And it is no true Repentance when you say I am sorry that I have sinned but you know not or remember not Wherein you have sinned nor what your sin is and so repent not indeed of any one sin at all And so it is no true Desire that reacheth not to the particular necessary Graces which we must desire Though I know some few very quick comprehensive minds can in in a moment think of many particulars when they use but General words And I know that some smaller less necessary things may be generally past over and greater matters in a time of haste or when we besides those Generals do also use particular requests § 3. Quest. 3. Is it lawful to pray in a set form of words Quest. 3. Answ. Nothing but very great ignorance can make you really doubt of it Hath God any where forbid it You will say That it s enough that he hath not commanded it I answer That in general he See Selden â—bi supra proving that the Jeâ—s had a form of prayer since Ezra's time I herefore it was in Christs time Yet he and his Apostles joyned with them and never contradicted or blamed them for forms hath commanded it to all whose edification it tendeth to when he commandeth you that all be done to edification But he hath given no particular command nor prohibition No more he hath not commanded you to pray in English French or Latin nor to sing Psalms in this Tune or that nor after this or that Version or Translation nor to preach in this Method particularly or that nor alwayes to preach upon a Text nor to use written Notes nor to compose a form of words and learn them anâ— preach them after they are composed with a hundred such like which are undoubtedly lawful yea and needful to some though not to others If you make up all your prayer of Scripture sentences this is to pray in a form of prescribed words and yet as lawful and fit as any of your own The Pâ—alms are most of them forms of Prayer or Praise which the Spirit of God indited for the use of the Church and of particular persons It would be easie to fill many Pages with larger reasonings and answers to all the fallacious Objections that are brought against this But I will not so far weary the Reader and my self § 4. Quest. 4. But are those forms lawful which are prescribed by others and not by God Quest. 4. Answ. Yea Or else it would be unlawful for a Child or Scholar to use a form prescribed by his Parents or Master And to think that a thing lawful doth presently become unlawful because a Parent Master Pastor or Prince doth prescribe it or command it is a conceit that I will not wrong my Reader so far as to suppose him guilty of Indeed if an Usurper that hath no Authority over us in such matters do prescribe it we are not bound to formal Obedience that is to do it therefore because he commandeth it But yet I may be bound to it on some other accounts And though his command do not bind me yet it maketh not the thing it self unlawful § 5. Quest. 5. But is it lawful to pray ex tempore without a premeditated form of words Quest. 5. Answ. No Christian of competent understanding doubteth of it We must premeditate on our waâ—ts and sins and the graces and mercies we desire and the God we speak to and we must be able to express these things without any lothsome and unfit expressions But whether the words are fore-contrived or not is a thing that God hath no more bound you to by any Law than whether the speaker or hearers shall use Sermon Notes or whether your Bibles shall be written or in Print § 6. Quest. 6. If both wayes be lawful which is better Quest. 6. Answ. If you are to joyn with others in the Church that is better to you which the Pastor then useth For it is his Office and not yours to word the prayers which he puts up to God And if he choâ—se a form whether it be as most agreeable to his parts or to his people or for concord with other Churches or for obedience to Governours or to avoid some greater inconvenience you must joyn with him or not joyn there at all But if it be in private where you are the speaker your Three oâ— four of these Cases as to church-Church-prayers are laâ—geâ—er answered afterward Tom. 3. Part 2. Socâ—ates alius Couâ— deorum precaâ—iones invoâ—ationâ—sque conscâ—ipsiâ— Laâ—rt â—â— Socâ—ate self you must take that way that is most to your own edification and to others it you have Auditors joyning with you One man is so unused to prayer being ignorantly bred or of such unready memory or expression that he cannot remember the tenth part so much of his particular wants without the help of a form as with it nor can he express it so affectingly for himself or others nay perhaps not in tolerable words And a form to such a man may be a duty as to a dim-sighted man to read by spectacles or to an unready Preacher to use prepared words and Notes And another man may have need of no such helps Nay when he is habituated in the understanding and feeling of his sins and wants and hath a tongue that is used to express his mind even in these matters with readiness and facility it will greatly hinder the fervor of such a mans affections to tye himself to premeditated words To say the contrary is to speak against the common sense and experience of such speakers and their hearers And let them that yet deride this as uncertain and inconsiderate praying but mark themselves whether they cannot if they be hungry beg for bread or ask help of their Physicion or Lawyer or Landlord or any other as well without a learned or studied form as with it Who knoweth not that its true which the New Philosopher saith Cartes de Passion part 1. art 44. Et cum inter loquendum solum cogitamus de sensu illiâ—s rei quam dicere volumus id facit ut moveamus linguam labra celerius melius quam si cogitaremus ea movere omnibus modis requisitis ad prâ—ferenda eadem verba Quia habitus quem acquisivimus cum disceremus loqui c. Turning the thoughts too solicitously from the matter to the words doth not only mortifie the prayers of many and turn them into a dead form but also maketh them more dry and barren even as to the words themselves The heavy charge and bitter scornful words which have been too common in this age against praying without a set form by some and against praying with a Book or form by others is so dishonourable a symptome or diagnostick of the Churches sickness as must needs be matter of shame and sorrow to the sounder understanding part For it cannot be denyed but it proveth mens
Traditions 2. And used long and frequent prayers But if indeed they had no such forms then long and frequent extemporate prayers are not so great a sign of the Spirits gifts as is imagined when such Pharisees abounded in them But there is little probability but that they used both wayes 3. That Christ did not separate from the Synagogues for such prayers sake 4. Yea that we never read that Christ medled in the Controversie it being then no Controversie nor that he once reproved such forms or Reading them or ever called the Jews to repent of them If you say His general reproof of Traditions was enough I answer 1. Even Traditions he reproved not as such but as set before or against the Commands of God 2. He named many of their particular Traditions and Corruptions Matth. 15. 23 c. and yet never named this 3. His being usually present at their Assemblies and so joyning with them in their Worship would be such an appearance of his approbation as would make it needful to express his disallowance of it if indeed he thought it sinful So that who ever impartially considereth all this that he joyned with them that he particularly reproved other corruptions and that he never said any thing at all against forms or reading prayers that is recorded will sure be moderate in his judgement of such indifferent things if he know what moderation is Quest. 77. Is it lawful to Pray in the Church without a prescribed or premeditated form of Words Answ. THere are so few sober and serious Christians that ever made a doubt of this that I will not bestow many words to prove it 1. That which is not forbidden is lawful But church-Church-prayer without a premeditated or prescribed form of words is not forbidden by God Therefore as to Gods Laws it is not unlawful 2. To express holy desires understandingly orderly seriously and in apt expressions is lawfull praying But all this may be done without a set form of words Therefore to pray without a set form of words may be lawful 3. The Consent of the Universal Church and the experience of godly men are arguments so strong as are not to be made light of 4. To which Scripture instances may be added Quest. 78. Whether are set Forms of Words or free praying without them the better way And what are the Commodities and Incommodities of each way Answ. I Will first answer the later question because the former dependeth on it I. The Commodities of a set form of words and the discommodities of free-praying are these following 1. In a time of dangerous Heresie which hath infected the Pastors a set form of prescribed words tendeth to keep the Church and the consciences of the joyners from such infection offence and guilt 2. When Ministers are so weak as to dishonour Gods Worship by their unapt and slovenly and unsound expressions prescribed or set forms which are well composed are some preservative and cure When free praying leaveth the Church under this inconvenience 3. When Ministers by faction passion or corrupt interests are apt to put theseâ—ices into their prayers to the injury of others and of the Cause and Church of God free praying cherisheth this or giveth it opportunity which set forms do restrain 4. Concordant set forms do serve for the exactest Concord in the Churches that all at once may speak the same things 5. They are needful to some weak Ministers that cannot do so well without them 6. They somewhat prevent the laying of the reputation of Religious Worship upon the Ministers abilities when in free praying the honour and comfort varieth with the various degrees of Pastoral abilities In one place it is excellently well done in another but drily and coldly and meanly In another erroneously unedifyingly if not dishonourably tending to the contempt of holy things Whereas in the way of set Liturgies though the ablest at that time doth no better yet the weakest doth for words as well and all alike 7. And if proud weak men have not the composing and imposing of it all know that words drawn up by study upon sober premeditation and consultation have a greater advantage to be exact and apt then those that were never thought on till we are speaking them 8. The very fear of doing amiss disturbeth some unready men and maketh them do all the â—est the worse 9. The Auditors know before hand whether that which they are to joyn in be sound or unsound having time to try it 10. And they can more readily put in their consent to what is spoken and make the prayers their own when they know before hand what it is than they can do when they know not before they hear it It being hard to the duller sort of hearers to concur with an Understanding and Consent as quick as the speakers words are Not but that this may be done but not without great difficulty in the duller sort 11. And it tendeth to avoid the pride and self-deceit of many who think they are good Christians and have the Spirit of Grace and Supplication because by learning and use they can speak many hours in variety of expressions in prayer which is a dangerous mistake II. The Commodities of Free extemporate prayers and the discommodity of prescribed or set forms are these following 1. It becometh an advantage to some Proud men who think themselves wiser than all the rest to obtâ—ude their Compositions that none may be thought wise enough or fit to speak to God but in their words And so introduce Church-tyranny 2. It may become a hinderance to able worthy Ministers that can do better 3. It may become a dividing snare to the Churches that cannot all Agree and Consent in such humane impositions 4. It may become an advantage to Hereticks when they can but get into power as the Arrians of old to corrupt all the Churches and publick Worship And thus the Papists have corrupted the Churches by the Mass. 5. It may become an engine or occasion of persecution and silencing all those Ministers that cannot consent in such impositions 6. It may become a means of depraving the Ministry and bringing them to a common idleness and ignorance if other things alike concur For when men perceive that no greater abilities are used and required they will commonly labour for and get no greater and so will be unable to pray without their forms of words 7. And by this means Christian Religion may decay and grow into contempt For though it be desirable that its own worth should keep up its reputation and success yet it never hitherto was so kept up without the assistance of Gods eminent gifts and graces in his Ministers But where ever there hath been a learned able holy zealous diligent Ministry Religion usually hath flourished And where ever there hath been an ignorant vicious cold idle negligent and reproached Ministry Religion usually hath dyed and been reproached And we have now no reason to look for
Servants 2. Masters p. 490 CHAP. III. Disput. Whether the solemn Worship of God in and by families as such be of Divine appointment Aff. proved against the Cavils of the prophane and some Sectaries p. 493. What solemn Worship is What a family Proof as to Worship in general Family-advantages for Worship The Natural obligation on families to worship God Families must be sanctified societies Instructing families is a duty Family discipline is a duty Solemn prayer and prâ—ise is a family duty Objections answered Of the frequency and seasons of family worship 1. Whether it should be every day 2. Whether twice a day 3. Whether Morning and evening CHAP. IV. General Directions for the holy Government of famili 〈…〉 How to keep up Authority Of skill in Governing Of holy Willingness p. 509 CHAP. V. Special Motives to perswade men to the holy Government of their families p. 512 CHAP. VI. Motives for a holy and careful Education of Children p. 515 CHAP. VII The Mutual Duties of Husbands and Wives towards each other p. 520. How to maintain due Conjugal Love Of Adultery Motives and Means against dissention Motives and means to further each others salvation Further duties CHAP. VIII The special duties of Husbands to their Wives p. 529 CHAP. IX The special duty of Wives to their Husbands p. 531 Q. How far may a Wife give without her Husbands Consent Q. Of Wives propriety Q Is a Wife guilty of her Husbands unlawful getting if she keep it And is she bound to reveal it as in robbing Q. May a Wife go hear Sermons when her Husband forbiddeth her Q. Must a woman proceed to admonish a wicked Husband when it maketh him worse Q. What she must do in Controverted Cases of Religion when her judgement and her Husbands differ p. 534. Q. How long or in what Cases may Husbands and Wives be distant p. 535. Q. May the bare Commands of Princes separate Husbands and Wives as Ministers Iudges Souldiers Q. May Ministers leave their Wives to go abroad to preach the Gospel Q. May one leave a Wife to save his life in case of personal persecution or danger Q. May Husband and Wife part by consent if they find it to be for the good of both Q. May they consent to be divorced and to marry others Q. Doth Adultery dissolve marriage Q. Is the injured person bound to divorce the other or left free Q. Is it the proper priviledge of the man to put away an adulterous Wife or is it also in the womans power to depart from an adulterous Husband Q. May there be putting away or departing without the Magistrates divorce or license Q. Is not Sodomy and Buggery as lawful a reason of divorce as Adultery Q. What if both parties be adulterous Q. What if one purposely commit adultery to be separated from the other Q. Doth Infidelity dissolve the relation Q. Doth the desertion of one party disoblige the other Q. Must a woman follow a malignant Husband that goeth from the Means of Grace Q. Must she follow him if it be but to poverty or beggary Q. What to do in case of known intention of one to murder the other Q. Or if there be a fixed hatred of each other Q What if a man will not suffer his Wife to hear read or pray or do beat her so as to unfit her for duty or a woman will rail at the Husband in prayer time c. Q. What to do in danger of life by the Pox or Leprosie c. Q Who may marry after parting or divorce p. 539. Q Is it lawful to suffer yea or contribute to the known sin materially of Wife Child Servant or other relations Where is opened what is in our Power to do against sin and what not p. 539. Q. If a Gentleman have a great Estate by which he may do much good and his Wife be so Proud Prodigal and pievish that if she may not waste it all in house keeping and pride she will dye or grow mad or give him no quietness What is his duty in so sad a case p. 542 CHAP. X. The Duties of Parents for their Children Where are twenty special Directions for their Education p. 543 CHAP. XI The Duties of Children towards their Parents p. 547 CHAP. XII The special Duties of Children and Youth towards God p. 552 CHAP. XIII The Duties of Servants to their Masters p. 554 CHAP. XIV Tit. 1. The Duty of Masters towards their Servants p. 556 Tit. 2. The Duty of Masters to Slaves in the Plantations p. 557 Q. 1. Is it lawful for a Christian to buy and use a man as a Slave Q. 2. Is it lawful to use a Christian as a Slave p. 558 Q. 3. What difference must we make between a Servant and a Slave Q. 4. What if men buy Negro's or other Slaves of such as we may think did steal them or buy them of Robbers and Tyrants and not by Consent p. 559 Q. 5. May I not sell such again and make my mony of them Q. 6. May I not return them to him that I bought them of CHAP. XV. The Duties of Children and fellow servants to one another p. 561 CHAP. XVI Directions for holy Conference of fellow servants and others p. 562 Q. May we speak good when the Heart is not affected with it Q. Is that the fruit of the Spirit which we force our tongues to CHAP. XVII Directions for every member of the family how to spend every ordinary day of the Week p. 565 CHAP. XVIII Directions for the holy spending of the Lords Day in families Whether the whole day should be kept holy p. 569 Tit. 2. More particular Directions for the Order of holy duties on that day p. 572 CHAP. XIX Directions for profitable Hearing Gods Word preached p. 573 Tit. 2. Directions for Remembring what you Hear p. 575 Tit. 3. Directions for Holy Resolutions and Affections in hearing p. 576 Tit. 4. Directions to bring what we hear into practice p. 577 CHAP. XX. Directions for profitable Reading the holy Scriptures p. 579 CHAP. XXI Directions for Reading other Books p. 580 CHAP. XXII Directions for right Teaching Children and Servants so as is most likely to have success The summ of Christian Religion p. 582 CHAP. XXIII Directions for Prayer in general p 587 A Scheme or brief Explication of the Exact Method of the Lords Prayer p. 590 Tit. 2. Cases about Prayer p. 591. Q. 1. Is the Lords Prayer to be used as a form of words or only as a Directory for Matter and Method Q. 2. What need is there of any other prayer if this he perfect Q. 3. Is it lawful to pray in a set form of words Q. 4. Are those forms lawful which are prescribed by man and not by God Q 5 Is free praying called extemporate lawful Q. 6. Which is the better Q. 7. Must we ever follow the Method of the Lords Prayer Q. 8. Must we pray only when the Spirit moveth us or as Reason guideth
or a member of a particular Church who liveth so far from it as to be uncapable of personal communion with them p. 843 Q. 66. If a man be injuriously suspended or Excommunicated by the Pastor or people which way shall he have remedy ibid. Q. 67. Doth presence always make us guilty of the â—vils or faults of the Pastor in Gods Worship or of the Church or In what cases are we guilty ibid. Q. 68. Is it lawful to communicate in the Sacrament with wicked men p. 844 Q. 69. Have all the members of the Church right to the Lords Table and is suspension Lawful ibid. Q. 70. Is there any such thing in the Church as a rank or Classis or species of Church-members at age who are not to be admitted to the Lords Table but only to the hearing the Word and Prayer between Infant members and adult-confirmed ones p. 845 Q. 71. Whether a form of Prayer be lawful p. 847 Q. 72. Are formes of prayer or Preaching in the Church Lawful ibid. Q. 73. Are publick forms of mans devising or composing Lawful ibid. Q. 74. Is it lawful to Impose forms on the Congregation or the people in publick Worship p. 848 Q. 75. Is it Lawful to use forms composed by man and imposed not only on the people but on the Pastors of the Churches ibid. Q. 76. Doth not the calling of a Minister so consist in the exercise of his own ministerial gifts that he may not officiate without them nor make use of other mens gifts instead of them p. 849 Q. Is it lawful to read a Prayer in the Church p. 850 Q. 77. Is it Lawful to Pray in the Church without a prescribed or premeditated form of words ibid. Q. 78. Whether are set forms of words or free praying without them the better way and what are the Commodities and Incommodities of each way p. 851 Q. 79. Is it Lawful to forbear the Preaching of some truths upon mans prohibition that I may have liberty to Preach the rest yea and to promise to forbear them or to do it for the Churches peace p. 853 Q. 80. May or must a Minister silenced or forbid to Preach the Gâ—spel go on still to Preach it against the Law p. 854 Q. 81. May we lawfully keep the Lords day as a fast p. 855 Q. 82. How should the Lords day be spent in the main ibid. Q. 83. May the people bear a vocal part in Worship or do any more than say Amen p. 856 Q. 84. Is it not a sin for our Clerks to make themselves the mouth of the people who are not ordained Ministers of Christ p. 857 Q. 85. Are repetitions of the same words in Churchpraâ—ers lawful p. 858 Q. 86. Is it lawful to bow at the name of Iesus ibid. Q. 87. Is it Lawful to stand up at the Gospel as we are appointed ibid. Q. 88. Is it lawful to kneel when the Deâ—alogue is read p. 859 Q 89. What Gestures are fittest in all the publick Worship ibid. Q. 90. What if the Pastor and Church cannot agree about singing Psalms or what Version or Translation to use or time or place of meeting c. ibid. Q. 91. What if the Pastor excommunicate a man and the people will not forbear his Communion as thinking him unjustly excommunicated p. 860 Q. 92. May a whole Church or the greater part be excommunicated ibid. Q. 93. What if a Church have two Pastors and one excommunicate a man and the other absolve him what shall the Church and the Dissenter do p. 861 Q. 94. For what sins may a man be denyed Communion or Excommunicated Whether for impenitence in every little sin Or For great sin without impenitence ibid. Q. 95. Must the Pastor examine the people before the Sacrament ibid. Q. 96. Is the Sacrament of the Lords Supper a Converting Ordinance p. 862 Q. 97. Must no man come to the Sacrament that is uncertain or doubtful of the sincerity of his faith and repentance ibid. Q. 98. Is it Lawful or a duty to joyn oblations to the Sacrament and how p. 863 Q. 99. How many Sacraments are there appointed by Christ ibid. Q. 100. How far is it lawful needful or unlawful for a man to afflict himself by external penances for sin p. 864 Q. 101. Is it lawful to observe stated times of fasting imposed by others without extraordinary occasions And particularly Lent p. 865 Q. 102. May we continue in a Church where some one Ordinance of Christ is wanting as Discipline Prayer Preaching or Sacraments though we have all the rest p. 866 Q 103. Must the Pastors remove from one Church to another when ever the Magistrate commandeth us though the Bishops contradict it and the Church consent not to dismiss us And so of other cases of disagreement p. 867 Q. 104. Is a Pastor â—bliged to his flock for life or is it Lawful so to oblige himself And may he remove without their Consent And so also of a Chuch member the same questions are put p. 868 Q. 105. When many men pretend at once to be the true Pastors of a particular Church against each others title through differences between the Magistrates the Ordainers and the flocks what should the people do and whom should they adhere to p. 869 Q. 106. To whom doth it belong to Reform a Corrupted Church To the Magistrates Pastors or People p 869 Q. 107. Who is to call Synods Princes Pastors or People ibid. Q. 108. To whom doth it belong to appoint dayes and Assemblies for publick Humiliation and Thanksgiving p. 870 Q. 109. May we omit Church Assemblies on the Lords day if the Magistrate forbid them ibid. Q. 110. Must we obey the Magistrate if he only forbid us Worshipping God in such a place or Countrey or in such numbers or the like circumstances p. 871 Q. 111. Must Subjects or Servants forbear weekly Lectures Reading or such helps above the Lords days worship if Princes or Masters do forbid them p. 871 Q. 112. Whether Religious Worship may be given to a Creature and what p. 872 Q. 113. What Images and what use of Images is Lawful or Unlawful p. 873 Q. 114 Whether Stage-plays where the virtuous and vitious are personated be lawful p. 877 Q. 115. Is it ever unlawful to use the known Symbols and badges of Idolatry p. 878 Q. 116. Is it unlawful to use the Badge or Symbol of any errour or sect in the Worship of God p. 879 Q. 117. Are all Indifferent things made unlawful to us which shall be abused to Idolatrâ—us Worship p. 879 Q. 118. May we use the names of week dayes which Idolatâ—rs honoured their Idols with â—s Sunday Munday Saturday and the rest And so the Months p. 880 Q. 119. Is it lawful to pray secretly when we come first into the Church especially when the Church is otherwise employed ibid. Q. 120. May a Preacher kneel down in the Pulpit and use his private prayers when he is in the Assembly p. 881
it self But tristes non eloquentes Symmach Epist. 31. l. 1. ad Aâ—so â— sunt maxime si ad aegritudinem animi accedat corporis aegritudo Hieron Epist. 31. ad Theoph. Alexand. Sad men are seldome eloquent especially if the body be sick as well as the mind 12. Let the Image of a Praying and a bleeding Christ and of his praying Saints be not on a wall before your eyes but engraven on your minds Is it not desirable to be conformed to them Had they more need to pray importunately than you 13. Be very cautelous in the use of forms lest you grow dull and customary and before you are aware your tongues use to go without your hearts The heart is apt to take its ease when it feeleth not some urgent instigation And though the presence of God should serve turn without the regard of man yet with imperfect men the heart is best held to its duty when both concurr And therefore most are more cautelous of their words than of their thoughts As children will learn their Lesson better when they know their Masters will hear them it than when they think he will not Now in the use of a form of Prayer a sleepy heart is not at all discerned by man but by God only For the words are all brought to your hand and may be said by the most dull and careless mind But when you are put to express your own desire without such helps you are necessitated to be so mindful of what you do as to form your desires into apt expressions or else your dulness or inattentiveness will be observed even by men and you will be like one that hath his Coach or Horse or Crutches taken off him that if he have legs must use them or else lye still And to them that are able it is often a great benefit to be necessitated to use the ability they have Though to others it is a loss to be deprived of their helps See Mr. Mayo's Directions on this â—aâ—e I speak not this against the lawfulness of a form of prayer but to warn you of the temptations which are in that way 14. Joyn oft with the most serious servent Christians For their servour will help your hearts to burn and carry you along with them 15. Destroy not fervency by adulterating it and turning it into an affected earnestness of speech and lowdness of voice when it is but an hypocritical cover for a frozen empty heart § 32. Quest. 32. May we look to speed ever the better for any thing in our selves or in our prayers Quest. 32. Is not that to trust in them when we should trust on Christ alone Answ. We must not trust in them for any thing that is Christs part and not theirs But for their own part it is a duty to trust in them however quarrelsome persons may abuse or cavil at the words And he that distrusteth Prayer in that which is its proper office will pray to little purpose And he that thinks that faithful servent importunate understanding prayer is no more effectual with God for mercy than the babling of the hypocrite or the ignorant careless unbelieving sleepy prayers of the negligent will either not care how he prayeth or whether he prayeth at all or not Though our persons and prayers have nothing that is meritorious with God in point of Commutative Iustice nor as is co-ordinate with the merits of Christ yet have they conditions without which God will not accept them and are meritorious in subordination to the Merit of Christ in point of paternal Governing Iustice according to the Covenant of Grace as an obedient child deserveth more Love See my Consession of this at large and Praise and Reward from his Father than the disobedient as the antient Fathers commonly used the word Merit § 33. Quest. 33. How must that person and prayer be qualified that shall be accepted of God Quest. 33. Answ. There are several degrees of Gods acceptance I. That which is but from common grace may be accepted as better than none at all II. That which hath a promise of some success especially as to pardon and salvation must be 1. From a penitent believing holy person 2. It must proceed from true Desire and be sincere and have renewed faith and repentance in some measure 3. It must be put up in confidence on the merit and intercession of Christ. 4. It must be only for things lawful 5. And to a lawful end III. That which is extraordinarily accepted and successful must be extraordinary in all these respects in the persons holiness and in renewed faith and fervent importunity and holy Love Tit. 3. Special Directions for Family-Prayer § 1. Direct 1. LEt it be done rather by the Master of the family himself than any other if Direct 1. he be competently able though others be more able But if be be utterly unfit let it rather be done by another than not at all And by such a one as is most acceptable to the rest and like to do most good § 2. Direct 2. Let prayer be suited to the case of those that joyn in it and to the condition of the Direct 2. family And not a few general words spoken by rote that serve all times and persons alike § 3. Direct 3. Let it neither be so short as to end before their hearts can be warm and their wants Direct 3. expressed as if you had an unwilling task to slubber over and would fain have done nor yet so tedious as to make it an ungrateful burden to the family § 4. Direct 4. Let not the coldness and dulness of the speaker rock the family sleep But keep Direct 4. waken your own heart that you may keep the rest awake and force them to attention § 5. Direct 5. Pray at such hours as the family may be least distracted sleepy tired or out of Direct 5. the way § 6. Direct 6. Let other duties concurr as oft as may be to assist in prayer as Reading and Direct 6. Singing Psalms § 7. Direct 7. Do all with the greatest reverence of God that possibly you can Not seeming Direct 7. Reverence but Real that so more of God than of Man may appear in every word you speak § 8. Direct 8. The more the bearers are concerned in it the more regard you must have to the Direct 8. fitness of your expressions For before others words must be regarded lest they be scandalized and God and Prayer be dishonoured And if you cannot do it competently without use a well composed form § 9. Direct 9. Let not family Prayer be used at the time of publick prayer in the Church nor Direct 9. preferred before it but prefer publick prayer though the manner were more imperfect than your own § 10. Direct 10. Teach your Children and Servants how to pray themselves that they may not Direct 10. be prayerless when they come
your help or liberty to do it afterward when that once or few times doing it were like to hinder you from doing it any more it would be your duty then to forbear it for that time unless in some extraordinary case For even for the life of an Oxe or an Asse and for Mercy to mens bodies the rest and holy work of a Sabbath might be interrupted much more for the souls of many Again I warn you as you must not pretend the interest of the end against a peremptory absolute command of God so must you not easily conclude a command to be absolute and peremptory to that which certainly contradicts the End nor easily take that for a Duty which certainly is no means to that good which is the end of duty or which is against it Though yet no seeming aptitude as a means must make that seem a duty which the prohibition of God hath made a sin § 26. Direct 15. It is ever unseasonable to perform a lesser duty of Worship when a greater Direct 15. should be done Therefore it much concerneth you to be able to discern when two duties are inconsistent which is then the greater and to be preferred In which the Interest of the end must much direct you that being usually the greatest which hath the greatest tendency to the greatest good § 27. Direct 16. Pretend not one part of Gods Worship against another when all in their Direct 16. place and order may be done Set not Preaching and Praying against each other nor publick and private Worship against each other nor internal Worship against external but do all § 28. Direct 17. Let not an inordinate respect to man or common custome be too strong a byas to Direct 17. pervert your judgements from the Rule of Worship nor yet any groundless prejudice make you distaste that which is not to be disliked The errour on these two extreams doth fill the World with corruption and contentions about the Worship of God Among the Papists and Russians and other ignorant sort of Christians abundance of corruptions are continued in Gods Worship by the Majus fidei impedimentum ex inveâ—eraâ—â consuetudine proficiscitur Ubique consuetudo magnas vires habet sed in barbaris longe maximas quippe ubi rationis est minimum ibi consueâ—udo radices profundiâ—â—imas agit In omni natura motio eò diuturnioâ— ac vehemenâ—ior quo magis est ad unum determinaâ—a Ios. Acosta de Iâ—d l. 2. p. 249. meer power of custome tradition and education and all seemeth right to which they have been long used and hence the Churches in South East and West continue so long overspread with ignorance and refuse reformation And on the other side meer prejudice makes some so much distaste a prescribed form of Prayer or the way of Worship which they have not been used to and which they have heard some good men speak against whose judgements they highlyest esteemed that they have not room for sober impartial reason to deliberate try and judge Factions have engaged most Christians in the World into several parties whereby Satan hath got this great advantage that instead of Worshipping God in Love and Concord they lay out their zeal in an envious bitter censorious uncharitable reproaching the manner of each others Worship And because the interest of their Parties requireth this they think the interest of the Church and Cause of God requireth it and that they do God service when they make the Religion of other men seem odious when as among most Christians in the World the errours of their modes of Worship are not so great as the adverse parties represent them except only the two great crimes of the Popish Worship 1. That it 's not understood and so is See Bishop Ier. Tailours late Book against Popery souleless 2. They Worship bread as God himself which I am not so able as willing to excuse from being Idolatry Judge not in such cases by passion partiality and prejudice § 29. Direct 18. Yet judge in all such Controversies with that reverence and charity which Direct 18. is due to the universal and the Primitive Church If you find any thing in Gods Worship which the primitive or universal Church agreed in you may be sure that it is nothing but what is consistent with acceptable Worship For God never rejected the Worship of the primitive or universal Church And it is not so much as to be judged erroneous without great deliberation and very good proof We must be much more suspicious of our own understandings § 30. Direct 19. In circumstances and modes of Worship not forbidden in the Word of God affect Direct 19. not singularity and do not easily differ from the practice of the Church in which you hold Communion nor from the commands or directions of your lawful Governours It 's true if we are forbidden with Dan. 3. Act. 4. 17 18. 5. 28. Daniel to Pray or with the Apostles to speak any more in the name of Christ or are commanded as the three witnesses Dan. 3. to Worship Images we must rather obey God than man and so in case of any sin that is commanded us But in case of meer different modes and circumstances and order of Worship see that you give authority and the consent of the Church where you are their due § 31. Direct 20. Look more to your own hearts than to the abilities of the Ministers or the Ceremonies Direct 20. or manner of the Churches Worship in such lesser things It is Heart-work and Heaven-work that the sincere believer comes about and it is the corruption of his heart that is his heaviest burden which he groaneth under with the most passionate complaints A hungry soul enflamed with Love to God and man and tenderly sensible of the excellency of common truths and duties would make up many defects in the manner of publick administration and would get nearer God in a defective imperfect mode of Worship than others can do with the greatest helps When Hypocrites find so little work with their Hearts and Heaven that they are Jam. 3. 15 16 17. taken up about words and forms and ceremonies and external things applauding their own way and condemning other mens and serving Satan under pretence of Worshipping God CHAP. III. Directions about the Christian Covenant with God and Baptism § 1. THough the first Tome of this Book is little more than an explication of the Christian Covenant with God yet being here to speak of Baptism as a part of Gods Worship it is needful that I briefly speak also of the Covenant it self § 1. Direct 1. It is a matter of great importance that you well understand the nature Direct 1. of the Christian Covenant what it is I shall therefore here briefly open the nature of it and then speak of the Reasons of it and then of the solemnizing it by Baptism and next of our Renewing it
to its capacity therefore a Believers child is supposed to be Virtually not actually dedicated to God in his own dedication or Covenant as soon as his child hath a being 3. Being thus Virtually and Implicitly first dedicated he is after Actually and regularly dedicated in Baptism and Sacramentally receiveth the badge of the Church And this maketh him a visible member or Christian to which the two first were but introductory as Conception is to humane Nativity Object 2. But the seed of Believers as such are in the Covenant and therefore Church-members Answ. The word Covenant here is ambiguous Either it signifieth Gods Law of Grace or prescribed terms for salvation with his immediate offer of the benefits to accepters called the single Covenant of God or it signifieth this with mans Consent called the Mutual Covenant where both parties Covenant In the former sense the Covenant only offereth Church-membership but maketh no man a Church-member till Consent It is but Gods conditional promise If thou believe thou shalt be saved c. If thou give up thy self and children to me I will be your God and you shall be my people But it is only the Mutual Covenant that maketh a Christian or Church-member Object The promise is to us and our children as ours Answ. That is that you and your children dedicated to God shall be received into Covenant â—â—t not otherwise Believing is not only bare Assenting but Consenting to the Covenant and delivering up your selves to Christ And if you do not consent that your child shall be in the Covenant and deliver him to God also you cannot expect acceptance of him against your wills nor indeed are you to be taken for true believers your selves if you dedicate not your selves to him and all that are in your power Object This offer or Conditional Covenant belongeth also to Infidels Answ. The offer is to them but they accept it not But every believer accepteth it for himself and his or devoteth to God himself and his children when he shall have them And by that virtual dedication or Consent his children are Virtually in the Mutual Covenant And Actually upon actual Consent and dedication Object But it is Profession and not Baptism that makes a visible member Answ. That 's answered before It is profession by Baptism For Baptism is that peculiar act of profession which God hath chosen to this use when a person is absolutely devoted resigned and engaged to God in a solemn Sacrament this is our regular initiating profession And it is but an irregular Embrio of a profession which goeth before baptism ordinarily Prop. 3. The time of Infant membership in which we stand in Covenant by our Parents Consent cannot be determined by duration but by the insufficiency of Reason through immaturity of age or continuing ideots to choose for ones self Prop. 4. It is not necessary that the doctrine of the Lords Supper be taught Catechumens before Baptism nor was it usual with the antients so to do though it may very well be done Prop. 5. It is needful that the nature of the Lords Supper be taught all the baptized before they receive it As was opened before else they must do they know not what Prop. 6. Though the Sacrament of the Lords Supper seal not another but the same Covenant that baptism sealeth yet are there some further truths therein expressed and some more particular exercises of faith in Christs Sacrifice and coming c. and of Hope and Love and Gratitude c. requisite Therefore the same qualifications which will serve for Baptism Justification and Adoption and Salvation are not enough for the right use of Church communion in the Lords Supper the one being the Sacrament of initiation and our new birth the other of our Confirmation Exercise and Growth in Grace 7. Whether persons be baptized in Infancy or at age if they do not before understand these higher mysteries they must stay from the exercise of them till they understand them And so with most there must be a space of time between their Baptism and fuller Communion 8. But the same that we say of the Lords Supper must be said of other parts of Worship Singing Psalms Praise Thanksgiving c. men must learn them before they can practise them And usually these as Eucharistical acts concur with the Lords Supper 9. Whether you will call men in this state Church-members of a middle rank and order between the Baptized and the Communicants is but a lis de nomine a verbal Controversie It is granted that such a middle sort of men there are in the Church 10. It is to be maintained that these are in a state of salvation even before they thus communicate And that they are not kept away for want of a stated Relation-title but of an immediate capacity as is aforesaid 11. There is no necessity but upon such unfitness that there should be one dayes time between baptism and the Sacrament of the Lords Supper nor is it desirable For if the baptized understand those mysteries the first day they may communicate in them 12. Therefore as men are prepared some may suddenly communicate and some stay longer 13. When persons are at age if Pastors Parents and themselves be not grosly negligent they may and ought to learn these things in a very little time so that they need not be setled in a lower Learning state for any considerable time unless their own negligence be the cause 14. And in order to their Learning they have right to be Spectators and Auditors at the Eucharist and not to be driven away with the Catechumens as if they had no right to be there For it is a thing best taught by the practice to beholders 15. But if any shall by scandal or gross neglect of piety and not only by Ignorance give cause of questioning their title and suspending their possession of those sacred priviledges these are to be reckoned in another rank even among those whose title to Church-membership it self becometh controverted and must undergo a tryal in the Church And this much I think may serve to resolve this considerable question Quest. 71. Whether a Form of Prayer be lawful Answ. I Have said so much of this and some following questions in many Books already that to avoid repetition I shall say very little here The question must be out of question with all Christians I. Because the Scripture it self hath many forms of prayer which therefore cannot be unlawful Object They were lawful then but not now Answ. He that saith so must prove where God hath since forbidden them Which can never be Object They may lawfully be read in Scripture for instruction but not used as prayers Answ. They were used as prayers then and are never since forbidden Yea Iohn and Christ did teach their Disciples to pray and Christ thus prefaceth his form When ye pray say II. All things must be done to Edification But to use a form of prayer is
