these fruitlesse Preachers or indeed any others that preach not point-blank against sin and ignorance that discover not Satans wiles and the hearts deceitfulness that preach not faith and free grace that presse not to Repentance Regeneration and the like that make not the glory of God and the good of souls the main end of their preaching As why do or why should men go to hear if not for profit and comfort to their souls Good stomachs make better account of wholsome fare then of dainty cates Why but to hear the good Word of GOD that they may grow thereby and to be nourished Now nourishment is the making of food received like to the bodie nourished Therefore a wise Christian affects to hear powerful preaching searching Sermons rather then run after Rhetoricians because the rarities of humane eloquence works no such effect nor tends to any such end For Philosophie and such like may civilize but not sanctifie hide some sins but not heal them cover not cure them harb and curb them not abate and abolish them Yea we may say of their problemes as the Philosopher did of the Athenian-shops How many things are here that we have no need of Wherefore I shall conclude with an Exhortation or Advertisement to these men to use this means and to affect that food which is wholsom and would nourish O! that I might prevail with them to hear either Scripture or reason though my betters cannot for then would they finde it the happiest counsel that ever they met with Nor am I altogether out of hope for though all the water in the sea will not wash a Blackmore white yet others with Naaman may wash and be clean Nor can it be denied but an Emperick now and then hath had the hap to cure a patient which a learned Artist could not do Section 21. An Advertisement to all uncircumcised hearts and ears exhorting them to hear the Word of GOD purely and powerfully preached and not to listen after such as seek onely to please the ear with rarities of humane eloquence and the inticing words of man's wisdom IF there be any if but one even thy self that shall by what I have said be induced to judg of things according to clear truth not blinded opinion and be willing to depart from this discourse better then they came to it let him in the first place know that the onely ordinary means of grace and conversion is by hearing the word of God impartially and powerfully preached and by entertaining it with a good and honest heart for this Word and this onely is able to make a man wise to salvation As thus we may argue Without knowledge the heart cannot be good Prov. 19.2 A man may know the will of God and yet not do it but he can never do it except first he know it Whence as in the Creation of the World the first thing that God made was light Gen. 1.3 So when he makes us new creatures he first creates light in the understanding whereby the poor soul may see his spiritual misery and wretchednesse which before by reason of that vail or curtain which is drawn over every natural mans heart 2 Cor. 3.14 15 16. he is so far from discerning that with Laodicea he thinks himself rich and to want nothing when yet he is wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked of all spiritual indowments Revel 3.17 1 Tim. 6. ver 4. Therefore let your principall care and ambition bee to know those things the knowledge whereof is eternall life John 17.3 And the neglect whereof is of all most the damnable John 3.19 Therefore it is said of Christ whose first coming was to save the world that hee will come the second time in flaming fire to render vengeance unto all those that know not God 2 Thes 1.6 7 8 9. A terrible text to all that are ignorant in the midst of so much means as wee injoy Which being so bee diligent above all to hear Christs faithfull messengers And not these who if they preach not wickedly in flattering or furthering of sin yet they preach unprofitably as if they were resolved to connive at sin as feeding their flocks rather with words then matter as caring onely to please not to inform forming their voice to the liking of their hearers not their hearers judgment to the voice of Christ in the Gospell and striving more to make them in love with the teacher then with the lesson Because they stand more upon their own credit then their peoples benefit 3. Or if they labour to fill the head with knowledge they leave the heart empty of grace spending their time either in curious Questions and vain speculations which kinde of preaching tends rather to mirth then godly edification as it is observable that that age of the Church which was most fertile in Nice Questions was most barren in Religion The reason is it makes people think Religion to bee onely a matter of wit as tying of knots and untying them Wherein the brains of men given this way are usually hotter then their hearts 4. Or if their preaching be more solid they rove altogether in generalities which are no more aiding to practise then an Ortelius Universall Map is to direct the way between London and York 5. Or if they descend to particulars they pass over the grounds of Religion the most usefull part of all Divinity For this laies the Foundation the other raiseth the Walls and Roof This informes the Judgment that stirs up the Affections And what good use is there of those Affections which run before the Judgment 6. Or lastly If they give you the grounds of Religion