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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34877	A supplement to Knowledge and practice wherein the main things necessary to be known and believed in order to salvation are more fully explained, and several new directions given for the promoting of real holiness both of heart and life : to which is added a serious disswasive from some of the reigning and customary sins of the times, viz. swearing, lying, pride, gluttony, drunkenness, uncleanness, discontent, covetousness and earthly-mindedness, anger and malice, idleness / by Samuel Cradock ... useful for the instruction of private families.	Cradock, Samuel, 1621?-1706.	1679 (1679)	Wing C6756; ESTC R15332	329,893	408

Christ and are purified thereby and are Sanctified by the holy Spirit of God and by vertue thereof do lead a holy life daily endeavouring to perfect holiness in the fear of God such persons are really and truly Saints and being true members of the Church of Christ are the proper subject of this Article 2. Who are those persons with whom these Saints have communion and in what doth this their communion consist 1. The Saints of God living in the Church of Christ have communion with God the Father praying unto him and praising of him trusting in him and exercising such acts of worship as he requires 1 John 1.3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ David affectionately expresseth his desire of this communion Psal 42.1 As the heart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God 2. They have Communion with God the Son 1 Cor. 1.9 God hath called us to the fellowship of his Son For being united to Christ by faith they are thereby made partakers of his Righteousness and receive spiritual life and grace from him for the sanctifying of their natures and sincerely endeavour after conformity unto him 3. They have communion with God the Holy Ghost The Apostle hath two wayes assured us of the truth hereof one Rhetorically by a seeming doubt If there be any fellowship of the Spirit Phil. 2.1 The other directly praying devoutly for it 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen This is the communion which the Saints enjoy with the three blessed persons in the Trinity John 14.23 If any man love me sayes our Saviour he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him And the presence of the Spirit cannot be wanting where these two are inhabiting for if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his The Spirit therefore with the Father and the Son inhabiteth in the Saints For know ye not saith the Apostle that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 3.16 4. The Saints of God living here in the Church of Christ have communion with the Holy Angels They are Ministring Spirits for our good Heb. 1.14 They rejoyce at the Conversion of a Sinner They do many good offices for the people of God which possibly they are not sufficiently sensible of And this their Ministry is exercised as 't is probable about the ordinary concernments of our lives and not in some extraordinary cases only 5. The Saints of God living in the Church of Christ have communion with all the Saints departed out of this life and admitted to the presence of God The Godly on earth do in heart and affection converse with the Saints in Heaven And 't is probable the Saints triumphant wish to the Saints militant the happiness they enjoy and possibly pray for them in general though their particular cases they may not know But we are not to think as the Papists fondly conceive that they interpose their merits for us and that for this cause we are to invocate them or perform any Religious worship towards them These are but inventions of mans brain wanting warrant from the word of God 6. The Saints of God living in the Church of Christ have communion with the Saints living in the same Church If we walk in the light sayes the Apostle we have fellowship one with another 1 John 1.7 And another Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 12.13 By one Spirit they are are all baptized into one body So that they have communion one with another in these offerings 1. They all joyn together in the use of and have benefit by the same ordinances and all partake of the same promises are all ingraffed into the same stock and receive life from the same root 2. According to their places and calling they teach and admonish one another 3. They endeavour to walk by the same Rule and to mind the same things * Acts 3.16 Heb. 3.13 4. They pray one for another Ephes 6.18 and Jam. 5.16 Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much 5. They comfort and encourage one another in the wayes of God 6. In respect of temporal things they are ready to succour relieve and help one another according to their abilities Having thus opened the nature of this Article let us now consider what are the instructions we should learn from it 1. If we believe this communion of Saints which hath been before described then let us seriously consider whether we have a part and share in it or no. There are many instead of communion with God and with Christ have communion with Satan and instead of communion with Saints have communion with the ungodly and wicked and joyn with them in the practice of iniquity in swearing swaggering drinking revelling and scoffing at Saints and Saintship and this they account and call good fellowship