dangerous to blesse our selves too boldly God has cursed our Blessings Mal. 2.2 And that he may blesse to us our very Curses Let us take with us words and say To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses and multiplyed pardons to us shame and confusion as at this day The most compendious way to get what belongs to God is to take to our selves what belongs to us If we would Iudge your selves and every man knowing the plague of his own heart lay Gods Dealing to heart and accepting of our punishment give glory to God and humble our selves under his mighty hand then shall God exalt us and accept us and take away our Reproach If we shall confesse our sins that like Simeon and Levi we have been Brethren in evil have broken the Covenant of Levi have done violence to and been partial in the law have made our selves vile and therefore are justly by God made contemptible and base before the people Mal. 2. If wee shall confesse that wee neither understood nor valued our High and Holy Calling as Christians much lesse as Ministers of Christ That we did not thrive kindly when Providence had planted and watered us in those Horns of Oyl the two Universities or removed us into Countrey Cures we did not fructifie as this Book will shew in any proportion to his encouragements therfore are justly cashiered out of his service and stript of his Rewards God is faithfull and just to forgive us For Job 33.27 He looks upon men if any say I have sinned I have perverted that which was right and it profited me not he will deliver his soul from the pit his life shall see the light And now let none think that this Confession will give advantage to the Adversary They may take where none is given They may say Let the Lord be glorified By their own confession we offend not though we devour them because they have sinned against the Lord the habitation of Justice Ier. 50.7 But they will finde at last That to forsake the Levite is a sin That it is a bitter thing to Help forward affliction when God is but a little displeased That Ierusalem will be a cup of trembling and a burdensome stone to every one that cryes but Downe with it Woe to thee O Assur the Rod of Gods anger The staffe in thine hand is Gods Indignation Thou Lord hast ordained him for judgment and established him for correction Even for Our correction to purifie Us sons of Levi from our drosse Howbeit hee meaneth not so and by his hand who punisheth us not onely for that which is sin to put on us Martyrs Robes by that contrivance both Chastning and Covering our sins As the Persians use their Nobles beating their Clothes and saving their Persons There can be no credit lost by giving glory to God Did Achan lose any thing by confessing that God had found him out and his Garment and his Wedg Hath not Adonibezek got a Fame of Ingenuity for acknowledging Gods Art of Justicing in that most exact way of Counter passion or Retaliation which is so frequent in these times though it is not considerd What lost Luther by confessing his personall defects as to God Though he yeilded not a jot in his Cause as to men What Enemy ever upbraided that to him or this to the ingenuous learned Cajetan his humble and seasonable Confession upon lasting record in his Coments on the 13. ver. of the 5. chapter of Saint Matthews Gospel Ye are the salt if the salt have lost c. The French Army had taken Rome when he was about that Text and offered great abuse to the Clergy there Which he Christianly Resenting inserts this passage Wee Prelates of the Church of Rome do at this time finde this truth verified on us in a speciall Measure Being by the just judgement of God become a spoyle and a Prey and Captives not to Infidells but to Christians because wee who were chosen to be the Salt of the earth Evanuimus were become light persons and unsavoury good for nothing but outward Ceremonies and Externa Bona the Revenues Temporall Hence it is that both We and this City be trodden under foot this sixth of May 1527. And that Excellent CHARLS the Fifth is Honourable for no one thing more then for acknowleding the Hand of God upon him both at that pinch which made him pant out Jam me ab omnibus desertum video And upon a lesser occasion then that namely when his Domesticks had left him all alone late at night and he would needs hold the Candle to SFLDIUS shewing him the way down the stairs and up to God he said Thine eys have seen me environed with great Armies now thou seest me abandoned of mine ordinary Servants I acknowledge this change to come from him with whom is no shadow of change From the mighty hand of God and I will by no means withstand it And it is reported That the Scotish Presbyters sensible of God's hand upon them are at this time making their Addresses to God by Confession of their sins respectively God grant that both we and they may do it right Though I shall still strive with them about the justice of the First Cause yet about the justnesse of our persons will I not strive with them