and preach wholesome truths yet they bring forth their Doctrines as some women do their children still-born for want of application without which the former seems to be no better then a fair Image or Statue which is beautifull to Contemplate but is without life and motion It being the soul of preaching when the Word is brought home to mens consciences and applied close For whereas those other Divine discourses inrich the brain and tongue This settles the heart changes the will and works upon the affections The onely way to become such indeed as men dream themselvs to bee is to trust Satan and their deceitfull hearts less and Gods Word and Mininisters more This is to become fools that they may bee wise as the Apostle adviseth 1 Cor. 3.18 Wherefore receive with meekness the ingrafted word which is able to save your soul as Saint James adviseth James 1. verse 21. And that you may not want incouragement mind but what our Saviour Christ says Joh. 13. Verily verily hee confirms it with a double asseveration I say unto you If I send any hee that receiveth him receiveth mee and hee that receiveth mee receiveth him that sent mee ver 20. Loe in entertaining the Word with an honest and good heart wee entertain both God and Christ with it Another famous
them nothing of moment than others do who preach serious and solid Divinity which converts the soul and makes a new creature Secondly they have no need to seek farther the Scriptures are so full and compleat It is able to make a man wise to salvation and perfect unto all good works it is given by inspiration from God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction c. 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. Yea the holy Ghost to make it more amiable hath given it these titles viz. a lanthorn to direct us a medicine to heal us a guide to conduct us a bit to restrain us a sword to defend us water to wash us fire to inflame us salt to season us milk to nourish us wine to rejoyce us rain to refresh us a treasure to enrich us and the key to unlock heaven-gates unto us so naming the word all things that we might only desire it instead of all things Men talk much of the Philosophers stone that it turneth copper into panaces the herb that it is good for all diseases of catholicon the drug that it is instead of all purges of Vulcans armour that it was an armour of proof against all thrusts and blowes and other the like but whatsoever they did vainly attribute to these things for bodily good we may with full measure ascribe justly to the Scripture for spiritual Augustine Tanta facta sunt quanta tunc fieri debuerunt tanta scripta sunt quanta nunc legi debuerunt His salubriter parva corriguntur parva nutriuntur magca oblectantur ingenia Nay saith he the Scriptures are so fit and full Ut in eis quotidie proficerem sic eas solas ab ineunte pueritia usque ad decrepitam senectutem maximo otio summo studio meliore ingenio conarer addiscere Thirdly their flocks if they be wise and godly as new-born babes desire only to be fed with the sincere milk of the Word contained in the Old and New Testament which are the two Brests of the Church that they may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 Fourthly God abhors that his seeds-men the Ministers and so they pretend themselves to be should sowe any thing but the immortal seed of his Word Mat. 13.19 1 Pet. 1.23 1 John 3.9 which makes him so often complain against those false prophets who ran when he never sent them and spake out of their own hearts and not from the mouth of the Lord Jer. 23. his words are He that hath my word let him speak my word faithfully what is the chaff to the wheat is not my word like a a fire saith the Lord and like an hammer that breaketh the rook in pieces ver 16.28 29. which words speak home to them if they had but the grace to apply it But let them hear the Apostle The weapons of our warfare saith Paul are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 5. Sect. 8. Gods word may be compared to a Cannon with bullets whereas wit and humane eloquence is but like a Piece charged only with powder which may make a great noise but throweth not down sin The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart Heb. 4.12 whence it is the Apostle so frequently opposeth his Preaching to these Verbalists who preach themselves and not Christ that deliver not the word of God but Poetry Roman History the sayings of Orators Philosophers c. I le give you two or three instances of many I wish they would minde his words We preach not our selves saith he but Christ Jesus the Lord neither do we handle the Word of God deceitfully 2 Cor. 4.2 5. nor have we shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God Act. 20.27 and again When I came unto you brethren my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of mans wisdome but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdome of men but in the power of God 1 Cor. 2.4 and again In declaring unto you the testimony of God I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified which things also we speak not in the words which mans wisdome teacheth but which the holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual ver 2 13. and again Christ sent me to preach the Gospel not with the wisdome of words lest the crosse of Christ should be made of none effect chap. 1.17 and lastly