for the edification of many persons At least those that cannot otherwise do so well Therefore those persons must use a form Full experience doth prove the Minor and nothing but strangeness to men can contradict it Quest. 72. Are Forms of Prayer or Preaching in the Church lawful Answ. YEs Most Ministers study the Methodical form of their Sermons before they preach God gave forms of preaching to Moses and the Prophets See a large form of prayer for all the people Deut. 26. 13 14 15. And so elsewhere there are many them And many write the very words or study them And so most Sermons are a form And sure it is as lawful to think before hand what to say in praying as in preaching 1. That which God hath not forbidden is lawful But God hath not forbidden Ministers to study their Sermons or Prayers either for matter method or words and so to make them many wayes a form 2. That which God prescribed is lawful if he reverse it not But God prescribed publick forms of prayer As the titles and matter of many of the Psalms prove which were daily used in the Jewish Synagogues Object Psalms being to be sung are more than Prayers Answ. They were Prayers though more They are called Prayers and for the Matter many of them were no more than prayers but only for the measures of words Nor was their singing like ours now but liker to our saying And there are many other prayers recorded in the Scripture 3. And all the Churches of Christ at least these thirteen or fourteen hundred years have taken publick forms for lawful which is not to be gainsayed without proof Quest. 73. Are publick Forms of mans Devising or Composing lawful Answ. YEs 1. The Ministers afore mentioned throughout the Christian world do devise and compose the form of their own Sermons and Prayers And that maketh them not unlawful 2. And who ever speaketh ex tempore his words are a form when he speaketh them though not a premeditated form 3. And when Scripture so vehemently commandeth us to search meditate study the Scriptures and take heed to our selves and unto doctrine c. What a person is that who will condemn prayer or preaching only because we before hand studied or considered what to say As if God abhorred diligence and the use of reason Men are not tyed now from thinking before hand what to say to the Judge at the Bar for estate or life or what to say on an Embassage or to a King or any man that we converse with And where are we forbidden to forethink what to say to God Must the people take heed how they hear and look to their foot when they go into the house of God And must not we take heed what we speak and look to our words that they be fit and decent Object Forms are Images of prayer and preaching forbidden in the second Commandment Answ. Prove it and add not to the Word of God 1. Then Scripture and Gods servants even Christ himself had broken the second Commandment when they used or prescribed forms 2. Forms are no more Images than extemporate words are as they signifie our minds Are all the Catechisms printed and written Sermons and Prayers Images or Idols All forms that Parents teach their children O charge not such untruths on God and invent not falshoods of his Word while you cry down mans inventions Quest. 74. Is it lawful to Impose Forms on the Congregation or the people in publick Worship YEs and more than Lawful It is the Pastors duty so to do For whether he fore-think what to pray or not his prayer is to them a form of words And they are bound in all the lawful parts to concur with him in Spirit or desire and to say Amen So that every Minister by Office is daily to impose a form of prayer on all the people in the Congregation Only some men impose the same form many times over or every day and others impose every day a new one Quest. 75. Is it lawful to use Forms Composed by man and imposed not only on the people but on the Pastors of the Churches Answ. THe question concerneth not the Lawfulness of Imposing but of using forms imposed And 1. It is not unlawful to use them meerly on that account because they are imposed or commanded without some greater reason of the unlawfulness For else it would be unlawful for any other to use imposed forms as for a Scholar or Child if the Master or Parent impose them or for the Congregation when the Pastor imposeth them which is not true 2. The using of Imposed forms may by other accidents be sometimes good and sometimes evil as the Accidents are that make it so 1. These accidents may make it evil 1. When the form is bad for matter or manner and we voluntarily prefer it before that which is better being willing of the imposition 2. When we do it to gratifie our slothfulness or to cover our wilful ignorance and disability 3. When we voluntarily obey and strengthen any unlawful usurping Pastors or powers that impose it without authority and so encourage Church-tyranny 4 When we choose a singular form imposed by some singular Pastor and avoid that which the rest of the Churches agree in at a time when it may tend to division and offence 5. When the weakness and offence of the Congregation is such that they will not joyn with us in the imposed form and so by using it we drive them from all publick Worship or divide them 2. And in the following circumstances the using of an imposed form is lawful and a duty 1. When the Minister is so weak that he cannot pray well without one nor compose so good a one himself 2. Or when the errors or great weakness of the generality of Ministers is such as that they usually corrupt or spoil Gods Worship by their own manner of praying and no better are to be had and thereupon the wise and faithful Pastors and Magistrates shall impose one sound and apt Liturgy to avoid error and division in such a distempered time and the Ablest cannot be left at liberty without the relaxing of the rest 3. When it is a means of the Concord of the Churches and no hinderance to our other prayers 4. When our hearers will not joyn with us if we use them not For error and weakness must be born with on one side as well as on the other 5. When obedience to just Authority requireth it and no command of Christ is crost by it 6. When the imposition is so severe that we must so worship God publickly or not at all and so all Gods publick Worship will be shut out of that Congregation Countrey or Nation unless we will use imposed prayers â—7 In a word when the good consequents of Obedience Union avoiding offence Liberty for Gods publick Worship and preaching the Gospel c. are greater than the bad consequents which are
that which never was and that God should take a new course in the world 8. And the opinion of imposing forms of prayer may draw on the opinion of imposing forms of preaching as much and of restraining free preaching as much as free praying as we see in Moscovy And then when nothing but bare Reading is required nothing more will be ordinarily sought And so the Ministry will be the scorn of the people 9. And it will be a shameful and uncomfortable failing when a Minister is not able on variety of occasions to vary his prayers accordingly and when he cannot go any further than his Book or Lesson It being as impossible to make prayers just fitted to all occasions which will fall out as to make Sermons fit for all or as they say to make a Coat for the Moon And the people will contemn the Ministers when they perceive this great deficiency 10. And it is a great difficulty to many Ministers to learn and say a form without book so that they that can all day speak what they know can scarce recite a form of words one quarter of an hour the memory more depending upon the body and its temper than the exercise of the understanding doth He that is tyed just to these words and no other is put upon double difficulties like him that on height must walk on a narrow plank where the fear of falling will make him fall But he that may express the just desires of his soul in what words occur that are apt and decent is like one that hath a field to walk in For my own part it is easier to me to pray or preach six hours in freedome about things which I understand than to pray or preach the tenth part of an hour in the fetters of a form of words which I must not vary And so the necessity of a Book coming in doth bring down the reputation of the Ministers abilities in the peoples eyes 11. But the grand incommodity greater than all the rest is that it usually occasioneth carelesness deadness formality and heartless lip-labour in our prayers to God whilest the free way of present prayer tendeth to excite our Cogitationâ— to consider what we say And it is not only the multitude of dead-hearted hypocrites in the Church that are thus tempted to persevere in their lip-labour and hypocrisie and to draw near to God with their lips when their hearts are far from him and are gratified in their self-deceit whilest Parrot-like they speak the words which they regard not and their tongues do overgo their hearts But even better men are greatly tempted to dead remisness I mean both the speakers and the hearers For 1. It is natural to mans mind to have a slothful weariness as well as his body and to do no more than he findeth a necessity of doing And though Gods presence alone should suffice to engage all the powers of our souls yet sad experience telleth us that Gods eye and mans together will do more with almost all men than one alone And therefore no mens Thoughts are so accurately governed as their words Therefore when a Minister knoweth before hand that as to mans approbation he hath no more to do but to Read that which he seeth before him he is apt to let his Thoughts fly abroad and his affections lye down because no man taketh account of these But in extemporate diversified prayer a man cannot do it without an excitation of his understanding to think to the utmost what to say and an excitation of his Affections to speak with life or else the hearers will perceive his coldness And though all this may be Counterfeit and hypocritically affected yet it is a great help to seriousness and sincerity to have the faculties all awake And it is a great help to awaken them to be under such a constant necessity even from man As those that are apt to sleep at prayer will do it less when they know men observe them than at another time 2. And both to speaker and hearers humane frailty maketh it hard to be equally affected with the same thing spoken a hundred times as we are at first when it is new and when it is cloathed in comely variety of expressions As the same Book affecteth us not at the twentieth reading as it did at the first Say not it is a dishonourable weakness to be thus carryed by the novelty of things or words For though that be true it is a dishonour common to all mankind and a disease which is your own and which God alloweth us all lawful means to cure and to correct the unhappy effects while it is uncured 12. Lastly Set forms serve unworthy men to hide their unworthiness by and to be the matter of a Controversie in which they may vent their envy against them that are abler and holyer than themselves II. Having now truly shewed you the Commodities and Incommodities of both the wayes for the other question Which of them is the best I must give you but some Rules to answer it your selves 1. That is best which hath most and greatest Commodities and fewest and least discommodities 2. For neither of them is forbidden in it self considered nor evil but by accident 4. One may have more Commodities and the other more discommodities in one Countrey and age than in another and with some persons than with others 4. Sober Christians should be very backward in such cases to quarrel with the Churches where they live or come but humbly submit to them in lawful things though they think them inconvenient Because it is not they that are the Governours and Judges 5. The Commands of Authority and the Concord of the Churches may weigh down many lighter accidents 6. I crave leave to profess that my own judgement is that somewhat of both wayes joyned together will best obviate the incommodities of both To have so much wholsome methodical unquestionable forms as near as may be in Scripture phrase as is necessary to avoid the inconvenience of a total exclusion of forms and to the attainment of their desirable Ends and to have so much withall of freedome in prayer as is necessary to its ends and to avoid the deadness formality and other incommodities of forms alone Though by this opinion I cross the conceits of prejudiced men on both extreams I think I cross not the judgement of the Church of England which alloweth free prayers in the Pulpit and at the visitation of the sick And I cross not the opinion of any antient Church that ever I read of nor of the Fathers and Pastors whose works are come to our hands nor yet of Luther Melancthon Bucer Zuinglius Calvin Beza Zanchius and the rest of our famous Reformers nor yet of the famous Nonconformists I have a Manuscript of Mr. Cartwrights in which having fully proved the falshood of Sutliffes suspicion that he was acquainted with Hackets project he answereth his charge as if he were
against forms of prayer that all the years that he lived at Middleburg and Anâ—werp he constantly used the same form before Sermon and mostly after Sermon and also did read prayers in the Church and that since he seldome concluded but with the Lords Prayer of England Cartwright Hildersham Greenham Perkins Baine Amesius c. And I less fear erring in all this company than with those on either of the extreams Quest. 79. Is it lawful to forbear the preaching of some Truths upon mans prohibition that I may have liberty to preach the rest yea and to promise before hand to forbear them Or to do it for the Churches peace Answ. 1. SOme Truths are of so great moment and necessity that without them you cannot preach the Gospel in a saving sort These you may not forbear nor promise to forbear 2. Some Truths are such as God at that time doth call men eminently to publish and receive as against some Heresie when it is in the very height or the Church in greatest danger of it Or concerning some Duty which God then specially calleth men to perform As the duty of Loyalty just in the time of a perillous Rebellion c. Such preaching being a Duty must not be forborn when it can be performed upon lawful terms 3. But some Truths are Controverted among good men and some are of a lower nature and usefulness And concerning these I further say 1. That you may not renounce them or deny them not subscribe to the smallest untruth for liberty to preach the greatest truth 2. But you may for the time that the Churches benefit requireth it both forbear to preach them and promise to forbear both for the Churches peace and for that Liberty to preach the Gospel which you cannot otherwise obtain The Reasons are 1. Because it is not a duty to preach them at that time For no duty is a duty at all times Affirmative Precepts bind not ad semper because man cannot alwayes do them 2. It is a sin to prefer a lesser truth or good before a Greater You cannot speak all things at once When you have all done some yea a thousand must be by you omitted Therefore the less should be omitted rather than the greater 3. You have your Office to the Churches Edification Preaching is made for man and not man for preaching But the Churches Edification requireth you rather to preach the Gospel than that opinion or point which you are required to forbear Without this the hearers may be saved but not without the Gospel And what a man may do and must do he may on good occasion promise to do He that thinketh Diocesans or Liturgies or Ceremonies unlawful and yet cannot have leave to preach the Gospel in time of need unless he will forbear and promise to forbear to preach against them may and ought so to doâ— and promise rather than not to preach the Gospel Object But if men imprison or hinder me from preaching that is their fault But if I voluntarily forbear any duty it is my own fault Answ. 1. It is to forbear a sin and not a duty at that time It is no more a duty than reading or singing or praying at Sermon time 2. When you are in Prison or know in all probability you shall be there though by other mens fault it is your own fault if you will deny a lawful means to avoid it For your not preaching the Gospel is then your own sin as well as other mens And theirs excuseth not yours Quest. 80. May or must a Minister silenced or forbid to Preach the Gospel go on still to preach it against the Law Answ. DIstinguish between 1. Iust silencing and Unjust 2. Necessary preaching and unnecessary 1. Some men are justly forbidden to preach the Gospel as 1. Those that are utterly unable and do worse than nothing when they do it 2. Those that are Hereticks and subvert the Essentials of Christianity or Godliness 3. Those that are so Impious and Malignant that they turn all against the Practice of that Religion which they profess In a word All that do directly more hurt than good 2. In some places there are so many able preachers that some tolerable men may be spared if not accounted supernumeraries and the Church will not suffer by their silence But in other Countreys either the Preachers are so few or so bad or the people so very ignorant and hardened and ungodly or so great a number that are in deep necessity that the need of preaching is undenyable And so I conclude 1. That he that is justly silenced and is unfit to Preach is bound to forbear 2. He that is silenced by just Power though unjustly in a Countrey that needeth not his Preaching must forbear there and if he can must go into another Coâ—â—â—â—â—y where he may be more serviceable 3. Magistrates may not Ecclesiastically Ordain Ministers or degrade them But only either give them Liberty or deny it them as there is cause 4. Magistrates are not the â—ountain of the Ministerial Office as the Soveraign is of all the Civil power of inferiour Magistrates But both offices are immediately from God 5. Magistrates have not power from God to forbid men to Preach in all cases nor as they please but justly only and according to Gods Laws 6. Men be not made Ministers of Christ only pro tempore or on tryal to go off again if they dislike it But are absolutely dedicated to God and take their lot for better and for worse which maketh the Romanists say that ordination is a Saâ—ramenâ— and so it may be aptly called and that we receive an indelible character that is an obligation during life unless God himself disable us 7. Aâ— we are â—â—â—â—rlier devoted and relaâ—ed to God than Church lands goods and temples are so the sacriledge of alienating a consecrated person unjustly is greater and more unquestionable than the sacriledge of alienating Consecrated houses lands or things And therefore no Minister may Sacrilegiously alienate himself from God and his undertaken office and work 8. We must do â—â—y Lawful thing to procure the Magistrates Licence to Preach in his Dominions 9. All men silenced or forbidden by Magistrates to Preach are noâ— thereby obliged or warranted to forbear Foâ— â— The Apostles expresly determine it Act. 4. 19. Whether it be better to hearken to God rather than to you judge ye 2. Christ oâ—â— foreâ—old his servants that they must Preach against the will of Rulers and suffer by them 3. The Apostles and ordinary Ministers also for 300 years after Christ did generally preach against the Magistrates will throughout the Roman Empire and the World 4. The Orthodox Bishops commonly took themselves bound to Preach when Arrian or other Heretical Emperours forâ—ad them 5. A moral duty of stated necessity to the Church and mens salvation is noâ— subjected to the will of men for Order sake For Order is for the thing Ordered and for the End Magistrates
individual Christians Therefore if one particular Church may so narrow the door of its Communion then another and another and every one may do so if not by the same particular impositions yet by some other of the like nature For what power one Church hath herein others have And then Catholick Communion will be scarce found existent externally in the world but a meer Catholick Christian would be denyed Communion in every particular Church he cometh to And how do you hold Catholick Communion when you will admit no meer Catholick Christian as such to your Communion but only such as supererogate according to your private Church-terms 2. But grant that every Church may impose more upon its members it must be only that which is Necessary to those common things which all agree in And then the necessity will be discernable to all sober minded persons and will prevent divisions As it is Necessary that he that will communicate with our Churches do joyn with them in the same Translation of Scripture and Version of Psalms and under the same Pastor as the rest of the Church doth For here the Church cannot use variety of Pastors Translations Versions c. to fit the variety of mens humours There is an evident necessity that if they will be one Society they must agree in the same in each of these Therefore when the Church hath United in one if any man refuse that one person or way which the Church is necessarily United in he refuseth communion with that Church and the Church doth not excommunicate him But if that Church agree on things hurtful or unnecessary as necessary to its communion it must bear the blame of the separations it self 3. And grant yet that some Churches cannot admit such scrupulous persons to her communion as dare not joyn in every punctillio circumstance or mode It doth not follow that those persons must therefore be excommunicated or forbidden to worship God among themselves without that which they scruple or to joyn in or with a Congregation which imposeth no such things upon them Persecution will unavoidably come in upon such domineering narrow terms as those The man is a Christian still though he scruple one of our modes or ceremonies and is capable of Catholick Communion And if private and little inconveniencies shall be thought a sufficient cause to forbid all such the publick worshipping of God on pretence that in one Nation there must not be variety of modes this is a dividing principle and not Catholick and plungeth men into the guilt of persecution It was not so in the Churches of the Roman Empire In the dayes of Basil his Church and that at Neocaesarea differed and ordinarily several Bishops used several forms of prayer and worship in their several Churches without offence And further § 37. Direct 16. Different faults must have different penalties And excommunication or forbidding Direct 16. men all publick worship of God must not be the penalty of every dissent Is there no smaller penalty sufficient if a doubtful subscription or ceremony be scrupled than to silence Ministers therefore from preaching the Gospel or excommunicating men and forbidding them to worship God at all except they can do this This is the highest ecclesiastical penalty that can be laid on men for the greatest heresie or crime Doubtless there are lesser punishments that may suffice for lesser faults § 38. Direct 17. Every friend of Christ and the Church must choose such penalties for Ministers and Direct 17. private Christians who offend as are least to the hinderance of the Gospel or hurtful to the peoples souls Therefore silencing Ministers is not a fit penalty for every fault which they commit The providence of God as I said before hath furnished the world with so few that are fit for that high and sacred work that no man can pretend that they are supernumeraries or unnecessary and that others may be substituted to the Churches profit For the number is so small that all are much too few and so many as are silenced so many Churches either the same or others must be unsupplyed or ill-supplyed And God working ordinarily by means we may conclude that silencing of such Preachers doth as plainly tend to mens damnation as the prohibiting of Physicions doth to their death and more And it is not the part of a friend either of God or men to endeavour the damnation of one soul much less of multitudes because a Minister hath displeased him If one man must pay for another mans sins let it be a pecuniary mulct or the loss of a member rather than the loss of his soul. It is more merciful every time a Minister offendeth to cut off a hand or an arm of some of his flock than to say to him Teach them no more the way to salvation that so they may be damned If a Father offend and his children must needs pay for â—ll his faults it is better beat the children or maim them than forbid him to feed them when there is none else to do it and so to famish them What Reason is there that mens souls should be untaught because a Minister hath offended I know still those men that care not for their own souls and therefore care as little for others will say What if the People have but a Reader or a weak ignorant lifeless Preacher Doth it follow that therefore the people must be damned I answer no No more than it followeth that the City that hath none but Women Physicions must dye of their sicknesses or that they that live only upon Grass or Roots must famish Nature may do more to overcome a disease without a Physicion in one than in another Some perhaps are converted already and have the Law written in their hearts and are taught of God and can make shift to live without a Teacher But for the rest whose diseases need a skilful diligent Physicion whose ignorance and impenitence extreamly needeth a skilful diligent lively Teacher he that depriveth them of such doth take the probable course to damn them And it is the same course which the Devil himself would take and he partly knoweth what tendeth to mens damnation He that knoweth what a case the Heathen Infidel Mahometan world is in for want of Teachers and what a case the Greek Church the Moscovites the Abbassines Syrians Armenians Papists and most of the Christians of the world are in for want of able skilful godly Pastors will lay his hand on his mouth and meddle with such reasonings as these no more Object But by this devise you will have the Clergie lawless or as the Papists exempt them from the Magistrates punishments for fear of depriving the people of instruction Answ. No such matter It is the contrary that I am advising I would have them punished more severely than other men as their sins are more aggravated than other mens Yea and I would have them silenced when it is meet and that
us Q. 9. May be pray for Grace who desireth it not Q. 10. May he pray that doubteth of his interest in God and dare not call him Father as his Child Q. 11. May a wicked man pray or is he ever accepted Q. 12. May a wicked man use the Lords Prayer Q. 13. Is it Idolatry or sin alwayes to pray to Saints or Angels Q. 14. Must the same man pray secretly that hath before prayed in his family Q. 15. Is it best to keep set hours for prayer Q 16. May we joyn in family prayers with ungodly persons Q. 17 What if the Master or speaker be ungodly or a Heretick Q. 18. May we pray absolutely for outward mercies or only conditionally Q. 19. May we pray for all that we may lawfully desire Q. 20. How may we pray for the salvation of all the world Q. 21. Or for the Conversion of all Nations Q. 22. Or that a whole Kingdom may be converted and saved Q. 23. Or for the destruction of the enemies of Christ or the Kingdom Q. 24. What is to be judged of a particular faith Q. 25. Is every lawful prayer accepted Q. 26. With what faith must I pray for the souls or bodies of others Q. 27. With what faith may we pray for the Continuance of the Church or Gospel Q. 28. How to know when our prayers are heard Q. 29. How to have fulness and constant supply of matter in our prayers Q 30. How to keep up fervency in prayer Q 31. May we look to speed ever the better for any thing in our selves or our prayers Or may we put any trust in them Q. 32. How must that person and prayer be qualified which God will accept to p. 598 Tit. 3. Special Directions for family prayer ibid. Tit. 4. Special Directions for secret prayer p. 599 CHAP XXIV Directions fâ—r families about the Sacrament of the Lords Supper p. 600 What are the Ends of the Sacrament What are the Parts of it Q. 1. Should not the Sacrament have â—â—â—â— preparation than the other parts of worship Q 2. How oft should it be administred Q. 3. Must all members of the visible Church communicate Q. 4. May any man receive it that knoweth himself unsanctified Q. 5. May an ungodly man receive it that knoweth not himself to be ungodly Q. 6. Must a Christian receive who doubteth of his sincerity Q. 7. What if Superiours compell a doubting Christian to receive it by excommunication or imprisonment What should be choose Q. 8. Is not the case of an hypocrite that knoweth not himself to be an hypocrite and of the sincere who knoweth not himself to be sincere all one as to communicating Q. 9. Wherein lyeth the sin of an ungâ—dly person if he receive Q. 10. Doth all unworthy receiving make one lyable to damnation or what Q 11. What is the particular preparation needful to a fit Communicant p. 653. Marks of sincerity ibid. Preparing duties Q 1. May we receive from an ungodly Minister Q 2. May we communicate with unworthy persons in an undisciplined Church Q. 3. What if I cannot communicate unless I conform to an imposed gesture as sitting standing or kneeling Q. 4. What if I cannot receive it but as administered by the Common Prayer Q. 5. If my conscience be not satisfied may I come doubting Obj. Is it not a duty to follow conscience as Gods Officer What to do in the time of administration 1. What Graces must be exercised 2. On what objects 3. The Season and Order of Sacramental duties ad p. 610 CHAP. XXV Directions for fearful troubled Christians who are perplexed with doubts of their sincerity and justification Causes and Cure p. 612 CHAP. XXVI Directions for declining back-sliding Christians about perseverance p. 616 The way of falling into Sects and Heresies and Errors And of declining in Heart and Life Signs of declining Signs of a graceless state Dangerous signs of impenitency False signs of declining Motives against declining Directions against it p. 616 Tit. 2. Directions for perseverance or to prevent back-sliding p. 618 Antidotes against those doctrines of presumption which would binder our perseverance p. 623 CHAP. XXVII Directions for the poor The Temptations of the poor The special Duties of the poor p. 627 CHAP. XXVIII Directions for the Rich. p. 632 CHAP. XXIX Directions for the weak and aged p. 634 CHAP. XXX Directions for the sick p. 637 Tit. 1. Directions for a safe death to secure salvation I. For the unconverted in their sickness A sad case 1. For Examination 2. For Repentance 3. For faith in Christ 4. For a new heart love to God and resolution for obedience Q. Will â—ate Repentance serve the turn in such a case II. Directions to the Gâ—dly for a safe departure Their Temptations to be resisted p. 637 Tit. 2. How to profit by our sickness p 642 Tit. 3. Directions for a comfortable or peaceable Death p. 644. Directions for resisting the Temptations of Satan in time of sickness p. 648 Tit. 4. Directions for doing good to others in our sickness p. 651 CHAP. XXXI Directions to the friends of the sick that are about them p. 653 Q. Can Physick lengthen mens lives Q. Is it meet to make known to the sick their danger of death Q Must we tell bad men of their sin and misery when it may exasperate the disease by troubling them Q. What can be done in so short a time Q. What to do in doubtful cases Q. What order should be observed in counselling the ignorant and ungodly when time is so short Helps against excessive sorrow for the death of friends Yea of the worst A Form of Exhortation to be read in Sickness to the Ungodly or those that we justly fear are such p. 657 A Form of Exhortation to the Godly in Sickness For their comfort Their dying groans and joyes p. 662 TOME III. Christian Ecclesiasticks PART I. CHAP. I. OF the Worship of God in General The Nature and Reasons of it and Directions for it How to know right Ends in worship c. p. 673 CHAP. II. Directions about the Manner of worship to avoid all corruptions and false unacceptable worshipping of God p. 680. The disadvantages of ungodly men in judging of holy worship Q. How far the Scriptures are the Rule or Law of Worship and Discipline and how far not Instances of things undetermined in Scripture What Commands of Scripture are not universal or perpetual May danger excuse from duty and when Rules for the right manner CHAP. III. Directions about the Christian Covenant with God and Baptism p. 688. The Covenant what The Parties Matter Terms Forms necessary Modes Fruits c. External Baptism what Compleat Baptism what Of Renewing the Covenant CHAP. IV. Directions about the Profession of our Religion to others The greatness of the duty of open Profession VVhen and how it must be made p. 692 CHAP. V. Directions about Vows and particular Covenants with God p. 694 VVhat a Vow is The sorts of
clean and delectable and paved with mercies and fortified and secured by Divine protection and where Christ is your Conductor and so many have sped so well before you and the wisest and best in the world are your companions Live then as men that have changed their Master their end their hopes their way and work Religion layeth not men to sleep though it be the only way to Rest. It awakeneth the sleepy soul to higher thoughts and hopes and labours than ever it was well acquainted with before He that is in Christ is a new creature old things are past away behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5. 17. You never sought that which would pay for all your cost and diligence till now You never were in a way that you might make haste in without repenting of your haste till now How glad should you be that Mercy hath brought you into the right way after the wanderings of such a sinful life And your gladness and thankfulness should now be shewed by your cheerful diligence and zeal As Christ did not raise up Lazarus from the dead to do nothing or live to little purpose though the Scripture giveth us not the history of his life So did he not raise you from the death of sin to live idely or to be unprofitable in the world He that giveth you his Spirit to be a principle of heavenly life within you expecteth that you stir up the gift that he hath given you and live according to that heavenly principle Direction 16. ENgage thy self in the chearful constant use of the means and helps appointed by God Direct 16. for thy confirmation and salvation § 1. He can never expect to attain the end that will not be perswaded to use the means Of your selves you can do nothing God giveth his help by the means which he hath appointed and fitted to your help Of the use of these I shall treat more fully afterwards I am now only to name them to thee that thou maist know what it is that thou hast to do 1. That you must hear or read the Word of God and other good Books which expound it and How Paenitents of old did rise even from a particular sin judge by these words of Pacianus Paâ—â—â—â—â—â— ad Poeâ—â—t Bibl. Pat. To. 3. p. 74. You must not only do that which may be seen of the Priest and praised by the Bishop to weep before the Church to lament a lost or sinful life in a â—ordid garment to fast pray to role on the earth if any invite you to the Bath or such pleasures to refuse to go If any bid you to a Feast to say These things are for the happy I have sinned against God and am in danger to perish for ever What should I do at Banquets who have wronged the Lord Besides these you must take the poor by the hand you must beseech the Widdow lye at the feet of the Presbyters beg of the Church to forgive you and pray for you you must try all means rather than perish apply it I shewed you before The new born Christian doth encline to this as the new born child doth to the breast 1 Pet. 2. 1 2. Laying aside all malice and guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings as new born babes that desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby Psal. 1. 2 3. The blessed mans delight is in the Law of the Lord and therein doth he meditate day and night § 2. 2. Another means is the publick worshipping of God in communion with his Church and people Besides the benefit of the word there preached the prayers of the Church are effectual for the members and it raiseth the soul to holy joyes to joyn with well ordered Assemblies of the Saints in the Praises of the Almighty The Assemblies of holy worshippers of God are the places of his delight and must be the places of our delight They are most like to the Celestial Society that sound forth the praises of the glorious Iebovah with purest minds and cheerful voice In his Temple doth every one speak of his glory Psal. 29. 9. In such a Chore what soul will not be rapt up with delight and desire to joyn in the consort and harmony In such a flame of united desires and praises what soul so cold and dull that will not be enflamed and with more than ordinary facility and alacrity fly up to God § 3. 3. Another means is private prayer unto God When God would tell Ananias that Paul was converted he saith of him Behold he prayeth Acts 9. 11. Prayer is the breath of the new creature The Spirit of Adoption given to every child of God is a Spirit of prayer and teacheth them to cry Abba Father and helpeth their infirmities when they know not what to pray as they ought and when words are wanting it as it were intercedeth for them with groans which they cannot express in words Gal. 4. 6. Rom. 8. 15 26 27. And God knoweth the meaning of the Spirit in those groans The first workings of grace are in Desires after grace provoking the soul to servent prayer by which more grace is speedily obtained Ask then and ye shall have seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened to you Luke 11. 9. § 4. 4. Another means to be used is Confession of sin not only to God for so every wicked man may do because he knoweth that God is already acquainted with it all and this is no addition to his shame He so little regardeth the eye of God that he is more ashamed when it is known to men But in three Cases Confession must be made also to Man 1. In case you have wronged man and are thus bound to make him satisfaction As if you have robbed him defrauded him slandered him or born false witness against him 2. In case you are Children or Servants that are under the government of Parents or Masters and are called by them to give an acount of your actions You are bound then to give a true account 3. In case you have need of the Counsel or Prayers of others for the setling of your consciences in peace In this case you must so far open your case to them as is necessary to their effectual help for your recovery For if they know not the disease they will be unfit to apply the remedy In these cases it is true that He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Prov. 28. 13. § 5. 5. Another Means to be used is the familiar company and holy converse with humble sincere experienced Christians The Spirit that is in them and breatheth and acteth by them will kindle the like holy flames in you Away with the company of idle prating sensual men that can talk of nothing but their worldly wealth or business or their reputations or their appetites and lusts
seriousness in Religion made odious or banished from the earth and that themselves may be taken for the Center and Pillars and Law-givers of the Church and the Consciences of all men may be taught to cast off all scruples or fears of offending God in comparison of â—â—â—â—â—â—ing them and may absolutely submit to them and never stick at any feared disobedience to 〈…〉 t They are the scorners and persecutors of strict obedience to the Laws of God and take those that â—ear his judgements to be men affrighted out of their wits and that to obey him exactly which alas who can do when he hath done his best is but to be hypocritical or too precise but to question their domination or break their Laws imposed on the world even on Kings and States without any Authority this must be taken for Heresie Schism or a Rebellion like that of Corah and his company This Luciferian Spirit of the proud Autonomians hath filled the Christian world with bloodshed and been the greatest means of the miseries of the earth and especially of hindering and persecuting the Gospel and setting up a Pharisaical Religion in the world It hath fought against the Gospel and filled with blood the Countreys of France Savoy Rhaetia Bohemia Belgia Helvetia Polonia Hungary Germany and many more that it may appear how much of the Satanical nature they have and how punctually they fulfill his will § 3. And natural corruption containeth in it the seeds of all these damnable Heresies nothing more natural to lapsed man than to shake off the Government of God and to become a Law-giver to himself and as many others as he can and to turn the grace of God into wantonness Therefore the prophane that never heard it from any Hereticks but themselves do make themselves such a Creed as this that God is merciful and therefore we need not fear his threatnings for he will be better than his word It belongeth to him to save us and not to us and therefore we may cast our souls upon his care though we care not for them our selves If he hath predestinated us to salvation we shall be saved and if he have not we shall not what ever we do or how well soever we live Christ dyed for sinners and therefore though we are sinners he will save us God is stronger than the Devil and therefore the Devil shall not have the most That which pleaseth the flesh and doth God no harm can never be so great a matter or so much offend him as to procure our damnation What need of so much ado to be saved or so much haste to turn to God when any one that at last doth but repent and cry God mercy and believe that Christ dyed for him shall be saved Christ is the Saviour of the world and his grace is very great and free and therefore God forbid that none should be saved but those few that are of strict and holy lives and make so much ado for Heaven No man can know who shall be saved and who shall not and therefore it is the wisest way to do no body any harm and to live merrily and trust God with our souls and put our salvation upon the venture no body is saved for his own works or deservings and therefore our lives may serve the turn as well as if they were more strict and holy This is the Creed of the ungodly by which you may see how natural it is to them to abuse the Gospel and plead Gods grace to quiet and strengthen them in their sin and to embolden themselves on Christ to disobey him § 4. But this is but to set Christ against himself even his Merits and Mercy against his Government and Spirit and to set his Death against the Ends of his death and to set our Saviour against our salvation and to run from God and rebell against him because Christ dyed to recover us to God and to give us Repentance unto life and to sin because he dyed to save his people from their sins and to purifie a peculiar people to himself zealous of good works Matth. 1. 21. Tit. 2. 14. He that committeth sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the beginning For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 John 3. 8. John 8. 44. Direct 18. WAtch diligently hath against the more discernable decayes of grace and against Direct 18. the degenerating of it into some carnal affections or something counterfeit and of another kind And so also of Religious duties § 1. We are no sooner warmed with the coelestial flames but natural corruption is enclining us to grow cold Like hot water which loseth its heat by degrees unless the fire be continually kept under it Who feeleth not that as soon as in a Sermon or Prayer or holy Meditation his heart hath got a little heat as soon as it is gone it is prone to its former earthly temper and by a little remisness in our duty or thoughts or business about the world we presently grow cold and dull again Be watchful therefore lest it decline too far Be frequent in the means that must preserve you from declining when faintness telleth you that your stomachs are emptied of the former meat supply it with another lest strength abate You are rowing against the stream of fleshly interest and inclinations and therefore intermit not too long lest you go faster down by your ease then you get up by labour § 2. The Degenerating of Grace is a way of backsliding very common and too little observed How Grace may degenerate It is when good affections do not directly cool but turn into some carnal affections somewhat like them but of another kind As if the body of a man instead of dying should receive the life or soul of a Beast instead of the reasonable humane soul. For instance 1. Have you Believed in God and in Iesus Christ and Loved him accordingly You shall seem to do so still as much as formerly when your corrupted minds have received some false representation of him and so it is indeed another thing that you thus corruptly Believe and Love 2. Have you been fervent in Prayer you shall be fervent still iâ— Satan can but corrupt your prayers by corrupting your judgement or affections and get you to think that to be the cause of God which is against him and that to be against him which he commandeth and those to be the troublers of the Church which are its best and faithfullest members Turn but your prayers against the cause and people of God by your mistake and you may pray as fervently against them as you will The same I may say of preaching and conference and zeal Corrupt them once and turn them against God and Satan will joyn with you for zealous and frequent preaching or conference or disputes 3. Have you a confidence in Christ and his promise for