But let no man deceive himself The Apostle tells us 1 John 1.5 6 7. That God is light and in him there is no darkness at all If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another c. 2. If we have a share and part in this communion it should inflame our hearts with an ardent love to all that are within this communion If similitude of shape or feature will beget a kindness if congruity of manners and disposition will unite affections what great love should there be among all the Saints who have the same image of God stamped upon them and are acted by the same spirit Surely all that are true members of Christ should heartily desire and pray for the welfare of all their fellow-members And should have their hearts touched with the miseries that befall either the Church of Christ in general or the particular members thereof See Amos 6.6 3. A belief of this Article should teach us that as we are to do good to all in our several places and according to our abilities so especially to those who are of the houshold of Faith SECT IV. Of Forgiveness of Sins the forgiveness of sins REmission or Forgiveness of Sins is a priviledge that belongs to them who are true members of Christs holy Catholick Church That we may the more clearly explain this Doctrine we shall consider 1. What Sin is 2. What are the kinds of it 3. What is the wages due to it 4. By whom sins are forgiven 5. Vpon what account they are forgiven 6. What forgiveness of sins doth contain in it

what sweet Meditations should we have of Gods Mercy Love thankfulness and praise should be our daily exercise Had we Davids heart what Songs of praise would the consideration of Gods Mercy teach us to indite How affectionately should we recount the Mercies of our youth and riper years Yea of every state and condition we have been in to the honour of our great Benefactor But especially if God hath touched our hearts with his saving grace if he hath effectually called us and inabled us to repent of our sins and believe in his Son O then how should we bow down our heads and adore his free grace as the cause thereof If we have received any grace tending to our own sanctification or the edification of others Let us say as Paul did 1 Cor. 15.20 By the grace of God I am that I am Thirdly The meditation of Gods goodness and mercy to us should possess us with a superlative love to God Most certainly the prevailing love of God is the surest evidence of true sanctification He that hath most love has most grace And if you truly love God you will be loath to offend him The love of God doth not reign in that soul where the love of the World or of the Flesh or Pleasure reigneth Fourthly The Mercy of God should teach us to imitate him in this Attribute We should labour to be mercifull as our Heavenly Father is mercifull that is as to the manner though we cannot reach to the measure The goodness of God should possess us with a desire to be conformed to his goodness in our measure Summae Religionis est imitari quem colis Now God is mercifull two ways especially in Giving Forgiving First In Giving O how does the Lord supply our wants daily Let us therefore shew mercy to those that want our help Secondly In Forgiving O what a vast number of debts does the Lord forgive us Gods mercy to us layes the greatest Obligation imaginable upon us to forgive others (c) A Christian may remember offences in cautelam though not in vindictam Matth. 18.23 Shall not we forgive an Hundred Pence who have had Ten Thousand Talents forgiven unto us Fifthly We should especially observe and take notice of the mercy of God so highly manifested in the design of our Redemption 1 Joh. 4.10 Here is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins Was there ever Mercy like this We have reason to cry out O the depth of the riches of the mercy of God! O Lord what is man that thou art so mindful of him or the Son of man that thou thus visitest him with thy favour and mercy Sixthly Gods goodness and mercy should encourage our Souls to trust in him How many friends have some men with whom they dare trust their Estates or Lives because they are confident they truly love them And shall we not trust God who is love it self 1 John 4.16 I come now to the last of Gods communicable Attributes which I shall speak unto which is His faithfulness in keeping of his Covenant and Promises V. God is Faithful Faithful One letter of Gods glorious Name is abundant in truth or faithfulness The Scriptures abundantly bear Testimony unto this Deut. 7.9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithfull God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandements to a Thousand Generations Isai 49.7 The Lord who is faithfull Rom. 3.4 Let God be true that is owned and acknowledged for such though all mankind should be false and deceitful Now Gods Faithfulness is manif●sted Two ways In fulfilling his promises In accomplishing his Threatnings God cannot in any case fail of his word It is impossible for him to lie Heb. 6.18 Tit. 1.2 As God is light and in him there is no darkness 1 Joh. 1.5 So he is truth and in him there is no falshood The strength of Israel will not lye 1 Sam. 15.29 And Numb 23.19 God is not a man that he should lye God hath promised to them that repent and believe in his Son that they shall be saved He hath promised to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luk. 11 9. And we have reason firmly to