way of assistance or advice to prevent Sin or Mischief as Lot to reconcile Differences as Moses is not it I do not think that either Lot in his Nay my Brethren do not so wickedly nor Moses in his Wherefore smitest thou thy Fellow were Pragmatical as it seems they were then interpreted There is such a Fault as Pragmaticalness but a Generous Activity and Publick-Spiritedness which proceeds from an Universal Love is unjustly branded Yea I will say it is base Cowardice in some men of Abilities to hide themselves from Business and from the Necessities of Mankind that is from their own flesh under this pretence That they will not be Busie-bodies It is better to offer ones self ten times where there is no Need than to deny Assistance once where there is Blessed are the Peace-makers said the great Peace-maker And I cannot but account it a base humor to reproach Active men for Busie-bodies It 's true Christ Jesus would not meddle with things not belonging to him but as to the things belonging to him he sought opportunities for Business He went up and down doing good MEDITAT LXXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or of the Love of Worldly Business BUT there is a love of worldly Business which is intemperate and a symptom of a worldly mind And although one should say That they that are guilty of it are the best sort of Sensualists because Business and Action is a better thing less gross more agreeable to the active Nature of the Soul than the dull love of Riches yet this is very small comfort Some dote too much upon their own worldly Business which yet is materially lawful It is an easie thing to over-do to be over-diligent over-industrious over-painful Do not they dote upon Business who are employ'd about it by Day dream of it by Night pursue it with a hurry inseparable from Fear Perplexity and Discontent that will be ready to fall out with God or man if they put any stop to them in their Business Suppose Business to be lawful yet it must also be necessary or highly convenient to justifie mens zeal about it What Necessity is there or Convenience either that Rich men should be still Richer or that one man should have all the Trade of a Town To clog ones self with worldly Business in order to Self enriching and growing up into unnecessary Grandeur or unwieldy Bulk in the World argues a worldly Spirit To busie ones self in order to the molesting and troubling of other men to be Encouragers of Law Troublers of Israel argues a worldly Mind To busie ones self so in worldly matters as to exclude or retrench heavenly Business not to subordinate the former to the latter to love Business for Business-sake without respect to any good to be done thereby argues an intemperate Lover of worldly Business Some concern themselves too much in other mens Business To meddle in things that we know not or in things no way belonging to us is foolish but to meddle in the matters of other men to do them mischief is wicked The Sycophantick Delators so much inveigh'd against by the old Comedians peep'd and pry'd into every Conversation to pick Quarrels and find Faults and yet the Varlets accounted this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he in Aristophenes brags Such a kind of Fellow was Zibah the Servant of Saul Such an one the King of Israel suspected the King of Syria Naaman's Master to be 2 Kings 5. 7. David often complains of this sort of men Doeg the Pick-thank the Emblem of a Sycophantick Courtier and other of Saul's Courtiers that digg'd Pits for him laid Snares for him that said When will he slip iâ— fall that we may surprize him To love to know the Faults of men is not a good temper yea it is painful to a godly mind To look into the Faults of men to bring them to punishment may be a good work it may be done sincerely for the execution of some good Law that is of moment it may possibly be in mercy to the Offender and out of pure kindness as if one should say I love him therefore I will get him punisht But men are not generally of so pure and publick a Spirit They are so revengeful so covetous that makes the Office of Informers hardly thought of and it is accounted a fault to be inquisitive into the faults of other men It is hard to find an Informer out of pure zeal or love to truth but Mercenaries and pick-thanks enough Flatterers are generally busy-bodies For how shall they ingratiate themselves with their great mastâ—â—â— but with the faults of other men But to lay snares for the righteous to watch for their halting to seek occasions against a man in the matter of his God though a Law would favour is wicked and much resembles that great busy-body that goes up and down continually seeking to devour Daniels accusers had a Law to justify them yet I doubt not but they were wicked Informers for all that Curiosity or an intemperate desire to be acquainted with other mens secrets nothing belonging to us argues vanity of mind and a spirit not well conversant at home and may be reduc'd to the disease of â—tching ears There are secrets of Nature of Religion of ones own Soul to be enquir'd into and it â—s is as laudable to enquire into them We need not lust after the secrets of other men Besides it is uneasy to be trusted with them It makes a man a slave if he do not reveal them and a knave if he do Lord Thou art life it self and a pure Act thou art good and dost good continually thou hast endow'd me with an activenature thou hast furnisht me with business enough of mine own and other mens for this world and for the future suffer me not to hide my â—and in my bosom and to look on as an idle specta tor unconcern'd but maugre all temptations from the Flesh the Devil and the World imitate thy active and benificent Nature But O Eternal Wisdom teach me to order my Actions with discretion to lay out my self in Actions pure proper profitable Grant that I may not be impure and unprofitable like a stagnant Pool nor yet troublesome nor offensive like an overflowing Torrent ever flowing but without inundation ever running but so as ever within my own Banks not hiding my Light under a Bushel yet shining within my own sphere MEDITAT LXXXI Of the Fashions of the World THere are some things in the World that are not properly call'd Business which yet to prefer before God denominates a man worldly and these are the Fashions of the World I cannot properly call it Pride Covetousness or Voluptuousness to conform to these and yet it is carnal There are indeed civil and innocent Fashions of the World to which to conform is no Fault nay considering Man as a Member of Society seems expedient Matters of Apparel so far as ones Quality Estate Health and other
