Person That its contrary to the ground of all Speech Meer nonsence Condemned of all Languages Brought in by some proud Popes and Kings Contrary to their Prayers Testimonies from Learned Authors of ancient and modern times CHAP. III. THirteen Reasons against the Vanity of Apparel and common Recreations Pleasures and Conversation of these times That they are destrustive of their Institution Sin brought cloathing and loss of true Divine Pleasure false pleasure That they are contrary to the Example of the holy Generations That they are positively forbid That they are inconsistant with the Nature of Christ's Gospel and Religion The Effects of Pride and Wontonness destructive of Labour Industry Health Body and Soul they ensnare the affections divert the Soul from Heavenly and Eternal Delights they are the more pernitious because they seem more innocent then grosser evils they occasion Debts Poverty Worldly-mindedness and all Folly that if such Vanity and Expence were hindered Debts could be paid the Poor and Fatherless provided for and the Nation enriched otherwise nothing but Wrath and Vengeance come from God on such doings Objections answered The true Christian Life vindicated from such wanton Inventions and lustfull Vanities Several weighty Testimonies of the most famous Persons for Piety Power and Learning as well living as dying both Heathens and Christians of Ancient and Modern times as an intire confirmation of this Discourse to the Conviction if possible of others as well as Vindication of the Innocent Quakers With a Call to whomsoever it shall come Several Testimonies Of Hat Honour 1 Luther 2 Calvin 3 Marlorat 4 Jerome 5 Paulinus 6 Sulpicius 7 Causabon Of You to a single Person 8 Luther 9 Erasmus 10 Spanish Customs 11 Lipsius 12 Howel Of Apparel 13 Solon 14 Hippias 15 Gymnosophistae 16 Bamburacii 17 Gynaecosmi Gynaeconomi 18 Cornelia 19 Ancient Heathens 20 Gregory 21 Jerome 22 Memorancy Of Recreations 23 Chilon 24 Bias Stilpo 25 Anaxagoras 26 Themistocles 27 Socrates 28 Plato 29 Antisthenes 30 Aristotle 31 Clitomachus Epaminondas 32 Phocion 33 Mandanius 34 Hipparchia 35 Quintillian 36 Tertullian Chrysostom Theophilact Gregory Naz. 37 Ambrose 38 Augustine 39 Polybius Cicero Livius Tacitus 40 Machiavel 41 Cardon 42 Bellonius 43 Ouzelius 44 Clemens Romans 45 Council of Carthage 46 Gracian 47 Waldenses 48 Paulinus 49 Acacius Aged and dying Testimonies 50 Solomon 51 Ignatius 52 Iraenius 53 Justin Martyr 54 Chrysostom 55 Charles the fifth 56 Sir Phil. Sidney 57 Secr. Walsingham 58 Sir J. Mason 59 Sir H. Wotton 60 Lord Bacon 61 Dr. Donne 62 Selden 63 Grotius 64 Salmatius 65 Mazarene 66 Prince Henry Conclusion 67 Philo Judaeus 68 Eusebius Pamphili Of the Christian Life and that the being contented with few things and using this World as if we used it not is the true Christian State and Life and that the Exercise Vanity Curiosity and whole Conversation of this Age are inconsistant with the Spirit and Nature of true Christianity Many Errors and Improprieties have escaped the Press which are not to he charged upon the Author the readiest present Collection followeth Page Line Errors Corrected 5 6 counts count'st 7 22 requiring required 8 4 sustantial substantiall 11 31 Pompius Pompeius 12 33 for in so doing in so doing 14 14 about above 17 8 Parts Parks 18 7 discussed disus'd  25 men of ordinary trades every man of an ordinary trade 19 19 tified fortified 20 33 we it is we say it is 20 29 which what 24 14 said saith 26 7 meant mark 27 25 they so far are such such are so far from 30 17 heart hearts  18 was is 32 9 in on  26 the marriage bed marriage beds 33 32 Latudinarian Latitudinarian 34 2 to the with the  12 Heathen Heathens 38 16 be a right Christian be right Christians 39 12 be a true Christian or Disciple be true Christians or Disciples  35 Pleasures Pleasure 40 15 which with 42 33 are not is not 46 38 Aleman Alcman 56 16 to security to the security 57 38 innumerably innumerable 60 32 deare earnings deer earnings 65 17 overcome overcame 70 23 without thy self with thy self 81 17 Pagon Pagan 82 29 those these 84 37 which  91 last to murder an Heretical To obey an Heretical Prince   Prince then to obey him then to murther him 95 19 or and 97 4 shall should 98 16 is are 102 19 And this Nations more peculierly And more peculierly fit for  20 fit for this Nations 103 28 Pamphilius Pamphili  32 Country life Contrary life 104 24 conversations conversation  15 off and 109 7 rgain again 110 19 frowns frown NO Cross no Crown Or a few sober REASONS Proposed against those frequent Ceremonies of CAP-HONOUR c. CHAP. I. To the unredeemed of all Ranks and Qualities from the vain Customs of a wicked World READER whether thou art a Night-walking Nicodomus or a scoffing Scribe one that would visit the Messiah but in the dark Customs of the World that thou might'st pass as undiscern'd for fear of bearing his reproachfull Cross or else a Favourite to Hamans pride and counts these Testimonies but a foolish singularity to Thee hath Divine Love enjoyn'd me to be a Messenger of his Truth and a faithfull Witness against the Pride and Flatteries of this degenerated World in which the spirit of Vanity Luâ—â— and all sorts of impiety hath got to so great an head and lived so long uncontrolled that it hath impudence enough to tearm its Darkness Light and call its accursed Off-spring by the Names due to an other Nature the more easily to deceive And truly so very blind and insensible are most of what spirit they are and ignorant of the meek and Self-denying Life of holy Jesus whose Name they prefess that to call each other Rabbi or Master to bow to greet with flattering Titles and do their Fellow-Creatures Homage to spend time and estate to gratifie their wanton minds the Customs of the Gentiles that knew not God with