I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that beleeveth Rom. 1.16 But how contrary to the Apostle are these men in every thing They preach themselves and not Christ they deliver not the Word of God but Poetry Roman History the sayings of Orators Philosophers c. not in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power but with the enticing words of mans wisdome and the rarities of humane eloquence Saint Paul was not ashamed of that preaching which the world counted foolishness 1 Cor. 1.18 21 23. But these are yea they dare not make use of Moses or the Prophets or the Evangelists or the same Saint Paul overmuch lest it should be thought they have more grace than wit and lesse learning than religion They strive so to be accounted great Scholars and curious Preachers that they are ashamed of the Gospel of Christ and scorn to deliver things so common counting such plain preaching no better than foolishness 1 Cor. 1.18 though God calls their witty Preaching foolishness and is pleased by that Preaching which they so sleight to save them that are saved verse 18 to 30. But your fine wits who prefer their sins before their souls care not for such course stuff neither can these Amnons of the people eat other cakes then such as are of Tamars baking And therefore they swarm together to hear an eloquent Rhetorical Preacher as those Idolaters did to the house of Baal 2 Kings 18. as where the dead carcasse is thither refort the Eagles It hath been usual for such as come in their own names to be received and entertained with general applause while they that come in Christs name have been sleighted if not persecuted Mahomet and the Pope possess three parts of the world whereas they that beleeve the Gospel are few in number Rom. 10.16 Michaia delivers the truth Zedekiah speaks falsly yet Zedekiah is credited and preferred to the Kings Table while Michaia is laid by the heels and sed with the bread of affliction and the water of affliction 1 Kings 22.6 12 13 14.
the Word very orderly and delight in it For none so bad but he loves the light as it shines but as it discovers and directs they hate it Whiles we search no farther than their dead flesh they can be quiet but if we once touch them to the quick we shall quickly hear of it Sect. 12. And the reasons of their so doing among many others are these three First these Serpents will hiss if we trouble their nests never so little because they know themselves guilty It is a sure sign the horse is galled that stirs too much when he is touched Num. 5.27 In the Law of Jelousies if the suspected wife were guilty that drank of the bitter waters of trial she would presently swell if otherwise she was well enough Unsound flesh loves to be stroaked the least roughness puts them into a rage Sore eyes cannot abide the light of the Sun The naked truth makes so little for and so much against resolute sinners that they will carp and storm and fret and chafe and fume and swell and rage and be ready to burst again when they hear it Instead of penitence they break out into choler fury sparkles in those eyes which should gush out with water Like Gain Ahab and Herod they are never troubled for their sins only they are vexed to hear of them They are like the mad man that wounded his Physitian even while he was administring Physick to him for his recovery Secondly the Word of God is like some fructifying dew or rain which falls not upon any ground in vain but will either produce the herbs of good works or the weeds of impiety Every line of Gods Word addes sinew to the virtuous mind and withal heals that vice which would be springing in it But as all bodies are not equally apt to be wrought upon by the same medicine so are not all souls by the same means of grace The same report wherewith the spirit of Rahab melts hardens the King of Jericho Joshua 2. Sergius Paulus was converted Elymas obdurated by the same Sermon Acts 12. Therefore no wonder if these spiders those bees the wicked and the godly suck the one honey the other poison from the self-same flower of holy Writ Thirdly the Word of God is the rule of justice which shews the crookedness of their ways It is the Law by which they shall be condemned therefore they cannot endure it They love not to have their consciences awakened but would sleep quietly in their sins and he that desires to sleep will have the curtains drawn the light shut out and no noise made Besides they cannot hear the down-right truth but they must also hear the sentence of their own condemnation It is the very word by which they are judged and condemned therefore they loath asmuch to hear it as a prisoner does abhor to hear his sentence from the just Judge And indeed if many love not to hear the worst of their temporal causes and cases nor yet of their bodily distempers with which their lives or estates be indangered how much more will wicked men decline from seeing their hainous abominations and themselves guilty of bell and eternal damnation Though thereof there be an absolute necessity if ever they be saved This is their main cause or quarrel against a zealous and powerful Preacher this above all makes them fret and storm But let envy sweat swell and burst truth must be spoken And indeed why should not Gods servants take as free liberty in reproving as the Devils servants take liberty in offending Shall not the one be as bold for God as the others are for Baal and Beelzebub These are the reasons why they threat when they should and others do tremble and jeer when they should fear and mock when they should mourn like those shameless and graceless Israelites 2 Chron. 