the Children get up and come into the house when they please We do indeed read of the hour of Prayer but it is hard to say which hour it was or if we could Where is the Divine Authority the stamp of God for the observation of it But the Lord's day is certain known commanded to be observed They that then ordinarily prefer the management of worldly business before the worship of God appear to be Lovers of the world I know we must allow here for the works of necessity and mercy these are to take place of the Sabbath The preservation of Life though it be but of a Beast is an act of mercy which God himself prefers before Sacrifice and so did the Lord of the Sabbath by his example teach us to do A Physician is excusable in travelling to relieve his Patient so that it be in the sight of God rather in merciful Care than worldly Covetousness But if the expectation and desire of a Fee be most predominant it is in vain to pretend necessity God shall find it out before him it will bear them out but badly to plead The Law allow'd it But who shall excuse the Lawyers and other men that travel Journies upon ordinary occasions and upon business of light moment and violate the Lord's day to save a little money or a little labor or for more convenient dispatch of worldly business To contrive to take a Sermon in their way to be at Church at such a place by such an hour I doubt will not salve the matter before a jealous God Christ says Ye cannot serve God and Mammon But these ingenious Worldlings have found out a way to do it They can travel a good days journey of 20 or 30 miles perhaps and yet contrive to be at some Church twice the same day Then they say to God Lo there is that which is thine the rest is my own Why may I not make the best use of it Thus they divide the day betwixt God and the world But whether he that requires a whole day for his service will accept such partnership viderint illi it is good to consider well of it MEDITAT XXXVIII Of Worldly Confidence AFter Injustice comes worldly Confidence to be condemn'd Trust and Confidence is a part of Worship Worldly Confidence therefore is Idolatry Yea it is Blasphemy to rest in and upon the Creature inasmuch as God alone is the Rest of Souls and the Confidence of the Ends of the Earth To confide in the duration of Riches is a piece of Foolery because they are winged and so uncertain Thou Fool this night c. But this is not the Folly that I mean To trust in Riches to râ—pose ones self upon them therefore to account our selves happy or safe because we have them to rejoice mainly in them crying Be merry Thou hast Goods laid up for many years This is the worldly Confidence that God has so often cursed baffled and forbidden God shall destroy thee for ever sayes the Psalmist Psal 52. The righteous shall laugh at him saying Lo this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches Job reckons it amongst the highest of wickednesses to say to Gold Thou art my Hope or to the fine Gold Thou art my confidence Job 31. 24. They that trust in Riches Riches shall not profit them either to bribe the Enemy who shall despise their Silver and Gold as the Prophet speaks or to purchase health in time of sickness strength and swiftness shall not avail God will baffle these by making the Enemy swifter and stronger to pursue Ye said we will ride upon the swift therefore shall they that pursue you be swift Isa 30. 16. Charge them that are rich in this world that they do not trust in uncertain riches says the Apostle Lord what a strange thing is Man He must not only be admonish'd but charg'd Why what 's the matter That he do not trust in Riches uncertain Riches Why if they be uncertain there is no danger of trusting in them Yes they are uncertain and he knows it yet he must be charg'd not to trust in them It were endless to give an account of the disappointments of those that have rely'd upon and thought themselves safe in their temporal Prosperity and worldly Riches out of Sacred and Prophane History or of the Princes of the Earth that have been miserably befool'd with the number and strength of Men Horses and Ships wherein they have confided more than in the Lord of Hosts MEDITAT XXXIX Of Covetousness or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I Will now consider of Covetousness which is an undue desire of worldly wealth This desire is undue by the kind of the wealth or by the degree of the desire And so we are covetous either when we lust after that which is another mans or intemperately desire worldly wealth of our own though we use no indirect means to obtain it The first of these is that Covetousness directly aimed at in the Tenth Commandment called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is a sort of invading of another Mans Right There is a good Covetousness a coveting earnestly the best Gifts but this improperly called Covetousness For to speak properly we are not to covet the Gifts and Graces that are in other men although in themselves they are covetable yet as they are other mens they are not the object of our desires There may be a bad desire of a good thing Evil Covetousness is of earthly things and it supposes an impotent and worldly mind and an over-high valuation of earthly things it argues us to be led by our Senses and not by right Reason This Covetousness is a kind of spiritual Adultery Not only he that looks upon his Neighbors Wife but he that looks upon his Neighbors House or Land or Goods to covet them is guilty of worldly Love and that is spiritual Adultery A sin little regarded I doubt but certainly very dreadful The first unchaste glances of the Eye towards any thing that is our Neighbors is forbidden and it becomes us to be offended at them to make haste to suppress them to repent of them But if we allow them to grow up into wilful and steddy desires they are that predominant Love of the World that the Apostle tells us is so pernicious See what severe notice God takes of this kind of Covetousness how he visited it in Eve who coveted an evil Covetousness to her Posterity in Achan and Ahab who coveted an evil Covetousness to their own Houses There is no Man that is over-greedy of having but will sometimes desire to have what is none of his own If this be the standing Maxim Oportet habere We must have it will follow Unde habeat quaerit nemo It is no matter how he comes by it They deceive themselves that excuse their Covetousness by saying I covet nothing of yours I desire nothing but mine