them signifie no more then Civility good Breeding Decency Recreation Accomplishments c. O that men would consider since there are but two Spirits good or evil that acts them to all things which really of them it is that doth encline the World to these men-pleasing Customs And whether it be Nicodemus or Mordecai in thee that doth befriend the despised Quakers which makes thee ashamed to own that openly in conversation with the World which the true Light hath made vanity and sin to thee in secret Or if thou art a Dispiser tell me I prethee which do'st thou think thy mockery anger and contempt doth most resemble proud Haman or Mordecai My Friend know that none hath been more prodigal and expensive in those vanities call'd Civilities then my self and could I have covered my Conscience under the fashions of the World truly I had found a shelter from those showers of Reproach that have fallen so heavily upon me but had I with Joseph
conform'd to Egypts Customs I had sinned against my God and lost my peace nor would I have thee think it is an Hat Thou or Rayment nakedly in themselves or that we would beget any Form inconsistant with Sincerity and Truth there 's but too much of that but the esteem and value the vain minds of men do put upon them who must be stript and crucified constrains us to testifie so severely against them And this know from the infallible sence of the Eternal Spirit That which requires those Customs begets fear to leave them pleads for them and is displeased if not used and paid to them is the spirit of Pride and Flattery in the ground though Custom or generosity may have abated its strength in some and this being discovered by the Light that now shines from Heaven among the dispised Quakers necessitates them to this Testimony and my self as one of them and for them for a reproof to thâ— unfaithfull who would walk undiscerned though convinced to the contrary and for an allay to the proud Despisers who scorn us as a people guilty of affectâ—tion and singutrity from the Eternal God who is great amongst us and on his way to root up every Plant that his right hand hath not Planted do I declare that this is but the Seed of exalted Lucifer yea that wonton nature that must be yoked and crucified and that it may appear what it s said to be let these ensuing serious Reasons have thy Consideration which were mostly given me from the Lord in that time when as my condescention to those things would have been purchased at almost any rate so the certain sence I had of their contrariety to the meek and self-denying Life of holy Jesus requiring my steady and faithfull Testimony against them as Guests that are forbidden the Heavenly Kingdom that is now once more appearing to the Sons of men into which whatsoever defiles can never enter Sixteen Reasons why Cap-Honour and Titular Respects are neither Honour nor Respects Reason I. BEcause true Honour is from God and consists in a virtuous esteem for the only sake of Vertue manifested in a real service and actual benefit both to God and Mankind and true Civility in the right ordering of mens Affections and Actions but if in Hats Bows or Titles then are the most profane and deboist the most civil since most expert in those vain Ceremonies which is impossible Reason II. Because real Honour is a sustantiall thing manifested by obedience which therefore cannot stand in invented Gestures and most deformed Cringings after mens wanton Invention or in any shaddow void of the thing it self which is must necessarily do in Case the Ceremony of the Hat be an honour or respect Reason III. Because no man can honour and dishonour a man under that Honour but it s well known what grudges ill-will animosities and bitter hatred reigns in the hearts of such Hat-Honourers at the time of their false respects Reason IV. Because Honour properly ascends not descends yet the Hat is ne'er as frequenly off to equals and inferiours as to Superiours Reason V. If pulling off a Hat or Title were to pay honour who so vile who so wretched who so envious that could not honour But this is to make honour as superstitious men do Religion to consist in some external appearances which may please but never profit any wherefore it cannot be considered as of the nature of true honour which is a vertuous Respect to what is vertuous demonstrated by some substantial good Reason VI. Honour was from the beginning but Hats and most Titles here of late therefore there was true Honour before Hats or Titles and Consequently true Honour stands not therein Reason VII Because if Honour consists in such-like Ceremonies then will it follow that they are most capable of shewing Honours who perform it most exactly according to the mode or fashion by which means man hath not the Measure of the true Honour from the Just Principle in himself but the fantastick dancing Masters of the Times wherefore many give much money to have their children learn their honours falsly so called and what doth this but totally exclude the poor Country-People who though they Plow Till go to Market yea in all things obey their Justices Land-Lords Fathers and Masters scarce use their Hats or those Ceremonies but if they do they are esteemed by a Court Crittick so ill-favoured as only fit to make a jest or be laugh'd at but what sober man will not deem their obedience beyond the others vanity and hypocrisie Reason VIII Real Honour consists not in a Hat Bow or Title because all these things are purchaseable by money for which reason how many Schools and persons are there in the Land to whom Youth is generally sent to be educated in those vain fashions whilst ignorant of the honour that is of God whereby their minds are allured to visible things that perish and instead of remembring their Creator are busied about Toys and