Table to signifie that the Vulgar or Lay-Christians must not come to it but be kept at a distance when Christ in his personal presence admitted his disciples to communicate at the Table with himself 4. But where there are no such ends but only to imitate the Antients that did thus and to shew reverence to the Table on the account of the Sacrament by keeping away Dogs keeping Boyes from sâ—ting on it And the professed doctrine of the Church condemneth Transubstantiation the Real Corporal presence c. as ours doth In this case Christians should take these for such as they are Indifferent things and not censure or condemn each other for them nor should any force them upon those that think them unlawful 5. And to communicate is not only lawful in this case where we cannot prove that the Minister sinneth but even when we suspect an ill design in him which we cannot prove yea or when we can prove that his personal interpretation of the place name scituation and rails is unfound For we assemble there to communicate in and according to the professed doctrine of Christianity and the Churches and our own open profession and not after every private opinion and error of the Minister As I may receive from an Anabaptist or Separatist notwithstanding his personal errors so may I from another man whose error destroyeth not his Ministry nor the Ordinance as long as I consent not to it yea and with the Church profess my dissent 6. Yet caeteris paribus every free man that hath his choice should choose to communicate rather where there is most purity and least error than with those that swarve more from regular exactness Quest. 124. Is it lawful to use Davids Psalms in our Assemblies Answ. YEs 1. Christ used them at his last Supper as is most probable And he ordinarily joyned Matth. 26. 30. Mark 14. 26. Luke 4. 16. 6. 6. John 6. 59. 18. 20. Mark 1. 21. 23 29. 3. 1. 6. 2. 1 Chron 16. 7. Psalm 105. 2. 95. 2. James 5. 13. 1 Chron. 16. 9. with the Jews that used them And so did the Apostles 2. It is confessed Lawful to read or say them Therefore also to sing them For saying and singing difference not the main end 3. They are suitable to our use and were the Liturgy of the Jewish Church not on a Ceremonial account but for that fitness which is common to us with them 4 We are commanded in the New Testament to sing Psalms And we are not commanded to compose new ones Nor can every one make Psalms who is commanded to sing Psalms And if it be lawful to sing Psalms of our own or our neighbours making much more of Gods making by his Spirit in his Propheâ—s Object They are not suitable to all our cases nor to all
antient formulae agree not in words among themselves 5. It is not to be doubted of but the Apostles did appoint and use a Creed commonly in their ☞ dayes And that it is the same with that which is now called the Apostles and the Nicene in the main but not just the same composure of words nor had they any such precise composure as can be proved But this much is easily provable 1. That Christ Composed a Creed when he made his Covenant and instituted Baptism Matth. 28. 19. 2. That in the Jewish Church where men were educated in the knowledge of the Scriptures and expectation of the Mâ—ssiah it was supposed that the people had so much preparatory knowledge as made them the more capable of Baptism as soon as they did but seriously profess to Believe and Consent to the terms of the Covenant And therefore they were presently baptized Acts 2. 38 39 40. 3. That this could not be rationally supposed among the Gentiles and common Ignorant people of the world And Ignorantis non est Consensus He doth not Covenant who understandeth not the Covenant as to what is promised him and what he promiseth 4. That the Apostles baptized and caused others to baptize many thousands and settle many Churches before any part of the New Testament was written even many and many years 5. That the Apostles did their work as well and better than any that succeeded them 6. That their successors in the Common Ministery did as far as any Church History leadeth us up Instruct and Catechise men in the meaning of the Baptismal Covenant which is the Christian faith before they baptized them Yea they kept them long in the state of Catechumens usually before they would baptize them And after baptized but twice a year at Easter and Whitsontide as our Liturgy noteth And they received an account of their tolerable understanding of Religion before they would receive them into the Church 7. No doubt then but the Apostles did cause the baptizable to understand the three Articles of Christs own Creed and Covenant and to give some account of it before they baptized them ordinarily among the Gentiles 8. No doubt therefore but they used many more Explicatory words to cause them to understand those few 9. There is neither proof nor probability that they used a Composure of just the same words and no more or less Because they had to do with persons of several capacities some knowing who needed fewer words and some ignorant and dull who needed more Nor is any such Composure Heb. 5. 11 12. 6. 1 2 3. come down to our hands 10. But it is more than probable that the Matter opened by them to all the Catechumens was still the same when the words were not the same For Gods Promises and mans Conditions are still the same where the Gospel cometh Though since by the occasion of Heresies some few material clauses are inserted For all Christians had one Christianity and must go one way to Heaven 11. It is also more than probable that they did not needlesly vary the words lest it should teach men to vary the matter But that all Christians before baptism did make the same profession of faith as to the sense and very much the same as to the very words using necessary caution and yet avoiding unnecessary preciseness of formality But so as to obviate damnable Heresies that the Christian profession might attain its ends 12. Lastly No doubt but this practice of the Apostles was exemplary and imitated by the Churches and that thus the Essentials of Religion were by the tradition of the Creed and Baptism delivered 2 Tim. 1 13. 2 Cor. 3. 2 3 7. Heb. 8. 10. 10. 16. by themselves as far as Christianity went long before any Book of the New Testament was written And every Christian was an Impress or Transcript or Specimen of it And that the following Churches using the same Creed wholly in sense and mostly in words might so far well call it The Apostles Creed As they did both the Western and the Nicene Quest. 140. What is the use of Catechisms Answ. TO be a more familiar explication of the Essentials of Christianity and the principal Integrals in a larger manner than the Creed Lords Prayer and Decalogue do that the ignorant may the more easily understand it Every man cannot gather out of the Scripture the Greatest matters in the true method as distinct from all the rest And therefore it is part of the work of the Churches Teachers to do it to the hands and use of the ignorant Quest. 141. Could any of us have known by the Scriptures alone the Essentials of Religion from the Rest if Tradition had not given them to us in the Creed as from Apostolical Collection Answ. YEs For the Scripture it self telleth us what is necessary to salvation It describeth to us the Covenant of Grace both Promises and Conditions And it were strange if so large a Volume should not as plainly tell us what is necessary to salvation as fewer words The Scripture hath not Less than the Creed but more Quest. 142. What is the best Method of a true Catechism or Summ of Theology Answ. GOd willing I shall tell the Church my opinion of that at large in a peculiar Latin Treatise called Methodus Theologiae which here I cannot do Only I shall say that among all the great variety of Methods used in these times I think none cometh nearer the Order of the Matter which is the true Commendation of a Method than those which open Theology 1. In the breviate of the Baptismal Covenant 2. In the three explicatory summs the Creed Lords Prayer and Decalogue with the added Gospel Precepts 3. In the Largest form which is the whole Scripture And that our common English Catechism and Paraeus or Ursine and many such who use that common easie Method are more truly Methodical than most that pretend to greater accu 〈…〉 ness Though I much commend the great industry of such as Dudley Fenner Gomarrus and 〈…〉 cially George Sohenius Quest. 143. What is the use of various Church Confessions or Articles of Faith Answ. I Will pass by the very ill use that is made of them in too many Countreys where unnecessary opinions or uncertain are put in and they that can get into favour with the Secular Power take advantage under pretence of Orthodoxness and Uniformity Truth and Peace to set up their opinions and judgements to be the common rule for all to bow to though wiser than themselvâ—s And to silence all Ministers and scatter and divide the flocks that will not say or swear as they do that is that they are wise men and are in the right The true and commendable use of various Church Professions or Confessions of faith is 1. To be an Instruction to the more ignorant how to understand the Scriptures in most of the most weighty points 2. To be an enumeration of
Acosta de Convers. Bâ—eganius de Theol. Gentil Vossius de Idolol Vâ—ssius de Theol. natur Collius de Animabus paganorum Eugubinus Fotherby Mersennus in Genesin XVI Cates of Conscience more Filliucius Tolet de sacerdot Reginald Cajetane Navarrus See Montaltus against the Jesuits Casuists and the Iesuits Morals Downames and Whateleys Tables on the Commandments Sanderson de Iuramento Fragoso aforenamed XVII Of Councils more and Canonists and Liturgies Ius Orientale Graecorum per Leunclavium Bochelli Decreta Gallic Sirmondi Concil Gall. Longus Actus Conventus Thorunensis Formula Concordiae Germ The Westminster Assemblies Acts. English Canons Fasti Siculi Morini exercit Eccles. Zepper Polit. Eccles. Hammond Le strange of Liturgies Antiqâ—itates Liturgicae Cassanders Works Claud. Sainctes Gavantus de Ritibus Vicecomes XVIII More of the Fathers I need not name If you can get and read them you may find their names e. g. in Bellarmin de Script Eccles. Get the Bibliothec. Patrum of de la Bigne and Macarius Hom. Ephrem Syâ—us plain honest things Theodoret Cyril Hieros Cyril Alexand. Isidore Pelusiota Theophilact Occumenius Sâ—dulius Primasius Remigius Beda c. But many of them are very weak and dry The chief use of the Fathers is to know Historically what Doctrine was then taught XIX Schoolmen more Bonaventure Alensis Cajetane Bannez Biel Cameracensis Franc. Mayro Capreolus Ri. Armachanus Bradwardine Faber Faventinus Hervaeus Ioh. Fr. Pici Mirandul Fr. Victoria Suarâ—z Vasquez Albertinus in Thom. Aquila Scottellus Ripalda nameth more if you would have more XX. Antipapists Pappus of their Contradictions Gentiletus Mortons Apology and Grand Imposture He that would have more Books may see Voctiâ—s Bibliother and many other Catalogues Buckeridge Râ—ffeusis for Kings Crakenthorpe Paraeus cont Bellarm. Iunius on Bellar. Birkbeck's Protestants Evidence Hunnii Eccles. Rom. non est Christ. Hottoman Brutum fulmen c. Eusebius Captivus Ioh. Crocius de schismate Iewel all Whitaker Andrews Tortura Torti Wotton Dr. Ier. Tailors Disswasive But they are almost numberless Note 1. THat these may seem too many though they are few to a full and rich Library 2. That it is not my advice that you read over all these or half For that would but make them a snare for sinning and waste of time But a Minister of the Gospel should have more Books by him than he can read over for particular uses and to see the Authors judgement