the Pleasures of the Senses though Divines use to confound them To prefer these before God is to be a predominant lover of the World There is no sin that I know of but may be acted over in the Fancy and affect the body no further A mental dalliance with a Mistress though it gets no Bastards yet is Adultery and prefers the World before Chastity and Purity The vigour of the Fancy both prevents and survives bodily uncleanness There are earlier and later Adulteries in Fancy than in Senses Incestos amores a tenero meditatur ungui says the Poet And Fancy acts over again the uncleannesses to which the Body is insufficient Covetousness is acted yea mainly acted in the Fancy Oh the full Bags and Barns the large Fields the Mountains of Gold that are to be found in a covetous Fancy Sure these men who fancy such great things to themselves and delight in such Fancies are they whom the Prophet Ezekiel speaketh of whose heart goeth after their Covetousness Pride is acted mainly upon the Stage of Fancy though somtimes it breaks forth into words as in Nebuchadnezzer yet sometimes it never goes further than the Fancy and yet is mortal and damnable as seems to have been the case of Herod whose Fancy was pleased with the blasphemous acclamations of the people and he gave not glory to God The distractions and strange rovings of Fancy after odd impertinent things in a careless and incoherent manner is a great corruption And to give the reins to a roving desultory Fancy without seeking to reduce and reclaim it is a predominant Sensuality Methinks that even to think nonsense for an hour together should shame a wise Man what can any man think of those men that are more solicitous to reclaim the wild ranging of their dogs than of their fancies but that the beastial part doth predominate over the rational Who can sufficiently lament the sad disorder of the Fancy and the evil that it betrays us to How unseemly and unjust is it that our thoughts which are the first-born of our Souls should be so squandred away in a wild-goose chase much sillier than childrens pursuing of butterflyes or following of crows through thick and thin testaquae lutoquae O my mind hast thou so lowly an object and such important matters to bestow thy self about as God and the things of Eternal life and canst thou have leasure to dream away thy time and spend thy powers upon things that are not that need not be that never will be Dost thou laugh at the Chimerick fictions of Poets and yet spend thy strength in Poetry Dost thou account it time next to lost to read Romances and yet canst be at leasure every day to make them Lord what a fickle fluid ungovernable thing is Mans Fancy How is this contexture of the body a snare to my Soul diverting hindring spoyling its operations Fancy is a necessary faculty without which I can perform no action and alas how has sin got into it and desiled it poyson'd the very fountain To a Worldy Fancy I might add also a Worldly Memory For certainly to be able to remember all Worldly Concernments and still to forget the matters of the Soul and the World to come is a sad Symptom of a worldly mind But amongst the corrupt Pleasures of the Fancy I must insist a little upon Revenge because it is frequently acted only upon the Stage of Fancy and does not proceed into Act And all this while vain men are apt to think themselves free from it To this therefore I will now apply my Thoughts MEDITAT LII Of Revenge UNder this Head of Fantastical Pleasures I bring in Revenge partly because I do not foresee any Head that it will be so fitly reduc'd to and partly because I think it is more usually terminated in the Fancy than other sins are If a man be of a proud lustful covetous Fancy it is ten to one but he will shew it one time or other in Words Actions or Behaviors that shall be significant But Revenge may be and I doubt is usually terminated in the Fancy for want of power or opportunity to shew it self Revengefulness is a temper that does most certainly conclude the predominance of the Worldly Nature above the Divine It seems in short to be nothing else but a retaliation or retribution of Injuries either contriv'd or executed which is a thing so difficult and nice and requires so much clearness of apprehension and purity of mind that no mortal man may meddle with it It is beyond all created Skill and therefore God does challenge and appropriate it to himself alone He allows men to share with him in his other Perfections to imitate his Wisdom Mercy Patience Justice But Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord Rom. 12. 19. And again Vengeance belongeth to me saith the Lord Heb. 10. 30. It is a great mistake in men to imagine that so long as they hold their hands they have committed no Murder because forsooth no one can Indict or Arraign them For a revengeful temper is Murder He that hateth his Brother is a Murderer 1 John 3. 