Fopperies and sometimes so much worse as to cost themselves a disinheriting and their indiscreet Parents grief and misery all their dayes Reason IX True Honour stands not in these Fashions because they had their rise since Honour and have been brought sorth by the Spirit that captivated from God and led men and women to please the lust of the eye the lust of the flesh and the pride and flattery of life both in themselves and others and which are used either to please themselves or for fear of others or because others do it or out of shame or fear of being reproached or with design to flatter Superiors equals or inferiours from whom some profit may be expected all which is contrary to the nature of true Honour that comes from God and onely is paid by a good esteem in the mind shown by some real service to God or godly men yet if such honour were to be paid since persons are of divers ranks it will be requisite that some Law or direction be given how low to bow pull off the Hat c. since to give more then is due is an abuse of Honour but would not these be ridiculous as 't is to use them at all Reason X. We cannot esteem pulling off Hats Bows or Titles to be real Honours because such like Ceremonies have been prohibited by God and his servants in days past neither did the holy Men of old respect mens persons as may be seen in the case of the Israelites who though other Nations had many Lords and many Gods yet one was their God and him only must they bow unto and reverence his holy Name Reason XI This made Mordecai who stands a Representive for the Jew and Circumcision in heart rather expose both his own and whole Nations life to Hamans rage and Cruelty whom the King had so much honoured as to require all in his Court to pay him homage then gratifie the
common persons for usually his Edict which runs We Will and Require is in conjunction with his Council but it s not customary nor proper for private Persons to write We Will and Require and therefore You to such is an abuse of the word but as Pride first gave it birth so hath she only promoted it for Monsieur Sir and Madam were originally names only used to the King his Brother and their Wives both in France and England yet now the Plowman in France is called a Monsieur and his wise a Madam and men of ordinary Trades in Cities of England a Sir and his wife a Dame or Mistress so prevalent hath Pride and Flattery been in all Ages as Howell relates in his Discourse of France Reason IX Nor can Custom usually brought to justifie these be of any force for though it may have power in some common matters in the way of Commerce amongst men get can it never make that sence which in it self is not so any more then to make a Horse a Cow or one Man a Thousand Reason X. Because Custom precedes that Authority which gives life to any immitation as coming from Custom but this preceeded Custom therefore not warrantable to be altered by any Authority so inferiour to its own Reason XI If Thou be improper or uncivil it s to indite and accuse God himself all the holy Fathers and Prophets Christ Jesus his Apostles the Primitive Saints and all Languages throughout the World which were most impudent Reason XII It should not therefore be urged upon us because it is a most extravagant piece of pride impudence in a mortal man to require or expect from his Fellow-Creature more civil expressions or gratefull terms then he is wont to give the Immortal God and Great Creator in all his worship to him nay but doth it not teach them to use it to one since the contrary implies plurality of Gods why not then a plurallity of men but were we not so well tified with Arguments in our Defence certain we are that the Spirit of God seeks not these Respects nor Titles much less pleads for them or would be wroth with any that conscientiously refuse to give them but that this vain Generation is guilty in all these respects is but too palpable What Capping what Cringing what Scraping what vain Words most hyperbolical Expressions gross Flatteries and plain Lyes do men and women spend their precious time in Ah my Friends whence fetch you these Examples what Chapter and what Verse of all the Writings of the holy men of God warrants these things Is Christ your example herein whose Name you pretend to bear or those Saints of old that had forsaken the respect of Persons and relinquished the Customs Fashions Honour and Glory of the World which fade and pass away whose qualifications lay not in external Gestures Complements c. but in a meek and quiet Spirit adorned with temperance vertue modesty gravity patience which were tokens of true honour and onely badges of respect and nobility in those Christian times O no but is it not to expose our selves both to your contempt and fury that we immitate them therein And are not Romances Plays Lampoons Poets Montebanks Fidlers and such like Ruffanly conversation that which most delights you for had you the Spirit of Christianity indeed how could you consume your time in so many unnecessary Visits Plays and Pastimes in Complements Courtships fain'd Stories Flatteries and what not which never was the Christian way of Living but the pastimes of the Heathens that knew not God Oh were your minds transformed and had you known what it were to have been born again to take up the Cross and live therein these things which so much please the wanton sensual nature should find no place This is not seeking the things that are above to have the heart set thus on things that are below This is not working out Salvation with fear and trembling This is not crying with Elibu I know not to give flattering titles to men in so doing my Maker would soon take me away This is not to deny that selfish part that would delight it self in worldly pleasures invented by men to gratifie the