occasionally and to try other mens Citations 3. That a Minister must neither study the matter without the help of other mens studies by Reading much nor yet Read much without studying the Thing it self 4. That though a man must not speak or write before he knoweth what and how yet thus Exercising the Knowledge that we have doth greatly increase it And no Minister must be studying when he should be Preaching Praying Catechizing or visiting or instructing his flock 5. It is but few men that are born with an acumen fit for Writings and Controversies Those few must read the more to be fit for it The rest may take up with such Preparations as they have use for and exercise them viz. in the Pastoral oversight of the flocks and propagating plain and necessary truths And therefore though I am one that have been thought to burden mens understandings with Methods distinctions directions and controversies it is but few that I perswade to use them and am as much as any for most mens adhering to plain fundamentals and truths of daily use and Love and honour those that go no further and are faithful in this work so be it they have not the Pride to think that they know more than they do and to wrangle against that which they understand not and set not the Church on fire as ancient Ignorance did by accusing those of Heresie that knew more than themselves when they got but the Throne or the Major Vote 6. That though I chiefly commend Systemes of Theologie I know not one whose method satisfieth me as well agreeing with Scripture and the matter else I had not troubled my self so much to seek a right method and propose what I found And I think no common Method more genuine than theirs that expound the Creed Lords Prayer and Decalogue and the Sacraments as the sum of all 7. I mention none of my own Writings for it will seem vanity But as many as they are I wrote none which I thought needless at the time of writing them 8. Though none should have so great fitness for the holy education of Children and Government of Families as Ministers yet so great is the work of Overseeing the flock requiring more time and parts than all that we have and so great are the matters of our studies and labours requiring our total and most serious thoughts that I earnestly advise all that can possibly to live single and without a Family lest they marr their work by a divided mind For nunquam bene fit quod fit prae-occupato animo saith Hierome truly The whole man and whole time is all too little in so great a work The End of the third TOME A Christian Directory Or A SUMM of PRACTICAL DIVINITY By Way of DIRECTION The Fourth Part. Christian Politicks CONTAINING All the Duties of the Six last Commandments in our Political Relations and towards our Neighbours With the principal CASES of CONSCIENCE about them By RICHARD BAXTER Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4 5 6. Let every soul be subject to the Higher Powers For Rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil For he is the Minister of God to thee for good Matth. 17. 27. Lest we should offend them give unto them for me and thee Matth. 19. 19. Thou shalt Love thy Neighbour as thy self Matth. 7. 12. Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them For this is the Law and the Prophets LONDON Printed by Robert White for Nevill Simmons at the Sign of the Princes Arms in St. Pauls Church-yard 1673. READER THink not by the title of this Part that I am doing the same work which I lately revoked in my Political Aphorisms Though I concluded that Book to be quasi non scriptum I told you I recanted not the Doctrine of it which is for the Empire of God and the Interest of Government Order and honesty in the World This is no place to give you the Reasons of my revocation besides that it offended my Superiours and exercised the tongues of some in places where other matters would be more profitable Pass by all that concerneth our particular State and Times and you may know by that what principles of Policy I judge Divine And experience teacheth me that it is best for men of my Profession to meddle with no more but leave it to the Contzeus the Arnisaeus's and other Jesuits to promote their cause by Voluminous politicks The Popes false-named Church is a Kingdom and his Ministers may write of Politicks
The word obligation being Metaphorical must in controversie be explained by its proper Answ. terms The Law doth first constituere debitum obedientiâ— propter inobedientiam debitum poenâ— Here then you must distinguish 1. Between Obligation in foro conscientiâ— and in foro humano 2. Between an obligation ad poenam by that Law of man and an obligation ad patiendum by another Divine Law And so the answer is this 1. If the Higher Powers e. g. forbid the Apostles to preach upon pain of death or scourging the dueness both of the obedience and the penalty is really null in point of Conscience however in foro humano they are both due that is so falsly reputed in that Court Therefore the Apostles are bound to preach notwithstanding the prohibition and so far as God alloweth they may resist the penalty that is by flying For properly there is neither debitum obedientiae nec poenae 2. But then God himself obligeth them not to resist the higher powers Rom. 13. 1 2 3. and in their patience to possess their souls So that from this command of God there is a true obligation ad patiendum to patient suffering and non-resistance though from the Law of man against their preaching there was no true obligation aut ad obedientiam aut ad poenam This is the true resolution of this Sophism § 65. Direct 34. It is one of the most needful duties to Governours for those that have a call and Direct 34. opportunity as their Pastors to tell them wisely and submissively of those sins which are the greatest enemies Vetus est verumque dictum Miser est Imperator cui vera reticentur Grotius de Imp. p. 245. Principi consâ—ile non dulciora sed optima is one of Soloâ—s Sentences in Laâ—rt de Solon Therefore it is a horrid villany of the Jâ—suites which is expressed in Secret Instruct. in Arcanis Iesuit pag. 5 6 7 8 11. to indulge great men and Pri 〈…〉 es in those opinions and sins which please them and to be on that side that their Liberty requireth to keep their favour to the Society So Maffaeius l. 3. c. 11. in vita ipsiuâ— Loyolae Alexand. Severus so greatly hated flatterers that Lampridius saith Siquis caput flexisset aut blandius aliquid dixisseâ— uti adulator vel abjiciebatur si loci ejus qualitas pateretur vel ridebatur ingenti cachinno si ejus dignitas graviori subjacere non posset injuriae Venit ad Attilam past victoriam Marullus poeta ejus temporis egregius compositumque in adulationâ—m carmen recitavit In quo ubi Attila per interpretem cognovit se Deum divina sâ—irpe ortum vanissime praedicari aspernatus sacrilâ—gae adulationis impudentiam cum autore â—armen exuri jusserat A qua severitate subinde temperavit ne scriptores caeteri a laudibus ipsius celebrandis terrerentur Callimach Exp. in Attila p. 353. to their souls and not the smallest enemies to their Government and the publick peace All Christians will confess that sin is the only forfeiture of Gods protection and the cause of his displeasure and consequently the only danger to the soul and the greatest enemy to the Land And that the sins of Rulers whether personal or in their Government have a far more dangerous influence upon the publick state than the sins of other men Yea the very sins which upon true repentance may be pardoned as to the everlasting punishment may yet be unpardoned as to the publick ruine of a state As the sad instance of Manasseh sheweth 2 Kings 23. 26. Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal 2 Kings 24. 3 4. Surely at the Commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh according to all that he did and also for the innocent blood that he shed for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood which the Lord would not pardon And yet this was after Iosiah had Reformed So Solomons sin did cause the renting of the ten Tribes from his Sons Kingdom Yea the bearing with the High Places was a provoking sin in Kings that otherwise were upright Therefore sin being the fire in the Thatch the quenching of it must needs be an act of duty and fidelity to Governours And those that tempt them to it or sooth and flatter them in it are the greatest enemies they have But yet it is not every man that must reprove a Governour but those that have a Call and Opportunity nor must it be done by them imperiously or reproachfully or publickly to their dishonour but privately humbly and with love honour reverence and submissiveness § 66. Object But great men have great Spirits and are impatient of reproof and I am not bound Object to that which will do no good but ruine me Answ. 1. It is an abuse of your Superiours to censure them to be so proud and bruitish as not to Answ. consider that they are the subjects of God and have souls to save or lose as well as others Will you judge so hardly of them before tryal as if they were far worse and foolisher than the poor and take this abuse of them to be an excuse for your other sin No doubt there are good Rulers in the world that will say to Christs Ministers as the Prince Elector Palatine did to Pitisâ—us charging him to tell Mâ—lâ—h Adam in vit Barth Pitisci him plainly of his faults when he chose him to be the Pastor â—nlicus 2. How know you before hand what success your words will have Hath the Word of God well managed no power yea to make even bad men good Can you love your Rulers and yet give up their souls in despair and all for fear of suffering by them 3. What if you do suffer in the doing of your duty Have you not learned to serve God upon such terms as those Or do you think it will prove it to be no duty because it will bring suffering on you These reasons favour not of faith § 67. Direct 35. Think not that it is unlawful to obey in every thing which is unlawfully commanded Direct 35. It may in many cases be the subjects duty to obey the Magistrate who sinfully commandeth him For all the Magistrates sins in commanding do not enter into the matter or substance of the thing commanded If a Prince command me to do the greatest duty in an ill design to some selfish end it is his sin so to command but yet that command must be obeyed to better ends Nay the matter of the command may be sinful in the Commander and not in the obeyer If I be commanded without any just reason to hunt a feather it is his sin that causelesly commandeth me so to lose my time and yet it may be my