exact as most Men can pretend to so exact that they would not Cozen the Levite of a little Mint or Cummin How many of these Righteous Men may we see every where who not withstanding their Pretensions to Justice make no Conscience of Robbing God of the Time which he has Consecrated for his own Service and the Poor of that part of their Estates which God has Assigned for their use They are so Punctual in matter of Commutative Justice that they Challenge any Man to say Black is their eyes and yet all their Neighbours know them to be black mouth'd which they shew by their prophane Cursing or Swearing whereby they wrong God or their Reviling Calumniations Back-bitings and Detractations whereby they wrong their Neighbour However Righteousness is a lovely Character and a Character of a Lover of God yet 't is very necessary we should examine well whether our Righteous Conversation proceed from a Righteous Principle whether it be universal and permament and whether it be accompanied with the Faith and Charity which go for the Constitution of it or whether it be not superstitiously designed as meritorious of Favor and â—riendship at the hands of God If so thy Righteousness becomes Unrighteousness MEDITAT XI Of Nonconformists LOrd what a dust is raised in this Nation about Conformity and Nonconformity let the Dew of thy â—race lay it before the Rain fall and there come a Shower of Persecution to do it Alas what pity it is that so many Men so Wise so Pious and so Learned should so differ one from another and that in a matter of so great Consequence and yet all of them so doubtful that they can scarce say themselves are in the right or a least so modest that they will scarce say the other is in the wrong It is not so great a Controversy as was of Old when the Question was who were the Prophets of the Lord and who the Priests of Baal and yet it is to be feared that God must â—â—nifest himself by Fire before it will be determin'd Is it not strange and sad That they that profess One and the same God Faith Baptism should yet themselves not be One Lord How hast thou forsaken the Earth How hast thou hid Truth from the eyes of men How is the Spirit of discerning fail'd from amongst us Here is utterly a fault amongst us somewhere and a great one too and yet be it where it will it must needs be that many learned and holy men are guilty of it For they are as shie to impute it to their Adversaries as they are loth to assume it to themselves This indeed makes the Case less sad but it makes it more strange It is neither in my Skill nor Will to enter into the Controversie between them for it 's very Nice and I see no hopes of accommodating the difference by any amicable Interposition or Argument But what then Shall I sit down and be satisfied saying with my Saviour It must needs be that offences come Alas This affords me no satisfaction so long as the next words stand of equal Divine Authority Wo unto that man by whom they come If I in the integrity of my heart only lament the breach some stander by or other will be ready with the Midwise in the Story Gen. 38. 29. to let flie at the one Party or the other and cry This Breach be upon thee and in despight of them either the Conformist or the Nonconformist shall be a Pharez in the House of Israel What shall I do then Why possibly amongst the one and the other there may be found some that are Lovers of the World more than of God I will endeavor to separate these the Vile from the Precious And then as for the sincere Lovers of God of what Persuasions soever they will be sure to escape at the last though it should be as by fire Now methinks I may divide these disabled persons as our Saviour did his Eunuchs into Three Sorts First Such as have made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom c. Secondly Such as are born Eunuchs Thirdly Such as are made Eunuchs of men Nonconformists out of Judgment by vertue of Education or out of some Worldly Respects or Carnal Principle The Ecclesiastical Eunuchs that are such for the Kingdom of Heavens sake do not fall under my Consideration That they are such themselves do averr and their charitable adversaries are loth to suspect nay they are ready to say of them as the Pharasaical Scribes said of St. Paul Act. 23. 9. We find no evil in these men but if a Spirit or an Angel have spoken to them let us not fight against God We find no fault with the temper or conversation of these men therefore if they be thus perswaded in their Consciences let us not oppress or persecute them seeing the root of the matter is found in them By what Arguments they come to be perswaded in their Consciences to be such I need not consider Themselves have propounded them openly and plentifully enough insomuch that all men know the men and their Argumentations The 2d sort therefore are such as are Nonconformists by Education as it were from their mothers Womb who thereby receiv'd a prejudice before they could judge of things that differ I do not know that there are any such but 't is said they are and 't is not unlikely for we know what the former times were and what Power Breeding and Education has to form the Nations and fashion the Opinions of Men. If these should hit of the right way it is no thanks to them However not choosing it by a mature Judgment but being fashioned thereunto by company and converse it cannot be suppos'd that they act ingenuously or rationally And if there be any that give no better account of their Nonconformity then this that they were so bred and so taught I think they themselves are Carnal though the things they hold are never so Orthodox It is a vain Nonconformity as well as Conversation that has no other gound but this that it is receiv'd by Tradition from the Fore-Fathers And it may truly be said they Worship they know not what that have nothing to say for their way of Worship but Our Fathers Worshipt upon this Mountain They say there are of the Third sort that are made Eunuchs of Men that in their dissenting are acted as Carnal men by obstinate humour or worldly interest Some say they are proud and wilful and conceited some say they are idle and therefore they cry let us have our liberty let us Sacrifice unto our God in our way Some say they are obstinate and unruly They regard not thee O King nor the Decree that thou hast Sign'd Others say they are acted by Worldly Interest either the Interests of their Reputations which by their levity they are loth to forfeit with the People or their Estates which are advanc'd and not impair'd by their sufferings I confess some
live in it if they would be content with a due way of living But God having it may be for the hardness of mens hearts establisht a Property and National Laws having determin'd it To steal is to prefer the World before Righteousness and Order whether poor men steal bread or great men steal Kingdoms Lord grant that I may never reckon my self to have any more but the use of things lest I rob thee for in true speaking thine is the Property nor ever deny so much of these things as I can spare to them that stand in need of them lest I rob the poor from whom to withhold is as thievish as to take away MEDITAT XXXII Of Defrauding DEfrauding is a deceiving either by words or actions and both these are either good or bad There is a pious fraud whether that which the Papists talk so much of be it or no I suspect whether that of Jehu were such I know not There is enough in both of them to make them frauds but whether there be enough in either to make them pious I cannot tell But St. Paul being wise caught the Corinthians with guil 2 Cor. 12. 