believe these promises As for Temporal things he hath not promised them to any of his Children absolutely but with a tacit condition if he in his infinite Wisdom see it good and expedient for them So that as to these we must humbly refer our selves to his infinite Wisdom 'T is true we are required to pray for these Temporal things in faith but not with an assured particular perswasion that God will give us the very particular things we ask but with a faith of dependance on God and submission to his Holy will When we act faith on the All-sufficiency and Power of God and humbly resign our selves to his Holy will we may be said to pray in faith I come now to the Lessons which we are to learn from the consideration of this Attribute First We should learn from hence that the commands of God are serious and his promises and threatnings will certainly be accomplished There is nothing of reason or sence can be spoken against an Holy life by any one who believes the veracity and faithfulness of God and the truth of his Word Hath God said and do you believe it that he will come in flaming Fire to take vengeance on all them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess 1.8 And can you continue in ignorance and disobedience Hath he said that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 And can you continue in unrighteousn●ss Hath he said Heb. 12.14 Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord and can you slight Holiness And mock at serious Piety If you believ'd God to be faithfull and his Word true how could these things be so Secondly Gods faithfulness is a great aggravation of the heinousness of the sin of unbelief He that believeth not God hath made him a lyer faith the Apostle 1 Joh. 5.10 And this is the rather to be heeded that we may stir up in our selves a diligent watchfulness against this sin which with many is accounted but a meer infirmity O what matter of humiliation doth our proneness to this sin namely to distrust God justly minister unto us Many men hardly trust the promises of God so much as they would the word of a mortal man whom they account honest and just Certainly Gods faithfulness and truth should teach us to hate every motion to unbelief Vnbelief is the very bane of all Religion so far as it prevails Let it be our great care therefore to extirpate all remainders of this sin of Infidelity out of our hearts Thirdly If God be faithful this should be a great encouragement to us to trust in him and

though many of his Ways and Providences are obscure and intricate God knows what is fittest for us and what is the fittest time to help us First We should labour to be wise that we may be like unto God To desire as Adam did any of that knowledge which God hath reserved to himself and is unnecessary for us is indeed not to be wise in our desires We ought to labour to know the Lord and his revealed will and the way to Eternal life and to endeavour to walk in it and this is true wisdom True Piety is the greatest wisdom and sin is the greatest folly There is not any Soul in Hell but was brought thither by its own sinful folly Therefore the Apostle exhorts us Eph. 5.15 That we walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Certainly to save a mans Soul is a work of the greatest wisdom and requires our best care and industry Secondly we should humbly beg wisdom of God We should seek to him as our principal Counsellor and Director in all our undertakings Jam. 1.5 If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him Thirdly We should take heed of trusting in our own wisdom The way of man is not in himself Jer. 10.23 We should read the Scriptures much for they are able to make us wise unto salvation We should often consider what the wise man sayes Prov. 3.5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths Fourthly The Infinite wisdom of God should teach us to rest in all his Determinations and Dispensations Shall dust and ashes judge the Lord who is only wise We should learn to submit to his infinite wisdom as well as to his Holy will Fifthly The consideration of the infinite wisdom of God should encourage the People of God in their greatest straits and against all the cunning subtilty of their enemies They should labour faithfully to do their duties and then humbly rest in the infinite wisdom of God who knows better what is good for them than they know themselves II. God is infinitely Holy Holy He is many times stiled the Holy One of Israel and glorious in Holiness Exod. 15.11 Fearfull in praises that is who is to be praised with great fear and reverence Rev. 4.8 He is stiled Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come The consideration of Gods transcendent Purity and Holiness should teach us First To endeavour to imitate God in this perfection 1 Pet. 1.15 Be ye Holy says God for I am Holy Holiness should have an universal influence upon our whole man There should be Holiness in our thoughts Purity in our hearts Sincerity in our intentions Truth in our words Justice in our actions Sobriety Chastity Temperance Humility Modesty in all our outward manners and conversations Heb. 12.14 The Apostle advises us to follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. 