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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	devil_n	father_n	lie_n	3,415	5	9.0726	5	true

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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

in his promises It should be the solid ground of our faith the stay of our Souls the foundation of all our hopes Faith is animated by Gods veracity and truth and from thence all other graces are excited in us O Christians what life should it put into our hopes to think that all those words that God hath spoken are most certainly true that all those descriptions of the everlasting Kingdom all those exceeding precious promises that concern this life or that which is to come will certainly be made good that all those expressions of the exceeding love of God to his poor Servants are certain and sure O how should our faith live upon this truth of God and by it be daily more and more strengthened And particularly that none of his promises concerning his Church will fail or fall to the ground Fourthly How thankfull should we be to God for giving us such gracious promises to encourage us in the ways of our obedience He has promised that he will never never leave nor forsake those that are in Covenant with him Heb. 13.5 We have good assurance That all things shall work together for good to them that love God Rom. 8.28 That he will give grace and glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly Psal 84.11 And what can we desire more Fifthly We should labour to get an interest Christ in whom all the promises of God are Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 That is have their foundation firm establishment and unalterable ratification Sixthly We should learn the Divine art of living upon the promises of God and fetching comfort for the support of our lives from them Most men live on their present enjoyments not on Gods promises Whereas the Prophet tells us Habak 2.4 The Just shall live by his Faith Certainly nothing makes us so humble lowly and puts us into so much ease and quietness of mind as to live by Faith on God Isai 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stay'd on thee because he trusteth in thee Seventhly The truth and faithfulness of God should engage us to be true and faithfull to him Have we not ingaged in our Baptism to forsake the Devil the World and the Flesh and to devote our selves to the sincere service and worship of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Are not his Vows upon us that is Vows to serve him faithfully Psal 56.12 And shall we be like those false Israelites of whom 't is said Psal 78.36 37. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and they lied unto him with their Tongues For their heart was not right with him neither were they steadfast in his Covenant And have we not in the course of our lives made many particular promises to God in our particular distresses And shall we expect that God should perform his promises to us when we take no care to perform ours to him Shall we expect that God will perform his promise of pardon to us when we take no care to perform the conditions required of us upon the performance of which we may comfortly expect to have the Divine promises made good to us Eighthly We should endeavour to imitate God in this Attribute of his faithfulness Let us be true to God and true also to man Remember you serve a God of truth and 't is the glory of his servants to be like him The Devil indeed is the Father of lyes but God hates all lying as contrary to his Holy Nature If you would be like God labour to imitate him in his truth and faithfulness SECT II. Concerning the Trinity of Persons in the Vnity of the Divine Essence TO prevent all misapprehensions concerning God and the Divine Nature it will be requisite that we carefully attend unto the Declaration or Revelation that God hath been pleased to make of himself in the Holy Scriptures For surely we have all the reason in the World to assent to those assertions or testimonies that God is pleased to give unto us concerning himself and that according to their natural and genuine sence The Sum then of this Revelation held forth to us in Holy Scriptures is this That God is one That this one God is Father Son and Holy Ghost That the Father is the Father of the Son and the Son the Son of the Father and the Holy Ghost the Spirit of the Father and the Son and by reason of their mutual respects and relations to each other and their peculiar properties arising from those particular relations they viz. Father Son and Holy Ghost are distinct each from other This one God is set forth to us in the Scriptures as the only true God whom we are to believe in adore worship and obey This is the first cause Soveraign Lord and ultimate end of all For the proof hereof we shall produce Divine Testimonies whereon Faith may safely rest And first we shall prove God to be one Secondly The Father to be God the Son to be God the Holy Ghost to be God Thirdly We shall shew that the explanations usually made of this Doctrine are accordi●g to truth though we make use of some words or expressions which are not literally or Syllabically contained in the Holy Scriptures but are such as do not teach any other Doctrine than what is therein contained and are to our apprehensions fairly expository of them And surely if Ministers may not set forth the sence of the words of Scripture in such expressions as they apprehend do most clearly convey the true and genuine meaning of them to the People to what end serves that great Ordinance of preaching the Word I shall begin therefore with the Original Revelation and shew you what is delivered to us by Divine Testimony and this I shall give you in these particulars following First We are assured by Divine Revelation that God is one Deut. 6.4 Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord. Isai 44.6.8 Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts I am the first and I am the last and besides me there is no God Is there any God besides me Yea there is no God I know not any Isai 45.5 I am the Lord and there is none else there is no God besides me 1 Cor. 8.4 As concerning therefore the eating of things Offered in Sacrifice unto Idols we know that an Idol is nothing in the World and that there is none other God but one Secondly That the Father is God He is often so called only in reference to his Son And if he had an eternal Son as we shall prove presently He is an Eternal Father and his Paternity was from Eternity co-existent with his Deity The Father is a person subsisting of himself This is denied by none Eph. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all Spiritual blessings in Christ Luk. 23.34 Then said Jesus Father forgive