nor about any other matter save onely who shall confesse themselves greater sinners to God I have silenced David Psal. 51. and Ezra and Nehemiah and Daniel in their 9. Chapt. and cited onely these to confirm my self and thee Brother in this duty of giving Glory to God in this manner Et confiteantur Tibi omnes populi Even so True and righteous are thy judgments in all the world O Lord God Almighty yea mercifull are they and far below our deservings I hope no man will think though I speak thus that I give him leave to construe my words Mathematically as if there was not an atome or hair of a good man or man of God in our Church There were divers primitive and are at this day Blessed be God The Lord make them 1000 times more then they are holy and heavenly souls vessels chosen and fitted for the service of the Sanctuary I shall be bold to instance in Three who died in peace few considering some did that they were taken away from the evil to come lest their eys should see what their spirits foresaw what is come on us on whom the days not of visitation only but of vengeance even the ends of the world are come The first of these was Thomas Jackson D. D. late President of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford and sometimes Vicar of St. Nicholas Church in Newcastle upon Tyne two places that must give account to God for the good they had or might have had by that Man as all Scholers must for his neglected Works The second was Mr. Nicholas Ferrer of little Gidding in Huntington Shire sometimes fellow-Commoner and Fellow of Clare-hall in
otherwise they would reckon upon and turn to idlenesse Besides this generall provision he hath other times of opening his hand as at great Festivals and Communions not suffering any that day that hee receives to want a good meal suting to the joy of the occasion But specially at hard times and dearths he even parts his Living and life among them giving some corn outright and selling other at under rates and when his own stock serves not working those that are able to the same charity still pressing it in the pulpit and out of the pulpit and never leaving them till he obtaine his desire Yet in all his Charity he distinguisheth giving them most who live best and take most paines and are most charged So is his charity in effect a Sermon After the consideration of his own Parish he inlargeth himself if he be able to the neighbour-hood for that also is some kind of obligation so doth he also to those at his door whom God puts in his way and makes his neighbours But these he helps not without some testimony except the evidence of the misery bring testimony with it For though these testimonies also may be falsifyed yet considering that the Law allows these in case they be true but allows by no means to give without testimony as he obeys Authority in the one so that being once satisfied he allows his Charity some blindnesse in the other especially since of the two commands we are more injoyned to be charitable then wise But evident miseries have a naturall priviledge and exemption from all law When-ever hee gives any thing and sees them labour in thanking of him he exacts of them to let him alone and say rather God be praised God be glorified that so the thanks may go the right way and thither onely where they are onely due So doth hee also before giving make them say their Prayers first or the Creed and ten Commandments and as he finds them perfect rewards them the more For other givings are lay and secular but this is to give like a Priest CHAP. XIII The Parson's Church THe Countrey Parson hath a speciall care of his Church that all things there be decent and befitting his Name by which it is called Therefore first he takes order that all things be in good repair as walls plaistered windows glazed floore paved seats whole firm and uniform especially that the Pulpit and Deck and Communion Table and Font be as they ought for those great duties that are performed in them Secondly that the Church be swept and kept cleane without dust or Cobwebs and at great festivalls strawed and stuck with boughs and perfumed with incense Thirdly That there be fit and proper texts of Scripture every where painted and that all the painting be grave and reverend not with light colours or foolish anticks Fourthly That all the books appointed by Authority be there and those not torne or fouled but whole and clean and well bound and that there be a fitting and sightly Communion Cloth of fine linnen with an handsome and seemly Carpet of good and costly Stuffe or Cloth and all kept sweet and clean in a strong and decent chest with a Chalice and Cover and a Stoop or Flagon and a Bason for Almes and offerings besides which he hath a Poor-mans Box conveniently seated to receive the charity of well minded people and to lay up treasure for the sick and needy And all this he doth not as out of necessity or as putting a holiness in the things but as desiring to keep the middle way between