serious Direct 5. words about their souls and the life to come in such a plain familiar manner as tendeth most to the awakening of their Consciences and making them perceive how greatly what you say concerneth them A little such familiar serious discourse in an interlocutory way may go to their hearts and never be forgotten when meer forms alone are lifeless and unprofitable Abundance of good might be done on Children if Parents and Schoolmasters did well perform their parts in this § 6. Direct 6. Take strict account of their spending the Lords day How they hear and what they Direct 6. remember and how they spend the rest of the day For the right spending of that day is of great importance to their souls And a custome of play and idleness on that day doth usually debauch them and prepare them for much worse Though they are from under your eye on the Lords day yet if on Munday they be called to account it will leave an awe upon them in your absence § 7. Direct 7. Pray with them and for them If God give not the increase by the dews of Heaven Direct 7. and shine not on your labours your planting and watering will be all in vain Therefore prayer is as suitable a means as Teaching to do them good and they must go together He that hath a heart to pray earnestly for his Scholars shall certainly have himself most comfort in his labours and it is likely that he shall do most good to them § 8. Direct 8. Watch over them by one another when they are behind your backs at their sports or Direct 8. converse with each other For it is abundance of wickedness that Children use to learn and practise which never cometh to their Masters ears especially in some great and publick Schools They that came thither to learn sobriety and piety of their Masters do oftentimes learn profaneness and ribaldry and cursing and swearing and scorning deriding and reviling one another of their ungracious School-fellows And those lessons are so easily learnt that there are few Children but are infected with some such debauchery though their Parents and Masters watch against it and perhaps it never cometh to their knowledge So also for gameing and robbing Orchards and fighting with one another and reading Play-books and Romances and lying and abundance other vices which must be carefully watcht against § 9. Direct 9. Correct them more sharply for sins against God than for their dulness and failing at their Direct 9. books Though negligence in their learning is not to be indulged yet smart should teach them especially to take heed of sinning that they may understand that sin is the greatest evil § 10. Direct 10. Especially curb or cashier the leaders of impiety and rebellion who corrupt the rest Direct 10. There are few great Schools but have some that are notoriously debauched that glory in their wickedness that in filthy talking and fighting and cursing and reviling words are the infecters of the rest And usually they are some of the bigger sort that are the greatest fighters and master the rest and by domineering over them and abusing them force them both to follow them in their sin and to conceal it The correcting of such or expelling them if incorrigible is of great necessity to preserve the rest For if they are suffered the rest will be secretly infected and undone before the Master is aware This causeth many that have a care of their Childrens souls to be very fearful of sending them to great and publick Schools and rather choose private Schools that are freer from that danger It being almost of as great concernment to Children what their companions be as what their Master is CHAP. VII Directions for Souldiers about their duty in point of Conscience THough it is likely that few Souldiers will read what I shall write for them yet for the sake of those few that will I will do as Iohn Baptist did and give them some few necessary Directions and not omit them as some do as if they were a hopeless sort of men § 1. Direct 1. Be careful to make your peace with God and live in a continual readiness to dye Direct 1. This being the great duty of every rational man you cannot deny it to be especially yours whose calling setteth you so frequently in the face of death Though some Garrison Souldiers are so seldom if ever put to fight that they live more securely than most other men yet a Souldier as such being by his place engaged to fight I must fit my Directions to the ordinary condition and expectation of men in that employment It is a most irrational and worse than beastly negligence for any man to live carelesly in an unpreparedness for death considering how certain it is and how uncertain the time and how unconceivably great is the change which it inferreth But for a Souldier to be unready to dye who hath such special reason to expect it and who listeth himself into a state which is so near it this is to live and fight like beasts and to be Souldiers before you understand what it is to be a Christian or a Man First therefore make sure that your souls are regenerate and reconciled unto God by Christ and that when you dye you have a part in Heaven and that you are not yet in the state of sin and nature An unrenewed unsanctified soul is sure to go to Hell by what death or in what cause soever he dyeth If such a man be a Souldier he must be a coward or a mad man If he will run upon death when he knoweth not whither it will send him yea when Hell is certainly the next step he is worse than mad But if he know and consider the terribleness of such a change it must needs make him tremble when he thinks of dying He can be no good Souldier that dare not dye And who can expect that he should dare to dye who must be damned when he dyeth Reason may command a man to venture upon death but no reason will allow him to venture upon Hell I never knew but two sorts of valiant Souldiers The one was Boyes and bruitish ignorant sots who had no sense of the concernments of their souls and the other who only were truly valiant were those that had made such preparations for Eternity as at least perswaded them that it should go well with them when they dyed And many a debauched Souldier I have known whose Conscience hath made them Cowards and shift or run away when they should venture upon death because they knew they were unready to dye and were more afraid of Hell than of the Enemy He that is fit to be a Martyr is the fittest man to be a Souldier He that is regenerate and hath laid up his treasure and his hopes in Heaven and so hath overcome the fears of death may be bold as a Lyon and ready for
be guilty of the blood and calamities of an unjust War that a wise man will rather be abused as a Neuter than run himself into the danger of such â— case § 4. Direct 4. When Necessity forceth you to go forth in a just War do it with such humiliation Direct 4. and unwillingness as beseemeth one that is a Patient a Spectator and an Actor in one of the sorest of Gods temporal judgements Go not to kill men as if you went to a Cock-fight or a Bear-baiting Make not a sport of a common calamity Be not insensible of the displeasure of God expressed in so great a judgement What a sad condition is it to your selves to be imployed in destroying others If they be good how sad a thought is it that you must kill them If they are wicked how sad is it that by killing them you cut off all their hopes of mercy and send them suddenly to Hell How sad an employment is it to spoil and undo the poor inhabitants where you come To cast them into terrors to deprive them of them of that which they have long been labouring for To prepare for famine and be like a consuming pestilence where you come Were it but to see such desolations it should melt you into compassion much more to be the executioners your selves How unsuitable a work is it to the grace of Love Though I doubt not but it is a service which the Love of God our Countrey and our Rulers may sometimes justifie and command yet as to the Rulers and Masters of the business it must be a very clear and great necessity that can warrant a War And as to the Souldiers they must needs go with great regret to kill men by thousands whom they Love as themselves He that Loveth his neighbour as himself and blesseth and doeth good to his persecuting enemy will take it heavily to be employed in killing him even when necessity maketh it his duty But the greatest calamity of War is the perniciousness of it to mens souls Armies are commonly that to the soul as a City infected with the Plague is to the body The very Nurseries and Academies of pride and cruelty and drunkenness and whoredome and robbery and licentiousness and the bane of Piety and common Civility and Humanity Not that every Souldier cometh to this pass the hottest Pestilence killeth not all But O how hard is it to keep up a life of faith and godliness in an Army The greatness of their business and of their fears and cares doth so wholly take up their minds and talk that there is scarce any room found for the matters of their souls though unspeakably greater They have seldome leisure to hear a Sermon and less to pray The Lords Day is usually taken up in matters that concern the lives and therefore can pretend necessity So that it must be a very resolute confirmed vigilant person that is not alienated from God And then it is a course of life which giveth great opportunity to the Tempter and advantage to temptations both to errors in judgement and vitiousness of heart and life He that never tryed it can hardly conceive how difficult it is to keep up piety and innocency in an Army If you will suppose that there is no difference in the Cause or the Ends and Accidents I take it to be much more desirable to serve God in a Prison than in an Army and that the condition of a Prisoner hath far less in it to tempt the foolish or to afflict the wise than a military Excepting those whose life in Garrisons and lingring Wars doth little differ from a state of peace I am not simply against the lawfulness of War Nor as I conceive Erasmus himself though he saw the sinfulness of that sort of men and use to speak truly of the horrid wickedness and misery of them that thirst for blood or rush on Wars without necessity But it must be a very extraordinary Army that is not constituted of Wolves and Tygers and is not unto common honesty and piety the same that a Stews or Whore-house is to chastity And O how much sweeter is the work of an honest Physicion that saveth And though I ignore not that it is a much more fashionable and celebrated practice in young Gentlemen to kill men than to cure them and that mistaken mortals think it to be the noblest exercise of vâ—rtue to destroy the noblest workmanship of nature and indeed in some few cases the requisiteness and danger of destructive vaâ—ouâ— may makâ— its actions become a virtuous Patriot yet when I consider the character given of our great Master and Exemâ—lar that he went ab uâ— doing good and healing all manner of sicknesses I cannot but think such an employment worthy of the very noblest of lâ—â— Discipâ—es Mr. Boyles Experiment Philos p. 303 304. mens lives than of a Souldier whose vertue is shewed in destroying them Or a Carpenters or Masons that adorneth Cities with comely buildings than a Souldiers that consumeth them by fire § 5. Direct 5. Be sure first that your cause be better than your lives and then resolve to venture Direct 5. your lives for them It is the hazarding of your Lives which in your Calling you undertake And therefore be not unprepared for it but reckon upon the worst and be ready to undergo what ever you undertake A Souldiers life is unfit for one that dare not dye A Coward is one of the most pernicious murderers He verifieth Christs saying in another sense He that saveth his life shall lose it While men stand to it it is usually but few that dye because they quickly daunt the enemy and keep him on the defensive part But when once they rowt and run away they are slain on heaps and fall like leaves in a windy Autumn Every Coward that pursueth them is emboldned by their fear and dare run them through or shoot them behind that durst not so near have looked them in the face and maketh it his sport to kill a fugitive or one that layeth down his weapons that would flye himself from a daring presence Your cowardly fear betrayeth the cause of your King and Countrey It betrayeth the lives of your fellow Souldiers while the running of a few affrighted dastards lets in ruine upon all the rest And it casteth away your own lives which you think to save If you will be Souldiers resolve to conquer or to dye It is not so much skill or strength that conquereth as boldness It is Fear that loseth the day and fearlesness that winneth it The Army that standeth to it getteth the Victory though they fight never so weakly For if you will not run the enemy will And if the lives of a few be lost by courage it usually saveth the lives of many Though wisdom still is needful in the Conduct And if the cause be not worth your lives you should not meddle with it § 6. Direct 6. Resolve