lust of people nor to forsake the fashions of the world which pass away laying up for a more enduring Substance and Eternal Inheritance in the Heavens which shall never pass away Well my Friends what ever you think your Plea of Custom will finde no Plea at the Dreadfull Tribunal and this Spirit against which we testifie shall then appear to be what we it is The Testimonies of several Writers LUther the grand Reformer whose Sayings were Oracles with the Age he lived in and of no less Reputation now with many was so far from condemning our plain Speech that in his Ludus be sports himself with a You to a Single Person as a most ridiculons and impertinent Custom viz. Magister vos es iratus which is just as good sence as to say My Masters thou art angry or what else you will that can be ridiculously absurd Erasmus a Learned man and then whom I know not any we may so properly defer the matter too not only mocks so impertinent a Speech but bestows a whole Discourse upon its Refutation plainly manifesting that its impossible to preserve Numbers if You the only mark for two be us'd to express one as that the original of it was Flattery and paticularly In Spain who knows not how contumelous it is among the manly People to speak in the plural number to a single person whose gravity and constancy do's not a little condemn the foolish fantastick and inconstant humor of our pretended Reformed Country And Lipsius maugre all contradiction proves that the ancient Romans alwayes Thou'd and Thee'd their Senators and Emperors and further affirmed that there was no such thing as Cap-Honour or Titular-Respects amongst them And to conclude Howel in his History of France gives us an ingenious Account of its original where he not only assures us that anciently the Peasant Thou'd the King but that Pride and Flattery first put inferiours upon paying a plural Respect to the single person of every Superiour and Superiours upon receiving and at the last requiring it and though we had not the practice of God and men to so undeniably justifie our plain Expressions yet since we are perswaded that its original was from a partial Respect and meer Flattery we cannot in Conscience gratifie them nor use it and however we may be sensur'd as singular by those loose airy minds that through the continual enjoyment of earthly pleasures have lost the weighty solid and heavenly sence of things yet not to us whom God Almighty has convinced by his Eternal Spirit of the folly and evil of such courses and brought into a spiritual discerning of the nature and ground of such things with their defences they appear to
and Princes as Grasiers are over their families and their flocks they were not sollicitous of the vanities so much lived in by the People of this Generation for in all things they pleased God by Faith the first forsock his Fathers house Kindred and Countrey A true Type or Figure of that Self-denial all must know that would have Abraham to their Father They must not think to live in those pleasures fashions and customs they are call'd to leave no but on the contrary part with all in hopes of the recompence of Reward and that better Countrey which is eternal in the Heavens The Prophets were generally poor Mechanicks one a Shepherd another a Herdsman c. they often cryed out upon the full-fed wanton Isruelites to repent to fear and dread the Living God to forsake the sins and vanities they liv'd in but never imitated them John Baptist the Messenger of the Lord who was sanctified in his Mothers womb Preach'd his Embassie to the World in a Coat of Camels hair a rough and homely garment nor can it be conceiv'd that Jesus Christ himself was much better Apparell'd who was a man of poor Friends and of great plainness insomuch that it was usual in a way of derision to say Is not this Jesus the Son of Joseph a Carpenter And this Jesus tells his followers That as for soft Raiment gorgious Apparel and Delicacies they were for Kings Courts implying That He and his followers were not to mind those things but seems plainly thereby to express the great difference that is betwixt the lovers of the fashions and customs of the world and those whom he hath chosen out of it And he not only came in that mean and despicable manner himself thereby to stain the pride of flesh but therein to become exemplary to his followers of what a self-denying life they must lead if they would be true Disciples Nay he further leaves it with them in a Parable that it might make the deeper impression to the end that they might see how inconsistent the pompous worldly-pleasing life is with the Kingdom he came to establish and call men to the possession of And that is the remarkable story of Dives who is represented 1 As a Rich man next a Voluptuous man in his rich Apparel his many Dishes and his Packs of Doggs And lastly An uncharitable man or one who was too much concern'd how to please the lust of the eye the lust of the flesh and the pride of Life and to fare sumptuously every day ever to take compassion of poor Lazarus at his Gate no his Dogs were more pitiful and kind than he But the doom of this Jolly man this great Dives we read to be everlasting torments and that of Lazarus eternal joy with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God In short Lazarus was a good man the other a great man the one poor and temperate the other rich and voluptuous too many of them are alive 'T were well if his doom might awaken them to Repentance Nor were the Apostles the immediate Messengers of the Lord Jesus Christ other then poor men one a Fisher-man another a Tent-maker and he that was of the greatest though not the honestest employment was a Customer perhaps some Waiter or the like therefore it s very unlikely that any of them were followers of the fashions of the