15. Revenge does not consist in the doing of mischief To desire it to contrive it to meditate with pleasure upon it to rejoice in it if done by any other is Revenge yea to suspend necessary and usual kindnesses not to give meat to an Enemy if he hunder yea not to love an Enemy is a degree of Revenge The Gospel excels all Philosophy in the Doctrine of Revenge The Philosophers yea and the Jews generally held it no sin to do evil to one that had hurt or wronged them They said Thou shalt hate thine Enemy But the Gospel forbids all hatred even of an Enemy and consequently all Revenge For there can be no revengefulness without some degree of hatred It is a very spiritual and close sin it may be and yet not be discerned It puts on divers shapes Sometimes it would be mistaken for Zeal as in the case of the two Disciples calling for fire from Heaven themselves in the mean time little better than set on fire from Hell Sometimes it mingles it self with Justice Bring her forth said Judge Judah and let her be burnt Yes burn her by all means rather than Shelah my youngest Son shall marry her lest he dye as his Brethren dyed Yea sometimes it would fain pass for kindness and be interpreted good Nature Thus the kind King of Israel gave his daughter Michal to Captain David to be a snare to him And the crook-footed Philosopher very charitably wish'd His shoes might fit the feet of him that had stolen them So far was he good man from Revenge A charitable revengeful man gives his Neighbor the hook Malicious Absalom entertain'd his Brother Amnon to his destruction They say the Devils Gifts are Donata Hamata there is a Hook under the Bait. And no doubt but the Devil as ill-natur'd as he is does help some
men to be rich as he prefer'd the Dog Hazael to be King of Syria for no good will to him but ill will to Israel Neither is Revengefulness the sin of great men only A poor man may be as revengeful and take as much pleasure in fancying and meditating Revenge as the Blades of the World in executing it who for a word spoke awry forsooth presently term'd an Affront must have Satisfaction And to the Carnal whether Rich or Poor no doubt but Revenge is very sweet and the Fancy as much tickled and delighted with the speeulation of it as the bodily Senses with any Act of Intemperance or Uncleanness Who can chuse but apprehend the pleasure that the swaggering Giant took in fancying Revenge to be taken upon Ulysses who had befool'd and blinded him when he hears the Poet expressing it thus O si quis referat mihi casus Ulyssem Aut aliquem ex sociis in quem mea saeviat ira viscera cujusdam c. Oh that some happy luck would bring That Rogue Ulysses who 's the King Of that damn'd Crew or any other Belonging to him Son or Brother That I might tear him limb from limb Before Life hath forsaken him Whose very Guts I 'ld rend and eat My fattest Venison not such meat How would I make my Teeth to meet In 's trembling Head and Hands and Feet Oh how I 'ld quaff the Rogues Hearts blood Till in my Throat I made a Flood One would think he saw him tearing the Flesh and drinking the Blood of these men And indeed what was the greatest part of the Renowned Bravery of the Romans and Grecians in their Wars but Revenge But if we will stand a little and compare the provocations done to Christ Jesus and his Behavior under them all we must confess and say so great Fortitude all the revengeful Champions in the World never shew'd as he in not revenging himself at all as he in his Father forgive them they know not what they do No nor as his dear Disciple Stephen in his Lord lay not this sin to their charge Acts 7. ult I do not think it is simply unlawful to go to Law But if any man go to Law without the least mixture of Uncharitableness or Revengefulness the same is a perfect man I doubt Lawyers do as truly live upon the Diseases of mens Minds as Physicians of their Bodies Well I see there is no Revenge allow'd me towards my Neighbor and yet there is such a kind of Appetite in my Nature I will spend it therefore upon its proper Object Though Self-Murder is the worst of of Murders yet Self-Revenge is the best of Revenges Be reveng'd upon thine eyes O my Soul not by pulling them out but by shutting them by bringing them into Covenant Have thy Senses betray'd thee Deny them their liberty in some things lawful Keep under that Body that has been petulam and troublesome It was too severe Revenge in the Pepish Saint who cut off his right hand that had suffered a too affectionate kiss of a Female But if thy Senses abuse their liberty retrench them deny them sometimes of things lawful if they will adventure upon things unlawful Oh blessed God whose infinite Purity impartial Justice all-wise Love do render thee alone fit to take Revenge and to retaliate thine own injuries and mine too perfectly mortifie in me this Appetite and all that Pride and Self-love that are the fuel of it And inasmuch as I see it is by no means safe that such a Sword be committed into the hands of such a mad fool as I am help me to commit my Cause to him that judgeth righteously without forestalling him or prescribing to him not determining the way nor hastening the time nor so much as desiring the thing Oh that I may be able to say I have not desired the evil day Lord thou knowest that I may seek the peace of Babylon though I be a Captive in it yea though in her peace I should be no sharer MEDITAT LIII Of Cursing AS a Species of Revenge or at least a Product of a revengeful mind I may here seasonably meditate a little upon Cursing There is a solemn Cursing or delivering up to mischief performed by Church-Censure which is a kind of revenging of God's quarrel a Discipline that he himself has committed into the hands of Men which they must take heed to use for him not for themselves The greatest thing for ought I know that God has committed into the hands of men This is easily but wretchedly perverted when the Ministers of it revenge their own Cause and Quarrel