'T is not said without peace for a man may follow after that and may not be able to obtain it But the Greek Article relates to holiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without which no man shall see the Lord. Into the new Jerusalem nothing enters that defiles Rev. 21.27 Secondly We should look to it that we do not meerly act a part of holiness but do really endeavor to be so Nothing in the World is better than reall holiness nothing more detestable than the counterfeit of it As there is no face in Nature more comely and majestical than that of a man so none more ugly and ridiculous than that of an Ape which has some shew of it but falls so far short of it Simulata pietas duplex iniquitas Counterfeit Piety is double Iniquity Thirdly we should be very far from being ashamed of holiness which we see is the Image of God The Devil and his Instruments labour all they can to disparage holiness and by several nick-names and such artifices to keep People off from esteeming of it or endeavouring after it Sir Simon D' Ewes Primitive practice for preserving Truth 'T is an Observation of a Learned Author of our own that among the Turks Jews Indians Persians and the Papists themselves at this day the most Zealous and Holy in their several Religions are most esteemed and honoured But in the greatest part of the Protestant World the most knowing and tenacious of the Evangelical truth and the most strict and godly in their lives are hated nick-named disgraced and vilified Thus does the Devils malice and the corruption of man concur to bring dishonour and disesteem upon that which is a participation of the Divine Nature and makes a man most like unto God III. God is just Just Justice in God is that perfection of his Nature whereby he is just in himself and exerciseth justice towards all his Creatures Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right Cen. 18.25 and Ezek. 18.29 Are not my ways equal saith the Lords Psal 145.17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways 2 Tim 4.8 Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day Gods Ju●●ice and Righteousness is Essential and Natural unto him and to likewise is his Mercy And these Two properties as they are Essential in God are not opposite one to another Indeed the effects of Justice and Mercy are sometimes opp●site but the Attributes themselves are not so When therefore we pray that God would not d●●l with us according to his Ju●tice but his Mercy we pray not against the Attribute of his Justice but the effects of it which are subject to the liberty of his will God is always just alike but the effects of his Justice may be more manifested at one time than at another When therefore 't is said James 2.13 Gods Mercy rejoyceth against Judgment and that he is slow to anger ready to forgive c. It must be so understood that He is more ready to manifest the effects of his Mercy than of his Justice Object But against Gods Justice some may be apt to Object this that it often goes ill with the Righteous in this World and the wicked pro●per and how can that consist with Divine Justice To this many Answers may be given Answ First No man is perfectly Righteous here therefore no wonder if Gods own Children have the Rod sometimes upon their backs for their sins Secondly God may tenderly love his Children though he do afflict them Heb. 12.6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth Psal 119.57 I know O Lord that thy Judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me God sanctifies the afflictions of his People to their good Their afflictions are profitable unto them for

Jesuitica aequivocatio mentalis reservatio hoc ipso mendatii convincuntur quibus haec in usu sunt nimirum quia cum veram propositionem animo concipiant falsum tamen enuntient Davenant in Colos Therefore he that speaks what he thinks does not tell a lye though he may speak an untruth or that which is in it self false And in such a case what he sayes is falsiloquium but not mendacium a falshood but not a lye He offends not against moral truth or veracity because he speaks as he thinks and so he does not lye but is himself mistaken 'T is formale mendacium a formal and direct lye when we express or affirm a thing otherwise than we conceive or think with an intent to deceive 2. I come to consider the several sorts or kinds of lyes And so a lye is usually distinguished into Jocosum Officiosum Perniciosum 1. Jocosum when a man uttereth a lye in sport to make others merry To this we may apply that of the Prophet Hosea Chap. 7. Verse 3. They make the King glad with their wickedness and the Princes with their lyes They that tell lyes meerly to make others laugh are guilty of this kind of lying 2. Officiosum when a man tells a lye to help another out of some present danger or inconvenience God himself will not be served with a lye Job 13.7 Will ye speak wickedly for God Will ye talk deceitfully for him We may not lye for Gods cause or glory much less may we do it for any mans benefit * Plato was no good casuist for Christians who allowed a lye either to save a Citizen or deceive an enemy And the piae fraudes allowed among the Papists are also much of this nature 3. Perniciosum when a man tells a lye which tends apparently to the hurt or damage of another either in his life goods or good name 3. I come now to shew the great evil and malignity of this sin 1. 