take part thereof in Will and Affection And this is one thing whereby the Scripture expresses Saul's Partaking in St. Stephen's Murder And Saul was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 approving and well pleased with it or Consenting to his Death Act. 8.1 It is what the Apostle so severely Censures in the Romans that what ill they did not act themselves they were glad of and had Complacence in when they saw or heard it done by others Not only Do the same but take Pleasure in those that Do them Ro. 1.32 Quid refert says Cicero â—rum voluerim fieri an gaudeam Factum 'T is the same thing whether a man wills before to have a thing done or rejoyces in it when it is done The Will in both is the same And if he did not will it before the Fact that was only as not being informed thereof or asked the question He that Praises it He is as Guilty that Applauds as he that Perswades to it says Cicero Nay he comes in deeper than a meer Actor and turns Factor for it For to Praise is both to justifie and take part with him that did it and to recommend and take part before hand with any other that shall do it It sets off the Wickedness not only as an innocent but as a worthy and honourable thing So to make the Offender instead of turning Penitent to grow Proud thereof and to draw in others men beng naturally covetous of Honour to Do the same And he that looking on one side will Praise the Evil looking on the other will be as ready to Vilifie and Expose the contrary Good So that such Commenders and Extollers of Unlawful Acts in the degrees of Guilt may bid fair for the top of David's Scale viz. to sit down in the Seat of the scornful Ps. 1.1 And thus a Commender partakes not only when he Signalizes himself and is particular in Praises but if he strikes in with the common Cry and bears a part in the popular Voice when it is unjustly loud to cry up ill or to cry down any virtuous and good things Had we been in the days of our Fathers say the Scribes and Pharisees we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets viz. By joyning in the general Cry and Clamours for their Blood or Applauses of those that shed it Mat. 23.30 And St. Paul gives it as one instance of his partaking in the death of the Saints that when they were put to death he Concurred in the Popular Acclamations and bore his part in the Common Cry or gave his Voice against them Act. 26.10 Thus easily and unwarily may rash or timorous and complying Persons in Hot and Violent Times plunge themselves in guilt by Applauding as the number doth and speaking well as others about them do of any impious or Unjust Ways or Acts which those times shall happen to be fond of Next to him that thus Praises and Extols I add him that Justifies and Defends it Such men will maintain it if not as meriting praises yet however as innocent and blameless To become thus a Pleader and Advocate for any wicked or Unjust Act is highly to take the part thereof It has many Partakers on account of good will and inferiour assistance among those that cannot pretend to be the Patrons and Defenders of it He that will undertake to Defend is no whit inferior to him that Commits a Fault nay in great respects beyond him In as much as he that Commits it may be carried on against his mind by temptation and infirmity of passion but he that Defends it is for it in mind and judgment Next to this he Partakes who though he doth not come openly and fully to Defend yet â—isibly Countenances and Approves it so far as he joyns his will and carriage his opinion and suffrage to the Offenders so far he partakes in the Offence Every expression of Approbation in proportion to its degree puts him into the Evil-doer's Cause and makes it his own Now such Countenance and Approbation it is when they are kind and friendly as I noted in Saluting Entertaining or going out to Meet him as he goes about the Evil Thing Do not Salute or bid him God speed nor receive him into your houses that ye partake not with the bringer of false Doctrine was the Rule given by St. John When they look on in the Act without any shew of Horror or Dislike and as Men pleased and delighted with it This is to shew Favour to an ill thing which is to partake with it Accordingly St. Paul gives this as one instance of his being a Party to the death of St. Stephen that he was standing by or looking on with Liking as one Consenting to them Act. 22.20 And therefore he directs us when we are present thereat to manifest Dislike or Reprove them in a Work of Darkness that we may have no fellowship with it Eph. 5.11 And thus the Fathers taught the Christians about communicating with the Sins of the Heathen Shows or Spectacles We think it no great difference says Athenagoras whether a man be a Pleased Spectator or an Author of the Murther Whilst Willingly and with Approbation they behold them they act over all the things that are done by seeing and assenting to them says St. Salvian When they would put on the outward dress and appear like him that doth it This is in appearance to partake with the sin though in heart they are against it And accordingly to the World they appear as Actors therein and are reputed as Parties to it They go Halting indeed and it may be are not what they seem But though they do not admit the whole they take part therein the outward shew and form though not the inward Sentiment and Approbation This it to Do what Elihu justly reprehended but unjustly fasten'd upon Job to go in company with the workers of iniquity and walk with wicked men or to borrow their shape and say and Do shew and seem as if a man were one of them Job 34.8 Thus did the Judaizing Gnosticks who to avoid Persecution said they were Jews and seemed zealous for Moses but inwardly were not nor kept the Law as St. Paul also notes Rev. 2.9 Thus also as I formerly observed were the Libellatici of the Primitive Church who though in truth they had done no such thing yet sought to be numbred and pass among those that had done sacrifice to Idols But besides the insincerity hereof which I have shew'd above this is plainly to take part with those ungodly ways giving them the visible part and appearance whilst the invisible is Reserved to God It is Halting between two Opinions as if God who in point of Worship declares himself a jealous God would in that Worship admit Error and Wickedness to go halves with him and be his Partners carrying away the outward whilst he doth the inward Service Lastly he shares in the