serve their own interest and not Gods Gratifie their own Lusts more than the Will of God when they had rather that men suffer'd than were reform'd were damn'd than amended There is an Extraordinary and Prophetical Cursing proceeding from an extraordinary motion of the Holy Spirit found only in pure minds and yet but seldom in them neither Such was Elisha's cursing the ill-bred Children 2 Kings 2. Those passages of David in the Psalms I rather take to be a Prophetical Denunciation than a Cursing of the Wicked Let us be sure we know what spirit we are of before we adventure to imitate these inspired men And alas Why should we curse the Wicked who are hastening to greater Evil than we can wish them Besides Charity would rather command us to pity them and pray for them So did Christ Jesus so did holy Stephen so did St. Paul for his Judge Agrippa and his Persecutors the Jews Acts 26. 29. There is an extraordinary Self-cursing by way of Protestation to be used sparingly in weighty matters I refer this to extraordinary Swearing There is a prophane Cursing And this is either extraordinary or ordinary and both symptoms of a worldly mind Extraordinary prophane Cursing is when People in cool blood knowing what they say from a malicious mind and sometimes with great solemnity of kneeling down lifting up their hands putting off the Hat do imprecate mischief upon a person that has wrong'd them or offended them This when it is done in its Formalities looks like a Sacrament of the Devil an Ordinance of Hell a kind of an Exorcism But a horrible presumption certainly it is a prescribing to Infinite Wisdom a taking of Gods Work out of his hands an usurpation of Divine Prerogative Wicked bold man How darest thou take upon thee the government of the world and judge any man before his time Dar'st thou imploy the Almighty in a work wherein he takes no pleasure engage Love it self to act against his own nature unmercifully To pray God not to have mercy upon man is the highest blasphemy It is as if one should pray him to cease to be God Ordinary prophane cursing is either of our selves or others and each is threefold upon slight occasion upon none at all or worse than none First of our selves When men upon every slight occasion to confirm every inconsiderable truth which it is
Estates to make them idle neither do Rents or Riches exempt any man from business It is a perverting of the end of Talents to wrap them up in Napkins No man need to complain for want of work whil'st there are so many businesses besides worldly business to keep men from being idle O Eternal Spirit of Life and Power inspire me with a Divine activity that I may account it nothing different from death to live unprofitably nothing different from a judicial sentence to bind my self hand and foot by my own â—lothfulness MEDITAT LV. Of Easefulness UNder the Head of Worldly Pleasure and as being much of Kin to Idleness I must now meditate a while upon Eâ—sâ— Carnal Easâ— Idleness is opposed to Action Ease to Suffering Idleness is freedom from Businesâ— Easâ— is freedom from Adversity or any thing that is grievous to the Senses as Sickness Losses Poverty Restraint Trespasses and Injuries in word or deed c. To prefer Freedom from any of these sensual Adversities before submission to the Will of God a sanctify'd use and improvement the exercise of Patience Charity Fortitude and Constancy under them is sensual and denominates a man a Lover of the world of worldly Ease I do premise which every body sure knows that we are to value our selves by our Souls not by our Bodies or secular Concernments And to prefer the Body before the Soul is all one as to prefer the World before God For that certainly is most to be loved and preferred that makes most for the perfecting of the Soul in a Christ-like Nature He that thinks himself too good so much as to be laught at or spoken ill of is a very neâ—h Christian To be shie to venture upon any Affliction to dare to venture nothing for 〈◊〉 sake not to take up any Cross is a Character of a person far from a true Discipleship For the true Disciples are described by their taking up their Cross and following their Lord. The Captain of our Salvation valued Subjection to the Will of God and Charity for the Souls of men before Sensual Ease when these came in competition he accounted him a Devil who cry'd Master spare thy self It was indeed in his power to have spared himself but he was an hardy Captain and would not save himself rather than betray us It is true Nature desires Ease from Adversity the Soul has a wonderful Sympathy with and Kindness for the Body But those soft and delicate persons that cannot endure that the flesh or any fleshly interest should smart though it be the Will of the Sovereign Wise God though this Plaister might work a Cure though Affliction might bring forth the pleasant fruits of Righteousness are strangely immur'd in flesh and sunk into Sense MEDITAT LVI Of Fear of Sickness UNder this Head of Easefulness I may seasonably meditate of Fear of Sickness And here I cannot deny but that Sickness is troublesome to the Senses yea I think I may confess that the Soul cannot but sympathize with the Body for there is a strange and unaccountable dearness which springs from their conjunction But yet the Soul hath an health belonging to it distinct from the Body called in Scripture The spirit of a sound mind The Souls Ease and Eucrasie lies in Subjection to the Will of God she ought to value her own Ease more than that of the Body to prefer Patience before Health or Recovery We know that Patience is Divine and that Health is but a worldly good and also that that may be wholsom to the Soul which is grievous to the Senses So that to be afraid of and to stand in awe of Sickness is a preferring of carnal