see a poor sinner have a little prosperity and ease who must lye in everlasting flames But the truth is malitious men are ordinarily Atheists and never think of another world and therefore desire to be the avengers of themselves because they believe not that there is any God to do it or any future Judgement and execution to be expected § 19. Consid. 13. And remember how near both he and you are to death and judgement when God Consid 13. will judge righteously betwixt you both There are few so cruelly malitious but if they both lay dying they would abate their malice and be easily reconciled as remembring that their dust and bones will lye in quietness together and malice is a miserable case to appear in before the Lord Why then do you cherish your vice by putting away the day of death from your remembrance Do you not know that you are dying Is a few more dayes so great a matter with you that you will therefore do that because you have a few more dayes to live which else you durst not do or think of O hearken to the dreadful trumpet of God which is summoning you all to come away and methinks this should sound a retreat to the malitious from persecuting those with whom they are going to be judged God will shortly make the third if you will needs be quarrelling Unless it be mastâ—â—â—â— Dogs or fighting Cocks there are scarce any creatures but will give over fighting if man or beast do come upon them that would destroy or hurt them both § 20. Consid. 14. Wrathful and hurtful creatures are commonly hated and pursued by all and loveing Consid. 14. gentle harmless profitable creatures are commonly beloved And will you make your selves like wild Beasts or Vermine that all men naturally hate and seek to destroy If a Wolf or a Fox or an Adder do but appear every man is ready to seek the death of him as a hurtful creature and an enemy to mankind But harmless creatures no one medleth with unless for their own benefit and use So if you will be malicious hurtful Serpents that hiss and sting and trouble others you will be the common hatred of the world and it will be thought a meritorious work to mischief you Whereas if you will be loving kind and profitable it will be taken to be mens interest to love you and desire your good § 21. Consid. 15. Observe how you unfit your selves for all holy duties and communion with God Consid. 15. while you cherish wrath and malice in your hearts Do you find your selves fit for Meditation Conference or Prayer while you are in wrath I know you cannot It both undisposeth you to the duty and the guilt affrighteth you and telleth you that you are unfit to come near to God As a Feavor taketh away a mans appetite to his meat and his disposition to labour so doth wrath and malice destroy both your disposition to holy duties and your pleasure in them And conscience will tell you that it is so terrible to draw near God in such a case that you will be readier were it possible to hide your selves as Adam and Eve or fly as Cain as not enduring the presence of God And therefore the Common-Prayer Book above all other sins enableth the Pastor to keep away the malicious from the Sacrament of Communion and conscience maketh many that have little conscience in any thing else that they dare not come to that Saâ—rament while wrath and malice are in their breasts And Christ himself saith Matth. 5. 23 24 25. If thou bring thy gift unto the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee Leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Agree with thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the Iudge and the Iudge deliver thee to the Officer and thou be cast into prison c. § 22. Consid. 16. And your sin is aggravated in that you hinder the good of those that you are Consid. 16. offended with and also provoke them to add sin to sin and to be as furious and uncharitable as your selves If your neighbour be not faulty why are you so displeased with him If he be Why will you make him worse Will you bring him to amendment by hatred or cruelty Do you think one vice will cure another Or is any man like to hearken to the counsel of an enemy Or to love the words of one that hateth him Is malice and fierceness an attractive thing Or rather is it not the way to drive men further from their duty and into sin by driving them from you who pretend to reform them by such unlikely contrary means as these And as you do your worst to harden them in their faults and to make them hate what ever you would perswade them to so at present you seek to kindle in their breasts the same fire of malice or passion which is kindled in your selves As Love is the most effectual way to cause Love so passion is the most effectual cause of passion and malice is the most effectual cause of malice and hurting another is the powerfullest means to provoke him to hurt you again if he be able And weak things are oft times able to do hurt when injuries boyle up their passions to the height or make them desperate If your sinful provocations fill him also with rage and make him curse or swear or rail or plot revenge or do you a mischief you are guilty of this sin and have a hand in the damnation of his soul as much as in you lyeth § 23. Consid. 17. Consider how much fitter means there are at hand to right your self and attain Consid. 17. any ends that are good than by passion malice or revenge If your end be nothing but to do mischief and make another miserable you are to the world as mad Dogs and Wolves and Serpents to the Countrey and they that know you will be as glad when the world is rid of you as when an Adder or a Toad is killed But if your end be only to right your selves and to reclaim your enemy or reform your brother fury and revenge is not the way God hath appointed Governours to do justice in Common-wealths and Families and to those you may repair and not take upon you to revenge your selves And God himself is the most righteous Governour of all the world and to him you may confidently referr the case when Magistrates and Rulers fail you and his judgement will be soon enough and severe enough And if you would rather have your neighbour reclaimed than destroyed it is Love and gentleness that are the way with peaceable convictions and such reasonings as shew that you desire his Good Overcome him with kindness if you would melt him into
proved and let him be admonished and censured as it deserves Censured I say not for not subscribing more than Scripture but for corrupting the Scriptures to which he hath subscribed or breaking Gods Laws which he promised to observe § 59. Direct 37. The Good of men and not their ruine must be intended in all the Discipline Direct 37. of the Church Or the good of the Church when we have but little hope of theirs If this were done it would easily be perceived that persecution is an unlikely means to do good by § 60. Direct 38. Neither unlimited Liberty in matters of Religion must be allowed nor unnecessary Direct 38. force and rigour used but Tolerable differences and parties must be tolerated and intolerable ones by the wisest means supprest And to this end by the Counsel of the most prudent peaceable Divines the Tollerable and the Intollerable must be statedly distinguished And those that are only Tolerated must be under a Law for their Toleration prescribing them their terms of good behaviour and those that are Approved must moreover have the Countenance and Maintenance of the Magistrate And if this were done 1. The advantage of the said Encouragement from Governours 2. With the regulation of the the toleration and the Magistrates careful Government of the Tolerated would prevent both persecution and most of the divisions and calamities of the Church Thus did the ancient Christian Emperours and Bishops And was their experience nothing The Novatians as good and Orthodox men were allowed their own Churches and Bishops even in Constantinople at the Emperours nose Especially if it be made the work of some Justices 1. To judge of persons to be tolerated and grant them Patents 2. And to over-rule them and punish them when they deserve it No other way would avoid so many inconveniences § 61. Direct 39. The things intolerable are these two 1. Not the believing but the Direct 39. preaching and propagating of principles contrary to the essentials of Godliness or Christianity or Government Iustice Charity or Peace 2. The turbulent unpeaceable management of those opinions which in themselves are tollerable If any would Preach against the Articles of the Creed the Petitions of the Lords Prayer or any of the Ten Commandments he is not to be suffered And if any that is Orthodox do in their separated meetings make it their business to revile at others and destroy mens Charity or to stir men up to rebellion or sedition or contempt of Magistracy none of this should be endured § 62. As for those Libertines that under the name of Liberty of Conscience do plead for a liberty of such vitious practices and in order thereto would prove that the Magistrate hath nothing to do in matters of Religion I have Preached and wrote so much against them whilest that Errour raigned and I find it so unseasonable now the constitution of things looks another way that I will not weary my self and the Reader with so unnecessary a task as to confute them Only I shall say that Rom. 13. telleth us that Rulers are a terrour to them that do evil and that Hereticks and turbulent firebrands do evil therefore Rulers should be a terrour to them And that if all things are to be done to the Glory of God and his interest is to be set highest in the World then Magistrates and Government are for the same end And if no action which we do is of so base a nature as ultimately to be terminated in the concernments of the flesh much less is Government so vile a thing when Rulers are in Scripture called Gods as being the Officers of God § 63. Direct 40. Remember Death and live together as men that are neer dying and must live Direct 40. together in another world The foolish expectation of prosperity and long life is it which setteth men together by the ears When Ridley and Hooper were both in Prison and preparing for the flames their contentions were soon ended and Ridley repented of his persecuting way If the persecutors and persecuted were shut up together in one house that hath the Plague in the time of this lamentable Contagion it 's two to one but they would be reconciled When men see that they are going into another World it takes off the edge of their bitterness and violence and the apprehensions of the righteous judgement of God doth awe them into a patience and forbearance with each other Can you persecute that man on Earth with whom you look to dwell in Heaven But to restrain a man from damning souls by Heresie or turbulencie or any such course my Conscience would not forbid it me if I were dying § 64. Direct 41. Let the Proud themselves who will regard no higher motives remember how Direct 41. fame and History will represent them to posterity when they are dead There is no man that desireth his name should stink and be odious to future Generations There is nothing that an ambitious man desireth more than a great surviving name And will you knowingly and wilfully then expose it to perpetual contempt and hatred Read over what History you please and find out the name of one Persecutor if you can that is not now a word of ignominy and doth not rott as God hath threatened If you say that it is only in the esteem of such as I or the persecuted party neither your opinion shall be judge nor mine but the opinion and language of Historians and of the wisest men who are the masters of fame Certainly that report of Holy Scripture and History which hath prevailed will still prevail And while there are Wise and Good and Merciful men in the World the Names and Manners of the Foolish and Wicked and Cruel will be odious as they continue at this day § 65. I have wrote these Directions to discharge my duty for those that are willing to escape the guilt of so desperate a sin But not with any expectation at all that it should do much good with any considerable number of persecutors For they will not read such things as these And God seldom giveth professed Christians over to this sin till they have very grievously blinded their minds and hardened their hearts and by malignity and obstinacy are prepared for his 2 Tim. 3. 11 12. Mat 5. 11 12. Luk. 14. 26 33. sorest judgements And I know that whoever will live Godly in Christ Iesus It is not said Who professeth to believe in Christ Iesus but to live Godly shall suffer persecution and that the Cross must still be the passage to the Crown CHAP. XII Directions against Scandal as given § 1. SCandal being a murdering of souls is a violation of the general Law of Charity and of the sixth Commandment in particular In handling this subject I shall 1. Shew you what is true scandal given to another 2. What things go under the Name of Scandal which are not it but are falsly so