world nay they were so far from it that as became the followers of Christ they liv'd poor afflicted self-denying lives bidding the Churches to walk as they had them for examples and to shut up this particular they give this pathetical account of the Holy Women in former times as an inducement for all to do the same namely That first they did abstain from Gold Silver breaded Hair fine Apparel or such like and next that their Adornment was a week and quiet Spirit and the hidden man of the heart which are of great price with the Lord Affirming That such as live in pleasure are dead whilst they live for that the Cares and Pleasures of this life choak and destroy the seed of the Kingdom and quite hinder all progress in the hidden and divine life So that we find the Holy men and Women of former times were not accustom'd to these pleasures and vain recreations but having their minds set on things above sought another Kingdom which consists in Righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit who having obtained a good report are enter'd into their eternal rest therefore their Works follow and praise them in the Gates Reas 4. Next That both such Apparel and Pleasures are not only with severity reprehended in Scriptures but are contrary to positive Injunctions and Precepts It was the ground of that lamentable Message by the Prophet Isaiah to the People of Israel Moreover the Lord said Because the Daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with stretehed-forth necks and wanton eyes walking and mincing as they go and making a tinckling with their feet therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the Daughters of Zion and the Lord will discover their secret parts in that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinckling Ornaments and their Cauls or Net-works in the Hebrew and their round Tyres like the Moon the Chains and the Bracelets and the spangled Ornaments the Bonnets and the ornaments of the Legs and the Head-bands and the Tablets and the Ear-Rings the Rings and Nose-Jewels the changeable suits of Apparel and the Mantles and the Whimples and the Crisping Pins the Glasses and the fine Linnen and the Hoods and the Vails And it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smells there shall be a stinck and instead of a Girdle a Rent and instead of well-set Hair Baldness and instead of a Stomacher a girding of Sack-cloth and Burning instead of Beauty Thy men shall fall by the Sword and thy mighty in the War And her Gates shall lament and mourn and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground Behold O vain and foolish Inhabitants of England your folly and your doom You Exchange-mongers who live by the like vanities is not the like your trade your profit your practice and your pleasure yet read the Prophet Ezekiel's vision of miserable Tyre what punishment her pride and pleasures brought upon her And amongst many other circumstances these are some These were thy Merchants in all sorts of things In blue Cloaths and broydered Work and in Chests of rich Apparel Emeraulds Purple fine Linnen Coral and Agate Spices with all precious Stones and Gold Horses Chariots c. for which hear part of her doom Thy Riches and thy Fairs thy Merchandise and all thy Company which is in the midst of thee shall fall into the midst of the Sea in the day of thy ruine and the Inhabitants of the Isles shall be astonished at thee and their Merchants shall hiss at thee
thou shalt be a terrour and shall be no more Thus hath God declar'd his displeasure against the Curiosity and vain Customs of this wanton World Yet further the Prophet Zephaniah goes for thus he speaks And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's Sacrifice That I will punish the Princes and the King's Children and all such as are cloath'd with strange Apparel Of how evil Consequence was it in those times for the greatest men to give themselves the liberty of following the vain Customs of other Nations or offering to change the usual End of Cloaths or Apparel to gratifie foolish Curiosity who went to place a Satisfaction in that which did not deserve their Care and to make a meer Necessity matter of Pleasure that rather should put in mind of shame This did the Lord Jesus Christ expresly charge his Disciples not to be careful about intimating that such as were could not be his Disciples for sayes he Take no care what you should eat nor what you should drink neither wherewithal shall you be clothed for after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things but seek yee first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Under which of Eating and Drinking and Apparel he comprehends all External matters whatsoever and so much appears as well because that they are opposed to the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness which are invisible and Heavenly things as that those very matters he injoyns them not to be careful about are the most necessary and the most innocent if then in such cases the minds of his Disciples are not to be solicitous much less in foolish superfluous idle inventions to gratifie the carnal appetites and minds of men so certain it is that those who live therein are none of his followers but the Gentiles and as he elsewhere sayes the Nations of the World who know not God If now then the distinguishing meant between the Disciples of Jesus and those of the World is That one minds the things of Heaven and God's Kingdom that stands in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost being not careful of External matters even the most Innocent and Necessary And that the others mind Eating Drinking Apparel and the Affairs of the World with the Lusts Pleasures Profits Honours and the like be you intreated for your Souls sake O Inhabitants