Ease before spiritual and before the Will of God and to be more solicitous for recovery than for a sanctification and improvement is sensual Much more then to flie to undue means for prevention is a manifest preferring of the worldly fleshly interest before God and his Holy Authority It is possible it is seemly to be so master'd with the sense of the Purity and Perfection of the Divine Will as to be well pleased wiâ—h Diseases to overlook pain to embrace a Dungâ—il to hug the Worms that fill our Sores as if they were our Sister and Mother Art thou so delicate a thing O my body that thou must not be touch'd Are you my Senses so sacred that you must not be grated upon nor your interest violated Oh take heed of the young man Aâ—salâ—m though he be a Traytâ—r a Rebel an incestuous Fratriâ—â—de yet he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proper Gentleman a goodly young Prince deal tenderly with him yes by all means My Soul thou haâ—â— smarted and dost smart daily for the treacher â—â—sness and flattering insinuations of the bodily Senses yea they affect the dominion of the Soul and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—throne Reason And must they be thus humor'd and cocker'd Ay do breed up a Bird to pick out thy own eyes Lord Is it true that no Sickness is joyous But though Sicknes be not joyous yet sure there may be joy in and under Sicknesâ— is well as in the spoil of Goods or in Reproaches And I do remember those that took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods and those that rejoiced that they were accounted worthy to suffer shame for the Name of Jesus Let me be lame all my days and a Criple so I may be the King's son and eat at the King's Table continually Let me keep my Bed all my days so thou Lord wilt but please to make it and thy Holy Spirit will vouchsafe to rest with me Let the pleasure of Submission Self-Examination and Resignation out-weigh the pain of the Gout or Stone or Strangnry If the Devil meant it of all men indifferently without exception good as well as bad Job as well as other men when he said All that a man hath will he give for his life he is a Lyar and a Slanderer and Divines do ill to justifie the Father of Lyes in this matter and to say as some do That he was in the right All that a man hath What I warrant he will give his Soul to the Devil for recovery from Sickness will he He will part with his integrity make shipwrack of a good Conscience he will curse God Thou lyest Sathan Job himself prov'd thee a Lyar who held fast his integrity although thou movedst God against him to destroy him And many of the Servants of God do confute thee who have refused to accept of recovery from Sickness upon sinful terms or by sinful means and instead of giving all that they have Soul and all for Life would not part with the peace of their minds nor the purity of their Consciences to purchase health MEDITAT LVII Of Fear of the Less of Friends ANother thing grievous to the Sensual Life is the death of Friends and beloved Relations This I foresee will fall under a following Meditation therefore I will but lightly touch upon it here although a
In our hearts to love or esteem any vile person be he of what Civil Capacity he will before them that fear the Lord be their Civil Capacity never so mean is as good an Argument of an unsanctifi'd mind as the contrary is of a Citizen of Zion Psal 15. 4. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned In this Courtly Age it would be lookt upon as an unmannerly behaviour in the Prophet who would not vouchsafe to look towards the King of Israel 2 Kings 3. 14. But certainly it is worse than unmannerly to have the greatest respect and kindness for them that are not at all of Israel MEDITAT LXXVIII Of Flattery THis brings me to think of the foul vice of Flattery which although it be not always an Estimation of men for men often flatter those whom in their hearts they disesteem and despise yet it would be thought so and is as worldly as the other An humble behaviour indeed is ornamental soft answers are good and useful To approve or commend a good man or a good action is so far from being simply evil that sometimes it is duty and may serve good ends But it requires a great deal of wisdom For First It easily mingles it self with something evil and is corrupted by Covetousness Slavish fear or Self-love Men may most set off themselves and study to endear themselves most when they commend other men Secondly It is easily perverted to ill ends and may as soon make me prouder as better Commendation therefore must be given Justly Seasonably Proportionably and should be mixt with the remembrance of God as Paul's was to Philemon ver 4 5. Flattery is sometimes gross in words commending evil and calling it by good names assenting to every thing at a venture or denying without reason Magnifying some little thing beyond its desert and extenuating some foul fault into a meer peccadillo or unavoidable infirmity Sometimes it is more fine and subtile in actions in a crouching truckling over-obsequious behaviour I need say no more of Flattery than that it is First an argument of a mean and slavish mind The truly generous mind that adores truth knows not how to give flattering Titles Secondly that it is of most mischievous consequence and very pernicious in its effects because it inâ—â—â—â—â— Princes Courts and Great Mens Houses Flatterers by blinding the Judgment of Princes do at once put out the eyes of a Nation For they lead â—hose out of the way who when they are misled cause the rest of the world to err We know how fatal it prov'd to Ahâ—â—â— when his Chaplains the Prophets and the Courâ—â—◠〈◊〉 together to deceive him Go up and prâ—sâ—â—◠〈◊〉 the Prophets Let thy word be as one of 〈◊〉 says the