superstition and slovenlinesse and as following the Apostles two great and admirable Rules in things of this nature The first whereof is Let all things be done decently and in order The second Let all things be done to edification 1 Cor. 14. For these two rules comprize and include the double object of our duty God and our neighbour the first being for the honour of God the second for the benefit of our neighbor So that they excellently score out the way and fully and exactly contain even in externall and indifferent things what course is to be taken and put them to great shame who deny the Scripture to be perfect CHAP. XIV The Parson in Circuit THe Countrey Parson upon the afternoons in the weekdays takes occasion sometimes to visite in person now one quarter of his Parish now another For there he shall find his flock most naturally as they are wallowing in the midst of their affairs whereas on Sundays it is easie for them to compose themselves to order which they put on as their holy-day cloathes and come to Church in frame but commonly the next day put off both When he comes to any house first he blesseth it and then as hee finds the persons of the house imployed so he formes his discourse Those that he findes religiously imployed hee both commends them much and furthers them when hee is gone in their imployment as if hee findes them reading hee furnisheth them with good books if curing poor people hee supplies them with Receipts and instructs them further in that skill shewing them how acceptable such works are to God and wishing them ever to do the Cures with their own hands and not to put them over to servants Those that he finds busie in the works of their calling he commendeth them also for it is a good and just thing for every one to do their own busines But then he admonisheth them of two things first that they dive not too deep into worldly affairs plunging themselves over head and eares into carking and caring but that they so labour as neither to labour anxiously nor distrustfully nor profanely Then they labour anxiously when they overdo it to the loss of their quiet and health then distrustfully when they doubt Gods providence thinking that their own labour is the cause of their thriving as if it were in their own hands to thrive or not to thrive Then they labour profanely when they set themselves to work like brute beasts never raising their thoughts to God nor sanctifying their labour with daily prayer when on the Lords day they do unnecessary servile work or in time of divine service on other holy days except in the cases of extreme poverty and in the seaons of Seed-time and Harvest Secondly he adviseth them so to labour for wealth and maintenance as that they make not that the end of their labour but that they may have wherewithall to serve God the better and to do good deeds After these discourses if they be poor and needy whom he thus finds labouring he gives them somewhat and opens not only his mouth but his purse to their relief that so they go on more cheerfully in their vocation and himself be ever the more welcome to them Those that the Parson findes idle or ill imployed he chides not at first for that were neither civill nor profitable but always in the close before he
departs from them yet in this he distinguisheth for if he be a plaine country-man he reproves him plainly for they are not sensible of finenesse if they be of higher quality they commonly are quick and sensible and very tender of reproof and therefore he lays his discourse so that he comes to the point very leasurely and oftentimes as Nathan did in the person of another making them to reprove themselves However one way or other he ever reproves them that he may keep himself pure and not be intangled in others sinnes Neither in this doth he forbear though there be company by for as when the offence is particular and against mee I am to follow our Saviours rule and to take my brother aside and reprove him so when the offence is publicke and against God I am then to follow the Apostles rule 1 Timothy 5.20 and to rebuke openly that which is done openly Besides these occasionall discourses the Parson questions what order is kept in the house as about prayers morning and evening on their knees reading of Scripture catechizing singing of Psalms at their work and on holy days who can read who not and sometimes he hears the children read himselfe and blesseth encouraging also the servants to learn to read and offering to have them taught on holy-dayes by his servants If the Parson were ashamed of particularizing in these things hee were not fit to be a Parson but he holds the Rule that Nothing is little in Gods service If it once have the honour of that Name it grows great instantly Wherfore neither disdaineth he to enter into the poorest Cottage though he even creep into it and though it smell never so lothsomly For both God is there also and those for whom God dyed and so much the rather doth he so as his accesse to the