30.10 Sect. 13. Nor can the cause of wicked mens raging bee imputed to any miscarriage in the messenger for he may vindicate himself as Paul did 2. Cor. 7. ver 10. I have not spoken but the Lord and therefore as the Lord said unto Saul Act 9.4 that hee persecuted him so they which resist any truth delivered out of the Word do resist God himself and not his messenger And this for certain if Christ himself were their Minister and should reprove them for their sins and denounce the judgments of God against them for the same as when he was upon the earth not only the wit-founder'd drunkard and prophane beast but even civil honest men and formal Christians would persecute him to the death as the Jews formerly did Which is some comfort to a consciencious Minister Nor is it their shame to suffer what Christ suffered nor the others honour to do as Judas and the rest did as Cyprian speaks Neither can there bee a greater honour done to a poor Minister than this for as one of the Fathers hath it it may well bee doubted Ministers open not the Word aright when wicked men kick not against it Yea says Luther to preach the Gospell as wee ought is to stir up all the furies of Hell against us and our Saviour's Words Joh. 7.7 import no less Matth. 10.16 Now if this bee the case no wonder they should be for that preaching which brings none of all this vexation yea they may hear one of their witty Rhetoricall preachers till dooms-day and never bee disturbed in their sins or disquieted or molested in their consciences for it is not to her they speak Yea such preaching is rather an Antidote against what the Legall preachers have averred and does again cheer up their spirits against all qualms of conscience As Davids harp cheered up Saul when vexations and melancholly fits came upon him Yea the preaching of these brave Orators and quaint wits is to them as sweet and melodious as musick for which see Ezek. 33.32 Micha 2.11 And this is the reason why most men walk in the broad way and yet every man thinks to enter the straight gate The Devils Chaplains are chiefly heard Christs Messengers are mostly neglected A good and faithfull Minister who is of Gods sending and studies more to profit then to please his people that hee may the better undeceive the deceived and with blessing from above pluck sinners out of Satan's snares hee deals with his hearers as the Prophet did by Hazaell when hee plainly told him the abominable wickedness of his heart even beyond belief Or as Nathan did by David when he so cunningly made him to pronounce sentence against himself Or as Jonah did by the Ninevites when with his short thundering sermon hee converted that great City Or as Peter with his converts when he told them they were the men that had crucified the Son of God the Lord of glory Or as John Baptist did by Herod and all that came unto him Or as our Saviour by the woman of Samaria when hee so represented the very thoughts of her heart to her conscience
THE People's Impartiall And Compassionate Monitor About hearing of Sermons OR The Worlds Preachers and Proselites lively painted out for a person of Quality upon occasion of hearing two famous Divines whose transcendent Wit Oratorie and Elegancie made many at their wits end with admiration Being a rare discovery to Vndeceive the Deceiued By R. YOUNGE of Roxwell in Essex Wee preach not our selvs but Christ Jesus the Lord c. 2 Cor. 4.5 My speech and my preaching was not with entising words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God c. 1 Cor. 2.4 5 to 9. I am come in my Fathers name and yee receive me not if another shall come in his own name him yee will receive Joh. 5.43 See 1 Joh. 4.1 London printed by J. B. for James Crumpe in Little Bartholomews Well-yard In the year 1657. TO THE TRULY NOBLE AND DESERVEDLY HONORED Sr NATHANAEL BASILE A WORTHY PATRON AND PATTERN OF WISDOM JUSTICE FORTITUDE PIETY AND SINCERITY R. Y. Dedicates this mean piece of his Labours and wisheth long life many followers with increase of all grace and happinesse The Peoples impartial and compassionate Monitor about hearing of Sermons Or the Worlds Preachers and Proselites lively painted out for a Person of Quality Upon occasion of hearing two famous Divines whose transcendent Wit Oratory and Elegancy made many at their wits end with admiration Section 1. Much honoured Sir ACcording to your Order I have heard another of your famous Preachers and will thereof give you an account as I promised And so that hundreds I hope shall be the better for it The truth is I extreamly admire them both though I honour them not at all The one made as rare a something of nothing as ever I heard The other for his skill in Sophistry is I confess a Non-such Both may be rare Preachers for ought I know but as he said of one little learned and lesse modest who usurped all discourse at the Table I never heard learning make such a noise So I never heard a solid Preacher deliver so many words for so little matter so much Oratory for so little Divinity Well may these plashes of water be held by some deep Divines but I presume you may gage their Divinity with one of your fingers