Dominion God hath over you and how absolutely and wholly you are His. 2. Let it exceedingly Please you to think that you are wholly his it being much better for you as to your Safety Honour and Happiness than to be your Own or any 's else 3. As God requireth it in his Covenant of Grace that he have his Right by your Consent and not by Constraint so you must thankfully accept the motion and with hearty and full Consent of Will Resign your selves to him as his Own even as his Creatures his Ransomed ones and his Regenerate Children by a Covenant never to be violated 4. You must carefully watch against the Claim and reserves of carnal selfishness lest while you confess you are Gods and not your Own you should secretly still keep possession of your selves against him or re-assume the possession which you surrendred 5. You must Use your selves ever after as Gods and not your Own § 3. II. In this Using your selves as wholly Gods consisteth both your further duty and your benefits 1. When Gods Propriety is discerned and consented to it will make you sensible how you are obliged to employ all your powers of soul and body to his service and to perceive that Nothing should be alienated from him no creature having any co-ordinate title to a thought of your hearts or a glance of your affection or a word of your mouths or a minute of your time The sense of Gods Propriety must cause you to keep constant accounts between God and you and to call your selves to a frequent reckoning whether God have his Own and you do not defraud him whether it be his work that you are doing and for him that you think and speak and live And all that you have will be Used as his as well as your selves For no man can have any good thing that is more his Own than he is his own himself § 4. 2. Propriety discerned doth endear us in affection to our Owner As we love our Own Children so they love their Own Fathers Our very Dogs love their Own Masters better than another When we can say with Thomas My Lord and my God it will certainly be the voice of Love Gods Common Propriety in us as his Created and Ransomed ones obligeth us to Love him with all our heart But the knowledge of his peculiar propriety by Regeneration will more effectually command our Love § 5. 3. Gods Propriety perceived will help to satisfie us of his Love and Care of us and will help Deorum providentia Mundus administratur â—demque consulunt rebus humanis neâ— soâ—um universâ—s verum eâ—aâ— singâ—â—â—â— â—icero 1. de Dâ—via us to Trust him in every danger and so take off our inordinate fear and anxieties and caring for our selves The Apostle proveth Christs Love to his Church from his Propriety Ephes. 5. 29. No man ever yet hated his Own flesh God is not regardless of his Own As we take care of our Cattel to preserve them and provide for them more than they do for themselves for they are more Ours than their own so God is more concerned in the welfare of his children than they are themselves they being more his than their own Why are we afraid of the wrath and cruelty of man Will God be mindless and negligent of his Own Why are we over-careful and distrustful of his providence Will he not take care of his Own and make provision for them God even our own God shall bless us Psal. 67 6. Gods interest in his Church and Cause and Servants is an argument which we may plead with him in prayer 1 Chron. 17. 21 22. and with which we may greatly encourage our confidence Isa. 48. 9 11. For my Names sake will I defer mine anger and for my praise will I refrain for thee that I cut thee not off For mine Own sake even for mine Own sake will I do it For how should my Name be polluted and I will not give my Glory to another Isa. 43. 1 2. But now thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel Fear not for I have Redeemed thee I have called thee by name thou art Mine When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee c. If God should neglect Our interest he will not neglect his Own § 6. 4. Gods propriety in us discerned doth so much aggravate our sin against him that it should greatly restrain us and further our humiliation and recovery when we are fallen Lev. 20. 26. Ye shall be Holy unto me for I the Lord am Holy and have severed you from other people that you should be mine Ezek. 16. 8. I sware unto thee and entered into a Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine saith the Lord when he is aggravating Ierusalems sin 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. Ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your Spirits which are Gods Justice requireth that every one have his own § 7. 5. It should silence all murmurings and repinings against the Providence of God to consider that we are his Own Doth he afflict you and are you not his own Doth he kill you Are you not his own As a Ruler he will shew you reason enough for it in your sins But as your absolute Lord and Owner he need not give you any other Reason than that he may do with his own as he list It is not possible that he can do any wrong to that which is absolutely his Own If he deny you health or wealth or friends or take them from you he denyeth you or taketh from you nothing but his own Indeed as a Governour and a Father he hath secured the faithful of eternal life Otherwise as their Owner he could not have wronged them if he had made the most innocent as miserable as he is capable to be Do you labour and beat and kill your Cattel because they are your own by an imperfect propriety and dare you grudge at God for afflicting his Own when their Consciences tell them that they have deserved it and much more § 8. And that you may not think that you have Resigned your selves to God entirely when you do Sins against Gods Dominion but hypocritically profess it observe 1. That that man is not thus Resigned to God that thinketh any service too much for God that he can do 2. Nor he that thinketh any cost too great for God that he is called to undergo 3. Nor he that thinketh that all is won of his time or wealth or pleasure or any thing which he can save or steal from God For all is lost that God hath not 4. Nor he that must needs be the Disposer of himself and his condition and affairs and God must humour him and accommodate his Providence to his carnal interest and will or else he cannot bear it or think well of it 5. Remember that all
will at first make you tremble But if you wilfully cast your self ordinarily into such Company by degrees your sense and tenderness will be gone and you will find a very great Hardning power in the company and frequent discourse and practices which your selves condemn § 13. Direct 10. Take heed of wilful sinning against knowledge much more of lying in such sin Direct 10. unrepented of It greatly hardneth to sin against knowledge and much more to commit such sins over and over This grieveth and driveth away the Spirit and dangerously provoketh God to leave men to themselves § 14. Direct 11. Take heed of being customary in the use of those means that must be the means of Direct 11. curing hardned hearts If once the lively preaching and holy living and fervent praying of the servants of God be taken by thee but as matters of course and thou go with them to Church and to prayers but as to eat or drink or kneel with them but for custom thou wilt be as the Smiths Dog that can sleep by the Anvile while the Hammers are beating and the Sparks are flying about his ears It is dangerous to grow Customary and dull under powerful lively helps § 15. Direct 12. Be often with the sick and in the house of mourning and read thy lesson in Direct 21. the Church-yard and let the grave and bones and dust instruct thee When thou seest the End of all the living perhaps thou wilt somewhat lay it to heart Sight will sometime do more than the hearing of greater things Fear may possibly touch the heart that hath not yet so much ingenuity as to be melted by the force of Love And ordinarily the humbling and softning of a hard impenitent heart begins in Fear and ends in Love The work of preparation is in a manner the work of Fear alone The first work of true Conversion is begun in a great measure of fear and somewhat of Love but so little as is scarce perceived because of the more sensible operations of Fear And as a Christian groweth his Love encreaseth till perfect Love in the state of perfection have cast out all tormenting fear though not our Reverence or filial fear of God Look therefore into the grave and remember man that thou must dye thou must dye it is past all controversie that thou must dye And dost thou know where thou must appear when death hath once performed its office Dost thou not believe that after Death comes Judgement Dost thou not know that thou art now in a life of tryal in order to endless Ioy or misery and that this life is to be lived but once and if thou miscarry now thou art undone for ever and that all the hope of preventing thy damnation is Now while this life of tryal doth continue Now is the accepted time this is the day of salvation If Hell be prevented it must be Now prevented If ever thou wilt pray if ever thou wilt be converted if ever thou wilt be made an heir of Heaven it must be Now O man how quickly will patience have done with thee and time be gone and then O then it will be too late Knowest thou not that all the care and labour and hope of the Devil for thy damnation is laid out this way if it be possible to find thee other work or take thee up with other thoughts or keep thee asleep with presumptuous hopes and carnal mirth and pleasures and company or quiet thee by delayes till time be gone and it be too late And wilt thou let him have his will and pleasure him with thy own perdition Dost thou think these are not things to be considered on Do they not deserve thy speediest seriousest thoughts At least use thy Reason and self-love to the awakening and moving and softning thy Hardned heart PART III. Directions against Hypocrisie § HYpâ—crisie is the acting the part of a Religious person as upon a stage by one that is not Religious 〈…〉 sin â—â—â—â— obseâ—â—aâ—eque cavâ—r◠〈◊〉 nequid de â—e meâ—â—â—â— quam sit coâ—mendaâ—e pâ—â— mu fu 〈…〉 aliqua mâ—â—a 〈◊〉 bâ—na quâ—â— insâ—nâ—â—pparâ—â—e facienâ—e ac â—ircumcidâ—â—e â—ociâ— on nem fâ—ctionem I â—â—â—â— iâ—â—â—â—â—â—â— Philosophia â—es adâ—o difficiliâ— est uâ—â—â—m veâ— sâ—mulare magna sit parâ— philosophiae Paâ—l â—â—â—â—g It was one of the Roman â—aws of the 12. tables Impiuâ—â—e audeto pâ—acaâ—e donis â—â—am Deâ—rum Let no ungodly person dare to goe about to appeale tâ—e â—â—spleasure of the Gods by guifts viz. He must appâ—ase them first bâ— râ—formation Boâ—a â—â—â—â—scienâ—ia pâ—odâ—re â—ult câ—nspâ—ci â—â—â—â—â— nequa 〈…〉 indeed A seeming in Religion to be what you are not or to do what you do not Or a dissâ—mâ—ling or câ—unterfeiting that piety which you have not To counterfeit a state of Godliness is the sin only of the unregenerate who at the present are in a state of misery To câ—â—terfeit some particular act of Godliness or some higher degree is an odious sin but such as a regenâ—â—â—â—â— person may be tempted into This act of Hypocrisie doth not denominate the person an Hypocrite but the state of Hypocrisie doth Every Hypocrite therefore is an ungodly person seeming Godly or one that indeed is no true Christian professing himself a Christian. Of Hypocrites there be two sorts some desire to deceive others but not themselves but know themselves to be but dissemblers and these are commonly called Gross Hypocrites And some deceive both themselves and others and think they are no Hypocrites but are as confident of their honesty and sincerity as if they were no dissemblers at all But yet they are as verily Hypocrites as the former because they seem to be Religious and sincere when indeed they are not though they think they are and profess themselves to be true Christians when they are nothing less These are called Close Hypocrites because they know not themselves to be Hypocrites though they might know it if they would This is the commonest sort of Hypocrites § 2. There are also two Degrees of Hypocrites Some of them have only a General profession of Christianity and Godliness which is the professed Religion of the Country where they live and these are Hypocrites because they profess to be what they are not And others make a greater and extraordinary profession of special strictness in their Religion when they are not sincere And these are Eminently called Hypocrites Such as the Pharisees were among the Jews and many Fryers and Jesuits and Nuns among the Papists who by their separating Vows and Orders and Habits profess extraordinarily an extraordinary measure of devotion while they want the life of Godliness § 3. In all Hypocrisie there is considerable 1. The thing pretended 2. The pretence or means of seeming or the cloke of their deceit 1. The thing pretended by common Hypocrites is to be true Christians and servants of God and heirs of Heaven though not to be so zealous in
it as some of a higher degree The thing pretended by Eminent Hypoâ—â—ites is to be zealous eminent Christians or at least to be sincere in a special manner while they discern the common Hypocrite not to be sincere 2. The cloak of seeming or pretense by which they would be thought to be what they are not is any thing in gâ—neral that hath an appearance of Godliness and is apt to make others think them godly And thus there are diverse sorts of Hypocrites according to the variety of their cloaks or ways of dissimulation though hypocrisie it self be in all of them the same thing As among the very Mahometanes and Heathens there oft arise some notable Hypocrites that by pretended Revelations and austerity of life profess themselves as Mahomet did to be Holy persons that had some extraordinary familiarity with God or Angels So among the Papists there are besides the common ones as many sorts of Hypocrites as they have self-devised Orders And every where the cloak of the common Hypocrite is so thin and transparent that it sheweth his nakedness to the more intelligent sort And this puts the Eminent Hypocrite upon some more laudable pretense that is not so transparent As for instance the Hypocrisie of common Papists whose cloak is made up of penances and ceremonies of saying over latine words or numbering words and beads for prayers with all the rest of their trumpery before named Chap. 3. Gr. Dir. 15. Dir. 11. is so thin a cloak that it will not â—atisfie some among themselves but they withdraw into distinct societies and orders the Church and the profession of Christianity being not enough for them that they may be Religious as if they saw that the rest are not Religious And then the common sort of ungodly Protestants have so much wit as to see through the cloak of all the Popish Hypocrisie and therefore they take up a fitter for themselves and that is the name of a Protestant Reformed Religion and Church joyned to the Common Profession of Christianity The Name or Profession of a Christian and a Protestant with going to Church and a heartless lip-service or saying their Prayers is the cloak of all ungodly Protestants Others discerning the thinness of this cloak do think to make themselves a better and they take up the strictest opinions in Religion and own those which they account the strictest party and own that which they esteem the purest and most spiritual worship The cloak of these men is their opinions pâ—rty and way of worship while their carnal lives detect their Hypocrisie Some that see through all these pretenses do take up the most excellent cloak of all and that is An appearance of serious spirituality in Religion with a due observation of all the outward parts and means and a Reformation of life in works of piety Iustice and charity I say An appearance of all these which if they had indeed they were sincere and should be saved in which the Godly Christian goeth beyond them all § 4. By this it is plain that among us in England all men that are not Saints are Hypocrites because that all except here or there a Jew or Infidel profess themselves to be Christians and every true Christian is a Saint They know that none but Saints or Godly persons shall be saved And there is few of them that will renounce their hopes of Heaven and therefore they must pretend to be all godly And is it not most cursed horrid hypocrisie for a man to pretend to Religion as the only way to his salvation and confidently call himself a Christian while he hateth and derideth the power and practice of that very Religion which he doth profess Of this see my Treat of The Vain Religion of the Formal Hypocrite When Pâ—â—â—â— in vita sua speaketh of others extolling his eloquence he addeth his own neglect of it Ego modo bene vixisâ—em qualiter dixisâ—em parvi sacerem Venâ—osa gloria est de solo verborum splendore famam quaerere Conscientiam potius quam famam attende Falli saepe poterit fama Conscientia nunquam Seâ—ec § 5. The Hypocrites Ends in his pretenses and dissemblings are not all the same One intendeth the pleasing of Parents or some friends on whom he doth depend that will else be displeased with him and think ill of him Another intendeth the pleasing of the higher powers when it falls out that they are friends to Godliness Another intends the preserving of his esteem with religious persons that they may not judge him wicked and prophane Another intendeth the hiding of some particular villany or the success of some ambitious enterprise But the most common end is to quiet and comfort their guilty souls with an Image of that Holiness which they are without and to steal some peace to their Consciences by a lie And so because they will not be Religious indeed they will take up some shew or image of Religion to make themselves as well as others believe that they are Religious § 6. Direct 1. To escape Hypocrisie understand well wherein the life and power of Godliness doth consist Direct 1. and wherein it differeth from the lifeless Image or Corps of Godliness The life of Godliness is expressed in the 17 Grand Directions in Chap. 4. It principally consisteth in such a faith in Christ as causeth us to Love God above all and obey him before all and prefer his favour and the hopes of Heaven before all the pleasures or profits or honours of the world and to worship him in spirit and truth according to the direction of his word The Images of Religion I shewed you before § 3. Take heed of such a lifeless Image § 7. Direct 2. See that your chief study be about the Heart that there Gods Image may be planted Direct 2. and his interest advanced and the interest of the world and flesh subdued and the Love of every sin cast out and the Love of Holiness succeed and that you content not your selves with seeming to do goâ—d in outward acts when you are bad your selves and strangers to the great internal duties The first and Sic vivendum est quaâ—i in coâ—â—â—â—ctu â—â—â—amuâ— Sic cogitandum tanquam aliquis pectus intimum prospicere poâ—â—iâ— Senec. Rem dâ—â—am ex qua mâ—â—â—â—s a stimes nâ—straâ— Vix quempiam invenâ—es qui possit aperto ostiâ—â—ivâ—re jâ—â—itores conscientia nostra suposuit sic vivimus ut deprehendi sit sabiâ—â— aspici Senec. Ep. 96. great work of a Christian is about his heart There it is that God dwelleth by his spirit in his Saints And there it is that sin and Satan reign in the ungodly The great duties and the great sins are those of the heart There is the root of Good and Evil The tongue and life are but the fruits and expressions of that which dwelleth within The inward habit of sin is as a second nature And a sinful nature is worse than a sinful
act Keep your hearts with all diligence for from thence are the issues of life Prov. 4. 23. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good But the viperous generation that are evil cannot speak good for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Math. 12. 33 34. Till the spirit have regenerated the soul all outward Religion will be but a dead and pittiful thing Though there is something which God hath appointed an unregenerate man to do in order to his own conversion yet no such antecedent act will prove that the person is justified or reconciled to God till he be converted To make up a Religion of doing or saying something that is good while the heart is void of the spirit of Christ and sanctifying grace is the Hypocrites Religion Rom. 8. 9. § 8. Direct 3. Make conscience of the sins of the thoughts and the desire and other affections or passions Direct 3. of the mind as well as of the sins of tongue or hand A lustful thought a malicious thought a proud ambitious or covetous thought especially if it proceed to a wish or contrivance or consâ—nt is a sin the more dangerous by how much the more inward and neer the heart as Christ hath shewed you Mat. 5. 6. The Hypocrite who most respecteth the eye of man doth live as if his Thoughts were free § 9. Direct 4. Make conscience of secret sins which are committed out of the sight of men and may Direct 4. be concealed from them as well as of open and notorious sins If he can do it in the dark and secure his reputation the Hypocrite is bold But a sincere believer doth bear a reverence to his conscience and much more to the all-seeing God § 10. Direct 5. Be faithful in secret duties which have no witness but God and Conscience As meditation Direct 5. and self-examination and secret prayer And be not only Religious in the sight of men § 11. Direct 6. In all publick worship be more laborious with the heart than with the tongue or knee Direct 6. and see that your tongue over-run not your heart and leave it not behind Neglect not the due composure of your words and due behaviour of your bodys But take much more pains for the exercise of holy desires from a believing loving fervent soul. § 12. Direct 7. Place nâ—t more in the externals or modes or circumstances or ceremonies of worship Direct 7. than is due and lay not out more zeal for indifferent or little things than cometh to their share but 〈…〉 ed mâ—â—â—â—ad of hurt fuâ—â—â—â—nes ceremonies be obâ—iteraâ—â—d by ceremoniâ—s Let the Prâ—â—sts perswade the novâ—â—â—â— that holy water Images â—oâ—aâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 and â—oâ—ches and the rest which the Church alloweth and uâ—â—th are very â—it for them and let them exâ—â—l them with many praises in their popular Sermons that instead of the old superstition they may be used to new and religious signs This is to quenth the â—iâ—e with oyl let the great substantials of Religion have the precedencie and be far preferred before them Let the Love of God and man be the sum of your obedience And be sure you learn well what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice And remember that the great thing which God requireth of you is to do Iustice and love mercy and walk humbly with your God Destroy not him with your meat fâ—r whom Christ dyed Call not for fire from Heaven upon dissenters and think not every man intollerable in the Church that is not in every little matter of your mind Remember that the hypocrisie of the Pharisees is described by Christ as consisting in a zeal for their own traditions and the inventions of men and the smallest matters of the Ceremonial Law with a neglect of greatest moral duties and a furious cruelty against the spiritual worshipers of God Math. 15. 2. Why do thy disciples transgress the Tradition of the Elders for they wash not their hands when they eat bread v. 7. Ye Hypocrites well did Esaias prophesie of you saying This people draweth niâ—â—â—ntâ— me with their mouth and hâ—â—â—â—ureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me but in vain do they worship me teaching fâ—r doctrines the commandments of men Math. 23. 4 5 6 13 14 c. They bind heavy burdens which they touch not themselves All their works they do to be seen of men They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the burdens of their garments and love the uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief sâ—ats in the Synagogues and greetings in publick and to be called Rabbi But they shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men and were the greatest enemies of the entertainment of the Gospel by the people They tythed mint and annise and cummin and omitted the great matters of the Law Iudgement and Mercy and Faith They streined at a gnat and swallowed a Camel They had a great veneration for the dead Prophets and Saints and yet were persecuters and murderers of their successors that were living v. 23 c. By this description you may see which way Hypocrisie doth most ordinarily work even to a blind and bloody zeal for opinions and traditions and ceremonies and other little things to the treading down the interest of Christ and his Gospel and a neglect of the life and power of Godliness and a cruel persecuting those servants of Christ whom they are bound to love above their ceremonies I marvel that many Papists tremble not when they read the Character of the Pharisees But that hypocrisie is a hidden sin and is an enemy to the light which would discover it § 13. Direct 8. Make conscience of the duties of obedience to superiors and of justice and mercy Direct 8. towards men as well as of acts of piety to God Say not a long mass in order to devour a widows house or a Christians life or reputation Be equally exact in justice and mercy as you are in prayers And labour as much to exceed common men in the one as in the other Set your selves to do all the good you can to all and do hurt to none And do to all men as you would they should do to you § 14. Direct 9. Be much more busie about your selves than about others and more censorious of Direct 9. your selves than of other men and more strict in the Reforming of your selves than of any others For this is the character of the sincere When the Hypocrite is little at home and much abroad and is a sharp reprehender of others and perniciously tender and indulgent to himself Mark his discourse in all companies and you shall hear how liberal he is in his censures and bitter reproach of others How such men and such men that differ from him or have opposed him or that he hates are thus and thus faulty and bad and hateful Yea he is as great an accuser of his
liberty were it as long as we live if it be necessary to the saving of our brethrens souls by removing the offence which hindereth them by prejudice We mâ—st not seek our own carnal ends but the benefit of others and do them all the good we can § 6. 3. As our neighbour is commanded to Love us as himself we are bound by all lawful means to render our selves amiable to him that we may help and facilitate this his Love as it is more necessary to him than to us For to help him in obeying so great a command must needs be a great duty And therefore if his very sin possess him with prejudice against us or cause him to distaste us for some indifferent thing we must as far as we can lawfully remove the cause of his prejudice and dislike Though he that hateth us for obeying God must not be cured by our disobeying him we are so far from being obliged to displease men by surliness and morasity that we are bound to pleasing gentleness and brotherly kindness and to all that carriage which is necessary to care their sinful hatred or dislike § 7. 4. We must not be self-conceited and prefer a weak unfurnished judgement of our own before the greater wisdom of another but in honor must prefer each other and the ignorant must honour the knowledge and parts of others that excel them and not be stiff in their own opinion nor wise in their own eyes nor undervalue another mans reasons or judgement but be glad to learn of any that can teach them in the humble acknowledgement of their own insufficiency § 8. 5. Especially we must reverence the judgement of our able faithful Teachers and not by pride set up our weaker judgement against them and resist the truth which they deliver to us from God Neither must we set light by the censures or admonitions of the lawful Pastors of the Church When they are agreeable to the word and judgement of God they are very dreadful As Tertullian Gal. 5. 10. 1 Cor. 5. saith If any so offend as to be banished from communion of prayer and assembly and all holy commerce it is a judgement foregoing the great judgement to come Yea if the Officers of Christ should wrong you in their censures by passion or mistake while they act in their own charge about matters belonging to their cognisance and judgement you must respectfully and patiently bear the wrong so as not to dishonour and contemn the authority and office so abused § 9. 6. If sober godly persons that are well acquainted with us do strongly suspect us to be faulty where we discern it not our selves it should make us the more suspitious and fearful and it judicious persons fear you to be Hypocrites and no sound Christians by observing your temper and course of life it should make you search with the greater fear and not to disregard their judgement And if judicious persons especially Ministers shall tell a poor fearful doubting Christian that they verily think their state is safe it may be a great stay to them and must not be sleighted as nothing though it cannot give them a certainty of their case Thus far mans judgement must be valued § 10. 7. A good name among men which is the reputation of our integrity is not to be neglected as a thing of naught for it is a mercy from God for which we must be thankful and it is a useful means to our succesful serving and honouring God And the more eminent we are and the more the honour of God and Religion is joyned with ours or the good of mens souls dependeth Qui 〈…〉 Non solem veritas in hac parte sed etiam opinio studiose quaerenda est ut te hypoâ—â—â—â—am agere interdum mâ—nâ—me poeâ—â—tâ—at said 〈…〉 harshly enough to Acosta â—â—â—i 4. c. 17. p. 413. on our reputation the more careful we should be of it and it may be a duty sometimes to vindicate it by the Magistrates justice against a slander Especially Preachers whose success for the saving of their hearers depends much on their good name must not despise it § 11. 8. The censurers of the most petulant and the scorns of enemies are not to be made light of as they are their sins which we must lament nor as they may provoke us to a more diligent search and careful watchfullness over our waies Thus far mans judgement is regardable § 12. But 1. We must know how frail and erroneous and unconstant a thing man is and therefore not be too high in our expectations from man We must suppose that men will mistake us and wrong us and slander us through ignorance passion prejudice or self-interest And when this befals us we must not account it strange and unexpected § 13. 2. We must consider how far the enmity that is in lapsed man to holiness and the ignorance 1 Pet. 4 1â— 13 c. 1 Cor. 4. 12 13. Acts â—â— â—2 Acts 24 5 6. Mat. 5. 10. â—â— 1â— prejudice and passion of the ungodly will carry them to despise and scorn and slander all such as seriously and zealously serve God and cross them in their carnal interest And therefore if for the sake of Christ and righteousness we are accounted as the scorn and off-scouring of all things and as pestilent fellows and movers of sedition among the people and such as are unworthy to live and have all manner of evil spoken of us falsly it must not seem strange or unexpected to us nor cast us down but we must bear it patiently yea and exceedingly rejoyce in hope of our reward in Heaven § 14. 3. Considering what remnants of pride and self-conceitedness remain in many that have true grace and how many Hypocrites are in the Church whose Religion consisteth in Opinions and their several modes of worship we must expect to be reproached and abused by such as in Opinions and Modes and Circumstances do differ from us and take us therefore as their adversaries A great deal of injustice sometime by slanders or reproach and sometimes by greater violence must be expected from contentious professors of the same Religion with our selves especially when the interest of their faction or cause requireth it and especially if we bring any truth among them which seemeth new to them or crosseth the opinions which are there in credit or would be Reformers of them in any thing that is amiss § 15. 4. No men must be Pleased by sin nor their favour preferred before the pleasing of God Mans favour as against God is to be despised and their displeasure made light of It doing our duty will displease them let them be displeased we can but pitty them § 16. 5. We must place none of our happiness in the favor or approbation of men but account it as to our selves to be a matter of no great moment neither worth any great care or endeavour to obtain it or grief for losing
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
continually in that case your selves If you should be still so what were you good for or what could you enjoy or what comfort would your lives be to you Why if a long pain be so bad a short one is not lovely Keep not wilfully so troublesome a malady in your mind § 6. Direct 4. Observe also what an enemy it is to the body it self It inflameth the blood and Direct 4. stirreth up diseases and breedeth such a bitter displeasedness in the mind as tends to consume the strength of nature and hath cast many into Acute and many into Chronical sicknesses which have proved their death And how uncomfortable a kind of death is this § 7. Direct 5. Observe how unlovely and unpleasing it rendereth you to beholders deforming the Direct 5. countenance and taking away the amiable sweetness of it which appeareth in a calm and loving temper If you should be alwayes so would any body love you or would they not go out of your way if not lay hands on you as they do anything that is wild or mad You would scarce desire to have your picture drawn in your fury till the frowning wrinkles and inflamed blood are returned to their places and have left your visage to its natural comeliness Love not that which maketh you so unlovely to all others § 8. Direct 6. You should love it the worse because it is a hurting passion and an enemy to Love and Direct 6. to anothers good You are never angry but it inclineth you to hurt those that angred you if not all others that stand in your way It putteth hurting thoughts into your mind and hurting words into your mouths and enclineth you to strike or do some mischief And no men love a hurtful creature Avoid therefore so mischievous a passion § 9. Direct 7. Nay mark the tendency of it and you will find that if it should not be stopt it would Direct 7. tend to the very ruine of your brother and end in his blood and your own damnation How many thousand hath anger murdered or undone It hath caused Wars and filled the world with blood and cruelty And should your hearts give such a fury entertainment § 10. Direct 8. Consider how much other sin immoderate anger doth incline men to It is the great Direct 8. crime of drunkenness that a man having not the government of himself is made lyable by it to any Proâ—rium est magnitudinis verae non sentire se esse percussum Qui non irâ—scitur inconcussus injuria persistit qui irascitur motus est Sexec de Ira. l. 3. c. 5. wickedness And so is it with immoderate anger How many Oaths and Curses doth it cause every day How many rash and sinful actions What villany hath not anger done It hath slandered railed reproached falsly accused and injured many a thousand It hath murdered and ruined Families Cities and States It hath made Parents kill their Children and Children dishonour their Parents It hath made Kings oppress and murder their Subjects and Subjects rebell and murder Kings What a world of sin is committed by sinful anger throughout all the world How endless would it be to give you instances David himself was once drawn by it to purpose the murdering of all the family of Nahal Its effects should make it odious to us § 11. Direct 9. And it is much the worse in that it suffereth not a man to sin alone but stirreth up Direct 9. others to do the like Wrath kindleth wrath as fire kindleth fire It s two to one but when you are angry you will make others angry or discontent or troubled by your words or deeds And you have not the power of moderating them in it when you have done You know not what sin it may draw them to It is the Devils bellows to kindle mens corruptions and sets hearts and families and Kingdoms in a flame § 12. Direct 10. Observe how unfit it maketh you for any holy duty for prayer or meditation or Direct 10. any communion with God And that should be very unwelcome to a gracious soul which maketh it unfit to speak to God or to be employed in his Worship If you should go to prayer or other Worship in your bedlam passion may not God say as the King of Gath did of David Have I need of mad men Yea it unfitteth all the family or Church or society where it cometh for the Worship of God Is the family fit for prayer when wrath hath muddied and disturbed their minds Yea it divideth Christians and Churches and causeth confusion and every evil â—am 3. 15 16. work § 13. Direct 11. It is a great dishonour to the grace of God that a servant of his should shew the Direct 11. world that grace is of no more force and efficacy that it cannot rule a raging passion nor so much as keep a Christian sober that it possesseth the soul with no more patience nor fear of God nor Government over it self O wrong not God thus by the dishonouring of his Grace and Spirit § 14. Direct 12. It is a sin against Conscience still repented of and disowned by almost all when Direct 12. they come to themselves again and a meer preparation for after sorrow That therefore which we fore-know we must repent of afterwards should be prevented and avoided by men that choose not shame and sorrow § 15. Object 1. But you 'll say I am of a hasty cholerick nature and cannot help it Object 1. Answ. That may strongly dispose you to anger but cannot Necessitate you to any thing that is sinful Answ. Reason and Will may yet command and master passion if they do their Office And when you know your disease and danger you must watch the more § 16. Object 2. But the provocation was so great it would have angered any one Who could choose Object 2. Answ. It is your weakness that makes you think that any thing can be great enough to discharge Answ. a mans reason and allow him to break the Laws of God That would have been small or nothing to a prepared mind which you call so great You should rather say Gods Majesty and dreadfulness is so great that I durst not offend him for any provocation Hath not God given you greater cause to obey than man can give you to sin § 17. Object 3. But it is so sudden that I have no time of deliberation to prevent it Object 3. Answ. Have you not Reason still about you And should it not be as ready to rule as passion to Answ. rebell Stop passion at first and take time of deliberation § 18. Object 4. But it is but short and I am sorry for it when I have done Object 4. Answ. But if it be evil the shortest is a sin and to be avoided And when you know before hand Answ. that you must be sorry after why will
Direct 1. God in vain the first Direction must be this General one to use all the Directions given in Chap. 1. for a wicked mans attaining true Conversion and withal to observe how great an Evidence this sin is of a graceless ungodly miserable soul. For it is supposed to be an ordinary or frequent sin and therefore to have no effectual principle in the heart which is against it and therefore to have the principal room in the will and therefore to be unrepented of as to any saving renewing Repentance If thou hadst any true grace it would teach thee to fear and honour God more To make light of God is inconsistent with Godliness if it be in a predominant degree for they are directly contrary § 9. Direct 2. Get thy heart sensible of the intrinsick evil of thy sin It would never be so easily and Direct 2. familiarly committed by thee if thou didst not think it small That thou maist know it consider Saith Fitz Hâ—beâ—t l. 1. c â—3 â—n 17. I cannot but lament that so great an impiety as Blasphemy is being so common doth pass unpunished where as in other Countrâ—â—s the least blasphemies are severely chastened Insomuch that in Spain I have known a man set in the Market-place the greatest part of a day gaping with a gagg in his mouth for swearing only By the Life of God of these following aggravations § 10. 1. Consider who that God is whom thou abusest Is he not the Great and terrible Majesty See Jer. 5. 21 22. Job 42. 5 6. 38. 2 3 c. that made the world and upholdeth it and ordereth it by his will the Governour and Judge of all the earth infinitely excelling the Sun in glory A God most Holy and in holiness to be mentioned And wilt thou make a by-word of his Dreadful Name Wilt thou prophanely swear by this Holy Name and use the Name of God as thou wouldst scarce use the Name of thy Father or thy King Wilt thou unreverently and contemptuously toss it like a foot-ball Dost thou know no more difference between God and Man Know God and thou wilt sooner tremble at his Name than thus unreverently abuse it § 11. 2. Consider who thou art that thus venturest to prophane the holy Name of God Art thou not his creature and his subject bound to honour him Art thou not a Worm unable to resist him Can â—e not tread thee into Hell or ruine thee and be avenged on thee with a word or less He need to say no more but Thus I will have it to execute his vengeance on the greatest of his enemies If he will it it will be done And art thou then a person fit to despise this God and abuse his Name Is it not a wonder of condescension in him that he will give leave to such Worms as we to Pray to him and to praise and worship him and that he will accept it at our hands And yet canst thou venture thus to slight him and despise him I have oft heard the same impious tongue reproach the Prayers of the godly as if they were too bold and familiar with God and pleading against long or often praying because man must not be so bold with God and perswading others that God accepts it not which yet it self was bold familiarly to swear by his Name and use it lightly and in common talk And indeed Gods servants must take heed of rude and unreverent boldness even in prayer How much more then is the boldness of thy prophaning Gods holy Name to be condemned Must they take heed how they use it in prayer and praise and darest thou abuse it by Oaths and Curses and vain speech § 12. 3. Dost thou not sometime pray by that Name which thou prophanely swearest by If not thou seemest utterly to renounce God and art a miserable wretch indeed But it thou do what an Hypocrite dost thou shew thy self to be in all thy prayers that takest on thee to reverence that Name of God which thou canst toss unreverently and swear and curse by when thou art off thy knees It is part of Bishop Hall's Character of the Hypocrite that he boweth to the Name of Iesus and sweareth by the Name of God and prayeth to God at Church whom he forgets or sweareth by the rest of the Week Doth not thy conscience gripe thee for this Hypocrisie when in thy prayers thou thinkest of this abuse of God § 13. 4. Think man what use thou wilt have for that Holy Name in thy distress which thou now abusest When sickness and death cometh then thou wilt cry Lord Lord Then the Name of God will be called on more reverently And darest thou now make a foot-ball of it Dost thou nor fear lest it should be then thy terror to remember on thy death-bed when thou art calling upon God O this is the Name that I was wont to swear by or to take in vain § 14. 5. Remember that millions of Glorious Angels are magnifying that great and holy Name which thou art prophaning and taking in vain And dost thou not wonder that they do not some of them become the executioners of the vengeance of God against thee and that the earth doth not open and swallow thee up Shall a Worm on Earth be tossing that holy Name or swearing by it prophanely which a world of Glorious Angels are magnifying § 15. 6. Consider that thou art more impious than they that prophane things hallowed and consecrated to God Was Belshazzar punished with the loss of Kingdom and life for carousing in the Vessels of the Sanctuary Wouldst thou think him to be prophane that should make a Stable of the Church and should feed his Swine with the Communion Cup And dost thou not know that the Name of God himself hath a higher degree of Holiness than any place or utensils of his Worship have and therefore that it is a greater prophaneness to abuse his Name than to abuse any of these Doth not thy tongue then condemn thee of Hypocrisie when thou wouldst exclaim against any that should thus prophane the Church or Font or Communion Cup or Table and yet thy self dost ordinarily prophane the very Holy Name of God and use it as a common Name § 16. 7. Consider how unworthily thou requitest God for giving thee thy tongue and speech He gave thee this noble faculty to honour him by And is this thy thanks to use it to dishonour him by swearing and taking his Name in vain § 17. 8. Thy infectious breath corrupteth others It tendeth to bring God into common contempt among his own creatures when they hear his name contemptuously spoken of § 18. 9. Thou forgettest how tender and jealous God hath shewed himself to be of the honour Psal 20 2 〈…〉 â—sâ—l 66 2 68 4 34 3. 6 2 Isa 9 6 12 4 41. â—5 â—â—â—â— 34. 16 Ezek. 36 2â— 23. â— King 8. 16 18 19 29. 9. 3 7.