the Preacher hath publickly delivered the Word of God to the Assembly if you would so far second him as in your daily converse to set it home on the hearts of those that you have opportunity to discourse with how great an assistance would it be to his success Though he must teach them publickly and from house to house yet is it not possible for him to be so frequent and familiar in daily conference Act. 20. with all the ignorant of the place as those that are still with them may be You are many and he is but one and can be but in one place at once Your business bringeth you into their company when he cannot be there Oh Happy is that Minister who hath such a people who will daily preach over the matter of his publick Sermons in their private conference with one another Many hands make quick work This would most effectually prevail against the powers of darkness and cast out Satan from multitudes of miserable souls § 11. Mot. 11. Yea when Ministers are wanting through scarcity persecution or unâ—aithfulness and negligence the peoples holy profitable conference would do much towards the supplying of that want There have few places and ages of the World been so happy but that learned able faithful Pastors have been so few that we had need to pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send forth more And it is nothing unusual to have those few silenced or hindered from the Preaching of the Gospel by the factions or the malignity of the World And it is yet more common to have ignorant or ungodly persons in that office who betray the peoples souls by their usurpation impiety or slothfulness But if in all such wants the people that fear God would do their part in private conference it would be an excellent supply Ministers may be silenced from publick preaching when you cannot be silenced from profitable discourse § 12. Mot. 12. It is a duty that hath many great advantages for success 1. You may choose your season If one time be not fit you may take another 2. You may choose the person whom you find to have the greatest necessity or capacity and where your labour is likelyest to take 3. You may choose your subject and speak of that which you find most suitable There is no restraint nor imposition upon you to hinder your liberty in this 4. You may choose your arguments by which you would enforce it 5. Interlocutory conference keepeth your auditors attentive and carryeth them on along with you as you go And it maketh the application much more easie by their neerness and the familiarity of the discourse when Sermons are usually heard but as an insignificant sound or words of course 6. You may at your pleasure go back and repeat those things which the hearer doth not understand or doth forget which a Preacher in the Pulpit cannot do without the censure of the more curious auditors 7. You may perceive by the answers of them whom you speak to what particulars you need most to insist on and what objections you should most carefully resolve and when you have satisfied them and may proceed all which it is hard for a Minister to do in publick Preaching And is it not a great sin to neglect such an advantageous duty § 13. Mot. 13. And it should somewhat encourage you to it that it is an unquestionable duty when many other are brought into Controversie Ministers Preach under the regulation of humane Laws and Canons and it is a great Controversie with many whether they should Preach when they are silenced or forbidden by their superiours But whether you may speak for God and for mens salvation in your familiar conference no man questioneth nor doth any Law forbid it § 14. Mot. 14. Hath not the fruitful conference of others in the dayes of your ignorance done good to you Have you not been instructed convinced perswaded and comforted by it What had become of you if all men had let you alone and past you by and left you to your selves And doth not Justice require that you do good to others as others have done to you in the use of such a tryed means § 15. Mot. 15. Consider how forward the Devils servants are to plead his cause How readily and fiercely will an ignorant drunken sot pour out his reproaches and scorns against Religion and speak evil of the things which he never understood How zealously will a Papist or Heretick or Schismatick promote the interest of his sect and labour to proselyte others to his party And shall we be less zealous and serviceable for Christ than the Devils servants are for him and do less to save souls than they will do to damn them § 16. Mot. 16. Nay in the time of your sin and ignorance if you have not spoken against Religion nor taught others to curse or swear or speak in ribbald filthy language yet at least you have spent many an hour in idle fruitless talk And doth not this now oblige you to shew your Repentance by more fruitful conference Will you since your Conversion speak as unprofitably as you did before § 17. Mot. 17. Holy conference will prevent the guilt of foolish idle talk Men will not be long silent but will talk of somewhat And if they have not profitable things to talk of they will prate of vanity All the foolish chat and frothy jeasts and scurrilous ribbaldry and envious backbiting which taketh up mens time and poisoneth the hearers is caused by their want of edifying discourse which should keep it out The rankest wits and tongues will have most weeds if they be not cultivated and taught to bear a better crop § 18. Mot. 18. Your tongues will be instrumental to publick good or publick hurt When filthy vain and impious language is grown common it will bring down common plagues and judgements And if you cross not the custome you seem to be consenters and harden men in their sin But holy conference may at least shew that some partake not of the evil and may free them from the Plague if they prevail not with others so far as to prevent it Mal. 3. 16 17 18. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and thought upon his name And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own Son that serveth him § 19. Mot. 19. Consider what great necessity there is every where of fruitful edifying speech 1. In the multitude of the ignorant and the greatness of their ignorance 2. The numbers of the sensual and obstinate 3. The power of blindness and of every sin What root it hath taken in the most of men 4. The multitude of baits which are every where before them
by the loss of the Common-wealth or of many § 6. Direct 6. Therefore have a special regard to the Laws of the Countrey where you live both Direct 6. as to your Trade it self and as to the price of what you sell or buy For the Law is made for the publick benefit which is to be preferred before any private mans And when the Law doth directly or indirectly set rates upon labours or commodities ordinarily they must be observed or else you will commit two sins at once Injury and Disobedience § 7. Direct 7. Also have special respect to the common estimate and to the Market-price Though Direct 7. it be not alwayes to be our Rule yet ordinarily it must be a considerable part of it and of great regard § 8. Direct 8. Let not imprudent tinking make you seem more covetous than you are Some imprudent Direct 8. persons cannot tell how to make their markets without so many words even about a penny or a trifle that it maketh others think them covetous when it is rather want of wit The appearance of evil must be avoided I have known some that are ready to give a pound to a charitable use at a word who will yet use so many words for a penny in their bargaining as maketh them deeply censured and misunderstood If you see cause to break for a penny or a small matter do it more handsomely in fewer words and be gone And do not tempt the seller to multiply words because you do so § 9. Direct 9. Have no more to do in bargaining with others especially with censorious persons Direct 9. than you needs must For in much dealing usually there will be much misunderstanding offence censure and complaint § 10. Direct 10. In doubtful cases when you are uncertain what is lawful choose that side Direct 10. which is safest to the peace of your consciences hereafter though it be against your commodity and may prove the losing of your right Tit. 2. Cases of Conscience about Iustice in Contracts § 1. Quest. 1. MUst I alwayes do as I would be done by Or hath this Rule any Exceptions Quest. 1. Answ. The Rule intendeth no more but that your just self-denyal and love to others be duly exercised in your dealings with all And 1. It supposeth that your own will or desires be honest and just and that Gods Law be their Rule For a sinful will may not be made the rule of your own actions or of other mens He that would have another make him drunk may not therefore make another drunk And he that would abuse another mans Wife may not therefore desire that another man would lust after or abuse his Wife He that would not be instructed reproved or reformed may not therefore forbear the instructing or reproving others And he that would kill himself may not therefore kill another But he that would have no hurt done to himself injuriously should do none to others And he that would have others do him good should be as willing to do good to them 2. It supposeth that the matter be to be varyed according to your various conditions A Parent that justly desireth his child to obey him is not bound therefore to obey his child nor the Prince to obey his subjects nor the Master to do all the work for his servants which he would have his servants do for him But you must deal by another as you would regularly have them deal by you if you were in their case and they in yours And on these terms it is a Rule of Righteousness § 2. Quest. 2. Is a Son bound by the contract which his Parents or Guardians made for him in his Quest. 