our Minds or have a just Call and ought to profess them he that would lay Claim to this Virtue must not hide his Opinions or Practice his Desires or Espousals but appear what he is He must not use Subtilty in putting off or concealing his inward Sentiments especially under any opposite shews but openness in professing them Truth is naked and not afraid to appear so It shuns not to come into the Light when call'd to it It seeks not then to hide it self but is free to own it self As it always is what it seems so is it ready to seem what it is And such in all Points which we pretend to declare or ought to profess should we be too Near akin to this of Openness is Plainness opposite to amusing or misleading Dress of what iâ— professes It sets off Truth as it is in it self not daubing it over with made Colours It seeks not to huddle it up in intricacies which would not lay it open but hide it from mens Understandings It doth not put things or Actions into any delusive or fallacious Attire which would serve only to make men misapprehend and take them for other than they are It doth not amplifie things to make them be thought larger nor aggravate which is to make them seem faultier nor palliate which would have them appear more soft and innocent nor any way disguise which is to make them shew other than they are in reality For all these and such like are not ways of Truth but of Deception They do not imprint on men our own Apprehensions of things but mistakes of them They are not for making that plain to them which we think but that seem to them which we think not contrary to that Singleness whereof I have already treated Whereas Simplicity is for being the same as has been observed both within and without in inward Sentiments and in outward Manifestations It seeks to be taken only for what it is and so never hides its own shape when call'd to make 〈◊〉 thereof or assumes a borrowed one in 〈◊〉 it would better become it 4 Fourthly and Lastly A Fourth thing implyâ—â— in Christian Simplicity and prescribed by Spiâ—â—â—ual Prudence is Harmlesness or Innocence 〈◊〉 to all intending or effecting wrong or 〈◊〉 to any Person Of all other sorts of 〈◊〉 it is most opposite to Dolus malus or that â—â—â—ch works evil to other men It is a Simpliâ—â—â—y in Good without any mixture of Evil in 〈◊〉 It leaves us a Liberty in fitting ways to defâ—â—d our selves and whilst it is without Sin â— Prejudice to Religion to use all wise Methods of Caution and Wariness But it takes from us oâ—â—â—nsive Weapons as Anger Envy Peevishâ—â—â—â— Revenge Vexatiousness all Violence and Iâ—â—ustice It casts out all hurtful and injurious â—â—ssions and Practices and that at such times 〈◊〉 we are most tempted and provoked to them For when you are betrayed by Friends persecuted by Enemies and hated by all says our Lord Mat. 10.17 18 21 22. When you are sent out as Lâ—mbs in the midst of ravenous Wolves adds he pâ—ssing this Lesson of Prudent Simplicity then be ye as innocent as Doves a Creature usually said to be without Gall or Bitterness to put it upon working or returning Mischief v. 16. He commands thee to use the Simplicity of the Dove says St. Chrysostom upon the Place to restrain thee from seeking Revenge when injured or drawing those that lay wait for thee to Punishment For all thy Prudence will stand thee in no stead unless this Simplicity be added to it Be ye as simple as Doves to pardon injuries says another Ancient Comment be as Serpents to avoid apprehension but as Doves not to bite when once ye are apprehended And the same as both Chrysostom and he note is signified by their being sent out among these Wolves as Sheep thereby requiring of them aâ— such times as they say ovium mansuetudinem the mildness of those most patient Creatures Thus when St. Paul bids Servants to obey with simplicity or singleness of heart Eph. 6.5 Col. 3 2â— Theodoret takes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as opposite to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making Simplicity opposite to Malignity and Improbity And St. Chrysostom expounds the Simplicity and godly Sincerity 2 Cor. 1.12 among other things by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Will void of all Mischievousness and Malignity Simplicity is to be a patient Virtue and to imply as the Patience of Persevering so likewise the Patience of Suffering It looks more at the Duty than the Danger and is ready to take up the Cross and bear it after Christ when call'd thereto It notes fixedness in Truth and Goodness and must be accompanied with Fortitude or Fearlesness of Dangers making Faith or Trust in God its Support when it has nothing visible to trust to in this World As St. Paul did still holding on his Simplicity when he had the Sentence of Death in himself and could have no Trust or Hope of Deliverance in himself but in God who raiseth up the dead 2 Cor. 1.8 9 10 12. Such is the Virtue of true Christian Simplicity noting Veracity without doing or speaking Lyes Singleness without all counterfeit shews 〈◊〉 double Dealings Openness without studied Concealment and Plainness without artificial 〈◊〉 misleading Dress of what we undertake to declare or ought to