he shall serve me He that worketh Deceit shall not dwell within my House He that telleth lyes shall not tarry in my sight Prov. 3. 33. The Curse of the Lord is in the House of the wicked but he blesseth the Habitation of the Iust. LONDON Printed by Robert White for Nevill Simmons at the Sign of the Princes-Arms in St. Pauls Church-yard 1673. To all that fear God in the Burrough and Parish of Kederminster in Worcestershire Dear Friends YOU are the Only People that ever I took a special Pastoral Charge of And Gods blessing and your Obedience to his Word do make the remembrance of my Labours and Converse with you to be sweet It was neither by Your Will or Mine that we have been this twelve years separated nor that we yet continue so I thank our most Gracious God who maugre all the Serpents Malice hath Inwardly and Outwardly so well provided for you above most others as that I hope you will be no losers by any thing which hath yet befallen you That I have hitherto survived so many of my departed Friends both with you and elsewhere after all that you have known is my own wonder as well as yours And what I have been doing in this time of our separation I have formerly told you in part by some other Writings and now tell you more by this which was written about five or six years ago though it found not passage into the world till now I live not yet Idle But whether this be the way of my chiefest service to the Church of God in my present case some distant Censurers have questioned If it be not my Ignorance of my duty and of what will be most useful to others is the cause and not my Love of Ease or my obeying Man rather than God I judge that my chief duty which I think is likest to do most good I am glad that once more before I dye I have opportunity to speak to you at this distance and to perswade you to and Direct you in that Family Holiness and Righteousness which hath been so much of your Comfort and Honour and will be so while you faithfully continue it O how happy a state is it to have God dwell in your Families by his Love and Blessing and Rule them by his Word and Spirit and Protect them by his Power and Delight in them and they in Him as his Churches preparing for the Coelestial Delights O how much of the Interest of true Religion must be kept up in the world by the Holiness and Diligence of Christian Families How happy a supply doth it afford where there are sad defects in the Teaching Holiness and Discipline of the Churches O that the Rulers of Families who are silenced by no others did not silence themselves from that Instructing and Prayer which is their work I should be sorry that this Directory is so Voluminous that few of you can buy it but that more Ends than One in such works must be intended If any of you which God forbid shall shew by an ungodly life that you have forgotten the Doctrine which was taught you or if more yet shall traduce the Doctrine of your once unworthy Teacher Posterity shall here see what it was in this Record which may remain and preach when I am yet more silenced in the dust The Lord whom we have served though with lamentable defects and in whom though alas too weakly we have trusted preserve us in the Life of Faith Hope and Love in Sincerity Zeal and patient Constancy to the Glorious Life where we hope to behold in Perfect Love without the fear of death or separation our most Blessed Head and God for ever Amen Totteridge near Barnet Feb. 10. 1671 2. Your Servant in Willingness Richard Baxter A Christian Directory TOM II. Christian Oeconomicks CHAP. I. Directions about Marriage for Choice and Contract AS the Persons of Christians in their privatest capacities are Holy as being Dedicated and separated unto God so also must their Families be HOLINESS TO THE LORD must be as it were written on their Doors and on their Relations their Possessions and Affairs To which it is requisite 1. That there be a Holy Constitution of their Families 2. And a holy Government of them and discharge of the several duties of the Members of the Family To the right constituting of a Family belongeth 1. The right contracting of Marriage and 2. The right choice and contract betwixt Masters and their Servants For the first § 2. Direct 1. Take heed that neither lust nor rashness do thrust you into a marryed condition before Direct 1. you see such Reasons to invite you to it as may assure you of the Call and approbation of God For 1. It is God that you must serve in your Marryed state and therefore it is meet that you take his counsel before you rush upon it For he knoweth best himself what belongeth to his service 2. And it is God that you must still depend upon for the blessing and comforts of your relation And therefore there is very great reason that you take his advice and consent as the chief things requisite to the match If the Consent of Parents be necessary much more is the Consent of God § 3. Quest. But how shall a man know whether God call him to Marriage or consent unto it Hath Quest. he not here left all men to their liberties as in a thing indifferent Answ. God hath not made any Universal Law commanding or forbidding Marriage but in this Answ. Whether Marriage be indifferent regard hath left it indifferent to mankind yet not allowing all to marry for undoubtedly to some it is unlawful But he hath by other General Laws or Rules directed men to know in what cases it is lawful and in what cases it is a sin As every man is bound to choose that condition in which he may serve God with the best advantages and which tendeth most to his spiritual welfare and increase in Holiness Now there is nothing in Marriage it self which maketh it commonly inconsistent with these benefits and the fulfilling of these Laws And therefore it is said that He that Marrieth doth well that is he doth that which of it self is not unlawful and which to some is the 1 Cor 7. 7 3◠most eligible state of life But there is something in a single life which maketh it especially to Preachers and persecuted Christians to be more usually the most advantagious state of life to these Ends of Christianity And therefore it is said that He that marrieth not doth better And yet to individual persons it is hard to imagine how it can choose but be either a duty or a sin at least except in some unusual cases For it is a thing of so great moment as to the ordering of our hearts and lives that it is hard to imagine that it should ever be indifferent as a means to our main end but
that our own advantage falls in but impliedly and in evident subordination Such are the blessed works of praise and thanksgiving which we here begin and shall in Heaven perpetuate Yet see a most admirable Mystery of true Religion We indeed receive more largely from God and enjoy more fully our own felicity in him in these acts of worship that give all to God than in the other wherein we more directly seek for somewhat from him And those are the second sort of worship-actions viz. When the substance or matter of the work is a seeking or receiving somewhat from God or delivering something Religiously in his name and so is more directly for our selves though yet it 's God that should be our ultimate end in this too You may perceive I make this of three sorts Whereof the first consisteth in our religious addresses to God for something that we want And is called Prayer The 2. consisteth in our religious addresses to God to receive somewhat from him viz. 1. Instructions precepts promises threatnings from his mouth Messengers c. 2. The Sacramental signs of his grace in Baptism and the Lords Supper The 3. is when the Officers of Christ do in his name solemnly deliver either his Laws or Sacraments His Laws either in general by ordinary Preaching or by a more particular application in Acts of discipline 2. The Word Solemn signifies sometimes any thing usual and so some derive it Solenne est quod fieri solet Sometimes that which is done but on one set day in the year and so some make solenne to be quasi solum semel in anno But vulgarly it is taken and so we take it here for both celebre usit â—tum that is a thing that is not accidentally and seldom but statedly and ordinarily to be done and that with such Gravity and Honourable seriousness as beseems a business of such weight 3. By family we mean not a tribe or stock of kindred dwelling in many houses as the word is taken oâ—t in Scripture but I mean a houshold Domus familia a Houshold and family are indeed in Oeconomicks somewhat different notions but one thing Domus is to familia as civitas to respublica the former is made the subject of the latter the latter the finis internus of the former And so Domus est societas naturae consentanea e personis domesticis vitae in dies omnes commode sustentandae causa collecta Familia est ordo domus per Regimen Patris-familias in personas sibi subjectas Where note that to a compleat family must go four Integral parts Pater familias Mater familias Filius Servus A Father Mother Son and Servant But to the essence of a family it sufficeth if there be but the pars imperans pars subdita one head or Governor either Father Mother Master or Mistress and one or more governed under this head Note therefore that the Governour is an essential part of the family and so are some of the governed viz. that such their be but not each member If therefore twenty children or servants shall worship God without the Father or Master of the family either present himself or in some Representative it is not a family worship in strict sense But if the head of the family in himself or Delegate or Representative be present with any of his children or servants though all the rest be absent it is yet a family duty though the family be incompleat and maimed and so is the duty therefore if culpably so performed 4. When I say in and by a family I mean not that each must do the same parts of the work but that one either the head or some one deputed by him and representing him be the mouth and the rest perform their parts by receiving instructions or mentally concurring in the Prayers and praise by him put up Lastly by Divine appointment I mean any signification of Gods will that it is mens duty to perform this Whether a signification by natural means or supernatural directly or by consequence so we may be sure it is Gods will The sum of the Question then is Whether any Sacred Actions religiously and ordinarily to be performed to Gods honour by the head of the family with the rest be by Gods appointment made our duty My thoughts of this Question I shall reduce to these heads and propound in this order 1. I shall speak of family worship in General 2. Of the sorts of that worship in special 3. Of the time I. Concerning the first I lay down my thoughts in these Propositions following for limitation and caution and then prove the main conclusion Prop. 1. It is not all sorts of Gods worship which he hath appointed to be performed by families as Prop. 1. such There being some proper to more publick Assemblies 2. More particularly the Administration of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords Supper are proper to the Ministerial or Organized Churches and not common to families for as they are both of them committed only to Ministers of the Gospel and have been only used by them for many hundred years in the Church except that some permitted others to baptize in case of necessity So the Lords Supper was appointed for a Symbole and means of a more publick communion than that of families And though some conjecture the contrary from its first institution and think that as there is a family prayer and Church prayer family teaching and Church teaching so there should be family Sacraments and Church Sacraments yet it is a Mistake For though Christ administred it to his family yet it was not as a family but as a Church For that which is but one family may possibly be a Church also This exposition we have from the Doctrine and practice of the Apostles and constant custom of all the Churches which have never thought the Lords Supper to be a family duty but proper to larger assemblies and administrable only by ordained Ministers Nor will the reasons drawn from circumcision and the passeover prove the contrary both because particular Churches were not then instituted as now and therefore families had the more to do and because there were some duties proper to families in the very institution of those Sacraments And because God gave them a power in those which he hath not given to Masters of families now in our Sacraments 3. Many thousands do by their own vitiousness and negligence disable themselves so that they cannot perform what God hath made their duty yet it remains their duty still Some disability may excuse them in part but not in whole I shall now prove that the Solemn Worship of God in and by families as such is of Divine appointment Argument 1. If Families are Societies of Gods Institution furnished with special advantages and opportunities for Gods solemn Worship having no prohibition so to use them then the solemn Worship of God in and by families as such is of
mercies to ask them and those that have received them to be thankful for them Obj. So they may do singly Answ. It is not only as single persons but as a society that they receive the meroy Therefore not only as single persons but as a society should they pray and give thanks Therefore should they do it in that manner as may be most fit for a society to do it in and that is together conjunctly that it may be indeed a family Sacrifice and that each part may see that the rest joyn with them And especially that the Ruler may be satisfied in this to whom the oversight of the rest is committed to see that they all joyn in Prayer which in secret he cannot see it being not fit that secret prayer should have Spectatours or Witness that is should not be secret But this I intended to make another Arment by it self which because we are faln on it I will add next Arg. 3. If God hath given charge to the Ruler of the Family to see that the rest do worship him in that Family then ought the Ruler to cause them solemnly or openly to joyn in that Worship But God hath given charge to the Ruler of the Family to see that the rest do worship him in that Family Therefore c. The reason of the Consequence is because otherwise he can with no convenience see that they do it For 1. It is not fit that he should stand by while they pray secretly 2. Nor are they able vocally to do it in most Families but have need of a leader it being not a thing to be expected of every Woman and Child and Servant that hath wanted good education that they should beable to pray without a Guide so as is fit for others to hear 3. It would take up almost all the time of the Ruler of many Families to go to them one after another and stand by them while they pray till all have done What man in his wits can think this to be so fit a course as for the Family to joyn together the Ruler being the mouth The Antecedent I prove thus 1. The fourth Commandment requireth the Ruler of the Family not only to see that himself sanctifie the Sabbath day but also that his Son and Daughter and Man servant and Maid servant his Cattle that is so far as they are capable yea and the Stranger that is within his gates should do it 2. It was committed to Abrahams charge to see that all in his Family were Circumcised So was it afterward to every Ruler of a Family insomuch as the Angel threatned Moses when his Son was uncircumcised 3. The Ruler of the Family was to see that the Passeover was kept by every one in his Family Exod. 12. 2 3 c. and so the Feast of Weeks Deut. 16. 11 12. All that is said before tendeth to prove this and much more might be said if I thought it would be denyed Arg. 4. If God prefer and would have us prefer the prayers and praises of many conjunct before the prayers and praises of those persons dividedly then it is his will that the particular persons of Christian Families should prefer conjunct prayer and praises before disjunct But the Antecedent is true Therefore so is the consequent Or thus take it for the same Argument or another If it be the Duty of Neighbours when they have occasion and opportunity rather to joyn together in praises of common concernment than to do it dividedly then much more is this the Duty of Families But it is the Duty of Neighbours Therefore In the former Argument the reason of the consequence is because that way is to be taken that God is best pleased with The reason of the consequence in the latter is because familie members are more nearly related than neighbours and have much more advantage and opportunity for conjunction and more ordinary reasons to urge them to it from the conjunction of their interests and affairs There is nothing needs proof but the Antecedent which I shall put past all Doubt by these Arguments 1. Col. 3. 16. Teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts unto the Lord. Here is one Duty of praise required to be done together and not apart only I shall yet make further use of this text anon 2. Acts 12. 12. Many were gathered together praying in Maryes house when Peter came to the door this was not an Assembly of the whole Church but a small part They judged it better to pray together than alone 3. Acts 20. 36. Paul prayed together with all the Elders of the Church of Ephesus when he had them with him and did not choose rather to let them pray each man alone 4. Iames 5. 15 16. Iames commands the sick to send for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him and the prayer of the faithful shall save the sick c. He doth not bid send to them to pray for you but he would have them joyn together in doing it 5. Church prayers are preferred before private on this ground and we commanded not to forsake the Assembling of our selves together Heb. 10. 25. â—6 Striving together in prayer is desired Rom. 15. 30. 7. Matth. 18. 20. For where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them 8. Therefore Christ came among the Disciples when they were gathered together after his resurrection And sent down the Holy Ghost when they were gathered together Acts 2. And they continued with one accord in prayer and supplication Acts 1. 14. 24. 2. 42. And When they had prayed the place was shaken where they had assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost c. Act. 4. 31. 9. Is not this implied in Christs directing his Disciples to pray in the plural number Our Father c. Give us this day c. 10. The very necessitie of the persons proves it in that few societies are such but that most are unable to express their own wants so largely as to affect their hearts so much as when others do it that are better stored with affection and expression And this is one of Gods ways for communion and communication of grace that those that have much may help to warm and kindle those that have less Experience telleth us the benefit of this As all the body is not an eye or hand so not a tongue and therefore the tongue of the Church and of the family must speak for the whole body not but that each one ought to pray in secret too But 1. There the heart without the tongue may better serve turn 2. They still ought to prefer conjunct prayer And 11. the communion of Saints is an Article of our Creed which binds us to acknowledge it fit to do as much as we can of Gods work in communion with the Saints not going
persons he bids them Continue in prayer and watch in the same c. 2. If neighbours are bound to speak together in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs with grace in their hearts to the Lord and to continue in prayer and thanksgiving then families much more who are nearlier related and have more necessities and opportunities as is said before 3. If whatever we do in word or deed we must do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks then families must needs joyn in giving thanks For they have much daily business in word and deed to be done together and asunder Argument 15. From Dan. 6. 10. When Daniel knew that the Writing was signed he went into his house and his window being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did afore time Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God Here note 1. The Nature of the duty 2. The necessity of it 1. If it had not been open family-prayer which Daniel here performed how could they have known what he said It is not probable that he would speak so lowd in secret nor is it like they would have found him at it So great a Prince would have had some servants in his ouâ—ward rooms to have stayed them before they had come so near 2. And the Necessity of this prayer is such that Daniel would not omit it for a few dayes to save his life Argument 16. From Josh. 24. 15. But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Here note 1. That it is a Houshold that is here engaged For if any would prove that it extendeth further to all Ioshuah's Tribe or inferiour kindred yet his houshold would be most eminently included 2. That it is the same thing which Ioshuah promiseth for his house which he would have all Israel do for theirs for he maketh himself an example to move them to it If Housholds must serve the Lord then housholds must pray to him and praise him But housholds must serve him Therefore c. The consequence is proved in that Prayer and Praise are so necessary parts of Gods service that no family or person can be said in general to be devoted to serve God that are not devoted to them Calling upon God is oft put in Scripture for all Gods Worship as being a most eminent part and Atheisis are described to be such as call not upon the Lord Psal. 14 c. Argument 17. The story of Cornâ—lius Acts 10. proveth that he performed family-worship For observe 1. That verse 2. he is said to be A devoâ—t man and one that feared God with all his house which gâ—ve much almes to the people and prayed to God alway And vers 30. he saith at the ninth hour I prayed in my house And ver 24. he called together his kindred and near friends So ver 11. 14. Thou and all thy house shall be savâ—d So that in ver 2. Fearing God comprehendeth Prayer and is usually put for all Gods Worship therefore when he is said to Fear God with all his house it is included that he worshipped God with all his house And that he used to do it conjunctly with them is iâ—plyed in his gathering together his Kindred and Friends when Peter came not mentioning the calling together his houshold as being usual and supposed And when it is said that he prayed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his house it may signifie his houshold as in Scrâ—pture the word is often taken However the circumstances shew that he did it Argument 18. From 1. Tim 3. 4 5 12. One that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity For if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the Church of God Let the Deacons be the Husbands of one Wife Ruling their Children and their own houses well Here mark that it is such a Ruling of their houses as is of the same nature as the Ruleing of the Church mutaâ—is mutandis and that is a training them up in the Worship of God and guiding them therein For the Apostle maketh the defect of the one to be a sure discovery of their unfitness for the other Now to Rule the Church is to teach and guide them as their mouth in prayer and praises unto God as well as to oversee their lives therefore it is such a Ruling of their houses as is pre-requisite to prove them fit They that must so Rule well their own houses as may partly prove them not unfit to Rule the Church must Rule them by holy instructions and guiding them as their mouth in the Worship of God But those mentioned 1 Tim. 3. must so Rule their houses Therefore c. The Pastors Ruling of the Church doth most consist in going before them and guiding them in Gods Worship Therefore so doth the Ruling of their own houses which is made a trying qualification of their fitness hereunto Though yet it reach not so high nor to so many things and the conclusion be not Affirmative He that ruleth his own house well is fit to rule the Church of God but Negative He that ruleth not his own house well is not fit to rule the Church of God But that is because 1. This is a lower degree of Ruling which will not prove him fit for a higher 2. And it is but one qualification of many that are requisite Yet it is apparent that some degree of aptitude is proved hence and that from a similitude of the things When Paul compareth Ruling the House to Ruling the Church he cannot be thought to take them to be wholly hetâ—rogeneous He would never have said He that cannot Rule an Army or Regiment or a City how shall he Rule the Church of God I conclude therefore that this Text doth shew that it is the duty of Masters of families to Rule well their own families in the right worshipping of God mutatis mutandis as Ministers must Rule the Church Argument 19. If families have special necessity of family-family-prayer conjunctly which cannot be supplyed otherwise then it is Gods will that family-prayer should be in use But families have such necessities Therefore c. The Consequent needs no proof The Antecedent is proved by instances Families have Family necessities which are larger than to be confined to a Closet and yet more private than to be brought still into the publick Assemblies of the Church 1. There are many worldly occasions about their Callings and Relations which its fit for them to mention among themselves but unfit to mentition before all the Congregation 2. There are many distempers in the hearts and lives of the members of the families and many miscarriages and differences and disagreements which must be taken up at home and which prayer must do much to cure and yet are not
fit to be brought to the ears of the Church-assemblies 3. And if it were fit to mention them all in publick yet the number of such cases would be so great as would overwhelm the Minister and confound the publick Worship nay one half of them in most Churches could not be mentioned 4. And such cases are of ordinary occurrence and therefore would ordinarily have all these inconveniences And yet there are many such cases that are not fit to be confined to our secret prayers each one by himself because 1. They often so sin together as maketh it fit that they consess and lament it together 2. And some mercies which they receive together its fit they seek and give thanks for together 3. And many works which they do together its fit they seek a blessing on together 4. And the presence of one another in Confession Petition and Thanksgiving doth tend to the increase of their fervour and warming of their hearts and engaging them the more to duty and against sin and is needful on the grounds laid down before Nay it is a kind of Family-schism in such cases to separate from one another and to pray in secret only as it is Church schism to separate from the Church-assemblies and to pray in families only Nature and Grace delight in Unity and abhor division And the Light of Nature and Grace engageth us to do as much of the work of God in Unity and Concord and Communion as we can Argument 20. If before the giving of the Law to Moses God was worshipped in families by his own appointment and this appointment be not yet reverst then God is to be worshipped in families still But the Antecedent is certain Therefore so is the consequent I think no man denyeth the first part of the Antecedent that before the flood in the families of the righteous and after till the establishment of a Priesthood God was worshipped in families or housholds It is a greater doubt whether then he had any other publick Worship When there were few or no Church assemblies that were larger than families no doubt God was ordinarily worshipped in families Every Ruler of a family then was as a Priest to his own family Cain and Abel offered their own Sacrifices so did Noah Abraham and Iacob If it be objected that all this ceased when the Office of the Priest was instituted and so deny the later part of my Antecedent I reply 1. Though sâ—me make a doubt of it whether the Office of Priesthood was instituted before Aarons time I think there is no great doubt to be made of it seeing we find a Priesthood then among other Nations who had it either by the light of Nature or by Tradition from the Church And Melchizedecks Priesthood who was a Type of Christ is expresly mentioned So that though family-worship was then the most usual yet some more publick worship there was 2. After the institution of Aarons Priesthood family worship continued as I have proved before yea the two Sacraments of Circumcision and the Passeover were celebrated in Families by the Master of the house Therefore Prayer was certainly continued in families 3. If that part of Worship that was afterward performed in Synagogues and publick Assemblies was appropriated to them that no whit proveth that the part which agreed to families as such was transferred to those Assemblies Nâ—y it is a certain proof that that part was left to families still because we find that the publick Assemblies never undertook it We find among them no prayer but Church-prayer and not that which was fitted to Families as such at all Nor is there a word of Scripture that speaketh of Gods reversing of his command or order for family-prayer or other proper family-worship Therefore it is proved to continue obligatory still Had I not been too long already I should have urged to this end the example of Iob in sacrificing daily for his Sons and of Esther's keeping a Fast with her Maids Hest. 4. 16. And Jer. 10. 25. Pour out thy fury on the Heathen that know thee not and on the families that call not on thy name It s true that by families here is meant Tribes of people and by calling on his Name is meant their worshipping the true God But yet this is spoken of all Tribes without exception great and small And Tribes in the beginning as Abrahams Isaacs Iacobs c. were confined to families And the argument holdeth from parâ—ty of reason to a proper family And that calling on Gods Name is put for his Worship doth more confirm us because it proveth it to be the most eminent part of Worship or else the whole would not be signified by it At least no reason can imagine it excluded So much for the proof of the fourth Proposition Objections answered Object 1. HAd it been a duty under the Gospel to pray in families we should certainly have found Object 1. it more expresly required in the Scripture Answ. 1. I have already shewed you that it is plainly required in the Scripture But men must not teach God how to speak nor oblige him to make all plain to blind perverted minds 2. Those things which were plainly revealed in the Old Testament and the Church then held without any contradiction even from the persecutors of Christ themselves might well be past over in the Gospel and taken as supposed acknowledged things 3. The General Precepts to pray alway with all prayer in all places c. being expressed in the Gospel and the Light of Nature making particular application of them to Families what need there any more 4. This reason is apparent why Scripture speaketh of it no more expresly Before Christs time the Worship of God was less spiritual and more ceremonial than afterward it was And therefore you find ofter mention of Circumcision and sacrificing than of Prayer And yet Prayer was still supposed to concurr And after Christs time on earth most Christian families were disturbed by persecution and Christians sold up all and lived in Community And also the Scripture History was to describe to us the state of the Churches rather than of particular families Object 2. Christ himself did not use to pray with his family as appeareth by the Disciples asking Object 2. him to teach them to pray and by the silence of the Scripture in this point Therefore it is no duty to us Answ. 1. Scripture silence is no proof that Christ did not use it All things are not written which he did 2. His Teâ—ching them the Lords Prayer and their desire of a common Rule of Prayer might consist with his usual praying with them At least with his using to pray with them after that though at first he did not use it 3 But it is the Consequence that I principally deny 1. Because Christ did afterwards call his servants to many duties which he put them not on at first as Sacraments Discipline preaching frequenter Praying c.
especially after the coming down of the Holy Ghost As they understood not many Articles of that faith till then so no wonder if they understood not many duties till then For Christ would have them thus suddenly instructed and fullyer sanctified by a Miracle that their Ministry might be more credible their Mission being evidently Divine and they being past the suspicion of forgery and deceit 2. And though it is evident that Christ did use to Bless the Meat and sing Hymns to God with his Disciples Luke 22. 17 18. Mar. 14. 22 23 26. Matth. 26. 27 28 30. and therefore it is very probable prayed with them often as Iohn 17. Yet it could not be expected that he should ordinarily be their mouth in such prayers as they daily needed His case and ours are exceedingly different His Disciples must daily confess their sins and be humbled for them and ask forgiveness but Christ had none of this to do They must pray for mortifying grace and help against sin but he had no sin to mortifie or pray against They must pray for the Spirit and the increase of their imperfect graces but Christ had fulness and perfection They must pray for many means to these ends and for help in using them and a blessing on them which he had no use for They must give thanks for pardon and conversion c. which Christ had no occasion to give thanks for So that having a High-Priest so much separate from sinners they had one that prayed for them but not one fit to joyn with them as their mouth to God in ordinary family-prayers such as they needed as Masters must do with their Families Obj. 3. God doth not require either vain or abominable prayers But family-prayers are ordinarily vain Object 3. and abominable Therefore c. The minor is proved thus The prayers of the wicked are abominable most families are wicked or have wicked persons Therefore c. Answ. 1. This is confessedly nothing against the Prayers of Godly families 2. The Prayers of a Godly master are not abominable nor vain because of the presence of others that are ungodly Else Christs prayers and blessings before-mentioned should have been vain or abominable because Iudas was there who was a Thief and Hypocrite And the Apostles and all Ministers Prayers should be so in all such Churches as that of Corinth Galatia Ephesus are described to have been 3. I refer you to my Method for Peace of Conscience how far the prayers of the wicked are or are not abominable The prayers of the wicked as wicked are abominable but not as they express their return to God and repenting of their wickedness It is not the abominable prayer that God commandeth but the faithful penitent prayer You mistake it as if the wicked man were not the person commanded to pray whereas you should rather say It is not the abominable prayer that is commanded him He is commanded to pray such prayers as are not abominable Even as Simon Magus Act. 8. to Repent and Pray and to seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near and to forsake his way c. Isa. 55. 6 7. Let the wicked pray thus and his prayer will not be abominable The command of praying implyeth the command of Repenting and departing from his wickedness For what is it to pray for Grace but to express to God their Desires of Grace It is not to tell God a lye by saying they desire that which they hate Therefore when we exhort them to pray we exhort them to such Desires Obj. 4. Many Masters of families cannot pray in their Families without a Book and that 's unlawful Object 4. Answ. 1. If their disability be Natural as in Ideots they are not fit to rule families If it be Moral and culpable they are bound to use the means to overcome it And in the mean time to use a Book or form rather than not to pray in their families at all Of the frequency and seasons of Family-Worship THE last part of my work is to speak of the fit Times of Family-Worship 1. Whether it should be every day 2. Whether twice a day 3. Whether Morning and Evening Answ. 1. Ordinarily it should be every day and twice a day and the Morning and Evening are ordinarily the fitest seasons 2. But extraordinarily some greater duty may intervene which may for that time disoblige us And the occasions of some Families may make that hour fit which is unfit to another For brevity I will joyn all together in the proof Arg. 1. We are bound to take all fit occasions and opportunities to worship God Families have daily Morning and Evening such occasions and opportunities therefore they are bound to take them Both Major and Minor are proved before Experience proveth that family-sins are daily committed and family mercies daily received and family-necessities daily do occur And Reason tells us 1. That it is seasonable every Morning to give God thanks for the Rest of the night past 2. And to beg direction protection and provisions and blessing for the following day 3. And that then our minds are freest from weariness and worldly care And so Reason telleth us that the Evening is a fit season to give God thanks for the mercies of the day and to confess the sins of the day and ask forgiveness and to pray for rest and protection in the night As nature and reason tell us how oft a man should eat and drink and how long he should sleep and what cloathing he should wear and Scripture need not tell you the particulars so if Scripture command you Prayer in General God may by providence tell you when and how oft you must pray Arg. 2. The Lords prayer directeth us daily to put up such prayers as belong to families Therefore c. Give us this day our daily bread It runs all in the plural number And the Reason of it will oblige families as well as individual persons Arg. 3. From 1 Thes. 5. 17. Pray without ceasing in all things give thanks â—l 4. 1 2. Masters give to your servants that which is just and equal knowing that ye also have a master in Heaven Continue in Prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving Col. 3. 17. whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Iesus giving thanks to God and the Father by him Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God It is easie for a man that is willing to see that less than twice a day doth not answer the command of praying without ceasing continually in every thing whatever ye do c. The phrases seeming to go much higher Arg. 4. Daniel prayed in his house thrice a day Therefore less than twice under the Gospel is to us unreasonable Arg. 5. 1 Tim. 4. 5. She that is a
Widow indeed and desolate trusteth in God and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day Night and day can be no less than Morning and Evening And if you say This is not Family-prayer I answer 1. It is all kind of Prayer belonging to her 2. And if it commend the less much more the greater Arg. 6. From Luk. 6. 14. 2. 37. 18. 17. Act. 26. 7. 1 Thes. 3. 10. 2 Tim. 1. 3. Rev. 7. 15. Nâ—h 1. 6. Psal. 88. 1. Josh. 1. 8. Psal. 1. 2. which shew that night and day Christ himself prayed and his servants prayed and meditated and read the Scripture Arg 7. Deut 6. 7. 11. 19. It is exprâ—sly commanded that Parents teach their Children the Word of God when they lye down and when they rise up And the parity of reason and conjunction of the word and prayer will prove that they should also pray with them lying down and rising up Arg. 8. For brâ—vity sake I offer you together Psal. 119. 164. David praised God seven times a day 145. 2. Every day will I bless thee Psal. 5. 3. my voiâ—e shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer to thee and will look up 59. 16. I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning 88. 13. In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee 92. 12. It is good to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises to thy name O mâ—st High to shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night 119. 147 148. I prevented the dâ—wning of the morning aâ—d cryed I hâ—ped in thy word mine eyes preveâ— the night watches that I might meditate on thy word 130. 6 My sâ—ul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning I say more than they that watch for the morning The Priests were to offer Sacrifices and thanks to God every morning 1 Chron. 23. 30. Exod 30. 7. 36. 3. Lev. 6. 12. 2 Chron. 13. 11. Ezek. 46. 13 14 15. Amos 4. 4. And Christians are a hâ—ly Priesthood to offer up sacrifices to God acceptable through Iesus Châ—ist 1 Pet. 2. 5 9. Expresly saith David Psal. 55. 17. Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice So Morning and Evening were Sacrifices and Burnt offerings offered to the Lord and there is at least equal reason that Gospel worship should be as frequent 1 Chron. 16. 40. 2 Chron. 2. 4. 13. 11. 31. 3. Ezr. 3. 3. 2 King 16. 15. 1 King 18. 29 36. Ezra 9. 5. And no doubt but they prayed with the Sacrifices Which David intimateth in comparing them Psal. 141. 2. Let my Prayer be set forth before thee as Incense and the lifting up of my hands aâ— the Evening sacrifice And God calleth for Prayer and praise as better than sacrifice Psal. 50. 14 15 23. All these I heap together for dispatch which fully shâ—w how frâ—quently Gods servants have been wont to Worship him and how often God expecteth it And you will all confess that it is reason that in Gospel times of greater light and holiness we should not come behind them in the times of the Law especially when Christ himself doth pray all night that had so little need in comparison of us And you may observe that these Scriptures speak of Prayer in general and limit it not to secresie and therefore they extend to all prayer according to opportunity No reason can limit all these examples to the most secret and least noble sort of prayer If but two or three are gathered together in his name Christ is especially among them If you say that by this rule we must as frequently pray in the Church-assemblies I answer The Church cannot ordinarily so oft assemble But when it can be without a greater inconvenience I doubt not but it would be a good work for many to meet the Minister daily for prayer as in some rich and populous Cities they may do I have been more tedious on this subject than a holy hungry Christian possibly may think necâ—ssary who needeth not so many arguments to perswade him to â—east his soul with God and to delight himself in the frequent exercises of faith and Love And if I have said less than the other sort of Readers shall think necessary let them know that if they will open their eyes and recover their appetites and feel their sins and observe their daily wants and dangers and get but a heart that Loveth God these Reasons then will seem sufficient to convince them of the need of so sweet and profitable and necessary a work And if they observe the difference between Praying and Prayerless families and care for their souls and for communion with God much fewer words than these may serve their turn It is a dead and graceless carnal heart that must be cured before these men will be well satisfied A better appetite would help their reason If God should say in general to all men You shall eat as oft as will do you good the sick stomach would say once a day and that but a little is enough and as much as God requireth when another would say Thrice a day is little enough A good and healthful Heart is a great help in the expounding of Gods word especially of his General Commandments That which men love not but are aweary of they will not easily believe to be their duty The new nature and holy Love and desires and experience of a sound believer do so far make all these Reasonings needless to him that I must confess I have written them principally to convince the carnal hypocrite and to stop the â—â—ouths of wrangling enemies CHAP. IV. General Directions for the Holy Government of Families § 1. THE Principal thing requisite to the right governing of Families is the Fitness of the Governours and the Governed thereto which is spoken of before in the Directions for the Constitution But if persons unfit for their Relations have joyned themselves together in a Family their first duty is to Repent of their former sin and rashness and presently to turn to God and seek after that fitness which is necessary to the right discharge of the duties of their several places And in the Governours of Families thâ—se three things are of greatest necessity hereunto I. Authority II. Skill III. Holiness and readiness of Will § 2. I Gen. Dir. Let Governours maintain their Authority in their Families For if once that be lost Direct 1. and you are despised by those that you should rule your word will be of no effect with them How to keep up Authorâ—ty you do but ride without a Bridle your power of Governing is gone when your Authority is lost And here you must first understand the Nature Use and Extent of your Authority For as your Relations are different to your Wife your Children and your Servants so
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
some that may inform you should hear them pray sometime that you may know their spirit and how they profit § 20. Direct 20. Put such Books into their hands as are meetest for them and engage them to Direct 20. read them when they are alone And ask them what they understand and remember of them And hold them not without necessity so hard to work as to allow them no time for reading by themselves But drive them on to work the harder that they may have some time when their work is done § 21. Direct 21. Cause them to teach one another when they are together Let their talk be profitable Direct 21. Let those that read best be reading sometime to the rest and instructing them and furthering their edification Their familiarity might make them very useful to one another § 22. Direct 22. Tire them not out with too much at once but give it them as they can receive it Direct 22. Narrow mouth'd bottles must not be filled as wider vessels § 23. Direct 23. Labour to make all sweet and pleasant to them and to that end sometime mix Direct 23. the reading of some profitable history as the Book of Martyrs and Clarkes Martyrologie and his Lives § 24. Direct 24. Lastly Entice them with kindnesses and rewards Be kind to your Children Direct 24. when they do well and be as liberal to your servants as your Condition will allow you For this maketh your persons acceptable first and then your instructions will be much more acceptable Nature teacheth them to Love those that Love them and do them good and to hearken willingly to those they love A small gift now and then might signifie much to the further benefit of their souls § 25. If any shall say that here is so much ado in all these directions as that few can follow Direct 25. them I intreat them to consult with Christ that dyed for them whether souls be not pretious and worth all this adoe And to consider how small a labour all this is in comparison of the everlasting end And to remember that all is Gain and pleasure and a delight to those that have holy hearts And to remember that the effects to the Church and Kingdom of such holy Government of families would quite over-compensate all the pains CHAP. XXIII Tit. 1. Directions for Prayer in General § 1. HE that handleth this Duty of PRAYER as it deserveth must make it the second The Stoicks say Orabit sapiens ac vâ—ta faciet bona à diis postulans Lacrt. it Zenone So that when Scneca saith Cur deos precibus fatigatis c. he only intendeth to reprove the slothful that think to have all done by prayer alone while they are idle and neglect the means Part in the Body of Divinity and allow it a larger and exacter Tractate than I here intend For I have before told you that as we have three Natural faculties An Understanding Will and Executive Power so these are qualified in the Godly with Faith Love and Obedience and have three particular Rules The Creed to shew us what we must Believe and in what Order The Lords Prayer to shew us what and in what order we must Desire and Love And the Decalogue to tell us what and in what order we must do Though yet these are so near kin to one another that the same actions in several respects belong to each of the Rules As the Commandments must be Believed and Loved as well as Obeyed and the matter of the Lords Prayer must be believed to be good and necessary as well as Loved and Desired and Belief and Love and Desire are commanded and are part of our obedience yet for all this they are not formally the same but divers And as we say that the Heart or Will is the man as being the Commanding faculty so Morally the Will the Love or Desire is the Christian and therefore the Rule of Desire or Prayer is a Principal part of true Religion The internal part of this Duty I partly touched before Tom. 1. Chap. 3. and the Church Part I told you why I past by Tom. 2. it being not left by the Government where we live to Private Ministers discussion save only to perswade men to obey what is established and commanded Therefore because I have omitted the later and but a little toucht upon the former I shall be the larger on it in this place to which for several Reasons I have reserved it § 2. Direct 1. See that you understand what Prayer is Even The expressing or acting of our Direct 1. Desires before another to move or some way procure him to grant them True Christian Prayer is The believing and serious expressing or acting of our lawful desires before God through Iesus our Mediator by the help of the Holy Spirit as a means to procure of him the grant of these desires Here note 1. That inward Desire is the soul of Prayer 2. The expressions or inward actings of them is as the Body of Prayer 3. To men it must be Desire so expressed as they may Plerumque hoc negotium plus gentibus quam sermonibus agitur August Epist. 121. understand it But to God the inward acting of Desires is a Prayer because he understandeth it 4. But it is not the acting of Desire simply in it self that is any Prayer For he may have Desires that offereth them not up to God with Heart or Voice But it is Desires as some way offered up to God or represented or acted towards him as a means to procure his blessing that is Prayer indeed § 3. Direct 2. See that you understand the Ends and Use of Prayer Some think that it is of Direct 2. no Use but only to move God to be willing of that which he was before unwilling of And therefore because that God is Immutable they think that Prayer is a Useless thing But Prayer is Useful 1. As an act of Obedience to Gods Command 2. As the performance of a condition without which he hath not promised us his Mercy and to which he hath promised it 3. As a Means to actuate and express and increase our own Humility Dependance Desire Trust and Hope in God and so to make us capable and fit for Mercy who else should be uncapable and unfit 4. And so though God be not changed by it in himself yet the Real change that is made by it on our selves doth infer a change in God by meer Relation or Extrinsical denomination he being one that is according to the tenour of his own established Law and Covenant engaged to disown or punish the Unbelieving Prayerless and Disobedient and after engaged to Own or pardon them that are Faithfully Desirâ—us and Obedient And so this is a Relative or at least a denominative change So that in Prayer Faith and Fervency are so far from being useless that they as much prevail for the thing