2. infancy Answ. To some things he is bound and to some things not The Infant is capable of being obliged by another upon four accounts 1. As he is the Parents own or a Masters to whom he is in absolute servitude 2. As he is to be Ruled by the Parents 3. As he is a Debtor to his Parents for benefits received 4. As he is an expectant or capable of future benefits to be enjoyed upon conditions to be performed by him 1. No Parents or Lord have an Absolute Propriety in any rational creature but they have a propriety secundum quid ad hoc And a Parents propriety doth in part expire or abate as the Son groweth up to the full use of reason and so hath a greater propriety in himself Therefore he may oblige his Son only on this account so far as his propriety extendeth and to such acts and to no other For in those his Will is reputatively his Sons will As if a Parent sell his Son to servitude he is bound to such service as beseemeth one man to put another to 2. As he is Rector to his Child he may by contract with a third person promise that his child shall do such acts as he hath power to command and cause him to do As to read to hear Gods Word â—o labour as he is able But this no longer than while he is under his Parents Government And so long Obedience requireth him to perform their contracts in performing their commands 3. The child having received his Being and maintenance from his Parents remaineth obliged to them as his Benefactors in the debt of gratitude as long as he liveth And that so deeply that some have questioned whether ever he can requite them which quoad valorem beneficii he can do only by furthering their salvation as many a child hath been the cause of the Parents conversion And so far as the Son is thus a debtor to the Parents he is obliged to do that which the Parents by contract with a third person shall impose upon him As if the Parents could not be delivered out of captivity but by obliging the Son to pay a great summ of money or to live in servitude for their release Though they never gave him any money yet he is bound to pay the summ if he can get it or to perform the servitude Because he hath received more from them even his being 4. As the Parents are both Owners secundum quid and Rulers and Benefactors to their child in all three respects conjunct they may oblige him to a third person who is willing to be his Benefactor by a conditional obligation to perform such conditions that he may possess such or such benefits And thus a Guardian or any friend who is fit to interpose for him may oblige him As to take a lease in his name in which he shall be bound to pay such a rent or do such a service that he may receive such a commodity which is greater Thus Parents oblige their children under Civil Governments to the Laws of the Society or Kingdom that they may have the protection and benefits of subjects In these cases the child can complain of no injury for it is for his benefit that he is obliged And the
several tempers and strength and appetites 2. And between the restraint of Want and the restraint of Gods Law And so it is thus resolved 1. Such difference in quantity or quality as mens health or strength and real benefit requireth may be made by them that have no want 2. When want depriveth the poor of that which would be really for their health and strength and benefit it is not their duty who have no such want to conform themselves to other mens afflictions Except when other reasons do require it 3. But all men are bound to avoid real excess in matter or manner and curiosity and to lay out nothing needlesly on their bellies yea nothing which they are called to lay out a better way Understand this answer and it will suffice you § 5. Inst. 2. Another way of Prodigality is by needless costly Visits and Entertainments Inst. 2. Quest. 2. What cost upon Visits and Entertainments is unlawful and prodigal Quest. 2. Answ. 1. Not only all that which hath an ill original as Pride or flattery of the rich and all that hath an ill End as being meerly to keep up a carnal unprofitable interest and correspondency but also all that which is excessive in degree I know you will say But that 's the difficulty to know when it is excessive It is not altogether impertinent to say when it is above the proportion of your own estate or the ordinary use of those of your own ranck or when it plainly tendeth to cherish gluttony or excess in others But these answers are no exact solution I add therefore that it is excess when any thing is that way expended which you are called to expend another way Object But this leaveth it still as difficult as before Answ. When in rational probability a greater good may be done by another way of expence consideratis considerandis and a greater good is by this way neglected then you had a call to spend it otherwise and this expence is sinful Object It is a doubt whether of two goods it be a mans duty alwayes to choose the greater Answ. Speaking of that Good which is within his choice it is no more doubt than whether Good be the object of the will If Good be eligible as good then the greatest good is most eligible Object But this is still a difficulty insuperable How can a man in every action and expence discern Whether a man is bound to prefer the greatest good which way it is that the greatest good is like to be attained This putteth a mans conscience upon endless perplexities and we shall never be sure that we do not sin For when I have given to a poor man or done some good for ought I know there was a poorer that should have had it or a greater good that should have been done Answ. 1. The contrary opinion legitimateth almost all villany and destroyeth most good works as to our selves or any others If a man may lawfully prefer a known lesser good before a greater and be justified because that the lesser is a real good than he may be feeding his Horse when he should be saving the life of his child or neighbour or quenching a fire in the City or defending the person of his King He may deny to serve his King and Countrey and say I was ploughing or sowing the while He may prefer sacrifice before mercy He may neglect his soul and serve his body He may plow on the Lords Day and neglect all Gods Worship A lesser duty is no duty but a sin when a greater is to be done Therefore it is certain that when two goods come together to our choice the greater is to be chosen or else we sin 2. As you expect that your Steward should proportion his expences according to the necessity of your business and not give more for a thing than it is worth nor lay out your money upon smaller commodities while he leaveth your greater business unprovided for And as you expect that your Servant who hath many things in the day to do should have so much skill as to know which to prefer and not to leave undone the chiefest whilest he spendeth his time upon the least So doth God require that his servants labour to be so skilful in his service as to be able to compare their businesses together and to know which at every season to prefer If Christianity required no wisdome and skill it were below mens common Trades and Callings 3. And yet when you have done your best here and truly endeavour to serve God faithfully with the best skill and diligence you have you need not make it a matter of scrupulosity perplexity and vexation For God accepteth you and pardoneth your infirmities and rewardeth your fidelity And what if it do follow that you know not but there may be some sinful omission of a better way Is that so strange or intollerable a conclusion As long as it is only a pardoned failing which should not hinder the comfort of your obedience Is it strange to you that we are all imperfect And imperfect in every good we do Even by a culpable sinful imperfection You never Loved God in your lives without a sinful imperfection in your Love And yet nothing in you is more acceptable to him than your love Shall we think a case of Conscience ill resolved unless we may conclude that we are sure we have no sinful imperfection in our duty If your Servant have not perfect skill in knowing what to prefer in buying and selling or in his work I think you will neither allow him therefore to neglect the greater and better knowingly or by careless negligence nor yet would you have him sit down and whine and say I know not which to choose But you would have him learn to be as skilful as he can and then willingly and chearfully do his business with the best skill and care and diligence he can And this you will best accept So that this holdeth as the truest and exactest solution of this and many another such case He that spendeth that upon an entertainment of some great ones which should relieve some poor distressed families that are ready to perish doth spend it sinfully If you cannot see this in Gods cause suppose it were the Kings and you will see it If you have but twenty pound to spend and your Tax or Subsidie cometh to so much If you entertain some Noble friend with that money will the King be satisfied with that as an excuse Or will you not be told that the King should have first been served Remember him then who will one day ask Have you fed or clothed or visited me Mat. 25. You are not absolute Owners of any thing but the stewards of God! and must expend it as he appointeth you And if you let the poor lye languishing in necessities whilest you are at great charges to entertain the rich without necessity or a greater good
instruments of the Devil § 4. III. The Evil of Unrighteous Judgements 1. An unrighteous Judge doth condemn the Cause of God himself For every righteous cause is his 2. Yea he condemneth Christ himself in his members For in that he doth it to one of the least of those whom he calleth Brethren he doth it to himself Matth. 25. It is a damnable sin Not to relieve the innocent and imprisoned in their distress when we have power What is it then to oppress them and unrighteously condemn them 3. It is a turning of the remedy into a double misery and taking away the only help of oppressed innocency What other defence hath innocency but Law and Justice And when their refuge it self doth fall upon them and oppress them whither shall the righteous flye 4. It subverteth Laws and Government and abuseth it to destroy the ends which it is appointed for 5. Thereby it turneth humane society into a state of misery like the depredations of hostility 6. It is a deliberate resolved sin and not done in a passion by surprize It is committed in that place and in that form as acts of greatest deliberation should be done As if he should say Upon full disquisition evidence and deliberation I condemn this person and his cause 7. All this is done as in the Name of God and by his own Commission by one that pretendeth to be his Officer or Minister Rom. 3. 3 4 5 6. For the Iudgement is the Lords 2 Chron. 19. 8 10. 19. 5 6 7. And how great a wickedness is it thus to blaspheme and to represent him as Satan an enemy to truth and righteousness to his servants and himself As if he had said God hath sent me to condemn this Cause and person If false Prophets sin so heinously who belye the Lord and say He hath sent us to speak this which is untruth the sin of false Judges cannot be much less 8. It is sin against the fullest and frequentest prohibitions of God Read over Exod. 23. 1 2 3 c. Lev. 10. 15. Deut. 1. 16 17. 16 18. Isa 1. 17 20 23. Deut. 24. 17. 27. 19. Cursed be he that perverteth the judgement of the stranger the fatherless and widow and all the people shall say Amen Ezra 7. 26. Psal. 33. 5. 37. 28. 72. 2. 94. 15. 106. 3. 30. Prov. 17. 27. 19. 28. 20. 8. 29. 4. 31. 5. Eccles. 5. 8. Isa. 5. 7. 10. 2. 56. 1 2. 59. 14 15. Ier. 5. 1. 7. 5. 9. 24. Ezek. 18. 8. 45. 9. Hos. 12. 6. Amos 5 7 15 24. 6. 12. Mic. 3 9. Zech. 7. 9 8. 16. Gen. 18. 19. Prov. 21. 3 7 15. I cite not the words to avoid prolixity Scarce any sin is so oft and vehemently condemned of God 9. False Judges cause the poor to appeal to God against them and the cryes of the afflicted shall not be forgotten Luke 18. 