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

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

had by sin mad● God his enemy he needed no Mediator to mediate or intercede for him 8. This Covenant in case of disobedience afforded man no relief no not upon his repentance And thus the case stood with man in the state of his Innoc●nce Of Ma●s fa●● We come now to the second thing I propounded to treat of concerning man and that is his fall from his Original happiness by disobeying the precept and command of God and forfeiting the priviledges of the Covenant contained in it Gen. 3. from 1. to 7. Now the Serpent was m●re subtil than any Beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said unto the woman Yea hath God said Ye shall not eat of every Tree of the Garden And the Woman said unto the Serpent We may eat of the fruit of the Trees of the Garden But of the fruit of the Tree which is in the midst of the Garden God hath said Ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye die And the Serpent said unto the Woman ye shall not surely die For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil And when the woman saw that the Tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a Tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unt● her Huusband with her and he did eat And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed Fig-leaves together and made themselves Aprons Rom. 5.12 19. Wherefore as by one man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous And that I may speak more distinctly of the matter I shall inquire in to these particulars 1. Who were the first sinners among men and by whom sin entered into the World 2. What was the first sin 3. What were the causes and occasions of Adams first transgression 4. What were the sad effects and consequents of this sin and breach of the Covenant First Upon our first Parents Secondly Upon us their Posterity 1. We shall inquire who were the first sinners among men and by whom sin entred into the World Adam and Eve the first Man and first Woman were certainly among men the first transgressors as may appear by those places before cited Gen. 3. And Rom 5.12 And the Apostle tells us 1 Tim. 2.14 Adam was not deceived that is First and by the Devil and so as to draw Eve into transgression but the woman being deceived was first * Th●●gh Eve was first in the trangression yet Adam was the chief and therefore Adam is sometimes taken collectively both for man and woman in the transgression and drew Adam into it Hosea 6.7 God says of the unfaithful Israelites They like Adam have transgressed the Covenant And 2 Cor. 11.3 We read that the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty viz. To eat of the forbidden fruit and she persuaded Adam to eat also It therefore we trace corruption and depravation to the well-head we shall find we cannot stay any where till we come to the first Man the common Parent and Root of us all And 't is very evident that the first Fountain of mankind was corrupted seeing all the streams are so 2. Let us consider what was the first sin God made our first Parents holy and happy and whilst they performed their duty they could not but be happy But the Devil having fallen from God himself as we have seen before Sect 3. and envying our first Parents their present happiness he sets upon Eve to draw her from her obedience to God And the temptation he spred before her is this you shall be as God He pretends to acquaint her with a way whereby they might raise thems●lves to a higher condition than that wherein they were at present They should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like God himself or like Angels they should be lifted up to a higher estate than now they enjoyed And this happiness he tells them they might acquire by eating of that Tree in the midst of the Garden which God had forbidden them which he intimates would be so far from procuring death or misery to a them that it had a contrary virtue in it namely to raise them to higher state of happiness than now they enjoyed Eve being caught by this subtil device began to believe this Serpent who thus proves himself a Lyar and a Murderer from the beginning and to d● believe God and to doubt the truth of his threatning and commination who Gen. 2.17 had told Adam Of that Tree thou shalt not eat for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Ev● being thus won upon by the D●vils temptation did venture to e●t of this sorbidden fruit and dre● Adam to eat also So that infi●elity and doubting of the truth of Gods word and threatnings t●rough the Devils insinuation and pride and affection of an h●gher estate seem to be the first miscarriages and sins of Adam and Eve O the cursed Nature of pride and unbelief How soon did these ●●ns enter into the very Angels How soon did they undo our first Parents 3. Let us inq●ire what were the causes and occasions of Adams sin 1. God was not The pure and holy Nature of God could not be the Original of mans sin The Holy God cannot be the cause of any unholiness God indeed permitted man to fall seeing he knew how to bring good out of it But he inclin'd him not to it 2. Neither external Objects nor the temptations of Satan could nec●ssitate the will of man to sin The Devil might persuade but could not force 3. The persuading cause in respect of Eve was Satan in the form of a Serpent The Devil opened the Serpents mouth and caused it to speak with mans voice as an Angel opened the mouth of Balaams Ass Numb 22.28 Now the Serpents cunning may appear in this 1. He first assaults the Woman not the Man 2. He equivocates about knowing good and evil which he represents to her as a state of perfection Whereas the forbidden Tree was called the Tree of knowledge because Adam if he did eat thereof should experimentally know to his sorrow from how much good he had fallen and how much evil he had brought upon himself 3. He uses Eve a Companion newly made for Adam and surely very dear to him to draw in her Husband 4. Man being not created at first immutably Holy but defectible and sin being only a defect a person that was mutable and defectibly Holy as Adam was might fall into sin 'T was no strange thing that Man should be created defectible and being a defectible and