desired by qualifying our selves for it as if indeed they moved the mind of God to a real change Even as he that is in a Boat and by his hook layeth hold of the banck doth as truly by his labour get nearer the banck as if he drew the banck to him § 4. Direct 3. Labour above all to know that God to whom you pray To know him as your Maker Direct 3. your Redeemer and your Regenerater as your Owner your Ruler and your Father Felicity and End as All-sufficient for your relief in the infiniteness of his Power his Wisdom and his Goodness and to know your own dependance on him and to understand his Covenant or Promises upon what terms he is engaged and resolved either to give his mercies or to deny them He that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. He that calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved But how shall they call on him on whom they have not believed Rom. 10. 13 14. § 5. Direct 4. Labâ—ur when you are about to pray to stir uâ— in your souls the moâ—t lively Direct 4. and â—â—riâ—uâ— bâ—lief of thâ—se uâ—seen things that your Prayers have respect to and to pray as if you saw them all the while Even as if you saw God in his Glâ—ry and saw Heaven and Hell the glorified and the damned and Iesus Christ your Mediator interceding for you in the Heavens As you would pray if your eyes beheld all these so strive to pray while you believe them And say to your selves Are they not as sure as if I saw them Are they not made known by the Son and Spirit of God § 6. Direct 5. Labour for a constant aâ—cuaintance with your selves your sins and manifold Direct 5. wants and necâ—ssiâ—ies and also to take an actual special notice of your case when you go to prayer If you get not a former câ—â—stant acquaintance with your own case you cannot expect to know it aright upon a suddâ—n as you go to pray And yet if you do not actually survâ—y your hâ—â—â—â—ts and lives when you go to prayer your souls will be unhumbled and want that lively sense of your necessities which must put life into your prayers Know well what sin is and what Gods wrath and Hell and Iudgement is and whâ—t sin you have committed and what duty you have omitted and failed in and what wants and corruptions are yet within you and what mercy and grace you stand in need of and then all this will make you pray and pray to purpose with all your hearts But when men are wilful strangers to themselves and never seriously look backwards or inwards to see what is amiss and wanting nor look not forwards to see the danger that is before them no wonder if their hearts be dead and dull and if they are as unfit to pray as a sleeping man to work § 7. Direct 6. See that you hate hypâ—crisie and let not your lips go against or without your hearts Direct 6. but that your hearts be the spring of all your words That you love not sin and be not â—â—th to 〈…〉 quum navis tâ—â—pestaâ—e qâ—â—â—â—e eâ—uâ— 1 lique Dâ—â—s invocarent Sâ—lâ—te inquit neâ—vâ—s â—â—c illi nâ—â—igarâ— sâ—ntâ—ant 〈…〉 p 55. leave it when you seem to pray against it and that you truly desire the grace which you ask and ask not for that which you would not have And that you be ready to use the lawful means to get the mercies which you ask and be not like those lazy wishers that will pray God to give them increase at harvest when they lye in bed and will neither plow or sow or that pray him to save them from fire or water or danger while they run into it or will not be at the pains to go out of the way O what abundance of wretches do offer up hypocritical mock-prayers to God! blaspheming him thereby as if he were an Idol and knew not their hypocrisie and searched not the hearts Alas how commonly do men pray in publick that the rest of their lives hereafter may be pure and holy that hate purity and holiness at the heart and deride and oppose that which they sâ—em to pray for As Austin confesseth of himself before he was converted that he prayed against his filthy sin and yet was afraid lest God should grant his prayers So many pray against the sins which they would not be delivered from or would not use the means that is necessary to their conquest and deliverance Let him that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Psal. 66. 18. See Ezek. 14. 3 4 14. Alas how easie is it for anâ— ungodly person to learn to say a few words by rote and to run them over without any sense of what he speaketh while the tongue is a stranger to the heart and speaketh not according to its desires § 8. Direct 7. Search your hearts and watch them carefully lest some beloved Vanity alienate Direct 7. them from the work in hand and turn away your thoughts or prepossess your affections so that you want them when you should use them If the mind be set on other matters prayer will be a heartless lifeless thing Alas what a dead and pitiful work is the prayer of one that hath his heart ensnared in the Love of money or in any ambitious or covetous design The thoughts will easily follow the affections § 9. Direct 8. Be sure that you pray for nothing that is disagreeable to the will of God and Direct 8. that is not for the good of your selves or others or for the honour of God And therefore take heed lest an erring judgement or carnal desires or passions should corrupt your prayers and turn them into sin If men will ignorantly pray to God to do them hurt it is a mercy to them if God will but pardon and deny such prayers and a judgement to grant them And it is an easie thing for fleshly interest or partiality or passion to blind the judgement and consequently to corrupt mens prayers An Ambitious or Covetous man will easily be drawn to pray for the grant of his sinful desires and think it would be for his good And there is scarce an heretical or erroneous person but thinketh that it would be good that the world were all reduced to his opinion and all the opposers of it were born down There are few zealous Antinomians Anabaptists or any other Dividers of the Church but they put their Opinions usually into their prayers and plead with God for the interest of their Sâ—cts and Errors And its like that the Jews that had a persecuting Zeal for God Rom. 10. 2. did pray according to that Zeal as well as persecute as its like Paul himself
prayed against the Christians while he ignorantly persecuted them And they that think they do God service by killing his servants no doubt would pray against them as the Papists and others do at this day Be specially careful therefore that your Iudgements and Desires be found and holy before you offer them up to God in prayer For it is a most vile abuse of God to beg of him to do the Devils work and as most malitious and erroneous persons do to call him to their help against himself his servants and his cause § 10. Direct 9. Come alwayes to God in the humility that beseemeth a condemned sinner and in Direct 99. the faith and boldness that beseemeth a Son and a member of Christ Do nothing in the least conceit and confidence of a worthiness in your selves but be as confident in every lawful request as if you saw your Glorified Mediator interceding for you with his Father Hope is the Life of Prayer and all endeavour and Christ is the Life of Hope If you pray and think you shall be never the better for it your prayers will have little life And there is no hope of success but through our powerful intercessor Therefore let both a Crucified and Glorified Christ be alwayes before your eyes in prayer Not in a Picture but in the thoughts of a believing mind Instead of a Crucifix let some such sentence of holy Scripture be written before you where you use to pray as Iohn 20. 17. GO TO MY BRETHREN and SAY UNTO THEM I ASCEND UNTO MY FATHER and YOUR FATHER TO MY GOD and YOUR GOD. Or Heb. 4. 14. We have a great High-Priest that is passed into the Heavens Iesus the Son of God ver 15 16. that was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy c. Heb. 6. 9 20. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast and that entreth into that within the vail whither the fore runner is for us entred Heb. 7. 25. He is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them John 14. 13 14. If ye ask any thing in my name I will do it Christ and the Promise must be the ground of all your confidence and hope § 11. Direct 10. Labour hard with your hearts all the while to keep them in a reverent serious Direct 10. fervent frame and suffer them not to grow remiss and cold to turn prayer into lip-labour and lifeless formality or into hypocritical affected seeming fervency when the heart is senseless though the voice be earnest The heart will easily grow dull and customary and hypocritical if it be not carefully watcht and diligently followed and stirred up The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much Jam. 5. 16. A cold prayer sheweth a heart that is cold in desiring that which is prayed for and therefore is unfit to receive the mercy God will make you know that his mercy is not contemptible but worthy your most earnest prayers § 12. Direct 11. For the matter and order of your Desires and Prayers take the Lords Prayer Direct 11. Of the Method of the Lords Prayer see Ramus de Râ—lig Christ. l. 3. c. 3 Ludolphus de vita Christi par 1. c. 37. Peâ—kins iâ— orat dom Dr. Boys on the Liturgie p. 5 6 7. as your special Rule and labour to understand it well For those that can make use of so Brief an Explication I shall give a little help A Brief Explication of the Method of the LORDS PRAYER The Lords Prayer containeth I. The Address or Preface In which are described or implyed I. To whom the Prayer is made 1. Who he is GOD Not Creatures Saints or Angels 2. How Related to us He is OUR FATHER which comprehendeth fundamentally that he is 1. Our Creator And therefore 1. Our Owner or Absolute Lord. 2. Our Redeemer And therefore 2. Our Ruler or Supream King 3. Our Regenerater To the regenerate And therefore 3. Our Benefactor and Chief Good and so Our Felicity and Our End 3. What he is in his Attributes WHICH ART IN HEAVEN Which signifieth that therefore he is 1. Almighty and Able to grant all that we ask and to relieve and help us in every strait 2. All knowing Our hearts and wants and all things being open to his sight 3. Most Good from whom and by whom and to whom are all things the fountain the disposer and the End of all on whose bounty and influence all subsist And the present Tense ART doth intimate his Eternity In this one word is not only implyed all these Attributes of God but also our hearts are directed whither to look for their Relief and Directioâ— now and their Felicity for ever and called off from Earthly dependaâ—â—es and expectations of Happiness and Rest and to look for all from Heaven and at last in Heaven II. Who are the Petitioners Who are 1. Man as to his Being 2. By Relation Gods Children 1. By Creation So All are and therefore All may thus far call him Father 2. By Redemption As All are as to the sufficient Price and satisfaction 3. By Regeneration And so only the Regenerate are Children 1. His Own 2. His Subjects 3. His Beloved and Beneficiariâ—s that Live upon Him and to Him as their End 3. By Quality 1. Dependant on God 2. Necessitous 3. Sinners Yet 1. Loving God as their Father Yet 2. Loving themselves as Men Yet 3. Loving others as Brethren All which is signified in the word OUR II. The Prayer or Petitions In two Parts Of which I. The first Part is accoring to the Order of Estimation Intention and Desire and is 1. For the End simply which is GOD in the word THY repeated in every Petition 2. For the End respectively in the interest of GOD and that is in I. The Highest or Ultimate that is The Glory of God HALLOWED BE THY NAME II. The Highest Means of his Glory THY KINGDOM COME that is Let the World be subject to thee their Creator and Redeemer the Universal King III. The next Means being the effect of this THY WILL BE DONE that is Let thy Laws be fulfilled and thy disposals submitted to 3. For the Lower End even the subject of these Means which is the Publick Good of Mankind the World and Church IN EARTH that is Let the world be subjected to thee and the Church obey thee which will be the greatest blessing to them Our selves being included in the world And the measure and pattern is added AS IT IS IN HEAVEN that is Let the Earth be conformed as near as may be to the Heavenly pattern So that this Part of the Lords Prayer proceeding in the order of Excellency and Intention directeth us I. To make God our Ultimate Highest End and to desire his Interest first and
to express his Desires so far as they are good 3. A wicked mans wicked prayers are never accepted but a wicked mans prayers which are for good things from common grace are so far accepted as that they are some means conducing to his reformation and though his person be still unjustified and these Prayers sinful yet the total omission of them is a greater sin 4. A wicked man is bound at once to Repent and Pray Act. 8. 22. Isa. 55. 6 7. And when ever Gods bids him ask for grace he bids him desire grace And to bid him Pray is to bid him Repent and be of a better mind Therefore those that reprove Ministers for perswading wicked men to Pray reprove them for perswading them to Repentance and good desires But if they Pray without that Repentance which God and man exhort them to the sin is theirs But all their labour is not lost â— their desires fall short of saving sincerity They are under obligations to many duties which tend to bring them nearer Christ and which they may do without special saving grace § 12. Quest. 12. May a wicked man pray the Lords Prayer or be exhorted to use it Quest. 12. Answ. 1. The Lords Prayer in its full and proper sense must be spoken by a Penitent believing Heb. 11. 6. Rom. 10. 14. justified person For in the full sense no one else can call him Our Father though in a limited sense the wicked may And they cannot desire the Glory of God and the coming of his Kingdom nor the dâ—ing of his will on Earth as it is in Heaven and this sincerely without true grace especially those enemies of holiness that think it too much strictness to do Gods will on Earth ten thousand degrees lower than it is done in Heaven Nor can they put up one Petition of that Prayer sincerely according to the proper sense no not to pray for their Daily bread as a means of their support while they are doing the will of God and seeking first his Glory and his Kingdom But yet it 's possible for them to speak these words from such common desires as are not so bad as none at all § 13. Quest. 13. Is it Idolatry to Pray to Saints or Angels Or is it alwayes sinful Quest. 13. Answ. I love not to be too quarrelsome with other mens devotions But 1. I see not how 〈…〉 65 â— Isâ— 6â— 16. Psal 145. 18. 1 Kâ—â—e 8. 3â— Aâ—â— 1. 24. Rom. 8. 27. 10. 14. Psal. 62. 8. Mat. 4. 9. Praying to an Angel or a departed Saint can be excused from sin Because it supposeth them to be every where present or to be Omniscient and to know the heart yea to know at once the hearts of all men or else the speaker pretendeth to know when the Saint or Angel is present and heareth him and when not And because the Scripture doth nowhere signifie that God would have us pray to any such Saints or Angels but signifieth enough to satisfie us of the contrary 2. But all prayer to them is not Idolatry but some is and therefore we must distinguish if we will judge righteously 1. To pray to Saints or Angels as supposed Omnipresent Omniscient or Omnipotent is flâ—t Idolatry 2. To pray to them to Forgive us our sins against God or to Justifie or Sanctifie or Redeâ—m or save us from Hell or any thing which belongeth to God only to do is no better than Idolatry 3. But to pray to them only to do that which belongeth to the guardian or charitable office that is committed to them and to think that though they are not Omnipresent nor Omniscient â—ev 22. 8 9. â—o 2. 18. nor you know not whether they hear you at this time or not yet you will venture your prayers at uncertainty it being but so much labour lost this I take to be sinfully superstitious but not Idolatry 4. But to pray to living Saints or Sinners for that which belongeth to them to give is no sin at all § 14. Quest. 14. Is a man bound to pray ordinarily in his family Quest. 14. Answ. I have answered this affirmatively before and proved it One grain of grace would answer it better than arguments can do § 15. Quest. 15. Must the same man pray secretly that hath prayed in his family or with others Quest. 15. Answ. 1. Distinguish between those that were the speakers and those that were not and 2. Between those that have leisure from greater or more urgent duties and those that have not And so 1. Those that are free from the urgency of all other duties which at that time are greater should pray both in the family and in secret especially if they were not themselves the speakers usually they will have the more need of secret Prayer because their hearts in publick may easilier flag and much of their case may be omitted 2. But those that have more urgent greater duties mâ—â— take up a Mark that Isay but At 〈…〉 at that time with family prayer alone with secret ejaculations especially if they were the Speakers having there put up the same requests as they would do in secret § 16. Quest. 16. Is it best to keep set hours for prayer or to take the time which is fittest at present Quest. 16. Answ. Ordinarily set times will prove the fittest times and to leave the time undetermined and uncertain will put all out of order and multiply impediments and hinder duty But yet when extraordinary cases make the ordinary time unfit a fitter time must be taken § 17. Quest. 17. Is it lawful to joyn in family or Church prayers with ungodly men Quest. 17. Answ. I joyn both together because the cases little differ For the Pastor hath the Government of the people in Church-worship as the Master of the family hath in family-worship You may choose at first whether you will be a member of the Church or family if you were not born to it as your priviledge But when you are a member of either you must be Governed as members And to the case 1. You must distinguish between Professed wicked men and those that sin against their profession 2. And between a family or Church that is totally wicked and that which is mixt of good and bad 3. And between those wicked men whose presence is your sin because you have power to remove them and those whose presence is not your sin nor the matter in your power 4. And between one that may yet choose of what family he will be and one that may not And so I answer 1. If it be the fault of the Master of the family or the Pastors of the Church that such wicked men are there and not cast out then it is their sin to joyn with them because it is their duty to remove them But that is not the case of the fellow-servants or people that have no power 2. If that wicked men profess
with the holy Praise of God from day to day As he that is acquainted with all that is in any Book can copiously discourse of it when he that knoweth not what is in it hath little to say of it so he that knoweth God and his works and himself and his sins and wants is acquainted with the best Prayer Book and hath alwayes a full heap of matter before him when ever he cometh to speak to God 3. Let him study the mysterie of mans Redemption and the Person and Office and Covenant and Grace of Christ and he need not want matter for prayer or praise A very Child if he see but a Pedlars pack opened where there are abundance of things which he desireth will learn Rev 3. 17 18. without-book to say O Father buy me this and give me that c. So will the soul that seeth the treasuries and riches of Christ. 4. Let him know the extent of the Law of God and the meaning of the ten Commandments If he know but what sins are forbidden in each Commandment and what duties are required he may find matter enough for Confession and Petition And therefore the view of such a brief Exposition of the Commandments as you may find in Mr. Brinsley's True-Watch and in Dr. Downams and Mr. Whateleys Tables will be a present furniture for such a use especially in dayes of humiliation So it will also to have a particular understanding of the Creed and the Lords Prayer which will furnish you with much matter 5. Study well the Temptations which you carry about you in your flesh and meet with in the world and are suggested by the Tempter and think of the many duties you have to do and the many dangers and sufferings to undergo and you will never be unfurnished for matter for your prayers 6. Observe the daily passages of Providence to your selves and others Mark how things go with your souls every day and hearken how it goeth with the Church of God and mark also how it goeth with your neighbours and sure you will find matter enough for prayer 7. Think of the Heavenly Joyes that you are going to and the Streets of the New Ierusalem will be large enough for faith to walk in 8. For words be acquainted with the phrase of Scripture and you will find provisions for all occasions Read Dr. Wilkins Book called The Gift of Prayer or Mr. Brinsleyes Watch or Mr. El. Par's Abba Father 9. Keep up the heart in a reverend serious lively frame and it will be a continual spring to furnish you with Matter When a dead and barren heart hath a dry and sleepy tongue 10. Ioyn as oft as you can with those that are full and copious in prayer For example and use will be very great helps 11. Quench not the Spirit of God that must assist you 12. In case of necessity use those Books or Forms which are more full than you can be your selves till you come to ability to do better without them Read further the Directions Tom. 1. Chap. 6. Tit. 2. for more § 31. Quest. 31. How should a Christian keep up an ordinary fervency in prayer Quest. 31. How to keep up fervency in prayer Answ. 1. See that knowledge and faith provide you Matter For as the fire will go out if there be not fewell so fervency will decay when you are dry and scarce know what to say or do not well believe what you understand 2. Clog not the body either with overmuch eating and drinking or over-tiring labours For an active body helpeth much the activity of the mind And the holiest person will be able but poorly to exercise his fervency under a dull or languishing body 3. Rush not suddenly upon prayer out of a crowd of other businesses or before your last worldly cares or discourses be washed clean out of your minds In Study and Prayer how certain a truth is it that Non bene fit quod occupato animo fit Hieron Epist. 143. ad Paulin. That work is not well done which is done with a mind that is prepossessed or busied about other matters That mind must be wholly free from all other present thoughts or business that will either Pray or Study well 4. Keep a tender heart and conscience that is not senseless of your own concernments For all your prayers must needs be sleepy if the heart and conscience be once hardned seared or fallen asleep 5. Take more pains with your hearts than with your tongues Remember that the success of your work lyeth most on them Bear not with their sluggishness Do by them as you would do by your Child or Servant that sleepeth by you at prayer You will not let them snort on but jog them till you have awakened them So do by your hearts when you find them dull 6. Live as in the continual presence of God but labour to apprehend his special presence when you are about to speak to him Ask your hearts how they would behave themselves if they saw the Lord or but the lowest of his holy Angels 7. Let faith be called up to see Heaven and Hell as open all the while before you and such a fight will surely keep you serious 8. Keep death and judgement in your continual remembrance and expectation Remember how all your prayers will be lookt back upon Look not for long life Remember that this prayer for ought you know may be your last but certainly you have not long to pray Pray therefore as a dying man should do 9. Study well the unspeakable iâ—cessity of your souls If you prevail not for pardon and grace and preservation you are undone and lost for ever Remember that necessity is upon you and Heaven or Hell are at the end and you are praying for more than a thousand lives 10. Study well the unspeakable excellency of those mercies which you pray for O think how blessed a life it would be if you could know God more and love him more and live a blameless heavenly life and then live with Christ in Heaven for ever Study these mercies till the flames of Love put life into your prayers 11. Study well the exceeding encouragements that you have to Pray and Hope If your Hope decay your fervour will decay Think of the unconceivable Love of God the astonishing mercy shewed to you in your Redeemer and in the helps of the Holy Spirit and how Christ is now interceding for you Think of these till faith make glad your heart And in this gladness let Praise and thanksgiving have ordinarily no small share in your prayers for it will tire out the heart to be alwayes poreing on its own distempers and discourage it to look on nothing but its infirmities And then a sad discouraged temper will not be so lively a temper as a thankful praiseful joyful temper is For Laetitia loquax res est atque ostentatrix sui Gladness is a very expressive thing and apt to shew
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
confirm some confederacies or oaths of secresie for rebellions or other unlawful designes as the Powder-plotters in England did § 5. 4. Nor is it any other than impious prophanation of these sacred Mysteries for the Priest to constrain or suffer notoriously ignorant and ungodly persons to receive them either to make themselves Non absque probatione examine paâ—em ilâ—un praebendum esse neque nâ—vâ—s nâ—que vâ—â—er bus Chrianâ—s Quod siquis est fornâ—â—a ' oâ— aâ—t ebriosus aut idoâ—is serviens cum ejusmodi etiam communem cibum capere vetat Aposlo'us nedum coelesti mensa communicare saith a Iesâ—itâ— Acosta l. 6. 10. And after Neque enim ubi perspecta est superstitionis antiquae aut ebâ—iositatis aut foedae consuetudâ—â—â—â—s maculâ— â—d â—ltare Indus debet admitti nisi contraria opera illam manifeste diligenter eluerit Christianis concedatur sed non-Christianâ— dignis morâ—buâ— subâ—â—aâ—atur p. 549. believe that they are indeed the Children of God or to be a means which ungodly men should use to make them godly or which infidels or impenitent persons must use to help them to Repentance and faith in Christ. For though there is that in it which may become a means of their conversion as a Thief that stealeth a Bible or Sermon Book may be converted by it yet is it not to be used by the receiver to that end For that were to tell God a lye as the means of their Conversion For whosoever cometh to receive a sealed pardon doth thereby profess repentance as also by the words adjoyned he must do and whosoever Taketh and Eateth and drinketh the bread and wine doth actually profess thereby that he Taketh and applyeth Christ himself by faith And therefore if he do neither of these he lyeth openly to God And lies and false Covenants are not the appointed means of Conversion Not that the Minister is a lyar in his delivery of it For he doth but conditionally seal and deliver Gods Covenant and benefits to the Receiver to be his If he truly Repent and Believe But the Reciever himself lyeth if he do not actually Repent and Believe as he there professeth to do § 6. 5. Also it is an impious prophanation of the Sacrament if any Priest for the love of filthy lucre shall give it to those that ought not to receive it that he may have his fees or offerings or that the Priest may have so much money that is bequeathed for saying a Mass for such or such a soul. § 7. 6. And it is an odious prophanation of the sacrament to use it as a League or bond of faction to gather persons in to the Party and tye them fast to it that they may depend upon the Priest and his faction and interest may thereby be strengthened and he may seem to have many followers § 8. 7. And it is a dangerous abuse of it to receive it that you may be pardoned or sanctified or saved barely by the work done or by the outward exercise alone As if God were there obliged to give you grace while you strive not with your own hearts to stir them up to Love or desire or faith or obedience by the means that are before you Or as if God would pardon and save you for eating so much bread and drinking so much wine when the Canon biddeth you Or as if the Sacrament conveyed grace like as Charmes are supposed to work by saying over so many words § 9. 8. Lastly It is no appointed end of this Sacrament that the Receiver thereby profess himself certain of the sincerity of his own Repentance and faith For it is not managed on the ground of such certainty only by the Receiver much less by the Minister that delivereth it But only he professeth that as far as he can discern by observing his own heart he is truly willing to have Christ and his benefits on the terms that they are offered and that he doth consent to the Covenant which he is there to renew Think not therefore that the Sacrament is instituted for any of these mistaken ends § 10. Direct 2. Distinctly understand the parts of the Sacrament that you may distinctly use them Direct 2. and not do you know not what This Sacrament containeth these three parts 1. The Consecration Q. What are the parts of the Sacrament of the Bread and Wine which maketh it the Representative Body and Blood of Christ. 2. The Representation and Commemoration of the Sacrifice of Christ. 3. The Communion or Communication by Christ and Reception by the people § 11. I. In the Consecration the Church doth first offer the creatures of Bread and Wine to be accepted of God to this Sacred Use And God accepteth them and blesseth them to this use which he signifieth both by the words of his own Institution and by the Action of his Ministers and their Benediction They being the Agents of God to the people in this Accepting and Blessing as they are the Agents of the people to God in Offering or Dedicating the creatures to this use § 12. This Consecration having a special respect to God the Father in it we acknowledge his three grand Relations 1. That he is the Creator and so the Owner of all the Creatures for we offer them to him as his own 2. That he is our Righteous Governour whose Law it was that Adam and we have broken and who required satisfaction and hath received the sacrifice and attonement and hath dispensed with the strict and proper execution of that Law and will rule us hereafter by the Law of Grace 3. That he is our Father or Benefactor who hath freely given us a Redeemer and the Covenant of grace whose Love and favour we have forfeited by sin but desire and hope to be Reconciled by Christ. § 13. As Christ himself was Incarnate and true Christ before he was sacrificed to God and was sacrificed to God before that sacrifice be communicated for life and nourishment to souls so in the Sacrament Consecration must first make the Creature to be the flesh and blood of Christ representative and then the sacrificing of that flesh and blood must be represented and commemorated and then the sacrificed flesh and blood communicated to the Receivers for their spiritual life § 14. II. The Commemoration chiefly but not only respecteth God the Son For he hath ordained that these consecrated Representations should in their manner and measure supply the room of his Bodily presence while his body is in Heaven and that thus as it were in effigie in representation he might be still Crucified before the Churches eyes and they might be affected as if they had seen him on the Cross. And that by faith and Prayer they might as it were offer him up to God that is might shew the Father that Sacrifice once made for sin in which they trust and for which it is that they expect all the acceptance of their persons with God
seduced to think all proper Communion of Churches lyeth in that Sacrament and to be more prophanely bold in abusing many other parts of worship 5. There are better means by Teaching and Discipline to keep the Sacrament from contempt than the omitting or displacing of it 6. Every Lords Day is no ofter then Christians need it 7. The frequency will teach them to Live prepared and not only to make much ado once a Moneth or Quarter when the same work is neglected all the year beside Even as one that liveth in continual expectation of death will live in continual preparation when he that expecteth it but in some grievous sickness will then be frightned into some seeming preparations which are not the habit of his soul but laid by again when the disease is over 2. But yet I must add that in some undisciplin'd Churches and upon some occasions it may be longer omitted or seldomer used No duty is a duty at all times And therefore extraordinary cases may raise such impediments as may hinder us a long time from this and many other priviledges But the ordinary faultiness of our imperfect hearts that are apt to grow customary and dull is no good reason why it should be seldome Any more than why other special duties of Worship and Church-communion should be seldome Read well the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians and you will find that they were then as bad as the true Christians â—â—e now and that even in this Sacrament they were very culpable and yet Paul seeketh not to cure them by their seldomer communicating § 21. Quest. 3. Are all the members of the visible Church to be admitted to this Sacrament or Quest. 3. communicate Answ. All are not to seek it or to take it because many may know their own unfitness when the Church or Pastors know it not But all that come and seek it are to be admitted by the Pastors except such Children Ideots ignorant persons or Hereticks as know not what they are to receive and do and such as are notoriously wicked or scandalous and have not manifested their repentance But then it is presupposed that none should be numbered with the adult members of the Church but those that have personally owned their Baptismal Covenant by a Credible Profession of true Christianity § 22. Quest. 4. May a man that hath knowledge and civility and common gifts come and Quest. 4. take this Sacrament if he know that he is yet void of true Repentance and other saving Grace Answ. No For he then knoweth himself to be one that is uncapable of it in his present state § 23. Quest. 5. May an ungodly man receive this Sacrament who knoweth not himself to be Quest. 5. ungodly Answ. No For he ought to know it and his sinful ignorance of his own condition will not make his sin to be his duty nor excuse his other faults before God § 24. Quest. 6. Must a sincere Christian receive that is uncertain of his sincerity and in continual Quest. 6. doubting Answ. Two preparations are necessary to this Sacrament The general preparation which is a state of grace and this the doubting Christian hath And the particular preparation which consisteth in his present actual fitness And all the question is of this And to know this you must further distinguish between Immediate duty and more Remote and between the degrees of doubtfulness in Christians 1. The nearest immediate duty of the doubting Christian is to use the means to have his doubts resolved till he know his case and then his next duty is to receive the Sacrament And both these still remain his duty to be performed in this order And if he say I cannot be resolved when I have done my best yet certainly it is some sin of his own that keepeth him in the dark and hindereth his assurance and therefore Duty ceaseth not to be duty the Law of Christ still obligeth him both to get assurance and to receive and the want both of the knowledge of his state and of Receiving the Sacrament are his continual sin if he lye in it never so long through these scruples though it be an infirmity that God will not condemn him for For he is supposed to be in a state of grace But you will say What is still he cannot be resolved whether he have true faith and Repentance or not What should he do while he is in doubt I answer It is one thing to ask what is his duty in this case and another thing to ask Which is the smaller or less dangerous sin Still his duty is both to get the knowledge of his heart and to communicate But while he sinneth through infirmity in failing of the first were he better also omit the other or not To be well resolved of that you must discern 1. Whether his judgement of himself do rather incline to think and hope that he is sincere in his repentance and faith or that he is not 2. And whether the consequents are like to be good or bad to him If his hopes that he is sincere be as great or greater than his fears of the contrary then there is no such ill consequent to be feared as may hinder his communicating but it is his best way to do it and wait on God in the use of his Ordinance But if the perswasion of his gracelesness be greater than the hopes of his sincerity then he must observe how he is like to be affected if he do communicate If he find that it is like to clear up his mind and increase his hopes by the actuating of his grace he is yet best to go But if he find that his heart is like to be overwhelmed with horror and sunk into despair by running into the supposed guilt of unworthy Receiving then it will be worse to do it than to omit it Many such fearful Christians I have known that are fain many years to absent themselves from the Sacrament because if they should receive it while they are perswaded of their utter unworthiness they would be swallowed up of desperation and think that they had taken their own damnation As the twenty fifth Article of the Church of England saith the unworthy receivers do So that the chief sin of such a Doubting Receiver is not that he receiveth though he doubt for doubting will not excuse us for the sinful omission of a duty no more of this than of Prayer or Thanksgiving But only Prudence requireth such a one to forbear that which through his own distemper would be a means of his despair and ruine As that Physick or food how good soever is not to be taken which would kill the taker Gods Ordinances are not appointed for our destruction but for our edification and so must be used as tendeth thereunto Yet to those Christians who are in this case and dare not communicate I must put this Question How dare you so long refuse it He that
sacrilegum est quodcunque humano furore instituitur ut dispositio Divina violetuâ— Cyprian Eccles. 5. 1 2. â—ev 10. 1 2 3. Rom. 10. 2 3. § 21. Direct 10. See that you perform every part of Worship to the proper end to which it is appointed Direct 10. both as to the ultimate remote and nearest end The End is essential to these Relative duties If you intend not the right end you make another thing of it As the Preaching of a Sermon to edifie 1 Thes. 2. 4. Col. 1 10. Joh. 8. 29. 1 Cor. 7. 32. Heb. 11. 6. 1 Joh. 3. 22. the Church or putting up a prayer to procure Gods blessings is not the same thing as a Stage-players prophane repeating the same words in scorn of Godliness or an Hypocrites using them for commodity or applause The Ultimate end of all worship and all moral actions is the same even the Pleasing and Glorifying God 1 Cor. 10. 31. 2 Tim. 2. 4. Besides which every part of Worship hath its proper nearest end These must not only be distinctly known but actually intended It is God in Christ that a holy worshipper thirsteth after and seeketh for in every part of worship either to know more of God and of his will and blessings or to have some more Communion with him or some further grace communicated from him to receive his pardoning or cleansing or quickening or confirming Psal. 42. Psal. 84. or comforting or exalting grace to be honoured or delighted in his holy service or to make known his grace and Glory for the good of others and the honour of his name Here it is that God proclaimeth his name as Exod. 34. 6. The ordinances of Gods Worship are like the Tree in which Zacheus climbed up being of himself too low to have a sight of Christ. Here we come to learn the will of God for our salvation and must enter the Assembly with such resolutions as Cornelius and his Company met Act. 10. 33. We are all here met to hear all things commanded thee of God and as Act. 2. 37. and Act. 16. 30. to learn what we must do to be saved Hither we come for that holy light which may shew us our sin and shew us the grace which we have received and shew us the unspeakable love of God till we are humbled for sin and lifted up by faith in Christ and can with Thomas as it were put our fingers into his wounds and say in assurance My Lord and my God and as Psal. 48. 14. This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto death Here we do as it were with Mary sit at the feet of Jesus to hear his word Luk. 10. 39. that fire from Heaven may come down upon our hearts and we may say Did not our hearts burn within us while he spake to us and while he opened to us the Scriptures Luk. 24. 32. Here we cry to him as the blind man Lord that I may Mark 10 51. receive my sight We cry here to the Watchmen Cant. 3. 3. saw ye him whom my soul loveth Here we are in his banqueting house under the banner of his Love Cant. 2. 4. We have here the sealing and quickenings of his spirit the mortification of our sin the increase of grace and a prospect into life eternal and a foresight of the endless happiness there See then that you come to the Worship of God with these intentions and expectations that if God or Conscience call to you as God did sometime to Elias what dost thou here you may truly answer I came to seek the Lord my God and to learn his will that I might do it And that your sweet delights may make you say Psal. 84. 4. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they will be still praising thee If thou come to the Worship of God in meer custome or to make thy carnal heart believe that God will forgive thee because thou so far servest him or to quiet thy Conscience with the doing of a formal task of duty or to be seen of men or that thou maist not be thought ungodly if these be thy ends thou wilâ— speed accordingly A Holy soul cannot live upon the air of mans applause nor upon the shell of Ordinances without God who is the kernel and the life of all It is the Love of God that brings them thither and it is Love that they are exercising there and the end of Love even the nearer approach of the soul to God which they desire and intend Be sure then that these be the true and real intentions of thy heart § 22. Quest. But how shall I know whether indeed it be God himself that I am seeking and that I How to know that we have right ends in Worship perform his worship to the appointed ends Answ. In so great a business it is a shame to be unacquainted with your own Intentions If you take heed what you do and look after your hearts you may know what you come for and what is your business there But more particularly you may discern it by these marks 1. He that hath right ends and seeketh God will labour to suit all his duties to those ends and will like that best which is best suited to them He will strive so to preach and hear and pray not as tends most to preferment or applause but as â—endeth most to please and honour God and to attain his grace And he will love that Sermon or that prayer best that is best fitted to bring up his soul to God and not that which tickleth a carnal ear Mark what you fit the means to and you may perceive what is your end 2. If it be God himself that you seek after in his Worship you will not be satisfied without God It is not the doing of the task that will satisfie you nor yet the greatest praise of men no not of the most Godly men But so far as you have attained your end in the cleansing or quickening or strengthening of the soul or getting somewhat nearer God or pleasing or honouring him so far only you will be contented 3. If God be your end you will be faithful in the use of that more private and spiritual worship where God is to be found though no humane applause be there to be attained 4. And you will love still the same substantial necessary truth and duty which is to your souls as bread and drink is to your bodies when those that have carnal ends will be looking after variety and change and will be weary of the necessary bread of life By observing these things you may discern what are your ends in Worship § 23. And here I must not let go this necessary Direction till I have driven on the Reader with some more importunity to the serious practice of it It is lamentable to see how many turn the Worship of God into vile hypocrisie