profess and Harmlesness or Innocence patiently suffering and perseveringâ—y sustaining what it receives from them but not doing or returning the least wrong or â—â—olence to any Person And all this is agreeâ—â—le to S. Chrysostom's Description of it who explaining those words of St. Paul in godly Sincerity 2 Cor. 1.12 sets it off thus We have 〈◊〉 nothing fraudulent nothing by hypocrisie or sâ—â—â—â—lation or flattery or assentation nothing by treachery or imposture or other such like But in all Liberty in Simplicity in Verity in a heart pure and free from all mischievousness and malignity in a 〈◊〉 void of all deceit having nothing cover'd up a shadowed over nothing craftily varnish'd or rotten at heart under a fair and promising outside Thus is Simplicity such plain and downright Honesty as begets no wrong belief of or expectation from us nor fails those which it doth beget That as it doth not speak any false thing so neither will it speak nor act any delusive thing that makes no deceitful Reserves nor seeks shifts or Evasions nor affects to hide what it ought to make manifest or disguise what it doth set off If this Vertue governs any man he will put on no Appearances of what he is not nor make a shew of what he doth not intend nor seem to say or do what he doth not mean nor willingly deceive by a dark or doubtful or delusive sign nor seek to have any the worse by him or mistaken in him or to expect other than what they are like to find from him And this Simplicity St. Paul calls Godly Sincerity or the Sincerity of
are not left here to Prudence or to Do it or let it alone as they see Cause but are bound in Conscience to Do the thing and if thereby they are like to Do no more yet is the keeping of the Commandment it self or the Doing of their Duty a sufficient Purpose Besides when men are Doing their Duty though there is little Appearance of any effect on others yet will it be like to do more Good among them than they are apt to think or are aware off For when they have discharged their Part by doing of their Duty God will manage it as to Events and make it turn to more use for the Ends of Religion anâ— hiâ— own Glory than they ever Dreamed of It is then out of their Hands and Care and in the hands of Providence which will thereby stop some from being ill and others that are ill already from going on without Check and Remorse and growing worse Truth and Goodness though Ordinarily driven out thence by Prejudice Interest and vile Affections are most Natural and near akin to all our Souls and so have a secret hank upon us and a hidden Friend that lurks in all our Bosoms And this the Providence and Spirit of God strikes upon by our Profession or Practice thereof before their Eyes operating thereby on some at this time and on others at that on some more on others less according to his own good Pleasure and their Predispositions So working much Good and many blessed Effects that pass betwixt himself and them whilst we are insensible of any and think of nothing less Our Free Practice and Profession at such times as he requires and calls for them but worldly men say we shall do no Good with them he uses to Encourage and Strengthen the hands of the Strong to Establish the Wavering to call back the Stray'd Sheep and to lift up those that fall to work Remorse in its Deserters and Fear and Faintness in its Persecutors to retrieve a Truth or Duty when to Humane Eyes 't is almost lost and to beget anew a Respect and Reverence for it when it was all in Disgrace and seemingly quite Exploded The Practice of a Right Good thing tho' but by a very few will quickly draw in more Though only ten among us should appear for Doing a Duty says St. Chrysostom yet would these ten quickly be made twenty those twenty fifty that fifty an hundred that hundred a thousand and that thousand the whole City And as by lighting up of ten Candles a man may easily fill all the whole house with Light So also in Spiritual Good Deeds if only ten of us Do our Duty we shall kindle one intire flame through the City yielding Light to them and bringing Security to us For the Nature of Flame it self when fallen on combustible matter is not so sure to kindle still and seize the wood that lies next to it as the zeal of Virtue fallen into a few Souls is by going on and still inflaming more to fill the whole City Thus doth God when we put it into his Conduct do Great Good and accomplish great Effects by our discharge of our Duty when we thought nothing could be hoped from thence Thus in all times he has done and daily still doth and will do in the World the Experience of all Ages and the Successfulness of Generous and Brave Asserters of seemingly destitute and unfriended Virtue frequently witnessing on that side And in confidence of this or however if that should fail in Discharge of their own Good Conscience Good men in all times have been careful still to Confess the Truths of God and Do their own Duty when there were the fewest that seemed capable of being thereby wrought upon and they had none to stand by them but strove altogether against the stream having the whole World to oppose them As Noah wrought Righteousness Elias was zealous for the true God Jeremy was an asserter of his Mind and Precepts and many other Holy Men and Prophets yea our Blessed Lord and his Apostles were the undaunted Preachers and Practisers of Decryed Godliness in the most Degenerate Deriding and Persecuting Ages when they seem'd to have the fewest prepared Hearers or Spectators all many times appearing ready to contradict and few or sometimes none to stand by and back them as I formerly noted 3. Thirdly We must not say Christian Duties are unseasonable when they Do not suit with some Designs carrying on or are against some Seeming and much Desired Good of Church or State This is the way of Worldly