'T is a sin that makes men most unlike unto God God is a God of truth and cannot lye He is stiled the Lord God of truth Psal 31.5 Deut. 32.4 and Isay 65.16 That which makes men so unlike the true and holy God must needs be an odious sin One of the Antients said well that two things make us like unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speak truth and to do good And surely this consideration that lying is against the holy nature of God should work in us an extreme detestation of it 2. 'T is a sin that God hath declared in his word a great abhorrence of as may appear if you consider these following Scriptures Prov. 6.16 17 18 19. These six things doth the Lord hate yea seven are an abomination to him A proud look a lying tongue c. A false witness that speaketh lyes and him that soweth discord among Brethren Levit. 19.11 Ye shall not lye one to another Prov. 13.5 A Righteous man hateth lying c. Rev. 21.8 The fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and whore-mongers and sorcerers and Idolaters and all lyars shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 22.15 Without are dogs and sorceres c. and whosoever loveth and maketh a lye Psal 101.7 He that telleth lyes shall not tarry in my sight Hose 4.1 2. Hear the word of the Lord ye children of Israel for the Lord hath a controversie with the inhabitants of the Land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the Land By swearing and lying c. they break out and blood toucheth blood Zech. 8.16 17. These are the things that ye shall do Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour execute the judgement of truth and peace in your gates c. And let none of you imagine evil in his heart against his neighbour and love no false Oath For these are the things I hate saith the Lord. Ephes 4.25 Wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth to his neighbour Col. 3.9 Lye not one to another seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds 3. 'T is a great perverting of that noble faculty of speech which God hath given unto man God hath given unto man a tongue to express his mind and to reveal and declare what he apprehends in his heart so that his tongue is to be the index and discoverer of his mind Now you know if the index or hand of a Clock should point to eight and the Clock presently strike ten we should say it was a lying Index and greatly out of order The case is so here when the tongue utters one thing and the mind thinks another 4. Lying is a work of the Devil and makes people resemble the Devil in a manner John 1.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye will do he was a Murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him When he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyer and the Father of it Pride Malice and Lying are the Devils sins after a more especial manner And who would be willing to be like the Devil 5. Lying is destructive to humane society 'T is injurious to all converse between man and man How shall a man know what to look for or what to expect or what to trust to if he cannot believe the persons he deals with but finds that in what they affirm to him or assure him of or promise to him they notoriously lye unto him and palpably deceive him 6. 'T is a sin condemned by the light of natural conscience The more ingenuous among the Heathens abhorred it The Apostle quoteth a verse out of Epimenides a Heathen Poet wherein he condemns Cretians for their frequent lying Tit. 1.12 The Cretians are are alwayes lyars evil beasts slow-bellies * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 7. 'T is a reproachful a shameful sin The maddest fellows and most Ruffianly and debauched who make so little conscience of other sins yet cannot induce to be charged with a lye because 't is looked upon as a cowardly and shameful sin Whoever gives them the lye provokes them beyond all patience 'T is the cause of many duels and many times murders Hear what that excellent person Mr. Herbert saith in his Poems Lye not but let thy heart be true to God Thy mouth to it thy actions to them both Cowards tell lyes and those that fear the rod. The stormy-working soul spits lyese and froth Dare to be true Nothing can need a lye A fault that needs it most grows two thereby 8. Lying easily disposeth to perjury He that useth frequently to lye 't is to be feared he will not much stick at forswearing himself upon occasion For when the heart is once hardened in one sin it is mighty proclive to another of the like kind and nature 9. It makes a man useless in the

world When a man is once looked upon as a person that cannot be believed no body cares to have any thing to do with him For he that is not true in his words will not be thought honest in his dealings So that having lost his good name he is incapacitated to do good or benefit others 10. 'T is a sin that being frequently committed wonderfully hardens the heart and fears the conscience Therefore customary lying is called the way of lying Psal 119.29 And they that are in that way usually have sinned down all tenderness of conscience 11. We should remember how it is made the note or character of a righteous man to speak the truth from his heart and the wise man tells us Prov. 12.22 That they that deal truly are Gods delight but lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. 