Courtier And with what indignation God does 〈◊〉 the daubing of these Prophets and their putting 〈◊〉 under mens heads and arms the Prophet Ezekiel does acquaint us Lord what is man or his power who can onely kill the body that I should fear and flatter him in any thing that is hateful to thee What Profit or Preferment can I expect from man that shall Countervail thy dishonour or the prejudice done to truth and holiness by sordid Flattery or sinful Complyance Oh that the interest of God and Religion be exalted in my soul far above all these petty carnal Considerations And oh that the Messengers of God would seriously examine whether they be not the servants of men of the worst part of men even their lusts by imprisoning the Truth lest it should fly in some honourable or worshipful face whether they do not tremble to speak of temperance before incestuous Felix or whether they can take such fair leave of their Patrons as Paul took of his Ephesians I have kept back nothing that was profitable to you MEDITAT LXXIX Of Worldly Business UNder this Phrase The World is comprehended also the Work Employment and Business of the World To prefer the Business of this World before God denominates a predominant Lover of the World God has indow'd Man with active Principles designing him for Business To be active is to be like God who is life it self He is not an idle Spectator enjoying himself and minding nothing else neither doing good nor evil as some prophane men in the Prophet imagin'd him but he is good and doth good An idle and unactive life is unmanly and infamous No station does exempt men from Business Gentlemen and Ladies have their Callings There is Business accommodated to all sorts of men Having already of Idleness I will say no more of it here but this A good man must needs love Business as it is a Vehicle of Grace For how can a man exercise Righteousness Mercy or Charity without Business The necessities of humane life are so many either our own own or other mens that it is impossible any man should be idle but who is of an idle sensual temper To prevent mistakes I will first consider what is not to prefer the business of the World before God To be diligent and industrous in our Callings with a good design is not it To be more in worldly Business than in heavenly is not it God himself has allow'd six dayes to one To employ our hands in working more than in lifting up to Heaven is not worldly If we speak properly To observe due measures and propound right ends in worldly Business is Conformity to the Will of God and heavenly God acted like himself in the Creation of the world as well as in the Redemption of it and so do godly men in employing themselves about worldly Objects as well as spiritual The Angels are as well in Heaven when they are employ'd upon Earth in preserving the goings of the Saints as in their most immediate Contemplations To give the Precedency to worldly Business as to Management and Action is not simply and always it A lesser Business and more ignoble may be prohic 〈◊〉 more necessary than a greater and preferrible to it The Necessities of the Body may take place of the Conveniences of the Soul To do every thing in its proper season is a point of high Wisdom and indeed Religion Let us always remember that Religion is in the due management of worldly Business as well as otherwise To do Works of Necessity or Charity on the Lord's day is not it To have a reverend esteem for that day is good and necessary Religion flourishes in a Kingdom or a Soul as that is observed But yet there may be a Superstition in it which our Saviour by his Example and Doctrine has endeavor'd to heal The Sabbath was made for man and must give place to him But let all take heed they do not create Necessities or pretend them as I doubt too many of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Physical and Chyrurgical Tribe do To put ones self upon Business to offer ones service for the good of a Neighbor to meddle in other mens matters uncall'd by
Scripture speaks in other cases Thus it speaks of Christ frequently as a Person in the whole History of his Life sometimes as a New and Divine Nature Christ formed in you and Christ in you the hope of glory The like may be said of Antichrist The Spirit of Deceit and Delusion is called Antichrist This is a Deceiver and an Antichrist These apostate Spirits for there are many of them are frequently spoken of in Scripture in the singular number and call'd the Devil the Wicked One and Satan although there be Devils many and Satans many The reason of this I conceive is either because one and the same Principle of Rebellion and Malignity acts them all as if they were but one Person Or one is call'd the Devil by way of Eminence as being Ring leader and Prince of Devils Or in opposition to God who is but one the wicked Spirits are call'd the Devil to make the opposition the plainer between the two Principles of Good and Evil the two Kingdoms of Light and Darknâ—â—â— This Apostate Spirit though he have no issue of his own Body yet is said to have many Children amongst those that are properly the Children of men The Apostle Jâ—hn makes their number very great when he divides the whole World into the Children of God and the Children of the Devil 1 John 3. our Saviour whose Reflections were always very modest yet makes their number very considerable when he affirms to the whole Generation of the malignant Jews Ye are of your Father the Devil therefore they must needs be his Children According to the Hebrew Idiom of Speech Persons and Things are said to be the Children of those whom they most resemble For Resemblance seems to result from the Relation of a Child to his Parent and therefore they lie under some suspicion of Illegitimate who carry nothing of their Parents about with them but their Names onely Thus they are the Children of God who do the Works of God John 8. 