more plainly expressed than nature hath exprest it All is not Christs Law that is any way exprest in Scripture but all Christs Laws are exprest in the Matth. 28. 20. Scriptures Not written by himself but by his Spirit in his Apostles whom he appointed and sent ☜ to Teach all Nations to observe what ever he commanded them who being thus commissioned and enabled fully by the Spirit to perform it are to be supposed to have perfectly executed their commission and to have taught whatsoever Christ commanded them and no more as from Christ And therefore as they taught that present age by Voice who could Hear them so they taught all ages after to the end Rom. 13. 9. Matt. 22. 37. Isa. 8. 16. 20. Acts 8. 25. Acts 15. 35 36. Acts â—6 17 18. 1 John 1. 9. Nâ—heâ—â— 1. 6. Lâ—v. 16. 21. Pâ—â—l 4. 6. Psal. 50. 14. 69 30. 100. 1 2 4. Eph. 5. 19. Psal. 9. 11. 95. 1. Luke 11. â— 3. c. Matth. 2â— 1â— 1 Câ—r 11. 27. 24 25 26 28. 1 Cor. 14. 5 1â— â—6 2 Cor. 10. 8. 13. 10. Rom. 15. 2. 1 Cor. 14. 40. Rom. 14. 15 2â— 1 Cor. 9. 20 21 22. 1 Cor. 8. 10. 10. 19 28. 2 Cor. 6. â—6 of the world by writing because their voice was not by them to be heard § 16. 3. So far then as the Scripture is a Law and Rule it is a perfect Rule But how far it is a Law or Rule it s own contents and expressions must determine As 1. It is certain that all the Internal worship of God by Love fear trust desire c. is perfectly commanded in the Scriptures 2. The Doctrine of Christ which his Ministers must read and preach is perfectly contained in the Scriptures 3. The grand and constantly necessary points of Order in preaching are there also expressed As that the opening of mens eyes and the converting of them from the power of Satan to God be first endeavoured and then their Confirmation and further Edification c. 4. Also that we humble our selves before God in the confession of our sins 5. And that we pray to God in the name of Christ for mercy for our selves and others 6. That we give God Thanks for his mercies to the Church our selves and others 7. That we Praise God in his excellencies manifested in his Word and Works of Creation and Providence 8. That we do this by singing Psalms with holy joyfulness of heart 9. The matter and order of the ordinary prayers and praises of Christians is expressed in the Scripture As which parts are to have precedency in our estimation and desire and ordinarily in our expressions 10. Christ himself hath determined that by Baptizing them into the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost men be solemnly entered into his Covenant and Church and state of Christianity 11. And he hath himself appointed that his Churches hold communion with him and among themselves in the Eucharistical administration of the Sacrament of his Body and blood represented in the breaking delivering receiving and eating the consecrated Bread and in the pouâ—ing out delivering receiving and drinking the consecrated Wine 12. And as for the mutable subservient circumstances and external expressions and actions and orders which were not fit to be in particular the matter of an Universal Law but are fit in one place or at one time and not another for thâ—se he hath left both in Nature and Scripture such General Laws by which upon emergent occasions they may be determined and by particular Providences he â—itteth things and persons and times and places so as that we may discern their agreeableness to the descriptions in his General Laws As that all things be done Decently in Order and to Ediâ—ication and in Charity Unity and Peace And he hath forbidden Generally doing any thing undecently disorderly to the hurâ—â—â— destruction of our brethren even the weak or to the division of the Church 13. And many things 2 Commandment Col. â— 18 c. 1 Joh. 5. 21. Rev. 2. 14. he hath particularly forbidden in Worship as making to our selves any graven Image c. and Worshipping Angels c. § 20. And as to the order and Government of the Church for I am willing to dispatch all here together this much is plainly determined in Scripture 1. That there be Officers or Ministers under Mat. 28. 19. Rom. 10. 7 8. Act. 14. 23. Act. 2. 42. 20. 7 28. â—ph 4. 11 14. Mal 2. 7. 〈…〉 3. 17 21. 1 Coâ— 12. 17 28. Câ—â— 1. â—8 Act. 2â— â—â— 1 Thes. 5. 12. Hâ—b 13. 7 17. Act. â— 37. â— 37 38. 3. 20. 23. 1 Cor. 10. 16. 9. 13 14. Act. 20. 2 Cor. 2. 11. Heb. 12. 15. Deut. 10. 8. 2 â—iâ— 4. 1 2 3. Matth. 18. 15 16 17. 2 Thes. 3. 1 Cor. 5. 11. 2 Joh. 10. 11. â—â— 3. 10. 1 Cor. 5. 3 4 5 6 7 8. Rom. 16 17. 1 Tim. 5. 17. Luk 10 16. 12. 42. Act. â—3 â—3 Tâ—t 1. 5 9. 1 Tim. 3. 5. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2. 3 4. Rev. 1. 10. Act. 20. 7. 1 Cor. 16 2. Christ to be the stated Teachers of his people and to Baptize and Administer the Sacrament of his Body and Blood and be the Mouth and Guide of the people in publick Prayers thanksgiving and praises and to bind the impâ—nitent and loose the penitent and to be the Directers of the flocks according to the Law of God to life eternal And their Office is described and determined by Christ. 2. It is required that Christians do ordinarily Assemble together for Gods publick worship and be Guided therein by these their Pastors 3. It is required that besides the unfixed Ministers who employ themselves in converting Infidels and in an itinerant service of the Churches there be also stated fixed Ministers having a special charge of each particular Church and that they may know their own flocks and teach them publickly and from house to house and the people may know their own Pastors that are â—ver them in the Lord and honour them and obey them in all that they teach them from the Word of God for their salvation 4. The Ministers that Baptize are to judge of the capacity and fitness of those whom they Baptize whether the Adult that are admitted upon their personal profession and Covenanting or Infants that are admitted upon their Parents profession and entering them into Covenant 5. The Pastors that administer the Lords Supper to their particular flocks are to discern or judge of the fitness of those persons whom they receive newly into their charge or whom they admit to Communion in that Sacrament as members of their flock 6. Every such Pastor is also personally to watch over all the members of his flock as far as he is able lest false teachers seduce them or satan get advantage of them or any corruption or root of bitterness spring up
members of the visible Church The Integral and accidental Union I pass by now 2. Besides this Union of the Universal Church with Christ the Universal Head there is in all Particular organized Churches a subordinate Union 1. Between 1 Thes. 5. 12 13. the Pastor and the flock and 2. Between the People one towards another which consisteth in these their special Relations to each other 3. And there is an Accidental Union of many particular Churches As when they are United under one Civil Government or Consociated by their Pastors in one Synod or Council These are the several sorts of Church-Union Direct 2. § 4. Direct 2. Understand also wherein the Communion of Christians and Churches doth consist that you may know what it is that you must hold to In the Universal Church your Internal Communion with Christ consisteth in his communication of his spirit and grace his word and mercies unto you and in your returnes of Love and Thanks and Obedience unto him and in your seeking to him depending on him and receivings from him Your Internal Communion with the Church or Saints consisteth in mutual Love and other consequent affections and in praying for and doing good to one another as your selves according to your abilities and opportunities Your external communion with Christ and with most of the Church in Heaven and Earth is not mutually visible and local For it is but a small number comparatively that we ever see But it consisteth in Christs visible communication of his word his officers and his ordinances and mercies unto you and in your visible learning and reception of them and obedience to him and expressions of your Love and Gratitude towards him Your external communion with the Universal Church consisteth in the Prayers of the Church for you and your prayers for the Church In your holding the same faith and professing to Love and Worship the same God and Saviour and Sanctifier in the same holy ordinances in order to the same eternal end § 5. Your external Communion in the same particular Congregations consisteth in your assembling together to hear the Preaching of Gods word and to receive the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ and pray and praise God and to help each other in knowledge and holiness and walk together in the fear of the Lord. § 6. Your Communion with other neighbour Churches lyeth in praying for and counselling each other and keeping such correspondencies as shall be found necessary to maintain that Love and Peace and Holiness which all are bound to seek according to your abilities and opportunities § 7. Note here that Communion is one thing and subjection is another It is not your subjection to other Churches that is required to your communion with them The Churches that Paul wrote to at Rome Corinth Galatia Ephesus Philippi c. had Communion together according to their capacities in that distance but they were not subject one to another any otherwise than as all are commanded to be subject to each other in humility 1 Pet. 5. 5. The Church of Rome now accuseth all the Christians in the World of separating from their Communion unless they will take them for their Rulers and obey them as the Mistres Church But Paul speaketh not one syllable to any of the Churches of any such thing as their obedience to the Church of Rome To your own Pastors you owe subjection statedly as well as communion and to other Pastors of the Churches of Christ fixed or unfixed you owe a temporary subjection so far as you are called to make use of them as sick persons do to another Physicion when the Physicion of the Hospital is out of the way But one Church is not the Ruler of another or any one oâ— all the rest by any appointment of the King of the Church § 8. Direct 3. By the help of what is already said you are next distinctly to understand how far Direct 3. you are bound to Union or Communion with any other Church or person and what distance separation or division is a sin and what is not that so you may neither causlesly trouble your selves with scruples What Unity is among all Christians Gal. 3. 20. 4. 5 6. Ephes. 4. 5. 1 Cor. 12. 12 13. nor trouble the Church by sinful Schism § 9. I. There must be a Union among all Churches and Christians in these following particulars 1. They have all but One God 2. And One Head and Saviour Jesus Christ. 3. And One Sanctifier the Holy Ghost 4. And One Ultimate End and Hope even the fruiâ—â—on of God in Heaven 5. And one Gospel to teach them the Knowledge of Christ and contain the promise of their salvation 6. And one kind of faith that is wrought hereby 7. And one and the same Covenant 1 Pet. 1. 16 Eph. 4. 11 12 13. of which Baptism is the seal in which they are engaged to God 8. And the same Instrumental founders of our faith under Jesus Christ even the Prophets and Apostles 9. And all members of the Eph. 2. 20 21 19. same Universal Body 10. And all have the same new nature and Holy disposition and the same Holy Affections in Loving God and Holiness and Hating sin 11. They all own as to the essential 1 Joh. 3. 11 14 23 parts the same Law of God as the Rule of their faith and life even the sacred Canonical Scriptures Psal. 122. 2. 1 Pet. 2. 1 2. Joh 3. 6. Heb. 10. 25. 1 Cor. 10. 16 17. 12. Every member hath a Love to the whole and to each other especially to the more excellent and useful members and an inclination to holy Communion with each other 13. They have all a propensity to the same holy means and employment as Prayer learning the word of God and doing good to others All these things the True living members of the Church have in sincerity and the rest have in Profession Râ—m 12. 1. Eph 2. 10 11. What 〈…〉 sity â—â—l be in the Church 1 Joh. 2. 12 13 14 § 10. II. There will be still a diversity among the Churches and particular Christians in these following points without any dissolution of the fore-described Unity 1. They will not be of the same Age or standing in Christ but some babes some young men and some fathers 2. They will not have the same degrees of strength of Knowledge and of Holiness some will have need to be fed with milk and be unskilful in the word of Righteousness 3. They will differ in the kind and Heb. 5. 11 12 13. measure of their gifts some will excell in one kind and some in another and some in none at all Mat. 17. 2. 13. 3â— Rom. 14. 1 2 21. 4. They will differ in their natural temper which will make some to be more hot and some more mild some more quick and some more dull some of more regulated wits and some more scattered and
of the Church 28. Take heed to your selves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God So 1 Thess. 5. 12 13. Heb. 13. 7 17 24 c. 1 Cor. 7. 23. If the whole Church be come together into one place c. Thus far it is no question but Church-forms and Government is of Divine appointment And man can no more alter this or set up such other without Gods consent than a subject can alter or make Corporations without the Kings consent 2. But besides these two sorts of Divine institution there are other allowable associations which some call Churches God hath required these particular Churches to hold such Communion as they are capable of for promoting the common Ends of Christianity And Prudence is left to determine of the Times and Places and manner of their Pastors Assemblies Councils and Correspondencies according to Gods general Rules If any will call these Councils or the Associations engaged for special correspondencies by the name of Churches I will not trouble any with a strife about the Name In this case so far as men have power to make that Association or Combination which they call a Church so also if they make Officers suited to its ends not encroaching upon the Churches or Officers of Christs own institution I am none of those that will contend against them Nor will this allow us to deny Communion with them 3. And in those Churches which Christ himself hath instituted there are Officers that make but for the Integrity and not for the Political Essence of the Church As Deacons and all Pastors or Presbyters more than One. For it is not essential to it to have any Deacons or many Pastors As to this sort of Officers Christ hath appointed them and it is not in mans power to alter his institution nor to set up any such like in co-ordination with these But yet if they should do so as long as the true Essentials of the Church remain I am not to deny communion with that Church so I own not this corruption 4. But there are also as circumstantial employments about Gods Worship so Officers to do those employments which men may lawfully institute As Clerks Church-wardens Door-keepers Ringers c. It is not the adding of these that is any sin By this time you may see plainly both how far Churches Officers and Church-Government is jure Divino and how far man may or may not add or alter and what I meant in my Proposition viz. That if men introduce a new Universal Head to the Church Catholick or a new Head to particular Churches instead of that of Christs institution this is in sensu Politico to make new species of Churches and destroy those that Christ hath instituted for the pars gubernans and pars gubernata are the essential Constituents of a Church And with such a Church as such in specie I must have no communion which is our case with the Papal Church though with the Material parts of that Church as members of Christ I may hold communion still § 30. 5. If particular members are guilty of obstinate impenitency in true Heresie or ungodliness or any scandalous crime the Church may and must remove such from her communion For it is the Communion of Saints And the offender is the Cause of this separation § 31. 6. If a whole Church be guilty of some notorious scandalous sin and refuse with obstinacy But not denying her to be a Church unless she cast off some essential part But so disowning her as in a Thess. 3. to Repent and Reform when admonished by neighbour Churches or if that Church do thus defend such a sin in any of her members so as openly to own it other Churches may refuse communion with her till she Repent and be Reformed Or if they see cause to hold communion with her in other respects yet in this they must have none § 32. 7. If any Church will admit none to her personal Communion but those that will take some false Oath or subscribe any untruth or tell a lye though that Church do think it to be true as the Trent Oath which their Priests all swear it is not lawful to do any such unlawful thing to obtain Where any Church retaining the purity of doctrine doth require the ownâ—ng of and conforming to any unlawful or suspected practice men may lawfully deny conformity to and communion with that Church in such things without incurring the guilt of Shism Mr. Stilliâ—â—fleet Ireâ—ic p. 11â— communion with that Church And he that refuseth in this case to commit this sin is no way guilty of the separation but is commendable for being true to God And though the case may be sad to be deprived of the liberty of publick Worship and the benefits of publick communion with that Church yet sin is worse and * 1 Sam. 15. 22. Prov. 15. 8. obedience is better than Sacrifice God will not be served with sin nor accept the Sacrifice of a disobedient fool Eccles. 5. 1 2. Nor must we lye to glorifie him nor do evil that good may come by it Just is the damnation of such servers of God Rom. 1. 7 8. All publick Worship is rather to be omitted than any one sin committed to enjoy it Though neither should be done where it is possible to do better It is not so unwise to think to feed a man with Poysons as to think to serve God acceptably by sin § 33. 8. If any one Church would ambitiously Usurp a Governing power over others as Rome doth over the world it is no unwarrantable separation to refuse the Government of that Usurping Church We may hold communion with them as Christians and yet refuse to be their subjects And therefore it is a proud and ignorant complaint of the Church of Rome that the Protestants separate from them as to Communion because they will not take them for their Governours § 34. 9. If any by violence will banish or cast out the true Bishops or Pastors of the Church and set up Usurpers in their stead as in the Arrians persecution it was commonly done it is no culpable separation but laudable and a duty for the people to own their Relation to their true Pastors and deny communion with the Usurpers as the people of the Eastern Churches did commonly refuse communion with the intruding Bishops even to the Death telling the Civil Rulers that they had Bishops of their own to whom they would adhere § 35. 10 If a true Church will obstinately deny her members the use of any one Ordinance of God as Preaching or Reading Scripture or Prayer or Praise or Discipline while it retaineth all the rest though we may not separate from this Church as no Church which yet in the case of total rejection of Prayer or Praise is very questionable at least yet if we have opportunity we must remove our local communion
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
the safety of a Kingdom Or doth that tend to the honour of the children of God which is the shame of common men Or is that the safety of his Kingdom which is the ruine of all others We are all fellow-citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God Ephes. 2. 19. We are Gods building 1 Cor. 3. 9. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you If any man defile the Temple of God him shall God destroy for the Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are 1 Cor. 3. 16 17. Will he destroy the defilers and will he Love the Dividers and destroyers If it be so great a sin to go to Law unnecessarily with Brethren or to wrong them 1 Cor. 6. 8. What is it to disown them and cast them off And if they that salute and love only their Brethren and not also their enemies are not the Children of God Matth. 5. 47. What are they that separate from and condemn even their brethren § 71. 5. Church-dividers either would Divide Christ himself between them or else would rob him of a great part of his inheritance And neither of these is a little sin If you make several bodies you would have several Heads And is Christ divided saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 1. 13. Will you make him a Sect Master He will be your common head as Christians but he will be no Head of your Sects and Parties I will not name them Or would you tear out of the hands of Christ any part of his possessions Will he cut them off because you cut them off Will he separate them from himself because you separate from them or separate them from you Will he give them a bill of divorce when ever you are pleased to lay any odious accusation against them Who shall condemn them when it is he that justifieth them Who shall separate them from the Love of God Can your Censure or separation do it when neither life nor death nor any creature can do it Rom. 8. 33 c. Hath he not told you that he will give them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of his hand John 10. 28. Will he lose his Iewels because you cast them away as dirt He suffered more for souls than you and better knoweth the worth of souls And do you think he will forget so dear a purchase or take it well that you rob him of that which he hath bought so dearly Will you give the members and inheritance of Christ to the Devil and say They are Satans and none of Christs Who art thou that judgest another mans servant § 72. 6. Church-dividers are guilty of self-ignorance and pride and great unthankfulness against that God that beareth with so much in them who so censoriously cast off their brethren Wast thou ever humbled for thy sin Dost thou know who thou art and what thou carryest about thee and how much thou offendest God thy self If thou do surely thou wilt judge tenderly of thy brethren as knowing what a tender hand thou needest and what mercy thou hast found from God Can he cruelly judge his brethren to Hell upon his petty differences who is sensible how the gracious hand of his Redeemer did so lately snatch him from the brink of Hell Can he be forward to condemn his brethren that hath been so lately and mercifully saved himself § 73. 7. Church-dividers are the most successful servants of the Devil being enemies to Christ in his family and livery They gratifie Satan and all the Enemies of the Church and do the very work that he would have them do more effectually than open enemies could do it As Mutineers in an Army may do more to destroy it than the power of the Enemy § 74. 8. It is a sin that contradicteth all Gods Ordinances and Means of Grace which are purposely to procure and maintain the Unity of his Church The Word and Baptism is to gather them into one body and the Lords Supper to signifie and maintain their Concord as being one bread and one body 1 Cor. 10. 17. And all the communion of the Church is to express and to maintain this concord The use of the Ministry is much to this end to be the bonds and joynts of the unity of believers Ephes. 4. 13 14 16. All these are contemned and frustrated by Dividers § 75. 9. Church-division is a sin especially to us against as great and lamentable experiences as almost any sin can be About sixteen hundred years the Church hath smarted by it In many Countreys where the Gospel prospered and Churches flourished division hath turned all into desolation and delivered them up to the curse of Mahometanism and Infidelity The contentions between Constantinople and Rome the Eastern and the Western Churches have shaken the Christian interest upon Earth and delivered up much of the Christian world to tyranny and blindness and given advantage to the Papacy to captivate and corrupt much of the rest by pretending it self to be the Center of Unity O what glorious Churches where the Learned Writers of those ages once lived are now extinct and the places turned to the Worship of the Devil and a Deceiver through the ambition and contentions of the Bishops that should have been the bonds of their Unity and peace But doth England need to look back into History or look abroad in forreign Lands for instances of the sad effects of discord Is there any one good or bad in this age that hath spent his dayes in such a sleep as not to know what Divisions have done when they have made such ruines in Church and State and kindled such consuming flames and raised so many Sects and Parties and filled so many hearts with uncharitable rancour and so many mouths with slanders and revilings and turned so many prayers into sin by poysoning them with pride and factious oppositions and hath let out streams of blood and fury over all the Land He that maketh light of the Divisions of Christians in these Kingdoms or loveth not those that speak against them doth shew himself to be so impenitent in them as to be one of those terrible effects of them that should be a pillar of Salt to warn after agis to take heed § 76. 10. Yea this is a heinous aggravation of this sin that commonly it is justified and not repented of by those that do commit it When a drunkard or a whoremonger will confess his sin a Church-divider will stand to it and defend it And wo to them that call evil good and good evil Impenitency is a terrible aggravation of sin § 77. 11. And it is yet the more heinous in that it is commonly fathered upon God If a drunkard or whoremonger should say God commandeth me to do it and I serve God by it would you not think this a horrid aggravation When did you ever know a Sect or party
he calleth them out of Babylon It 's true you must partake with no Church in their sins but you may partake with any Church in their holy profession and worship so far as you can do it without partaking with them in their sins § 88. Direct 11. Understand what it is that maketh you partakers of the sins of a Church or any Direct 11. member of it lest you think you are bound to separate from them in good as well as in evil Many fly from the publick Assemblies lest they partake of the sins of those that are there present Certainly nothing but Consent direct or indirect can make their faults to become yours And therefore nothing which signifieth not some such consent should be on that account avoided 1. If you by word or subscription or furtherance own any mans sin you directly consent to it 2. If you neglect any duty which lyeth upon you for the cure of his sin you indirectly consent For you consent that he shall rather continue in his sin than you will do your part to help him out of it Consider therefore how far you are bound to reprove any sin or to use any other means for the reformation of it whether it be in the Pastor or the people and if you neglect any such means your way is to reform your own neglect and do your duty and not to separate from the Church before you have done your duty to reform it But if you have done all that is your part then the sin is none of yours though you remain there present § 89. It is a turbulent fanâ—ie and disquieting errour of some people to think that their presence Quest. Whether presence be not a consent to sin in the Assembly and continuance with the Church doth make them guilty of the personal faults of those they joyn with If so who would ever joyn with any Assembly in the World Quest. But what if they be gross and scandalous sinners that are members of the Church Answ. If you be wanting in your duty to reform it it is your sin But if bare presence made their sins to be ours it would also make all the sins of the Assembly ours But no word of God doth intimate any such thing Paul never told the Churches of Galatia and Corinth so that had so many defiled members Quest. But what if they are sins committed in the open Assembly even by the Minister himself in his praying preaching and other administrations and what if all this be imposed on him by a Law and so I am certain before hand that I must joyn with that which is unwarrantable in Gods Worship Answ. The next Direction containeth those distinctions that are necessary to the answer of this § 90. Direct 12. Distinguish carefully 1. Between a Ministers Personal faults and his Ministerial Direct 12. faults 2. Between his tolerable weaknesses and his intolerable insufficiencies 3. And between the work ☜ of the Minister and of the Congregation And then you will see your doubt resolved in these following Propositions § 91. 1. A Ministers personal faults as swearing lying drunkenness c. may damn himself Saith Câ—â—aâ—thâ—s in â—art The Peripâ—â—â—â—ticks are like Letters that sound well but hear not themselves and must be matter of lamentation to the Church and they must do their best to reform them or to get a better Pastor by any lawful means But in case they cannot his sin is none of theirs nor doth it make his administration null of ineffectual nor will it allow you to separate from the Worship which he administreth Though many of the Priests were wicked men the Godly Jews were not thereby disobliged from Gods publick Worship or sacrifices which were to be offered by their hands Otherwise how sad a case were the Church in that must answer for the sins which they never committed nor could reform But no Scripture chargeth this upon them § 92. 2. It is not all Ministerial faults that will allow you to separate from or disown a Minister Yet I excuse not imâ—iâ—ty or insufficiency in Ministers but only those that prove him or his ministration utterly intolerable Such are 1. An utter insufficiency in knowledge or utterance for the necessary parts of the Ministerial work As if he be not able to Teach the necessary points of Christian Religion nor to administer the Sacraments and other parts of publick Worship 2. If he set himself to oppose the very ends of his Ministry and Preach down It was one of Soloâ—s Laws Qâ—i nequitia ac slaâ—itiis insignis est tribunali publicisque sâ—â—gâ—stis arâ—eâ—dus est And Gildas saith to the ungodly Pastors of Britain Apparet ergò â—um qui vos sacerdotes sclers ex corde dicit noâ—â—sse exiâ—ium Christianum Quomodo vos aliquid solvetis ut sit solutum iâ— coelis à coelo ob scâ—lâ—ra adempti immaniâ—m peccatorum fuâ—ibus coâ—pâ—diti Qua ratione aliquid in teâ—â—a ligabitis quod supra mundum etiam ligetur propter vosmâ—t iâ—sos qâ—i ita ligaâ—i iniquitatibus iâ— hoc mundo tenemini ut in coelos nunquam asâ—endatis sed in infausta taâ—tari ergastula non conversi in haâ— vita ad dominum dâ—â—idatis fol. ult O iniâ—ici Dei noâ— sacerdotes O liciâ—atores malorum non poâ—tifices traditores non sanctorum Apostolorum successorâ—s inpugnatorâ— non Christi ministri pag. 571. impres Basil. Godliness or any part of it that is of necessity to salvation For then he doth the Devils work in seeking the damnation of souls and so maketh himself the Devils Minister and is not the Minister of Christ. For the end is essential to the Relation Herein I include a Preacher of Heresie that doth preach up any damning errour and preach down any necessary saving Truth that is that preacheth such errour as subverteth either Faith or Godliness and doth more harm in the Church than Good 3. If he so deprave Gods publick Worship as to destroy the substance of it and make it unacceptable and offer up a publick false-worship to God which he disowneth in the very matter of it As if he put up blaspheamy for praise and prayer or commit Idolatry or set up New Sacraments and guide the people thus in publick Worship As the Papists Priests do that adore bread with Divine Worship and pray to the dead and offer real Sacrifices for them c. Such Worship is not to be joyned in 4. Or if they impose any actual sin upon the people As in their Responds to speak any falshood or to adore the bread or the like These faults discharge us from being present with such Pastors at such Worship But besides these there are many Ministerial faults which warrant not our separation As 1. The internal vices of the Pastors mind though manifested in their Ministration As some tolerable errours of judgement or envy and pettish opposition to others Phil. 1. 15. Some
men were before when once they converse together and grow acquainted they are more reconciled The reason is partly because they find less evil and more good in one another than before they did believe to be in them and partly because uncharitableness and malice being an ugly monster is bolder at a distance but ashamed of it self before your face And therefore the pens of the Champions of malice are usually more bitter than their tongues when they speak to you face to face Of all the furious adversaries that have raged against me in the later part of my life I remember not one enemy that I have or ever had that was ever familiar or acquainted with me And I have my self heard ill reports of many which by personal acquaintance I have found to be all false Keep together and either silence your differences or gently debate them yea rather chide it out than withdraw asunder Familiarity feedeth Love and Unity § 106. Direct 23. When ever you look at any corruption in the Church look also at the contrary exâ—râ—am Direct 23. and see and avoid the danger of one as well as of the other Be sure every error and Church-corruption hath its extream And if you do not see it and the danger of it you are the liker to run into it Look well on both sides if you would be safe § 107. Direct 24. Worship God your selves in the purest manner and under the most edifying Ministry Direct 24. that lawfully you can attain but be not too forward to condemn others that reach not to your measure or attain not so much happiness And deny not personal communion sometimes with Churches that are more blemished and fit for Communion And when you cannot joyn locally with them let them have the communion of your Hearts in faith and charity and prayer for each other I fear not here openly to tell the world that if I were turned loose to my own liberty I would ordinarily worship God in that manner that I thought most pure and agreeable to his Will and Word but I would sometimes go to the Churches of other Christians that were fit for Christian communion if there were such about me Sometime to the Independants sometime to the moderate Anabaptists sometime to such as had a Liturgie as faulty as that of the Greek or the Ethiopian Churches to shew by my practice what communion my heart hath with them all § 108. Direct 25. Take heed that you interess not Religion or the Church in Civil differences This Direct 25. error hath divided and ruined many famous Churches and most injuriously made the holy truth and worship of God to be a reproach and infamy among selfish partial carnal men When Princes and Since the writing of this I have published a Book called The Curt of Church-Divistoâ—s and a Defence of it which handle these things more fully States fall out among themselves they will needs draw the Ministers to their sides and then one side will certainly condemn them and call them all that self-interest and malice can invent And commonly when the controversie is only in point of Law or Politicks it is Religion that bears the blame of all and the differences of Lawyers and Statesmen must be charged upon Divines that the Devil may be able to make them useless as to the good of all that party that is against them and may make Religion it self be called Rebellion And O that God would maintain the Peace of Kingdoms and Kings and Subjects were all Lovers of peace the rather because the differences in States do cause so commonly divisions in the Church It would make a man wonder and a lover of History to lament to observe in the differences between the Pope and Henry the fourth and other Emperours how the Historians are divided one half commending him that the other half condemneth and how the Bishops and Churches were one half for the Pope and the other for the Emperour and one half still accounted Rebels or Schismaticks by the other though they were all of one Religion It is more to ruine the Church than Kingdoms that Satan laboureth so much to kindle Warrs and breed Civil differences in the world And therefore let him that loveth the Churches Peace be an obedient Subject and an enemy of Sedition and a Lover and defender of the Civil Peace and Government in the place that God hath set him in For this is pleasing unto God § 109. I know there are some that with too bloody and calamitous success have in most ages given other kind of Directions for the extirpation of Error Heresie and Schism than I have here given But God hath still caused the most wise and holy and charitable and experienced Christians Bâ—â—a Hist. Ecâ—lâ—sâ—â—ib 1. cap. 26. Didicerat enim Rex Edilberth a Doctoribut auctoribusque suae salutis servitium Christi voluntarium non coactitium debeâ—e esse to bear their testimony against them And he hath ever caused their way of cruelty to turn to their own shame And though like Treasons and Robberies it seem for the time present to serve their turn it is bitterness in the end and leaveth a stinking memorial of their names and actions to posterity And the Treatises of Reconcilers such as our Halls Ushers Bergius Burroughs and many other by the delectable savour of Unity and Charity are sweet and acceptable to prudent and peaâ—â—able persons though usually unsuccessful with the violent that needed them Besides the fore-cited witness of Sr. Francis Bacon c. I will here add one of the most antient and one or two of this age whom the contrary-minded do mention with the greatest honour Iustin Martyr Dial. cum Tryph. doth at large give his judgement that a Judaizing Christian who thinketh it best to be circumciâ—â—d and keep the Law of Moses be suffered in his opinion and practice and admitted to the communion and priviledges of the Church and loved as one that may be saved in that way so be it he do not make it his business to perswade others to his way and teach it as necessary to salvation or communion For such he doth condemn King Iames by the Pen of Is. Causabone telleth Cardinal du Perron that His Majesty thinketh that for Concord there is no nearer way than diligently to separate things necessary from the unnecessary and to bestow all our labour that we may agree in the things necessary and that in things unnecessary there may be place given for Christian Liberty The King calleth these things simply necessary which either the Word of God expresly commandeth to be believed or done or which the antient Church did gather from the Word of God by necessary consequence Grotius Annot. in Matth. 13. 41. is so full and large upon it that I must intreat the Reader to peruse his own words where by arguments and authority he-vehemently rebuketh the Spirit of fury cruelty and uncharitableness which
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
Relation or a Right duly to receive the Sacrament that is To receive it understandingly and seriously at those seasons when by the Pastors it is administred 2. But if upon faults or accusations this Right be duly questioned in the Church it is become a controverted right and the possession or admission may by the Bishops or Pastors of the Church be suspended if they see cause while it is under tryall till a just decision 3. Though Infants are true members yet the want of natural capacity duly to receive maketh it unlawful to give them the Sacrament because it is to be Given only to Receivers and Receiving is more than eating and drinking It is Consenting to the Covenant which is the real Receiving in a moral sense or at least Consent professed So that they want not a state of right as to their Relation but a natural capacity to Receive 4. Persons at age who want not the Right of a stated Relation may have such actual Natural and Moral indispositions as may also make them for that time unmeet to Receive As Sickness Infection a Journey persecution scattering the Church a Prison And morally 1. Want of necessary knowledge of the nature of the Sacrament which by the negligence of Pastors or Parents may be the case of some that are but newly past their childhood 2. Some heinous sin of which the sinner hath not so far repented as to be yet ready to receive a sealed pardon or which is so scandalous in the Church as that in publick respects the person is yet unfit for its priviledges 3. Such sins or accusations of sin as make the persons Church-title justly Controverted and his Communion suspended till the case be decided 4. Such fears of unworthy Receiving as were like to hurt and distract the person if he should receive till he were better satisfied These make a man uncapable of present Reception and so are a barr to his plenary right They have still right to Receive in a due manner But being yet uncapable of that due Receiving they have not a plenary right to the thing 5. The same may be said of other parts of our duty and priviledges A man may have a Relative habitual or stated right to praise God and give him thanks for his justification and sanctification and adoption and to godly conference to exercises of humiliation c. who yet for want of present actual preparation may be uncapable and so want a plenary right 6. The understanding of the double preparation necessary doth most clearly help us to understand this case A man that is in an unregenerate state must be visibly cured of that state of utter ignorance unbelief ungodliness before he can be a member of the Church and lay a claim to its priviledges But when that is done besides this general preparation a particular preparation also to each duty is necessary to the right doing it A man must understand what he goeth about and must consider of it and come with some suitable affections A man may have right to go a journey that wants a Horse or may have a Horse that is not sadled He that hath clothes must put them on before he is fit to come into company He that hath right to write may want a pen or have a bad one Having of Gracious habits may need the addition of bringing them into such acts as are suitable to the work in hand Quest. 70. Is there any such thing in the Church as a rank or Classis or Species of Church members at age who are not to be admitted to the Lords Table but only to hearing the Word and Prayer between Infant members and adult confirmed ones Answ. SOme have excogitated such a classis or species or order for convenience as a prudent necessary thing Because to admit all to the Lords Table they think dangerous on one side And to cast all that are unfit for it out of the Church they think dangerous on the other side and that which the people would not bear Therefore to preserve the reverence of the Sacrament and to preserve their own and the Churches peace they have contrived this middle way or rank And indeed the controversie seemeth to be more about the title whether it may be called a middle order of meer Learners and Worshippers than about the Matter I have occasionally written more of it than I can here stay to recite And the accurate handling of it requireth more words than I will here use This breviate therefore shall be all 1. It is certain that such Catechumens as are in meer preparation to faith repentance and baptism are no Church-members or Christians at all and so in none of these ranks 2. Baptism is the only ordinary regular door of enterance into the visible Church and no man unless in extraordinary cases is to be taken for a Church-member or visible Christian till Baptized Two Objections are brought against this 1. The Infants of Christians are Church-members as such before baptism and so are believers They are baptized because members and not members by baptism Answ. This case hath no difficulty 1. A Believer as such is a member of Christ and the Church What makes a visible member invisible but not of the visible Church till he be an orderly Professor of that belief And this Profession is not left to every mans will how it shall be made but Christ hath prescribed and instituted a certain way and manner of profession which shall be the only ordinary symbol or badge by which the Church shall know visible members and that is baptism Indeed when baptism cannot be had an open profession without it may serve For Sacraments are made for Man and not Man for Sacraments But when it may be had it is Christs appointed Symbol Tessera and Church-door And till a person be baptized he is but Irregularly and initially a Professor As an Embrio in the Womb is a man or as a Covenant before the writing sealing and delivering is initially a Covenant or as persons privately contracted without solemn Matrimony are married or as a man is a Minister upon Election and Tryal before Ordination He hath only in all these cases the beginning of a title which is not compleat nor at all sufficient in foro Ecclesiâ— to make a man Visibly and Legally A married man a Minister and so here a Christian. For Christ hath chosen his own visible badge by which his Church-members must be known 2. And the same is to be said of the Infant-title of the children of believers They have but an initial right before baptism and not the badge of visible Christians For there are three distinct gradations to make up their visible Christianity 1. Because they are their own and as it were parts of themselves therefore Believers have power and obligation to dedicate their children in Covenant with God 2. Because every believer is himself dedicated to God with all that is his own according
like to follow the using of such forms The preponderating accidents must prevail 8. And iâ— a mans own judgement and Conscience cannot be satisfied to do Gods work comfortably and quietly any other way it may go far in the determination And the common good of many Churches must still be preferred before a less Quest. 76. Doth not the Calling of a Minister so consist in the exercise of his own Ministerial Gifts that he may not officiate without them nor make use of other mens Gifts instead of them Answ. 1. THe Office of the Ministry is an Obligation and Authority to do the Ministerial work by those personal competent abilities which God hath given us 2. This obligation to use our own abilities forbiddeth us not to make use of the helps gifts and abilities of others either to promote our own abilities and habits or to further us in the act or the exercise of them For 1. There is no such prohibition in Scripture 2. All men are insufficient for themselves and Nature and Scripture require them to use the best help they can get from others 3. Gods service must be done in the best manner we can But many Ministers cannot do it so well consideratis considerandis without other mens help as with it 3. We may use other mens gifts to help us 1. For Matter 2. Method 3. Words and so for a threefold form of preaching or prayer 4. He that useth a Scripture form of Matter Method or Words useth his own abilities no more than if he used a form out of another Book But it is lawful to use a Scripture form Therefore it is lawful so far to take in assistance in the use of our own abilities 5. He that useth a form useth his own abilities also not only perhaps at other times but in the use of it He useth his understanding to discern the true sense and aptitude of the words which he useth He useth his holy Desires in putting up those prayers to God And his other Graces as he doth in other prayers He useth his Utterance in the apt and decent speaking of them 6. A Minister is not alwayes bound to use his own gifts to the utmost that he can and other mens as little as he can For 1. There is no such Command from God 2. All things must be done to the Churches edification But sometimes the greater use of another mans gifts and the less use of his own may be to the Churches greater edification Instances of the lawful use of other mens gifts are such as these 1. For Matter an Abler Minister may tell a young man what subjects are fittest for him in preaching and prayer and what is the sense of the Scriptures which he is to open and what is the true solution of several doubts and cases A Minister that is young raw or ignorant yea the best may be a Learner while he is a Teacher But he that is a Learner maketh use so far of the gifts of others And indeed all Teachers in the world make use of the gifts of others For all teach what they learn from others 2. For Method it is lawful to learn that as well as matter from another Christ taught his Disciples a Method of prayer And other men may open that method to us All Tutors teach their Pupils Method as well as matter For Method is needful to the due understanding and using of the Matter A Method of Divinity a Method of Preaching and a Method of Praying may be taught a Preacher by word and may be written or printed for his use 3. For Words 1. There is no more prohibition in Gods Word against learning or using another mans Words than his Method or Matter Therefore it is not unlawful 2. A Tutor or Senior Minister may teach the Scripture words to a Pupil or Junior Minister yea and may set them together and compose him a Sermon or Prayer out of Scripture in its words For he that may use an ill-composed Scripture form of his own gathering may use a well-composed form of anothers 3. All the Books in our Libraries are forms of words and it is lawful sure to use some of all those words which we read or else our Books would be a snare and limitation to our Language 4. All Preachers ordinarily use Citations Testimonies c. in other mens words 5. All Ministers use Psalms in the Metre of other mens composing and usually imposing too And there is no more prohibition against using other mens words in a Prayer than in a Psalm 6. Almost all Ministers use other mens gifts and form of words in reading the Scriptures in their Vulgar Tongues For God did not write them by his Apostles and Prophets in English French Dutch c. but in Hebrew Chaldee and Greek Therefore the wording them in English c. is a humane form of words And few Ministers think they are bound to translate all the Bible themselves lest they use other mens words or abilities 7. If a young Minister that can pray but weakly hear more apt expressions and sentences in another Ministers prayers than his own are he may afterward make use of those sentences and expressions And if of one sentence why not of two or ten when God hath not forbidden it So also in preaching 8. It is lawful to read another mans Epistles or Sermons in the Church as the primitive Churches did by Clements and some others 9. An imposition may be so severe that we shall not use our own words unless we will use some of other mens 10. All Churches almost in the world have consented in the use of Creeds Confessions and Prayers and Psalms in the words of others But yet 1. No Minister must on these pretences stifle his own gifts and grow negligent 2. Nor consent to Church-tyranny or Papal usurpations 3. Nor do that which tendeth to eat out seriousness in the Worship of God and turn all into dead Imagery or Formality Quest. Is it lawful to Read a Prayer in the Church Answ. 1. THat which is not forbidden is lawful But to Read a prayer is not forbidden as such though by accident it may 2. The Prayers in the Scripture Psalms were usually Read in the Jewish Synagogues lawfully For they were written to that end and were indeed the Jewish Liturgy Therefore to Read a Prayer is not unlawful 3. He that hath a weak memory may Read his own Sermon Notes Therefore he may Read his Prayers 4. I add as to this case and the former together that 1. Christ did usually frequent the Jewish Synagogues 2. That in those Synagogues there were forms of Prayer and that ordinarily Read At least Scripture forms And if either the Jewish Rabbins cited by Scaliger Selden in Eutych Alexandr c. or the strongest probability may be credited there were also humane forms For who can imagine that those Pharisees should have no humane forms 1. Who are so much accused of formality and following