Wisdom which when any Truths or Duties hinder some worldly Good they are pursuing for Religion or the Kingdom bids the Professors thereof to â—eep their Practice and Professions of them for some fitter time If these are Truths and Duties say they at such times let them give way to Publick Good and the Advancement of true Religion which are of more importance And let those that believe them take care whilst they embrace these to approve themselves withall as Good Members of the Publick whereof they all receive the benefit by seeking and setting on not retarding or obstructing the Good of Church or Common-Wealth You may shew your care of them will they suggest when it will be as a Good so a Wise and Prudent care and hinder no Greater thing But never bring them in play now to stop the Great and much and Generally wish'd for Good that is going on For this is a Critical time for it and if this opportunity is over-pass'd the like may never return again But are not we all Disciples of Christ and Professors of Religion as well as Members of a settled Church and Kingdom And must we not first take care to acquit our selves as Good Christians before we seek how to shew our selves Good Statesmen and Politicians Is it not our Profession to be more for another World than for this And may such Professors go out of the way of being happy there when that serves to make themselves more happy here A Good Christian must never be wanting to his own Duty or go beyond it to Do Good to any nay to a whole Nation And so must never think of setting aside the Season for Discharging his Duty for a Season of serving of the Church or Nation He must never slip the Season of shewing himself Good for a Season of making himself or others Secularly Fortunate or the Season of Practsing and Professing as the Servant of Christ for the Season of serving any Interest or Condition though never so Great and Publick in this World There is no Doing Evil that Good may come Good publick or Good private as I have shewed before Besides 't is not for a Good man to think of Doing Good to a Church or Nation by Evil-Doing The Greatest Good to them in his Opinion is to engage God for them And that must be by keeping his Commandments and practising and professing them as we have
opportunity But never breaking them or setting them aside to make use of some Worldly opportunity If we would Do Good to Church or State to Do this wisely we must Do it under God not by setting up against him So we must not throw out his Service as an unseasonable thing when an opportunity is offer'd us to serve the Publick by refusing to serve him when he calls The Thoughts of Doing Good i. e. Temporal Good or that of outward Settlement to the Publick if by Breach of Duty or omission thereof when call'd by him to Discharge it is a Temptation And the Doing it that way is endeavouring to be wise against God and setting up Policy against Religion which if God must give Succâ—ss is not like to speed or in the Event to procure Good to them Near a kin to this is thinking it no Season to Condemn and Fault things as we did whilst they served others when they come to serve our selves This is the way of this World if not to commend yet to connive at any Error or Wickedness whilst it gets by it It is pleased if not with the Wickedness yet with the Advantage and had rather bear the Sin for the Profits than want and Condemn the Profit for the Sins sake So it will not open its mouth against Errors whilst 't is getting or against Sins and breach of Duty whilst 't is served by them being not so much offended with their falsness or wickedness as pleased with their usefulness or convenience Though most loud at others it is silent then and would have others too to be silent and not cry out against them at such â—imes And this is meer Wisdom of this World or being Wise for Worldly Things which lies in getting or taking worldly Advantages however they come by them and can brook what Religion most abhors whilst it brings in what Flesh and Blood best approves Which plainly shews that a man has not so much of Religion as of this World and Self-Design nor is acted so much by Conscience as Convenience Thus must we be Careful that the Pretence of unseasonableness do not carry us to smother our Belief of any Truth or our Practice of any Duty when God calls us to shew them forth on any Pretence of hazard to our selves of unprofitableness to Religion or our Neighbours or of their being a hindrance to any Good that doth come in to our selves or is sought to be brought about for the Church or State The Truth is in Points of direct and express Duty the part of Prudence lies more in sight and Discerning than in Choice of Seasons In Matters that are not of Direct and Determinate obligation there is more Room for Discretion in the timing of them and in Resolving both whether and when to Do them For Free things which are not Determined by the Law of God or that are not directly injoyn'd but may indirectly some more and some less be serviceable to and promotive of that which is or that are free and undetermined expressions and instances of General Laws Such Free Things I say and Free-will Offerings are most properly matter of Prudence being left to Prudence and not determinately bound on Conscience And in these there is a proper Choice of Seasons which men may embrace or let slip either Doing that thing or another now or at another time as they see cause But in things expresly required by God and Points of Direct Duty there is not the like Choice of Seasons or Room for Discretion For whensoever God calls us to them and they are put upon us either by the Authority of Superiors or by any occasion with our Neighbours or other just Call of Providence giving us opportunity for them or perhaps laying us under a necessity either of Professing or