41. Who are followers of him as the Apostle speaks They are the Children of Abraham who imitate the Faith and Piety of Abraham John 8. and the Daughters of Sarah who resemble her 1 Pet. 3. 6. Whose Daughters ye are so long as ye do well Thus Men are called the Children of the Devil Ob simile pravit at is ingenium imitationem And oh good God what a numerous Off-spring has this Apostate Spirit How great a part of Earth is inhabited with the Children of Hell of the Proud Envious False Mâ—licious Contentious and others who are the Children of the Devil I have already meditated Besides all which I find two things more that make Men much like to that Wicked One and denominates them his Children viz. Self-will and Ingratitude Self-will or the Unsubduedness of our own will to the Will of God expressing it self in Discontent Fretfulness Murmuring or Impatience is the express Image of that Apostate proud restless Spirit The Heathens expressed this wicked Temper by an elegant Invention of the Giants the Sons of the Earth making War against Heaven Away with Fables says Lâ—â—sius somewhere Vos queruli â—â—â—stis The impatient querulous and self-will'd are those Monsters that do indeed take up Arms against God and rebelliously oppose the Sovereignty of Heaven Oh the Divine and Lovely Temper of the Blessed Jesus who in the sharpest Case in the bitterest Cup shew'd forth the Exinanition of his own Will Not my Will but thy Will be done Oh dear Redeemer redeem me also from the remainder of all Enmity and Opposition that I may account the Will of my heavenly Father absolutely pure and perfect and more elegible than mine own if I were lift to my choice Yea rather that I may be so perfectly swall w'd up in the Divine Will that I may have no will of my own distinct from his but that as a true Friend of God Oh sweet Character I may will and nill the very same things with him MEDITAT XCVIII Of Ingratitude THE proper Notion of Ingratitude is not to be sensible of a good Turn done to us when we know it Nothing can excuse Ingratitude but Ignorance Impotence cannot A man may be grateful although he cannot act no nor speak Ingratitude is the most notorious when it is malignant and wishes ill or does ill to a person that we know has done us good To proceed justly against any Benefactor is not simply Ingratitude for my Love to Truth and Righteousness ought to prevail against any particular affections or the sense of any personal kindness And yet Gratitude will oblige me to abate something of my own interest and to more remiss in the prosecution of my private Injury But to be injurious to a person that I am beholden to adds Ingratitude to Injustice This is the very natural complexion of the Devil who hates the God from whom he has receiv'd his very Being All sin in man wilfully committed against God has Ingratitude in it but especially the rebellious disposition of the Devil who knows when he sins and has receiv'd greater obligations from God than Mankind What greater obligation could God have laid upon any Creature than he laid upon the Devil in creating him in so happy a state and of so noble a capacity his extract divine his capacity large his condition not only happy but glorious And now for the Son of the morning to despise his own Native glory and brightness and sink into sin and hellish darkness to forsake his own mercies and to be stillendeavouring to put himself and poor Mankind out of a capacity of receiving mercies to fall from the glorious Image of his Creator and then to hate and oppose it wherever it is found to take up Arms against the Eternal God from whom he had his very Being and Existence to flie from the very light and to hate Love it self Lord what created understanding can compreheâ—d such horrible Ingratitude And oh poor wretched man how dost thou resemble this black and devilish temper whose Ingratitude â—f thy obligations had been equal to his would have been as great and if thou refuse the offers of mâ—rcy made to thee by a Redeemer which are not made to him will be accounted greater What a Generation of Vipers is Mankind become who do what in them lies to be the death of him who gave them life Lord Do I well to be angry at the Affronts and Injuries the Neglects and Unkindnesses done to me by those of whom I have deserved well Let the sense of my own more abominable Ingratitude towards thee abate my resentment of theirs towards me Is not the wilful Prophaner of the Sabbath an ungrateful Wretch to deny one day to his Maker who gives him six for one Is it not shamefully ungrateful by Oaths and Blasphemies to speak evil of him by whom alone it is that we speak at all To murmur against him for taking away any thing who gives us all things To lift up our selves
pay ye Tribute also c. It is needless and it would be almost endless to record all the Examples of the Wise and Holy Men in Scripture that do justify the giving and receiving expressions of honour in words and gestures Neither can we reasonably imagine that all Nations and Ages of the World are bound to the very same expressions of honour which the Jews used or those Ages of the World that the Scripture writes the History of If the Jews fall flat before a Prince or a Prophet and we only kneel before them we are not more Complimental than they but less There is less suspicion or appearance of Worship in giving the right Hand of Fellowship and putting off the Hat which we use than there is in their Bowings and Prostrations of old which were so common amongst them And as for Verbal Expressions of Honour we are no more Complimental than the best of men have ever been in commending things well done and praising them that do them in praying for the long Life and Prosperity of Kings and Magistrates in saluting our Neighbours and wishing them A Good Day or Good Speed inquiring after their Welfare rejoycing in it or thanking them for their Good Will or any Good Turn That very Apostle who so often gave Thanks to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ does not boggle to give Thanks to his Fellow-creatures Rom. 16. 