16. This was doubtless pious fraud This always designs the Glory of God and the good of the person deceived and does not use ill means to accomplish the end which indeed a man cannot do and design the glory of God for the glorifying of God is our conformity to his Will and Laws I have always doubted whether Jacobs deceiving of his brother Esau in the matter of the Blessing were pious or no however since the Scripture passes it over in silence so will I. Bad frauds also are either in words or actions And so they are committed in representing things otherwise than they are whereby our selves are advantaged and another is damnify'd in extravagant commendations undue disparagements in false reckonings false weights and measures Yea if the buyer for self-advantage undervalue a commodity crying it is naught it is naught as far as in him lyes he defrauds the seller as well as the seller out of covetousness magnifying a thing that he knows to be naught either cheats or proclaims that he would cheat the buyer if he could The Gibeonites Fraud brought a perpetual Bondage upon them though saving what direct lies there might be in it I cannot see much of an impious Fraud in them no more than I doubt the greatest part of Nominal Christians would adventure upon if they were in the same circumstances and were sure of the same success And it is plain that Men in War use Stratagems to deceive their Enemies and are blameless yea I remember some instances of this in Scripture approved by the Lord of Hosts although for my own part without a Revelation I would judge Simplicity and Godly Sincerity to be the best Policy The impious defrauding is in some sense worse than stealing at least in this that it offers a greater abuse to my Brother If I steal from my Neighbor I offend against his Will but if I cheat or deceive him I abuse his Understanding wherefore most Men had rather a Hen were stolen from them than be cheated of an Egg and it commonly grates more upon Men to be accounted Fools than Knaves And certainly the imposing upon a Man's understanding and that to his hurt and my own gain is very disingenuous If he that calls his Brother Fool be in so much danger what of him that makes him so Every Man that defrauds imposes upon his Brother's understanding and makes his Brother a Fool. If Moses had indeed put out the eyes of the Twelve Tribes as some of them falsly insinuated and had made himself altogether a Prince over them he had better justified their murmurings against him than any of those things did that I read they objected against him MEDITAT XXXIII Of Lying for worldly Advantage ALthough it should not prove successful and that thereby Men do happen not to deceive yet to Lye with a respect to worldly gain is a Predominant Love of the World for it is a preferring of the profits of the World before Truth and God is Truth They that maintain any known erroneous Opinion or Practice onely to maintain a Party a Name an Interest in the World are Lyars and Lovers of the World Truth ought to be dearer to us than our Lives much more than Liberty Estimation or Interest And oh would to God that some of the greatest Pretenders to Religion of one way or of another would thoroughly examine themselves here I am very jealous that many palpable Errors are defended and many plain Truths are dissembled and balk'd or at least many doubtful Things impos'd for Truth meerly in favor of worldly Interest and that by many that carry their heads very high and to very pernicious consequences It is confest indeed that all Truth is not so weighty as to be profest to the loss of Life but all Truth is so precious so much as St. Paul's Cloak and Parchments that he left at Troas as not to be denied no not for the preservation of Life MEDITAT XXXIV Of Oppression THere are two things especially that hurt the wise and spoil their wisdom Oppression and Bribes put together Eccles 7. 7. Oppression makes men mad impatient fretful and so to depart from their wisdom Gifts blind their eyes and make them foolish in acting these must needs therefore be great Evils It is strange that giving should do men as much mischief as taking away and yet so it is both alike spoil mens wisdom The very threating of Oppression made ten Tribes in twelve so mad that they turn'd Rebels and made a defection from Rehoboam This Oppression is properly found in the Rich such as Kings and Law-givers The Law is so far from excusing Oppression that the greatest Oppression in the world is done by Law The greatest Oppression that ever was committed in the sight of the Sun nay indeed the Sun hid his face as being asham'd to see it was justify'd by a Law We have a Law and by our Law he ought to dye John 19. 7. And we do elsewhere read of great Oppressors that fram'd mischief by a Law Psal 94 20. Landlords oppress in Rents Masters in Work yea any man may oppress that has but so much as an Horse to ride on in preferring worldly Advantage before Righteousness and Mercy A Man may be an Oppressor in an undue severe cruel Exaction of that which is his own The Servant in the Gospel that cast his Fellow-servant into Prison who was willing to pay but at present could not Mat. 18. 29. was a notorious Oppressor And indeed the most monstrous Oppression of all is when the Poor oppresseth the Poor they who feel the burden themselves and consequently should pity others they who are not able to make restitution as the Rich can It is one of Solomon's Aphorisms He that oppresseth the Poor reproacheth his Maker that is either God who made him
to them that need than to keep what one needs not And O my Soul what profits what signifies the meer possession of gold more than of stones The use then is all And what better use can there be of any thing than to make it serve a publick good quo communius eo melius MEDITAT XLV Of Pleasure in general THe general notion of Pleasure is a Gratification of any Faculty or a Satisfaction resulting from the union of the Faculty with the Object From whence it follows that there must needs be the greatest pleasure in the enjoyment of God especially when all the Faculties shall be advanced and inlarg'd It is not harsh to say nor methinks hard to conceive that Mans chiefest happiness consists in pleasure for the happiness wherein Man takes no pleasure is not happiness Heaven it self cannot make a mind happy that cannot delight in it It is lawful to take pleasure in the things which we possess Solomon seems to make it an argument of a worldly mind not to do so sure I am a man may do so and yet not be sensuallly Voluptuous It is strange that covetous Men who love the World most should yet find the least pleasure in it they can take no pleasure in what they have for grasping after what they have not Covetousness seems to be more unnatural than Voluptuousness Innocent Nature aims at the Gratification of it self even in the Creatures that have not sinned To enjoy present good things and not to lay up in Barns is the commendation of Birds the moral vertue of Sparrows Yea Pleasure seems not only to be lawful but necessary Life would not be Life without it If there were not a thing call'd Enjoyment as well as Possession the silly Bird that makes her Nest where she pleases would be as rich as the greatest Landlord It is impossible but that nature should take pleasure in the supply of her wants in the gratification of her appetites Pleasure is as natural to sensitive Creatures as Appetite and Appetite as Being But however natural the Pleasures of Sense are there is a mighty difference between the pleasures of Minds and Spirits The pleasures of the Flesh last no longer than whilst the necessities of nature are in supplying enjoy them and you lose them The pleasures of the Spirit are fine and strong and like it self lasting everlasting Pleasures for evermore MEDITAT XLVI Of Worldly Pleasure THere have been of old and it is prophesy'd that there shall be hereafter Men that love Pleasures more than God Whoever these Sensualists are the love of God is not in them For the predominant love of Sensual Pleasures is inconsistent with the saving Love of God If the Belly be our God our end will be destruction God shall destroy both it and us If we serve our own Bellies we serve not the Lord Jesus Christ whom if any man serve not love not he is anathema-maranatha The predominant love of pleasures is deadly if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye Yea it is death it self What the Apostle says of every Widow that liveth in pleasure true of every Woman yea and Man too They are dead whil'st they live 1 Tim. 5. 