Dissembling them or Practising them or what is Repugnant to them We are then under a necessity and Obligation of Discharging and have no Liberty to let them alone For Matters of express Duty we are bound to perform as oft as God calls us to perform them Whensoever he calls we have no power to refuse And this Call is by his Providence as that brings us under opportunities and puts us upon Practising or Declaring our selves And what time Providence shall allot and fix on for these is at God's Choice not at ours He is Free when he sees best to give the Calls but when once he doth we are under his Command and never free to set them aside or refuse obedience So our Part is only a Duty and Necessity to see and embrace the Seasons he chuses and God's part is to have the Liberty and Discretionary Power to chuse them And therefore the Wisdom and Prudence to be shewn in Choice of these Seasons is God's Wisdom and not ours His Providence takes care of that and 't is a wise Providence that never calls us to the Profession of necessary Truths or Practice of necessary Duties but at wise and fitting Seasons which best fit his Purposes though they least fit ours So that whensoever he Calls us to them we are eased of that care of Deliberating about the seasonableness of them In Free things we are left to Chuse the Seasons our selves and may let go a worse in hopes of a better But in necessary and bounden Duties God's Call must always be our Season and we are only to discern and take it not left to Chuse and Deliberate upon it God having already made that Choice to our Hands 2. Secondly In Execution of our Purposes Christian Prudence is for Tempering what we Do to Circumstances i. e. For considering Place and Persons and Instruments and manner of acting and the like and so to suit all as may best serve our Design and set off the thing Done so as may give us most Help and Advantage from all and least Hurt or Hindrance from any of them This attention to Circumstances is that Circumspection which is so much spoken of and is implyed in Prudence which St. Paul calls for when he exhorts the Ephesians to walk not as Fools but as Wise as I noted before Eph. 5.15 Walk in wisdom says he again to the Colossians towards them that are without calling them to such Prudence in their Carriage towards and before such as consider'd the Principles and Dispositions of those they conversed with Col. 4.5 Let your speech says he in that place be with Grace and seasoned with Salt i. e. Savoury and Prudent and so seasoned and temper'd on every occasion as if most fit that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man or to give each such an Answer as may be proper for him and the occasion v. 6. This tempering what we Do to Circumstances and Distinguishing of Persons and Places and the like is a Great point of Prudence And Christians in their way must take care as they are able to adorn themselves therewith as well as others Endeavouring when they Do their Duty
all to pare away part of the Obligation and to perform no more than in their present Circumstances may be tolerably suitable and the Flesh will consent to They will urge the Circumstance of the Person Another man say they might Discharge the Duty more fully in this Case But as for me Men must consider my Relation how I am joyn'd in Affinity or Blood my Obligations how Great Favours I have received or the Necessity of my Condition and my Dependance for Support or Interest on those who are warm and zealous for another way So that it is not to be expected from me that I should keep so fully and invariably to the Duty as another Person of more easie and agreeing Relations Obligations and Dependance may do And the Circumstance of the Place Were I in a Place says a mind that retains too much of this World where this or that Duty would go down where the due Discharge of it would be like to be quietly received or where the Minds of men were any ways impressible to give some appearance of its doing good upon them much more Fidelity might be shewn therein But I live where the Spirits of Men are in a Ferment where the Duty is Generally Decryed or bitterly Persecuted and the Practice thereof instead of procuring any Religious Regard from the Beholders provokes only their outrage against the Practisers thereof So I am forced to Sail as near the Wind as I can that I may not endeavour both against Wind and Stream I omit what will not be endured and practise what will and this meerly to content the People as forced on by the press of a Crowd one Man being unable to withstand a whole Multitude And the Circumstance of the Instruments or Auxiliaries Though they would discharge the Duty fully were they left to themselves yet now they are upon Designs and must consider not only what will pass with themselves but with their Complices They must keep in with their Humane Succors and therefore they must abate of their Religious Duties lest standing too stifly and inflexibly for them they disoblige and lose their Patrons or Auxiliaries It is well say they if by a Man so linked in some part can be performed whilst some part is abated Some part must be yielded to gratifie their Interests or their Principles some to keep those of wrong and some to keep the loose and immoral or those of no Religion And the Circumstance of the End They would as please God in the Duty so profit his Church thereby And a Duty happens at some time not to suit the interest of their Party in Religion If they will abate or infringe it they may set up or keep up themselves but if still they will faithfully discharge it as they ought in all appearance they must become subject and truckle under others To deduct something in the present Circumstance is most safe or serviceable for that Party of Christians they espouse which they call God's Church And in this