of England to be serious to reflect a while upon your selves what care and cost are you at of time and money about foolish nay vicious things so far are you degenerated from the primitive Christian life What buying and selling what dealing and chaffering what writing and posting what toyl and labour what noise hurry bustle and confusion what study what little conspiracys and over-reachings what eating drinking vanity of Apparel most ridiculous Recreations in short what rising early going to bed late expence of precious time is there about things that perish View the Streets Shops Exchanges Playes Parks Taverns Ale-houses c. and is not the World this fading World writ upon every face Say not within your selves How otherwise should men live and the World subsist the common though impertinent objection there is enough for all let some content themselves with less a few things plain and decent serve to a Christian life 'T is Lust Pride Avarice that thrust men upon such folly had God's Kingdom the exercise of their minds these perishing entertainments should have but little of their time or thoughts This Self-denying Doctrine was confirm'd and enforc'd by the Apostles in their Example as we have already shewn and in their Precepts too as we shall yet evince in those two most remarkable passages of Paul and Peter where they not only tell us what should be done but also interpret what should be deny'd and avoided In like manner I will that Women Adorn themselves in modest Apparel what 's that with shamefastness and sobriety not with broidered Hair or Gold or Pearls or costly Array then these are immodest but which becometh Women professing godliness with good works absolutely implying that those who Attire themselves with Gold Silver broidered Hair Pearls costly Array or the like cannot be the Women professing godliness making those very things to be contrary to modesty and what 's good and consequently that they are evil and unbecoming Women professing Godliness To which Peter joyns another Precept after the like sort viz. Whose Adorning let it not be that outward Adorning of plaiting the Hair and of wearing of Gold or of putting on Apparel what then but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which is in the sight of God of great price and as an inducement he adds For after this manner in the old time the Holy Women who so trusted in God Adorned themselves which doth not only intimate that both Holy Women were so Adorned and that it behoves such as would be Holy and trust in the Holy God to be so Adorned but also that they who used those forbidden Ornaments were the Women and People in all Ages that for all their talk were not Holy nor did trust in God They so far are such from trusting in God that the Apostle Paul expresly sayes That they who live in pleasures are dead to God whilst they live And sayes James They that live want only on Earth slay the Just They farther enjoyn'd That Christians should have their Conversation in Heaven and their minds fixed on things above walk honestly as in the day not in Rioting and Drunkenness not in Chambring and Wantonness not in Envy and Strife let not Fornication Uncleanness or Covetousness be once named amongst you neither Filthiness nor foolish talking or jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks And let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister Grace unto the Hearers But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the desire thereof And grieve not the Holy Spirit intimating such Conversation doth but be ye followers of God as dear Children walk circumspectly not as Fools but as Wise redeeming the time because the dayes are evil Measure your selves hereby O you Inhabitants of the Land who think your selves wrong'd if not accounted Christians see what proportion your Life and Spirit bear with these most Holy and Self-denying Precepts and Examples Well my Friends my Soul mourns for you I have been with you and among you your Life and Pastime are not strangers to my Observation and with Compassion yea unexpressible pity I bewail your folly O that you would be wise O that the just Principle in your selves were heard O that Eternity had time to
self-denyal the good of others at whose Reformation I aim and my own discourse as to omit it and therefore I shall proceed to alleage their Faith and Practice in these matters however esteem'd but of a trifling importance by the loose wanton and carnal minded of this generation whose feeling is lost by the enjoyment of their inordinate desires and that think it a high state of Christianity to be no better than the Beasts that perish namely in not being excessive in Newgate and meer Kennel-enormities that these first Reformers had another sense of these things that they made the Conversation of the Gospel of a Crucified Jesus to intend and require another sort of life than what is usual with almost all those who account themselves Members of Christ I shall shew out of their own Doctrines as found in the most authentick Histories To be brief In their Exposition upon the Lord's Prayer that part of it which speaks thus Give us this day our daily bread Where next to that spiritual bread which they make it to be the duty of all to seek more than life they come positively to deny the praying for more than is requisite for outward necessities or that its lawful to use more condemning all superfluity and excess out of fashion pride or wantonness not only of bread but all outward things which they judge to be thereby comprehended using Ezekiel's words That fulness of bread and abundance of idleness was the cause of the wickedness and the abominations of Sodom for which God by fire destroy'd them off the Earth whereupon they conclude with an ancient Father of the Primitive