12. Destruction is the lyars reward Psal 5.6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing c. Rev. 21.8 Lyars shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone Prov. 19.5 He that speaketh lyes shall not escape And so much of the third particular the great evil and danger of this sin 4. I come now to give some remedies and directions against it 1. Seeing people are so prone to this vice through natural corruption let all humble themselves before God for every sin of this nature that ever they have been guilty of in any part of their lives Sins that we truly repent of we are careful to keep our selves from for the future 2. Let us labour to keep our selves innocent Saepe delinquentibus promptissimum est mentiri Faultiness commonly causeth faultring and sin usually putteth men upon shifts to save themselves from blame Take heed therefore of committing faults and then thou wilt not need to tell a lye to help thy self The best way to avoid lying is to endeavour alwayes as much as possibly we can to be faultless and blameless 'T is too too usual for Children and Servants when they have done amiss and are blame-worthy to seek to hide their faults with a lye and when they have told one lye that that may not be discovered or found out to back it with four or five more and so they heinously increase their guilt But they that labour to walk innocently and blamelesly need no such miserable and wretched shifts as these are 3. Let us fear the displeasure of God more than the wrath of men If we be affraid of mans anger for our faults which is but short and transient how should we fear the insupportable wrath and vengeance of God which is everlasting The one is but like a drop of scalding water falling on our flesh the other like being thrown into a furnace of boyling metal No mans displeasure how hot soever is to be named the same day with the anger of the Almighty Your Parents or Masters may be angry with you and threaten to correct you but God threatens to damn you and which of these two are you most to consider 4. Think it a less evil to take shame to thy self by confessing thy fault than to hide it with a lye 'T is Pride that makes people so impatient of the hard opinion of others And shame is to some persons so intolerable a suffering that they will rather venture to displease God than man and chose rather to tell a lye and expose themselves thereby to the wrath of God than indure a little shame or disgrace from men Whereas if they had a right understanding and discerning of the difference between good and evil they would think it far the better course to take shame to themselves by confessing their faults than to hide it with a lye 5. Labour to foresee in what particulars and upon what occasions you may in all likelihood be most in danger of faultring or telling a lye and there set a stricter watch and guard upon your self fortifying your self with the greter care and caution against this vice 6. Labour to keep your consciences tender that it may smite you when you are apt to warp or start aside from your duty And reverence your conscience when it checks you and listen to it 7. Live as in the sight and hearing of God and walk as one that is passing on to judgment 8. Labour to get a keen hatred and detestation of this vice Represent it to your thoughts as a sin of an odious and shameful nature And if you be affraid of shame be affraid of lying which is in it self so shameful 9. Earnestly implore the grace of God to keep you from this sin Earnestly beg of God that you may never be left to your self at any time or upon any occasion whatever 10. Set a watch over the doors of your lips Take heed of speaking hastily or rashly or too much For in the multitude of words this sin is seldom wanting 11. Take heed of a greedy and an immoderate desire of gain How many trading people for a small and inconsiderable advantage for a two-penny or three-penny matter will not stick to tell a lye and deceive Hear what the Prophet Micah preached in his days Chap. 6. v. 9 10 11 12. The Lords voice cryeth unto the City c. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked and the scant measure that is abominable shall I count them pure with the wicked ballances and with the bag of deceitful weights For the rich men thereof are full of violence and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lyes and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth Therefore will I make thee sick in smiting thee in making thee desolate because of thy sins We read in the fourth of Matthew 8.9 v. that the Devil took our Saviour up into an exceeding high Mountain and shewed him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them that is as I suppose pointed to him where they lay and told him that all these would he give him if he would fall down and worship him But alass the Devil need not bid so high for the souls of men now a-days If he take them but into a fair or market or into a shop for a small gain they will lye and serve him 12. Take heed of envy and malice which often put people upon lying When men owe such and such persons ill will they care not what they say of them How sad and corrupt were the times wherein the Prophet Jeremiah lived who in his ninth Chapter verse 4.5 speaks to the Jews after this manner Take ye heed every one of his neighbour and trust ye not in any brother for every brother will utterly supplant and every neighbour will walk with slanders and they will deceive every one his neighbour and will not speak the truth They have taught their tongue to speak lyes and weary themselves to commit iniquity So the Prophet David complained in his time Psal 12.1 2. Help Lord for the Godly man ceaseth for the