strait they think they should not be censured if they practise so much as is serviceable and lay the rest aside And the Circumstance of the Time admitting no season for the full practice of any Duties or profession of any Truths when there is hazard in them or no probability of doing Good by them or they are like to be impeditive of some designed Good or much desired Settlement to Church or State of which I spoke before Thus is Worldly Wisdom for making bold with its Duty to save its Worldly Concerns and for tempering Duty to the present Circumstances by abating it and by parting with so much thereof when it retains the rest as all its Circumstances consider'd shall make it draw least inconvenience after it from any of them Which is nothing else but setting up this World above Almighty God and our own Convenience above his ways Whereby however we may promise our selves to pass for Worldly Wise we shall be sure to appear ill Christians as I think is clear enough from the foregoing Chapters I speak not this of abating in Discharge of our Duty thus to Circumstances where Circumstances really make Abatements I know there is not so much due from us in some Circumstances as there is in others For some Circumstances are incapacities and these abate so far and so long as they incapacitate Impossibilium says the Moral Rule nulla est obligatio No Man is tied to impossibilities And therefore where we owe never so much Duty we are not bound to an actual exercise and discharge thereof whilst we are not in capacity So far as it is Providentially out of our Power and so long as it is so our actual Discharge thereof is under a Suspension 'till by Degrees it come to be in our power again which always brings back with it a like gradual Return of our Obligation But I speak of their tempering their Duty in these Abatements to Circumstances of Worldly Convenience where there is the same State and Foundation of their Religious Obligations as at other times We must not abate our Duties whose Ground and Obligation is still the same and which we have Power and Opportunity to Practise if we dare run Hazards and sustain Inconveniences and Losses for them to temper them to the external Ease and Convenience of Place or Persons or other present Circumstances Which in this tempering is not to respect the Obligation of Circumstances but only the Fleshly Ease Convenience and Advantage of them 3. This Tempering to Circumstances must lie only in our not unnecessarily provoking Men whilst we do no ill our selves not in our carrying on the unreasonable or ungodly wills of others It is â—ne thing to temper our selves to the Necessities of things another to the Lusts or Vices of Persons one thing to suit their innocent wants or ways another to set on their wickedness This is to have Fellowship with the works of Darkness to partake of other Mens Sins and Sin along with them for Company So that we must never talk of tempering our selves to Circumstances by putting our selves into other mens ill circumstance or by complying in any ungodly or ill things If ill things then are driven on by the violence and press of People or the Power of Rulers if all seem to Conspire together and Combine to oppress an innocent Person or to explode an Excellent and Good thing to pull down what is Right and set up what is Wrong to seek safety by what is Sinful or Publick Good either of Church or State by Doing Evil it must not be thought any part of our Prudence to temper our selves to their Ungodly Wills by Compliance by striking in and countenancing by being or seeming to be for them by crying up or carrying on or going along therewith If we would seek to be truly Good rather than falsly to appear Wise Religion is not for such ebbs and flows for being fast and loose with virtuous or
and know not the Day of my Death said the Patriarch Isaac Gen. 27.2 And therefore the way of God's Saints when Men laid wait for them was not as he goes on to obtrude themselves upon their Persecutors as not knowing the time appointed them by the Divine Providence But their time being in God's hand they expected the Finishing and Course thereof Wandering about in the mean season or hiding themselves in Caves of the Earth 'till the Determined time of their Death came or till God who is the Determiner of their times would manifest it to them either preventing and disappointing their Persecutors or Delivering them into their hands as seemed most fit and seasonable to him This Caution and Flight in Persecution as he adds was not to be called Cowardise but was an Exercise of their Fortitude and Patience For in their Flight they did not nourish and indulge Fears of Death but fortified their minds against it They shew'd Fortitude and Tolerance and Gave a Proof of Passive Valour which is best seen not in being suddenly Cut off but in tedious Sorrows which so highly enobled Jobe 's Patience Their Care was 〈◊〉 he pleads neither to Fear the time of Death when it was present nor to anticipate that time â—hich God's Providence had Decreed for it or â—esist the Divine Dispensation whereto they knew â—ssuredlâ— they were Reserved that so they might not â—e 〈◊〉 as being by their own rash Actings the â—â—use of their own Fall 〈◊〉 was it without Fruit either to themselves or the Church of God Their Flight saith he was not idle in as much as they Preached the Truth when they fled and never forgot to seek the Profit of others under all the Hardships which they sustain'd themselves When flying they hid themselves they were by God's Dispensation only reserved this way as Physicians for the wants and use of those that stood in need of them In Sum the Rule of Christian Prudence for us all as he observes when we are sought for in Persecutions is not to be rash and Precipitate in tempting God but to fly and hide our selves and wait