Church after this manner That costly Apparel superfluity in diet as three Dishes when one will serve play idleness sleep which fatten the body nourish luxury weaken the spirit and lead the soul unto death but say they a spare diet labour short sleep plain and mean garments help to purifie the soul tame the body mortifie the lusts of the flesh and comfort the spirit So severe were they that in that Chapter of the Instruction of their Children they would not suffer them to converse with those of strange places or principles whose conversation was Gameing Plays and the like wanton Recreations but especially concerning young Women A Man say they must have a great care of his Daughters Hast thou Daughters keep them within to wholsome things see they wander not for Dina Jacob's Daughter was corrupted by being seen of strangers they affirm no better to be the general event of such conversation To which I shall add their Opinion and Practice concerning Taverns publick Houses for Treats and Pleasure of which the Land swarms in our dayes A Tavern is the fountain of sin the school of the Devil it works wonders fitting the place It is the custom of God to shew his power in his Church and to work Miracles that is to say to give sight to the spiritually blind to make the lame to leap the dumb to sing the deaf to hear But the Devil doth quite contrary to all these in Taverns and the like places of Pleasure for when the Drunkard goes to the Tavern he goes upright but when he comes forth he cannot go at all he has lost his sight speech and hearing too The Lectures that are read in this school of the Devil say these poor Waldenses and first Reformers are Gluttony's Oaths Perjury's Lyings Blasphemy's Flattery 's and divers other wicked Villany's and pernitious effects by which the heart is with-drawn further and further from God And as the Ecclesiasticus saith The Taverner shall not be freed from sin But above other Recreations do but seriously observe of what danger and ill consequence these first Reformers thought Dancing Musick and the like Pastimes to be which is the greatest divertisement of these dayes Dancing is the Devils Procession and he that entreth into his procession the Devil is the guide the middle and the end of the dance as many paces as a man maketh in dancing so many paces doth he make to go to Hell A man sinneth in dancing divers wayes as in his pace for all his steps are numbred in his touch in his ornaments in his hearing sight speech and other vanities And therefore we will prove first by the Scripture and afterwards by divers other Reasons how wicked a thing it is to dance The first testimony that we will produce is that which we read in the Gospel where 't is said to please Herod so well that it cost John Baptist his life The second is in Exodus when Moses coming near to the Congregation saw the Calf he cast the Tables from him and broke them at the foot of the mountain and afterwards it cost three and twenty thousand their lives Besides the Ornaments which Women wear in their dances are as Crowns for many victory 's which the Devil hath got against the Children of God For the Devil hath not only one Sword in the dance but as many as there are beautiful and well adorned Persons in the dance for the words of a Woman are a glittering sword And therefore that place is much to be seared wherein the Enemy hath so many swords since that one only sword of his may be justly feared Again The Devil in this place strikes with a sharpned sword for the Women who make it acceptable come not willingly to the dance if they be not painted and adorned that which painting and ornament is as a Whetstone on which the Devil sharpneth his sword They that deck and adorn their Daughters are like those that put dry wood to the fire to the end it may burn the better for such Women kindle the fire of Luxury in the hearts of men As Sampson's foxes fir'd the Philistines corn so these women they have fire in their faces and in their gestures and actions their glances and wanton words by which they consume the goods of men Again The Devil in the dance useth the strongest Armour that he hath for his most powerful arms are Women which is made plain unto us in that the Devil made choice of the Woman to deceive the first Man so did Balaam that the Children of Israel might be rejected of God By a woman he made Sampson David and Absolom to sin The Devil tempteth men by women three manner of wayes that is by the Touch by the Eye by the Eare by these three means he tempteth foolish men to dancings by touching their hands beholding their beauty hearing their songs and musick Again They that dance break that Promise and Agreement they have made with God in Baptism when their Godfathers promise for them That they shall renounce the Devil and all his pomp for dancing is the pomp of the Devil and he that danceth maintaineth his pomp and singeth his mass For the Woman that singeth in the dance is the Prioress or chiefest of the Devil and those that Answer are the