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

faithful fail from among the children of men They speak vanity every one with his neighbour with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak 14. Labour for a plain spirit without guile and represent to your thoughts the amiableness thereof Remember what is the note or character of a Godly man Prov. 13.5 A righteous man hateth lying but a wicked man is loathsome and cometh to shame Think with your self how ill you should like it that those whom you deal with should lye to you or deceive you and why should you then do so to them 15. Learn to trust in God at all times A man that does humbly repose himself on Gods Fatherly care and protection over him in the greatest dangers and straits and is resolved that he had better stand to Gods determination and choice in all things than to his own what need can he apprehend he hath of a lye or any sinful shift even at the greatest pinch Distrust of Gods fatherly care was Isaacks weakness at Gerar Gen. 26.7 And the men of the place asked him of his wife and he said she is my sister for he feared to say she is my wife lest the men of the place should kill him for Rebeckahs sake because she was fair to look upon 16. Think much of Gods omniscience and that his eye is alwayes upon you 'T is a weighty saying of my Lord Verulam He that tells a lye shrinks from man and braves it towards God He fears the wrath of man and so tells a lye to prevent it but he brasens it out in the face of the Alseeing God Gehazi feared his masters anger and so lyed to prevent it thinking he could not find it out But he feared not lying in the sight of God for which he was punished with the Leprosie 2 Kings 5.27 17. Remember that those things that are got by a lye are usually imbittered with a great deal of smart and sorrow A remarkable instance hereof we have in Jacob who indeed got the blessing by a lye But observe what followed hereupon 1. His Brother Esau vowed to kill * Gen. 27.41 ●2 c. him for it 2. He was thereupon sent away from his Fathers house to his uncle Laban who dwelt at Haran in Mesopotamia a great way of 3. As he had dealt deceitfully with his Father so his uncle Laban dealt deceitfully with him changing his wages ten times Gen. 31.41 and gave him at last Leah instead of Rachel beside all the other hardships he endured there for twenty years together 4. His Mother Rebeckah that put him upon that course of beguiling his Father never saw her beloved Jacob more as far as we can discern by the story she dying as 't is probable before his return Thus we see that they that get any thing by lying and indirect dealing have reason to expect that they shall smart for it in the end 18. Avoid those two great Jesuitical tricks viz. equivocation and mental reservation Equivocation is when an answer is expressed in such words as are ambiguous and carry double and contain more senses and significations than one and that on purpose to deceive Mental reservation is when the sense is but half expressed as if a Magistrate should ask a Romish Priest Art thou a Priest and he should answer I am no Priest reserving in his mind I am no Priest of Baal This trick is plainly eversive of all truth in speaking For the reply in such cases being deceitful doth not answer the question as it ought to do But here one thing is to be interposed viz. that Hyperboles and such figurative speeches are not lyes but are used to express a thing more significantly As the Land of Canaan is called in the Scripture a Land flowing with milk and honey Exod. 33.3 whereby is meant only that it was a very fruitful Land abounding with all necessaries Neither are Parables or Apologues to be accounted lyes when by things feigned an unfeigned truth is more lively represented as in Jothams parable Judges 9.8 The trees went forth on a time to anoint a King over them c. See also 2 Kings 14.9 and 2 Sam. 12.1 Neither is it a lye when in shew of words some false thing is uttered but by the gesture or pronunciation of the speaker it owe may appear that something else is intended See 1 Kings 18.27 And it came to pass that at noon Elijah mocked them concerning their god Baal and said cry aloud for he is a god either he is talking or pursuing or he is in a journey or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked c. 19. Let Parents Masters and Superiors be careful not too hastily or suddenly to charge faults on their children servants or inferiours For such sudden surprises put them by all due consideration and so disorder their understandings that many times they speak what otherwise they would not Therefore let them give them time to consider and let them advise them to speak the truth though against themselves declaring to them that if they be in a fault an humble confession of it is the only way to obtain pardon both from God and man Whereas a lye will double their fault and greatly increase their guilt 20. Lastly let such as profess religion and pretend to piety take heed they be not at any time found tardy as to this vice For thereby they will bring a scandal upon their profession and open the mouths of wicked and prophane scoffers who are ready enough to watch for the haltings of good men and to charge them though unjustly that they will lye though they will not swear Let them therefore be very careful to be honest and true in their words cautious in their promises and faithful in their performances that the name of God and the Christian profession may not be blasphemed through them And though they that commonly swear make no conscience of a lye yet let it appear that they * Isay 63.8 Surety they are my people children that will not lye so he was their Saviour that fear to swear fear to tell a lye also CHAP. III. Of Pride IN treating of this Argument I shall shew 1. What is not to be accounted Pride though it may by some be so esteemed 2. What Pride is wherein the nature of it consists and what are the signs and evidences of it 3. The great evil and malignity of it 4. Give some remedyes and directions against it For the First There are some things that look like Pride and make men censured for proud which are not so such as these 1. When a man in authority whether Magistrate or Minister having a Spirit suitable to his place and work and casting off all pusillanimity and irregular fear of men and by Faith eyeing God and designing to please him does his duty couragiously leaving issues and events to him This is not Pride but Christian courage and resolution and a gracious gift of God