6. This was the Father's opinion of his voluptuous prodigal Son during his riotous course of life he was dead Luke 15. 24. To take more pleasure in the gratification of the bodily senses than of the Soul What is this but to advance the Beast above the Man To give up ones self to the pleasures of the flesh more than of the mind to prefer them before the enjoyment of God before the exercise of Virtue is to be lover of pleasures more than of God and consequently to be the Lover of the World here spoken of I know it is hard to convince a man that he is habitually intemperate in his Pleasures But certainly when men do industrionsly from time to time pursue their pleasures and that in things unlawful these must needs be the pleasures of sin and this is manifest sensuality Yea though it be not in things directly forbidden if the pursuit be with more zeal and industry and more expence of time than the interest and concernments of the Soul it must needs be accounted Sensuality and a living after the flesh When every particular man has purg'd himself as the worst of men will do and deny'd the charge of being Sensualists yet it remains a certain truth that there are many lovers of pleasure more than of God such as live in pleasures upon earth as the Apostle phraseth it Jam. 5. 5. not lap and away as a Dog at Nilus but they wallow in them they swim in them they immerse themselves in them they delight in them as in their proper Element Such as love pleasures as Solomon speaks Prov. 21. 17. Such as are given to pleasures as the Prophet describes them Isa 47. 8. Such as serve divers pleasures as the Apostle speaks Titus 3. 3. Such as fare deliciously every day as it is story'd of the Gospel-glutton Such as like Beasts nourish their hearts as in a day of slaughter These sure are predominant Lovers of pleasure And are there not many such now as well as there were in the days of those Prophets and Apostles Let us not mistake a man may sin in his pleasures who does not take pleasure in sin Carnal pleasures I reckon to be either sensual or fantastical Thus I will distinguish them for method sake Although those of the Fancy may for ought I know be properly enough called sensual I think Divines reckon them so and Fancy it self may well be call'd a bodily sense being found in Beasts as well as men Now these sensual pleasures become unlawful either by their Matter Measure Manner or Season And in this order I will address my Meditations to them and afterwards consider of the pleasures of Fancy MEDITAT XLVII Of Fornication and Adultery AMongst the sensual Pleasures that are unlawful in the very matter Fornication and Adultery offer themselves especially to be consider'd To prefer these pleasures of the flesh and gratifications of the Bestial Appetite before Purity is a predominant love of the World Whil'st we carry about with us such Bodies as these we shall have an appetite to Conjunction as well as to Eating or Drinking which to think perfectly and properly to mortifie for I do not call Restraint Mortification seems to be somewhat like the Fanatical humor Of living without Meat The Lust of Hunger is best mortifi'd by being duly gratifi'd and perhaps the best if not onely way of subduing this Appetite is to accommodate it in the ways and seasons allow'd by the God of Nature and shall no more be interpreted a making provision for the flesh to fulfil it in the lusts thereof than Brewing or Baking the most innocent kind of Cookery Who can blame the Philosopher that would eat though for no delight he took in the meat yet to be rid of the importunity
In our hearts to love or esteem any vile person be he of what Civil Capacity he will before them that fear the Lord be their Civil Capacity never so mean is as good an Argument of an unsanctifi'd mind as the contrary is of a Citizen of Zion Psal 15. 4. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned In this Courtly Age it would be lookt upon as an unmannerly behaviour in the Prophet who would not vouchsafe to look towards the King of Israel 2 Kings 3. 14. But certainly it is worse than unmannerly to have the greatest respect and kindness for them that are not at all of Israel MEDITAT LXXVIII Of Flattery THis brings me to think of the foul vice of Flattery which although it be not always an Estimation of men for men often flatter those whom in their hearts they disesteem and despise yet it would be thought so and is as worldly as the other An humble behaviour indeed is ornamental soft answers are good and useful To approve or commend a good man or a good action is so far from being simply evil that sometimes it is duty and may serve good ends But it requires a great deal of wisdom For First It easily mingles it self with something evil and is corrupted by Covetousness Slavish fear or Self-love Men may most set off themselves and study to endear themselves most when they commend other men Secondly It is easily perverted to ill ends and may as soon make me prouder as better Commendation therefore must be given Justly Seasonably Proportionably and should be mixt with the remembrance of God as Paul's was to Philemon ver 4 5. Flattery is sometimes gross in words commending evil and calling it by good names assenting to every thing at a venture or denying without reason Magnifying some little thing beyond its desert and extenuating some foul fault into a meer peccadillo or unavoidable infirmity Sometimes it is more fine and subtile in actions in a crouching truckling over-obsequious behaviour I need say no more of Flattery than that it is First an argument of a mean and slavish mind The truly generous mind that adores truth knows not how to give flattering Titles Secondly that it is of most mischievous consequence and very pernicious in its effects because it inâ—â—â—â—â— Princes Courts and Great Mens Houses Flatterers by blinding the Judgment of Princes do at once put out the eyes of a Nation For they lead â—hose out of the way who when they are misled cause the rest of the world to err We know how fatal it prov'd to Ahâ—â—â— when his Chaplains the Prophets and the Courâ—â—◠〈◊〉 together to deceive him Go up and prâ—sâ—â—◠〈◊〉 the Prophets Let thy word be as one of 〈◊〉 says the Courtier And with what indignation God does 〈◊〉 the daubing of these Prophets and their putting 〈◊〉 under mens heads and arms the Prophet Ezekiel does acquaint us Lord what is man or his power who can onely kill the body that I should fear and flatter him in any thing that is hateful to thee What Profit or Preferment can I expect from man that shall Countervail thy dishonour or the prejudice done to truth and holiness by sordid Flattery or sinful Complyance Oh that the interest of God and Religion be exalted in my soul far above all these petty carnal Considerations And oh that the Messengers of God would seriously examine