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
which are commonly supposed to be the Responses of the people or repeated by them And in Rev. 14. 2 3. the voice as of many waters and as of a great thunder and the voice of Harpers harping with their harps who sung a new song before the Throne and before the four beasts and the elders a song which noâ—e could learn but the hundred forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the Earth which were not defiled with women who were Virgins and followed the Lamb c. doth seem very plainly to be spoken of the praises of all the Saints Chap. 17. 15. by waters is meant people multitudes c. And Chap. 1â— 5 6 7 8. there is expresly recited a form of praise for all the people A voice came out of the Throne saying Praise our God all ye his servants and ye that fear him both small and great And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waâ—â—rs and as the voice of mighty thundrings saying Alleluja for the Lord God omnipotent reigâ—eth Let us be glad and rejoice and give honour to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made her self ready and to her was granted c. And indeed he that hath stiled all his people Priests to God and a holy and royal Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Iesus Christ and to shew forth the praises 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the virtues of him that hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light doth seem not to take them for so prophanâ— a generation as to be prohibited from speaking to God in publick any otherwise than by the mouth of a Priest And it seemeth to be more allowed and not less under the Gospel than under the Law because Numb 1. 5â— 3. 10 38. Exod. 20. Heb. 4. 16 17. Eph. 2. 13. Heb. 12. 18 21 22 23. then the people as under guilt were kept at a greater distance from God and must speak to him more by a Priest that was a type of Christ our intercessour But now we are brought nigh and reconciled to God and have the spirit of soâ—s and may go by Christ alone unto the Father And therefore though it be true that Ministers yet are sub-intercessours under Christ our high Priest yet they are rarely called Priestâ— but described more in the new Testament by other parts of their office Obj. But the peoples responses make a confused noise in the Assemblies not intelligible Answ. All things are ill done that are done by ill men that carnally and formally slubber it over But if the best and holiest people would unanimously set themselves to do it as they do in singing Psalms so that they did not only stand by to be the hearers of others it would be done more orderly and spiritually as well as singing is Quest. 84. Is it not a sin for our Clerks to make themselves the mouth of the people who are no ordained Ministers of Christ Answ. 1. IN those places where ordained Deacons do it this objection hath no place 2. The Clerks are not appointed to be the mouth of the people But only each Clerk is one of the people commanded to do that which all should do lest it should be wholly left undone If all the Congregation will speak all that the Clerk doth it will answer the primary desire of the Church-Governours who bid the People do it But if they that will not do it themselves shall pretend that the Clerk doth usurp the Ministry because he ceaseth not as well as they they might as well say so by a few that should sing Psalms in the Church when the rest are against it and forbear May not a man do his duty in singing or saying when you refuse yours without pretending to be your mouth or usurping the Ministry Quest. 85. Are repetitions of the same words in church-Church-prayers lawful Answ. 1. IT is not lawful to affect them as the Heathens who think they shall be heard for their Maâ— 6. 18. Battologie or saying over the same words as if God were moved by them as by a charm 2. Nor is it lawful to do that which hath a strong appearance of such a conceit and thereby to make Gods worship ridiculous and contemptible As the Papists in their Psalters and Prayer Books repeating over the name of Iesus and Mary so oft together as maketh it seem a ludicrous Canting But 1. It is lawful to speak the same words from fulness and fervency of zeal 2. And when we are afraid to give over lest we have not yet prevailed with God 3. And in Gods solemn Praises sung or said a word or sentence oft repeated sometime hath an elegancy and affecting decency And therefore it is so often used in the Psalms yea and in many Scripture Prayers 4. In such cases to Psal. 136. 107. 8 13 21 c. bring a serious urgency of spirit to the repeated words and not to quarrel with the repetitions is the duty of one that joyneth with true Christian Assemblies as a son of piety and peace Quest. 86. Is it lawful to bow at the naming of Iesus Answ. THE question either respecteth the Person of Jesus named by any of his names or else Mic. 6. 6. Jer. 23. 27. Isa. 52 5 6. Isa. 29. 24. Isa. 42. 8 9. Psal. 2. 10 11. Phil. 2. 9 10 11 12. Psal. 34. 3. 66. 2. 68. 4. 72 19. â—6 1 2. 96 2. 100. 4. 111. 9. 148. 13. 149. 3. Isa. 9. 6 7. 12. â— Psal. 138. 2 3. Rev. 15. 4. 1 Chron. 29. 20. 2 Chron. 29. 30. this name Iesus only And that either simply in it self considered or else comparatively as excluding or not including â—â—â—â—er names 1. That the person of Iesus is to be bowed to I never knew a Christian deny 2. That we may lawfully express our reverence by bowing when the names God Jehovah Jesus Christ c. are uttered I have met with few Christians who deny nor know I any reason to deny it 3. Had I been fit to have prescribed directions to other Ministers or Churches I would not have perswaded much less commanded them to bow at the Name of Iesus any more than at the name of God Iehovah Christ c. For many Reasons which the Reader may imagine though I will not now mention them 4. But if I live and joyn in a Church where it is commanded and peremptorily urged to bow at the name of Iesus and where my not doing it would be divisive scandalous or offensive I will bow at the name of God Iehovah Iesus Christ Lord c. one as well as the other seeing it is not bowing at Christs name that I scruple but the consequents of seeming to distinguish and prefer that name alone before all the rest Quest. 87. Is it lawful to stand up at the Gospel
as we are appointed Answ. 1. HAd I been a prescriber to others my self I should not have required the Church to stand up at the reading of one part of a Chapter by the name of the Gospel and not at the same words when the whole Chapter is read 2. But if I live where Rulers peremptorily command it I suppose not forbiding us to stand up at the Gospel read in Chapters but selecting this as an instance of their signified Consent to the Gospel who will do no more I would obey them rather than give offence by standing up at the Reading of the Chapters and all which I suppose will be no violation of their Laws Quest. 88. Is it lawful to kneel when the Decalogue is read Answ. 1. IF I lived in a Church that mistook the Commandments for Prayers as many ignorant people do I would not so harden them in that errour 2. And if I knew that many of the people present are of that mind I had rather do nothing that might scandalize or harden them in it But 1. That the thing in it self is Lawful is past doubt As we may kneel to the King when we hear him or speak to him so it is lawful to kneel to God when we read a Chapter or hear it read and specially the Decalogue so terribly delivered and written by his own finger iâ—â—stone 2. And if it be peremptorily commanded and the omission would be offensive I would use it though mistaking persons are present 1. Because I cannot disobey and also differ from the whole Assembly without a greater hurt and scandal than seeming to harden that mistaking person 2. And because I could and would by other means remove that persons danger as from me by making him know that it is no prayer 3. And the rather in our times because we can get the Minister in the Pulpit publickly to tell the people the Contrary 4. And in Catechizing it is his appointed duty so to do 5. And we find that the same old silly people who took the Commandments for a prayer took the Creed to be so too When yet none kneeled at the Creed By which it appeareth that it is not kneeling which deceived them Quest. 89. What Gestures are fittest in all the publick Worship Answ. 1. THE Customâ—s of several Countreys putting several significations on gestures much varieth the Case 2. We must not lightly differ from the customes of the Churches where we live in such a thing 3. According to the present state of our Churches and the signification of gestures and the necessities of mens bodies all considered I like best 1. To kneel in Prayer and Confession of sin unless it be in crowded Congregations where there is not room 2. To stand up in actions of meer Praise to God that is at the singing and reading of the Psalms of praise and at the other Hymnes 3. To sit at the hearing of the Word read and preached Because the body hath a necessity of some rest 4. Had I my choice I would receive the Lords Supper sitting But where I have not I will use the gesture which the Church useth And it is to be noted that the Church of England requireth the Communicant only to Râ—â—â—â—ive it kneeling but not to Eat or drink it kneeling when they have received it The ancient Churches took it for for an universal custome established by many general Councils and continued many hundred years that no Churches should kneel in any act of Adoration upon any Lords day in the year or any week day between Easter and Whitsonâ—ide but only stand all the time But because the weaâ—iness of the body is apt to draw the mind into Consent and make Gods service burdensome to us it seemeth a sufficient complyance with their custome and the 1 Chr. 17. 16. 2 Sam. 7. 18. reasons of it if we stand up only in acts of Praise and at the profession of our Assent to the Christian faith and Covenant 5. And because there is so great a difference between the auditors in most Assemblies some being weak and not able to stand long c. therefore it is utterly unmeet to be too rigorous in urging a Uniformity of Gesture or for any to be too censorious of other men for a Gesture Quest. 90. What if the Pastor and Church cannot agree about singing Psalms or what Version or Translation to use or time or place of meeting c Answ. 1. IT is the office of the Pastor to be the Guide and Ruler in such things when the Magistrate interposeth not And the people should obey him 2. But if the Pastor injure the Church by his mis-guidance and male-administration he ought to amend and give them satisfaction I meddle not here with the Magistrates part And if he do not they have their remedy before-mentioned 3. And if the people be obstinate in disobedience upon causeless quarrels the Pastor must first labour to convince them by reason and Love and his authority And if no means will bring them to submission he must consider whether it be better as to the pblick good of the Church of Christ that he comply with them and suffer them or that he depart and go to a more tractable people And accordingly he is to do For they cannot continue together in Communion if one yield not to the other Usually or ofttimes it will be better to leave such an obdurate self-willed people lest they be hardened by yielding to them in their sin and others encouraged in the like by their example And their own experience may at last convince them and make them yield to better things as Geneva did when they revoked Calvin But sometimes the publick good requireth that the Pastor give place to the peoples folly and stay among them and rather yield to that which is not best so it be otherwise lawful as a worse translation a worse version Liturgie order time place c. than quite forsake them And he that is in the right may in that case yield to him that is in the wrong in point of practice Quest. 91. What if the Pastor excommunicate a man and the people will not forbear his Communion as thinking him unjustly Excommunicated Answ. 1. EIther the Pastor or the people are in the Errour 2. Either the person is a dangerous Heretick or grosly wicked or not 3. Either the people do own the Errour or sin for which he is excommunicated or only judge the person not guilty 4. The Pastors and the peoples part in the execution must be distinguished And so I conclude 1. That if the Pastor err and wrong the people he must repent and give them satisfaction But if it be their errour and obstinacy then 2. If the Pastor foreknow that the people will dissent in some small dispensible cases he may forbear to excommunicate one that deserveth it or if he know it after that they will not forbear Communion with the person he may go on
a Lent as he in twenty years Sure I am I know many such on both sides Some that eat but a small meal a day and never drink Wine at all and others that drink Wine daily and eat of many dishes at a meal and that to the full and of the sweetest as Fish Fruits c. yet rail at the former for not fasting as they do So delusory are the outward appearances and so â—alse the pretensions of the carnal sort 4. The antient Lent consisted first of one day Good-fryday alone and after that of three dayes and then of six and at last it came up to fourty Of which read Dallaeus ubi supra at large 5. None can question the lawfulness of an obedient keeping of such a Civil Lent fast as our Statutes command for the vending of Fish and for the breed of Cattle so be it no bodily necessity oâ— greater duty be against it 6. It is not unlawful for those that cannot totally fast yet to use more abstinence and a more mortifying sort of dyet than ordinary for the exercises of repentance and mortification in due time 7. If Authority shall appoint such a mortifying abstemious course upon lawful or tolerable grounds and ends I will obey them if they peremptorily require it when my health or some greater duty forbiddeth it not 8. As for the Commanding such an Abstinence as in Lent not in Imitation but bare Commemoration of Christs forty dayes fast I would not command it if it were in my power But being peremptorily commanded I cannot prove it unlawful to obey with the fore-mentioned exceptions 9. It was antiently held a crime to fast on the Lords dayes even in Lent And I take that day to be separated by Christ and the Holy Ghost for a Church Festival or day of Thanksgiving Therefore I will not keep it as a fast though I were commanded unless in such an extraordinary necessity as aforesaid OF Pilgrimages Saints Relicts and Shrines Temples of their Miracles of Pray 〈…〉 to Angels to Saints for the Dead of Purgatory of the Popes Pardons Indulgences Dispensations of the Power of true Pastors to forgive sins with a multitude of such cases which are commonly handled in our Controversal Writers against the Papists I must thither refer the Reader for a Solution because the handling of all such particular Cases would swell my Book to a magnitude beyond my intention and make this part unfuitable to the rest Quest. 102. May we continue in a Church where some one Ordinance of Christ is wanting as Discipline Prayer Preaching or Sacraments though we have all the rest Answ. DIstinguish 1. Of Ordinances 2. Of a stated want and a temporary want 3. Of one that may have better and one that cannot 1. Teaching Prayer and Praise are Ordinances of such necessity that Church Assemblies have not their proper use without them 2. The Lords Supper is of a secondary need and must be used when 〈…〉 but a Church-Assembly may attain its ends sometimes without it in a good degree 3. Discipline is implicitly exercised when none but the Baptized are Communicants and when professed Christians voluntarily assemble and the preaching of the Word doth distinguish the precious from the vile Much more when notorious scandalous sinners are by the Laws kept from the Sacrament As our Rubrick and Canons do require 4. But for the fuller explicite and exacter exercise of discipline it is very desirable for the well being of the Churches but it is but a stronger fence or hedge and preservative of Sacred Order And both the being of a Church and the profitable use of holy assemblies may subsist without it As in Helvetia and other Countreys it is found I conclude then 1. That he that consideratis considerandis is a free man should choose that place Acts 28. ult 11. 26. 20. 7 20 c. 1 Cor. 14. Acts 2. 42. 1 Tim. 4. 13 14 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. 2 Tim. 3. 16. Heb. 10. 25 26 Col 4. 16. Acts 13 27. 15 2â— â— Theâ—s 5 27. 1 Cor. 5. 3 4 c. where he hath the fullest opportunities of worshipping God and edifying his soul. 2. He is not to be accounted a free-man that cannot remove without a greater hurt than the good either to the Church or Countrey or to his family his neighbours or himself 3. Without Teaching Prayer and Divine Praises we are not to reckon that we have proper Church-Assemblies and Communion 4. We must do all that is in our power to procure the right use of Sacraments and Discipline 5. When we cannot procure it it is lawful and a duty to joyn in those Assemblies that are without it and rather to enjoy the rest than none Few Churches have the Lords Supper above once a moneth which in the Primitive Church was used every Lords day and ofter And yet they meet on other dayes 6. It is possible that Preaching Prayer and Praise may be so excellently performed in some Churches that want both Discipline and the Lords Supper and all so coldly and ignorantly managed in another Church that hath all the Ordinances that mens souls may much more flourish and prosper under the former than the later 7. If forbearing or wanting some Ordinances for a time be but in order to a probable procurement Matth. 26. 31. Acts 8. 1. of them we may the better forbear 8. The time is not to be judged of only by the length but by the probability of success For sometime Gods Providence and the disturbances of the times or the craft of men in power may keep men so long in the dark that a long expectation or waiting may become our duty Quest. 103. Must the Pastors remove from one Church to another when ever the Magistrate commandeth us though the Bishops contradict it and the Church consent not to dismiss us And so of other Cases of disagreement Answ. 1. AS in mans soul the Intellectual Guidance the Will and the executive power do concur so in Church Cases of this nature the Potestative Government of the Magistrate the Directive Guidance of the senior Pastors and the Attractive Love of the people who are the chief inferiour final Cause should all concur And when they do not it is confusion And when Gods order is broken which commandeth their concurrence it is hard to know what to do in such a division which God alloweth not As it is to know whether I should take part with the Heart against the Head or with the Head against the Stomach and Liver on supposition of cross inclinations or interests when as Nature supposeth either a concord of inclination and interests or else the ruine sickness or death of the person And the Cure must be by reconciling them rather than by knowing which to side with against the rest But seeing we must suppose such diseases frequently to happen they that cannot cure them must know how to behave themselves and to do their own duty For my
because it was but by Accident a duty and now interpreted a heinous sin But in case that the Life of any man lay on it or that the scandal on Religion for my denying Civil honour to the Prince would be greater and of more perillous consequence than the scandal of seeming Idolatry I would perform that Civil honour which I did before and which God enjoyneth me to perform to my Prince But I would avoid the scandal by open protesting seasonably against the Idolatry Quest. 116. Is it unlawful to use the Badge or Symbol of any Error or Sect in the Worship of God Answ. 1. IT is unlawful to use it formally as such 2. But not materially when 1. There are just and weighty reasons for it 2. And I Every Sect of erring Christians accordingly useth to err in worship and have some badge and symbol of their Sect and error may disown the error For 1. All Sects and Erroneous persons may turn holy words and duties into symbols of their errors 2. All Christians in the world being imperfect do sometime err in matter or manner in their worship And he that will materially avoid all the badges or symbols of their errors shall have no communion with any Church or Christian. 3. As we must do our best so to avoid all their errors that we choose them not and make them not formally our own practice as tautologies vain repetitions disorders unfit phrases c. We must our selves when we are the speakers do as much better as we can So we must not therefore separate from them that do use them nor deny them our Communion when they use them Else we must separate from all others and all others from us 4. But when we are present with them our minds must disown all the faults of the holiest prayer in the world which we joyn in We may be bound to stay with them and joyn in all that 's good and warrantable and yet as we go along to disown in our minds all that we know to be amiss Quest. 117. Are all Indifferent things made unlawful to us which shall be abused to Idolatrous Worship Answ. YOu must distinguish 1. Of the symbols of Idolatry before spoken of and other by-abuses 2. Oâ— an abuse done in former ages or remote Countreys and in our own age and Countrey 3. Of the Reasons inviting us to use them whether necessary or not 1. The Case of Symbols or Badges is not here spoken of but other abuses 2. An abuse committed in the age and place we live in or any other which will be the scandal embolden others to the like may not be complyed in without so great reason as will notably preponderate the evil consequents 3. But yet in many cases such abused Indifferent things may after be lawfully used by believers For instance 1. Names may be things indifferent abused to Idolatry and yet lawfully used by us As the name God Deus Lord Holy Just Good Temple Altar Sacrifice Priest Heaven Sun Moon Iupiter Saturn and a hundred such I mean these Letters and Syllables in these languages That these names are all in themselves indifferent appeareth in that they are neither Naturally necessary nor by Gods Institution but arbiâ—rary signs of humane invention and choice For we may easily and lawfully make new words to signifie all the same things that these do And that they are abused to Idolatry is notoriously known And that yet they are lawfully used the practice of all Christians English and Latin even the most scrupulous themselves doth judge 2. And the use of Temples these individuals which have been used to Idolatry is lawful 3. So also of Bells Pulpits Cups Tables and Fonts and other Utensils 4. The Bible it self as it is this individual Book rather than another is a thing indifferent Yet it may be read in after it hath been abused to Idolatry 5. If the King would give not only the Garments but the Money Lands Lordships Houses which have been Consecrated or otherwise abused to Idolatry to any poor people or most of the scrupulous they would think it lawful to receive and use them yea it s lawful to dedicate the same Lands and Money afterwards to holy uses and to maintain Religious Worship 6. Otherwise it were in the power of any Idolater when ever he pleased to deprive all the Christian world of their Christian liberty and to make nothing indifferent to us seeing they can abuse them all 7. Yea almost nothing is then already indifferent there being few things that some person in some time and place hath not abused to Idolatry 8. If the question be only of all Individual things abused to Idolatry the decision now given will hold good But if it be also of all species of such things it will be a dishonour to a mans reason to make a question of it Quest. 118. May we use the names of Week dayes which Idolatry honoured their Idols with as Sunday Munday Saturday and the rest And so the Moneths Answ. 1. IT were to be wished that the custome were changed 1. Because the names have been so grosly abused 2. And we have no need of them 3. And as the Papists say Our Monuments Temple-names and other Relicts among you prove ours to be the old Religion and keep possession for us till it be restored So the Heathens say to all the Christians Your very names of your dayes and moneths prove our Religion to be elder than yours and keep possession for us till it be restored 2. It is meet that we wisely do our duty toward the reformation of this abuse 3. But yet long custome and sound doctrine hath so far taken away the scandal and ill effects that rather than be an offence to any by seeming singularity it is as lawful still to use these names as it was to Luke to use the names of Castor and Pollux Iupiter and Mercury historically 4. In such cases the true solution of the question must be by weighing accidents and foreseen consequents together wisely and impartially And he that can foresee which way is likely to do most good or hurt may satisfactorily know his duty Quest. 119. Is it lawful to pray secretly when we come first into the Church especially when the Church is otherwise employed Answ. 1. THis is a thing which God hath given us no particular Law about but the General Laws must regulate us Let all be done decently in order and to edification 2. Our great and principal business in coming to the Church assembly is to joyn with them in the publick Worship And this is it that accordingly as our great business we must intend and do 3. In a place where superstition makes ignorant people think it a matter of necessity so to begin with secret prayer when the Church is otherwise employed the use of it is the more scandalous as encouraging them in their error 4. It is the best way to come before the publick worship begin
and then they that think it most decent may do it without scruple or just offence 5. But as a mans heart may put up a short ejaculation as he walketh up the Church without losing what else he might hear so a man may on his knees be so brief as that his loss shall be but small And whether his profit preponderate that little times loss he can judge better than another Therefore though I like best keeping to Concord with the Assembly in our devotion yet these are things in which it ill beseemeth Christians to judge or despise each other And I shall take on either side the judging and despising of those that differ from us to be a far greater sin than the doing or not doing of the thing Object Is it not called in Eccles. 5. 1 2. the sacrifice of fools who know not they do evil Answ. No I have wondered to hear that Text so ordinarily thus perverted The Text is Keep â—by foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to offer the sacrifice of fools Which is no more than that it is the imagination and custome of fools to think to please God by their sacrifices and bringing somewhat to him while they refuse or neglect to hear his commands and obey him Whereas Obedience is better than Sacrifice and the sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to the Lord And he that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law his prayer is abominable And because they hate instruction they shall cry and Good will not hear them Therefore be first careful to hear what God saith to thee and to learn his will and do it and then bring thy sacrifice to him Leave thy gift at the Altar and go and be reconciled to thy brother Obey first and then come and offer thy gift This is all the meaning of the Text. See also Psal. 50. 8. and compare these cited Texts 1 Sam. 15 22. Prov. 15. 8. 21. 17. Mat. 5 c. But whether we should begin with Prayer or Hearing when we enter into the Church God hath left to prudence to be decided by the General rules Quest. 120. May a Preacher kneel down in the Pulpit and use his private Prayers when he is in the assembly Answ. THis will have the same answer with the former and therefore I shall trouble the Reader with no more Quest. 121. May a Minister Pray publickly in his own name singly for himself or others Or only in the Churches name as their mouth to God Answ. IT is good to be as exact in order and decency as we can But they that would not have other mens Ceremonies brought in on that pretence should not bring in their own made doctrines 1. It is certain that all the Assembly come thither not only to hear a prayer but to pray as well as the Minister And therefore the practice of all Churches in the world as is seen in all the Liturgies is for the Minister to speak in the plural number and usually to pray in the Churches name And so he is both their Guide and mouth in prayer Therefore even when he prayeth for himself it is usually fittest or very fit for him rather to say We beseech thee give the speaker thy assistance c. than I beseech thee 2. And even subjectively it is not inconvenient to speak of himself in the third person Give him or Give the speaker thy help instead of Give me 3. But they that will place a necessity in either of these and make the contrary a sin must have more knowledge than I have to be able to prove it For 1. In the latter case the Minister doth not pray in his own person but only for his own person when he saith We beseech thee give me thy help c. 2. And I know no word of God that saith either that the Minister is only the mouth of the people 1 Tim. 2. 1 2. Isa. 59. 16. Jer. 27. 18. 7. 16. 29. 7. 37. 3. 42. 2 4 20. 1 Sam. 7. 5. 12 19 23. 2 Cor. 13. 7. Phil. 1. 9. Col. 1. 9 3. 1 Thess. 5. 23. 2 Thess. 1. 11. 1 Thess. 3. 10. or that he is to speak only in their names or that he may not pray for himself or them in his Ministerial capacity in the first person For 1. He is a Minister of Christ for the Church and not the Minister of the Church properly And he is subordinate to Christ in his Priestly Office as well as in his Teaching and Ruling Office And the Priests did alwayes take it for their Office not only to speak as the Peoples mouth but as Sub-mediators or Intercessors for them to God And as then they were Types of Christ by standing between God and the people so they were his Officers as well as Types And so they are his Officers to this day And as they Teach and Rule in his Name by Office so do they intercede in his Name All men confess that they may do this in private And where is it forbidden to be done in publick 2. And there are some cases in which it is fittest that it should be so That is when it is supposed that the Congregation doth not joyn with him As 1. When the whole Church is fallen into some error of judgement as who hath not many and he knoweth that they differ from him It is fitter for him to pray as a Sub-intercessor for them in his own person than to speak as in their persons who he knoweth joyn not with him For that hath a plain untruth in it 2. If the whole Church be fallen into some little sin which seduction yet hindereth them from Repenting of he were better confess it and profess sorrow for it in his own person than in theirs that joyn not with him in it 3. When he prayeth for somewhat for himself and them that is above their understanding as for direction in some difficult Controversies c. I know not that he is bound to speak in their names that understand him not Therefore this is no business for Christians that are not possest with a proud pievish self-conceited â—uarâ—elsome humour to censure or despise a Minister for Nor should any introduce that false doctrine of mans invention into the Church that the Minister is only to pray in publick as the peoples mouth But the power of prejudice is great Quest. 122. May the name Priests Sacrifice and Altars be lawfully now used instead of Christs Ministers Worship and the Holy Table Answ. 1. HE that useth them in design to bring in the Popish Transubstantiation and Real Sacrifice of the Mass doth heinously sin in such a design and use 2. In a time and place where they may not be used without scandal or tempting or encouraging any to their errors the scandal will be a grievous sin 3. The New Testament useth all the Greek names which we translate Priests
that is eldest and ablest and be ruled by him 24. Whether there shall be any Deaconesses in the Church 25. Whether a Church shall have one Minister two or more 26. Who shall be the men 27. What space of ground shall be the Church bounds for the cohabitation of the members 28. How many Neighbour Churches shall make a Synod and which be they 29. How many members a Synod shall consist of 30. Who shall be president Or whether any And who shall gather the Votes 31. Who shall record their Acts as Scribe 32. What Messenger shall carry them to the Churches 33. What Letters for Correspondence and Communion shall be written to the Churches 34. When Pastors shall remove from one Church to another And to which 35. Who shall be ordained Ministers to Preach Baptize and gather Churches 36. How many the Ordainers shall be 37. Whether there shall be any Musick by Instruments in the Church or house for the praises of God and what 38. Who shall lead the Psalm 39. Who shall read 40. What words the Churches Profession of faith shall be expressed by 41. By what signes the Church shall signifie their consent Whether lifting up the hand standing up bowing the head or by voice or writing 42. By what sign or ceremony men shall take an oath Whether lifting up the hand toward Heaven or laying it on a Book or kissing the Book c. 43. Whether the people at the Sacrament sit neer the Table or keep farther off 44. Whether it be put into each persons hand or they take it themselves With many more such like 4. And it is a lawful Invention to determine of meer Circumstances of Time and place which God hath not determined of in Scripture As 1. At how many times in the year or week Baptism shall be administred 2. At what age persons be admitted to the Lords Supper 3. On what dayes and hours of the week there shall be Lectures or Church-assemblies 4. How oâ—t and when Ministers shall Caâ—echise and instruct the people privately 5. On what hour the Church shall assemble on the Lords dayes and receive the Sacrament 6. How long Prayer Reading and Sermon shall be 7. At what hour to end the publick exercises 8. At what hours to pray in Families or in secret 9. How often Disciplinary meetings shall be held for the trying of accused members 10. How often Synods shall meet and how long continue Of Holy dayes before 5. The same is to be said for the Places of Holy Exercises 1. What Edifices the Churches shall have for such uses 2. In what places they shall be scituate 3. Where the Pulpit shall stand 4. And where the Font 5. And where the Table 6. Where each of the people shall sit 7. Where Synods shall meet 8. How many Temples shall be in a City c. 6. The same is to be said of all Accidental subordinate Offices As Lectors Clerks Door-keepers Church-wardens and many more before mentioned 7. The same is to be said of Church Utensils As Table Cups Linen Pulpits Fonts Clock Hour-glass Bells Seats decent Habit of Cloaths c. 8. The same may be said of Decent Gestures not particularly commanded As what Gesture to Preach in standing or sitting What Gesture to Read in What Gesture to Hear in What Gesture to sing Psalms in Whether to be covered or bare-headed In what gesture to receive the Lords Supper In which Scripture no more regulateth us than of the room the hour of communicating the number of Communicants the place in all which Christs example was not a particular Law 9. The same may be said of Order 1. Whether the Pastor shall begin with Prayer reading or exhortation 2. Whether the people shall begin with prayer or ejaculations privately 3. Whether we shall make but one or two long continued prayers or many short ones 4. Whether we shall pray before Sermon immediately and after in the Pulpit or in the Reading place 5. When the Psalms shall be said or sung and how many 6. How many Chapters shall be read and which and in what order 7. Whether Baptism shall be before or after or when 8. When the Catechumens and Learners shall be dismissed and the proper Eucharistical Church Exercises begin 9. When Collections made c. But O Lord have compassion on thy scattered flocks who are afflicted and divided by the Imperiousness of those Pastors who think it not enough for the exercise of their Domination to promote all thine own holy Laws and doctrines and to make their own Canons in all these cases or such like but they must needs make more work than all this cometh to for themselves and for the flocks even unto those distractions and dissâ—pations and fierce persecutions and contentions which many hundred years have exercised the Greek and Latine Churches and many more throughout the World Quest. 134. What are the mischiefs of unlawful Additions in Religion Answ. ALas many and great 1. They tend to dethrone Christ from his Soveraignty and Legislative prerogative 2. And to advance Man blind and sinful man into his place 3. And thereby to debase Religion making it but a humane or a mixed thing And it can be no more noble than its Author is 4. And thereby they debase also the Church of God and the Government of it while they make it to be but a Humane policy and not Divine 5. They tend to depose God from his Authority in mens Consciences and to level or joyn him there but with man 6. They tend to mens doubtfulness and uncertainty of their Religion seeing man is fallible and so may his constitutions be 7. They tend to drive out all true Religion from the World while Man that is so Bad is the maker of it and it may be suspected to be bad that is made by so bad an Author 8. And it taketh off the fear of God and his judgement For it is man that must be feared so far as man is the maker of the Law And it destroyeth the consolation of believers which consisteth in the hopes of a reward from God For he that serveth man must be rewarded by man And though they do not exclude God but joyn him with themselves yet this mixture debaseth and destroyeth Religion as the mixture of God and Mammon in mens Love and as mixt and debased metals do the Soveraign's coin 9. It hardeneth Infidels and hindereth their Conversion For they will reverence no more of our Religion than we can prove to be Divine And when they find one part of it to be humane they suspect the rest to be so too and contemn it all Even as Protestants do Popery for the abundance of humane trinkets and toyes with which we see them exercise and delude their silly followers 10. It is the great engine of dividing all the Churches and breeding and feeding conâ—â—ntions in the Christian World 11. And because men that will command will be obeyed and they that are
absolutely subjected to God will obey none against him whatever it cost them as Dan. 3. 6. Heb. 11. Luk. 14. 26 33. Matth. 5. 10 11 12. therefore it hath proved the occasion of bloody persecutions in the Churches by which professed Christians draw the guilt of Christian blood upon themselves 12. And hereby it hath dolefully hindered the Gospel while the persecutors have silenced many worthy Conscionable Preachers of it 13. And by this it hath quenched Charity in the hearts of both sides and taught the sufferers and the afflicters to be equally bitter in censuring if not Rom. 14 15. detesting one another 14. And the Infidels seeing these dissensions and bitter passions among Christians deride and scorn and hate them all 15. Yea such causes as these in the Latine and Greek Churches have engaged not only Emperours and Princes against their own subjects so that Chronicles and Books of Martyrs perpetuate their dishonour as Pilate's name is in the Creed but also have set them in bloody Wars among themselves These have been the fruits and this is the tendency of usurping Christs prerogative over his Religion and Worship in his Church And the greatness of the sin appeareth in these aggravations 1. It is a mark of pitiful Ignorance and Pride when dust shall thus like Nebuchadnezzar exalt it self against God to its certain infamy and abasement 2. It sheweth that men little know themselves that think themselves fit to be the makers of a Religion for so many others And that they have base thoughts of all other men while they think them unfit to Worship God any other way than that of their making And think that they will all so far deny God as to take up a Religion that 's made by man 3. It shews that they are much void of Love to others that can thus use them on so small occasion 4. And it sheweth how little true sense or reverence of Christian Religion they have themselves who can thus debase it and equal their own inventions with it 5. And it leaveth men utterly unexcusable that will not take warning by so many hundred years experiences of most of the Churches through the World Even when we see the yet continued divisions of the Eastern and Western Churches and all about a humane Religion in the parts most contended about When they read of the Rivers of Blood that have been shed in Piedmont France Germany Belgia Poland Ireland and the flames in England and many other Nations and all for the humane parts of mens Religion He that will yet go on and take no warning may go read the 18th and 19th of the Revelation and see what Joy will be in Heaven and Earth when God shall do Justice upon such But remember that I speak all this of no other than those expresly here described Quest. 135. What are the mischiefs of mens error on the other extream who pretend that Scripture is a Rule where it is not and deny the foresaid lawful things on pretence that Scripture is a perfect Rule say some for all things Answ. 1. THey fill their own minds with a multitude of causeless scruples which on their principles can never be resolved and so will give themselves no rest 2. They make themselves a Religion of their own and superstition is their daily devotion which being erroneous will not hang together but is full of contradictions in it self and which being humane and bad can never give true stability to the soul. 3. Hereby they spend their dayes much in melancholy troubles and unsetled distracting doubts and fears instead of the Joyes of solid faith and hope and love 4. And if they escape this their Religion is contentious wrangling censorious and factious and their zeal flyeth out against those that differ from their peculiar superstitions and conceits 5. And hereupon they are usually mutable and unfetled in their Religion This year for one and the next for another because there is no Certainty in their own inventions and conceits 6. And hereupon they still fall into manifold parties because each man maketh a Religion to himself by his mis-interpretation of Gods Word So that there is no end of their divisions 7. And they do a great deal of hurt in the Church by putting the same distracting and dividing conceits into the heads of others And young Christians and Women and ignorant well meaning people that are not able to know who is in the right do often turn to that party which they think most strict and godly though it be such as our Quakers And the very good conceit of the people whom they take it from doth settle so strong a prejudice in their mind as no argument or evidence scarcely can work out And so Education Converse and humane estimation breedeth a succession of dividers and troublers of the Churches 8. They sin against God by calling good evil and light darkness and honouring superstition which is the work of Satan with holy names Isa. 5. 20 21. 9. They sin by adding to the Word of God while they say of abundance of Lawful things This is unlawful and that is against the Word of God and pretend that their Touch not taste not handle Col. 2. 22 23. not is in the Scriptures For while they make it a Rule for every Circumstance in particular they must squeeze and force and wrest it to find out all those Circumstances in it which were never there and so by false expositions make the Scriptures another thing 10. And how great a sin is it to Father Satans works on God and to say that all these and these things are forbidden or commanded in the Scripture and so to belye the Lord and the Word of Truth 11. It engageth all Subjects against their Rulers Laws and Government and involveth them in the sin of denying them just obedience while all the Statute Book must be found in the Scriptures or else condemned as unlawful 12. It maintaineth disobedience in Churches and causeth Schisms and Confusions unavoidably For they that will neither obey the Pastors nor joyn with the Churches till they can shew Scriptures particularly for every Translation Method Metre Tune and all that 's done must joyn with no Churches in the world 13. It bringeth Rebellion and Confusion into families while Children and Servants must learn no Catechism hear no Minister give no account observe no hours of prayer nay nor do no work but what there is a particular Scripture for 14. It sets men on Enthusiastical expectations and irrational scandalous worshipping of God while all men must avoid all those Methods Phrases Books Helps which are not expresly or particularly in Scripture and men must noâ— use their own Inventions or prudence in the right ordering of the works of Religion 15. It destroyeth Christian Love and Concord while men are taught to censure all others that use any thing in Gods Worship which is not particularly in Scripture and so to censure