As for their Sermons for so men call them though no otherwise then the Heathen Images are called gods Nor are they more like Sermons than Michaels image of goats hair was like David I may fitly liken them to a plume of feathers for which some will give any thing others just nothing Or if I compare them to a Nightingale tongue pye as being far more elaborate and costly than profitable or nourishing it is a great Hyperbole Indeed as a Reverend Divine speaks if I had no other Mistresse then Nature I would wish no other Master then such a Seneca Cicero or Demosthenes but being a Christian I go not to hear the rarities of human Eloquence but the eternal Word of God and more to profit my soul than to please my senses A wise man should yea a good Christian will propound to himself some end some good end of his going to hear for he that in his actions proposeth no mark or main end to himself is like a Ship that aimeth at no Harbour and no wind makes for him that hath no intended Port to sail unto neither can he expect any Voyage of advantage And to what end should any of Christs sheep go to the Assemblies but to hear his voice which is spirit and life to quicken those that are dead in sin and to raise up those that are therewith cast down Yea the Gospel is the strong arm of the Lord and the mighty power of God to salvation to every one that beleeveth Rom. 1.16 And therefore they never go to hear it but in hope to be the better for it Namely that they may have their faith strengthned by it or their patience increased or their judgement rectified or their wills reformed or their life and practise bettered or their love and zeal inflamed But certainly if any shall go to hear such Preachers as these bear with my boldness I beseech you to any or either of these ends he shall no less sail of his expectation then did those guests which Caligula invited to his golden banquet which being set before them did indeed delight the eye but neither pleased the pallate nor satisfied the stomach Nor do such Sermons more please the ear then they starve the soul Their simple hearers being like that Calf in the Epigram which went with no small appetite to suck the teats of a painted Cow Or rather like one that whets his knife upon a chalk stone which doth not sharpen but make it more dull and blunt Yea it were well if it were no worse for this is to be understood of the best of their Sermons whereas the other may be resembled to a poisoned fountain in the way which the innocent and thirsty passenger seeing is glad to drink of but in drinking is sure to dye for it Yea how many of these rare Preachers could I name that serve their hearers had they the wit to perceive it as Busirus whom Herculus slew served the poor who killed such as came to him for hospitality Or Theodosius the Prince who fraudulently called together seven thousand innocent persons as it were to see playes and then sent in souldiers to slay them For under a colour of feeding and curing their souls they impoison and kill them Or in case they be less cruel and do answer the hunger and thirst of an empty soul it shall be no otherwise then the Jews did our Saviour who gave him gaul for his meat and in his thirst vinegar to drink Psa 69.21 But this being a truth that transcends both the understanding and beleef of all that are unacquainted with Satans wiles Nor can it be beaten into the brains of unbeleevers who want the light of Gods Spirit and the eye of faith I have taken some pains in painting out these Preachers and their Proselites affirming no more then I know by grounded experience and shall fully confirm from the Word of truth Which commands us to try the spirits and their doctrine whether they be of God or no. Nor will you I hope think the time ill spent in your serious perusal thereof If it make you a gainer give God the glory Sect. 2. All sorts of Preachers may be comprised under four heads for either they are Preaching Or Non-Preaching Or Un-Preaching Ministers Or Preachers that are no Ministers Whereof I have to deal with Non-Preaching and Un-Preaching Ministers Non-Preaching Ministers I might martial into many Bands but the cheef are witty and Rhetorical Preachers and to these will I apply my self in the first place Witty and Rhetorical Preachers are such as Preach now and
there is scarce a servant of the Lord amongst them Their judgments being so diametrially opposite that what preaching the one loves the other loaths Neither would their hearers so applaud or approve of them if they were of Gods sending I am come in my Fathers name saith our Saviour and yee receive me not if another shall come in his own name him you will receive Joh. 5.43 Men of the world will not hear such preachers as are of God because then they must have their consciences terrefied about their sins or else part with them and be told of the fearful condition they are in yea the greatest of sinners affect more the flattery of false Prophets then the sincerity of Christs faithful messengers Isa 30.10 Mica 2.11 But it 's easie to discern where the fault lies and who is to be blamed For 't is onely the weak-sighted that cannot abide the light and none can dislike the word of truth but such as have an over-flowing of their gall or an overweening of their wit such as are both shamelesse and gracelesse As do you see an Apple fall untimely from the tree view it