whether they be not the servants of men of the worst part of men even their lusts by imprisoning the Truth lest it should fly in some honourable or worshipful face whether they do not tremble to speak of temperance before incestuous Felix or whether they can take such fair leave of their Patrons as Paul took of his Ephesians I have kept back nothing that was profitable to you MEDITAT LXXIX Of Worldly Business UNder this Phrase The World is comprehended also the Work Employment and Business of the World To prefer the Business of this World before God denominates a predominant Lover of the World God has indow'd Man with active Principles designing him for Business To be active is to be like God who is life it self He is not an idle Spectator enjoying himself and minding nothing else neither doing good nor evil as some prophane men in the Prophet imagin'd him but he is good and doth good An idle and unactive life is unmanly and infamous No station does exempt men from Business Gentlemen and Ladies have their Callings There is Business accommodated to all sorts of men Having already of Idleness I will say no more of it here but this A good man must needs love Business as it is a Vehicle of Grace For how can a man exercise Righteousness Mercy or Charity without Business The necessities of humane life are so many either our own own or other mens that it is impossible any man should be idle but who is of an idle sensual temper To prevent mistakes I will first consider what is not to prefer the business of the World before God To be diligent and industrous in our Callings with a good design is not it To be more in worldly Business than in heavenly is not it God himself has allow'd six dayes to one To employ our hands in working more than in lifting up to Heaven is not worldly If we speak properly To observe due measures and propound right ends in worldly Business is Conformity to the Will of God and heavenly God acted like himself in the Creation of the world as well as in the Redemption of it and so do godly men in employing themselves about worldly Objects as well as spiritual The Angels are as well in Heaven when they are employ'd upon Earth in preserving the goings of the Saints as in their most immediate Contemplations To give the Precedency to worldly Business as to Management and Action is not simply and always it A lesser Business and more ignoble may be prohic 〈◊〉 more necessary than a greater and preferrible to it The Necessities of the Body may take place of the Conveniences of the Soul To do every thing in its proper season is a point of high Wisdom and indeed Religion Let us always remember that Religion is in the due management of worldly Business as well as otherwise To do Works of Necessity or Charity on the Lord's day is not it To have a reverend esteem for that day is good and necessary Religion flourishes in a Kingdom or a Soul as that is observed But yet there may be a Superstition in it which our Saviour by his Example and Doctrine has endeavor'd to heal The Sabbath was made for man and must give place to him But let all take heed they do not create Necessities or pretend them as I doubt too many of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Physical and Chyrurgical Tribe do To put ones self upon Business to offer ones service for the good of a Neighbor to meddle in other mens matters uncall'd by
But this dissembling becomes evil by evil accidents and is carnal if it be attended with pride unbelief slavish fear atheisticalness or if it serve a dolus malus The King of Israel might disguise himself and go into the Battail But if he think to cheat the eye or escape the hand of God by this means his atheisticalness not his hypocrisy is sinful The Queen of Israel might disguise her self and seem another woman But if she think to deceive the Prophet or the God of the Prophet therein she is Atheistical It was not Sauls disguising himself but his consulting with the Devil that was his sin What was extraordinary in Davids dissembling before Acish and Jacobs before Isaac I know not But there seems to be so much in it that I had rather excuse them charitably than boldly imitate either of them This sinful Hypocrisy is either in things Civil or Religious The Civil Hypocrisy may be very wicked and a Symptom of an earthly mind As when men profess and pretend to Trades Arts or Sciences which they understand not when men poofess to be Teacher of others when themselves had need to be taught Hereby they deceive men in imposing false Wares or Doctrines upon them Oâ— when men pretend to Love and Friendship â—n purpose to deceve to make men less jealous to trust them and relie upon them per amici fallere nomen Abner died as a fool that is by deceit as the manner of fools is to perish Or when men pretend much love and kindness and yet mean no such thing but do fail them to whom they pretend it Or pretend much love on purpose to make a prey of men as the Whore in the Proverbs of Solomon Prov. 30. 20. MEDITAT XCII Of Scripture Hypocrisy and Hypocritical Wisdom THe Hypocrisie which the Scripture so often condemns and so vehemently inveighs against is in short a pretending to that Religion which indeed a man has not And this is done two ways by the Amolition of Vice and by the Ostentation of Vertue In general all Christians taken in opposition to Heathens that are not renewed in the Spirit of their minds nor conformed to the Image of Christ are Hypocrites All Professors of Religion that profess the true God are entred into a Covenant Relation are Baptized into the Name of Christ have taken upon them to sight for him against the World the Flesh and the Devil and yet are strangers to true Regeneration are of a worldly Spirit and a fleshly mind are Hypocrites We use indeed to distinguish between the Prophane and the Hypocrites and the Prophane bless themselves that they are not Hypocrites they think they do not act deceitfully in their Profession because they make no Profession at all This were a miserable excuse if it were true but it is false For they do profess Christianity and by being concern'd in the Sacraments of the Gospel do undertake the Duties of the Gospel and lay claim to the blessings of it Nay they themselves will tell you That they hope to be saved as well as the greatest Professors of them all And sure they cannot think to be saved by a Gospel which they do not own It seems as if Hell were inhabited with these two sorts of People only Hypocrites Unbelievers as if the Text should say Unbelievers and False Believers Heathens and Christians For there must be a kind of Believing to make up an Hypocrite So then Prophaneness does not hinder men from being Hypocrites it only makes them the more gross and impudent Dissemblers the more notorious Mockers of God To profess Religion and Vertue is not of it self Hypocrisie but indeed the necessary Duty of all men especially of those to whom the Gospel is come But because the Profession of Religion has been so abused therefore some think it is best to make none at all Or rather indeed it is an argument of the great hatred that wicked men bear to Religion that they hate the very name and shew of it as they say the Panther does the very image of a man To desire to appear Vertuous is not simply Hypocrisie A man may both love Religion and love the beautiful character of Religious too To be Vertuous is for our own good to appear such is for the good of others and for the glory of God Mat. 5. 