till the appointed time of our Death comes or till our Great Judge shall allot that for us which seems best to himself But when he allows us this Liberty he would have us to stand alwaies ready and prepared in our minds when either our appointed time calls us or we are taken up and apprehended by our Persecutors to stand and strive for Religion and the Church even unto Death And thus the Martyrs did in Persecutions Whilst they lay hid in Dens and Secret Places they confirm'd and fortified their own minds and when Discovered and Apprehended they bravely Suffer'd at the Stake But if some of them voluntarily surrendred themselves to their Persecutors they were not carried on to this as he adds by inconsiderate Zeal or Rashness but professed every where and before all that this promptitude and Free Oblation of themselves proceeded from the Holy Ghost Thus is there Place by the Permissions of Religion for the Servants of Christ to saâ—â— themselves by Flight in Persecutions And this for Pastors as well as People â—hen the Persecutions of the Pastors is Personal For then to save themselves they may Depart from the Churches they Conducted or from the Followers they had gathered as St. Peter did upon Herod's Design against him from Jerusalem and St. Paul when laid wait for there from Damascus and Jesus himself from Jerusalem or Jury or other Places as Designs were laid for his Life by the Jews Yea tho' by this Flight of theirs some innocent men as Petrus Alexandrinus observes be accidentally brought in Trouble and suffer for their Sakes As Gaius and Aristarchus were as he Notes for St. Paul the Guard of Souldiers for St. Peter the innocent Infants for our Saviour Christ and Zacharias the Father for John the Baptist when his Mother Elizabeth fled with him from Herod all of them unblamed notwithstanding on the account of their Flight such things followed But when the Persecution is common of the â—locks as well as of the Shepherds and whilst the Flock it self stays and is like to be left Destitute and Unprovided or much Scandalized and Dispirited by their Departure there it seems as if the Pastors had not the same Allowance For when Dangers are Common to the People as well as to the Priests the Leaders themselves should by no means be among the foremost in Fears and backwardest in Tryals They that in times of Peace have been the Preachers of Faith and Fortitude of Resolution and Constancy when trouble comes should be the first Patterns and Examples thereof among their Flocks and take especial care lest by the hastiness of their Flight and excess of Fear they Disgrace their former Sermons and fall under that smart Censure which Tertullian past on several Pastors in his days viz. that in Pace Leones in Praelio Cervos i. e. out of Dangers they were as bold as Lyons but in danger as timerous as Harts and like them all for trusting to their heels The Pastors stand charged not only with the Care of their own Bodies and worldly Interests which the permission of Flight secures but with the Charge of the Church being most Solemnly intrusted with the care thereof and watching for their Souls as they that must give account as St. Paul says And therefore at such times it behoves them to consider not only how their Flight would serve their own Temporal or Private Wants but also how it would Comport with their Publick Trust and Office and suit with their Charges Spiritual Necessities Whether it be like to leave them quite Destitute without necessary Helps or Instructions or Hope and Expectation of Spiritual Ministrations Whether it is like to trouble the Spirits and weaken and faint the hearts of their People and turn those out of the way whom the Presence Direction and Exhortation of a Spiritual Guide would have kept firm and constant therein encouraging them to yield to a Persecutor's Threatnings when they see they are so formidable as to shake the very Pillars of the Church and make the Leaders shift for themselves And accordingly our Saviour though when the Pastors are specially Persecuted he gives liberty of Flying yet in a common Persecution when the Wolf i. e. a Wolfish Persecutor Comes to snatch and scatter the Sheep as well as the Shepherds he tells us to flee for himself and leave the Flock without any Guard or Provision is the mark not of a Good Shepherd but of an Hireling The Good Shepherd saith he when the Wolf cometh is not so careful for himself as for his Charge and Giveth or staketh down his Life for the Sheep i. e. is ready to expose and hazard it for their sake Joh. 10 11 12. The Good Shepherd he distinguishes not only from Thieves and Robbers who seize those Flocks which
Case of Vsury permitting it not under the Name of Vsury but of the Contract Mohatra i. e. Selling any Person that wants Money any Commodities on Trust at a Great Rate and he presently Selling them again for ready Money to the same Person at so much less as the use would come to Or by nice and vain Distinctions eluding all the Force of a Duty by limiting it to some such Bounds or making it to bind only for such Reasons as they will be in little need to transgress Or running it into such thin and subtile Notions till they have lost both it and themselves Or by the Plea of Favourable Circumstances which in Carnal Estimate call for Ease and Indulgence and which they are most Liberal in Granting at God's Cost to save themselves Or by Shifting of Intentions confining the Malignity thereof to Doing it for certain Ends which they can easily Evade by proposing other Ends therein to themselves The main Study and Boasted Subtilty of their Casuistry lies not in Explaining but in Defeating Moral Duties in Spreading Plasters for all Sores and inventing Salvo's for Sins And instead of Instructions and Inforcements how to keep venting among their Disciples Palliations and