well and you will finde it worm-eaten else it had held But such as have a blemish in their eie think the element to be over cloudy Our Saviour himself could neither speak or do ought but such would be offended at it In which case who is to be blamed Is the Physitian to be blamed for the pain of his Patient or the disease the Chirurgion or the wound which he indeavours by all means to cure Yea tell mee what is the cause why the worst men and members in a parish evermore regard a good Minister least complain of his bitternesse and seek by all means to remove him Is it not because they are feet and legs and thighs and arms out of joint and so cannot indure the touch of the Chirurgions hand and the acrimony of his medicines Section 19. Secondly my next Answer to the former question is Their practice proves it For this you may take for a general rule that if these brave Orators these unhallowed Divines have ap plaus and be cried up for rare Preachers it is from men as carnal and gracelesse as themselvs As look but upon their lives and see if they be not like people that have a disease called the Wolf which is alwaies eating yet keeps the body lean They have long heard and still desire to hear their sermons yet they grow not by their hearing for like those seaven ill-favoured and lean-fleshed Kine Gen. 41.20 21. it cannot be known that they have heard them for they are not onely as lean and ill-favored Christians still as they were before they heard them but much worse For as touching that is good that they let passe it faring with their memories as with an hour-glass or Conduit that which in one hour runneth in the same in another hour runneth out again Onely the evil wil they keep to increase their prejudice and to fore-stall them against goodness Quest Whereby may we know and judg of a wicked man for we must not pronounce any man a leper till wee see the scab Answ by his works and by his words every tree is known by the fruits It is Christs everlasting rule however the tree lives by the sap and not by the fruit yet it is known to live by the fruit and not by the sap for this is hid When the Conduit is walled in how shall wee judge of the spring but by the water that runs out of the pipes The outward actions declare the inward intentions Men do somtimes bewray that by their deeds which to confess they are hardly drawn As in a clock when the hammer strikes well and the hand of the diall points well it is a signe that the wheels are right set Yea by the pointing of the hand alone wee may know how the clock goes within And so by the striking of the hammer which is the second rule Speech is the index of the minde for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Matth. 12.34 Whence observe that a good man out of the good treasury of his heart bringeth forth good things and an evill man out of the evil treasury of his heart bringeth forth evill things Matth. 12.35 As the bell is known by his sound so a man is by nothing better known then by his communication says Seneca evill speaking discovers an evill heart as the striking of the clapper does a broken bell Yea men may bee known by their want of fruit wee may suspect want of sap in the root of a tree if wee find barrenness in the branches if either it have bad fruit or no fruit it is but a dead faith And the true method of grace is Cease to do evill learn to do well Isa 1.16 17. For as grace enters into the heart so sin goes out like air out of a vessell when wine is poured in or as it fares with women that having once conceived cannot admit of another conception untill they be delivered of the first see Gal. 5.24 I grant there bee multitudes of them that appear not wicked no every mans capacity for some of them and not a few are civill and fair in their carriages smooth in their communication and for the most part unreprovable yet this you shall bee sure to find that they are bitter malignants to the power of religion and scoffers at holiness and there needs no more to prove them wicked I grant they may bee morally honest temperate chast charitable go duly to Church pray in their families abstain in some measure from swearing lying and the like But does this flow from a pious and good heart sanctified by the holy Ghost 1 Tim. 1.5 Act. 15.9 Is it done in faith and out of right ends as out of love and obedience because God commands the same that hee may bee glorified and others edified thereby for otherwise all their performances are no better in Gods account then blessing of an Idol or cutting off a dogs neck as the Prophet shews Isa 58. Chap. and 66.3 Matth. 7.22.13 Again do you pay God his dues also do you repent and beleev the Gospel precepts and menaces aswel as promises do you declare your faith by your works do you pray by the power of the Spirit and with the understanding also 1 Cor. 14.15 do you receive the word with good and honest hearts and also bring forth the fruits of it in your life and conversation do you sanctifie his sabbaths and see that all under you do the same love his children promote his glory and strive to gain others to imbrace the Gospell instruct your children and servants and teach them to fear the Lord do you fear an oath hate a lye c. Love zeal and devotion in others make conscience of evill thoughts vain and unprofitable words grieve for your unprofitableness under the means of grace for the evill