5 6 7 8. 10. They call for Gods Judgement upon themselves and devolve the work into his hands How can that man expect any other than a judgement of damnation from the righteous God who hath deliberately condemned Christ himself in his cause and servants and sate in judgement to condemn the innocent Psal. 9. 7 8 9. The Lord hath prepared his throne for judgement and he shall judge the world in righteousness he shall minister judgement to the people in uprightness he will be a refuge for the oppressed Psal. 37. 6. He will bring forth righteousness as the light and thy judgement as the noon day Psal. 89. 14. Iustice and judgement are the habitation of his throne Psal. 103. 6. The Lord executeth righteousness and judgement for all that are oppressed Psal. 146. 7. In a word the sentence of an unjust Judge is passed against his own soul and he calleth to God to condemn him righteously who unrighteously condemned others Of all men he cannot stand in judgement nor abide the righteous doom of Christ. § 5. Direct 2. When you well understand the greatness of the sin find out and overcome the root Direct 2. and causes of it in your selves Especially selfishness covetousness and passion A selfish man careth not what another suffereth so that his own ends and interest be promoted by it A covetous man will contend and injure his neighbour when ever his own commodity requireth it He so much loveth his money that it can prevail with him to sin against God and cast away his own soul much more to hurt and wrong his neighbour A proud and passionate man is so thirsty after revenge to make others stoop to him that he careth not what it cost him to accomplish it Overcome these inward vices and you may easily forbear the outward sins § 6. Direct 3. Love your neighbours as your selves For that is the universal remedy against all Direct 3. injurious and uncharitable undertakings § 7. Direct 4. Keep a tender conscience which will not make light of sin It is those that have Direct 4. seared their consciences by infidelity or a course of sinning who dare venture with Iudas or Gehezi for the prey and dare oppress the poor and innocent and feel not nor fear not whilst they cast themselves on the revenge of God § 8. Direct 5 Remember the day when all these causes must be heard again and the righteous God Direct 5. will set all strait and vindicate the cause of the oppressed Consider what a dreadful appearance that man is like to have at the Bar of Heaven who hath falsly accused or condemned the just in the Courts of men What a terrible inditement accusation conviction and sentence must that man expect If the hearing of righteousness and the judgement to come made Faelix tremble surely it is infidelity or the plague of a stupified heart which keepeth contentious persons perverters of justice false witnesses and unjust Judges from trembling § 9. Direct 6. Remember the presence of that God who must be your final Iudge That he seeth Direct 6. all your Pride and Covetousness and all your secret contrivances for revenge and is privy to all your deceits and injuries You commit them in his open sight § 10. Direct 7. Meddle not with Law Suits till you have offered an equal arbitration of indifferent Direct 7. men or used all possible means of love to prevent them Law Suits are not the first but the last remedy Try all others before you use them § 11. Direct 8. When you must needs go to Law compose your minds to unfeigned love towards him Direct 8. that you must contend with and watch over your hearts with suspicion and the strictest care lest secret disaffection get advantage by it And go to your neighbour and labour to possess his heart also with love and to demulce his mind that you may not use the Courts of Iustice as Souldiers do their weapons to do the
to God who needeth fewest things for himself and doth most good to others And Christ telleth us that universal charity extending even to them that hate and persecute us doth make us as his Children like our heavenly Father Matth. 5. 44 45 46 48. As Hating and Hurting their neighbours is the mark of the Children of the Devil Iohn 8. 44. so Loving and Doing Good is the mark of the Children of God And it is observable that no one treateth so copiously and pathetically of Love both of Christs love to us and ours to him as the blessed Disciple whom Jesus is said to have eminently Loved as Iohn 13. 14 15 16. 17. 1 Iohn shew It hath often pleased me to hear how dearly you were beloved by that exceeding great and populous Parish where lately you were Preacher for your eminent Charity to their souls and bodies And to see that still you take it for your work and calling to be a provoker of others to Love and to Good Works Heb. 10. 24. whilest many that are taken for good Christians do deal in such works as Rarities or Recreations only a little now and then upon the by and whilest Satans Ministers are provoking others to Hatred and to Hurtfulness Your Labour is so amiable to me that it would contribute to my comforts if I were able to contribute any thing to your assistance You desire me to give you my judgement of the quota pars What proportion it is meet for most men to devote to Charitable uses Whether the Tenth Part of their increase be not ordinarily a fit proportion The reason why I use not to answer such Questions without much distinguishing when lazy impatient Readers would have them answered in a word is because the real difference of particular cases is so great as maketh it necessary unless we will deceive men or leave the matter as dark and unresolved as we found it I. Before I answer your Question I shall premise that I much approve of the way which you insist upon of setting so much constantly apart as is fit for us to give that it may be taken by us to be as a devoted or consecrated thing And methinks that there is much of a Divine Direction for the time in 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. together with the practice of the antient Church That upon the first day of the week every one lay by him in store as God hath prospered him And it will do much to cure Pharisaical Sabbatizing when the Lords Day is statedly used in this with holy works and will teach Hypocrites to know what this meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice Matth. 9. 13. and 12. 7. And that works of Charity are an odour a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing to God who of the riches of his Glory in Christ will supply all the need of such as bring forth such fruit to abound unto their account Phil. 4. 17 18 19. So it be done without any ensnaring vows or rash engagements to unnecessary things this constant setting apart a certain proportion for pious and charitable uses will have these advantages 1. Our distribution will be made deliberately and prudently when before-hand we study a due proportion and determine accordingly whereas they that give only occasionally as some object suddenly inviteth them will do it at randome without due respect to their own accounts whether the proportion given be answerable to their own estate and duty 2. This stated way will make mens charity much more extensive When objects of charity are not in their sight they will inquire after them and they will seek for the needy if the needy seek not unto them because they have so much by them to dispose of which is devoted to God But those who give but as occasional objects draw it from them will give to none but those that crave or will pass by many as needy whom they see not while they relieve only those few that they hap to see 3. And it will make mens charity also to be more constant and done obediently as a Christians daily work and duty when occasional charity will be more rarely and unconstantly exercised In a word as the observation of the Lords Day which is a stated proportion of time secureth the holy improvement of our time much better than if God be served but occasionally without a stated time and as a constant stated course of Preaching excelleth meer occasional exhortations even so a constant course of Giving wisely stated will find out objects and overcome temptations and discharge our Duty with much more integrity and success And if we can easily perceive that occasional Praying will not so well discharge the duty of prayer as a constant stated course will do why should we not think the same of occasional Giving if men did but perceive that Giving according to our ability is as sure and great a duty as Praying Now to your Question of the Proportion of our gifts II. We must distinguish 1. Between them that have no more than will supply their own and their families true necessities and those that have more 2. Between them that have a stock of money which yieldeth them no increase and those that have more increase by their labour but little stock 3. Between them whose increase is like to be constant and theirs that is uncertain sometime more and sometime less 4. Between them that have many children or near kindred that nature casteth upon them for relief and those that have few or no children or have a competent provision for them and have few needy kindred that they are especially obliged to relieve 5. Between those that live in times and places where the necessities of the poor are very great or some great works of Piety are in hand and those that live where the poor are in no great necessity and no considerable opportunity for any great work of Piety or Charity doth appear These distinctions premised I answer as followeth 1. It is certain that every true Sanctified Christian hath Devoted himself and all that he hath to God to be used in obedience to his will and for his glory 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. 1 Cor. 10. 31. Luke 18. 33. The Question therefore is not Whether the Tenth part of our estate should be devoted to and employed in the service of God one way or other as he directeth us For it is out of Question that all is his and we are but his stewards and must give account of our stewardship and of all our receivings Matth. 25. But the Question is only what proportion is best pleasing to God in our giving to others 2. A Christian being unseignedly thus resolved in the General to lay out that he hath or shall have as God would have him and to his glory as near as he can his next enquiry must be for finding out the will of God to know in the ordinary course of his distribution where