Devices to shew them how without Sin they may break God's Commandments In Sum not to lengthen out this Point by any more Particulars they are extreamly tender of Fleshly Wants and Necessities But this as they that are for more Flesh than Spirit shewing no tenderness far God but making as bold as may be with Religion and its Duties Theirs is an accommodating and complying Theology and their Great Care is not to bear but to avoid and shift off the Cross and temper and bring Down the Strictnesses and Severities of Christ to the Pitch and Measure of a Fleshly Mind And this wicked Policy or Suiting the Rules of Morality and Holiness to Carnal Ends and Inclinations they call Religious Wisdom or being wise to retain or multiply the Followers to serve the Ends and Interest of the Lord Jesus It would be too long to annex particular Sayings and Proofs of all these and other such like Opinions and Maxims of Fleshly Wisdom advanced by some or other of these Carnal Politiâ—ians They who list may see enough from their own Authors or without giving themselves trouble to look further for them in the Mystery of Jesuitism or Provincial Letters and in the several Extracts of Propositions from the Jesuits Writings in the Additionals Thus are the foresaid Rules and Worldly Maxims Declared against in the Preceding Chapters no better than Jesuits Principles which Secular Reason and Carnal Interests and Self-Ends are ready enough to Suggest to Fleshly Natures of all Sects and Parties but which they above all others have cultivated to Perfection So that as these Rules of Fleshly Wisdom take Place and come in use the Jesuit creeps in and revives amongst us And if Jesuits Morals must come in to Drive out Popish Superstitions and Idolatries as much and as bad Popery will come in at the Back Door as goes out at the Fore-Door and there will be no Deliverance from Popery that way to boast of I have an hearty Aversion to Popery whilst I pity their Persons and am I thank God ready to perform all that is Just and Charitable to them at the same time mightily condemning their Persuasion as a most corrupt Religion Accordingly I think it a mighty Preservation to be kept by God's Grace and Good Providence from those most Dangerous and Mischievous Errors or from all violent Temptations to them But I confess I am for keeping out Popery or any other ill Religion only by Orthodox Tenets and true Christian Practices Which God be thanked whatever it is of too many of its Members is the way of this Church in all her Authentick Doctrines and Offices that set as much by Good Life as by Orthodox Belief and are not more for Professing Truth than for Practising a strict and inviolable Morality and Holiness As all her Children and Sons must be too who will not Revolt or break off from her Principles And I think it a most lamentable Unhappiness for Men in their Zeal against so blame-worthy a Religion to run headlong into some of its most heinous Vices and even when they are opposing it with the greatest seeming Fierceness from sound and intire Protestants to become in Truth Part-boyl'd Romanists or Drive out Popish Superstitions by the use and help of Jesuitish Immoralities Which really is Done as I have shewn as often as the fore-condemn'd Rules of Fleshly Wisdom and others like unto them do find Place amongst us FINIS A Catalogue of BOOKS Printed for Jo. Hindmarsh PArey's Surgery Davela's History of the Civil-Wars of France Evelin's Sylva Saunderson's Sermons Bishop Brownrigg's Sermons Snape's Anatomy of an Horse Dr. Rawleigh's Sermons Dr. Outram's Sermons Mackenzie against Stilling fleet Discourse of Primogeniture Practical Rule of Christian Piety L'Estrange's Tully's Offices Doctors Physician or Dialogues concerning Health The whole Art of Converse Arbitrary Government display'd Hudibras Fourth Part. Alamode Phlebotomy or a Discourse of Blood-letting Eutropuis in English or a Breviary of the R. History Chalmer's Spelling-Book Behn's Miscellany Poems The Whole Duty of Man in French The Works of Mr. John Oldham Tate's Miscellany Poems Maimburg's Prerogative of the Church of Rome The History of Count Zozimus Discourse of Monarchy The French Bible The Testament in French Titus Andronicus Majestas intemerate Dr. Pelling's Apostate Protestant Dr. Curtis's Sermon Dr. Allestree's Sermon Sheridon's Case Gouges Principles Spirit of Meekness Stafford's Tryal The History of Passive Obedience Compleat 3 Parts The Case of the Afflicted Scotch Clergy History of the Scotch Persecution Don Sebastian Modern Policy Rebels Catechism writ by Doctor Heylin Scotch Memorial Proteus Ecclesiasticus Answer to Obedience and Submission to the present Government Demonstrated from Bishop Overall Perjur'd Phanatick Essay on Pride Dr. Talbor of Agues Venice Preserv'd a Tragedy Elliot against Oates The History of Edward the Third a Tragedy The Mistake or False Reports A Play Slainees Sermon Hindmarsh's Sermon Hool's Vocabulary Erasmus Colloquies 24 s. Ingratitude of a Commonwealth Aristella Castalio's Latine Testament City Politicks Plays Sir Courtly Nice Plays Banditti Plays Dame Dobson Plays The Poets Complaint of his Muse by Mr. Otway Seneca's Morals Martin's Letters Disappointment or The Mother in fashion a Play Rolls's Loyalty and Peace Hesketh's Sermon Robert's Sermon Loyal Satyrist Vindication of the Church of England Pelling's Good Old Way FINIS * Ad Nicom l. 2. c. 6. †De prospera adversa Fortuna de Prudentia Conc. 21. Tom. 3. p. 582. * The wise Servant made Ruler 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same as prudent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 24.45 As the wise as serpents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 10.16 and wise virgins Mat. 25.2 * Joh. 3.20 * Mat. 13.9 43. c. 11.15 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †1 Sam. 10.27