16. To be zealous for Religion and the promoting of it is not Hypocrisie however it is traduced by some and suspected by more True indeed all is not zeal pure zeal for Religion that seems so But yet there is a zeal for Religion and wherever it is in Truth it is highly commendable Alas what a careless and graceless Age are we fallen into wherein mens hearts are so coldly disposed towards Religion that it should be accounted Extasie or Hypocrisie to be zealous for the Interest of Religion which yet all profess and many profess to be their greatest glory It is not simply Hypocrisie for a man to conceal his Faults That which was Sodom's shame cannot be our Duty sure to proclaim our sin The next to being innocent is to be asham'd of our Faults And who will oftentate a thing that he is asham'd of But to pretend to Religion which we have not nor care not to have to profess it or any part of it for worldly Ends and so to make it subservient to carnal Selfishness To desire to be approved of men for any Grace or Vertue and in the mean time not to approve our selves to God in the exercise thereof is the more special sinful Hypocrisie And this Hypocrisie is very witty Many Wiles men use to serve Hypocrisie and to seem what they are not One Instance of this worldly hypocritical wisdom is when men either deny or mince their sins that they may appear righteous before men when in the mean time they love them and live in them Nay rather than not cover their sins they will make a Cloak of the Vail of the Sanctuary Thus the dissembling Pharisees in our Saviour's days made long Prayers to hide their Covetousness and cover'd their Uncharitableness and Undutifulness with the pretence of Corban The same worldly wisdom instructss the hypocrite to bann and swagger against sin in general and the sins of other men in the mean time hugging his own For would not any one think that he that Preaches frequently and severely against Covetousness were some Charitable or Heavenly Soul If a man had seen Jehu raging and hectoring against Baal would he not have thought that had perfectly abhorr'd idolatry But follow him to Dan or Bethel and you would be of another mind A great artifice whereby men make their own sins seem little or none at all is to represent other mens as big as may be Thus I have heard some men excuse their own swearing by aggravating other mens lying and deceitfulness their own formality and carelesness in religion by railing against the hypocrisy and heady zeal of another sort of men
further Prosecution of this to some following Meditations concerning motives to the Love of God and consider the last abominable thing which the Love of the World is and that is Perjury The Jews of our Saviours time had very broad Consciences and many fowl things they made a shift to swallow such as Revenge Hatred of Enemies Neglect of poor Parents and the like yet Perjury was such a Morsel as they could never get down though they had made void many of the Commands of God yet for stark shame they left this standing in its full force Thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform to thy Lord thy Vows What Opinion the Heathen had of Perjury appears by the strange punishments that they say the gods inflicted upon Laomedon King of Troy for falsifying the Promissory Oath that he had made to Neptune and Apollo which vengance did not onely light upon him and his Age but reacht unto posterity So that many years after they cry'dout Laomedonteae luimus perjuria Trojae Herod that could digest Murder and Incest hard bits one would think yet boggled at Perjury though the Oath was a rash one and made but to a Girl and that upon no valuable consideration neither yet his stomach as vitated as it was so nauseated Perjury that he would perform it It seems it was accounted by them an abominable Blasphemy to call God to Witness to a lie to make truth it self a lyar but let the promise be made to whom it would how much more abominable must it needs be when that promise is made to God That is at the same time to defraud and blaspheme the Majesty of Heaven And so do all they who solemnly in the presence of God covenant and swear to fight under his Banner against the World and afterwards turn to the World and enter into a Covenant of Friendship with that which they had once declar'd their deadly Enemy Mercury in the Fable stomach'd â—t grievously that Battus should betray him to himself Et me mihi perfide prodie Me mihi prodis Certainly more intollerable affront cannot be put upon the Majesty of Heaven than that men should swear by him to him and then forsake him making themselves at once guilty of Fraud and Blasphemy which all the Lovers of the World do If now there be anything abominable in Idolatry Adultery Blasphemy Sacrilege Ingratitude Perjury the Predominant Love of the World must needs be abominable even to amazement which is really all these and what needs what can be said more to disswade us from it O Merciful God who alone canst effectually deal with the Hearts of Men perswade us thorowly of the undefiling Nature of thy Love that we may make it our great study to keep our selves unspotted of the World MEDITAT XLI General Motives to the Love of God AND now address thy self O my Soul to the last and sweetest part of thy work to Meditate of som powerful Motives to enflame thy self and the rest of the benumnâ—d World with the Love of God Strengthen me O my God this once not that I may be reveng'd upon but that I may perform the greatest kindness to thine Enemies by rescuing them out of their miserable bondage and inlarging their Souls in the most pure and generous love of thee I let down my Net once more not without thy Command Oh that by thy gracious Assistance and Blessing I may enclose a number of Souls and translate those who all their days have swam in Earthly delights and in the brackish Sea of this World into the sweet Rivers of Pleasures that are at thy right hand or rather into the pure Fountain of Peace and Joy and Pleasure which thou art for evermore And here methinks I have the whole World and all the Individuals therein thronging about me each offering its Vote each offering it self an Orator to plead the Cause of God The holy Psalmist in his 148 Psalm calls upon the whole Creation Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens and the Waters that be above the Heavens the Earth and the Deeps and all the Inhabitants of all those Angels and the Hosts of God the Lights of Heaven Vapors and flying Fowls of the Air all Men great and small young and old Beasts and Cattel and Creeping Things and all Vegetables I say he calls upon them to Praise and Celebrate the Lord but methinks I hear all these calling upon me and all Mankind to love the Lord and to delight our selves greatly in our God For certainly there is nothing in the Creation but does plainly declare the Loveliness of God and whatsoever does so does as good as Preach and say Oh love the Lord ye Children of Men. But I see I shall lose my self in this immensity I will therefore confine my self to some few Topicks from whence to fetch Arguments and Motives to the Love of God The nature of our Christian Profession the Nature of our own Souls the Nature of God the Nature of Love the Nature of the Love of God will furnish us with powerful Motives to the Love of God as well as all these with the Nature