holy fetcht from Heaven § 19. Tempt 9. He would keep you in a lazy sluggish coldness to read and hear and pray as asleep Tempt 9. as if you did it not § 20. Direct 9. Awake your selves with the presence of God and the great concernment of what Direct 9. you are about and yield not to your sloth § 21. Tempt 10. He would make you bring a divided distracted heart to duty that is half about your Tempt 10. worldly business § 22. Direct 10. Remember God is jealous your business with him is great much lyeth on it Direct 10. call off your hearts and let them not stay behind all the powers of your souls are little enough in such a work Ezek. 33. 31. § 23. Tempt 11. Ignorance unskilfulness and unacquaintedness with duty is a great impediment Tempt 11. to most § 24. Direct 11. Learn by study joyned with practice Be not weary and difficulties will be Direct 11. overcome § 25. Tempt 12. Putting duty out of its place and neglecting the season that is fittest makes it oft Tempt 12. done slightly § 26. Direct 12. Redeem time and dispatch other business that idleness deprive you not of leisure Direct 12. and do all in order § 27. Tempt 13. Neglecting one duty is the Tempters snare to spoil another If he can keep you Tempt 13. from reading you will not understand well what you hear If he keep you from meditating you will not digest what you hear or read If he keep you from hearing you will want both matter and life for prayer and meditation and conference If he keep you from godly company you will be hindered in all and in the practice No one is omitted but you are disadvantaged by it in all the rest § 28. Direct 13. Observe how one duty helpeth another and take all together each one in its Direct 13. place § 29. Tempt 14. Sometime the Tempter doth call you off to other duty and puts in unseasonable Tempt 14. motions to that which in its time is good he interrupts prayer by meditation he sets seeming truth against Love and Peace and Concord § 30. Direct 14. Still know which duties are greatest and which is the due season for each and do Direct 14. all in order § 31. Tempt 15. He spoileth duty by causing you to do it only as a duty and not as a means for the Tempt 15. good of your own souls or only as a Means and not as a Duty If you do it only as a Duty then you will not be quickned to it by the ends and benefits nor carryed by Hope nor fit all to the end nor be so fervent or vigorous in it as the sense of your own good would make you be And if you do it only as a Means and not as a Duty then you will give over or faint when you want or question the success Whereas the sense of both would make you vigorous and constant § 32. Direct 15. Keep under the sense of Gods Authority that you may feel your selves bound Direct 15. to obey him whatever be the success and may resolve to wait in an obedient way And withall admire his wisdom in fitting all Duties to your Benefit and commanding you nothing but what is for your own or others good or to his honour And mark the Reason and tendency of all and your own Necessity § 33. Tempt 16. The Tempter hindereth you in duty as well as from duty by setting you a quarrelling Tempt 16. with the Minister the words the company the manner the circumstances that these things may divert your thoughts from the matter or distract your mind with causeless scruples § 34. Direct 16. Pray and labour for a clear judgement and an upright self-judging humble Direct 16. heart wihch dwelleth most at home and looketh most at the spiritual part and affecteth not singularity § 35. Tempt 17. The Tempter spoileth duty by your unconstancy While you read or pray so seldom Tempt 17. that you have lost the benefit of one duty before you come to another and cool by intermissions § 36. Direct 17. Remember that it is not your divertisement but your Calling and is to your Direct 17. soul as eating to your Bodies § 37. Tâ—mpt 18. Sometime Satan corrupteth Duty by mens private passions interest and opinions Tempt 1â— making men in preaching and praying to vent their own conceits and spleen and inveigh against those that diâ—â—er from them or ofâ—end them and prophane the name and work of God or proudly to seek the praise of men § 38. Direct 18. Remember that God is most jealous in his Worship and hateth hypocritical prophanâ—ss Tempt 18. above all prophaness Search your hearts and mortifie your passions and specially selfishness Remembring that it is a poysonous and insinuating sin and will easily hide it self with a Cloke of â—eal § 39. Tempt 19. False-hearted Reservedness is a most accursed corrupter of holy duty when the soul Tempt 19. is not wholy given up to God but sets upon duty from some common motive as because it is in credit or to pleasâ— sâ—me friend purposing to try it a while and leave it if they like it not § 40. Direct 19. Fâ—ar God thou Hypocrite and halt not between two opinions If the Lord be Direct 12. God â—bâ—y and sâ—rve him with all thy heart But if the Devil and the flesh be better Masters follow them and let him go § 41. Tempt 20. Lastly The Tempter hindereth holy duty much by wandring thoughts and melancholy Tempt 20. perplexities and a hurry of Temptations which torment and distract some Christians so that they â—ry out I cannot pray I cannot meditate and are weary of duty and even of their lives § 42. Direct 20. This sheweth the malice of the Tempter and thy weakness but if thou hadst Direct 20. rather be delivered from it it hindereth not thy acceptance with God Read for this what I have said Chap. 5. Part. 2. at large specially in my Directions to the Melancholy § 43. I have been forced to put off many things briefly here which deserved a larger handling and I must now omit the discovery of those Temptations by which Satan keepeth men in sin when he hath draâ—n them into it 2. And those by which he causeth declining in grace and Apâ—staâ—y 3. And those by which he discomforteth true Believers because else this Direction would swell to a Treatiâ—â— and most will think it too long and tedious already though the Brevity which I use to avoid prâ—liâ—ity doth wrong the matter through the whole Acquaintance with Temptations is needful to our overcoming them DIRECT X. Your lives must be laid out in doing God service and doing all the good you can in Gr. Dir. 10 â—â—â—â— sâ—rving Christ ouâ— Master in good works works of piety justice and charity with prudence fidelity industry
zeal and delight remembring that you are engaged to God as servants to their Lord and Master and are entrusted with his talents of the improvement whereof you must give account § 1. THe next Relation between Christ and us which we are to speak of subordinate to that of King and Subjects is this of MASTER and SERVANTS Though Christ saith to the Apostles John 15. 5. Henceforth I call you not servants but friends the meaning is not that he calleth them not servants at all hut not meer servants they being more than servants having such acquaintance with his counsels as his friends For he presently verse 20. bids them Remember that the servant is not greater than the Lord. And John 13. 13. Ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well for so I am And Matth. 23. 8. One is your Master Christ and all ye are brethren So Ver. 10. And the Apostles called themselves the servants of Iesus Christ Rom. 1. 1. 1 Cor. 4. 1. Phil. 1. 1. and of God Tit. 1. 1 c. § 2. He is called our Master and we his servants because he is our Rector ex pleno dominio with What it is to be Christâ— Servants absolute propriety and doth not give us Laws to Obey while we do our own work but giveth us his work to do and Laws for the right doing of it And it is a service under his eye and in dependance on him for our daily provisions as servants on their Lord. God hath WORK for us to do in the world and the performance of it he will require God biddeth his Sons Go work to day in my Vineyard Matth. 21. 28. and expecteth that they do it Ver. 31. His Servants are as Husbandmen to whom he entruâ—â—â—â—th his Vineyard that he may receive the fruit Ver. 33 34 41 43. Faithful servants shall be made Rulers over his houshold Matth. 24. 45 46. Christ delivereth to his servants his talents to improve and will require an account of the improvement at his coming Mat. 25. 14. GOOD WORKS in the proper comprehensive sense are all actions internal and external that are morally good But in the narrâ—weâ— acception they are Works not only formally good as acts of Obedience in general but also materially good such as a servant doth for his Master that tend to his advantage or the proâ—it of some other whose welfare he regardeth Because the doctrine of GOOD WORKS is controverted in these times I shall first open it briefly and then give you the Directions § 3. 1. Nothing is more certain than that God doth not need the service of any creature and that he receiveth no addition to his perfection or felicity from it and consequently that on terms of commutative Iustice which giveth one thing for another as in selling and buying no creature is capable of meriting at his hands 2. It is certain that on the terms of the Law of Works which required perfect obedience as the condition of life no sinner can do any work so good as in point of distributive governing Iustice shall merit at his hands 3. It is certain that Christ hath so fulfilled the Law of Works as to Merit for us 4. The Redeemed are not Masterless but have still a Lord who hath now a double Right to govern them And this Governour giveth them a Law And this Law requireth us to do good works as much as we are able though not so terribly yet as obligingly as the Law of Works And by this Law of Christ we must be Iudged And thus we must be judged according to our works and to be judged ☜ is nothing else but to be Iustified or Condemned Such works therefore are Rewardable according to the Distributive Iustice of the Law of Grace by which we must be Iudged And the antient Fathers who without any opposition spoke of Good works as Meritorious with God meant no more but that they were such as the Righteous Iudge of the world will Reward according to the Law of Grace by which he judgeth us And this doctrine being agreed on as certain truth there is no controversie left with them but whether the word Merit was properly or improperly used And that both Scripture and our common speech alloweth the Fathers use of the word I have shewed at large in my Confession 5. Christ is so far from Redeeming us from a necessity of good works that he dyed to restore us to a capacity and ability to perform them and hath new-made us for that end Tit. 2. 14. He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Ephes. 2. 10. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus to good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them 6. Good works opposed to Christ or his satisfaction merit righteousness mercy or free-grace in the matter of Justification or Salvation are not good works but proud self-confidence and sin But good works in their due subordination to Gods mercy and Christs merits and grace are necessary and Rewardable 7. Though God need none of our works yet that which is good materially pleaseth him as it tendeth to his glory and to our own and others benefit which he delighteth in 8. It is the communicating of his goodness and excellencies to the creature by which God doth glorifie himself in the world and in Heaven where is the fullest Communication he is most glorified Therefore the praise which is given to the creature who receiveth all from him is his own praise And it is no dishonour to God that his creature be honoured by being good and being esteemed good Otherwise God would never have created any thing lest it should derogate from himself Or he would have made them bad lest their goodness were his dishonour and he would be most pleased with the wicked and least pleased with the best as most dishonouring him But madness it self abhorreth these conceits 9. Therefore as an act of Mercy to us and for his own Glory as at first he made all things very good so he will make the new creature according to his Image which is Holy and Iust and Good and will use us in good works and it is our honour and gain and happiness to be so used by him As he will not communicate Light to the world without the Sun whose glory derogateth not from his honour So will he not do good works in the world immediately by himself only but by Vir bonus est qui prodest quibus potest nocet autem nemiâ—â— P. Scalig. Ne pigeat Evangelicum Ministrum aegâ—otum visitare xenio aliquo recreare famelicum cibario saltem pane pascere nuâ—um operire paupâ—râ—m cuâ— non est adjutor a divitum calumniis potentia eripere pro afflictis principem magistratumve convenire râ—m familiaâ—em câ—nsili augegere morientibus sedulo benigne astare lites dissidia