12. 12. Col. 4. 15. people that make the Church 2. That God may be acceptably Worshipped in all places when it is our duty 3. That the ancient Churches and Christians in times of persecutions ordinarily met in secret against the Rulers wills and their meetings were called Conventicles and slandered which occasioned Pliny's examination and the right he did them 4. That no Minister must forsake and give over his work while there is need and he can do it Mat. 18. 20. 1 Cor. 9. 10. 1 Thes. 2. 15 16. Act. 4. 19. See Dr. Hammoâ—d in ioc 1 Tim. 2. 8. Act. 8. 4. 1 Joh. 3. 17. 2 Tim. 4. 1 2 3. Hâ—b 10. 25. 5. That where there are many thousands of ignorant and ungodly persons and the publick Ministers either through their paucity proportioned to the people or their disability or unwillingness or negligence or all are insufficient for all that publick and private Ministerial work which God hath appointed for the instruction perswasion and salvation of such necessitous souls there is need of more Ministerial help 6. That in cases of real not counterfeit necessity they that are hindered from exercising their Ministerial Office publickly should do it privately if they have true Ordination and the call of the peoples necessity desire and of opportunity so be it they do it in that peaceable orderly and quiet manner as may truly promote the interest of Religion and detract not from the lawful publick Ministry and work 7. That they that are forbidden to Worship God publickly unless they will commit some certain See much of this case handled before Q. 109. and Q. 110. sin are so prohibited as that they ought not to do it on such terms 8. That the private meetings which are held on these forementioned terms in such cases of necessity are not to be forsaken though prohibited Though still the honour of the Magistrate is to be preserved and obedience given him in all Lawful things And such Meetings are not sinful nor dishonourable to the assemblers For as Tertullian and Dr. Heylin after him saith Cum pii cum boni cocunt non factio dicenda est sâ—d curia When pious and good people meet especially as aforesaid it is not to be called a faction but a Court. Thus far I think we all agree And that the Church of England is really of this mind is certain 1. In that they did Congregate in private themselves in the time of Cromwells Usurpation towards the end when he began to restrain the use of the Common Prayer 2. In that they wrote for it see Dr. Hide of the Churcâ— in the beginning 3. Because both in the reign of former Princes since the Reformation and to this day many laborious conforming Ministers have still used to repeat their Sermons in their Houses where many of the people came to hear them 4. Because the Liturgie alloweth private Baptism and restraineth not any number from being present nor the Minister from instructing them in the use of Baptism which is the sum of Christianity 5. Because the Liturgie commandeth the visitation of the sick and alloweth the Minister there to pray and instruct the person according to his own ability about Repentance faith in Christ and preparation for death and the life to come and forbiddeth not the friends and neighbours of the sick to be present 6. Because the Liturgie and Canons allow private Communion with the sick lame or aged that cannot come to the assembly where the nature of that holy work is to be opened and the Eucharistical work to be performed And some must be present and the number not limited 7. And as these are express testimonies that all private meetings are not disallowed by the Church of England so there are other instances of such natural necessity as they are not to be supposed to be against As 1. For a Captain to Pray and read Scripture or good Books and sing Psalms with his Souldiers and with Marriners at Sea when they have no Minister 2. There are many thousands and hundred thousands in England that some live so far from Church and some are so weak that they can seldome go and some Churches have not room for a quarter of the Parish and none of the thousands now meant can read and so neither can help themselves nor have a Minister that will do it And thousands that when they have heard a Sermon cannot remember it but lose it presently If these that cannot Read or Remember nor teach their own families nor go to Church do take their Families many of them to some one Neighbours house where the Sermon is repeated or the Bible or Liturgie read methinks the Church should not be against it But it must be still remembred that 1. Rulers that are Infidels Papists Hereticks or persecutors that restrain Church-meetings to the injury of mens souls must be distinguisht from pious Princes that only restrain Hereticks and real Schismaticks for the Churches good 2. And that times of Heresie and Schism may make private meetings more dangerous than quiet times And so even the Scottish Church forbad private meetings in the Separatists dayes of late And when they do more hurt than good and are justly forbidden no doubt in that case it is a duty to obey and to forbear them as is aforesaid Quest. 173. What particular Directions for Order of Studies and Books should be observed by young Students § 1. BEcause disorder is so great a disadvantage to young Students and because many have importuned me to name them some few of the best Books because they have no Time to read nor money to buy many I shall here answer these two demands § 2. I. The Order of their studies is such as respecteth their whole lives or such as respecteth every Day It is the first which I now intend § 3. Direct 1. The knowledge of so much of Theologie as is necessary to your own Duty and Salvation is the first thing which you are to learn when you have learnt to speak Children have souls to save and their Reason is given them to use for their Creators service and their salvation 1. They can never begin to Learn that too soon which they were made and Redeemed to Learn and which their whole lives must be employed in practising And that which absolute Necessity requireth and without which there is no salvation 3. And that which must tell a man the only ultimate end which he must intend in all the moral actions of his life For the right Intention of our end is antecedent to all right use of means And till this be done a man hath not well begun to Live nor to use his Reason nor hath he any other work for his Reason till this be first done He liveth but in a continual sin that doth not make God and the publick good and his salvation his end Therefore they that would not have Children begin with Divinity would have them
Deut. 29. 22. Eâ—â—d 12. 26. Jos. 4. 6. 22. 22. 24 25. and not only to the Countrey where he liveth Many things seem necessary for some present strait or work that we would do which in the next age may be of mischievous effects Especially in Ecclesiastical and Political professions Covenants and impositions we must look further than our present needs And many things seem necessary for a local narrow interest which those at a distance will otherwise esteem 17. He that will walk uprightly must be able to bear the displeasure of all the world when the interest of truth requireth it yea to be rejected of learned and good men themselves and account 1 Cor. 4. 3 4. John 5. 44. Luke 14. 26. Gal. 2. 13. 14. Acts 11. 2 3. mans favour no better than it is Not to despise it as it is a means to any good but to be quite above it as to his own interest Not that uprightness doth use to make a man despised by the upright but that it may bring him under their censure in some particulars which are not commonly received or understood to be of God 18. He must make it a great part of the work of his life to kill all those carnal desires which the Col. 3. 4 5. Rom. 6 1 c. 13. 12 13. 8. 13. sensual make it their work and felicity to please That Appetite sense and lust and self-will may not be the constant pervertâ—rs of his life As a fool in a Dropsie studyeth to please his Thirst and a wise man to cure it 19. He must live a life of constant and skilful watchfulness apprehending himself in continual Matth. 24. 42. â—5 1â— Mat. 13. 37. 1 Tâ—ess 5. 6. 1 Pet. 4. 7. 1 Cor. 1â— 13. Matth. 6. 13. 26. 41. danger and knowing his particular Corruptions Temptations and Remedies He must have a tender conscience and keep as far as possible from temptation and take heed of unnecessary approaches or delightful thoughts of sin O what strong Resolutions what sound knowledge have the near-baits of seâ—suality meat drink lust and pleasures overcome Never think your selves safe among neartemptations and opportunities of sinning 20. Live as those that are going to the grave Dye daily and look on this world as if you did look on it out of the world to which you go Let Faith as constantly behold the world unseen as Eccles. 7. 2 3 4 5 6. 2 Cor. 4. 16. 5. 1 7 8. Luke 12. 17 18 19 20. 16. 20 c. Matth. 25. 3 4 5 6 7 8. Acts 7. 56 60. your eye seeth this Death and Eternity make men wise We easily Confess and Repent of many things when we come to dye which no Counsels or Sermons could make us penitently confess before Death will answer a thousand objections and temptations and prove many vanities to be sin which you thought the Preacher did not prove Dying men are not drawn to drunkenness filthiness or time-wasting sports nor flattered into folly by sensual baits Nor do they then fear the face or threats of persecuters As it is from another world that we must fetch the Motives so also the Defâ—nsative of an Upright life And O happy are they that faithfully practise these Rules of Uprightness THough it be my judgement that much more of the Doctrine of Politicks or Civil Government Among the Jews it was all one to be a Lawyer and a Divine but not to be a Lawyer and a Pâ—iest belongeth to Theology than those men understand who make Kings and Laws to be meer humane Creatures yet to deliver my Reader from the fear lest I should meddle with matters that belong not to my Calling and my Book from that reproach I shall over-pass all these points which else I should have treated of as useful to Practice in Governing and Obeying 1. Of Man as sociable and of Communities and Societies and the Reason of them of their Original and the Obligation on the members 2. Of a City and of Civility 3. Of a Republick in general 1. Of its Institution 2. Of its Constitution and of its parts 3. Of its Species 4. Of the difference between it 1. And a Community in general 2. A Family 3. A Village 4. A City 5. A Church 6. An accidental Meeting 5. Of its Administration 6. Of the Relation between Gods Government and Mans and Gods Laws and Mans and of their difference and between Mans Judging and Gods Judging Nay I will not only gratifie you by passing over this and much more in the Theory but also as to the Practical part I shall pass over 1. The Directions for Supream Governours 2. And for inferiour Magistrates towards God and their Superiours and the people 3. And the Determination of the Question How far Magistrates have to do in matters of Religion Whether they be Christian or Heathen 4. How far they should grant or not grant Liberty of Conscience as it is called viz. of Judging Professing and Practising in matters of Religion with other such matters belonging to Government And all the Controversies about Titles and Supremacy Conservations Forfeitures Decayes Dangers Remedies and Restorations which belong either to Politicians Lawyers or Divines All these I pretermit save only that I shall venture to leave a few brief Memorandums with Civil Governours instead of Directions for securing the Interest of Christ and the Church and mens salvation Yet assuring the Reader that I omit none of this out of any contempt of the matter or of Magistracy or as if I thought them not worthy of all our Prayers and Assistance or thought their office of small concernment to the welfare of the world and of the Church but for those Reasons which all may know that know me and the Government under which we live and which I must not tell to others CHAP. II. Memorandum's to Civil Rulers for the interest of Christ the Church and mens Salvation § 1. Memor 1. REmember that your power is from God and therefore for God and not against Memor 1. God Rom. 13. 2 3 4. You are his Ministers and can have no power except it be Finis ad quem Rex principaliter intendere debet in sâ—ipso in subditis est aeâ—erna beatitudo quae in visione Dei consistit Et quia ista visio est perfectissimum bonum maxime movere debet Regem quemcunque Dominum ut hunc finem subditi consequantur Lib. de Regim Principum Thomae adscript Grot. de Imper. sum Pot. p. 9. Even Aristotle could say Polit. 7. c. 1 2. Eudem fine that each mans active and contemplative life is the end of Government and not only the publick peace and that that is the best life which conduceth most to our consideration of God and that is the worst which calleth us off from considering and worshiping him Vide Grot. de Imper. sum Pot. p. 10. Quam multa injuste fieri possunt
be so in seriousness and not hypocrisie and jeast It being no such small contemptible matter to be turned into dissembling complement § 8. Memorand 8. Endeavour the Unity and Concord of all the Churches and Christians that are Memor 8. under your Government and that upon the terms which all Christs Churches have sometime been united in that is In the Holy Scriptures implicitly as the General Rule In the ancient Creeds explicitly as the sum of our Credenda and in the Lords Prayer as the summary of our Expetenda and in the Decalogue as the summary of our Agenda supposing that we live in peaceable Obedience to our Governours whose Laws must rule us not only in things Civil but in the Ordering of those circumstances of Worship and discipline which God hath left to their determination § 9. Memorand 9. Let all things in Gods Worship be done to Edification decently and in Order Memor 9. and the body honour God as well as the soul But yet see that the Ornaments or garments of Religion be never used against the substance but that Holiness Unity Charity and Peace have alway the precedency § 10. Memorand 10. Let the fear of sinning against God be cherished in all and let there be Memor 10. a tenderness for such as are over scrupulous and fearful in some smaller things and let not things August Ep. â—o isaâ— Omnes Reges qui populo Dei non prohibuerunt nec everterunt quae contra Dei praecepta fuerunt instituta culpantur Qui prohibuerunt everterunt super aliorum merita laudantur be ordered so as shall most tend to the advantage of debauched Consciences that dare say or do any thing for their carnal ends For they are truest to their Governours that are truest to their God And when it is the wrath of God and Hell that a man is afraid of it is pity he should be too eagerly spurred on The unconscionable sort will be true to their Governours no longer than it serves their interest Therefore Conscientiousness should be encouraged § 11. Memorand 11. If the Clergy or most Religious people offend let their punishment be such Memor 11. as falleth only on themselves and reacheth not Christ nor the Gospel nor the Church Punish When Hunnerichus the Arrian Vandal King was resolved to banish imprison and otherwise persecute the Orthodox Bishops and Pastors he first tryeth them by threatnings and divers cruelties and after appointeth a publick Disputation where his Bishops and Officers having no better pretence cruelly beat the people and Pastors and then falsly tell the King that by tumult and clamour they avoided disputing And at last he calleth together all the Pastors that were met for the disputation and to ensnare them putteth an Oath upon them that after the Kings death they would take his Son for their King and that they would send no Letters beyond Sea This Oath divided the Orthodox among themselves For one part of the Bishops and Pastors said If we refuse a Lawful Oath our people will say that we forsake them and the dissolution oâ— the Churches will be imputed to â—s The other part perceiving the snare were fain to pretend Christs command Swear not at all The King having separated them and the Officers took all their names sendeth them all to prison To those that took the Oath they said Because that contrary to the command of the Gospel you would swear you shall see your Cities and Churches no more but be sent into the Countrey to till the ground but so that you presume not to sing Psalms or Pray or carty a Book or Baptize or Ordain or absolve To those that refused the Oath they said Because you desired not the Reign of the Kings Son and therefore refused the Oath you shall be banished to the Isle of Corsica to cut Wood for the Ships Victor Utic p. mihi 456 457. Generalis Jesuitarum ex nimio absoluti imperii amore delâ—turas in sciâ—nia sua admittit iisque credit non audito eo qui accusatur quod injustitiae genus ab ethnicis ipsis improbatur Imperando non bonis Regibus se facit similem qui senatum magni fecerunt sed Tyrannos mavult imitari e. g. Tarquinium superbum qui ante omnia conatus est debilitare senatus numerum authoritatem ut omnia suo libitu facere posset similiter Generalis cum Assistenâ—ibus suis odit synodos generales omniaque experitur ne tales instituantur conventus quibus rerum gesâ—arum reddere rationem necesse habeat Generalis Jesuit in eligendis officialibus non curat quod sit cujusque talentum aut dotes eminentiores sed quam benè secum aut cum Provinciali suo CONFORMETUR quae causa est â—uâ— homines viles abjecti animi officiis praeponantur qui à superioribus duci se sinant ut nervis alienis mobile ligâ—um Mariana de Refor Iesuit c. 13 15 16 18. in Arcan Iâ—sâ—it p. 131 132. recit in Apoloâ— Giraldi Nulla est latronum societatas in qua Justitia non plus loci habeat quam in societate nostra c. Ubi non modo scientia ignorantia in aequo sunt sed etiam scientia impedimento est quo minus quis consequatur praemia humano aâ— diuino jure debita Marian. Aphor. 84. c. 12. c. 14 89. Aph. 87 c. The rest is worth the reading as a warning from a Jesuite to the Governours of State and Church Aph. 80. c. 11. Superiores societatis nostrae sunt homines indigni qui officiis praesint cum Generalis metuat ac sublatos velit quorum eminentes sunt virtutes Boni quam mali ei suspectiores sunt This and abundance more saith Mariana a Jesuite of 96 years of age learned in Hebrew Chaldee Syriack Greek and Latine of his own Society not Christ for his servants failings nor the Gospel for them that sin against it nor the souls of the people for their Pastors faults But see that the interest of Christ and mens souls be still secured § 12. Memorand 12. If the dissentions of Lawyers or States-men make factions in the Common-wealth Memor 12. let not the fault be laid on Religion though some Divines fall into either faction When the difference is not in Divinity but in Law Cases blame not Religion for that which it hath no hand in And watch against Satan who alway laboureth to make Civil factions or differences tend to the dishonour of Religion and the detriment of the Church and Gospel § 13. Memorand 13. Take those that are Covetous ambitious or selfish and seek for preferment Memor 13. to be the unfittest to be consulted with in the matters of Religion and the unfittest to be trusted with the charge of souls And let the humble mortified self-denying men be taken as fitter Pastors for the Churches § 14. Memorand 14. Side not with any faction of contentious
them speedily Luk. 18. 7 8. what need you be so forward to justifie and avenge your selves Obj. If God will have their names to rot and spoken evil of when they are dead why may I not do it while they are alive Answ. There is a great deal of difference between a true Historian and a self-avenger in the reason of the thing and in the effects To dishonour bad Rulers while they live doth tend to excite the people to rebellion and to disable them to govern But for Truth to be spoken of them when they are dead doth only lay an odium upon the sin and is a warning to others that they follow them not in evil And this no wicked Prince was ever so Great and powerful as to prevent For it is a part of Gods resolved judgement Yet must Historians so Sâ—rt Aâ—râ—l Victor de Calig De quo nescio an decuerit memoriae prodi nisi forte quia juvat de principibus nosse omnia ut improbi saltem famae metu talia declinent open the faults of the person as not to bring the office into contempt but preserve the reverence due to the authority and place of Governours § 29. Direct 7. By all means overcome a selfish mind and get such a Holy and a publick spirit as Direct 7. more regardeth Gods honour and the publick interest than your own It is SELFISHNESS that is the great Rebel and Enemy of God and of the King and of our Neighbour A selfish private spirit careth not what the Common-wealth suffereth if he himself may be a gainer by it To revenge himself or to rise up to some higher place or increase his riches he will betray and ruine his King his Countrey and his nearest friends A selfish ambitious covetous man is faithful to no man longer than he serveth his ends nor is he any further to be trusted than his own interest will allow Self-denyal and a publick spirit are necessary to every faithful subject § 30. Direct 8. Wish not evil to your Governours in your secret thoughts but if any such thought Direct 8. would enter into your hearts reject it with abhorrence Eccles. 10. 20. Curse not the King no not in thy thought and curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber for a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter A feaverish misguided Zeal for Religion and a passionate discontent for personal injuries do make many greatly guilty in this point They would be much pleased if God would shew some grievous judgement upon persecutors and take no warning by Christs rebukes of Iames and Iohn but secretly are wishing for fire from Heaven not knowing what manner of spirit they are of They cherish such thoughts as are pleasing to them though they dare not utter them in words And he that dare wish hurt is in danger of being drawn by temptation to do hurt Obj. But may we not pray for the cutting off of persecutors And may we not give God thanks for it if he do it himself without any sinful means of ours Answ. Every Ruler that casteth down one sect or party of Christians and setteth up another perhaps as true to the interest of Christianity as they is not to be prayed against and his destruction wished by the suffering party 2. If he be a persecuter of Christianity and Piety it self as Heathens and Infidels are yet if his Government do They are dangerous passages which Petrarch hath though a good and learned and moderate man Dial. 49. Non tot passim essent Domini nec tam late â—urerent nisi populi insanirent cuique civium pro se charior â—oret res privata quam publica voluptas quam gloria pecunia quam libertas Vita quam Virtus Et statim Et sane si vel unum patria civem bonum habeat malum Dominum diutius non habebit The meaning is too plain Abundance of the most learned writers have such passages which must be read with caution Though I would draw none to the other extream Pâ—trarchs 68. Dial 85. Dialog de boâ—o Domino is as smart as the former but yet speaketh not all that contra Reges which be doth contra Dominos However he say that Inter Regem Tyrannum non discernunt Gâ—aii c. So Sr. Thoâ— More in his Poems Regibus è multis Regnum bene qui â—egat unum Vix tamen unus erit si tamen unus erit And that of Senec. Trag. ult Tantum ut noceat cupit esse potens more good than his persecution doth harm you may not so much as wish his downfall 3. If he were a Nero or a Iulian you must pray first for his conversion and if that may not be then next for his restraint and never for his destruction but on supposition that neither of the former may be attained which you cannot say 4. You must pray for the deliverance of the persecuted Church and leave the way and means to God and not prescribe to him Hurtful desires and prayers are seldom of God 5. You may freelyer rejoyce afterwards than desire it before because when a Iulian is cut off you know that Gods righteous will is accomplished when before you knew not that it was his will Yet after it is the deliverance of the Church and not the hurt of a persecuter as such that you must give thanks for Be very suspicious here lest partiality and passion blind you § 31. Direct 9. Learn how to suffer and know what use God can make of your sufferings and think Direct 9. not better of prosperity and worse of suffering than you have cause It is a carnal unbelieving heart that maketh so great a matter of poverty imprisonment banishment or death as if they were undone Bias interrogatus quidnam esset difficile Ferre inquit fortiter mutationem rerum in deterius Laert. p. 55. if they suffer for Christ or be sent to Heaven before the time As if Kingdoms must be disturbed to save you from suffering This better beseems an infidel and a worldling that takes his earthly prosperity for his portion and thinks he hath no other to win or lose Do you not know what the Church hath gained by suffering How pure it hath been when the fire of persecution hath refined it and how prosperity hath been the very that that hath polluted it and shattered it all to pieces by letting in all the ungodly world into the visible Communion of the Saints and by setting the Bishops on contending for superiority and overtopping Emperours and Kings Many thousands that would be excellent persons in adversity cannot bear a high or prosperous state but their brains are turned and pride and contention maketh them the scorn of the adversaries that observe them § 32. Direct 10. Trust God and live by faith and then you will find no need of rebellions or any Direct 10. sinful means
Consider the great temptations of the Rich and great and pity them that stand Direct 16. in so dangerous a station instead of murmuring at them or envying their greatness You little know what you should be your selves if you were in their places and the world and the flesh had so great a stroke at you as they have at them He that can swim in a calmer water may be carryed down a violent stream It is harder for that bird to fly that hath many pound weights tyed to keep her down than that which hath but a straw to carry to her nest It is harder mounting Heaven-wards with Lordships and Kingdoms than with your less impediments Why do you not pity them that stand on the top of barren mountains in the stroke of every storm and wind when you dwell in the quiet fruitful vales Do you envy them that must go to Heaven as a Camel through a needles eye if ever they come there And are you discontented that you are not in their conâ—â—tion will you rebel and fight to make your salvation as difficult as theirs Are you so unthankful to God for your safer station that you murmur at it and long to be in the more dangerous place § 40. Direct 17. Pray constantly and heartily for the spiritual and corporal welfare of your Governours Direct 17. And you have reason to believe that God who hath commanded you to put up such prayers will not suffer them to be wholly lost but will answer them some way to the benefit of them that perform the duty 1 Tim. 2. 1 2 3. And the very performance of it will do us much good of it self For it will keep the heart well disposed to our Governours and keep out all sinful desires of their hurt or controll them and cast them out if they come in Prayer is the exercise of Love and good desires And exercise increaseth and confirmeth habits If any ill wishes against your Governours should stâ—al into your minds the next time you pray for them conscience will accuse you of hypocrisie and either the sinful desires will corrupt or end your Prayers or else your prayers will cast out those ill desires Certainly the faithful fervent prayers of the Righteous do prevail much with God And things would go better than they do in the world if we prayed for Rulers as heartily as we ought § 41. Obj. For all the prayers of the Church five parts of six of the World are yet Idolaters Heathens Object Infidels and Mahometans And for all the prayers of the Reformed Churches most of the Christian part of the world are drowned in Popery or gross ignorance and superstition and the poor Greek Churches have Mahometane or tyrannical Governours and carnal proud usurping Prelates domineer over the Roman Church and there are but three Protestant Kings on the whole earth And among the Israelites themselves who had Priests and Prophets to pray for their Princes a good King was so rare that when you have named five or six over Judah and never a one after the division over Israel you scarce know where to find the rest What good then do your Prayers for Kings and Magistrates Answ. 1. As I said before they keep the hearts of subjects in an obedient holy frame 2. Were Answ. it not for prayers those few good ones would be fewer or worse than they are and the bad ones might be worse or at least do more hurt to the Church than they now do 3. It is not to be expected that all should be granted in kind that believers pray for For then not only Kings but all the world should be converted and saved For we should pray for every one But God who knoweth best how to distribute his mercies and to honour himself and refine his Church by the malice and persecution of his enemies will make his peoples prayers a means of that measure of good which he will do for Rulers and by them in the world And that 's enough to encourage us to pray 4. And indeed if when Proud ungodly worldlings have sold their souls by wicked means to climb up into places of power and command and domineer over others the Prayers of the faithful should Obj. Si id jâ—ris obâ—ineat status religionis eâ—â—t instabilis Mutato regis animo religio muta bitur presently convert and save them all because they are Governours this would seem to charge God with respect of persons and defect of Justice and would drown the world in wickedness treasons bloodshed and confusion by encouraging men by flatteries or treacheries or murders to usurp such places in which they may both gratifie their lusts and after save their souls while the godly are obliged to pray them into Heaven It is no such hearing of prayers for Governours which God hath promised 5. And yet I must observe that most Christians are so cold and formal in their Prayers for the Rulers of the world and of the Church that we have great reason to impute the unhappiness Resp. Unicum hic solatium in Divina est providentia Omnium animos Deus in potestate sua habet sed speciali quodam modo Cor Regis in manu Domini Deus per bonos per malos Reges opus suum operatur Interdum tranquillitas interdum tempestas ecclesiae utilior Nempe si pius est qui imperat si diligens lector sacrae scripturae si assiduus in precibus si Ecclesiae Catholicae reverens si peritos attente audiens multum per illum proficit veritas Sin distorto est corrupto judicio pejus id ipsi cedit quam ecclesiae Nam ipsum grave manet judicium Regis ecclesiae qui ecclesiam inultam non sinet Grotius de Impeâ— p. 210. Joh. 18. 36. of Governours very much to their neglect Almost all men are taken up so much with their own concernments that they put off the publick concernments of the world and of the Church and State with a few customary heartless words and understand not the meaning of the three first Petitions of the Lords Prayer and the Reason of their precedency or put them not up with that feeling as they do the other three If we could once observe that the generality of Christians were more earnest and importunate with God for the Hallowing of his name through all the world and the coming of his Kingdom and the obeying of his will in Earth as it is in Heaven and the Conversion of the Kings and Kingdoms of the world than for any of their personal concernments I should take it for a better prognostick of the happiness of Kings and Kingdoms than any that hath yet appeared in our dayes And those that are taken up with the expectations of Christs visible reign on earth would find it a more lawful and comfortable way to promote his Government thus by his own appointed officers than to rebell against Kings and seek
quid vel insalubre manum admoveat Cohibeat Equiso inter equitandum adigat equum per locum praeruptum vel salebrosum cui subsit periculum Etiamne Medico Etiamne Equisoni suo subjectus Rex Sed de Majori potestate loquitur sed â—â ad rem noxiam procul arcendam qua in re Charitatis semper Potestas est maxima Here you see what Church Government is and how Kings are under it and how not in Bishop Andrews sense for my part I would rather obey the Laws of the King than the Canons of the Bishops if they should disagree 3. But in cases common to both in which the Pastors Office is more nearly and fully concerned than the Magistrates the case is more difficult As at what hour the Church shall assemble What part of Scripture shall be read What Text the Minister shall preach on How long Prayer or Sermon or other Church-exercises shall be What Prayers the Minister shall use In what method he shall preach and what doctrine he shall deliver and the people hear with many such like These do most nearly belong to the Pastoral Office to judge of as well as to execute But yet in some cases the Mâ—gistrate may interpose his authority And herein 1. If the one party do determine clearly to the necessary preservation of Religion and the other to the ruine of it the disparity of consequents makeeth a great disparity in the case For here God himself hath predetermined who commandeth that all be done to â—dification As for instance If a Christian Magistrate ordain that no assembly shall consist of above forty or an hundred persons when there are so many Preachers and places of meeting that it is no detriment to mens souls and especially when the danger of infection or other evil warranteth it then I would obey that command of the Magistrate though the Pastors of the Church were against it and commanded fuller meetings But if a Iulian should command the same thing on purpose to wear out the Christian Religion and when it tendeth to the ruine of mens souls as 〈…〉 399 saâ—â—â—◠〈…〉 of Bâ—shops in thâ—se dayes â—eloâ—ged to the people and not the Prâ—â—ce and though Valens by pâ—ain force placed Luâ—ius there yet might the people lawfully reject him as no Bishop and cleave to Peter their right Pastor when Preachers are so few that either more must meet together or most must be untaught and excluded from Gods Worship here I would rather obey the Pastors that command the contrary because they do but deliver the command of God who determineth consequentially of the necessary means when he determineth of the â—nd But if the consequents of the Magistrates and the Pastors commands should be equally indifferent and neither of them discernably Good or Bad the difficulty then would be at the highest and such as I shall not here presume to determine No doubt but the King is the Supream Governour over all the Schools and Physicions and Hospitals in the Land that is he is the Supream in the Civil Coercive Government He is Supream Magistrate over Divines Physicions and Schoolmasters but not the Supream Divine Physicion or Schoolmaster When there is any work for the Office of the Magistrate that is for the sword among any of them it belongeth only to Him and not at all to them But when there is any work for the Divine the Physicion the Schoolmaster or if you will for the Shoomaker the Taylor the Watch-maker this belongeth not to the King to do or give particular commands for but yet it is all to Too many particular Laws about little maâ—ters breed contention Alex. Severus would have dâ—stinguished all orders of men by their apparel Sâ—d hoc Ulpiano Paulo dispâ—icuit dicentibus plurimum rixarum fore â—i faciles essent homines ad injurias and the Emperour yielded to them Lamâ—rid iâ— Alex. Sever. Lipsius Ubi leges multae ibi lites multae vita moresque pravi Non mulâ—ae leges bonos mâ—res faciunt sed pauâ—ae fideliter servatae be done under his Government and on special causes he may make Laws to force them all to do their several works aright and to restrain them from abuses As to clear the case in hand the King is informed that Physicions take too great Fees of their Patients that some through ignorance and some through covetousness give ill compounded Medicines and pernicious Drugs No doubt but the King by the advice of understanding men may forbid the use of such Drugs as are found pernicious to his Subjects and may regulate not only the Fees but the Compositions and Attendances of Physicions But if he should command that a man in a Feavor or Dropsie or Consumption shall have no Medicine but this or that and so oft and in such or such a dose and with such or such a dyet and the Physicions whom my reason bindeth me to trust and perhaps my own experience also do tell me that all these things are bad for me and different tempers and accidents require different remedies and that I am like to dye or hazard my health if I obey not them contrary to the Kings commands here I should rather obey my Physicions partly because else I should sin against God who commandeth me the preservation of my life and partly because this matter more belongeth to the Physicion than to the Magistrate Mr. Rich. Hooker Eccl. Polit. lib. 8. p. 223 224. giveth you the Reason more fully § 54. Direct 25. Give not the Magistrates Power to any other whether to the People on pretence of Direct 25. their Majestas Realis as they call it or to the Pope or Prelates or Pastors of the Church upon pretence of authority from Christ or of the distinction of Ecclesiastical Government and Civil The peoples pretensions to Natural Authority or Real Majesty or Collation of Power I have consuted before and more elsewhere The Popes Prelates and Pastors power of the Sword in Causes Ecclesiastical is disproved so fully by Bishop Bilson ubi supra and many more that it is needless to say much more of it All Protestants so far as I know are agreed that no Bishop or Pastor hath any power of the Sword that is of Coercion or force upon men bodies liberties or estates except as Magistrates derived from their Soveraign Their spiritual power is only upon Consenters in the use of Gods Word upon the N. B. Quae habet Andrews Tort. Tort. p. 310. Quando apud vos dictio juris exterior Clavis proprie non sit eamque voâ— multis saepe mandatis qui Laicorum in soâ—te sunt exortes sane sacri ordinis universi Conscience either generally in preaching or with personal application in Discipline No Courts or Commands can compell any to appear or submit nor lay the mulct of a penny upon any but by their own consent or the Magistrates authority But this the Papists will few
that the fleshly mind which is enmity against God should be ready to do good to the spiritual and holy servants of God Gen. 3. 15. Rom. 8. 6 7 8. Or that a selfish man should much care for any body but himself and his own When Love is turned into the hatred of each other upon the account of our partial interests and opinions and when we are like men in war that think he is the bravest most deserving man that hath killed most when men have bitter hateful thoughts of one another and set themselves to make each other odious and to ruine them that they may stand the faster and think that destroying them is good service to God who can look for the fruits of Love from damnable uncharitableness and hatred or that the Devils tree should bring forth holy fruit to God 4. And then when Love is well-spoken of by all even its deadly enemies lest men should see their wickedness and misery and is it not admirable that they see it not the Devil hath taught them to play the Hypocrites and make themselves a Religion which costs them nothing without true Christian Love and Good works that they may have something to quiet and cheat their consciences with One man drops now and then an inconsiderable gift and another oppresseth and hateth and destroyeth and slandereth and censureth that he may not be thought to hate and ruine without cause and when they have done they wipe their mouths with a few Hypocritical prayers or good words and and think they are good Christians and God will not be avenged on them One thinks that God will save him because he is of this Church and another because he is of another Church One thinks to be saved because he is of this opinion and party in Religion and another because he is of that One thinks he is religious because he saith his prayers this way and another because he prayeth another way And thus dead Hypocrites whose hearts were never quickened with the powerful Love of God to love his servants their neighbours and enemies do perswade themselves that God will save them for mocking and flattering him with the service of their deceitful lips while they want the Love of God which is the root of all Good and are possessed with the Love of money which is the root of all evil 1 Tim. 6. 10. and are Lovers of pleasures more than God 2 Tim. 3. 4. They will joyn themselves forwardly to the cheap and outside actions of Religion but when they hear much less than One thing thou yet wantest sell all that thou hast and distribute to the poor and thou shalt have a treasure in Heaven they are very sorrowful because they are very rich Luk. 18. 22 23. Such a fruitless love as they had to others Iam. 2. such a fruitless Religion they have as to themselves For pure Religion and undefiled before God is to visit the fatherless and widows in their adversity and to keep your selves unspotted from the world James 1. 27. See 1 Joh. 2. 15. 3. 17. Whâ—sâ— hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother hath need and shutteth up his bowels of compâ—ssion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him There are specially three Texts that describe the case of sensual uncharitable Gentlemen 1. Luk. 16. A Rich man cloathed in purple and silk for so as Dr. Hammond noteth it should rather be translated and fared sumptuously every day you know the end of him 2. Ezek. 16. 49. Sodoms sin was Pride fulness of bread and abundance of idleness neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy 3. James 5. 1 to 7. Go to now ye rich men weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon you Ye have lived in pleasure on earth and been wanton ye have nourished your hearts as in or for the day of slaughter Ye have condemned and killed the just and he doth not resist you And remember Prov. 21. 13. Whoso stoppeth his cars at the cry of the poor he also shall cry himself and shall not be heard And Jam. 2. 13. He shall have judgement without mercy that shewed no mercy and mercy rejoyceth against judgement Yea in this life it is oft observable Prov. 11. 24. There is that scattereth and yet increaseth and there is that with-holdeth more than is meet but it tendeth to poverty Tit. 2. Directions for works of Charity Direct 1. LOve God and be renewed to his image and then it will be natural to you to do good Direct 1. and his Love will be in you a fountain of good works Direct 2. Love your Neighbours and it will be easie to you to do them all the good you can As it Direct 2. is to do good to your selves or Children or dearest friends Direct 3. Learn self-denyal that selfishness may not cause you to be all for youâ—â—lelves and be Satans Direct 3. Law of Nature in you forbidding you to do good to others Direct 4. Mortifie the flesh and the vices of sensuality Pride and Curiosity Gluttony and drunkenness Direct 4. are insatiable gulfs and will devour all and leave but little for the poor Though there be never so many poor families which want bread and clothing the Proud person must first have the other silk Gown or the other ornaments which may set them out with the forwardest in the mode and fashion and this house must first be handsomelyer built and these rooms must first be neatlier furnished and these Children must first have finer cloaths Let Lazarus lye never so miserable at the door the sensualist must be cloathed in purple and silk and fare deliciously and sumptuously daily Luke 16. The glutton must have thâ— dish and cup which pleaseth his appetite and must keep a full Table for the entertainment of his companions that have no need These insatiable vices are like Swine and Dogs that devour all the Childrens bread Even vain recreations and gaming shall have more bestowed on them than Church or poor as to any voluntary gift Kill your greedy vices once and then a little will serve your turns and you may have wherewith to relieve the needy and do that which will be better to you at your reckoning day Direct 5. Let not self isâ—ness make your Children the inordinate objects of your charity and provision Direct 5. to take up that which should be otherwise employed Carnal and worldly persons would perpetuate their vice and when they can live no longer themselves they seem to be half alive in their posterity and what they can no longer keep themselves they think is best laid up for their Children to feed them as full and make them as sensual and unhappy as themselves So that just and moderate provisions will not satisfie them but their Childrens Portions must be as much as they can get and almost all their Estates are sibi suis for themselves and theirs And
is not For 1. All the punishment is not removed 2. The final absolving sentence is to come 3. The pardon which we have is as to its continuance but conditional And the tenour of the Covenant would cease the pardon even of all sins past if the sinners faith and repentance should cease I speak not de eventu whether ever any do fall away but of the tenour of the Covenant which may prevent falling away Now a pardon which hath much yet to be done as the condition of its continuance is not so perfect as it will be when all those things are performed Quest. 10. May Pardon or Iustification be reversed or lost Quest. 10. Answ. Whether God will eventually permit his true servants to fall so far as to be unjustified is a Controversie which I have written of in a fitter place 2. But quoad robur peccatoris it is alas too easie to fall away and be unjustified 3. And as to the tenour of the Covenant it continueth the promise and threatning conditionally and supposing the sinner defectible doth threaten damnation to them that are now justified if they should not persevere but apostatize Col. 1. 33. Rom. 11. 22. Iohn 15. 9. Quest. 11. Is the pardon of my own sins to be believed fide divina And is it the meaning of that Quest. 11. Article of the Creed I believe the pardon of my sins Answ. I am to believe fide divina that Christ hath purchased and enacted a conditional pardon which is universal and therefore extendeth to my sins as well as to other mens And that he commandeth his Ministers to offer me this and therein to offer me the actual pardon of all my sins to be mine if I truly repent and believe And that if I do so my sins are actually pardoned And I am obliged accordingly to believe in Christ and take him for my Saviour for the pardon of my sins But this is all the meaning of the Creed and Scripture and all that is of Divine belief 2. But that I am actually pardoned is not of Divine faith but only on supposition that I first believe which Scripture telleth not whether I do or not In strict sense I must first believe in Christ for pardon And next in a larger sense I must believe that I am pardoned that is I must so conclude by an act of reason one of the premises being de fide and the other of internal self-knowledge Quest. 12. May a man trust in his own faith or repentance for his pardon and justification in Quest. 12. any kind Answ. Words must be used with respect to the understanding of the hearers And perilous expressions must be avoided lest they deceive men But de re 1. You must not trust to your faith or repentance to do that which is proper to God or to Christ or to the Gospel or for any mâ—re than their own part which Christ hath assigned them 2. You must trust to your faith and repentance for that which is truly their own part And should you not trust them at all you must needs despair or trust presumptuously to you know not what For Christ will not be instead of faith or repentance to you Quest. 13. What are the several causes and conditions of pardon Quest. 13. Answ. 1. God the Father is the principal efficient giving us Christ and pardon with and through him 2 Christs person by his Sacrifice and Merits is the Meritorious Cause 3. The Gospel Covenant or Promise is the Instrumental Cause or Gods pardoning Act or Grant 4. Repentance is the Condition sine qua non necessary directly gratiâ finis in respect to God to whom we must turn 5. Faith in Christ is the Condition sine qua non directly gratiâ medii principalis in respect to the Mediator who is thereby received 6. The Holy Ghost worketh us to these conditions Tit. 2. Directions for obtaining Pardon from God Direct 1. UNderstand well the Office of Iesus Christ as our Redeemer and what it is that he Direct 1. hath done for sinners and what he undertaketh further to do For if you know not Christs Office and undertaking you will either be ignorant of your true remedy or will deceive your selves by a presumptuous trust that he will do that which is contrary to his Office and Will Direct 2. Understand well the tenour of the Covenant of Grace for there it is that you must Direct 2. know what Christ will give and to whom and on what terms Direct 3. Understand well the nature of true faith and repentance or else you can neither tell how Direct 3. to obtain pardon nor to judge of it Direct 4. Absolutely give up your selves to Christ in all the Office of a Mediator Priest Prophet Direct 4. and King And think not to be justified by one act or part of Christianity by alone believing in Christ as a sacrifice for sin To be a true Believer and to be a true Christian is all one and is the faith in Christ which is the condition of justification and salvation Study the Baptismal Covenant For the Believing in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost there meant is the true faith which is the condition of our pardon Direct 5. Be sure that your Repentance contain in it a Desire to be perfectly holy and free from all Direct 5. sin and a Resolution against all known and wilful sinning and particularly that you would not commit the same sins if you had again the same temptations supposing that we speak not of such infirmities as good men live in which yet you must heartily desire to forsake Direct 6. Pray earnestly and believingly for pardon through Christ Even for the continuance of Direct 6. your former pardon and for renewed pardon for renewed sins For prayer is Gods appointed means and included in faith and repentance which are the summary conditions Direct 7. Set all right between you and your neighbours by forgiving others and being reconciled Direct 7. to them and confessing your injuries against them and making them restitution and satisfaction For this also is included in your repentance and expresly made the condition of your pardon Direct 8. Despise not the Sacramental delivery of pardon by the Ministers of Christ For this belongeth Direct 8. to the full investiture and possession of the benefit Nor yet the spiritual consolation of a skilful faithful Pastor nor publick absolution upon publick repentance if you should fall under the need of such a remedy Direct 9. Sin no more I mean Resolvedly break off all that wilful sin of which you do repent Direct 9. For repentings and purposes and promises of a new and holy life which are uneffectual will never prove the pardon of your sins but shew your Repentance to be deceitful Direct 10. Set your selves faithfully to the use of all those holy means which God hath appointed Direct 10. for the overcoming of
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