this towards the end of his dayes That notwithstanding he had been so laborious gather'd so many curiosities of Learning in Books and Manuscripts comprehending almost all subjects in the world yet could he rest his Soul on none save the Scriptures and above all that passage lay as most remarkable upon his spirit Titus 2. 11 12 13 14 15. For the grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and glorious Appearing of the great God our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from All iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good works These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority 14. Hugo Grotius than whom these latter Ages think they have not had a man of more profound Policy and universal Learning as well in his Commentaries on the Bible as various other Labours left this remarkable saying behind him which should abate the edge of other mens inordinate desires after what they falsely call Learning namely I WOULD GIVE ALL MY LEARNING AND HONOUR FOR THE PLAIN INTEGRITY AND HARMLESS INNOCENCY OF JEAN URICK who was a Religious poor man that spent eight hours of his time in Prayer eight in Labour and but eight in Meals Sleep and other necessary's And to one that admired his great Industry he returned this by way of complaint Ah! I have consumed my life in laboriously doing nothing And to a third that inquired of his Wisdom and Learning what course to take he solemnly answered BE SERIOUS Such was the sense he had how much a serious life out of that vain-glory of the worlds fruitless learning was of force towards a dying hour and answering yea excelling all other Considerations 15. To whom I joyn Salmusius that famous French Protestant Scholler and the others Contemporary who after his many Volumns of Learning by which he had acquired so much esteem as scarcely to be nam'd without venerable Titles confessed so far to have mistaken true Learning and that in which sollid happiness consists that he exclaim'd thus against himself Oh! I have lost a world of TIME TIME that most precious thing in the world whereof had I but one year more it should be spent in David's Psalms and Paul's Epistles Oh Sirs said he to those about him Mind the World less and God more The fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from evil that is Understanding 16. Cardinal Mazarine the great Statesman of his time whose aim was to obtain the Glory and Greatness of the World and to which end all other considerations he made submit was of another mind a little before his death being awakened by the smart lashes of Conscience which represented his Souls condition in so dismal a manner and caus'd such astonishment of mind that with weeping he cry'd out O MY POOR SOUL WHAT WILL BECOME OF THEE WHITHER WILT THOU GO And spoke one day thus to the Queen-Mother of France Madam YOUR FAVOURS HAVE UNDONE ME WERE I TO LIVE AGAIN I WOULD BE A CAPUCHIN RATHER THAN A COURTIER 17. And to conclude these serious Instances I shall make one more which though in order should have come in before yet because one of the most importent and this Nations more peculiarly fit for consideration I shall place it here and namely The dying words of HENRY Prince of Wales eldest Son to King JAMES of whom others say many generous things hear what account he gives of himself at last A Person whom he more then ordinarily esteem'd and that had been his companion at Tennis asking him How he did was answered thus amongst many other sober expressions AH TOM I IN VAIN WISH FOR THAT TIME I LOST WITH THEE AND OTHERS IN VAIN RECREATION So vain was Recreation and so precious was Time upon a dying bed And why wish'd he with others for more time but that it might be otherwise employ'd Thus hath the just Principle and holy Spirit of God throughout all Generations convinced men of their vanity and folly upon their dying beds who before were too much taken up therewith to mind either a dying bed or vast Eternity but when their dayes were almost numbred when mortality hasten'd on them when the revelation of the righteous Judgement was at the door and that all their worldly Recreations and Enjoyments must be parted with and that Eye for ever shut and Flesh turn'd to worms-meat that took delight therein then O then it was the holy Witness had time to plead with Conscience then nothing but a holy strict and severe life was valuable then All the world for a little time who before had given all their time for a little of a vain world But if so short a representation of the inconsistency of the vanities of the world with the Christian life could make so deep an impression Oh! to what a noble stature and large proportion had they been grown in all Pious and Heavenly knowledge and how much greater had their Rewards been if they contentedly had foregone those perishing Entertainments of the World betimes and given the exercise of their minds to the tuition and guidance of that universal Grace and Holy Spirit of God which had so long shined in darkness uncomprehended of it and was at last but just perceiv'd to give a sight of what they had been doing all their dayes I shall wind up the whole with this short Description of the Christans within the first hundred years after Christ as what may further justifie not only my Reasons but the Dying Expressions of these several Persons viz. That as a severe life is the Christian life so that it is incomparably sweeter than all the vain Inventions Fashions and Pleasures of the World 18. The description was originally given by Philo-Judaeus and cited by Eusebius Pamphilius thus That those Christians renounced their substance and sever'd themselves from all the cares of this life and forsaking the Cities they lived solitarily in Fields and Gardens They accounted their company who followed the Country-life of cares and bussle as unprofitable and hurtful unto them as it was likely who then lived thus to the end that with earnest and fervent desire they might imitate them which lead this prophetical and heavenly life In many places this people liveth for it behoveth as well the Grecians as the Barbarians to be partakers of this absolute goodness But in Egypt in every Province they abound and especially about Alexandria From all parts the better sort withdrew themselves into the soil and place of these Worshippers as they were called as a most commodious place adjoyning to the Lake of Mary in a low Vale very fit both for its security and the temperance of the Air. They are further reported to have Meeting-houses where the most part of the day was employed