of the World and of Worldly Love â—urnisht us with disswaâ—â—ves from the Love of the World For there is as much excellency in the Nature of God and of the Love of God to recommend them as there is unsuitableness and unsatisfyingness in the World or abominableness in Worldly Love to disparage them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no hard thing for a devout Mind to fetch mighty 〈◊〉 the Love of God from the same Heads the Argument being a little altered from which the dissâ—â—asives from the Love of the World were fetcht As for Example if we should therefore not love the World because it is unsuitable and insufficient to us and not that which it seems to be then we should therefore love God because of his infinite fulness and because he is the onely substantial and agreeable good If we should therefore not love the World because by loving we give we assimulate we unite we subject our selves to the World if this be the Nature of Love then what can be more excellent and advantagious to us than the Love of God If we should therefore not oâ—e the Word because the love of the World is Abominable Idolatrous Adulterous Blasphemous Sacrilegious Ungratful and Perjurious The Love of God being on the contrary Excellent and Divine Pure Chast Just Ingeniouâ— and Reasonable ought mightily to allure and attract us unto it self And so of the rest But here also I should be tempted to be too large I will therefore limit my self to a few Considerations which I have found most powerful over my own Soul Oh would it might please God to bless them with a mighty Influence that they may come to the Hearts of those into whose hands they may come MEDITAT XLII A Particular Motive to the Love of God FIrst I am wont to consider that God loves us best of any one The Law of
men to be rich as he prefer'd the Dog Hazael to be King of Syria for no good will to him but ill will to Israel Neither is Revengefulness the sin of great men only A poor man may be as revengeful and take as much pleasure in fancying and meditating Revenge as the Blades of the World in executing it who for a word spoke awry forsooth presently term'd an Affront must have Satisfaction And to the Carnal whether Rich or Poor no doubt but Revenge is very sweet and the Fancy as much tickled and delighted with the speeulation of it as the bodily Senses with any Act of Intemperance or Uncleanness Who can chuse but apprehend the pleasure that the swaggering Giant took in fancying Revenge to be taken upon Ulysses who had befool'd and blinded him when he hears the Poet expressing it thus O si quis referat mihi casus Ulyssem Aut aliquem ex sociis in quem mea saeviat ira viscera cujusdam c. Oh that some happy luck would bring That Rogue Ulysses who 's the King Of that damn'd Crew or any other Belonging to him Son or Brother That I might tear him limb from limb Before Life hath forsaken him Whose very Guts I 'ld rend and eat My fattest Venison not such meat How would I make my Teeth to meet In 's trembling Head and Hands and Feet Oh how I 'ld quaff the Rogues Hearts blood Till in my Throat I made a Flood One would think he saw him tearing the Flesh and drinking the Blood of these men And indeed what was the greatest part of the Renowned Bravery of the Romans and Grecians in their Wars but Revenge But if we will stand a little and compare the provocations done to Christ Jesus and his Behavior under them all we must confess and say so great Fortitude all the revengeful Champions in the World never shew'd as he in not revenging himself at all as he in his Father forgive them they know not what they do No nor as his dear Disciple Stephen in his Lord lay not this sin to their charge Acts 7. ult I do not think it is simply unlawful to go to Law But if any man go to Law without the least mixture of Uncharitableness or Revengefulness the same is a perfect man I doubt Lawyers do as truly live upon the Diseases of mens Minds as Physicians of their Bodies Well I see there is no Revenge allow'd me towards my Neighbor and yet there is such a kind of Appetite in my Nature I will spend it therefore upon its proper Object Though Self-Murder is the worst of of Murders yet Self-Revenge is the best of Revenges Be reveng'd upon thine eyes O my Soul not by pulling them out but by shutting them by bringing them into Covenant Have thy Senses betray'd thee Deny them their liberty in some things lawful Keep under that Body that has been petulam and troublesome It was too severe Revenge in the Pepish Saint who cut off his right hand that had suffered a too affectionate kiss of a Female But if thy Senses abuse their liberty retrench them deny them sometimes of things lawful if they will adventure upon things unlawful Oh blessed God whose infinite Purity impartial Justice all-wise Love do render thee alone fit to take Revenge and to retaliate thine own injuries and mine too perfectly mortifie in me this Appetite and all that Pride and Self-love that are the fuel of it And inasmuch as I see it is by no means safe that such a Sword be committed into the hands of such a mad fool as I am help me to commit my Cause to him that judgeth righteously without forestalling him or prescribing to him not determining the way nor hastening the time nor so much as desiring the thing Oh that I may be able to say I have not desired the evil day Lord thou knowest that I may seek the peace of Babylon though I be a Captive in it yea though in her peace I should be no sharer MEDITAT LIII Of Cursing AS a Species of Revenge or at least a Product of a revengeful mind I may here seasonably meditate a little upon Cursing There is a solemn Cursing or delivering up to mischief performed by Church-Censure which is a kind of revenging of God's quarrel a Discipline that he himself has committed into the hands of Men which they must take heed to use for him not for themselves The greatest thing for ought I know that God has committed into the hands of men This is easily but wretchedly perverted when the Ministers of it revenge their own Cause and Quarrel serve their own interest and not Gods Gratifie their own Lusts more than the Will of God when they had rather that men suffer'd than were reform'd were damn'd than amended There is an Extraordinary and Prophetical Cursing proceeding from an extraordinary motion of the Holy Spirit found only in pure minds and yet but seldom in them neither Such was Elisha's cursing the ill-bred Children 2 Kings 2. Those passages of David in the Psalms I rather take to be a Prophetical Denunciation than a Cursing of the Wicked Let us be sure we know what spirit we are of before we adventure to imitate these inspired men And alas Why should we curse the Wicked who are hastening to greater Evil than we can wish them Besides Charity would rather command us to pity them and pray for them So did Christ Jesus so did holy Stephen so did St. Paul for his Judge Agrippa and his Persecutors the Jews Acts 26. 29. There is an extraordinary Self-cursing by way of Protestation to be used sparingly in weighty matters I refer this to extraordinary Swearing There is a prophane Cursing And this is either extraordinary or ordinary and both symptoms of a worldly mind Extraordinary prophane Cursing is when People in cool blood knowing what they say from a malicious mind and sometimes with great solemnity of kneeling down lifting up their hands putting off the Hat do imprecate mischief upon a person that has wrong'd them or offended them This when it is done in its Formalities looks like a Sacrament of the Devil an Ordinance of Hell a kind of an Exorcism But a horrible presumption certainly it is a prescribing to Infinite Wisdom a taking of Gods Work out of his hands an usurpation of Divine Prerogative Wicked bold man How darest thou take upon thee the government of the world and judge any man before his time Dar'st thou imploy the Almighty in a work wherein he takes no pleasure engage Love it self to act against his own nature unmercifully To pray God not to have mercy upon man is the highest blasphemy It is as if one should pray him to cease to be God Ordinary prophane cursing is either of our selves or others and each is threefold upon slight occasion upon none at all or worse than none First of our selves When men upon every slight occasion to confirm every inconsiderable truth which it is