4. This I think is enough to justifie the sober use of these Civilities in Words and Gestures which they call Complimenrs But I do not think any thing of this does justifie the Hypocrisie Falsity Flattery and either undue or excessive Expressions of Respect which all sober men do complain of as well as the Quakers And oh would to God we were all so Wise and Righteous as to Honour and Respect all men agreeably to their real Worth and so simple and sincere as to use only such outward Expressions as for their Nature and Degree are agreeable to that Honour MEDITAT VII The Quakers Arguments answered BUT still it remains that I do invalidate or moderate the Arguments taken from Scripture Examples and Doctrine against giving and receiving Honour Moses indeed was a person of admirable Humiity Fortitude Patience Meekness and Contempt of the World but far from our modern Quakers For however he refus'd a cerâ—ain kind of Honour that was offered him at one time as being upon the matter inconsistent with the Religious course he had entred 〈◊〉 yet at other times we read that he was very much honour'd by the People and it was the pleasure of God that he should be honour'd by them God himself did magnifie him in the sight of all Israel I believe he esteem'd it as great an Honour to be accounted the Son of Abraham as the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter and to lead and feed so great a People so miraculously in the Wilderness as to live in the Pomp and Ease of the Egyptian Court. As for the Instances that are brought out of the Behaviour of Mordecai who would not vouchsafe his Cap and Knee to the proud Agagite of Elishah who would not vouchsafe a Look to the wicked King of Israel By that time something be allow'd to the Constitution of these men something to their extraordinary Spirit and something to the extraordinariness of their Circumstances especially the former the Argument from hence will be very much moderated And when it shall be observ'd that these very men at other times both gave Honour to men and themselves receiv'd great Honour from men as is very evident in their story it will appear that they were no Quakers in this point In the mean time I confess I could heartily wish that this civil respect might not be so indifferently bestow'd and prostituted by being made common to all men alike both good and bad For if all men professing the Gospel were of that purity and fortitude as becomes them and so free from folly and flattery slavishness and partiality as the true Spirit of the Gospel requires there would be a great distinction between the precious and the vile in honour and all expressions of it although there would be a just respect kept up to all men with relation had to their authority which is something divine For honour ought to be agreeable to the worth and it 's reasonable to think that the outward Expressions of Honour which we shew ought to be proportionable to the Honour we bear otherwise we shall be chargeable with something of Hypocrisie Flattery or Partiality which the Simplicity of the Gospel knows not The Baptist indeed was an austere man a Nazarite but his particular Fashion of Apparel and his way of Diet and Converse were not intended to be an Example to the rest of the World for neither did his Lord and Master conform to his Guise John came neither eating nor drinking nor yet do the Quakers themselves take themselves bound to gird themselves as he did nor with him to feed upon Locusts and wild Honey If they imitate him in the Doctrine of Repentance it 's no other than what every Evangelical Minister will consent to be a Quaker in as well as they only perhaps he will not be content to preach it so Nakedly as they do sometimes and as I my self have seen them As for that familiar Phrase and plain Reprehensions which both the Baptist and Christ Jesus used toward Herod and the Pharisees let all Divines that have the same understanding in Points of Divinity and the same Spirit of discerning Hearts be as plain and as positive as they And oh that the smooth Flatteries and colloguing Addresses of many Ministers did not so much tempt the Quakers to a contrary Extreme of handling men Rudely and without any Respect to their Civil Quality as they do at this day As for the familiar Converse that Christ held with the worst sort of men for their Edification his loving and undisdainful Behaviour to the Poor his valuing of all Persons according to their real Worth and preferring the spiritual Cognation before the Carnal I would to God we were all thus far Quakers I mean faithful Followers of his Humility Patience Zeal Charity and Compassion which I doubt not but many men are as much or more than these that call themselves Quakers But what shall I say to the plain Commands of not being call'd Rabbi of not calling any man Father or Master upon Earth of sitting down in the lowest places at Feasts and the like Why I have this to say That they are not plain Commands nor must they be understood in the plainest and most literal sense It is not fair for the Quakers to make Christ speak for them so as to make him speak against himself These Passages can no way be understood to establish the Doctrine of not giving and receiving Honour for we know Christ himself was called Rabbi and commends elsewhere the good Manners of his Disciples in calling him Master