poor is more comfortable then to the rich and in regard of himselfe it is more humiliation These are the Parsons generall aims in his Circuit but with these he mingles other discourses for conversation sake and to make his higher purposes slip the more easily CHAP. XV The Parson Comforting THe Countrey Parson when any of his cure is sick or afflicted with losse of friend or estate or any ways distressed fails not to afford his best comforts and rather goes to them then sends for the afflicted though they can and otherwise ought to come to him To this end he hath throughly digested all the points of consolation as having continuall use of them such as are from Gods generall providence extended even to lillyes from his particular to his Church from his promises from the examples of all Saints that ever were from Christ himself perfecting our Redemption no other way then by sorrow from the Benefit of affliction which softens and works the stubborn heart of man from the certainty both of deliverance and reward if we faint not from the miserable comparison of the moment of griefs here with the weight of joyes hereafter Besides this in his visiting the sick or otherwise afflicted he followeth the Churches counsell namely in perswading them to particular confession labouring to make them understand the great good use of this antient and pious ordinance and how necessary it is in some cases he also urgeth them to do some pious charitable works as a necessary evidence and fruit of their faith at that time especially the participation of the holy Sacrament how comfortable and Soveraigne a Medicine it is to all sinsick souls what strength and joy and peace it administers against all temptations even to death it selfe he plainly and generally intimateth to the disaffected or sick person that so the hunger and thirst after it may come rather from themselves then from his perswasion CHAP. XVI The Parson a Father THe Countrey Parson is not only a father to his flock but also professeth himselfe throughly of the opinion carrying it about with him as fully as if he had begot his whole Parish And of this he makes great use For by this means when any sinns he hateth him not as an officer but pityes him as a Father and even in those wrongs which either in tithing or otherwise are done to his owne person hee considers the offender as a child and forgives so hee may have any signe of amendment so also when after many admonitions any continue to be refractory yet hee gives him not over but is long before hee proceede to disinheriting or perhaps never goes so far knowing that some are called at the eleventh houre and therefore hee still expects and waits least hee should determine Gods houre of coming which as hee cannot touching the last day so neither touching the intermediate days of Conversion CHAP. XVII The Parson in Iourney THe countrey Parson when a just occasion calleth him out of his Parish which he diligently and strictly weigheth his Parish being all his joy and thought leaveth not his Ministry behind him but is himselfe where ever he is Therefore those he meets on the way he blesseth audibly and with those he overtakes or that overtake him hee begins good discourses such as may edify interposing sometimes some short and honest refreshments which may make his other discourses more welcome and lesse tedious And when he comes to his Inn he refuseth not to joyne that he may enlarge the glory of God to the company he is in by a due blessing of God for their safe arrival and saying grace at meat and at going to bed by giving the Host notice that he will have prayers in the hall wishing him to informe his guests thereof that if any be willing to partake they may resort thither The like he doth in the morning using pleasantly the outlandish proverb that Prayers and Provender never hinder journey When he comes to any other house where his kindred or other relations give him any authority over the Family if hee be to stay for a time hee considers diligently the state thereof to God-ward and that in two points First what disorders there are either in Apparell or Diet or too open a Buttery or reading vain books or swearing or breeding up children to no Calling but in idleness or the like Secondly what means of Piety whether daily prayers be used Grace reading of Scriptures and other good books how Sundayes holy-days and fasting days are kept And accordingly as he finds any defect in these hee first considers with himselfe what kind of remedy fits the temper of the house best and then hee faithfully and boldly applyeth it yet seasonably and discreetly by taking aside the Lord or Lady or Master and Mistres of the house and shewing them cleerly that they respect them most who wish them best and that not a desire to meddle with others affairs but the earnestnesse to do all the good he can moves him to say thus and thus CHAP. XVIII The Parson in Sentinell THe Countrey Parson where ever he is keeps Gods watch that is there is