no great matter whether it be believed or no or may as well be confirm'd and believ'd by a bare assertion will wish they may never see the Sun more never open their hands more that the drink might never go through them the meat might be their poyson that they might never stir more might be hang'd that God would judge them or that they might never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven if such a thing or such a thing be not so or so This I'm sure is more than Yea and Nay it is highly foolish and indeed prophane Mans knowledge is fallible his Memory frail Senses deceitful And if this thing should prove otherwise then thou wicked man out of thy own mouth thou shalt be condemned so shall thy Judgment be There are instances of Gods taking such men at their words but I need not insist upon them It is an argument that men stand not in awe of God when they dare invocate his Judgments and challenge his Justice Secondly But when upon no occasion at all to confirm nothing men will dare God to damn them oh horrible and impudent impiety These men have not so much mercy for themselves as the devils They pray'd that they might not be tormented before their time these pray that they may Of these sure if of any unbeleevers it may be properly said that they are condemned already Thirdly It is worse than no occasion when men use cuâ—sing in design to commend themselves to acceptance as an ornament and imbellishment of speech Secondly Of others 1. When ever and anon upon every small provocation or offence men will passionately call for venveance lay the Pox or Plague upon others or it may be send men to the devil upon no other errand but to tell him they are making hast after them 2. When upon no provocation in no passion but in a familiar jocular way men curse one another nay with the same breath curse their friend and swear how much they love him 3. It is by some reputed a piece of familiarity You must take it as a kindness especially if you be an inferiour that they will be so great with you as to curse you Sic sâ—lent beare amicos There is another sort of prophane cursing inferior to all these a cursing in Short-hand Many men are asham'd to curse in words at length but boggle not to do it in Characters and Abbrevations If these men know the true original of these Characters and the meaning of them it is all one as if they spoke in words at length If they do not but yet suspect them it is bold it is an adventuring upon an appearance of evil which is flatly forbidden Suppose they suspect nothing of this meaning in these common words If they have no meaning they are idle words and that is bad enough And if they profoss sincerely they know not what they mean they proclaim themselves fools that know not what they say It is a miserable shift to embrace foolishness and madness to avoid prophaneness But it is to be suspected that they that mince the matter do know the meaning of these characters well enough how else could they apply them so patly so seasonably as they do One may know they stand in stead of a curse because they come in the order and place of one When I hear a man say a pound on him or a shackle on him for I am much beholden to him and he has much befriended me then I will believe he knows not what he says It seems to be cleanly and charitable to wish men in Heaven and that God had them But I have heard it come out of as prophane mouths and with as spiteful a design as any curse Blessed God who blessest us daily communicate to us of thy gracious nature that we also may bless and not curse let us never presume to reckon our selves a part of Christs purchase till we find our selves actually redeemed from our vain conversation received by tradition from our fathers MEDITAT LIV. Of Idleness AMongst sensual or phantastical pleasures or a mixture of both Idleness must be ranked The greatest sensualists are usually most idle yea though they take more pains in pursuit of their pleasure than other men in their honest employments It is strange that Pleasure should be painful and Idleness operose yet so it is Whosoever is not ordinarily well employ'd in good business is idle Such is the generation of all those that play away sleep away chat away visit away their time from day to day or who fearing lest time should not pass away fast enough make use of that sovereign Receipt called Pastime This Idleness turns man into a Cypher makes him insignificant and surely I do not know a greater reproach to man than to be unprofitable An idle person is convicted and shamed by the whole Creation in which there is nothing insignificant or useless I am persuaded the Devil himself would account it a shame to be idle he seems to glory in his activity Job 2. though it be in mischief The Sun never rises nor sets the Year never begins nor ends but it is to the reproach of the idle person We have all great cause to lament the idleness and playfulness of our Childhood and Youth and the many idle hours and days that we have spent in which we have been no Factors for God no one the bâ—â—â—er for us nor we oâ—r selves been betteâ—ed Some say They have no Trade they have nothing to do And are they too old to learn Can they no way assist their Neighbor by Head nor Hand Can they not read good Books write good Letters or give good advice Oh how is the want of Education to be lamented Parents teach their Children nothing when they are young and so they are good for nothing when they are old Hinâ— illâ—e 〈◊〉 But have they indeed nothing to do but to dress and feed themselves How do many of them live then They live of their money But what they cannot eat money No but they live upon Usury And will that excuse Idleness Or rather Is it not a monstrous thing that the Money the silly inanimate Metal should be active and the man idle Therefore O Man thy Money shall be thy Judge The brightness of the Usurer's Money shall be a Witness against his Idleness as well as the Rust of the covetous Hoarders against them If the Money-man would turn his money or part of it into some kind of stock or other and trade therewith buy and sell and maintain Commerce in the World he might serve the publick good and at least have the comfort of being an example of righteousness But still it will be pleaded We need noâ— work To which I answer If the Command of God make a Necessity all have Need. Men should not be employ'd only to get wealth to themselves but as Members of the Publick they ought to be doing some good God never gave Men